Digital Commons Network^™

Great Plains Midcontinental Loess Deposits Following Prehistoric Megadroughts And Climate-Change Related Ecosystem Collapse In The Badlands, Melanie Vasquez, Drew Tozer, Catherine Acosta

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Understanding effects of prehistoric extreme climate events on the environment is necessary to help predict effects of modern global climate change. Research shows prehistoric megadroughts caused the collapse of North American grassland ecosystems, allowing wind to erode soils and fined-grained sediment. Timing, severity, and regional extent of these megadroughts remain controversial, but research indicates at least three megadrought periods on the North American midcontinent over the last 20,000 years. Evidence for prehistoric megadroughts is preserved in dune fields and loess deposits throughout the North American Great Plains, including our field area in the Badlands of South Dakota. Loess, composed of …

Ha Ha Ha... Good One!... Not You Hmongs. Laughter, White Privilege, And "Othering" In Medical Cultures, Sarah Soliman

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The response to alternative medical approaches of underprivileged and underrepresented groups detailed by Anne Fadiman differ from the hegemonic alternative approaches exemplified by Norman Cousins. In The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Fadiman describes the inadequate efforts made by healthcare professionals to communicate with the Lee family who did not understand English and had significantly different medicinal practices from Western biomedical practices. Rather than being met with respect and attentiveness, these medical professionals viewed this family as “difficult” and “stupid.” In comparison to the various mistreated groups of minorities, the Hmong are a minority within the minority …

Human Mtdna Copy Number Quantification, Leonardo Lacayo, Luzcarime Saco-Vertiz

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Our social worlds and physical health are profoundly intertwined, but we have limited tools for studying these important connections. Within the recent psychiatric literature, changes in mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNAcn) have been linked to a variety of socially influenced mental illnesses such as major depression. In principle, this biomarker may therefore also be responsive to more subtle changes in our social environments, including life events that attenuate stress.

This poster outlines plans for a novel molecular study of how interspecies social bonding impacts human cells. Specifically, we propose to use quantitative PCR to measure the abundances of (single copy) …

I Can Hear You, I Just Can't Remember You: Deconstructing The Sensory And Cognitive Components Of Hearing Loss, Pranay Narang, Hana Amireh

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Hearing loss is commonly thought of as solely a sensory, not cognitive, problem. According to the effortfulness effect, however, those with presbycusis are burdened with an increased attentional cost for auditory processing, taxing the central executive such that working memory is impaired. The excess strain placed on the central executive to decode sensory noise ultimately impairs one’s capacity to attend to and consolidate memories, compromising retention. We hypothesize that the presence of white noise during encoding will mimic the effect of hearing loss sustained in older adults and will impair the retrieval of auditory information in those with normal hearing. …

Implications Of Covid-19 For Education And Research In Healthcare And Stem: Analysis Of Global Case Studies, Yumna Indorewala

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 has posed a major threat to global education and research in STEM and healthcare. Social distancing guidelines were initially recommended to refrain from face-to-face operations for preventing the transmission of the virus. As schools and higher academic institutions implemented multifarious methods to effectively transition to remote/online or hybrid educational formats, the Coronavirus Infectious Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic introduced further hurdles and necessitated designing, adopting, as well as evaluating the efficacy of new instructional approaches, especially for disciplines that require active, experiential learning such as healthcare and STEM. These effects are accentuated in less developed/developing nations or …

Inter-Limb Kinetic Asymmetries Differ Between Concentric And Eccentric Phases Of The Vertical Jump, Vanessa Alexandre

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Inter-limb asymmetries during the vertical jump (VJ) have been used to identify injury risk and performance deficits with >10% being a threshold. Force, or kinetic asymmetries have typically been studied for the concentric (propulsive) phase of the VJ while eccentric (loading) phase analyses are limited. The purpose of this study was to determine if there were differences in inter-limb asymmetry (%) in impulse (force * time) and peak force between VJ eccentric and concentric phases. Results may inform coaches and sport healthcare providers. Participants were 60 highly skilled males (age, 22.7±1.1yrs.; height, 186.4±6.8cm; mass, 103±21.2kg) undergoing training for the National …

Investigating The Bouba-Kiki Phenomenon In Impression Formation, Pritika Shah

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Humans associate sounds and symbols in non-arbitrary ways. One example of this phenomenon is the Bouba/Kiki effect: the nonword “Bouba” is associated with rounder shapes, whereas “Kiki” is associated with sharper shapes. Although many studies have been done on the Bouba-Kiki effect, it has not been studied in the context of personality judgments and impression formation. Study 1 used a between-subjects design to test the Bouba/Kiki effect in this domain. A person named “Bouba” was rated as more moral than a person named “Kiki”, whereas “Kiki” was rated as more sociable, however no significant difference was found for competence ratings. …

Investigating The Specific Phosphorylation Sites Of The Human Mineralocorticoid Receptor Using Phospho-Mapping, Valentina Guidi

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The purpose of this project is to confirm the specific sites where G protein receptor kinase 5 (GRK-5)- mediated phosphorylation of the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) of aldosterone occurs. The significance of the study stems from prior findings indicating that e-cigarette vapors induce lung inflammation and tissue destruction. While research has typically focused on the effects of tobacco use, the detrimental influence of e-cigarette vapors, which accumulate in the airway epithelium, must also be identified. This may include desensitization of the beta2-adrenergic receptor (β2AR), a protective receptor against airway inflammation and fibrosis and the only AR subtype expressed in human bronchial …

Measuring The Effect Of Methionine Deprivation In Genome Methylation Of Ccp Genes Within The Prolaris Molecular Score Along Prostate Cancer Cell Lines, Yatin Srinivash Ramesh Babu, Trevor Fuhriman Oms 2, Andy Aleman Espino Oms 2

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Impairment of physiological metabolism is the trademark of various cancers and cancer cells as a component of their mechanism which ultimately bolsters survival. While normal cells are highly regulated and follow a sophisticated mechanism of cellular metabolism to achieve their goals of survival, cancer cells take the dysregulated path for survival, ultimately robbing the overall vital energies of the entire organism. Unfortunately, only a limited number of uniform ways exist that permit for a complete cure of various presentations of cancers. The PC3 cell line has been reported to be dependent upon exogenous pools of methionine, whereas the DU-145 cell …

Minimal K-Blockers Of 123-Avoiding Permutation Matrices, Megan Bennett

Undergraduate Student Symposium

We investigate n × n (0, 1)-matrices A that avoid σk, where σk is the permutation {1, 2,…, k}, and we focus on 123-avoiding permutations. A k-blocker of 123-avoiding permutation matrices is a set of positions in an n × n matrix that intersect each 123-avoiding permutation matrix at least k times. The Hankel cyclic decomposition implies that each k-blockers must have cardinality at least kn. The dimensions of the k-blockers of all permutation matrices are determined by Fulkerson’s generalization of the Frobenius-König theorem: any r × s submatrix is a k-blocker of all permutation matrices if r …

Phage Hunters: The Discovery Of Two Novel Bacteriophages That Infect Gordonia Rubripertincta, Sarah Ballarin, Neel G. Balusa, Melissa Bell, Samia Caballero, Joshua Chan, Maria P. Farez, Ashley Guillen-Tapia, Nashrah Pierre-Louis, Victoria Polishuk, Bhavya Soni

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Antibiotic resistance is a global healthcare concern because it poses a threat to effectively treating bacterial infections and the need for alternative therapeutics are urgently required. Phage therapy, which uses viruses to treat bacterial infections, is a promising alternative to conventional antibiotics. Phages have also been widely used in the food industry to prevent microbial growth on certain foods and are currently being explored as a method for bioremediation of oil spills and wastewater treatment. Although phages are ubiquitous in nature, many have yet to be discovered. Through the SEA-PHAGES (Science Education Alliance-Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science) program …

Physiological Mechanisms Of Pregnancy: How The Kidneys And The Renin-Angiotensin System Protect The Fetus, Raghavi Vuppala, Crystal West

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Physiological changes concurrent with pregnancy include plasma volume expansion with increased sodium retention to enable normal development of the fetus. Expansion of plasma volume and sodium reabsorption are adaptive mechanisms that occur in response to the altered physiological state of pregnancy. These adaptations are mediated by the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) and its primary hormone, angiotensin (Ang) II, acting on the kidney. The role of Ang II in the kidney also involves stimulation of aldosterone release from the adrenal gland, which promotes sodium retention by the kidney. Ang II activates its two main receptors in the kidneys: AT1 and AT2. The …

Raising Awareness About Recognizing Pediatric Obstructive Sleep Apnea Associated With Down Syndrome: Developing A Health Education Program, Mahima Dave

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Down syndrome (DS) is the most prevalent chromosomal disorder in which an extra copy of chromosome-21 disrupts the development of intellectual abilities. Unique physical manifestations places children with DS at high risk for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in which repeated blockages of the upper airway cause difficulty breathing during sleep. 80% of children with DS are afflicted with OSA compared to only 2-5% of the general pediatric population. OSA increases incidences of nocturnal sudden cardiac arrest by 2.57-fold compared to the general population. Common signs of OSA include snoring, restlessness during sleep, night waking, and daytime tiredness. Manifestations of OSA, …

Re-Discovery Of Microatolls In The Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, Amber Orr

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Microatolls are coral colonies with a signature ring-like shape. They form in shallow water where depth limits vertical growth, allowing them to be utilized as indicators of current and past sea level. Additional contributors to their formation include accumulation of sediment on the colonies which smothers corallites in the center of the structure, overgrowth by algae, and upper surface abrasion by bioeroding organisms. Microatolls occur at numerous locations in the Indo-West Pacific, however, they are reported at only two known locations in the tropical eastern Pacific: Caño Island, Costa Rica and the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. More than 50 Porites lobata …

Skill Football Players Outperform And "Outforce" Big-Skill And Big Players In The Vertical Jump, Jeffrey Marin, Erica Vazquez

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Vertical jump (VJ) performance is critical for football players. Position demands vary and may influence VJ loading (eccentric) and propulsion (concentric) forces. Examining forces in addition to jump height (JH) informs training programs. We aimed to determine differences in VJ performance [reactive strength (RSImod, m/s); JH (cm)] and peack concentric (CON-PF) and eccentric (ECC-PF) forces between position groups. Sixty football players (age, 22.6±1.1yrs; ht, 186.4±6.8cm; mass, 103.6±21.2kg) representing three position groups, Skill, Big-Skill, and Big, performed VJ on dual uniaxial force plates. ForceDecks software allowed for calculation of the dependent variables. ECC-PF and CON-PF were normalized to body mass (N/kg). …

Skill Position Football Players Have Greater Vertical Jump Kinetic Asymmetry But Better Performance Than Big Skill And Big Position Players, Ashley Mcdonough, Ayoub Ziani

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The vertical jump (VJ) assesses lower limb power and is tested in players entering the National Football League’s (NFL) draft. Limb asymmetry of ≥10% has been linked to injury and poor performance. Assessing VJ performance and kinetic asymmetry by player position may guide group-based training programs. We sought to determine if VJ performance and kinetic asymmetries were different between football position groups, Skill Players (SP), Big Skill Players (BS), and Big Players (BP). Sixty participants (age, 22.7 1.1yrs;± ht, 186.4±6.8cm; mass, 103.6±21.2kg) training for the NFL draft performed VJ on dual uniaxial force plates. Performance variables of reactive strength (RSI-mod) …

Social Vulnerability And Adult Obesity In The State Of Florida, Shreeya Patel

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Introduction: Socioeconomic and racial disparities are prevalent regarding obesity rates, where race, income, and education are predictors of obesity. Social vulnerability, or a community's ability to respond to stressors on health, may be one explanation for these disparities. The purpose of this study is to examine the associations between social vulnerability and obesity among Florida counties. Methods: We conducted an ecological cross-sectional study among 67 Florida counties. To measure county-level social vulnerability, we utilized the CDC Social Vulnerability Index (SVI), which is composed of four themes. County-level adult obesity prevalence in 2017 was obtained from the UWPHI’s County Health Rankings. …

Substantiation And Validation Of The Benefits Of Cures In Stem Using A Combination Of Self-Reported Gains And Alignment With Learning Objectives, Monica Aguiar

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The implementation of the Biochemistry Authentic Scientific Inquiry Lab (BASIL) Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) is an important resource that grants students the opportunity to develop research experience while working to earn their bachelor’s degree. Pre and post Participant Perception Indicator (PPI) surveys were made available to students to measure student improvement after taking the course. Growth in knowledge, experience, and confidence (KEC) was measured by comparing the pre-semester and post-semester PPI survey data. In addition to the self-reported data, the student learning objective mastery quantitatively using Anticipated Learning Outcomes (ALOs) designed specifically for the BASIL CURE curriculum. Likert scale-based …

Survival And Development Of Zebra Longwing, Heliconius Charithonia, On Native And Non-Native Passion Vines, Passiflora Sp., In South Florida, Cassidy Loucks, Celina Nelson-Jordan

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Zebra longwing butterflies (Heliconius charithonia) are distributed throughout Central and South America, and the southernmost regions of the United States, including Florida. These heliconian butterflies not only consume nectar, but are also known to feed on pollen, resulting in a longer lifespan than most butterflies. In their larval stage, H. charithonia feed exclusively on Passiflora spp, however preferred host species for H. charithonia eggs and overall larval performance across Passion vine species is not well documented. We examined these criteria of zebra longwings from egg to adulthood on two native passion vines to Florida, corky stem (Passiflora …

The Effect Of Fluorinated Substitution Of Meso Phenyl Porphyrins On Porphyrin Basicity, Harsh Chheda, Rushi Patel

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of fluorinated substitution of meso phenyl porphyrins on porphyrin basicity. The protonation of meso-Tetra(2,3,4-trifluoromethylphenyl) porphyrin (TF) and meso-Tetra(pentafluorophenyl) porphyrin (PF) will be studied through UV vis spectroscopy. Protonation is achieved by titration of each porphyrin in toluene with trifluoroacetic acid (TFA). The presence of a wavelength shift from the free base Soret to the protonated Soret will indicate the formation of a dication. The data from the UV spectra will be used to calculate the pK_a values associated with each porphyrin. Based on the results, the average pK_{a …}

The Halls Of Power, Janay Joseph, Graciel Quezada, Bianca Vucetich

Undergraduate Student Symposium

“The Halls of Power” is a documentary short film about the life and work of Elijah Manley, a young politician and activist in South Florida. The main story focuses on Elijah Manley’s life and political activism as the youngest person to ever run for the Florida State Legislature. The second storyline will follow other young activists and organizers within the community. The goal of the documentary is to inform the audience about this activist and demonstrate how one can get involved in politics. We hope to encourage the young demographic to be more engaged with their local politics. Because politics …

The Impact Of Post-Traumatic Stress On Symptom Presentation Of Women With Gulf War Illness, Nandan Shastry, Esha Sultana

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Gulf War Illness (GWI) is a multi-symptomatic disorder characterized by fatigue, muscle pain, cognitive problems, gastrointestinal issues, etc. affecting an estimated 30% of the ~750,000 returning military Veterans of the 1990–1991 Persian Gulf War. Female Veterans deployed to combat in this war report medical symptoms, involving cognition and respiratory troubles, at twice the rate compared to nondeployed female Veterans of the same era. The heterogeneity of GWI symptom presentation complicates diagnosis as well as the identification of effective treatments. This is exacerbated by the presence of comorbidities which may be alleviated by defining subgroups of the illness, such as an …

The Teacher, Amari Russell

Undergraduate Student Symposium

“The Teacher” is a short film about a professor who gets harassed by one of his former students. The film is directed by Amari Russell. Another crew member/actor includes Adam Deross.

The Universal Mass Function And Its Applicability To Organic Molecules, Gabrielle Biltgen-Morrissette

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The ability to predict the yield when synthesizing an organic molecule is a challenging issue in organic chemistry and a major obstacle when planning a multi-step organic synthesis. To choose the most time, money, and waste efficient way it will be beneficial to be able to predict the yield of the product. The Universal Mass Function (UMF) states that cosmic objects on all scales are in direct relation to each other. It shows that massive objects are much rarer than objects with lower masses. The following research aims to examine if the UMF theory is applicable to the field of …

Touch Sensitivity In College-Aged Adults, Hannah Laufenberg, Isabel De Angelis

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The present study aims to identify what factors influence pain perception. Previous studies have focused on the differences in pain tolerance between genders, but this difference could be due to differences in physiology. The COMT rs4680 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) has been implicated in stress and pain perception (Serrano et al., 2019, Hill et al., 2018). G/G/ allele carriers perform better under stressful conditions and perceive less pain relative to the A/- allele carriers. Here we examined how gender, body size, and genetic makeup influences pain intensity, pain threshold, and pain tolerance. Participants will be asked to passively drool into …

Tree Canopy Biodiversity In An Urban Forestry Setting On Nova Southeastern University's Main Campus, Katja Kramers, Mackenzie Soligon, Amber Orr, James Puentes

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Nova Southeastern University's (NSU) 314-acre main campus has many lush green spaces comprised of native, landscape, and educational garden areas. Understanding the biodiversity of the canopy and the overall composition of native and invasive species is important for measuring ecological health of the urban ecosystem, and to guide responsible grounds management practices. As the environment and landscape at NSU develops, it is important to keep records of these environmental changes over time. The purpose of the research is to investigate the biodiversity of the campus' green spaces and document the native species on campus. 10 zones were randomly selected from …

Understanding The Tradeoff Between Atp Metabolism And Growth In E. Coli, Naziba Nuha, Julia Gumirov, Ariane Kalifa

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The inoculum effect (IE) is a phenomenon in which the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of an antibiotic increases with the density of a bacterial population. IE has been observed for nearly all antibiotics, and has been shown to decrease antibiotic efficacy, prolong the recovery period and increase mortality rates. Despite its ubiquity in the clinic, a mechanism to explain IE for bacteria that expresses antibiotic resistant elements, such as β-lactamases, has yet to be identified. Interesting enough, recent work has shown that interactions between growth rate and metabolism, as determined through ATP production, affect IE for bacteria that lack a …

Using Social Media To Educate And Increase Awareness About The Harmful Effects Of Tobacco And Its Relationship With Covid-19, Rylee Azia Gardner, Tina Takla

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Tobacco use is the leading cause of deaths, diseases, and health care costs in our society. The Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Program at Nova Southeastern University launched a pilot social media campaign in June 2021 to encourage widespread distribution of information on the harmful effects of tobacco use across multiple social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn). This initiative is student driven and faculty supported. Its goals are to increase social consciousness about the harmful effects of tobacco use through the widespread sharing of messaging and to motivate tobacco users to seek readily available cessation services provided through …

How The Molecular Vibrations Of Water May Prevent Skin Cancer, Ramson Munoz Morales, Jenna Handal

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Studies have shown that when DNA absorbs ultraviolet light it can become structurally damaged leading to a mutation and possibly skin cancer. However, exposing skin to sunlight rarely leads to a mutation. This indicates that after the ultraviolet light is absorbed by the DNA the energy from the light can either cause a structural change to the DNA (a mutation) or be dissipated in a way that does not damage the DNA. Absorption of ultraviolet light causes molecular vibrations in DNA and these vibrations are what likely leads to structural changes in the DNA. One way the structural changes could …

Molecular Biomarkers Of Ptsd: A Case For Measuring Psychotherapy Efficacy And Mtdna Cn Involvement, Ariana Ali, Aidan Kunju

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder that occurs in individuals who witness or experience a traumatic event. Many PTSD treatments have a focus on direct alterations of emotion and thought responses due to trauma. Some of the leading psychotherapy treatments for ptsd include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), and Prolonged Exposure (PE). Eye Movement Desensitization and Realization (EMDR) Therapy has greater focus on altering memory storage in the brain. EMDR differs from other psychotherapies in that the reprocessing of trauma engages both hemispheres of the brain via bilateral stimulation. EMDR along with other psychotherapies …