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Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

Conference

2014

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The Multi-Layered Political Context Of Prostitution, Allora Dubay Mar 2014

The Multi-Layered Political Context Of Prostitution, Allora Dubay

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

This presentation is based on a book project providing an interdisciplinary introduction to the topic of prostitution. Allora Dubay will present on the political context in which prostitution takes place. She will discuss prominent feminist theories regarding prostitution and how those theories influence public policy in the United States and Europe. In doing so, she will explain how policies vary between national governments and among subnational governments.

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Framing Sex Work Activism: A Sociological View, Nancy Kannampuzha Mar 2014

Framing Sex Work Activism: A Sociological View, Nancy Kannampuzha

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

This presentation is based on a book project providing an interdisciplinary introduction to the topic of prostitution. Nancy Kannampuzha will review the sociological literature at the intersection of social movements and prostitution. She will report on ethnographic and interview data to reveal the most commonly used rhetorical frames pro- and anti-sex work activists use when recruiting and retaining members. She will describe the assumptions and taken-for-granted moral and ethical aspects of these claims. The literature suggests that pro- and anti-sex work activists draw upon strikingly similar notions of body ownership and empowerment.

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Prostitution As A Business, Steven Zhou Mar 2014

Prostitution As A Business, Steven Zhou

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

This presentation is based on a book project providing an interdisciplinary introduction to the topic of prostitution. Steven Zhou will present on prostitution as a business enterprise, describing the social stigmatization of sex work as well as how prostitution functions as an industry involving entrepreneurial risks and rewards, stakeholders, a market structure, and occupational hazards.

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Psychological Correlates Of Prostitution, Rosemond Travis Mar 2014

Psychological Correlates Of Prostitution, Rosemond Travis

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

This presentation is based on a book project providing an interdisciplinary introduction to the topic of prostitution. Rose Travis will discuss literature that quantitatively addresses the psychological correlates of engaging in prostitution. First, the challenges of researching this population will be considered, followed by examining possible motivations associated with pursuing prostitution. Themes include economic motivation, drug addiction motivation, finding stability in prostitution, personal empowerment, social motivation, and escaping personal hardships. Next, research on psychological characteristics common among women engaged in prostitution will be described, including childhood abuse, adulthood abuse, drug use, posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, dissociation, and somatization. The …

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Bacibeans: A Netbeans Plugin For Concurrent Programs, Ashley Broadwell Mar 2014

Bacibeans: A Netbeans Plugin For Concurrent Programs, Ashley Broadwell

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

C-- is a programming language developed by M. Ben-Ari to teach principles of concurrent and distributed programming. It is a small subset of the C language but with the added features of concurrency, semaphores, and monitors. BACI is an acronym for Ben-Ari Concurrency Interpreter. JavaBACI is an open-source command line concurrency simulator used by students to compile and run C-- programs. NetBeans is an integrated development environment (IDE) that many students use in our courses to develop Java and C++ programs. This talk describes the development of a NetBeans plug-in we call BACIBeans that integrates JavaBACI into NetBeans, combining the …

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Extracts Of Trichostema Lanatum Inhibit The Growth Of Gram-Positive Bacteria And An Escherichia Coli Δtolc Mutant Strain, Matthew C. Fleming Mar 2014

Extracts Of Trichostema Lanatum Inhibit The Growth Of Gram-Positive Bacteria And An Escherichia Coli Δtolc Mutant Strain, Matthew C. Fleming

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

The Chumash Native Americans of Southern California have well-documented traditions of using plants for medicinal purposes. If a specific plant has traditionally been used for the treatment of cuts, wounds and infections, it may contain chemicals with anti-bacterial properties. One plant that fits these criteria is Trichostema lanatum (woolly blue curls). We tested extracts of T. lanatum for their ability to inhibit the growth of a variety of bacteria. Because of the widespread use of antibiotics over the past sixty years bacteria are evolving greater resistance to known antibiotics, but unfortunately the rate of antibiotic discovery has diminished during the …

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Effect Of Facebook On Mood, Caroline Roemer Mar 2014

Effect Of Facebook On Mood, Caroline Roemer

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

This study investigated the effect of exposure to Facebook relationships on mood through passive encounters with three different Facebook profiles. Undergraduate students were administered a Positive and Negative Affect Scale and then completed three conditions in a random order: looking at their own Facebook profile, the Facebook profile of a close friend, and the Facebook profile of a distant acquaintance. They took a PANAS mood scale after each condition to find the influence of each relationship on mood. Personality trait scores (as measured by the International Personality Item Pool) were examined in relationship to changes in mood.

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The Right To Choose: Women’S Political Activity In Islamic States, Emily A. Gibson Mar 2014

The Right To Choose: Women’S Political Activity In Islamic States, Emily A. Gibson

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

The past fifteen to twenty years have seen a significant shift in focus to the Middle East-North Africa (MENA) region as well as other primarily Islamic regions and countries, including Indonesia. Much of Western foreign policy has been allocated to tracking and stopping trans-national Islamic terrorist networks such as Al-Qaeda and Al-Shabaab, and working with the governments of the countries throughout which these groups operate. Despite what popular culture may portray, those who study Islam and its adherents have come to recognize that these terrorist groups represent a severe minority of what is often a thoughtful and peaceful faith. However, …

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Cardiovascular Health Among Us And Argentine University Students: A Comparative Study Of Behaviors And Risk Factors, Gina Fitzgerald, Gabriella Smith Mar 2014

Cardiovascular Health Among Us And Argentine University Students: A Comparative Study Of Behaviors And Risk Factors, Gina Fitzgerald, Gabriella Smith

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

Cardiovascular disease for some time has been the leading cause of death in the Western world. Primary prevention is the only way to halt the onset of cardiovascular disease, yet there is little information on the prevalence of risk factors for cardiovascular disease in young adults. This study seeks to evaluate students from the Catholic University of Argentina and Pepperdine University of America for the prevalence of CVD risk factors, as well as knowledge of CVD and daily habits that contribute to heart health. Thus we compared two cultures with very different lifestyles and prevalence of risk factors. We hypothesized …

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Finding A Frame That Fits: Analyzing And Comparing Rival Framing Of American Gun Control Policy In 2013, Alexander Booker Mar 2014

Finding A Frame That Fits: Analyzing And Comparing Rival Framing Of American Gun Control Policy In 2013, Alexander Booker

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

This paper uses and expands upon the theoretical framework of political framing theory to analyze the messages that came out of different gun lobby groups during the early 2013 debate on gun control legislation that was being discussed within the United States Congress. My research question is what are the elements of a political action frame for a piece of legislation that can lead to positive or negative public opinion of it? To conduct my research I use a mixed-methods research approach to analyze recent political framing in regards to American gun control policy. For the qualitative part of the …

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The Effect Of Shear Stress, Potassium, And Adenosine On Α-1 Adrenergic Vasoconstriction Of Rat Soleus Feed Arteries, Tanner J. Heckle Mar 2014

The Effect Of Shear Stress, Potassium, And Adenosine On Α-1 Adrenergic Vasoconstriction Of Rat Soleus Feed Arteries, Tanner J. Heckle

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

During exercise, sympathetic nerve activity increases, augmenting the release of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine (NE) at the arterial wall and into the blood. NE binds to arterial adrenergic receptors to cause vasoconstriction, yet arteries in contracting skeletal muscle dilate during exercise. Previous evidence from Ives et al. suggests that heat and acidosis may partially inhibit constriction resulting from α-1 adrenergic receptors (termed sympatholysis). Our lab has previously demonstrated that rat soleus feed arteries respond to sympathetic signaling solely by α-1 adrenoceptors. We hypothesized that increased levels of arterial wall shear stress, potassium, or adenosine also contribute to sympatholysis, thereby reducing sympathetic …

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Equality Isn’T All It’S Cracked Up To Be: The Price Of Duality And Bilingualism, Alexandria Roberts-Mendel Mar 2014

Equality Isn’T All It’S Cracked Up To Be: The Price Of Duality And Bilingualism, Alexandria Roberts-Mendel

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

In the province of New Brunswick, English and French have shared co-official status since 1969, with the approval of the Official Languages Act. Francophones (French-speakers) make up a little over 31% of the population, and Anglophones (English-speakers) are the majority at 69% of the population. Even with equal linguistic rights, the Francophone minority often struggles to receive equal treatment in areas such as health care and education. From May-July 2013, I worked with Professor Keating Marshall on a SURP project, collecting 17 months’ worth of op-ed articles and letters to the editor from two of Southeastern New Brunswick’s Anglophone newspapers, …

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What Makes A ‘Good’ Definition: Analyzing Students’ Conceptions Of Mathematical Definitions And The Pedagogy Of Definitions In Math Education, Jesse Aston Mar 2014

What Makes A ‘Good’ Definition: Analyzing Students’ Conceptions Of Mathematical Definitions And The Pedagogy Of Definitions In Math Education, Jesse Aston

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

What are the key differences between how students view mathematical definitions and how their professors think they do? In this study we follow students during a guided reconstruction exercise in which they create a definition for, in this case, the convergence of a sequence and we record the process on film. Several theoretical frameworks including RME are then used to analyze student responses and behavior throughout the process and determine the difference in perceptions between student and teacher; these differences inform the best method to present definitions to students.

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Public Attitudes Toward Bike Lanes In New York City, Wil Fisher Mar 2014

Public Attitudes Toward Bike Lanes In New York City, Wil Fisher

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

As bicycles gradually become an established form of transportation in the United States, planners and policymakers need new evidence to determine how best to expand bicycle infrastructure. Using logistic regression analysis of 2012 public opinion data from New York City, this article explores the demographics behind support of bicycle lanes. Due to an absence of literature on public opinion of bike lanes, it examines a breadth of variables in order to provide a basis for future research, answering the question: What personal characteristics are important in one's support for bike lanes? This study also demonstrates the distinction between demographics of …

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The Consequences Of Somali Piracy On International Trade, La'nita M. Johnson Mar 2014

The Consequences Of Somali Piracy On International Trade, La'nita M. Johnson

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

In the last decade, piracy in the African waters, especially surrounding Somalia, has vastly increased. Due to a previous civil war, absence central government in the country and lack of natural resources, Somalia is presently one of the most underdeveloped countries in the world—which many say is a large stimulus in the rise and expansion of piracy. Although these attacks frequently go unnoticed, they have a large-scale effect on the global economy and international trade. This paper will first briefly observe the history of piracy, then go on to introduce the recent prevalence of Somali pirates off of the Horn …

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Influence Of Temperature On The Tensile Strength Of Spider Silk (Araneus Gemmoides), Victoria Lekson Mar 2014

Influence Of Temperature On The Tensile Strength Of Spider Silk (Araneus Gemmoides), Victoria Lekson

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

Temperature ranges between day and night in southern California can be as great as 30°C and may influence vital functioning of ectothermic organisms. Arachnids produce silks from a pair of spinnerets in their abdomen and rely on variance in protein composition to make different types of silks. Temperature may influence tensile strength of filaments. We tested the effects of temperature on tensile strength of dragline silk of five specimens of Araneus gemmoides (orb-weaver) which were collected from Malibu Creek State Park in the Santa Monica Mountains of southern California, under five temperature conditions. Each specimen was placed in a 0.0283 …

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Xenophobia, Whiteness, And Citizenship In The United States, Carolyn Dapper Mar 2014

Xenophobia, Whiteness, And Citizenship In The United States, Carolyn Dapper

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

In January 2014, the Republican Party released new "principles of immigration" which among many reforms, made space for the possibility of a pathway toward "legal status" for certain groups of undocumented immigrants in the United States. This paper investigates the rhetorical difference between "citizenship" and "legal status" and claims how these principles reflect the GOP's motives to ease their conservative constituents' anxieties surrounding the protection of a traditional, euroamerican definition of American citizenship. This paper analyzes the relationship between whiteness and citizenship, a class which extends beyond ethnicity and involves education, income level, and values associated with WASP America.

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Relationship Trends Across Two Generations: An Examination Of Relationship Quality In Children With Divorced Parents, Hadley W. Burke, Hannah Joyner Mar 2014

Relationship Trends Across Two Generations: An Examination Of Relationship Quality In Children With Divorced Parents, Hadley W. Burke, Hannah Joyner

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship quality trends in offspring of divorced and non-divorced parents. Relationship domains included self, friendship, and romantic relationships. 68 undergraduate students completed an online survey pertaining to these three relationship dimensions. Results indicated that there were not statistically significant positive correlations between offspring of married parents versus divorced parents and their self-relationship, friendship, and romantic relationships.

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The Combination Of Organization And Emotion: An Immediate Free Recall Task, Christopher O. Hunt Mar 2014

The Combination Of Organization And Emotion: An Immediate Free Recall Task, Christopher O. Hunt

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

Both organization (e.g., semantic-relatedness) and emotional valence have been found to lead to better memory as seen through the superior recall of semantically-related and emotionally-valenced lists. However, research suggests that these two factors may not only lack an additive effect when combined, but may result in worse recall. Based on this research, we hypothesized emotion would hinder recall of a semantically-related list by impairing the relational processing that usually benefits recall of semantically-related material. This hypothesis was supported, as it was found that emotional valence resulted in reduced recall in a semantically-related list. This finding may have important implications for …

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A Contagion Model Of Emergency Airplane Evacuations, Junyuan Lin Mar 2014

A Contagion Model Of Emergency Airplane Evacuations, Junyuan Lin

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

Motivated by the Asiana Flight 214 crash in San Francisco this summer, this project focuses on modeling an emergency airplane evacuation. Our models are based on the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm, where each agent's position is compared to a fitness function that describes the current environment. Each agent moves according to its knowledge of its own previous best position and the group's current best position. The static environment is modeled by a potential function that describes the layout of the airplane that includes the exits and physical barriers such as the seats. We model the interactions within the swarm …

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An Exploration Of Gender Roles And Communication In Emerging Adulthood, Francesca Guglielmi Mar 2014

An Exploration Of Gender Roles And Communication In Emerging Adulthood, Francesca Guglielmi

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

What did you say? A common expression uttered by males and females reflects a potential lack of understanding between the sexes. Gender and communication is not a new area, but it is an under researched area within emerging adulthood. Traditionally, development progressed from adolescence to young adulthood, but changes in today’s modern society have altered the typical pattern of "growing up". High school graduates are no longer forced into adult roles—careers and marriage—but are able to spend their late teens through mid-twenties exploring a variety of opportunities (Arnett, 2007). As a relatively new developmental stage, emerging adulthood has not been …

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The Regulatory Effect Of Semaphorin 7a On Proliferation And Migration In Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells, Steven R. Fleming Mar 2014

The Regulatory Effect Of Semaphorin 7a On Proliferation And Migration In Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells, Steven R. Fleming

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

Semaphorin 7A (SEMA 7A), a factor originally identified as regulating axon growth, has recently been implicated as a pro-angiogenic factor. The molecular mechanisms for this ability to stimulate angiogenesis have not been identified. This study examines if SEMA 7A can have a direct effect on vascular endothelial cells or whether it indirectly induces angiogenesis through stimulation and recruitment of macrophages as has been suggested. Using human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), the ability of SEMA 7A to affect proliferation and migration was examined. HUVECs were exposed to SEMA 7A directly or to conditioned media collected from macrophages exposed to SEMA …

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Isolation Of Antibacterial Compounds From Artemisia Californica, Jae Eun Min Mar 2014

Isolation Of Antibacterial Compounds From Artemisia Californica, Jae Eun Min

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

The Chumash Native Americans of Southern California have well-documented traditions of using plants for medicinal purposes. If a specific plant has traditionally been used by Chumash for the treatment of cuts, wounds and infections, it may contain chemicals with anti-bacterial properties. One plant that fits these criteria is Artemisia californica (coastal sage). Because of the widespread use of antibiotics over the past sixty years bacteria are evolving greater resistance to known antibiotics, but unfortunately the rate of antibiotic discovery has diminished during the past twenty years. Therefore, novel and effective antibiotics are essential for the continued treatment of bacterial infections. …

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Conformity And How It Relates To Eating Patterns, Ashley A. Martin Mar 2014

Conformity And How It Relates To Eating Patterns, Ashley A. Martin

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

This study examines how the eating habits and behaviors of individuals are influenced by another person’s presence. Prior research has shown that participants are more likely to conform to eating patterns and behaviors of others in a large group; however this particular study focuses on the influence of just one other person. Twenty-nine females, aged 18-22, from Pepperdine University participated in a study designed to assess whether participants were more likely to conform to a confederate’s healthy eating patterns. It was hypothesized that participants, when presented with a variety of foods (both healthy and unhealthy), would be more likely to …

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Nanoparticle Exposure Activates An Inositol Triphosphate Receptor-Dependent Elevation Of Reactive Oxygen Species And Apoptosis In Human Alveolar Lung Cells, Briana Manes, Sarah Alvarado Mar 2014

Nanoparticle Exposure Activates An Inositol Triphosphate Receptor-Dependent Elevation Of Reactive Oxygen Species And Apoptosis In Human Alveolar Lung Cells, Briana Manes, Sarah Alvarado

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

The signaling of cell stress in response to organelle dysfunction, toxin exposure, and mutation is complex; generating responses that can include adaptation, or in severe cases, cellular apoptosis. Nanoparticles (20-100 nm diameter) have been shown to induce cell stress in lung cells, potentially identifying a cause of lung disease in areas with high levels of particulate-based air pollution. This study examines the effect of carbon black (CB) and titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles on stress signaling and apoptosis in cultured A549 human alveolar epithelial cells. CB and TiO2 powders were dispersed throughout a buffered solution containing bovine serum albumin using probe …

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Volunteer Activities And Self-Esteem, Viviana Vasquez Mar 2014

Volunteer Activities And Self-Esteem, Viviana Vasquez

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

While prior studies have found a relationship between volunteerism and self-esteem, results are inconclusive for college students. The current study examined students attending a small, private, Christian liberal arts college to determine whether students who engage in volunteer activities with direct contact with the individuals they are serving would report higher levels of self-esteem. Results indicated that there was no significant difference between the amount of direct contact a participant engaged in at his/her volunteer site and his/her self-esteem. However, results demonstrated that females report higher levels of direct contact at their volunteer sites and are more likely to report …

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