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The Impact Of Cleft Lip/Palate And Clp Surgical Intervention On The Social Integration Of Adolescents In India, Mustafa Zahid

Master's Theses

Cleft Lip/Palate, a congenital orofacial anomaly, carries an incidence rate of approximately 1 in every 1000 births. In addition to the stigma associated with the condition, the varying levels of cleft severity might result in lower life outcomes which could include lower cognitive ability, physical and psychological well-being, social and behavioral outcomes of adolescents. This paper focuses on the social integration element of life outcomes, which is composed of the social inclusion and prosocial behavior of the adolescent. Despite the affordability of restorative surgeries, patients in rural areas of Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) such as India face accessibility and …

Ethical Considerations In Short Term Global Health Experiences, Sheri Compton-Mcbride

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Academically sponsored, short-term experiences in global health care (STEGH) have increased in popularity and accessibility among students originating from high-income countries (HIC) and enrolled in medical and health care programs. The populations served have socioeconomic, cultural, and/or geographic barriers to healthcare. Establishment of goals, clarity of expectations, and ethical awareness of services being provided are essential to achieve mutually agreeable outcomes for all involved. The project was designed to increase the knowledge of undergraduate nursing students scheduled to embark on a short term experience in global health. Module development and dissemination of evidence regarding the ethics of care and cultural …

Student Pharmacists Selected To Prestigious Practice Rotations, Whitney Tarpy

University of Mississippi News

Fourth-year students set for stints with national and international organizations

Future Worlds And The Goals Of Refugee Children, Tori Ford

Honors College

This study is an investigation on how refugee children living in America define “flourishing” in their futures. This is a qualitative ethnography—with a phenomenological bent —containing a semi-structured interview protocol, where three children enrolled in the International Rescue Committee’s youth program were interviewed with open-ended questions about possible goals and values in their future world. The interview contained two halves: the first asked questions directed at building a future world, and the second portion posed a conflict in that future world that they must address. The world-building questions dealt with themes such as education level, relationship status, family size, number …

“The Least Sexually Confident Women In The World”: International Ngos And The Racialized Politics Of Obstetric Fistula, Googie S. Karrass

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In 2008, Christian author Shannon Ethridge pledged to donate a portion of the sales of her book The Sexually Confident Wife to the medial charity Mercy Ships International. Donations supported the provision of obstetric fistula repair surgeries for West African women who she dubbed “the least sexually confident women in the world.” This thesis asks what conditions occasioned Ethridge’s problematic statement and in so doing engages in a larger examination of evangelical NGO Mercy Ships, its history and contemporary practice, and the racialized, gendered and sexualized politics of fistula repair in international relief and development. First presenting histories related to …

Complete Makeover Mission Trip Edition: Improving The Effectiveness Of Mission Trips, Summer Murray

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Mission trips are a rite of passage for many high schoolers – a way to experience new cultures and economic backgrounds as well as learn the concept of service. These trips can impact the way young people view the world around them and may lead to students becoming ambassadors for a certain organization or community later in life. However, missioners need to remember to evaluate their trips and make sure they are truly helping the communities they intend to serve.

This project explores the missional relationship between the Episcopal Dioceses of Nebraska and the Dominican Republic. After interviews with community …

Development Of Community-Based Mental Health Interventions In The Philippines: An Ecological Perspective, Ma. Regina M. Hechanova

Psychological Research on Urban Society

Although urbanization is linked to modernization and economic growth, it is also associated with overcrowding, population density, poverty, inadequate social services, and violence, all of which put the urban poor at risk of environmental health problems and other dangers. Moreover, experiences of environmental and psychological adversity increase vulnerability to mental health disorders. Unfortunately, in low resource countries, mental health treatment is largely inaccessible to the poor. This paper describes the challenges in the development and implementation of community-based mental health interventions in the Philippines. It summarizes the internal and external resilience factors and vulnerabilities of clients. It also highlights the …

Medicine Infected By Politics: The American Occupation Of Haiti, 1915-1934, Cooper Scherr

Helene Lafrance Library Undergraduate Research Award

This article discusses the impact that politics and social beliefs have on the humanitarian goals of medicine, using the American occupation of Haiti (1915-1934) as a backdrop. First, the article explains how the United States intervened in Haiti in order to maintain its political hegemony in the Caribbean, develop Haiti as a new market for American investors, and civilize the supposedly "backwards" Haiti. Previously, historians have recognized the important role that medicine played during the occupation, but this article highlights how U.S. political, economic, and cultural motives distorted the practice of medicine in Haiti. For instance, from 1915-1922, the Americans …

Gwu Research Scholar Conducts Testing For The American College Of Sports Medicine, Office Of University Communications

Gardner-Webb NewsCenter Archive

Research conducted by Gardner-Webb University senior Savannah Hollifield will have an immediate impact on the fitness world. Her findings will be added to the data used by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) to establish a normative base for its cycle ergometer protocol and push-up test. The exercise science major from Forest City, N.C., was one of 13 students who received a grant from the Undergraduate Research Scholars program for the summer 2018 term.

The Experience Of Chief Nurses In Military Operations Other Than War, Martha H. Turner

Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to describe the experience of chief nurses in military operations other than war. The study is significant to the profession because nurses will continue to provide care in humanitarian operations, peacekeeping missions and disaster relief efforts. Inquiry into the experience will lead to an understanding of the foundations of the global caregiving community. Hermeneutic phenomenology provided a description and thematic interpretation of the meaning of the experience. Purposeful sampling yielded thirteen participants, eleven women and two men. Duration of the deployments ranged from 3-7 months. Sites included Saudi Arabia, Oman, Panama, Cuba, Somalia, Guam, …

12th Annual Research Week--Event Proceedings, Office Of Research And Sponsored Projects Operations

Excellence Summit (Research Week) Archived Proceedings

12th Annual Research Week

"A Celebration of Student Research"

A Fat Mass And Obesity-Associated Gene Polymorphism Influences Fat Mass In Exercise-Trained Individuals, Sarah Knafo, Alina Ali

Undergraduate Student Symposium

A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) gene is a strong predictor of obesity in humans. The FTO SNP (rs1421085) results in a T to C nucleotide substitution that may result in an increased risk for obesity in individuals who carry at least one C allele. The purpose of this investigation was to characterize the FTO genotype in a cohort of exercise-trained men and women. We tested 108 exercise-trained individuals that included professional mixed martial arts fighters, competitive distance runners, collegiate swimmers, stand-up paddlers as well as a cohort of recreational bodybuilders. Body composition was …

A Study Of Pediatric Oral Health In Ahwa, Gujarat, India, Elizabeth Barley

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Oral health is a critical factor that plays an imperative role in the overall health and well-being of an individual. Dental health requires regular, preventive care at home as well as professional screenings and interventions. The goal of this research is to examine the current need for dental education for children in poor and rural villages in Gujarat, India. Previous research indicates that children aged of 12-15 have not received proper oral health education. This poster will focus on dental health and hygiene of school aged-children treated at the VAD clinic in Ahwa, Gujarat, India, including an oral health education …

Angiotensin Ii Fragment Receptor Binding In The Mouse Brain, Sarin Itty

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Angiotensin IV (Ang IV), one of the metabolites of Angiotensin II, is a key player within several systems including the kidneys, brain, and other non-traditional locations. It has functions varying from blood flow regulation, stress response, seizures, learning, and memory acquisition. Administration of Ang IV has been shown to increase cerebral microcirculation, elicit cognitive improvements, improve memory, restore cognitive deficits, and combat memory impairment. In our lab, we developed a new peptide that acts on the angiotensin system, ¹²⁷I-Ang 1-7. Previous studies showed that ¹²⁷I-Ang 1-7 is less susceptible to metabolism and ~1000-fold more potent than Ang 1-7 …

Am I #Metoo?, Maha Barakat

Undergraduate Student Symposium

In this documentary film, “Am I #MeToo?,” women of three different cultures, religions, and ethnicities will be interviewed regarding their view of the Me Too Movement. I will focus on whether they feel included and/or represented when it comes to modern social movements. The film will also question whether certain communities get left out because of the stereotypes surrounding their identities. The goal of this project is to shed light on which people are actually receiving the help they seek in these social movements. I want to provide an understanding of what empowerment is being sought through these ideologies, and …

Behavior Checklist For Preschool Children With Reading Dogs, Ammy Castillo, Jahleeyah Muhammad, Angela Ogero

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The present research looks at how dogs can improve focus and attention during book readings at a preschool to different age groups of students who are learning to read and write. An Achenbach-style behavior checklist will be created and tested for adequate psychometric properties. The distribution of the checklist to different researcher-participants will serve as a method study of inter-rater reliability and intra-rater reliability. The main purpose of this study will be to create a Behavior Checklist for Preschool Children with Reading Dogs with high reliability and validity. Additionally, the developmental differences between the different age groups of preschool students …

Bilingualism And Inhibitory Control: The Advantage Of Speaking A Second Language, Maria Morales

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Researchers speculate that speaking a second language has benefits that go beyond communicative abilities. Bilingualism has been linked to enhanced performance on executive function (EF) tasks, particularly, those that require inhibitory control. Inhibition is the ability to ignore salient, but distracting, information which may occupy and divert attention from the task at hand. To date, however, the findings have been inconsistent, and one major limitation in the literature is that most studies do not objectively quantify second language proficiency. This study, therefore, used an objective measure of language proficiency and compared bilinguals and monolinguals on tasks that require different levels …

Bittersweet Dreams (Are Made Of This): Unripe Fruit And Women, Vivian Dang

Undergraduate Student Symposium

This paper investigates the role of woman as a medicinal mother in Christina Rossetti’s 1862 Christian epic poem “Goblin Market” in which two young sisters, Laura and Lizzie, struggle with temptation as wicked goblin men attempt to coerce them into consuming their forbidden fruit. The marriage market, called the “Goblin Market” in this poem, highlights the inequities between marriage expectations for men and women and the disadvantages faced by the archetypal medicinal mother in the early development of modern medicine. While men are the producers in this misogynistic marriage market, women are not the true consumers because they are the …

Cell-Cell Communication In Bacteria Mediated By Weak Photon Emission, Roodelyne Pierrelus

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Cells, including bacteria communicate via multiple routes. Prominent amongst these is through chemical signaling. However, literature dating back to the 1970s has suggested that cells may communicate using electromagnetic forces, including weak photon (light) emission. To date, however, these predictions remain largely theoretical, or lack robust experimental support. In this study, we sought to determine if chemically separated cultures of bacteria could communicate across a boundary that allows light, but not chemical signals, to pass. To address this question, we cultured Escherichia coli initiated from either low or high density in an experimental setup that involved growing one population on …

Comparative Investigation Of Coupling Methods To Create 2,2'-Bipyridine Adducts, Sabrina Vazquez, Kylie Wilkinson

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The project aims to streamline the synthesis of 2,2’-bipyridine adducts, so they can be efficiently synthesized as precursors for ligands in novel organometallic ruthenium complexes. Specifically, the compounds being synthesized are 4,4’-methylated, 4-methylated, 5,5’-methylated, and 5-methylated, 2,2’-bipyridines. Three different synthetic methods will be explored including homo-coupling and crosscoupling reactions as well as the use of a turbo-Grignard reagent. The homo-coupling reaction with or without the turbo-Grignard reagent uses 2-bromo-4-methyl or 2-bromo-5-methyl pyridine as the starting material to produce the 4,4’-methylated adduct or 5,5’-methylated adduct respectively. This is in contrast to the cross-coupling reaction which utilizes a combination of the 2-bromo-4-methyl …

Creating Unique 3-D Printed Molecular Models To Explain The Role Of Higb Toxin In Cleaving Ribosome-Bound Mrna, Carolina Alzamora, Alesa Chabbra, Helana Ghali, Marina Handal, Mahima Kathiria, Alexander Martinek, Jenny Nguyen, Chandni Patel, Shreja Patel, Antoine Pham

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The CREST (Connecting Researchers, Educators, and STudents) team at Nova Southeastern University created two physical models depicting the mechanism of endonuclease cleavage by the HigB protein, as described in the literature. Details of the HigB-ribosome complex and its residues for mRNA cleavage were found in the Protein Data Bank file, 4ZSN, and imported into Jmol, a protein visualization software. Specific program commands were developed to manipulate the original file into a format that was later 3D-printed. The models highlight the small ribosomal subunit, ribosomal proteins, tRNA, rRNA, the mRNA strand, and HigB protein along with its residues involved in mRNA …

Disentangling The Effects Of Ptsd From Gwi Via A Network Analysis Of Cell-Cytokine-Symptom Interactions For Improved Diagnostics And Treatments, Jacob Hardy, Ricardo Castellanos

Undergraduate Student Symposium

A third of the veterans returning from Operation Desert Storm/Shield in the 1990-91 Gulf War reported cognitive dysfunction, skin rashes, musculoskeletal discomfort, and fatigue. This led to the designation of the unique stress-mediated condition Gulf War Illness (GWI). GWI is similar to other known stressmediated illnesses such as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in clinical presentation, but as yet we know no concrete understanding of the underlying mechanisms mediating the disease. As such, there are no biological diagnostic to predict the presentation of GWI. Confounding this is the high prevalence of co-morbidity with another war related condition, namely post-traumatic stress disorder …

Effect Of Standardizing Kick Plate Position On Track Start Biomechanics In Elite Swimmers, Angela Cicenia, Caroline Oster

Undergraduate Student Symposium

In the swimming track start the kick plate position on the starting block is chosen by the level of comfort of the swimmer but may influence performance. Hundredths of a second often determine the winner of short distance races. Therefore, it is crucial for a swimmer to produce a biomechanically sound start. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of standardizing kick plate positioning based on shin length on selected biomechanics. 15 swimmers (males, 10; females, 5; age, 21.3 ± 1.7 yrs; height, 1.79 ± 0.08 m; mass, 77.4 ± 10.4 kg) participated in the study. Shin …

Effects Of Role Models And Financing Barriers On Women Entrepreneurship, Tiana Henry

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Entrepreneurship has attracted the attention of many and is seen as the economic engine that has the potential to deliver future job growth. Because of this potential it is crucial to identify what drives entrepreneurship. Extant literature has focused on entrepreneurial wealth--sufficient collateral—as a liquidity constraint hindering small business capitalization. Our study empirically investigates the expected linkage between personal wealth constraints and intention to start a business for women entrepreneurs. Further we examine the moderating effect of successful role models on women entrepreneurship. Funded by a research grant, data has been collected in the state of Alabama from women intending …

El Silbo Gomero - An Ancient Language Evolved, Nicole Suárez

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Language makes up our identity through tradition and culture. How we communicate in terms of language varies in form and style. The whistling language, El Silbo Gomero, is heard and practiced by the residents of the Canary Islands located in La Gomera. It is not a substitute but a complement to the spoken language that already exists. The whistle makes a sweet tweet and musicality that is quite similar to sounds of birds making it quite easy for the residents of La Gomera to communicate and be heard in their noisy, outdoor environment. The loudness and frequency of the whistle …

Fashion Law: A Comparative Study Of U.S. And European Models, Francesca Chavez

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The objective of this research project is to bring to light the lack of protection for fashion designers’ intellectual property in a comparative study of intellectual property laws in the United States and the European Union. Legislation and case law surrounding the intellectual property rights of designers in the U.S. enable a culture of “fast fashion” where designs are stolen with ease and mass produced at a low cost to consumers with no legal ramifications. The erosion of intellectual property rights has revealed to have far-reaching ethical implications beyond the injustice the original designer concerning environmental impact and unfair labor …

Harmful Or Helpful?: Helicopter Parenting Among Latina/O Emerging Adults, Alina Alba, Samantha Mirman, Nehemie Dantica, Stephanie Nguyen

Undergraduate Student Symposium

When young adults enter college, parents sometimes have difficulties relinquishing control over their child. Parents might continue to be overinvolved and oversolicitous in their child’s life while in college, which is referred to as helicopter parenting (HP). HP tends to be developmentally inappropriate for college students, who often seek autonomy and independence during this time of emerging adulthood. Controlling parenting in general has been linked to the impostor phenomenon, or impostorism, which involves distressed feelings of being intellectually fraudulent despite being highly capable. However, from the perspective of Latina/o emerging adults (those between 18 and 25 years old), parental control …

Hollow, Amelia Figueroa, Jieun Son

Undergraduate Student Symposium

“Hollow” is a narrative short about a girl that breaks up with her emotionally abusive boyfriend after countless months of trying to make things work. In the final moments of their relationship, the story explores how it all started, what lead her to this point, and how she copes and perseveres in the aftermath. The film is directed by Amelia Figueroa and Jieun Son. Other crew members and actors involved TBA. The film is meant to be a narrative message about emotionally abusive relationships. More recently in pop culture, there’s been a wave of songs and stories about toxic relationships …

Human Angiotensinogen Gene Regulation By Hypoxia Inducible Factor - A Cell-Based Study, Sami Ansari, Moiz Khan

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Alcohol usage is linked to increased blood pressure and fibrotic transformation of the liver after the hepatocyte death. Angiotensinogen (AGT) is the source of Ang II which is produced from AGT by sequential action of renin followed by angiotensin converting enzyme. The blood AGT levels correlate to blood pressure, therefore, an increase in blood AGT levels result into corresponding increase in Ang II levels affecting blood pressure regulation and liver fibrogenic processes. Alcohol metabolism by the liver produces oxidative stress (ROS) that activates hypoxia inducible transcription factor-1alpha (HIF1α). Hepatocytes lose alcohol metabolizing enzymes after passages, therefore HIF-1α mediated activation of …

Improving Hygiene Behaviors Among Rural School-Aged Children: A Public Health Education Program In Dang District, Gujarat, India, Misha Brahmbhatt

Undergraduate Student Symposium

In India, over two million children die each year from preventable diseases. Poverty, malnutrition, poor sanitation, and unhygienic environment all contribute to alarming child mortality rates. Millions of lives could be saved with proper hygiene education and sanitation, especially in poor and underserved communities. This poster presents the results of an intervention to educate and encourage hygiene behaviors like washing hands, brushing teeth, cutting nails, and bathing among children. Participants were pediatric patients that presented to the NSU-KPCOM medical clinic camp at the Vanbandhu Arogya Dham community health center in the Ahwa, Dang District of India. Results also highlight the …