All Abstracts

Using an intellectual property and human rights frame, this paper explores the global performance of the haka, a traditional and complex dance of the Māori people of New Zealand. My questions are: Does the use of haka by non-Māori constitute appropriation of the Māori culture, and if so, how? Is ...

Candida auris is an emerging pathogen that exhibits a reduced susceptibility to antifungal agents and demonstrates a potential to cause a wide spectrum of human mycotic infections. C. auris genotypes vary based on geography and cluster into four clades. Given the genetic diversity among the clades, ...

Shiga toxins (STX) are produced by certain Escherichia coli strains that cause “hamburger disease”. The toxins contain three different sites that bind to a glycolipid, the cell surface receptor globotriaosylceramide (Gb3). Roles for Gb3 in normal cell functions are largely unknown. However, the ...

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common malignant brain tumor in adults. The poor prognosis of GBM is associated with the tumor's highly malignant nature and the inability of some treatment modalities to transport due to the blood-brain barrier. Immunotherapy has been recognized as a promising therape...

Influenza is one of the deadliest of all airborne and upper-respiratory infections. On average, 22,000 deaths and over 3 million hospitalizations in USA are attributed to influenza each year. In the United States, influenza activity has been increasing since the beginning of November of 2017, with I...

Intimate partner violence (IPV) and depression are major health concerns in the United States (U.S.). Studies have shown that women who receive help for IPV have a rate of depression that ranges from 17% to 72% (Warshaw, Barnes, 2003). Additionally, research findings suggest that IPV is more prevale...

The ant, fungal cultivar, and Escovopsis system is one of mutualism and parasitism. Attine ants grow fungal cultivars that they feed and in turn use for food. Escovopsis is a parasitic fungus that uses the cultivated fungus as a host. However, studies have shown that Escovopsis is often but not alwa...

The performing arts often fail to reflect the technologically advanced society we live in. Scientists and engineers rarely collaborate with the performing arts. In an attempt to encourage this collaboration, we have created wearable technology, programmed in concordance with the music and choreograp...

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is a synthetic polymer that is popular in orthopedic medicine due to its high water compatibility and other chemical resistance. Some common uses for PVA are  solutions for contact lens, tissue adhesion barriers, and artificial knee cartilage (Baker et al. 2012; Spiller ...

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in men worldwide. DNA methylation is an epigenetic mechanism used to control gene expression. To understand the correlation between this epigenetic mechanism and cancer, single nucleotide polymorphism from the human genomic matrix are analyzed using R...

Ash trees around the world have a significant role in our lives from medicine to religious purposes. Recently, ash trees have been in decline in the U.S. due to the Emerald Ash Borers (EAB) which are small beetles that were first detected in North America in 2002. The rapid decline of ash trees can ...

Most angiosperms have nuclear endosperm, which consist of an initial syncytial phase and a cellularization phase. Before endosperm is fully cellularized, the embryo growth rate is relatively slow. Our work indicates that the expression of an Invertase inhibitor (InvINH1) during the syncytial phase c...

It is common to find differential rates of methylation among various cancers. Previous studies suggest that exposure to organochlorines, a major component of pesticides, leads to differential methylation, and thus ultimately plays a role in the development of cancers. Previous analysis has shown tha...

Mobile technology can be utilized both to encourage and to distract students from educational pursuits. This project examines cell-phone based learning methods in undergraduate chemistry classrooms. It is hypothesized that the use of cell phone applications and services stimulates learning in chemis...

Factors pertaining to a child’s home environment, such as income, can impact learning outcomes. One outcome that has been found to be affected by a child’s family income is reading ability. Previous literature suggests that children's ability to read in primary school is linked to cognitive deve...

Biofilm formation (BF), the aggregation of bacteria encased in an extracellular matrix, is an emerging scientific and health concern in many environments including hospitals, infrastructures, and industrial production sites. Pathogenic Neisseria species, N. meningitidis and N. gonorrhoeae, form biof...

Depression is the fourth leading cause of disability and the leading cause of non-fatal disease burden in the United States. Several studies have indicated that African Americans are significantly more likely to report depression compared to European Americans. Although the literature has examined c...

The works of Fabiola Jean-Louis, a contemporary artist and photographer, reflect a style that is historical, haunting, magical, and mysterious. Focusing on her “Madame Leroy,” this presentation highlights Jean-Louis’s recourse to history and fashion as vehicles for interpretation of the treatm...

Antibiotics are produced by microbes in the soil and can slow the growth of plants. For example, kanamycin, which is an aminoglycoside, affects cells by binding to ribosomes and inhibiting translocation. Atwbc19 is a gene in Arabidopsis plants that has been known to mitigate the effects of antibioti...

Baylis-Hillman reactions are described as the addition of an acrylate to an aldehyde catalyzed by an amine. This reaction is atom economical, but for our reaction of benzaldehyde and methyl vinyl ketone it produced low yields and the reaction rates were slow. To increase the reaction rates and yield...

Urbanization is an increase in the number of people that live in relatively small areas and can cause drastic changes in land use. For example, more cement and concrete may be used to accommodate the growing population of people moving to a city. This research analyzes how urbanization affects bird ...

Blood-feeding is a trait that has evolved multiple times within flies (Diptera). The goal of this study is to compare gene expression between two blood-feeding flies, the blow-fly Protocalliphora sailia and mosquitos to identify conserved genes related to blood-feeding. This is interesting because t...

There is limited research about HIV testing and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use among African-American (AA) college students. If students become aware of their HIV status, they may consider HIV testing services and treatments. Participants (n = 212) were surveyed to study whether health literacy...

This study examines the spatial distribution of ozone trends in India over the decade 2004-2016. Tropospheric ozone is an indicator of environmental health as a major air pollutant; long-time exposure and air quality deterioration threaten public health. As more manufacturing, power plants and trans...

Intimate partner violence (IPV) refers to any form of physical, psychological, and/or sexual harm committed by a current or former partner (CDC, 2003). In heterosexual partnerships, 34.6% of European American women report experiencing IPV, and this rate is even higher for African American women of w...

While prior research has explored cortical connectivity and reliability of response using fMRI, there has been far less research on these topics using other neuroimaging technologies, such as fNIRS. The purpose of this study is to investigate how different cortical regions are connected, as well as ...

Prostate cancer is a multifocal disease, with varying sensitivity to hormone therapy or androgen deprivation therapy. It is initially responsive to therapies that inhibit androgen receptor (AR) signaling, but the disease eventually advances to an androgen-independent state. Investigators have demons...

Through the course of this research, we utilized the geometric mean to discover how it differs from the arithmetic mean. The geometric mean is found by taking the n-th root of the product of n numbers. The geometric mean can be used to determine growth rates, portfolio returns, and stock indices. ...

Epigenetic changes modify genes in ways that do not change the DNA sequence but changes their level of gene expression. CpG islands regulate the expression of nearby genes; however, transcriptional complexes involved in gene expression can be repelled or attracted by methyl groups modified through e...

Economic prosperity, a better quality of life, and a hopeful future are key aspects that migrant individuals seek when coming to the United States. These migrants often send money back to their native countries in hopes of improving the lives of their families. Research has shown that migrant remitt...