Kyle Ashby
Transforming Transgender: The Re-Gendering of American Media
Advisor: Dr. Wairimu Njambi

Media representations of queer bodies, especially transgendered individuals, are highly regulated within the confines of homonormativity and second-class Otherness. These portrayals, while simultaneously celebrated and criticized by Queer scholars for their mere existence, do not create a foundation of gender anarchy that scholars like Susan Stryker see as necessary for a comprehensively built trans-movement. Gender anarchy, understood in this paper as the unregulated effort to critically and socially dismantle common assumptions about gender and sex, must use feminist and queer theories of postmodern bodies, media identities and their conveyed politics to combat popular and oppressive queer and heterosexist bodies dominant in the zeitgeist. This paper argues that while transpeople and transgender issues are increasingly represented in the popular media, this very representation nevertheless further marginalizes and alienates diverse queer lived experiences by playing to established notions of gender behavior and sexual desire.  Such marginalization quiets feminist, progressive, and critical queer politics in favor of homonormative and heteronormative ideas about how gender develops and matters to today’s world.

Cynthia Avari
A Comparative Analysis of the French and American Judicial Systems and the Cultural Effects of Judicial Decisions
Advisor: Dr. Jacqueline Fewkes

The histories of France and the United States of America are often compared alongside the judicial systems of each country. While the histories of the countries, starting with the French and American revolutions, have similarities, the judicial systems themselves are based on different schools of thought. The French method of judicial decision making is based on the Napoleonic code whereas the American method is based on that of common law. In available literature regarding comparisons of France and the United States, it is an assumption that, if the American and French judicial systems are based on different legal theories, the cultural effects of those systems must also be different. Contrary to these expectations, however, my analysis of court cases focusing on labor unions’ right to strike demonstrates that there are similarities in judicial decisions’ effects on society.

Lauren Bimmler
The Grassroots Gospel: How Spirituals and Freedom Songs Democratized the Civil Rights Movement
Advisor: Dr. Chris Strain

Samuel A. Floyd, Jr. calls the Civil Rights Movement “the greatest singing movement this country has ever experienced.”  The prevalence of freedom songs across the South during this period cannot be ignored.  Music could be heard during mass meetings, at demonstrations, in jails, among other places.  Everywhere the activists sang, they made their voices heard.  The songs gave everyday people both a chance and a way to speak for themselves.  Singing provided an outlet for expression which directly included people in the action.  Without these songs, the African-American communities across the South may not have been able to band together to become such a force for change; while the activists were the facilitators for change, the songs were the inspiration.  Freedom songs democratized the Civil Rights Movement, enabling the participation of ordinary people at a grassroots level, therefore creating a strong mass movement.

Raquel Borges-Garcia
Gender Differences in Self-Reported Proactive Attitudes, Coping, Self-Efficacy, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms
Advisor: Dr. Laura Vernon

Past research has found that women who report greater proactive attitudes, proactive coping, and self-efficacy also report lower levels of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms. However, these findings do not take into consideration the gender differences affecting these measures. In our study, we investigated the difference between proactive attitudes, proactive coping, self-efficacy, and PTSD symptoms as reported by men and women. We found that women reported higher levels of proactive attitudes and higher levels of two PTSD symptom clusters, re-experiencing and hyperarousal. Contrary to expectations, there were no significant differences in scores on self-reported gratitude and growth scales. There were also no significant differences in their reported levels of proactive coping and self-efficacy. The implications of these findings for understanding and treating responses to trauma will be discussed.

Justin Bright
You Should Be Ashamed of Yourself: A Study of Moral Development and the Moral Emotions
Advisor: Dr. Laura Vernon, Dr. Amy McLaughlin

Lawrence Kohlberg theorized that an individual’s moral-cognition develops according to a series of moral stages.  This theory was later modified by James Rest, who developed an objective measure of moral development, known as the Defining Issues Test.  In the current study, we examine the relationship between moral development and the moral emotions of shame, guilt, and empathy.  Participants completed the Defining Issues Test, and a variety of self-report questionnaires measuring trait shame, trait guilt, and empathic disposition.  There is a trend for a significant positive correlation between higher-level moral reasoning and trait shame (r=.26, p<.06).  An index measuring consistency across moral stages was positively correlated with both trait shame (r=.32, p<.05) and trait guilt (r=.38, p<.05).  Neither index was significantly correlated with empathic disposition.  Implications of the findings will be discussed.

Rebeca Campos
The Private Provision of Public Goods in the Voluntary Carbon Market in the United States
Advisor: Dr. Keith Jakee

This paper will analyze the private provision of public goods in the voluntary carbon market in the United States. The voluntary carbon market is a new market that has emerged in the past decade in the United States. Since clean air is a public good that directly affects the voluntary carbon market, I will examine public goods very thoroughly. In addition, I will look at four different factors that are likely to influence the outcome of success of the voluntary carbon market in the future. The four factors are health threats, financial problems, size of the group, and warm-glow feeling. Also, I will develop a very simple heuristic model to represent the relationship between the four factors and the likelihood of success of the voluntary carbon market. Therefore, this paper will focus on the assumptions from the model and its four variables.

Michelle Cannon
The Painful State of Pleasure in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre
Advisor: Dr. Hilary Edwards

The heroine of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre is torn between her physical desire to remain close to Mr. Rochester and her psychological need for distance from him. Jane’s need for distance tends to dominate her desire for closeness, and this internal conflict is reproduced externally in her relationship with Rochester, with Rochester’s desire for physical proximity conflicting with Jane’s desire for distance. These internal and external power struggles create a healthy sense of tension necessary both to Jane, and to her relationship with Rochester because it prevents either of them from being fully satisfied, and ensures that both remain in a perpetual state of self-inflicted suffering. The suffering these characters impose on themselves and each other is necessary for the preservation of desires, which would be destroyed by fulfillment. Through my reading of the novel we gain a greater understanding of how the pain of unfulfilled desires becomes synonymous with pleasure, and the beneficial role pain, tension and unfulfilled desires plays in the text.

James Capp
Telling the Truth: Creative Nonfiction in Capote’s In Cold Blood & Mailer’s The Executioner’s Song
Advisor: Dr. Laura Barrett

In the American creative nonfiction genre, the line between fact and fiction is ever-blurring.  Two novels which strive for realness and are thematically related in their focus on a cause célèbre and the death penalty, Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood and Norman Mailer’s The Executioner’s Song, offer clues that might help approach the question of what makes a specific work fall under the category of creative nonfiction.  I analyze the creative techniques that the authors use in their novels, and I consider details from the texts about the activeness and reliability of the narrators in the two books, as well as consequent political implications. Additionally, I ground my examination of these novels in a discussion of the progress from the early novel’s drive for realism to twentieth-century literary journalism.

Jeanette Carney
City Space, Crowds, and Masks: James Ensor’s Critique of Modern Urbanization
Advisor: Dr. Christopher Ely, Dr. Yu Jiang

James Ensor’s depictions of Belgian cities and their inhabitants offer a derisive critique of modern urban space, and the resulting societal transformations, that developed during the nineteenth century.  His illustrations of the contemporary urban societies of Brussels and Ostend generally always include images of crowds and masks, elements which represent the horror and emptiness of the modern city. In aligning these images Ensor criticized modern urbanization, denouncing both the redevelopment and the resulting societal transformations as insensible and destructive.

Olivia Carollo
The Relationship Between Proactive Coping and PTSD Symptom Severity in a College Student Sample
Advisor: Dr. Laura Vernon

This study investigated the relationship between Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and various coping mechanisms for 341 undergraduate men and women.  Participants were administered the Proactive Attitude Scale, Proactive Coping Inventory, General Perceived Self-Efficacy Scale, and the PTSD Checklist.  After an initial exploratory factor analysis, it was determined that the proactive and self-efficacy measures could be collapsed into one proactive factor of coping.  The three symptom clusters of PTSD- reexperiencing, avoidance/numbness, and hyperarousal- were also collapsed into a single PTSD score.  The dependent variable, PTSD symptom severity, was negatively correlated with the proactive factor (r=-.16, p < .001, one-tailed).  This suggests that those individuals who generally employ more proactive coping strategies and feel more effective, ultimately report fewer, and less severe PTSD symptoms.

Kathryn Cruikshank
Frailty, Thy Name is Orsino: Appetite, Bestiality, and Femininity in Hamlet and Twelfth Night
Advisor: Dr. Michael Harrawood

The plays of William Shakespeare delve into the mysteries of the feminine and masculine spheres, exploring the creation of gendered characteristics that seem to define all men and all women.  No play is more in support of a divide between the sexes than is Hamlet, whose protagonist’s critique of his licentious mother stems, in his opinion, from the womanly weaknesses that make her unfit to be considered a human.  However, the notion of gender specific qualities comes under attack in Twelfth Night, in which the Duke appears to emulate Gertrude’s own frailties and even exaggerate them to the degree that he may have foregone his masculinity, making him a suitable partner for Cesario and not for Viola.  This reversal creates both the  comedic and the tragic components of Twelfth Night: femininity is no longer specific to women, but anyone who associates with femininity is perpetually damaged for having done so.

Caitlin Currie
An Empirical Look at Identity Politics and the Liberal Arts Curriculum: The Hispanic Literature Example
Advisor: Dr. Martin Sweet

This project examines politicization of the university. Critics have long charged that politics, and specifically identity politics, has infiltrated the classroom via radical professors. Scholars who lament the decline of the western canon claim that a massive wave of new untested works – largely written by women and people of color – have replaced the works of dead white men leaving our students ill-prepared. While most of the scholarship in this area has been written in the area of English literature departments, this project focuses on the field of Hispanic Literature. If identity politics has challenged the canon in the university, it is expected that within identity-based disciplines the infiltration of politics should be substantial. To test the politicization of the university, I examined 33 Hispanic Literature survey courses from a variety of American universities. I found a high degree of consistency among these syllabi and concluded that critics of the university have at best overstated their case.

Ian Depagnier
Supreme Court Politics: Opinion Assignment During the Rehnquist Era 1986-2004
Advisor: Dr. Martin Sweet

My thesis examines Chief Justice Rehnquist and opinion assignment to Supreme Court justices. The two dominant theories for opinion assignment are the attitudinal model and the strategic model. My research examined whether partisan alignment in Congress affected opinion assignment, as well as examining assignment of salient (important) cases. The attitudinal model best explains the actions of Chief Justice Rehnquist- his federal legislation opinions increase after Republicans took control of Congress and he authored 23% of salient cases as chief justice.

Rebecka Epps
Your Teacher Was Right: You Can’t Get an A if You Don’t Show up to Class and Do Your Homework
Advisor: Dr. Robin Jordan

Dr. Robin Jordan of Florida Atlantic University and I analyzed data from Physics classes to see if a correlation between attendance and class performance existed. We found that, while consistent attendance betters a student’s likelihood of achieving a higher grade, it does not ensure exceptional class performance. Also, we analyzed data from his classes to see if homework and class performance have a correlation with one another. With this analysis, we found that participation on homework betters a student’s probability of receiving a particular letter grade (e.g. B+), but does not significantly increase a student’s probability of a higher score within the interval of the letter grade (i.e. a student with a B+ is just as likely to get an 87 as they are an 89).  Furthermore, we constructed a multiple linear regression to determine the extent to which attendance and homework scores combined can predict student grades.

Sarah Fannin
Toward Climate Neutrality: Florida Atlantic University’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory, 2004-2007
Advisor: Dr. Bill O'Brien

This study provides an inventory of FAU’s greenhouse gas emissions and their sources from 2004-2007.  Colleges and universities across the country have been taking the initiative to reduce their ecological footprints at this crucial period of the onset of global climate change.  Here at Florida Atlantic University, steps are being taken to join this nationwide collegiate effort through President Frank Brogan’s recent signing of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment.  The commitment requires the completion of a greenhouse gas emissions inventory, and the results will serve as a benchmark for creating a plan for measuring future progress toward climate neutrality. 

Jenna Fitzgerald
The Gentle Gender?: Shakespeare’s Tamora and Lady Macbeth as Models of Revenge
Advisor: Dr. Michael Harrwood

Twelve years separate the plays Titus Andronicus and Macbeth and yet the similarities between Tamora and Lady Macbeth seem to indicate that the former served as a model for the latter female revenge character. Despite the many characteristics that connect the two powerful women, Shakespeare not only intensifies Tamora but questions her maternal traits, exaggerates her competition with the male characters, and replaces her motives for madness in order to create Lady Macbeth. While it is often assumed that a female’s identity is defined through her male counterpart, the opposite is true of the male characters in Titus Andronicus and Macbeth who are defined through the strength and personality of Tamora and Lady Macbeth, respectively. Analyzing the characteristics of these two women offers a new perspective on the characters, challenging the traditional observation that they are cruel and evil. Rather than viewing them as supernatural, controlling beings, my analysis allows the characters to simply be considered as driven, yet flawed women equal to the tragic heroes they encounter in the plays. 

Samantha Fow
The Political Economy of Domestic Corn Ethanol Production
Advisor: Dr. Keith Jakee

Since its inception, the domestic corn ethanol industry in the United States has been dependant on federal subsidies and trade restrictions to keep afloat. Although this political support has allowed the industry to grow, there have been a number of negative externalities as a result, namely the growing demand for corn causing significant increases in the prices of many consumer goods. Despite the fact that consumers are facing rising prices in agricultural and energy markets, ethanol still maintains a level of support among the general American populace that is counterintuitive given its economic reality. In this paper, I contend that much of ethanol’s support is maintained through the intentional manipulation of the product’s public perception on behalf of politicians and industrial superpowers. I will demonstrate this phenomenon through the use of both Stigler’s (1971) capture theory and Peltzman’s (1976) model of iso-majority.

Randi Gingerich
The Evolution of Beauty in Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, Tar Baby, and Jazz
Advisor: Dr. Laura Barrett

Toni Morrison's award-winning first novel The Bluest Eye deals with the relationship of  race and gender  to beauty and stereotypes.  Aspiring to a standard of beauty that excludes them, several of the black female characters in The Bluest Eye fail in their goals to become beautiful.  Morrison's later works show a newer, more confidant black woman who can find perfection tailored to her own features.  Using three novels that span Morrison’s career, Song of Solomon, Tar Baby, and Jazz, I will trace the shift in Morrison’s portrayal of African-American women’s relationship to standards of beauty.

Mark Goldberg-Foss
"They Forget I am an Irishman": Socialist Internationalism and the Question of Nationality in Ireland, 1896-1916
Advisor: Dr. Christopher Ely

Politics in early twentieth-century Ireland were dominated by overlapping layers of social and ideological conflict.  As a factionalized nationalist movement sought varying levels of independence from the British Empire, a crescendo of working-class upheaval in industrial centers and a bitter legacy of religious conflict in the northeast complicated efforts to define and realize a unified, independent Irish nation.  My paper examines the theories of James Connolly, a labor activist and socialist who died a martyr for Ireland.  It will criticize his theoretical and practical attempts to link anti-colonial nationalism and socialist internationalism, examine his views against those of his contemporaries in the labor and nationalist movements, and situate his theory and practice within a context of influential events such as the Dublin Lockout, the First World War, and the Easter Rising.

Daniel Gopman
Mythical Strings and Glass Beads: Metaphysics and Transcendentalism in Modern Physics
Advisor: Dr. Christopher Ely

String theory has captivated the theoretical physics community for nearly twenty five years. Despite the optimism that string theory will lead physicists to a deeper understanding of the universe, no unique theory has emerged from a long series of conjectures and loosely related facts. While the Large Hadron Collider is set to start running experiments this year in Geneva, it is doubtful that its observations will be able to confirm or reject string theory. String theory has emerged in a rare period in the history of physics, during which experimental thresholds have been met and theory seems to break down above that threshold. I argue that the emphasis on mathematical symmetry and harmony in string theory physics is part of a neo-Platonic metaphysics tradition that has emerged in previous epochs in the history of physics when experiment and theory have failed. However, in contrast to other periods when neo-Platonic metaphysical ideas have been helpful to resolve dilemmas in physics, string theorists have allowed themselves to become estranged from experiment as well as other viable theoretical research programs in contemporary physics.

Ashley Hydrick
Overexpressing Dynactin's Microtubule Domains to Determine their Function
Advisor: Dr. Nicholas Quintyne

Dynactin is a multisubunit protein complex that consists of a number of cargo binding domains, which allows it to be involved in many important cellular functions. Dynactin is essential to the functionality of dynein as well as kinesin II. It is necessary for mitosis and for subcellular movement. The largest subunit of dynactin, p150Glued, contains dynactin’s two microtubule binding domains: CAP-Gly and Basic. While the structure and localization of dynactin has been extensively studied, relatively little is understood about the function and regulation of these two microtubule binding domains. In order to study the functionality of dynactin’s microtubule binding domains, we have overexpressed CAP-Gly and Basic both individually and together. We have used immunofluorescence microscopy to visualize target structures within the cell, and have quantified the effects of overexpression of these microtubule binding domains on microtubule structure, centrosome integrity, mitotic index, and localization of the Golgi complex and lysosomes.

Echo Keif
Logrolling In the Supreme Court
Advisors: Dr. Keith Jakee, Dr. Terje Hoim

While studies have considered the presence and impact of logrolling (vote trading) on legislative actors, little work has questioned the possibility of judicial logrolling among Supreme Court Justices. Supreme Court Justices are usually assumed to be free from constituencies and political party pressures. This assumption is derived from life-long appointments that do not require the endorsement of reelection. However, public choice would predict the presence of logrolling in cases where intense differences in preferences exist among justices. We only expect to see logrolling when vote trading has the potential to change voting outcomes. Thus, in order to study the probability of logrolling both plurality (5-4) and unanimous decisions (9-0) must be considered. Essentially, I will be altering previous models of legislative logrolling in accordance with the conditions of the Supreme Court. This study does not aim to prove the existence of logrolling among Supreme Court Justices, only that it is a possibility.

LauraLynn Kirk
Collective Memory of Japanese Naming Rituals Through the Incorporation of Anime and Manga
Advisor: Dr. Jacqueline Fewkes

I describe how members of Japanese society perpetuate collective memory through the utilization of Japanese media to include past and present Japanese socio-political name alterations.  I explain the reasons behind the name alterations and how knowledge and use of the naming rituals continue through collective agency.  Manga and anime are visual and auditory vehicles of cultural repetition which subconsciously stimulate a united response in audiences.  Each socio-political anime and manga example correlates to past and present naming rituals.  Social name alterations occurred at birth, genpuku (initiation into adulthood), marriage, and changes in levels of skill.  Political alterations occurred from hostage exchange or adoption, change in ideologies, occupational change, or the assumption of new roles and recognition from a higher ranking member of society.  While members of Japanese society learn socio-political naming traditions from daily interactions with other people, further encouragement of expected behavior and customs become reinforced through the media.

Sara  Klco, Dr. Laura Vernon
Reappraisal and Suppression: An Examination of Adaptive and Maladaptive Coping Mechanisms
Advisor: Dr. Laura Vernon

Past research has shown that people react to stress with a variety of strategies known as coping mechanisms.  One such mechanism is suppression, in which an individual avoids thoughts or emotions produced by a stressor.  Another such coping mechanism is reappraisal, which includes cognitive reframing of thoughts in order to alter their emotional impact.  Whereas suppression has been found to be largely maladaptive, research indicates that reappraisal is adaptive.  This study examined the relationship between suppression and reappraisal with symptoms of anxiety, depression, stress, and physical health.  As expected, reappraisal was found to be significantly negatively correlated with stress (r=-.36) and there was a trend for a negative association with depression (r=-.12), anxiety (r=-.03), and health (r=-.19).  In contrast, cognitive suppression was significantly positively correlated with stress (r= .59) and health (r= .33) and displayed a trend of positive association with depression, (r= .10) anxiety, (r= .24) and stress (r=.17).

Sandra Lazo de la Vega
The Activism of the Catholic Church on Immigrants’ Rights in the United States: Catholic Social Teaching and Rational Choice Theory
Advisor: Dr. Timothy Steigenga

The purpose of this paper is to test the hypothesis that the Catholic Church acts as a rational actor and will therefore be more active and outspoken on issues of immigrant’s rights when it faces increased competition. The present study looks at the United States, using Catholic Dioceses as units of analysis to test this hypothesis. Each Diocese is given a “competition” score and these data are correlated with data about the activism of the Church within each Diocese regarding immigrant’s issues. The findings do not support Joel Fetzer’s and Anthony Gill’s rational actor hypothesis as applied to the Catholic Church. In this study, increased religious competition was a poor predictor of Catholic Church activism on issues of immigration.

Pierre Louis
Pentecostalism, Development, and Democracy in Latin America
Advisor: Dr. Timothy Steigenga

The recent explosive growth of Protestantism in Latin America has led a number of scholars to predict that the region may be on its way to reaching a significantly higher level of socioeconomic development. These are important claims for a region that has struggled with both economic development and democratic consolidation. This thesis argues that Protestantism in Latin America does not follow the classical Weberian pattern of development.  Because the majority of Protestant growth in the region is Pentecostal, the causal assumptions of the “culture and development” school do not hold. Furthermore, a context of neoliberalism, a significant colonial legacy, and wide income disparities continue to hinder the potential for development.  Based on a review of secondary sources and specific data from the case of Guatemala, this thesis argues that while individual Protestants may experience some upward social mobility, the growth of Protestantism has done little to advance the socioeconomic and political development of the region.

Stephanie Lucas, Hank Smith
Status of the Gull-billed Tern in Florida
Advisor: Dr. Jon Moore

The Gull-billed tern is a globally distributed species.  Distribution in the United States is extremely limited, however, with the majority of breeding birds being found in Texas.  The remainder can be found scattered throughout the southeast.  Florida has a mere 1.6%.  This study has accumulated all records of breeding Gull-billed Terns in Florida since 1973.  Distribution trends were analyzed.  It was determined that during the time frame studied, the population of these birds has fluctuated widely and experienced an alarming decline of about “95% between 1975 and 1999” (Smith, in press.).  It has therefore been determined that the current status of this bird in Florida mandates that further conservation efforts occur rapidly in order to protect its diminishing population.  This study looks at those conservation measures already in place, as well as those pending, such as my petition to list this species as “threatened” under the endangered species provisions of the Florida Wildlife Code (Chap. 39 F.A.C.).

Jessica Mahoney
Identification of Gene Expression Patterns during T-Cell Development
Advisor: Dr. Paul Kirchman

The production of T-cells (lymphocytes) is a critical function as they are one of the key players in the upkeep of the body's immune system.  Correct development of t-cells in the immune system is critical for several reasons including prevention of autoimmunity, and maintaining populations of t-cells available to attack foreign bodies and other particles damaging to normal body function.  While the stages of development of t-cells in the thymus are well known, beginning with hematopoietic stem cell precursors and resulting in single positive cells marked with CD4+ or CD8+, the gene program that controls these unique stages is not well understood.  The purpose of this research project is to collect specific populations of t-cell progenitors from the thymus and analyze these populations via micro-array gene chip experiments to determine and examine gene interactions that occur between populations.  Three novel genes have been identified: Btg1, Gtf2h4 and Mef2d.

David Martin
Fear, Hope, and Personality: An Emipirical Study of Political Persuasion
Advisor: Dr. Kevin Lanning

Consequences of policy decisions may be framed as potential risks or opportunities, and as affecting the near (proximal) or distant (distal) future. Sensitivity to distal risks, distal opportunities, proximal risks, and proximal opportunities may be associated with personality traits. Individuals high in conscientiousness are expected to be particularly sensitive to distal risks and opportunities. Similarly, neuroticism is expected to be associated with distal and proximal risks, and extraversion and agreeableness with distal and proximal opportunities, respectively. In addition to these differential affects, this research also examines abstract issue frames and their effect on concrete issues such as global warming, health care, infrastructure, and terrorism. 

Kevin McCaffrey
The Genetic Alteration of Superoxide Dismutase in Order to Increase Longevity in Yeast Cells
Advisor: Dr. Paul Kirchman

Aging is often explained by the free radical theory, which accounts for the fact that, through respiration, free radicals such as hydrogen peroxide and superoxide (O2-) are produced. The theory proposes that these free radicals cause oxidative damage to cellular components. The accumulation of free radical damage eventually renders entire systems inoperable, resulting in the death of an organism. Superoxide dismutases repair the oxidative damage and in some cases, prevent it from occurring.  The goal of this experiment was to use random mutagenesis in the process of directed evolution to create a more efficient superoxide dismutase gene (SOD2).  Error prone polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to mutagenize the manganese-superoxide enzyme (MnSod) from S. Cerevisiae (yeast).  Mutations with increased activity were selected for in an E. coli strain that lacks superoxide dismutase.  DNA sequencing of the SOD2 gene from one isolate, confirmed that there was a mutation from the original form, which showed increased activity.  This gene was then tranfected into S. Cerevisiae.

Hester  Bennett
Detection of Phosphorus Oxyanion Removal for Everglades Restoration
Advisor: Dr. Michelle Ivey

Stormwater treatment areas (STAs) are included in the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) to improve the quality of the runoff from Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) before reaching the Everglades.  The STAs are designed to remove excess nutrients, specifically phosphorus.  This study aims to use ion chromatography to detect phosphorus to examine effectiveness of the stormwater treatment areas in preventing phosphorus from entering the Everglades system, by examining various forms of phosphorus including phosphite, hypophosphite, and phosphate.   Water samples will be taken at various points along the Everglades system, such Lake Okeechobee, within the Everglades Agricultural Area, stormwater treatment areas, and water conservation areas.  Water samples will be analyzed using ion chromatography, which separates the ions based on their size and charge.  The ions are then detected by conductivity, allowing trace concentrations of phosphorus oxyaniong to be detected. 

Danielle Boutté
Age and Memory for Events
Advisor: Dr. Julie L. Earles

Event memory studies have shown that older adults typically have poorer memories for events than do younger adults. Unfortunately, these studies tested memory for events that contained only young adults as actors. It could be that the younger adults remembered the events better due to an own age bias. One particular type of event memory error is called unconscious transference. In unconscious transference, a binding error results in false conjunction memories. Several studies have shown that older adults are more likely to make these errors. This study aims to look more closely at the effects of own age bias on face recognition and conjunction errors made in memory for events. Younger adults were tested on their memory for both younger and older adults seen performing simple actions in video clips as well as in mugshot photograph tests.

Amber  Brittain
Development of a protocol for assays to analyze SOD mutants
Advisor: Dr. Paul Kirchman

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are generally small molecules that are very reactive because they contain unpaired electrons in their valence shell. Reactive oxygen species play a huge role in aging and many harmful diseases. Therefore, investigation into agents, such as superoxide dismutase, that can reverse or eradicate the harmful effects of reactive oxygen species is extremely important. Superoxide dismutase has been used in the treatment of many diseases, such as ischemia/reperfusion, and it has been theorized that it may have anti-aging effects. If a mutant form of SOD can be isolated that exhibits a higher level of activity compared to wildtype SOD, than perhaps this SOD can be used more effectively in the treatment of certain diseases. This experiment uses the technique of western blot and enzymatic activity assays in order to begin an investigation into a mutant form of SOD to characterize and investigate its usefulness.

Stacee Caplan, Dr. Eugene Smith
Biological Electron Transfer: An Investigation of Riboflavin

Advisor: Dr. Eugene Smith

Most living organisms utilize electron transport chains in order to obtain energy. Riboflavin, commonly known as vitamin B2, is the central component of the redox coenzymes flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) and flavin mononucleotide (FMN). These cofactors serve as a prosthetic group to flavoproteins and function as the

energy-carrying molecules in electron transfer reactions. In this study, the different ionization and oxidation states of riboflavin were identified and quantified as a function of solution potential and pH. To accomplish this task, spectroelectrochemical titrations of riboflavin at different pH were performed. Spectroscopic data offers clues concerning the identity of underlying species, such as oxidation/ionization states and the

controlling equilibria. The large data sets obtained from these titrations were analyzed and the acid

dissociation constant for reduced riboflavin was determined.

Fernanda  Charles

Functionality of the p150glued subunit of dynactin in driving efficient cellular motility

Advisor: Dr. Nicholas Quintyne

The multiprotein dynactin complex is essential for cellular vesicle transport.  Coupled with cytoplasmic dynein, dynactin drives vesicular motility to the minus-ends of microtubules. Dynactin acts as a tether for dynein via its p150glued component, allowing for long-distance motility. Dynactin has no motor activity, and is thought to skate along with the motor. Therefore, the interaction between p150glued and the microtubule must be transient. p150glued contains two domains which can bind microtubules named the CAP-Gly and the basic domains. In order to analyze the respective contributions of these domains to dynactin-based motility, we have devised an assay to study in vivo motility. We used the fluorescent dye Nile Red to mark lipid droplets in Cos-7 cells and analyzed distance traveled and velocity of these molecules. With this assay, we can knock out endogenous p150Glued and replace it with a mutant that lacks the basic domain to examine its contribution to motility.

Samantha  Chong, Dr. Eugene Smith

Factor Analysis of Flavin Adenine Dinucleotide

Advisor: Dr. Eugene Smith

Flavin adenine dinucleotide, FAD, is a vital coenzyme present in mammals. A two-electron acceptor, FAD is reduced to FADH2 and multiple theoretical papers suggest a two electron/two proton process. To probe this mechanism, spectroelectrochemistry is often employed to analyze the structure of molecules based on differences in the absorbance of electromagnetic radiation. The spectra produced show the specifics of the redox reaction of FAD, illustrating the reduction of FAD over time at various pHs. Factor Analysis is a statistical method that transforms the spectral data into linear combinations. These linear combinations can then be analyzed using principle factor analysis to determine the number of species present in the solution. Further analysis with windows factor analysis can be used to extract concentration profiles providing the oxidation and ionization states of FAD.  The pKa value(s) of compounds influence many characteristics of the compound. Specific to this study, the pKa values are of major importance in determining the activity of enzymes and hence how the physical behaviour of the enzymes are affected by ionization. Cytochrome b5 reductase, CB5R, is a FAD-containng enzyme in the blood. It controls the amount of iron in your red blood cells, and helps the cells carry plenty of oxygen. In this study, the factor analysis of spectroelectrochemical data obtained for CB5R was analyzed and the pKa of the reduced state was obtained. Our model suggests that in its oxidized state FAD has one component. In contrast, FAD has two components and is pH-independent in its reduced state.

Mila  Curry

Britney, Obama, Tiger, or Trump: Do personality traits predict news preferences?

Advisor: Dr. Kevin Lanning

The current study examines the relationship between the Five-Factor Model of Personality and preferences for news headlines. This is an online study in which participants are presented two headlines and are asked to choose one of them. Next, participants are asked to fill out a personality inventory. In the results we examine whether certain personality types are more likely to read certain news stories. We predict that people high in Openness to Experience will be more likely to choose news headlines about countries abroad, in particular Arab countries. Arab countries are included because we want to determine if out-group biases exist since the United States is currently at war against Iraq. Individuals high in Conscientiousness were predicted to choose headlines related to health, careers, and justice. Similar predictions were created for Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism in that three distinct items were chosen to represent each of these traits.

Tiffany Gaston

Food Source of Sorites Dominicensis

Advisor: Dr. Susan Richardson

A healthy Thalassia testudinum seagrass bed in the intracoastal waterway near Jupiter Lighthouse supports an adequate population of the foraminiferal species known as Sorites dominicensis.  The locality of the study site is unique because epiphytic diatoms, characteristic of Caribbean and more temperate environments, are expected to make up the biofilm community. According to the scientific literature, diatoms compose a large part of the foraminiferan’s diet. This study was two-fold. First, we scraped the entire biofilm off 20 seagrass blades and dissolved the organic matter in order to identify the diatom assemblage.  Second, we used scanning electron microscopy to determine which diatom species are selected by individual foraminiferans as food items, by noting the identification of diatoms entrapped in pseudopodial nets or found in debris piles of digested diatoms adjacent to the foraminiferal tests (shells).

Daniel  Gopman, Korey Sorge, Dr. Eugene Belogay, Manuel Perez, Santimukul Santra
Nanoparticles in the mirror are smaller than they appear

Advisor: Dr. Eugene Belogay

Nanoparticles in the mirror are smaller than they appear! Nanoparticles are so small, they are invisible!  Their typical size, from 1 to 100 nm, is much smaller than the wavelengths of visible light.  Yet, size matters when magnetic nanoparticles are used in targeted drug delivery and medical imaging.  Even though they are invisible, there is a way to size up these particles indirectly -- for instance, by measuring and analyzing their behavior in strong magnetic fields.  The magnetization of a single particle is modeled by the Langevin function -- a nonlinear function of particle size and applied magnetic field.  The ensemble magnetization of particles with various sizes is an integral of the Langevin function and the size distribution density function.  The sizes of synthetic nanoparticles often have a lognormal distribution, which makes the integral intractable.  To find the theoretical size distribution that best fits our magnetic measurements, we approximated the integral by a sum and performed non-linear optimization on a computer.  The resulting median size of 5 nm appeared to be smaller than predicted by tunnel emission microscopy; this difference provides an important insight into the magnetic structure of the nanoparticles.

Chris  Harris, Donna Devlin, Ellen Grefsrud, Dr. Jon Moore, Dr. Ed Proffit, and Amber Shawl

Assessment of Multiple Paternity for the Queen Conch, Strombus gigas

Advisor: Dr. Jon Moore

The commercially important queen conch, Strombus gigas, has been observed copulating with multiple partners and laying multiple egg masses during a reproductive season (Randall, 1964). While multiple paternity has been confirmed using microsatellite based genetic analysis for a variety of other gastropods, this technique has not been employed for S. gigas. Determining whether or not this species is capable of multiple paternity is important to understanding and maintaining genetic diversity of both natural populations and those being raised in captivity. In this study, we conducted a genetic analysis of three S. gigas maternal parents and

their progeny from the Florida Keys, using eight polymorphic microsatellite molecular markers previously established for the species (Zamora-Bustillos et al. 2007).

Anna  Leech

False crawls by loggerhead sea turtles in Palm Beach County, Florida

Advisor: Dr. James Wetterer

Southeast Florida has the largest aggregation of nesting loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) in the United States, and is second in the world only to Oman. There is concern that recreational activity along the Florida coast may disturb sea turtle nesting. For my thesis, I wished to examine whether human activity may increase the occurrence of false crawls, where sea turtles emerge from the ocean, but do not nest. Using the data collected between 2001 and 2005 by the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach for the turtles nesting on a 9.7-km stretch of beach in Jupiter and Juno Beach, Palm Beach County, Florida.  I compared rates of false crawls on weekends versus weekdays, and among the different segments of the beach with varying levels of public access.

Maria  Mandina

Andalusian Traits and their Connection to the Color Genes

Advisor: Dr. Jon Moore

Andalusian horses can be white, bay, or black in color. Historically the white-colored horses were most highly valued, but a recent fad for black color has created a demand for those horses. Because of the long preference for white Andalusians, I hypothesize that lineages composed of white Carthusian ancestors are of higher quality than non-white Andalusian horses whose lineages are comprised of ancestors either bay or black in color, with black being the color gene carrying the most genetic defects. My research question is, “Are negative breeding traits in Andalusian horses genetically connected to color genes?” This hypothesis was tested in two different manners based on my observations and on the observations of Spanish judges throughout the centuries.  I attended two horse shows in Florida and took notes on exactly 50 horses present, their color and their faults as show horses.  I then researched each horse and the ancestors in their lineages.  The second method used was a program called MELPI containing every registered Andalusian in history and information vital to my study including: their lineages/ancestors, color, judged faults, breeding quality scores, success in the show ring, offspring, etc.  Two hundred and fifty horses were randomly chosen and researched on this program to complete my study.  The results for both methods of evaluation supported my hypothesis that negative breeding traits in Andalusian horses are genetically correlated to the color genes.