Digital Commons Network^™

Tgf-β Signaling And Oncogenesis, Nika Ferdowsi

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The objective of this literature-based investigation is to review the current model used to describe how TGF-β signaling is involved in the oncogenic process. The transforming growth factors-β are a group of signaling polypeptides that control cell growth, differentiation and apoptosis. TGF-βs and their receptors are expressed in virtually all tissues. TGF-β works as tumor suppressor in pre and early oncogenic stages. However, as tumor growth progresses, TGF-β switches to pro-oncogenic activities. TGF-β type proteins work via a signal transduction pathway that involves the activation of key proteins known as Smads. Smads are directly involved in transcription by entering the …

Social Perceptions Of Jealousy In Relationships Over Time, Crystal Carrio, Jaclyn Mombrea, Ed Vargas, Rudy Brown

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The proposed research investigates people’s opinions regarding emotional aspects of jealousy in a relationship over time. Previous research has established that young men are more focused on the sexual aspects of a relationship than young women (Buss & Kanrick, 1998; Eagly & Wood, 1999). More specifically, men tend to be more jealous when their spouses have sexual affairs with other men, whereas women tend to be more jealous when their spouses have emotional affairs with other women. The present study extends these initial findings by looking at how elderly people experience jealousy in a relationship. We surveyed 206 people on …

Social Perceptions Of Cohabitation In Undergraduate College Students, Lela Rogers-Whitson, Natasha Romero, Sivan Shammay, Ana M. Rodriguez

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The present study investigated undergraduate college students’ perceptions, attitudes, and values about cohabitation. Cohabitation is operationally defined as a couple living together in an intimate, heterosexual union, without being legally married (Sassler, 2004). Current research demonstrates that cohabitation is becoming a transitional stage between singlehood and marriage in the United States (Seltzer, 2000). This study was designed to examine differences between individuals who never cohabitated versus those who would. Participants were from a private southeastern college campus. Recruited college students (N = 195) completed a Likert-test scale consisting of 50 questions about their attitudes toward cohabitation and 10 demographic questions. …

Should The Consumer Population Purchase Juvenon To Slow Down The Aging Process?, Katina Campos

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley have conducted a clinical study which claims to slow down the aging process of cells, by restoring proper carnitine acetyltransferase (CAT) function via combining the substrate acetyl L-carnitine (ALCAR) with alpha lipoic acid (LA). CAT is an enzyme involved in the breakdown of food molecules in the mitochondria. One result from this study is the commercially available health supplement, Juvenon. This "award winning team of scientists" claim that Juvenon, as advertised in Popular Science magazine promotes healthy brain cell functioning, slows down the clock on your aging cells, sustains energy levels …

Lung Cancer And Angiogenesis, Ruzeen Patwa

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Lung cancer usually forms from cells that line the airways and nearby glands since these cells come into contact with the air we breathe which may contain carcinogens (such as tobacco smoke, asbestos, and benzene). Specifically lung cancer can be divided into two major groups: Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC) and Non Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC). The purpose of this literature review project is to discuss how angiogenic activators such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and platelet derived endothelial cell growth factor (PD-ECGF) have a prognostic significance in the development of lung cancer. Lung cancer occurs over a …

Further Studies To Determine Subspecies Identity Of Panthers By Examining The Nadh-5 Gene Obtained Originally From Clotted Blood And Hair For Conservation Applications, Marta Hubert, Marimer Gonzalez

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The goal of this project to further research done previously to determine the subspecies identity of a panther (named Sasha) currently living in a zoo in Ecuador. Although Sasha is thought to be a South American puma (Puma concolor concolor). This is primarily due to local belief and she is likely to actually be a Florida panther (Puma concolor coryi) brought to Ecuador from south Florida in the early 1980s. The mitochondrial gene NADH-5 (ND5) has been used as a genetic marker in several large- scale studies establishing genomic ancestry and subspecies identity of pumas. As …

Neurocardiogenic Syncope, Alisha Van Hoose

Undergraduate Student Symposium

This research was conducted by reviewing studies conducted on neurocardiogenic syncope, primarily in the United States and India, in an attempt to better understand the causes of the condition.

Neurocardiogenic syncope, also referred to as vasovagal syncope vasodepressive syncope, neurally mediated syncope, and neurally mediated hypotension, is the most commonly diagnosed form of syncope, accounting for 3-5% of emergency room visits and from 1-6% of hospital admittances yearly.

The condition is incompletely understood and quite often difficult to diagnose: the most common diagnostic tool, the Head-Up Tilt Table Test, results in false positives 2-6% of the time through passive testing, …

Exploration Of Personality Preferences Between College Students And College Student Athletes, Taylor Liput

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The goal of this research study was to explore whether there existed differences in personality preferences between college non-student-athletes and college student-athletes. Participants were given the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), which is a personality survey with questions relating to general perceptions about oneself. The researchers handed out surveys to students in their school environment and asked them to fill out the questionnaire. The 93-question survey took around 10 to 20 minutes for each person to fill out. 90 undergraduate students at Nova Southeastern University completed the MBTI, 41 of which were student-athletes and 49 of which were non-student-athletes. t- tests …

An Investigative Study Using Computer Games As A Method For Creating Friendships, Thomas Brown

Undergraduate Student Symposium

This research projects examines, if any, the relationship between establishing friendships and computer games. As more people start to play Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games or MMORPG, the chance to interact with multitudes of other people arises. The question that this research examines is whether computer games, in particular MMORPG, can be used as a basis to establish friendships. It seems only natural that friendships could be formed from playing these types of games considering the fact that on a daily basis people are interacting with one another. Unfortunately, most of the current research involving computer games is about computer …

Adhesion Of Transferrin To Fda Group I And Group Iv Contact Lenses, Kaliope Tsirogiannis, Andre Graves, Vicky Kosakowski, Viviana Sumi Lee, Graham Rasanen, Areege Afaneh, Urbano Zamora

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The adhesion of tear proteins to contact lenses contributes to lens deterioration and ocular pathology. Tears contain a number of proteins, among them being lysozyme, albumin, transferrin, lactoferrin, immunoglobulins and tear lipocalin. Here we examine the adhesion of transferrin to FDA group I (low water non-ionic) and group IV (high water ionic) contacts lenses. Lenses were incubated in a solution of transferrin for 1, 2, 3, and 4 days, and transferrin adhesion was determined using the bicinchoninic acid assay. Transferrin adsorbed to Group I lenses in a steadily increasing pattern, resembling the pattern seen with albumin but not with lysozyme. …

The Power Of The Written Word, Alaina Siminovsky

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Two great American authors, John Steinbeck and Herman Melville, both wrote pieces regarding those with defective mental faculties. In addition, these characters were giants, strong and hard working. This compensation was to show society’s treatment of these people. We often judge based on actions alone and not on person. These two giants committed crimes, but not of their own true doing. Either manipulation or the sheer failure to know one’s own strength caused each to falter, committing the greatest crime: murder. How to treat these criminals was the central question of each tale. In Of Mice and Men you pity …

The Princess And The Dragon, Jennifer Keating

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Even if one kingdom was on friendly terms with Edinburg, King Farvuew would have to relinquish his whole kingdom to the other. Then how could he face his ancestors who had been fighting for this land for generations. No, his daughter would have to marry a knight. The thought of a man not brought up in the royal ways taking his place humiliated Farvuew, but not as much as passing over the kingdom. King Farvuew was witnessed now and again pacing around the castle muttering, “a prince? No, it must be a knight. But a knight is so degrading. But …

Untitled, Angela Cuyugan

Undergraduate Student Symposium

I stood there, not even knowing of his existence, and he approached me with a cheap line.

Who woulda known he would throw me off, and sweep me off my feet?

I shoulda known, from the bottom of what was left of my needy heart,

He came, to say hello, and a possible talk.

How much I would give to return to the innocence of adolescence.

To feel as confident, yet knowing my unsurpassing naïveté.

Hay No!!!, Victoria Drescher

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Coming to Florida,

Yo no creo que almost

Todas las personas

Hablan espanol.

In my native country Austria,

Die mehrzahl der Leute spricht

Obviously deutsch.

Over here in southern florida,

Especialmente en Weston,

Donde I have muchos amigos,

It is almost impossible

To comprende something,

If you don’t habla espanol.

Gracias Garcia, Danielle Garcia

Undergraduate Student Symposium

I entered the room

and within minutes they hit me

“Hola”

“Cómo se llama”

“De donde eres”

“Cómo está”

“Y tú” “Bien” “Gracias” “Igualmente”

Unfamiliar words rolling off their tongues

I stood still trying not to attract any attention

“Hola niña, entra”

“Cómo se llama”

De donde eres”

“Cómo está”

Final Exam, Stephen Deck

Undergraduate Student Symposium

A lighthearted and nonsensical little poem about distraction during a final exam. Set in the form of an internal monologue, the poem uses stream of consciousness to convey the scattered mind of a test taker. To this end, the poem shifts from a serious musing on the nature of a final exam and what it means, into a recognition of life outside the classroom, though the speaker does not permit itself to pursue these tangents far enough for analysis.

Emily Dickinson’S Essence Of Renaissance, Stephen Deck

Undergraduate Student Symposium

This paper seeks to establish Emily Dickinson’s abnormally isolated life and works as a microcosm of the American Renaissance movement. Emily Dickinson, though largely unread in her own time, is counted among the major forces in the American Renaissance, and in the Transcendentalist movement. Her abnormally isolated life and unique temperament make her life and work a microcosm of the American Renaissance. The paper focuses not on any biographies, or secondary sources, but an analysis of Dickinson's own letters to independently establish the facts of her life. A brief look is given to her literary relationship with Susannah Huntington Gilbert …

Coming Of Age, Angela Cuyugan

Undergraduate Student Symposium

...I still hold the last pieces of broken glass. I sit alone, wondering, all by myself, over the years trying to repair the shattered window; the only looking-glass that was to our future, our past, and even our present. God, how I pathetically still stare at the jagged fragments of sharp objects scattered on the floor like leaves blown off a tree. Staring blindly into an unknown realm, I try to peer out of the now unprotected hole in the wall. So secure, so untouched, and now it was judgment day. Time to finally accept time, time to finally accept …

Death Penalty: The Easy Way Out For Criminals, Rafia Chodhry

Undergraduate Student Symposium

This journalistic piece of writing is an opinion about the death penalty. The author describes her opposing views regarding the death penalty and proposes life without parole as an alternative. Throughout the article there are several examples provided and in addition to statistical evidence.

Beautiful On The Inside, Angela Cuyugan

Undergraduate Student Symposium

It’s warm in here she says...

It’s soft in here she says...

It’s deep in here she says...

And she’s beckoning you to come inside...

It’s hard in here she says...

It’s tight in here she says...

It’s wet in here she says...

And she’s encouraging you to feel inside...

Besa Me/Kiss Me, Sheree Leger

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Besa me mi amor

Just one more time before I go

Besa mis labios mi amor

So I only speak your name

Mis manos y sus manos

Christabel And The Stranger Within Herself, Heike Dosé

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, one of the six most influential poets of the Romantic period in British literature, wrote his poem “Christabel” in two parts, each with its own conclusion. In this essay, I argue that “Christabel” Part One can be interpreted as a dream of a young adult whose oppressed feelings of sexual anxiety come to the surface. In Part Two of the poem, Christabel’s behavior can be seen a sign of a repressed fear of losing her father’s interest in her as well as the fear of losing lady Geraldine as a lover.

Both parts of Coleridge’s poem describe …

Animal Experimentation: Unnecessary And Unacceptable, Marissa S. Dass

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Each year millions of innocent animals are mutilated, burned, poisoned and gassed in unnecessary experiments. Although many argue that animal experimentation is necessary for the progression of society, more specifically the medical advancement of mankind, the fact is that human and animals are different in many way. So much so that today doctors are able to treat diseases on the very level that separates different species, the cellular level. Additionally, it can be argued that we in fact really do not know which animals will react like humans. For instance, humans are unique in getting AIDS from HIV, and suffering …

Almost, Marie Cuneo

Undergraduate Student Symposium

     I’ve been slayed

     by subtle

     intricate

     daring

                    things      that you do

                                          or wish you could

not suppositions,

          but the longing

           I see lurking

                                             behind      your      eyes

A Possibility, Angela Cuyugan

Undergraduate Student Symposium

She’s only seventeen, naïve little thing.

Big dreams with positive motivation, as far as it seems,

      destiny confirms doubtful obligations.

She’s only a princess, praying for her prince.

What is it she strives for? What is it she lives and breathes for?

Look at her, sitting there—just waiting.

The way she smiles—there is only one.

The way she laughs—there are so many.

A Month For All To Celebrate, Rafia Chodhry

Undergraduate Student Symposium

This journalistic piece of writing is about Black History Month. Its purpose is to encourage readers to participate, celebrate and embrace black history. It also describes how the world would be if there were not any contributions from black inventors.

A Mission Into Horvitz Hell, Earl Tinsley

Undergraduate Student Symposium

This editorial piece discusses my memorable experience in the Horvitz Administration Building while surveying staff and students on behalf of the Dean of Student Affairs. During this studious mission, I was met with support and opposition from staff personnel in Horvitz. The opposition started in the most unlikely of places for me, right in the Human Resources Department, a place I have been known to frequent when payroll time came around. While in HR, a staff member didn’t take kindly to my questioning surveys and asked for me to present a valid NSU ID. When I explained I didn’t have …

A Critique Of The Vatican’S “Instruction Of Respect For Human Life In Its Origin And On The Dignity Of Procreation”, Andrew Barry

Undergraduate Student Symposium

This paper critiques a piece written by the Vatican regarding the usage of artificial procreation techniques by various couples and decrees its opinion of such usages as morally permissible or not. The majority of their “instruction” is consistent and validated; however, the Vatican holds overly extreme opinions on many situations, and in those opinions they fail to see exceptions where by their own rules, such acts become morally permissible. Also, one fatal flaw in their view is their absolute association of love and sex in order for a successful marriage to remain consummated. This is preposterous. The Vatican also claims …

A Life-Altering Moment, Earl Tinsley

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Off the coast of Maui stands Weston College, 300,000 square feet and 4 stories tall, surrounded by tons of green acre to the right and to the left, the hot sandy beach of Hawaii. One of Weston College’s most known residents is athletic scholar Cody Dallas – tall, dark, and blond – all the natural qualities for Maui’s local playboy. He is a man with a mission, a man who will break all the rules to bed his next mark. There isn’t a day that goes by that the entire student body is not talking about Cody and his latest …

The Road Ahead, Edward Byer

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Numerous authors have raised alarms regarding both the increase in demand for fossil fuels by a growing global economy and the emergence of underdeveloped nations, such as China and India, and the adverse impacts this use has on our environment. World consumption of oil stands at approximately 84 million barrels per day. The United States, with only 5% of the world’s population, consumes almost one fourth of total world production. With the world’s most accessible energy fields seeing declining production levels, the current price of over $50 per barrel may seem low in years to come, as less accessible sources …