Digital Commons Network^™

Deafdigest: Blue Edition, April 5, 2009, Barry Strassler

DeafDigest Blue 2009

No abstract provided.

Integrating Lethal And Nonlethal Approaches For Management Of Suburban Deer, Jason R. Boulanger, Paul D. Curtis, Michael Ashdown

Biology Faculty Publications

Evaluations of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) population management in suburban landscapes has included debate over lethal control (e.g., sharp-shooting and hunting). These management techniques are often stymied by political impediments, safety concerns, and public attitudes. We are implementing the novel use of surgical sterilization in combination with hunting to mitigate deer-related impacts on Cornell University lands near Ithaca, New York. The project lands are composed of 2 zones: a suburban core campus area (446 ha) and adjacent outlying areas that contain agricultural fields and natural areas where deer hunting is permitted (582 ha). Surgical sterilization will be the …

The Effects Of Climate Change On Food Security, Nicolas Trilla

Global Studies Student Scholarship

Global hunger has become one of the most pressing issues our planet faces. The need to research the causes of this food shortage are more urgent than ever, and if we fail to act, the situation will only grow direr. Climate change and food shortage are both highly intricate, but their common ground is the area that is of greatest importance. Climate change has proven too much for global food production systems to bear, and as a result, climate-stressed regions are now experiencing food insecurity as well. Climate change has shaken the three pillars of food security—availability, access, and utilization—and …

Francophone African Immigration To The United States: Causes And Implications For American Social Work Practice, Whitney Henderson

Global Studies Student Scholarship

Francophone West Africans are a special population within whole African immigration to the US. Due to the political instability in the West African region, it is understandable why West Africans would seek immigration to more stable environment. What is not understood is why Francophone immigrants are immigrating to an English-speaking country such as the United States instead of France, where there is an official language commonality in addition to cultural similarities. In terms of social work practice, this is of great importance, as social workers will be aiding this group in resettling in the United States. This paper explores why …

The Murray Ledger And Times, April 4, 2009, The Murray Ledger And Times

The Murray Ledger & Times

No abstract provided.

Can Colored Dissolved Organic Material Protect Coral Reefs By Reducing Exposure To Ultraviolet Radiation?, Lore Michele Ayoub

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although mass coral bleaching events are generally triggered by high seawater temperatures, experiments have demonstrated that corals and reef-dwelling foraminifers bleach more readily when exposed to high energy, short wavelength solar radiation (blue, violet and ultraviolet [UVR]: Lambda ~ 280 - 490 nm). In seawater, colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM), also called gelbstoff, preferentially absorbs these shorter wavelengths, which consequently bleach and degrade the CDOM. Alteration of watersheds and destruction of coastal wetlands have reduced natural sources of CDOM to reefal waters.

I tested the null hypothesis that CDOM does not differ between reefs that differ in coral health, …

Rap1 Is Essential For Silencing Telomeric Variant Surface Glycoprotein Genes In Trypanosoma Brucei, Xiaofeng Yang, Luisa M. Figueiredo, Amin Espinal, Eiji Okubo, Bibo Li

Biological, Geological, and Environmental Faculty Publications

Trypanosoma brucei expresses variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) genes in a strictly monoallelic fashion in its mammalian hosts, but it is unclear how this important virulence mechanism is enforced. Telomere position effect, an epigenetic phenomenon, has been proposed to play a critical role in VSG regulation, yet no telomeric protein has been identified whose disruption led to VSG derepression. We now identify tbRAP1 as an intrinsic component of the T. brucei telomere complex and a major regulator for silencing VSG expression sites (ESs). Knockdown of tbRAP1 led to derepression of all VSGs in silent ESs, but not VSGs located elsewhere, and …

The Echo: April 3, 2009, Taylor University

2008-2009 (Volume 96)

Jabali Afrika gets students moving – Business meets art on ReadeAvenue – In Brief – Senior art students find group support – Alum speaks on sustainability – Prayer Chapel wins award – The Bubble – Learning in dirt and tuxedos – World Voices – A world away in Michigan – Around the World in 30 Seconds – Youth Conference 2009 – A weekend preview – What can you do about it? – Fun facts about YC – The Reject Show (a benefit for YC) – Not the weed(s) – Literature Feature – When you are engulfed in laughter – This …

The Murray State News, April 3, 2009, The Murray State News

Murray State University Collection

No abstract provided.

Campus Report, Vol. 36, No. 8, University Of Dayton

Campus Report

Stander Symposium '09: A compendium of faith, arts, scholarship and sustainability. The brother of the slain Sister Dorothy Stang challenges students to find the courage to make a difference. Take a Break with Richard Stock of the School of Business Administration's Business Research Group. The MBA program earns a national ranking, and two faculty members design a new course where students will study the cultural and physical history of the student neighborhood.

Central Florida Future, Vol. 41 No. 35, April 3, 2009

Central Florida Future

UnCover Fridays; The Hills get sunny; Plus: Sake bomb lands in Orlando; Everyone loves a German restaurant; 'Farms norms harm women'; Students give care at Jamaican orphanages; Build your own racer; Summit focuses on energy.

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 …

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.