Digital Commons Network^™

The Role Of Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 5 (Cdk5) In Neurodegeneration, Ivan Jozic

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The purpose of this literature research project is to investigate the role of Cyclin- dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) in neurodegenerative diseases by summarizing its function in brain development, learning and memory. Cdk5 is a proline directed protein kinase that phosphorylates serine and threonine residues. Additionally the role of Cdk5 in the regulation of NMDA receptor, N-cadherin-mediated adhesion as well as the drugs that inhibit their normal functions will be examined. Recent studies regarding neurodegenerative pathology of diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis reveled a crucial role of this kinase in central nervous system development, particularly in the …

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 …

The Role Of Porphyromonas Gingivalis In Atherosclerosis, Zudiyah Darojat

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Porphyromonas ginigivalis is one of the major pathogens primarily responsible for several periodontal diseases such as adult and juvenile periodontitis. Recent studies have found that a form of P. gingivalis has been recognized within the buildup of fatty material and cholesterol of atherosclerotic plaque located in blood vessels. This strongly suggests that P. gingivalis may also be linked to the origin and development of coronary heart disease. The purpose of this literature review project is to elucidate the possible roles that P. gingivalis has in cardiovascular disease by interpreting the procedures and conclusions of several studies on how the invasion …

The Effects Of Various Factors On The Prevalence Of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Behaviors In Undergraduate College Students, Nicole Hook, Lori Pantaleao, Ana Rodriguez, Vanessa Russo

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive and distressing thoughts, urges, and images, as well as repetitive behaviors aimed at decreasing the discomfort caused by these obsessive thoughts. (Anthony, Rachman, Richter, & Swinson, 1998). OCD is estimated to be the second most common psychiatric disorder in both children and adults. (Dell-Osso, Marazziti, Planner, & Presta, et al. 2003). The age of onset in within the college years, yet not many studies have focused on college age students. The study looks at the characteristics of OCD in undergraduate college students. We break the study down into four …

The Note: From A Child’S Heart, Angel Polk

Undergraduate Student Symposium

He passed her the note at recess. It took him a week just to write down exactly how he felt about her. How his knees weakened every time he saw her. How her mama knew exactly how much blue magic grease to put in her head without makin’ her hair all nasty lookin’. To him, that was amazing. Everyone noticed that about her, she was the only girl in Mrs. Johnson’s class not to have a head full of lint, or a face shining like fatback when the sun got hot. Dang she was pretty too. You can always tell …

The Catalytic Conversion Of Saccharides To 5-Hydroxymethyl-2- Furaldehyde (Hmf) – A Petroleum Source: A Comprehensive Study Into Understanding The Binding Of Model Saccharides With Lanthanum And Yttrium Complexes, Raquel Appa, Elaine Hammil

Undergraduate Student Symposium

There is a burgeoning interest to find new sources of petroleum, as this can alleviate oil prices and fossil fuel shortage concerns. Innovation can be focused on possibly converting wood to fuels, or chemical and industrial products. Saccharides have acquired significance industrially as a promising, suitable, and versatile carbon source for substituting petroleum; particularly, the catalytic conversion of saccharides to 5- hydroxymethyl-2-furaldehyde (HMF). Lanthanide (III) ions, (strong Lewis acids), are active catalysts for converting saccharides to HMF:

See full text PDF for molecular illustration.

Proficient lanthanide-catalysts that convert saccharides to HMF have potential impacts on energy and the environment. Consequently, …

Telomerase Inhibitors As A Developing Therapeutic Drug For Cancer Cells, Viviana Sumi Lee

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The objective of this literature review project is to investigate current therapeutics involved in the treatment of cancer, particularly telomerase inhibitors. One current hypothesis regarding cancer growth is that it requires activation of telomerase to replicate. One way that cancer cell growth may be controlled is by inhibiting telomerase, an enzyme involved in shortening the DNA telomeres. This project reviews several clinical trials which show a promising telomerase inhibitor that is specific to cancer cells:2’-O-methoxyethyl oligonucletide (MOE), which binds to the telomerase RNA template, hTR. Certain telomerase inhibitors are more specific towards the telomerases that extend the telomere …

Tetrahydrobiopterin: Potential Role In Treatment Of Phenylketonuria, Brianna Woods

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Phenylketonuria (PKU) is an autosomal recessive metabolic disease caused by a genetic mutation that inhibits the conversion of the amino acid phenylalanine (Phe) into tyrosine. PKU diagnosis is based on detection of high concentrations of Phe in the blood serum. When blood levels of Phe are too high (hyperphenylalaninemia), the condition is toxic and could lead to mental retardation, epilepsy or other neurological abnormalities. Some patients diagnosed with PKU are also defective in the production of or lack the ability to produce tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) due to a genetic defect. BH4 is the cofactor for the enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH), which …

Social Security And Social Contract, Lauren Adamcyzk, Jessica Alabastro, Gisella Garcia, Stephanie Rapaci, Jahmila Williams

Undergraduate Student Symposium

During the Great Depression President Franklin Roosevelt forged a Social Contract between the U.S. Government and the American people with his New Deal legislation. Social Security legislation was the cornerstone of the emerging social contract which also included unemployment insurance and work place safety laws. Over the next 40 years this concept of social contract was strengthened, particularly in the area of civil rights and with efforts to reduce income inequality.

During the past 35 years, however, there have been consistent efforts to erode the concept of social contract as we know it. Today the final vestige of social contract, …

National Or Private Health Care – What Is Best For The U.S., Stephanie Blair

Undergraduate Student Symposium

This paper discusses the differences between public and private health care and the outcomes each would have and has on the U.S. This paper also discusses the United States current health insurance system as well as the trends and where we may be headed in the future of health insurance. It observes the past, present and future of health insurance in the U.S. Currently the U.S. has a private healthcare system in which its citizens purchase insurance through a provider or if they cannot afford it or choose to not purchase it then they are uninsured. This paper also includes …

Primary Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension, Sally Caridi

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Primary Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PPAH) is a rare and progressive intrinsic disease of the pulmonary vascular smooth muscle and endothelial cells. PPAH is generated from a combination of abnormalities interacting at the cellular and molecular level. Since the ability of blood circulating through the lungs to pick up oxygen decreases, the patient experiences shortness of breath, fatigue, chest pain, dizzy spells, fainting, and even death if undiagnosed or untreated. Common abnormalities that can trigger PPAH involve endothelial cell dysfunction that disrupt a balance between vasoconstrictors and vasodilators, mutations in BMP/TGF-β protein structure that lead to cellular dysfunctions, and the interaction …

Information Technology Outsourcing: An Overview, Gisella Garcia

Undergraduate Student Symposium

This research project is to understand the different aspects about Information Technology (IT) Outsourcing and to become informed about the engine that drives the modern organization. The information technology outsourcing trend has become increasingly popular and heavily documented and studied in Europe and the US. The goal of this review is to address the different determinants of this issue, which are business competence causing major controversy during the past years. In addition, this paper provides with future visions on where IT outsourcing is heading.

Obesity And The U.S. Health Care System, Stephanie Rapaci

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Awareness of the impact of obesity on the individual as well as on the health care system has become a major topic of debate in recent years. Nearly two thirds of all American adults are overweight and over 30% are considered obese according to data from the 1999-2000 National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey. This same survey has estimated that the total costs of obesity are as high $117 billion with direct costs of $61 billion and indirect costs of $56 billion. Recent studies (2002) indicate that the direct costs of obesity have risen to $92.5 billion, which represents 9.1% …

Gleevec And The New Generation Of Molecular-Targeting Therapy, Nancy Philippe

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The purpose of this literature research project is to investigate the therapeutic roles of Gleevec applied to the treatment of various cancers as a tyrosine-kinase inhibitor. In the 1970s it was shown that Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML), a blood cancer, was the byproduct of translocation of the chromosome 9 q-arm (abl gene) with the chromosome 22 q-arm (bcr gene). The new gene that formed, brc-abl, was referred to as the Philadelphia gene (Ph). The abnormal protein that forms from Ph gene, BCR-ABL, is what causes CML. BRC-ABL was shown to be a tyrosine kinase. With this knowledge, …

Getting Into The Video Game Industry, Thomas Brown

Undergraduate Student Symposium

This research project was made to give high school students, or any one interested, information about getting into the Video Games Industry. The project is composed in website format and translated into three languages, to make it easy for high school students to access the information. While today we know more about the Video Game Industry, what it takes to make games, and what some of the jobs are in the gaming industry, there is still a lot of mystery about what it takes to get into the Video Game Industry. The researcher website reveals the mystery and shows high …

The Five Pillars Of Islam, Marissa S. Dass

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The five pillars of Islam are perhaps the most fundamental characteristics of Islam which frames every Muslim’s life. Approximately 1.2 billion people in the world are Muslim, which is 22 percent of the world’s population. The five pillars of Islam is the foundation that upholds all Muslims. The pillars are woven with faith, prayer, fasting, charity and a pilgrimage. These five, of perhaps the most fundamental characteristics of this dynamic religion is, Shahada or the Declaration of Faith, Salat or Prayer, Saum or Fasting, Zakat or Charity and finally Hajj or the Pilgrimage to Mecca. These five pillars provide not …

Cultural Perceptions Of Alcohol Use In Children And Adolescents, Dujon Chang

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The proposed project investigates how people’s attitudes toward alcohol consumption vary across ethnic groups. Previous research has clearly shown that patterns of alcohol use are influenced by a group’s norms and attitudes regarding alcohol use. Groups with more liberal attitudes toward alcohol consumption are more likely to have frequent heavy drinkers than groups with more conservative norms and attitudes (Caetano & Clark, 1999). The current study investigates how a group’s norms toward alcohol use extend and apply to the use of alcohol in children and adolescents. We designed a 30-item questionnaire on various eating and drinking habits in adults, adolescents …

Critique Of President Bush’S 2004 Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech, Marissa S. Dass

Undergraduate Student Symposium

After having done extensive and comprehensive research into a variety of President George W. Bush speeches, I was intrigued by Bush’s Presidential Nomination Acceptance speech that he gave during the Republican National Convention in New York City. The speech marked Bush’s acceptance as the 2004 Republican Party’s presidential candidate. Bush gave his speech on Thursday September 2^nd 2004 to an immediate audience of well over twelve thousand people in Madison Square Garden. However, other audiences were targeted, including all of the American public, more specifically the undecided American voters, and the rest of the world.

My research included first …

All About Obesity: A Cost/Benefit Analysis Of The Growth, Causes, And Effects Of Obesity, Stephanie Repaci

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The topic of this paper is obesity and the numerous surgeries used to “cure” it. Because obesity is an ever-increasing problem in the United States, physicians have developed many different ways for people to lose excess weight. As cases of obesity escalate annually, surgery is becoming the number one way to correct it. Since weight-loss surgery is increasing just as much as obesity is, problems associated with obesity continually skyrocket.

The purpose of this paper is to explain how obesity is affecting the economy of the United States. By looking into the past and present of obesity, it is easy …

A Cross-Cultural Perspective Of Cohabitation In Young Adults, Micaela Mercado

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The purpose of this study was to examine different perceptions, attitudes and values about cohabitation as present in male and female college students in two culturally different settings: South Florida and Bolivia. Cohabitation is defined as a couple living together in an intimate heterosexual union without being married. Most of the extant research examines attitudes toward cohabitation in middle-aged or elder adults after they have been in a cohabitating relationship for a few years. The present study investigates how young adults perceive cohabitation prior to entering a long-term relationship. The data was collected in both Florida and La Paz, Bolivia. …

Taking It Back, Jason Peebles

Undergraduate Student Symposium

You always thought you were right. You always thought you had the answer.

Well, here are some of the things you thought, that are wrong.

You thought that I went to the Police to spite you. Wrong.

You thought that I had you admitted to the Psych Ward, to make you sorry. Wrong again.

You thought that I left you to make you hurt. Absolutely wrong.

Social Security, How Do We Make It Secure Now And For Generations To Come, Cheryl Clayton

Undergraduate Student Symposium

What is the purpose of Social Security? According to the testimony of Robert Greenstein, Executive Director, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities before the Senate finance Committee on February 9, 1999, “...the Treasury takes the surplus payroll tax revenues the Social Security Trust Fund is receiving each year and provides the trust fund with Treasury bonds in return. The third problem threatening the future of Social Security, as the 2004 Social Security Administration Trustees report tells us, is that the interest return on these bonds, is a mere 6 percent. In his February 12, 2005 radio address, the President states …

Saving Cranes, Cheryl Clayton

Undergraduate Student Symposium

I am the stuff magic is made of. I am as old as the hills. My home spans from the Arctic Tundra to the South African Veld and I, I am over sixty million years old. My whistles bring courage to the Crow and Cheyenne warriors of North America and my dance is the dance of the tribes of Australia and Siberia. I am the illustrious Crane whose size and looks have inspired humans for thousands of years. (Crane Music, Paul A. Johnsgard)

The Whooping Crane is the rarest of the world’s 15 Crane species. As of August …

Rethinking Turner’S Thesis, Vien Tran

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Turner’s Thesis is a theory that explains various aspects of contemporary American society with respect to the development of the Western frontier. This paper highlights some major ideas in Turner’s Thesis, such as how Americans evolved from their European ancestors, how some of them acquired their rugged individualism, and how democracy was preserved etc. within the context of life in the West. This paper also examines the challenges to Turner’s Thesis posed by modern historians based on new interpretations of historical events.

Relieved, Angela Cuyugan

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Emotionally drained, feeling insincere...

Crying tears in vain, wishing you were here.

Just not feelin’ the vibe of today, my head’s poundin’

Getting’ sick of givin’ sides in this game, I dread countin’

...The time tickin’ away, in my insomniac world.

Take Back The Night, Danielle Garcia

Undergraduate Student Symposium

A newspaper article covering the emotional Take Back The Night, an event from Unity Week, at Nova Southeastern University. Take Back The Night united students in an effort to educate each other about violent acts against humanity. The article covers all the important guest speakers and traditions that take place during Take Back The Night. The rally included an informatal session, an open mic piece, and a campus march where students were able to shout out their feelings. The article itself tries to capture the strength of the rally and uses photographs to promote the message.

One Night In Mexico, Alaina Siminovsky

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Suspense is uniquely utilized in this short story. You may think one this is occurring, but the opposite may too be in the works. A man and a woman are both in Mexico for Halloween. Festivities surround them as he slowly moves toward where she is, plotting in his mind. She waits, unknowing what is about to unfold. What is? Don’t be fooled by the unconventional use of words.

Perpetuating Pre-Feminist Ideals, Alaina Siminovsky

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Society escapes the drudge of everyday through film. Young girls often attempt to emulate what they see on the big screen. Everyday films that are geared toward the younger female audience often champion pre-feminist ideals. Even films that are meant to empower women do so only by reaffirming a stereotypical feminine character or by allowing them to achieve something in the context of winning acceptance from a man, typically a father figure. This sort of story line reinforces the necessity of male acceptance and entirely disregards feminism. With the plethora of films being released on this subject, the writer sought …

Quien Eres?, Emily Tolzien

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Soy un estudiante

por diez y seis anos,

way too long!

I’ve stayed up

muchas noches

para tomar una nota Buena

en la clase de espanol,

but still I’m not bilingual.

Nova Southeastern’S Rowing Team, Danielle Garcia

Undergraduate Student Symposium

A newspaper article promoting the Spring season for Nova Southeastern University's amazing rowing team. The piece discusses the dedication of the team, the rigorous practice, and the numerous accomplishments the team achieved in a year of existence. Included is a detailed description of practices and director quotes from Coach John Gartin who is confident in the future success of his remarkable team. The team was named Breakout team of 2004 by a top rowing magazine and that is evident once the readers see the determination of the rowers' faces in the included photographs.