Digital Commons Network^™

Linkage Of Restriction Site Polymorphisms At The Minisatellite D1s80 Locus In A Tamil Population From India, Nick Rocco

Undergraduate Student Symposium

In this study, we report the distribution of these polymorphisms in a Tamil population from India. SNP analysis was performed by RT-PCR utilizing a TaqMan® SNP Genotyping Assays kit from Applied Biosystems. Data was collected on a Corbett Rotor-Gene 3000. For most alleles analyzed, the restriction site haplotype polymorphisms were consistent with the assigned older allele types, allele 18 and 24. Appropriate restriction enzymes were used for restricting the PCR products which confirmed all SNP designations. The interesting finding in this study is that 98.5 % (197/200) of the alleles tested have a linkage of two specific polymorphisms. If an …

Global Warming - How Fluorescent Lights And Plug-In Hybrid Vehicles Can Make A Difference, Melissa Corrao, Legna Castaneda, Debbie Ali, Alexandra Timis

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Global warming is a world wide epidemic caused by anthropogenic factors that can be reduced or even eliminated to alleviate the fast paced progression of this harmful phenomenon. Society as a whole can make numerous lifestyle changes, two of which include the use of fluorescent light blubs and plug in hybrid cars. Fluorescent lights as opposed to incandescent, reduce the amount of heat emitted to the environment and the amount of electricity usage, which overall reduces CO₂ emission. Plug-in hybrid vehicles utilize a more fuel efficient battery thus minimizing the amount of harmful gases released into the atmosphere.

Increased Vancomycin Resistance Exhibited By Staphylococcus Aureus Grown Together With Candida Albicans Within Mixed Species Biofilms, Fabrice Auguste, Shardul Koppar, John Seymour

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Biofilms are multicellular communities of microorganisms that characteristically attach to some surface, produce and encase themselves within a thick polysaccharide matrix, and resist physical insults and treatment with anti-microbial drugs. The studies described here focus on characterizing the physical interactions between a bacterium (Staphylococcus aureus) and fungus (Candida albicans) in the context of a mixed biofilm. Both of these organisms are common human pathogens that cause a variety of human disease. Previous findings in our lab have suggested that C. albicans and S. aureus interact with one another and alter the other’s ability to attach and …

Fear Of Change: The Salem Witch-Hunt Of 1692, Melanie Cucurullo

Undergraduate Student Symposium

This paper examines the fears that sparked the witchcraft accusations in late- seventeenth century Salem, Massachusetts. Historians writing about the witch-hunt in colonial New England have suggested these “witches” challenged social traditions and orthodox ways of thinking.

Eighty percent of accused “witches” were women, which suggest that gender played an important role in allegations of witchcraft. A close look at historical records shows that the behavior displayed by Bridget Bishop, Sarah Good, and Anne Hutchinson convinced New Englanders that these women were a threat to society. The problem was not just a new way of thinking but rather the way …

Genetic Characterization Of The Yersiniae Cold Growth Phenomenon, Richard Wheeler, Nick Rocco

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The yersinaie are psychotropic (able to grow at cold temperatures) Gram negative enterobacteriae that include 3 human pathogens: Yersinia pestis (the etiological agent of the black-death), Yersinia enterocolitica and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis (both causing self-limiting gastro-intestinal disorders). Y. enterocolitica, in particular, is an emerging food-borne illness and threat in the U.S. Since refrigeration is the dominant method of food preservation, an examination of the genetic basis of the yersiniae cold adaptation characteristics could yield considerable benefit. Recently, it has been shown that PNPase, an mRNA degrading exoribonuclease, is required for the yersinaie to grow at cold temperatures (~4-10°C). Furthermore, a …

Expression Of Multidrug Efflux Pumps In Porphyromonas Gingivalis, Kristina Christoph

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Periodontal disease is a well known threat to the bones and ligaments that support teeth. Ongoing studies are linking periodontal disease to coronary artery disease, diabetes, and pneumonia. Treatment of the disease involves controlling the bacteria that cause the inflammatory response and tissue destruction. Porphyromonas gingivalis is a periodontal pathogen found in sites having greater progression of the disease. P. gingivalis grows together with many other bacterial species in a complex community called a biofilm. Growing in the context of a biofilm is known to protect bacteria and make them more resistant to antibiotics and other antimicrobial agents. However, the …

Emotional Influences On Cognitive Processing In Hiv-Infected Women, Kristen Dealmeida, Lara Murphy

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Although emotional impairment and cognitive decline are both commonly observed in HIV positive individuals, it is currently unclear how these two states influence each other. Poor performance on a cognitive task is often attributed to cognitive deficits when the root problem lies in emotional disturbances, particularly for HIV-infected women. Here, we propose to begin to untangle this complex relationship by assessing cognitive functioning while we simultaneously manipulate emotional state through the use of emotionally negative or neutral pictures. We will use electroencephalographic (EEG) event related brain potentials (ERPs) as the primary index of the influence of emotional processing on cognitive …

Expression And Purification Of His-Tag Thioredoxin Protein, Charlene Bernard, Viral Patel

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The molecular biology techniques can be used for making proteins in bacteria. In this study, we have used E. coli expression system to make a His-tag thioredoxin protein. Making use of His-tag, thioredoxin was purified from bacterial proteins using affinity chromatography. SDS-PAGE was applied to develop a purification protocol. The MW of purified protein was estimated by comparing its mobility on the gel with those standard proteins. The purified protein was pure as shown by the appearance of a single band on the gel. To further identify the purified protein, western blot technique was employed using a His-tag antibody. The …

Effectiveness Analysis Of Email Marketing Campaigns, Kiyo Walker

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Businesses usually spend significant time, effort and money on e-mail marketing campaigns. They are interested in evaluating the effectiveness of their campaigns, so that future campaigns can be optimized. In this project, we analyze e-mail based advertisement campaign or a specific business. We investigate the relationship between the number of links and the number of clicks in each e-mail campaign using the Pearson and Spearman statistical tests. We show that adding more links in a given e-mail campaign does not increase the user’s interest. We also calculate summary statistics for the number of links and clicks.

Don't Look At Me, Iva Christina Marc

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The name of my poem is Don’t Look at Me. The theme of Don’t Look at Me is dark and insecure. The purpose of this poem is to explore the negative emotion when self love is not present.

Determining The Impact Of Mineral Carbonation On Decreasing The Harmful Effects Of Global Warming, Myra Rafi, Sarah Silverstein, Nergess Taheri

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Global warming is a major dilemma that our environment is currently facing. This research presents mineral carbonation as one innovative solution in alleviating this issue. The purpose of mineral carbonation is to lessen the harmful effects of global warming. This is done by combining carbon dioxide with magnesium or calcium silicate minerals through a chemical reaction. This process converts carbon dioxide gas into a solid carbonate compound. The reactions aim is to decrease the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in turn lessening its negative effects. Mineral carbonation appears to be an effective method to decrease the harmful effects …

Conservation Of Porbeagle Sharks (Lamna Nasus) Worldwide By Species And Population Dna Forensic Testing, Lara Murphy

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The porbeagle shark (Lamna nasus) is an oceanic species inhabiting the temperate North Atlantic and most of the southern oceans. The high commercial value of its fins has led to severe population depletion in the North Atlantic from overfishing. The population status of southern hemisphere porbeagles, however, is unknown due to lack of fisheries monitoring. Due to mounting concerns about fishing impacts, this shark was placed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2007. However, an international petition to get porbeagle sharks listed on CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) to require worldwide monitoring …

Dehumanization Results In Atrocities, Raquel Sanchez, Marina Dunn

Undergraduate Student Symposium

This study attempts to explain how dehumanization is the main factor in the acceptance of atrocities towards stigmatized groups in American society today, by implementing Daniel Goldhagen’s Theory in our research design. The premise of Daniel Goldhagen’s theory is about the dehumanization of Jewish people during the Holocaust in which ordinary Germans became Hitler’s aids. This study will measure the acceptance of atrocities towards African Americans and Arabs from the undergraduate student body at Nova Southeastern University. Based on Stanley Milgram’s famous obedience study, this study will use a video reenactment in combination with a follow-up questionnaire to measure the …

Construction And Configuration Of Mpi Cluster, Dimitri Tyryshkin, Brett C. Stephen, Carolina Usbeck, Mubashir Hassan

Undergraduate Student Symposium

A computer cluster consists of a number of computers that are coupled to solve complex problems in parallel. They provide a single front-end so that they can be managed and used from a single user interface. The cluster not only provides a excellent cost-performance trade-off compared to a super computer but it also provides the flexibility of using less power when the computational load is lower. Its performance is about the same as a super computer having computational power equal to combined computational capacity of all the computers in the cluster, but at a much lower cost.

This project provides …

The Wonderful World Of Mathematica, Latisha Gaither

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Mathematica is computer software that can be used to perform a variety of functions. These functions include: mathematics and algorithms, system interface and deployment, visualization and graphics, dynamic interactivity, and several other functions. The initial idea came from a man by the name of Stephen Wolfram. It was further developed by a team of mathematicians, and first released in 1988. This computer software was originally developed for the fields of math and science. Mathematica has been used in many disciplines which include physical science, engineering, financial modeling, accounting, research, and many more. However, this software has been transformed and is …

Characterization Of Polynucleotide Phosphorylase (Pnpase) And The Virulence Of Streptococcus Pyogenes, Jessica Blanco, Nick Rocco

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase) is a 3’-5’ exoribonuclease that phosphorylyticly degrades mRNA molecules in bacteria and in eukaryotic organelles. Streptococcus pyogenes (a group A streptococcus [GAS]) is a Gram-positive human pathogen responsible for a plethora of syndromes ranging from the less-invasive pharyngitis (a.k.a strep throat) to severely invasive cases such as necrotizing fascitis and streptococcal toxic shock syndrome. Recently, PNPase was shown to be required for the decay of 2 S. pyogenes transcripts during late exponential growth: sagA and sda. The aforementioned transcripts were found to be stabilized (more abundant) in a pnpA mutant strain. Furthermore, the pnpA transcript was …

Comparison Of The Assignment Testing Capabilities Of The Population Structure Programs Baps And Structure Using Microsatellite Data From Tiger Sharks, Justin Chambers

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Although the practice of shark finning has been banned in multiple oceans worldwide, the practice continues to proliferate, with as many as 73 million sharks being killed each year for their fins. Since the legality of shark finning varies from ocean to ocean, methods to accurately determine not only the species of shark, but also the origin, need to be developed to help curtail this practice. This problem can be addressed through assignment testing—statistical methods that utilize genetic information to determine the population origin of individuals. Various software programs have been developed for population structure analysis. The goal of this …

Association Of Synesthesia And Creativity Amongst A General Population, Samantha Domingo, Laxmi Lalwani

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Synesthesia occurs when a single stimulus triggers two or more sensations simultaneously in different modalities. Ramachandran and Hubbard (2001) have identified two types of grapheme(alphanumeric)-color synesthetes. The first, known as ‘lower synesthetes’ or ‘projectors’ report actually seeing the colors when visually encountering letters or numbers. The second type, known as ‘higher synesthetes’, report only experiencing the colors “in the mind’s eye”, which indicates the color is evoked simply by numerical concept, as opposed to visual appearance alone. Creativity’s relationship to synesthesia has been the subject of interest of many experts in the field. Here, we evaluated the frequency of …

Antimicrobial Properties Of A Recently Patented Formulation, Nick Rocco, Richard Wheeler

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The threat posed by bacteria to human health is more unique today than ever. Multiple drug resistant strains of bacterial pathogens are quite common and lurk in a plethora of environments. To prevent transmission of these microbes, numerous hand gels, primarily alcohol based, have been designed to kill transient flora acquired through fomites. Because of the need for a more rapid and sustained microbial killing of certain exposed surfaces, an antimicrobial formulation has been developed that relies on short chain surfactants. We sought to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of this formulation on known surrogates of clinical significance. Bacteria or B. …

A Political Analysis Of The Jungle, Michael Bergbauer

Undergraduate Student Symposium

One may surmise that Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle is a political text disguised as a novel. Its anti-capitalist agenda is not hidden and appears at every opportunity in the text. However, it does an effective job of accomplishing its goals through its stark realism in its portrayal of the downfall of one immigrant family. Sinclair’s book The Jungle confirms Marxist political critical theory: capitalism is a morally and economically flawed system, which is better replaced with socialism. However, although The Jungle enacted a lot of change for its time, a re-read in the present would not spark any new change. …

A Dream, Amy Harvey

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Written by Amy Harvey in 1999, the poem was inspired by the concept of the author’s image of an angel. The author’s hope is that it evokes interest in the ongoing question: “Do angels exist?”

The Truth About Deception, Natalia Carrillo

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Deception is a prevalent form of communication. This paper explores, based on research taken from deception theorists, the many different types of deception, the strategies and motives in mind used by individuals while performing deception, and the positive and negative consequences of deception. Understanding why individuals rely on personal relationships is crucial to understanding the types of closeness they can develop with others and why deception takes place in these types of relationships. The paper then applies these factors by utilizing a television episode of King of Queens as an illustration of deception in a married couple’s life.

The Real World: Differential Equations, Tania Lopez, Brandy Shafer, Bryan Candela, Gerardo Davila, Andrew Dweck

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Mathematics can be used, and is used, to describe the physical phenomena of the world we live in. Differential equations are an application of the ideas of calculus to our everyday lives. In differential equations we seek to model real-life situations in Mathematical terms. Thus, differential equations are used for scientific modeling to describe the dynamics of diverse state variables, such as daily temperature, proportion of a population infected by influenza, chemical concentration in a tank, or stock prices by observing real-time data. Once the model is created it is used as a representation of the real-world system and predictions …

The Real Antagonist In Jane Austen’S Northanger Abbey, Trevor Borg

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Northanger Abbey is so loaded with irony that its main antagonist is someone we would never suspect. This hidden adversary maneuvers Catherine Morland into a conflict. The conflict seems a creation of the protagonist’s overactive imagination. However, the novel drops enough clues to indicate Henry Tilney willfully manipulates Catherine to produce the conflict. Finally, several hints in the novel suggest this same person also narrates it, thus sealing the novel’s irony.

The Effect Of Thimerosal On Gene Expression In Saccharomyces Cerevisiae: An Application Of Microarray Technology, Christie Rubio

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Thimerosal is a preservative and anti-fungal used in many vaccines which is metabolized to ethylmercury (about 50% by weight) and thiosalicylate (used as an analgesic agent). In 1999, thimerosal was removed from vaccines (or left only in trace amounts) as a public health precaution. In 2007, the average human will receive a concentration of 0.01% thimerosal per vaccine. This is equivalent to 50μg thimerosal per 0.5mL dose. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the maximum amount of thimerosal that a two-year old, fully-vaccinated child could possibly receive is 106.4μg, which is equivalent to 53.2μg of mercury. This reflects …

Synthesis Of New Ruthenium (Ii) Complex, [Ru(Bipycn)2]2+ And Its Interactions With Dna, Terry-Ann Dawes

Undergraduate Student Symposium

A new Ru(II) complex, [Ru(bipyCN)₂]²⁺ (where bpyCN is 4,4'-Bis(cyanomethyl)- 2,2'-bipyridine), was synthesized and characterized, and the effect on the emission spectra of the complex was studied. The interaction of the complex with DNA was investigated by UV–visible and emission spectroscopy.

Self Image: Juxtapose, Iva Christina Marc

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The name of my film is Self Image: Juxtapose. The theme of the film explores the emotions of negative and positive self image. This is an Avant Garde film. The purpose of this film is about moving toward self love. My principle cast member is Iva Marc. My crewmembers are Katrina Jackson and Nerissa Street.

Streptococcus Pyogenes: A Versatile Human Pathogen, Maria E. Cevallos

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Streptococcus pyogenes is one of the most medically relevant genera of Gram positive bacteria. S. pyogenes belongs to group A streptococcus (GAS), the most pathogenic streptococci. S. pyogenes is exclusively a notorious human pathogen that is known for its ability to cause a wide array of infections ranging from superficial pharyngitis and impetigo to evasive and life threatening conditions including septicemia, necrotizing fasciitis, and streptococcal toxic shock syndrome. The dissemination of S. pyogenes within a human host is dependent upon virulence factors aimed at host immune system evasion leading to infection. More specifically, S. pyogenes’ virulence factors are required for …

Shipping Out: The Effects Of Outsourcing, Kristen Franchy, Morgan Mcwhorter, Caroling Lugg, Vanessa Palacios

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The purpose of this research was to define and explain the process of outsourcing by providing examples and focusing on the pros and cons as well as the short and long term effects. Possible solutions and the role of outsourcing in the future were also discussed. Outsourcing is when a company would rather hire workers from an external source to perform certain tasks in order to achieve full benefit of their capital. Businesses that outsource save money by hiring workers that will work for lower pay. These new workers may be less skilled and are able to perform the simpler …

A Cost-Benefit Analysis Of Possible Alternatives For The Chemical Triclosan, Besty Jacob

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The chemical Triclosan is currently being used in a variety of household products. Soap, shampoo, dishwashing solution, detergents, cosmetics and lotions all utilize this product. These and other similar products market Triclosan as a bactericide. However Triclosan may not be as effective at killing bacteria when combined with these commercial products as advertised. There may potentially be safer and more effective alternatives. A potential problem with the overuse of Triclosan, is current and potential bacterial resistance. For instance, some strains of MRSA (Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Auereus) have already developed resistance to this chemical. On the other hand, there are …