Digital Commons Network^™

The Language Of Mathematics: Proof Without Words, Bryan Candela

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Mathematics is the language of the sciences. Unlike most other scientific laws, mathematical laws are by nature unbiased and irrefutable, and as such, tend to be accepted as truth in a way that other scientific laws cannot. While understanding the proofs of many well-known mathematical facts requires a high level of mathematical maturity, there are also many (perhaps not so intuitive) facts whose proof can be easily understood by anyone. The goal of this project is to show the use of mathematics as a language in the hope of providing insight into the beauty of mathematics.

What Is A Fractal?, Bryan Candela

Undergraduate Student Symposium

What are fractals? Mathematicians like to make simple models to understand and advance the world around us. Common geometric objects, unfortunately, are often too simple to model the world we live in. A line as a model for a river, or a cone as a model for a mountain could be overly simplistic. Many objects in nature, such as broccoli, twigs and the venous and arterial system of a child's kidneys, exhibit a self-similar structure whose geometry can be modeled using "fractals." Fractals are much more than just pretty pictures. Fractals have many interesting and seemingly paradoxical properties. Such as …

Using Qualitative Research Methods To Guide Cultural Adaptations To Evidence-Based Practices For Effective Discipline: An Illustration, Diana Wile, Patricia Nabal

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Connections is a school-based, family focused intervention intended to enhance the family and school support available to ethnic minority and immigrant youth. In its development, we struggled with how to adapt evidence-based practices developed largely for European American families for the Latino, West Indian, and Haitian families served by the project. Ideally, cultural and contextual adaptations to EBPs are guided by research, but in our case, there was very little literature to guide our efforts. Furthermore, the immigrant population in South Florida continues to become more diverse, bringing with it ever-changing cultural customs and languages, which begs the question of …

The World Ages In Myth And Science, Trevor Borg

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The concept that time is cyclical in nature pervades the beliefs of most cultures worldwide. Even those cultures who believe there is a definite beginning and apocalyptic end to the universe believe in a rebirth of some sort. Many cultures that lack even this belief have some notion of the "fall of man." This notion of an idyllic "golden age" in the past usually holds that humans in the remote past lived longer and more peacefully. Through successive ages, each worse than the last, humans have sunk to their present state. Eventually, humans may rise again to attain the golden …

The Impact Of Emotional Stress On Raynaud’S Disease, Kara Faso

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Raynaud's Disease is a condition that causes blood vessels to constrict resulting indiscomfort in and discoloration of the hands and feet. Raynaud's Disease can occur inboth a primary and secondary form. The primary form is idiopathic while the secondaryform is comorbid with a second disease and is often classified as 'Raynaud's Phenomenon'. The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) mediates the vasoconstrictive responses to cold exposure and also emotional stress. In fact, the symptoms of Raynaud's Disease are often exaggerated during periods of emotional stress. However, the impact of emotional stress on the development and instances of Raynaud's Disease is not well …

The Effects Of The Herbal Enzyme Bromelain Against Breast Cancer Cell Line Gi101a, Alexandra Paroulek

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Bromelain is a proteinase derived from the stem of pineapple and has been studied for its anti-inflammatory, antithrombotic, and antimetastatic properties. Bromelain has also been known to significantly reduce local tumor growth and to raise the impaired cytotoxicity of monocytes in the immune system against tumor cells. The goal of this project is to advance the mechanistic knowledge of herbal remedies and to confirm the already known antimetastatic properties of Bromelain. The MTS assay method was used 24 hours after Bromelain treatment to detect the cell death. The data show that after 1 μM of Bromelain treatment, the population of …

The Effects Of Mood Manipulation On The Recall Of Neutral Stimulus, Cody Potter

Undergraduate Student Symposium

According to research by Clark and Teasdale (1985), an individual's mood has a strong influence on memory of past events. Other studies have found that the experimental manipulation of mood via hypnosis (Bower, Monteiro & Gilligan, 1987) and music (Kihlstrom & Miranda, 2005,) affects memory, such that positive mood is more conducive to memory than negative mood. In the present research, I propose to test the effect of an experimental mood manipulation on recall of a neutral stimulus. Thirty participants will read a short emotionally neutral passage, after which they will be randomly assigned to watch either a happy or …

The Effects Of Emotional Influences On Cognitive Processing, Kristen Dealmeida

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Although cognition and emotion are well researched topics, it is currently unclear how these two states influence each other. Here, we 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 hypothesize that the negative pictures will increase the demand on emotional resources, and as a consequence, limit cognitive processing. The electroencephalographic (EEG) event related brain potential (ERP) P3 component is used as the primary index of the influence of emotional processing on cognitive functioning. The results of this study will help to clarify …

The Effect Of Examination Stress On Tobacco Usage Amongst Undergraduate Smokers, Randy Denis, Lissette Cortes, Lauren Delucca, Giovanna Rivano

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Previous studies have revealed that tobacco contains chemicals known to reduce stress and anxiety (Kenney, 2006). Indeed, smokers claim to use tobacco as a tool to enhance mood and improve task performance (Croghan, 2006). This is especially true of college students who have the highest amount of tobacco usage and whose tobacco use increases during academic examination periods (Oaten & Cheng, 2005). In this study, we will test the relationship between examination stress and levels of tobacco use. Sixty undergraduate smokers will be tested twice, one month prior to class examination (baseline) and then twenty minutes prior to the final …

The Effect Of Diet-Induced Obesity And Metabolic Syndrome On The Structural Composition Of Extraocular Muscle (Eom) In Ossabaw Pigs, Alexandra Timis

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Ossabaw swine placed on a high fat/fructose (H) diet inclined toward developing obesity and metabolic syndrome, while the lean, active swine on the control (C) diet remained on the healthier end of the spectrum. There were a total of eight samples used: four from the H diet and four from the C diet. The purpose of this experiment was to test the hypothesis that diet-induced obesity and metabolic syndrome would cause an increase in intramyocellular lipid (IMCL) accumulation and change fiber type composition/fiber size in extraocular muscles (EOM) of Ossabaw swine. The rectus medius of the EOM was studied for …

The Correlation Of High Self-Esteem And Aggression In Adolescents, Sabrina Smith, Janessa Dominguez, Cody Potter

Undergraduate Student Symposium

High self-esteem has frequently been regarded as a vital component in an adolescent‘sdevelopment, and has often been linked to positive adjustment outcomes such as academic achievement, positive peer relationships, lower internalizing and externalizing behaviors etc. Although paired with good aspects, recent research suggests that high self- esteem may also be linked to unfavorable outcomes such as aggression, avoidance of the mother, and other antisocial behaviors. This line of research suggests that people with high self-esteem are intolerant of threats to the self, and vigorously strive to maintain or restore their high sense of self-worth when it is threatened. Research has …

The Attitudes And Roles Of Indigenous People Of Veracruz, Mexico Towards Manatees, Sylvia Duluc-Silva, Christina Ledon

Undergraduate Student Symposium

During a Nova Southeastern University sponsored investigation, principal investigators Dr. Edward Keith and Dr. Eileen M. Smith-Cavros will be conducting research entitled "CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE OF MANATEES AT EL MANATÍ, VERACRUZ, MEXICO" with the assistance of undergraduate researchers (Sylvia Duluc-Silva and Christina Ledon). The fieldwork research will be conducted in order to obtain data regarding the history of the Veracruz manatees that appear to have played an important cultural role to the indigenous peoples of Veracruz. Once the basic interviews with the people are performed for the purposes of the primary research, the undergraduate researchers and the principal investigators …

Powering Up A Detergent For The Modern Industrial Sector, Ivana Gagula, Jeff Hsu, Arash Nasajpour, Darshan Solanki

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The chemistry of soaps and detergents was examined to assess the extent of their applicability in the industrial sector. Soaps become less effective in hard water as the higher solute ions interfere with intermolecular forces between soap and water. Detergents, as an alternative to soaps, act as a surfactant to facilitate the cohesive hydrogen bonding of water molecules into an adhesive force on surface abrasions. Chemical analysis of soaps and detergents may yield a new type of compound that is highly effective in cleaning industrial residue. An ideal detergent for cleaning sludge off of industrial machines was devised.

Now Playing, Alyiece Moretto, Patrick Watkins, Jessica Nelson, Katie Keenan

Undergraduate Student Symposium

"Now Playing" is a short film centered around one long music montage, the soundtrack to an isolated girl‘s life. This girl has built walls around her heart, and she has sunk deep into a life she never wanted. In an attempt to control every aspect of her life, with the help of her I-pod, she chooses what to listen to, what to let in and what to close out. The film is directed by Alyiece Moretto. Other crew members include Patrick Watkins, Jessica Nelson, Katie Keenan, and Nick Schanze. Patrick Watkins and Katie Keenan are the starring actors.

Nothing More Powerful Than Love, Corynne Dignan

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The unquestionable power love has over all things is illuminated in early world literature. Emotional control is lost as characters misbehave under the domination of love. In the story of Ceres and Proserpina from Ovid's Metamorphoses, the cravings of love instilled by Cupid make individuals act selfishly and out of character to fulfill their passion, going to any lengths to accomplish their desires. Both maternal and romantic love instill a form of madness that causes characters to harm others. Still, stories such as those in Metamorphoses offer reassurance that powerful emotion endures, even in a contemporary world that privileges …

Melanoma Increase/Decrease Among Floridians In Years 2000 And 2008, Lindsay Frady

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Melanoma is a cancer that affects over 32,000 new individuals per year. Melanoma is a cancer that is within the melanocytes, under the skin, that produce and move the pigment of melanin. Melanin is an especially important pigment because of the protection it provides the human skin. Of the skin cancers that are present within the population, Melanoma accounts for only about five percent, but it is responsible for seventy-five percent of all skin cancer fatalities. In this project, statistical techniques are used to study if there is any change in the number of skin cancer among different age groups …

Implementation Of Open Source Web Service Environment Software Appliance, Carolina Usbeck

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Modern software installations are complex. They require many independent "web services" and applications that usually run on many different machines to work together and collaborate. In the past implementing such an environment was time consuming and took many weeks to implement and test such an application. In this project we showed that the implementation times could be reduced significantly to just a few hours, by using virtualization, by testing the installation on a single machine that has many virtual machines running. Once the installation has been tested, it can be deployed rapidly in the real environment on multiple machines.

Idiopathic Ankle Pain: A Case Of Uncharacteristic Paresthesia, Katie Crowley

Undergraduate Student Symposium

An anomalous disorder that is often misdiagnosed is Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CPRS). CPRS has two classifications (Type I & II) and is generally characterized by a combination of sensory, autonomic, trophic, and motor signs and symptoms. The most common ones include: severe pain that is disproportionate to the cause, joint stiffness, abnormal skin appearance, swelling, muscle weakness, and changes in sweating. This condition is most typically seen in the shoulder and ankle. The literature review demonstrated that there is no definite testing that can be done to diagnose this condition. In 1994 the International Association for the Study of …

Health Care Delivery Systems: A Comparison Of Today’S Health Care Delivery Systems Between The U.S.A And Austria, Carlos Haderspock

Undergraduate Student Symposium

According to the 2000 World Health Organization report on comparing the health care systems, Austria with a population of 8,316,487, is ranked 9^th in overall health system performance ^{[4] [6]}. The United States of America, on the other hand, with a population of 305,012,000 is ranked 37^th in overall health system performance ^{[4] [5]}. The main criteria upon which the member countries were ranked upon were good health, responsiveness and fairness in financing ^[2]. A country is first considered to have a good health care system, when its health care status is as positive as …

Hand Hygiene, Ryan Bhagwandin, Akash Patel, Zil Patel

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The purpose of this project was to determine if the NSU community on main campus displayed proper hand washing techniques. The observations were conducted in the University Center and Parker building restrooms at the main campus of Nova Southeastern University. Over 35 days a total of 149 individuals were observed. Surprisingly, a total of 29% of those observed did not wash their hands at all. Of those who did wash their hands only 73% used a disinfectant. There were also gender differences in hand washing techniques. Eighty-five percent of all males washed their hands and of those 80% used a …

"Green Gasoline" - Biofuels From Sugar, A Sweet Idea, Megan Christopher, Sagir Patel, Case Warshall

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Biofuels are fuels made from agricultural sources offering a viable and earth-friendly alternative to fossil fuels, such as petroleum. The use of sugar and its products to produce "green gasoline" – biofuels to replace fossil fuels, is being investigated. Recent research has sought to advance the production of biofuels for use as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. An explanation of the chemical and biological processes used to convert sugars into biofuels, and a review of the most current research seeking to advance the field, is presented.

Determining The Presence And Localization Of Nckx5 In Retinal Pigment Epithelium, Myra Rafi

Undergraduate Student Symposium

SLC24A5 is a gene that has been recently discovered and is linked to differences in skin color. This gene encodes for a potassium-dependent sodium, calcium exchanger (Na:Ca:K isofrom 5) known as NCKX5. This protein has been found to play a major role in melanin production. Since NCKX5 (slc24a5) has been linked to play a significant role in melanin production and skin color, the goal of this project was to determine its impact and correlation on the susceptibility of age related macular degeneration. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness in people who are fifty years or older …

Correlating Heme Potentials To The Physico-Chemical Properties Of Their Binding Sites And Their Structural Distortion In Cytochromes By Clustering, Samar Abdel-Jabbar, Jessica Blanco

Undergraduate Student Symposium

In this paper, a clustering method was used to find out why the heme cofactor exhibits different potentials in cytochromes with a known 3-D structure. We have tried to find a relationship between heme potential in these proteins and the physico-chemical properties of amino acids in contact with their heme. We have also considered heme distortion which is a measure of out-of-plane distortion as another factor that can be induced by the protein structure. Heme proteins, particularly cytochrome b and cytochrome c, have been analyzed. Their ligand interaction sequences i.e. amino acids in contact with heme, were first determined by …

Avulsion Fracture Of The Medial Epicondyle Of The Humerus And Ulnar Nerve Neurolysis In A Male Soccer Player—A Case Study, Meagan Taylor

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Objective: The purpose of this case study is to educate the sports medicine community about serious orthopedic injuries that occur to non-dominant areas of the body that are not required for the athlete to compete in that sport. The knowledge and preparedness to handle a wide variety of injuries allows the sports medicine professional to provide a higher standard of care.

Background: A 15 year old male soccer player jumps up for a ball, collides with a fellow player, and falls down catching himself on his left elbow. He has been playing soccer for 5 years on club teams and …

Solitude Rx, Alexandra Goldstein

Undergraduate Student Symposium

"Solitude Rx" is a short film about a bereaved woman who is struggling to let go of the memory of her partner and the issues surrounding his death. In an effort to deal with her emotions, she resorts to moments of self-prescribed solitude, during which the truth about the past and her journey to forgiveness unfolds. The film is directed by Alexandra Goldstein. Other crew members include Flavia Peixoto, Jonathan Goldstein, Simone Rodriguez, and Danny Angelone.

Seasonal Manatee Sightings In Port Everglades, Melissa Paschke

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Due to a decrease in ambient water temperatures during the winter months in Florida, the Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris) will seek warm water refuge in power plants and natural springs throughout both north and south Florida. Port Everglades is an important haven for these animals in south Florida, providing warm water as well as a food supply. The goal of this research is to examine the correlation between the number of manatees spotted in Port Everglades versus the year, water temperature, and location in the port. Since 2006, data has been collected on the manatees in Port Everglades and …

Identification Of Natural Extracts That Function As Ultraviolet Light Blocking Agents, Michelle Mi-Le Kim

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Cosmetic products such as moisturizers, shampoos, make-up, colognes and many others became part of our daily grooming habits. The American Academy of Dermatology reports the average adults use at least seven different cosmetic products each day. As more people use cosmetics, chemical ingredients included in those products are causing more allergic reactions and side effects. Sun block is essential for everyone from infants to elders. It is applied directly onto skin in order to block the harmful effects of UV light; however, many of its ingredients are chemicals that can harm the environment and cause skin irritation in sensitive individuals. …

Gender Differences In The Perception Of Homosexual And Heterosexual Men, Randy Denis

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Some homosexual men continue to face various challenges in their task to diminish prejudicial beliefs and attitudes (Berkman & Zingberg, 1997). In comparison to heterosexual women, the literature depicts heterosexual men as having more negative views of homosexual men (Herek, 1998). A total of 26 heterosexual participants (11 men, 15 women) viewed profiles of three target males who were described as being in either a heterosexual or homosexual relationship. Participants subsequently rated each target on a variety of social and personality characteristics, including willingness to work, likability, and confidence. Preliminary results suggest heterosexual men, in comparison to heterosexual women, perceived …

Examination Stress Can Enhance Long Term Memory Performance, Randy Denis, Kara Faso

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The literature is currently unclear regarding the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activation during examination periods. In addition, it is uncertain if a potential increase in cortisol influences memory processes during an academic examination. Here, we seek to better understand the complex relationship between examination stress and memory by testing both short-term and long-term memory 3 weeks prior to an examination period and then 15 minutes prior to an examination. We also assessed subjective measures of stress through self- report assessment of stress and physiological measures of stress through salivary cortisol levels during both periods. We found that participants reported to be …

Establishing A Control Of Gene Expression In Yeast Exposed To A Standard Environment As A Comparison To Yeast Exposed To Flu Vaccine With And Without Thimerosal, Christie Rubio

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Gene expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Baker‘s yeast) was assessed using microarray technology. After growing the yeast in standard conditions (YEPD media), the total RNA was extracted using the Ambion RiboPure Yeast Kit. The quality and quantity of the RNA was assessed using gel electrophoresis and UV spectrophotometry. Next, mRNA (approximately 1% of the total RNA) was isolated using reverse transcription reactions. cDNA was made from the mRNA by amplifying a gene that should always be expressed (TDHI) using Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). Several key genes that are hypothesized to be affected by thimerosal in vaccines were also tested …