McNair Journal

Volume 10 Article 1

October 2011 Ronald E. McNair Undergraduate Research Journal - 2010

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McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

Contents

History of Ronald E. McNair Program 3 Dr. Ronald Erwin McNair ...... 4 Letter from the Director ...... 5 Letter from the Provost 6 Letter from Dean of the University Graduate School 7 Letter from Vice President, Division of Student Affairs 8 FIU Facts at a Glance ...... 9 McNair Fellows Presenter Index ...... 10 McNair Fellows Research ...... 12 Administrative Staff ...... 62 Ronald E. McNair Advisory Board 63 Acknowledgements 64

2 Florida International University McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

McNair Post-baccalaureate Achievement Program The McNair Program was established at FIU in 2002 and since that time has inducted over 200 undergraduate students majoring in the different STEM fields of study.

Congress established a series of programs, funded under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, to help low-income Americans enter college, graduate and ultimately progress to become experts in their field. The Ronald E. Post Baccalaureate Achievement Program was established in 1986. The McNair program was named after Ronald E. McNair who passed away during the explosion of the Challenger Space Shuttle on January 28th, 1986. Its primary goal is to increase the number of Ph.D. students among groups under- represented in graduate education. Presently, there are over 156 academic institutions that house the McNair Program. Benefits of the program include faculty mentorship, opportunities to present research at various graduate school enrollment opportunities, and a generous stipend.

The Ronald E. McNair program prepares students from disadvantaged backgrounds who have demonstrated strong academic potential for doctoral studies through involvement in research and other activities. The McNair program works closely with students as they complete their undergraduate requirements. The program also encourages students to enroll in graduate programs and then track their progress through successful completion of advanced degrees. The goal of the McNair program is to provide enriching scholastic experiences that prepare eligible scholars for doctoral (Ph.D.) education. To this end, participants are given the unique opportunity of developing the highest-level academic and research skills needed for successful admission to and completion of a Ph.D. program. McNair scholars are eligible for the following services until they complete their baccalaureate degree: academic counseling, financial aid assistance, mentoring, research opportunities, seminars, summer internships, and tutoring. Furthermore, program staff will always be ready to provide moral support, advice and guidance to all McNair alumni throughout their graduate years as they pursue their doctoral degrees.

Florida International University 3 McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

Dr. Ronald Erwin McNair

The McNair Program is named in honor of Dr. Ronald E. McNair, the laser physicist and Challenger space shuttle astronaut. McNair graduated magna cum laude from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in 1971 and received his Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1976. He was selected by NASA for the space shuttle program in 1978 and was mission specialist on the successful 1984 Challenger flight before his death in the space shuttle accident of 1986. Those who knew Ronald McNair characterized him as fearless, determined, and accustomed to applying all available resources to any problem he faced.

Ronald E. McNair was the second of three mission specialists aboard Challenger. Born on October 21, 1950, in Lake City, South Carolina, McNair was the son of Carl C. McNair, Sr., and Pearl M. McNair. He achieved early success in the segregated public schools he attended as both a student and an athlete. Valedictorian of his high school class, he attended North Carolina A&T State University where in 1971 he received a B.S. degree in physics. He went on to study physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he specialized in quantum electronics and laser technology, completing his Ph.D. in 1977. As a student he performed some of the earliest work on chemical HF/DF and high pressure CO lasers, publishing path breaking scientific papers on the subject.

McNair was also a physical fitness advocate and pursued athletic training from an early age. He was a leader in track and football at his high school. He also became a black belt in Karate, and while in graduate school began offering classes at St. Paul’s AME Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He also participated in several Karate tournaments, taking more than 30 trophies in these competitions. While involved in these activities, McNair met and married Cheryl B. Moore of Brooklyn, New York, and they later had two children. After completing his Ph.D. he began working as a physicist at the Optical Physics Department of Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California, and conducted research on electro-optic laser modulation for satellite-to- satellite space communications.

This research led McNair into close contact with the space program for the first time, and when the opportunity presented itself he applied for astronaut training. In January 1978 NASA selected him to enter the astronaut cadre, one of the first three Black Americans selected. McNair became the second Black American in space between February 3 and 11, 1984, by flying on the Challenger shuttle mission STS-41-B. During this mission McNair operated the maneuverable arm built by Canada used to move payloads in space. The 1986 mission on which he was killed was his second Shuttle flight

Dr. McNair graduated magna cum laude from North Carolina A&T (‘71) - named Presidential Scholar (‘67-’71), Ford Foundation Fellow (‘71-’74), National Fellowship Fund Fellow (‘74-’75), NATO Fellow (‘75) - winner of Omega Psi Phi Scholar of Year Award (‘75), Los Angeles Public School System’s Service Commendation (‘79), Distinguished Alumni Award (‘79), National Society of Black Professional Engineers Distinguished National Scientist Award (‘79), Friend of Freedom Award (‘81), Who’s Who Among Black Americans (‘80), an AAU Karate Gold Medal (‘76), 5 Regional Black belt Karate Championships. Dr. Ronald E. McNair died on January 28, 1986 when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded after launch from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

4 Florida International University McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

November 18, 2010

Dear Reader:

I am pleased to offer this publication representing the research activities of the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Fellows at Florida International University. In its second cycle of funding from the United States Department of Education, the McNair program has served well over eighty students, many of whom are enrolled in masters and doctoral (Ph.D.) programs at some of the nation’s most prestigious institutions of higher learning.

Central to the core mission of Florida International University is the provision of high quality undergraduate research experience for its students. FIU is quite fortunate to be the recipient of only four Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement grants in the state of Florida and the only one in Miami-Dade County. The central mission of the McNair program is to expose our undergraduate students to cutting edge research conducted by world class faculty. Each year FIU selects twenty-two such students and pairs them with faculty involved in scientific research in a variety of STEM disciplines—Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, etc.

It goes without saying that the entire staff of the McNair program here at FIU is extremely proud of the many achievements of our McNair Fellows. It is for this and other reasons that we gladly share with you this publication which aptly describes some of the research activities of our McNair students. In am certain that you will find the reading of the research papers as enjoyable and enlightening and I did when I first read them.

Sincerely,

Dr. E. George Simms Director, Pre-Collegiate, Grants & Ronald E. McNair Programs

Florida International University 5 McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

E. George Simms Director of Pre-Collegiate Programs and Grants Florida International University MARC 414

Dear Dr. Simms,

I am pleased to introduce the Florida International University Ronald E. McNair Research Publication. The document illustrates some of the outstanding research activities of our McNair students.

In its second cycle of funding from the United States Department of Education, the McNair program makes it possible for a select group of students to engage in high quality research under the tutelage and guidance of world class research faculty. FIU is the only McNair grant recipient in South Florida.

McNair Students typically have economically disadvantaged backgrounds but demonstrate strong academic potential. The goal of the McNair program is to increase the number of FIU students majoring in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics disciplines (STEM) who subsequently obtain PhD degrees.

In its brief history, the FIU McNair program has already established itself as a highly successful program with many of its graduates publishing their research in highly respected scientific journals and pursuing graduate degrees at leading research universities.

Regards,

Dr. Douglas Wartzok Executive Vice President and Provost

6 Florida International University McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

November 20, 2010 Dr. E. George E. Simms Director of Pre-Collegiate Programs Florida International University University Park, MARC 414 Miami, FL 33199

Dear George,

I extend my sincere congratulations to the students and staff of the Ronald E. McNair Post Baccalaureate Achievement Program on the publication of the research activities of the McNair Fellows. It is evidence of the hard work and dedicated efforts of both the faculty mentors and students alike. Graduate education and research are extremely valuable, and the research experience the McNair program provides will undoubtedly bode well for any graduate endeavor. The program has successfully prepared program participates from disadvantaged and underrepresented groups for doctoral education.

The unique opportunity afforded by the FIU McNair Faculty is paramount to assist and support low income, first generation college students, and those from underrepresented groups in pursing doctoral studies.

I congratulate each of our McNair Fellows, and wish them continued success in all future endeavors.

Sincerely,

Kevin O’Shea, Ph.D. Dean of the University Graduate School

Florida International University 7 McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

Dear Ronald E. McNair Students, Faculty and Staff:

On Behalf of the Division of Student Affairs, I am pleased to offer my congratulations to the Ronald E. McNair program on the publication of the McNair Research Journal. This document represents what I hope will be many publications produced by the McNair program. This premier publication contains a significant body of work by some of Florida International University’s finest scholars. It represents what happens when students and faculty work together collaboratively to explore and solve problems of an academic nature. It is indeed the embodiment of teaching and learning at its best. It is for this reason that Florida International University is honored to be the recipient of the Ronald E. McNair program.

Critical to the success of the McNair program and any student directed research is the involvement of dedicated faculty mentors who frequently provide guidance, encouragement and support to each student. We are extremely thankful and appreciative to those faculty members who have opened their laboratories and welcomed our students.

As we begin the second cycle of funding of the McNair program, I look forward with great anticipation and excitement to the program continuing to provide quality research opportunities for some of FIU’s best and brightest students.

Congratulations and best wishes in the coming year!

Rosa L. Jones, D.S.W. Vice President, Student Affairs

8 Florida International University McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

FIU Facts at a Glance

Florida International University is Miami-Dade County’s first public, four-year university. Our powerful record of innovation and research continues to improve the quality of life in our communities.

HISTORY AND GROWTH: FIU was founded in 1965 and opened for classes in 1972 with 5,667 students – the largest opening day enrollment in U.S. collegiate history. Today it has more than 42, 000 students, almost 1,000 full time faculty and more than 150,000 alumni. FIU is one of the 25 largest universities in the nation, based on enrollment. The University offers more than 200 bachelors, masters and doctoral programs in 21 colleges and schools.

FACULTY: Ninety-five percent of the University’s full-time, tenured, and tenure earning faculty hold doctorates or the highest degree attainable in their field.

RESEARCH: FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. Sponsored research funding (grants and contracts) from external sources for the year 2005-2006 totaled $92 million. The University is ranked as a Research University in the High Research Activity category of the Carnegie Foundations prestigious classification system.

NATIONAL RECOGNITION: FIU is the youngest University to have been awarded a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the Nation’s oldest and most distinguished academic honor society. FIU recently ranked among the best values in a public higher education in the country, according to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine’s 2006 survey, “100 Best Values in Public Colleges.” FIU ranked among the top 5 nationally for in-state students and among the top 100 nationally for out-of-state and international students.

FIU recently ranked 3rd in granting bachelor degrees to minorities and 9th in granting masters degrees to minorities (among the top 100 degree producing colleges and universities), according to Diverse Issues in Higher Education, June 1, 2006.

FIU’s College of Law led all the universities in the state with the highest pass rate of 94.4% on the 2007 Statewide Florida Bar Examination. The second highest pass rate belonged to Florida State University with 88.2%.

U.S. News & World Report ranks FIU’s undergraduate international business program among the top 15 in the nation and their graduate program among the top 25. The University has also been named one of the “10 Cool Colleges for Entrepreneurs” by Fortune Small Business magazine. Our Executive MBA program was recently ranked in Florida by the Financial Times.

The School of Hospitality and Tourism Management is one of the nation’s top programs. Other acclaimed programs include Creative Writing and Marine Biology.

Florida International University 9 McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

Fellow Presenter Index

12 McNair Fellow Presenter: Marina Acevedo 26 McNair Fellow Presenter: Jason Espinosa Major: Environmental Engineering Major: Mathematics Faculty Mentors: Dr. Fernando-Miralles (FIU) Faculty Mentor: Dr. Gueo Grantcharov (FIU) and Dr. Heidi Nepf (MIT) Research Topic: “Hyperbolic Triangle Geometry” Research Topic: “Waterflow and Deposition in the Wake behind Circular Patches of Vegetation” 28 McNair Fellow Presenter: Erika Fountain Major: Psychology 14 McNair Fellow Presenter: Zenith Acosta Faculty Mentor: Dr. Nadja Schreiber-Compo (FIU) Major: Biomedical Engineering Research Topic: “Detecting Deception by Observing Faculty Mentors: Dr. Nikolaos Tsoukias (FIU) Physical Signs of Cognitive Load” Research Topic: “Vascular reactivity studies involving the activation of Nitric Oxide Synthesis by Agmatine 30 McNair Fellow Presenter: Juan Gil in rat mesenteric arterioles” Major: Political Science Faculty Mentor: Dr. Nicol Rae (FIU) 16 McNair Fellow Presenter: Paula Alzate Research Topic: “Party Polarization and Ideology- Major: Psychology Diverging Trends in Britain and the United States” Faculty Mentor: Dr. Lorraine Bahrick (FIU) Research Topic: “Intersensory Redundancy Educates 32 McNair Fellow Presenter: German Gomez Infants’ Attention to the Amodal Property of Tempo” Major: Computer Engineer Faculty Mentors: Dr. Gang Quan (FIU), 18 McNair Fellow Presenter: Michele Bechor Dr. Chris Hoofnagle JD (UC Berkeley), Major: Psychology Dr. Mario Garcia PhD (A & M University) Faculty Mentors: Dr. Robert Lickliter (FIU) Research Topic: “Cookie Blocking and Privacy: First Dr. Laura Carlson (Notre Dame) Parties Remain a Risk” Research Topic: “Defining Landmark Salience in a 34 McNair Fellow Presenter: Novel Landmark” Sashay Goodletty Major: Psychology Faculty Mentor: 20 McNair Fellow Presenter: Christian Bueno Dr. William Kurtines and Major: Mathematics / Physics Mr. Alan Meca, Graduate Student (FIU) Research Topic: Faculty Mentor: Dr. Mirroslav Yotov (FIU) “Promoting Positive Development” Research Title: Research Topic: “A Group Theoretic Perspective on “Parent-Adolescent Relationships at the Pebble Motion Problems” Onset of the Changing Lives Program Intervention and Implications for Later Identity Development” 22 McNair Fellow Presenter: Natalie Damaso 36 McNair Fellow Presenter: Major: Biology Gabriella Harari Major: Faculty Mentor: Dr. John Berry (FIU) Psychology Faculty Mentors: Research Topic: “Inhibition of protein phosphatase by Ms. Ekaterina Kasian (FIU) MC-LR in liver and skin cancer cells” Dr. Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton (UC Berkeley Research Topic: “Lower-class Uncertainty and the 24 McNair Fellow Presenter: Kimberly Dizon Formation of Unpredictable Worldviews” Major: Psychology/Nursing Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kathryn Anderson (FIU) Research Topic: “Dual Diagnosis in the Adolescent Population: Mental – Health Nursing Considerations”

10 Florida International University McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

Fellow Presenter Index (cont.)

38 McNair Fellow Presenter: Reinier Hernandez 50 McNair Fellow Presenter: Alvaro Quinonez Major: Chemistry Major: Engineering Faculty Mentor: Dr. Prabhakar Pant (FIU) Faculty Mentor: Dr. Girma Bitsuamlak (FIU) Dr. John Essigmann (MIT) Dr. John Ochsendorf (MIT) Research Topic: “Various functions of adaptive response Research Topic: “Physical Modeling of Curving protein AlkB in DNA substrates” Masonry Structures “

40 McNair Fellow Presenter: David Jaramillo 52 McNair Fellow Presenter: Rigoberto Roche Major: Human Resource Management & Psychology Major: Biomedical Engineering Faculty Mentors: Dr. Bennett Schwartz (FIU) Faculty Mentor: Dr. Michael Christie (FIU) Research Topic: “Facilitating Team Transactive Memory” Research Topic: “Distribution and Size Effect of Mineral Inclusions on the Presence of Metallic Media” 42 McNair Fellow Presenter: Nadia Lima Major: Civil Engineering 54 McNair Fellow Presenter: Andrea Rolong Faculty Mentors: Dr. Leonel Lagos (FIU) and Dr. Major: Biomedical Engineering Michael G. Serrato (Savannah River National Faculty Mentors: Dr. Yen-Chih Huang (FIU) Laboratory) Dr. Wei Tan and Graduate Student Walter Bonani (Univ. Research Topic: “Laboratory Testing of Cured of Colorado) Properties of Cellular Grout for its use in Institutional Research Topic: Electrospun Nanofiber Scaffold Decommissioning of the 105-P Reactor Disassembly Impregnated with Growth Factors for Small Diameter Basin D & E Canal” Vascular Grafts”

44 McNair Fellow Presenter: Francis Matthews 56 McNair Fellow Presenter: Karina Saravia Major: Geosciences Major: Psychology Faculty Mentor: Dr. Laurel Collins (FIU) Faculty Mentor: Dr. Robert Lickliter (FIU) Research Topic: “Miocene Foraminiferal biofacies of the Research Topic: “Early Perceptual Learning in Bobwhite NW coast of Panama” Quail Hatchlings: Timing and Distribution of Exposure”

46 McNair Fellow Presenter: Camilo Mohar 58 McNair Fellow Presenter: Luis Saumell Major: Biological Sciences Major: Mathematics Faculty Mentors: Dr. Rita Mukhopadhyay (FIU) and Dr. Faculty Mentor: Dr. Mirroslav Yotov (FIU) Dr. Nero Tracy Vargo-Gogola (Notre Dame/IU) Budur (Notre Dame) Research Topic: “Overexpression of p190B RhoGAP Research Topic: “Smooth Prospective Toric Varieties” Alters Expression Levels of Mitotic Genes Involved with Chromosomal Instability” 60 McNair Fellow Presenter: Maria Talavera Major: Biological Sciences 48 McNair Fellow Presenter: Alexander Moncion Faculty Mentor: Dr. Stephen Winkle (FIU) Major: Chemistry Research Topic: “Restriction Enzyme Activity Analysis Faculty Mentors: Dr. John Landrum (FIU) of Small Molecule Binding to DNA: Considerations of Dr. Xiaodong Tang (Notre Dame) Topology and Flanking Sequences” Research Topic: “Measurement of the 12C+12C Fusion Cross Section at Sub-Barrier Energies”

Florida International University 11 McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

I was born in Miami Florida in the summer of has opened a world of possibilities for me. 1988, into a humbled immigrant family which Incredibly, due to my new accomplishments and now consisting of both my parents and my my high scores in both math and science, in less paternal grandmother and a younger brother. than 2 years my life had turned 180 degrees. Growing up in an Argentine family truly had its In middle school and high school I was taking benefits from eating great food to falling in love Honors, AP and International Baccalaureate with soccer. Living in a Spanish speaking home, classes. I was also active in science programs such I did not have the ability to practice English and as SECME; I was part of the Varsity Badminton at a very young age I was placed in an English team and volunteered at the Miami Museum remedial class (ESOL). Being places in this class of Science (+500 hrs). This is when I decided I Marina Ines Acevedo was unfortunately keeping me from showing my wanted to be an engineer and to do so I knew true potential in other subjects. Learning a new I had to go to college. I believe that earning a language for the first time, along with your parents, PhD is the one of the greatest professional and is not easy but it was something I knew I had to personal achievements possible. The fact that surpass to be able to succeed. Thanks to the help I would be able to contribute new findings to of my teachers and to the dedication and effort put better the world is priceless. I can only wish to further both by my mother and myself, I was able someday mentor a younger student and be able to get out of ESOL. My parents always made it to share my success story to inspire them to do the clear to me that the ability to succeed was and will same. I truly believe that thanks to the McNair always be within me, but the dedication that I was Program and my hard work and dedication that willing to put forth is what would always allow me I will succeed in reaching my future goals both to reach my goals. Being able to surpass this hurdle academically and professionally.

Water Flow and Deposition in the Wake behind Circular Patches of Vegetation Dr. Heidi Nepf & Lijun Zong Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Vegetation patches in rivers have a strong influence on the visualization showed that the wake behind the circular local flow structure, which changes the sediment transport. patch is very different from the classical wake behind the However the sediment distribution within and around the solid circular cylinder. The flow through a vegetation patch ct vegetation patch will change the shape and the density formed a stabilized region in the wake, where the velocity of the patch. In order to understand the interactions and turbulence remained low and the deposition was between vegetation patch, flow and sediment transport, enhanced. At two sides of the patch, the flow rate increased flume experiments were conducted to investigate the flow due to the flow diverting, and low deposition was observed. structures and deposition patterns around circular patches The deposition pattern suggests that, for the circular patch, of vegetation. Two patch sizes were tested (diameter the patch will grow longer in the flow direction but not of 22cm and 42cm). Velocity measurements and flow grow wider. Abstr a

12 Florida International University McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

Water Flow and Deposition in the Wake Behind Circular Patches of Vegetation Marina I. Acevedo Faculty Mentor: Dr. Heidi Nepf Direct Supervisor: Lijun Zong Florida International University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Introduction Results -Aquatic vegetation is important for: Velocities Stable Wake

-providing habitat 12 -remove heavy metals and organic matter 10 -preventing erosion (Fig. 1) 8 6 2 m 2 m 2 m 4 A1 a 2 A2

-Vegetation can be modeled as several cylinder in a “patch” u (cm/s) 0 1 m 1 m 1 m -All bodies in a flow have a wake (e.g. cylinder, Fig. 2) Figure 1. Vegetation Patches 1 -10 -5-2 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 2 m -4 Distance (x/D)

-The wake is formed by flow structures (e.g. Divergent Flow) 12 10 -Flow structures affect sediment transport 8 Figure 8. Dye Visualization Flow Direction 6 Left to Right: B1 (Φ = 100%); B3 (Φ = 10%); B2 (Φ =2.7%) B1 8 b 4 7 B2 6 -Sediment transport affects patch dimensions u(cm/s) 2 5 2 m 4 0 3 B1 2 B2 -10 -5-2 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 vrms(cm/s) 1 -Patch dimensions affect flow structures -4 0 Distance (x/D) -10 0 10 20 30 40 Flow Figure 2. Wake behind a cylinder 2 Distance (x/D) Figure 7. Structures Figure 9. Turbulence level, v , Longitudinal Profile of Stream-wise Velocity, u, of rms Longitudinal Profile for B1 and B2 (a) A1 and A2 D = 42 cm Patch Sediment (b) B1 and B2 D= 22 cm Dimensions Transport Fig. 8 Illustrates the stable wake and how it extends downstream Fig. 7 Depicts the extended region of low velocity which as Φ decreases. Fig. 9 shows the turbulence begins to increase for differentiates a sparse patch from a solid patch. B2 where the lateral mixing beings This study focuses on how circular patches of vegetation affects the water flow in Vegetation Patch Growth rivers. Flow structures and deposition patterns are analyzed to further understand 0.020 Figure 3. Lab Set-up 50 50 the wake of the patches and the over all growth of the vegetation (Fig. 3). 0.015 40 40 30 30 0.010 20 20 A2 Symbols

∆weight (g) 0.005 10 10 Upstream 0 A2 0 A2 0.000 Methods a -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 -10 0 10 20 B2 -10 0 1 2 3 4 B2 Distance (x/D) In Patch -20 -20 Flume : a -30 b -30 LateralDistrance, y (cm) LateralDistrance, y (cm) -40 -40 3.0 -50 -50 -Re-circulating flow 2.5 Wake u (cm/s) urms (cm/s) 2.0 1.2 m -16 m long 1.5 Figure 11. D=0.5 (a) Lateral Profile of u (b) Lateral Profile of u 1.0 A2 rms

urms(cm/s) D= 22 cm -Testing Section: 1.2 m X 13 m (Fig. 4) 0.5 b 0.0 50 50 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 D= 42 cm 40 40 Distance (x/D) 30 30 Flow: Fig. 10 Shows the correlation 20 20 12 between the deposition, turbulence 10 10 -Velocity: 98 ± 1 mm/s 10 0 A2 0 A2 8 B2 x, u and velocity as they relate to stream- -10 0 10 20 B2 -10 0 1 2 3 4 y, v -Water Depth: 136 ± 2 mm 6 wise growth. -20 -20 u(cm/s) 4 A2 a -30 b -30 LateralDistance, y (cm) 2 LateralDistance, y (cm) -40 -40 c 0 -50 -50 Fig. 11 and Fig. 12 Use the above u (cm/s) urms (cm/s) Vegetation: -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 Flow Direction Distance (x/D) understanding to comprehend -Wooden Dowels d= 5 mm l= 140 mm Figure 10. (a) Longitudinal Profile of Deposition Pattern lateral growth. Figure 12. D= 2 (a) Lateral Profile of u (b) Lateral Profile of urms Figure 4. Flume Set-up -Perforated PVC Baseboards: 1.2m X 0.6 m (b) Longitudinal Profile of urms (c) Longitudinal Profile of u Patch D (cm) Φ S (cm) -See Table 1 A1 42 100% 0 Nortek Vectrino ADV: Conclusion A2 42 2.2% 3.6 -Sampling Rate: 25 Hz at mid depth (4 min.) Solid volume fraction was shown to be a major contributor in the longitudinal growth of circular patches due to the elongated stable wake region which B1 22 100% 0 allowed for increase deposition along the wake. The patches were also shown to be limited by the velocity of the divergent flow due to patches dimensions; -Seeding Material: glass spheres B2 22 2.2% 3.5 the larger the patch, the lower the possibility for deposition and future growth in the lateral direction. B3 22 10% 1.3 Dye Visualization: Acknowledgments Table 1. Patch Dimensions Figure 5. Sample Patches -Camera (five seconds shutter time) (Left: B2; Right: B1) D = patch diameter, -Image Processing (Picasa 3.2) Φ = solid volume fraction This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under S = average spacing between -Syringe (600 mL) and needles (Fig. 6) Grant No EAR 0738352. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations neighboring dowels expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the Deposition: views of the National Science Foundation. -Microscope slides: 2.5 cm x 2.5 cm -Four hours undisturbed flow: 98 ± 1 mm/s -Air-dry for two days References -Oven-dry for four hours Figure 6. Dye Visualization Set- 1) Google Images. ”Bora9” 2009. http://www.eclipsetours.com/tahitifly2.html up -Record results by weight difference 2) Van Dyke, M. An Album of Fluid Motion, The Parabolic Press, Stanford, 1982.

Objective To understand the interactions between vegetation patches water flow and sediment transport.

Florida International University 13 Cohort 14 7 Zenith Acosta Undergraduate Achievement Journal McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program act as a ligand to receptors such as imidazoline and α and imidazoline as such receptors to aligand as act could arginine decarboxylated exogenous that hypothesize We cells. Ca+2 endothelial in of intracellular release and binding receptor via NO synthesis the initiating be may or agmatine L-arginine that show 2007) 104, 9982, O paradox.” “arginine synthesis of nitric oxide ( oxide of nitric synthesis cellular activates still L-arginine exogenous L-arginine, of intracellular levels excess Despite of L-arginine. actions the in interest the increased has demonstration this and of NOS a product (e synthase oxide nitric endothelial by the synthesized enzymatically is vessels of blood interior the line that cells endothelial the E an considered is and category this Florida International University Abstra ct ( factors relaxing endothelium-derived named factors of relaxing a variety byreleasing endothelium bythe regulated tone is Vascular agmatine in rat mesentericarterioles Vascular reativitystudiesinol working in Dr. program and thatpermittedmetocontinue of thatyear IgotacceptedintotheMBRSRISE Biomedical E working atDr.2008 Istarted together for the benefit of the patient. In spring of anerawhere medicineandtechnologywork in Biomedical E to it.ThatiswhyIdecidedpursueacareer I love related medicine,scienceandeverything Biomedical 7 years ago. IobtainedmyBachelors ofSciencein moved withmyfamilytotheUnited S I wasbornandraisedinBarranquilla Colombia.I NOS E ngineering in the summer of 2010. ngineering in the summer of 2010. ngineering department. In ngineering department. thefall is NO is that demonstrated been ). It has E DRF). N DRF). ngineering. I want to be part ngineering. Iwanttobepart T -catalyzed oxidation of L-arginine, of L-arginine, oxidation -catalyzed ur previously published data (P data published previously ur soukias’ lab. In thesummer NO itric oxide ( oxide itric ) in a phenomenon called aphenomenon called ) in produced by by DRF. NO produced T soukias’ labinthe NO tates almost tates almost ) falls under under ) falls ving theacti N A -2 -2 S , ,

synthase inhibitor L- inhibitor synthase oxide nitric with inhibited significantly be could relaxation (n=10) vessel this the and relaxed completely agmatine that show data The experiment. initiating before min 60 for stabilize to allowed were vessels Mounted caliper. video to leading camera video a with fitted a microscope of stage the on mounted was chamber vessel The 37ºC. at buffer Krebs modified in (2 µM) norepinephirne with pre-constricted and intraluminally perfused contiuously were segments The chamber. avessel in ends both at cannulated and isolated were Sprague-Dawley) g male, (250-300 rats from sections arteriolar mesenteric order 2nd NO intracellular of production the activating therefore and adrenoreceptors the rat mesenteric artery. mesenteric rat the relaxed dose-dependently argmatine that concluded be can (10nM) (n=2). blocker aG-protein It toxin pertussis with R blocker a-2 receptor a goodmovie andswimming. with my family and friends, read, dance, watching engineering. I wouldliketopursueaPhD inbiomedical that Ididnotknow theyexisted.In thefuture, was a career option for me and opened up doors These experienceshelpedme realize that research and helpedmeincrease myinterest forresearch. engineering. This year I became a McN labs in the areaof the most important of tissue to work in Dr. David Mooney’s lab which is one program at Harvard University. There, Iwas able of 2009Igotacceptedasafellow intheREU Besides doing research Ilove tospend time ation ofN itric Oxidesynthesisby . In order to perform this study, individual study, individual this perform to order . In N X AM 821002 (50nm) (n=4), as well as as 821002 well (n=4), (50nm) as (0.5 Mm) (n=4), a selective E (0.5 (n=4), aselective Mm) 2010 air fellow McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

Vascular reactivity studies involving the activation of Nitric Oxide synthesis by Agmatine in rat mesenteric arterioles Zenith Acosta1, Tushar Gadkari1, Nikolaos Tsoukias1 and Mahesh S. Joshi1 1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, FL

100 120 110 Agmatine Dose 90 After ptx blockade 100 HYPOTHESIS 80 90 ABSTRACT 70 80 70 60 The central hypothesis of this proposal is that exogenous decarboxylated arginine 60 50 50 40 40

could act as a ligand to receptors such as imidazoline and α-2 adrenoreceptors and Relaxation % % Relaxation Vascular tone is regulated by the endothelium by releasing a variety of relaxing therefore activating the production of intracellular NO. 30 30 20 20 factors named endothelium-derived relaxing factors (EDRF). Nitric oxide (NO) 10 10 0 falls under this category and is considered an EDRF. NO produced by the -10 0

-20 -10 endothelial cells that line the interior of blood vessels is enzymatically -6.5 -6 -5.5 -5 -4.5 -4 -3.5 -3 -2.5 -2 -1.5 -6.5 -6 -5.5 -5 -4.5 -4 -3.5 -3 -2.5 -2 -1.5 log[Agmatine] log[Agmatine] synthesized by the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS). It has been METHODOLOGY Figure 6: Agmatine Dose Response curve Figure 5: Agmatine Dose Response curve after ptx blockade, n=4 demonstrated that NO is a product of NOS-catalyzed oxidation of L-arginine, before ptx blockade, n=4 and this demonstration has increased the interest in the actions of L-arginine. •The data showed that agmatine completely relaxed the vessel (n=10) and this relaxation Despite excess levels of intracellular L-arginine, exogenous L-arginine still could be significantly inhibited with nitric oxide synthase inhibitor L-NAME (0.5 mM) (n=4) activates cellular synthesis of nitric oxide (NO) in a phenomenon called “arginine Figure 4, a selective a -2 receptor blocker RX821002 (50 nm) (n=4) Figure 5, as well as paradox”. Our previously published data (PNAS, 104, 9982, 2007) show that L- with ptx a G-protein blocker (10nM) (n=2) Figure 6. arginine or agmatine may be initiating the NO synthesis via receptor binding and In this study we were able to observe a dose dependant relaxation of the rat mesenteric release of intracellular Ca+2 in endothelial cells. We hypothesize that exogenous mesenteric artery to agmatine. The relaxation is expected to be NO dependant as inihibition of eNOS based on the results of the blockade with L-NAME. decarboxylated arginine could act as a ligand to receptors such as imidazoline The Agmatine mediated relaxation might be happening via ligand binding on a-2 receptor and α-2 adrenoreceptors and therefore activating the production of intracellular as blockade with RX821002 shows. Blockade with ptx shows a decrease in the relaxation nd NO. In order to perform this study, individual 2 order mesenteric arteriolar of the vessel. This might be happening by blocking the a-2 receptor through the inhibition sections from rats (250-300 g male, Sprague-Dawley) were isolated and of G-proteins. cannulated at both ends in a vessel chamber. The segments were continuously perfused intraluminally and pre-constricted with norepinephrine (2 µM) in modified Krebs buffer at 37 C. The vessel chamber was mounted on the stage of a FUTURE WORK microscope fitted with a video camera leading to video caliper. Mounted vessels were allowed to stabilize for 60 min before initiating experiment. The data show This is an ongoing study where more data involving ptx blockade as well as studies that agmatine completely relaxed the vessel (n=10) and this relaxation could be involving the role of the second messenger pathway need to be conducted. significantly inhibited with nitric oxide synthase inhibitor L-NAME (0.5 mM) (n=4), a selective a-2 receptor blocker RX821002 (50 nm) (n=4), as well as with pertussis toxin a G-protein blocker (10nM) (n=2). It can be concluded that ACKNOWLEDGMENTS agmatine dose-dependently relaxed the rat mesenteric artery. The author is grateful for the support given throughout the duration of this project by the following people: RESULTS AND CONCLUSION • Dr. Nikolaos Tsoukias INTRODUCTION • Ronald E. McNair Program at Florida International University • MBRS RISE Program •Nitric Oxide (NO) is an important signaling molecule in the body of mammals Dose Response Studies • NIH grant SC1HL095101 • NIH-MBRS SCORE NIH/NIGMS R25 GM061347 •NO plays significant roles in vascular biology and pathophysiology 100 100 NE Dos e log(EC50) =-6.496 0.177 Agmatine Dose 90 • Labmates at the Laboratory of Vascular Physiology and Biotransport •Small diatomic moleculeCan diffuse freely: can act in a paracrine and autocrine fashion 90 NO is biosynthesized by Nitric Oxide Synthase (NOS) that catalyzes the oxidation of L- 80 80 after LNAME blockade 70 70

Arginine to Citrulline 60 60 •Three isoforms: -2 constitutive (eNOS, nNOS) - Ca+2 dependent 50 50 REFERENCES 40 -1 inducible (iNOS) - Ca+2 independent 40 % Constriction

30 % Relaxation •NO is an EDRF because in the endothelium, NO is enzymatically synthesized by the 30 20 endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), and the NO produced diffuses to the smooth 20 1. Joshi M.S., et.al, „Receptor-mediated activation of nitric oxide synthesis by arginine 10 muscle cells resulting in vasodilation 10 in endothelial cells‟, PNAS, 104, 9982, 2007 0 •Arginine is involved in multiple physiological processes involving the synthesis of proteins, 0 2. Pollock J.S., et.al, „Purification and characterization of particulate endothelium- -10 urea, polyamines, agmatine and NO. The conclusions about the involvement of oxidized L- -9.5 -9 -8.5 -8 -7.5 -7 -6.5 -6 -5.5 -5 -4.5 -10 derived relaxing factor synthase from cultured and native bovine aortic endothelial arginine in the production of NO through the NOS-catalyzed reaction has incremented the log[NE] -7.5 -7 -6.5 -6 -5.5 -5 -4.5 -4 -3.5 -3 -2.5 Figure 2 Norepinephrine Dose Response log[Agmatine] cells‟, PNAS, 1991, 88, (23), 10480-10484 interest in L-arginine and the L-arginine paradox. curve, n=3 Figure 3: Agmatine Dose Response curve 3. Forstermann U, et.al, „Nitric Oxide Synthase Isozymes Characterization, Purification, •The need of exogeneous arginine for the cellular NO production is called the “arginine 100 with LNAME blockade, n=4 Agmatine Dose Molecular Cloning, and Functions‟, Hypertension 23:1121–1131. paradox.” 90 • 4. Tsikas D, et.al, „Endogenous nitric oxide synthase inhibitors are responsible for the •agmatine is the decarboxylated form of arginine 80 after RX821002 blockade L-arginine paradox.‟, JC (2000) FEBS Lett 478:1–3. •Structurally arginine has the guanidinium group and therefore has a similarity to the 70

structures of ligands of imidazoline and α-2 adrenoreceptors 60 5. Morrissey JJ, Klahr S, „Agmatine activation of nitric oxide synthase in endothelial

50 cells.‟, 1997, Proc Assoc Am Phys 109, 51–57.

40 6. Bode-Boger SM, et.al, „L-arginine-induced vasodilation in healthy humans: % Relaxation 30 Pharmacokineticpharmacodynamic relationship.‟ (1998) Br J Clin Pharmacol 46:489–

Figure 1: Structure of L-arginine and Agmatine, both displaying 20 497. Guanidinium 10 7. L Ignarro, „Nitric Oxide: Biology and Pathobiology‟, Acedemic Press, 2000 Edition group similar to Imidazolines known to act as ligands for I- receptors and 0 Figure 4: Agmatine Dose Response curve 8. Richard Bruckdorfer , „The basics about nitric oxide‟, Molecular Aspects of Medicine receptors -10 with RX821002 blockade, n=4 26 (2005) 3–317. -6.5 -6 -5.5 -5 -4.5 -4 -3.5 -3 -2.5 -2 -1.5 PNAS, 104, 9982, 2007 log[Agmatine] Objective That exogenous decarboxylated arginine could act as a ligand to receptors such as imidazoline and α-2 adreno receptors and therefore activating the production of intracellular NO.

Florida International University 15 Cohort 16 Paula Andrea Alzate 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program

Florida International University Abstr visual by unimodal followed each surface, on ahard rhythm aspecific tapping of ahammer features temporal (silent the to video) pre-exposure visual or 2) unimodal it’s soundtrack) with own synchronized (video exposure pre- audiovisual bimodal 1) of either synchronous trials 4-15 received groups second experimental The audiovisual). bimodal (asynchronous condition one control and visual) unimodal audiovisual, bimodal (synchronous conditions experimental two under on a surface tapping a to toy hammer T stimulation. visual unimodal as such context, amore difficult in tempo to attention infants’ educate could environment, natural ct the in available is which stimulation, audiovisual bimodal synchronous in of tempo property amodal the to exposure whether investigated experiments of set following The Property ofTempo Intersensory RedundancyEduates 2-Month-OldInf redundancyIntersensory can“scaffold” or at FIUandfocusedherresearch onhow of theInfant Development Research Center alongside Dr. LorraineE.Bahrick, Director During thesummerof2010,Paula worked aimedatsolvingtheseproblems. service learn aboutissuesandengageincommunity program thatallows collegestudentsto in Psychology andAlternative Breaks, a Psi Chi,theInternational Honor S several organizationhere atFIUincluding Columbia. S whose family is originally from Medellin, April 2011.S a Bachelor degree ofArts inPsychology in International University graduating with Paula Andrea AlzateisasenioratFlorida wo-month-old human infants were exposed exposed were infants human wo-month-old he hasbeeninvolved with he isaS outh Florida native ociety ociety My favorite foodsare pizzaandsushi. foodsandtraveling. new boyfriend, trying movies, spendingtimewithmy family and their hiddentalents.Ireally enjoy watching firsthand how research isdonetouncover to I wasgivenobserve theopportunity periods of time. I was thrilled when short infants develop andlearnsoquicklyinsuch always beenfascinatedby thewayinwhich interested inthisresearch isthatIhave audiovisual familiarization). What gotme familiarization vs. bimodal asynchronous (bimodalsynchronousproperty audiovisual if theyreceived priorexposure tothe during aunimodalvisualhabituation or directed totempo,anamodalproperty, educate 2-month-oldinfantsbe“educated” amodal property of tempo. property amodal the to pre-exposure audiovisual bimodal or asynchronous visual but not unimodal audiovisual bimodal synchronous following session habituation visual unimodal the in tempo in a change discriminate to able were infants 2-month-old O pattern. temporal adifferent with habituation, during rhythm same the tapping toy hammer a depicting trials test visual unimodal 2 infant-controlled received groups control and experimental All habituation. infant-controlled visual by unimodal followed then was which soundtrack), misaligned atemporally with (video stimulation audiovisual bimodal asynchronous to of pre-exposure 4-15 trials received group second control The rhythm. same the to habituation infant-controlled ants’ A ttention totheAmodal 2010 ur results suggest that that suggest results ur McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

Intersensory Redundancy Educates 2-Month-Old Infants’ Attention to the Amodal Property of Tempo Paula Alzate, Irina Castellanos & Lorraine E. Bahrick Florida International University

Introduction Figure 1: Infants’ (N = 29) mean visual recovery (and SD) to a novel tempo during the unimodal visual habituation session as a Infants are known to have limited attentional resources therefore the most salient properties of an event are processed first function of pre-exposure condition (synchronous bimodal audiovisual, unimodal visual, asynchronous bimodal (become “foreground”) while other aspects of the event (become “background”) and are processed later. According to audiovisual). Bahrick and Lickliter (2000, 2002, 2004) and the Intersensory Redundancy Hypothesis (IRH), detection of amodal properties 12 (e.g., tempo, prosody) is facilitated by the presentation of information in synchrony across two senses. Previous studies 9.36** 10 (10.15) using animal models have shown that pre-exposure to bimodal synchronous stimulation subsequently led to attention of 8 amodal properties in unimodal stimulation (Lickliter, Bahrick & Markham, 2006). This finding suggests that redundant 6 audiovisual stimulation can guide the detection of amodal properties and subsequently “educate” attention to those same 4 0.93 properties in unimodal stimulation. 2 (4.61) The current set of experiments aimed to answer whether 2-month-old human infants could discriminate a change in the seconds) 0 ** = p < .01 amodal property of tempo (toy hammer tapping on a surface) presented in a unimodal visual context depending on whether -2 they were previously familiarized to the tempo in either a synchronous bimodal audiovisual, unimodal visual, or Mean Visual Recovery (in -4 -6 -4.11 asynchronous bimodal audiovisual context. It was predicted that infants would be able to detect a change in tempo in a (5.05) unimodal context only when familiarized or “educated” to the tempo in a synchronous bimodal audiovisual context. Synchronous Bimodal Audiovisual Unimodal Visual Asynchronous Bimodal Audiovisual Pre-Exposure Condition Methods Stimulus events. The stimulus events consisted of a video depicting a bright red colored toy hammer tapping one of two *Data collection is still in progress; results are not final irregular 4-beat rhythms at one of two given tempos (Slow: 159 beats per minute vs. Fast: 240 beats per minute) on a Conclusions wooden surface. Rhythm and tempo were fully counterbalanced across conditions. Infants in the synchronous bimodal These results support the hypothesis that detection of amodal properties such as tempo in synchronous bimodal audiovisual condition could see and hear the toy hammer tapping in synchrony, infants in the unimodal visual condition audiovisual stimulation can scaffold or “educate” selective attention to the same stimulus properties in subsequent could only see the toy hammer and infants in the asynchronous bimodal audiovisual condition could see and hear the toy unimodal stimulation. In addition, these results converge with animal based findings (Lickliter et al., 2006), where quail hammer tapping out of temporal synchrony. embryos were able to learn the temporal properties of a maternal quail call following synchronous bimodal audiovisual pre- Procedure: Twenty-nine 2-month-old Infants were familiarized to four 15-seconds trials of a toy hammer tapping at one of exposure but not following unimodal auditory or asynchronous bimodal audiovisual pre-exposure. Taken together, our two different rhythms (Rhythm A vs. Rhythm B) in one of two different tempos (Fast vs. Slow) in one of three conditions: findings suggest that during early development, sensitivity to amodal properties (such as tempo) emerges in the context of synchronous bimodal audiovisual, unimodal visual, or asynchronous bimodal audiovisual. synchronous bimodal stimulation and is later extended to unimodal stimulation. Following the familiarization phase, all of the infants participated in a unimodal visual infant controlled habituation phase where they viewed the toy hammer tapping silently at the same rhythm they received during habituation. Following Acknowledgements habituation, infants received two test trials depicting the red toy hammer tapping in novel tempo (e.g., if the infant was I would first like to thank the McNair Scholars Program, Dr. Jason S. Hamilton, Dr. George E. Simms, and mentor Dr. Lorraine pre-exposed and habituated to the toy hammer tapping the fast tempo, rhythm A then they were tested with the slow E. Bahrick for granting me the opportunity to be a part of this academically enhancing program and providing constant tempo, rhythm A). guidance and advice. I am grateful to the all the parents and infants who donated their time; without them, my research would not have been possible. I am indebted with the graduate students, research assistants and staff at the Infant Results Development Lab at FIU for their ongoing support and encouragement in times of greatest need. In addition to this, I owe Infants’ mean visual recovery (difference between the mean number of seconds the infant spent looking at the two test my deepest gratitude to Irina Castellanos and Lissette Robles for their infinite patience, guidance, and support. trials and mean number of seconds the infants spent looking at the two no-change post-habituation trials) to the novel References tempo served as our index of discrimination. Results revealed a main effect of pre-exposure condition, F(2,26) = 6.913, p = Bahrick, L. E., & Lickliter, R. (2000). Intersensory redundancy guides attentional selectivity and perceptual learning in infancy. .004), indicating that infants in the synchronous bimodal audiovisual pre-exposure condition demonstrated greater visual Developmental Psychology, 36, 190-201. recovery to the change in tempo than infants in the unimodal visual and asynchronous bimodal audiovisual pre-exposure Bahrick, L.E., & Lickliter, R. (2002). Intersensory redundancy guides early perceptual and cognitive development. In R. Kail ( condition. Additionally, infants in the synchronous bimodal audiovisual pre-exposure condition (M = 9.39, SD = 10.15) Ed.), Advances in Child Development and Behavior, Vol. 30 (pp. 153-187). New York: Academic Press. demonstrated significant visual recovery to a change in tempo, t(11) = 3.195, p = .009. In contrast, infants in the unimodal Bahrick, L.E., & Lickliter, R. (2004). Infants’ perception of rhythm and tempo in unimodal and multimodal stimulation: A visual (M = 0.93, SD = 4.61) and asynchronous bimodal audiovisual pre-exposure conditions (M = -4.11, SD = 5.05) did not developmental test of the intersensory redundancy hypothesis. Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral demonstrate significant visual recovery to the change in tempo, t(11) = .695, p = .50; t(4) = -1.822, p = .14, respectively. Neuroscience, 4, 137-147. Furthermore, planned comparisons revealed that the performance of infants who received unimodal visual pre-exposure Lickliter, R., Bahrick, L.E., & Markham, R. (2006). Intersensory redundancy educates selective attention in bobwhite quail did not differ from that of infants in the asynchronous bimodal audiovisual pre-exposure (p = .22). embryos. Developmental Science, 9, 604-615. Objective Determine whether exposure to the amodal property of tempo in synchronous bimodal audiovisual stimulation could educate infants’ attention to tempo.

Florida International University 17 Cohort 18 7 Michele Bechor Undergraduate Achievement Journal McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program

Florida International University Abstr to 10 times video the viewing After colored. uniquely landmarks one of the with intersection, of each corners the at located were landmarks Four 9turns. and intersections 14 with environment a3D virtual through path a simulated S of landmarks. selection on the features perceptual and spatial of influence the investigated experiment current The colored. uniquely are they if example, for features, a perceptual on their based salient be also can Landmarks oraturn. at on apath intersection an at located are they if example, for features, spatial their on based salient be can Landmarks ct environment. of the drawings and descriptions later in included be to likely more are salient most the out or are stand that objects the T locations. their and environment that in objects the representing involves environment a novel Learning Defining SaliencorLandmarkeletioninaNovelEnironment much ofhertimeatFIUdevoted toempirical topursue a Ph.D., shehasspent her efforts for mindfulness-basedailments.Regarding to future doctors the symptoms and treatment a tenured professor in a medical school, outlining psychoneuroimmunology and intends to become withplaceboresearchclinical interventions and earning aPhD, shehopestoconductmore that helpalleviatemedicalsymptoms.After clinical stress managementinterventions psychophysiological disorders, administering Medicine. S Psychology withaconcentrationinMind-Body hopes toearnaPh.D. inClinicalHealth American ofMiddle Easterndecent,she graduate inS minor inBiology and Chemistry, sheplansto Florida. APsychology majorwithadouble Michele Bechor wasbornandraisedinS he hopes to become an expert on he hopestobecomeanexpert pring 2011.Asafirst-generation ubjects watched a movie of of amovie watched ubjects ypically, ypically, outh features predominantly define the selection of landmarks. of selection the define predominantly features spatial that suggest data These features. object’s spatial the with not associated were they mentioned, were they when and bychance, expected than often less landmarks colored uniquely included They aturn. included that intersections at and intersection of an corners far the at locations at environment, the into farther located landmarks include to preferred participants Generally, colored. uniquely it was whether and aturn included intersection its whether path, the to relative position its and map the within position its on based intersection, the at location its for coded was maps E order. counterbalanced in amap, drew and environment the through path the described subjects learning, ensure shopping, traveling andMiami Heat basketball. Association. In herspare time,sheenjoys S asa and leadershipactivities,currently serving Michele engagesinvarious on-campus service Key International Honors S proud member oftheHonors College,Golden research attheUniversity ofN her summerconductingS Conference inN for Developmental Psychobiology Research present her research at the International Bobwhite quailhatchlings.S environments onspatialexplorationlevels in amountsofenriching the effectsof varying her seniorhonorsthesisproject, focusingon January 2009and iscurrently conducting FIU’s Developmental Psychobiology Lab since research. S tudent AmbassadorforFIU’s S ach landmark that was included in the descriptions or or descriptions the in included was that landmark ach he hasbeenaResearch Assistantin ovember 2010.Michele spent ociety andPsi Chi, 2010 he alsointendsto patial Cognition tudent Alumni otre Dame. A S ociety McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

Defining Salience for Landmark Selection in a Novel Environment Michele Bechor & Dr. Laura A. Carlson Department of Psychology University of Notre Dame

Abstract PREVIOUS WORK PROCEDURE (CONTINUED) RESULTS (CONTINUED) The current experiment investigated the influence of One study on landmark selection For the third task, we Subjects spatial and perceptual features on the selection of in a multiple-landmark, multiple- provided the subjects were landmarks. Subjects watched a movie of a simulated path decision point environment (seen with a blank map of the significantly through a 3D virtual environment with 14 intersections and on the left) found spatial features environment layout and more likely 9 turns. Four landmarks were located at the corners of each predominantly influenced a list of the pictures on to include intersection, with one of the landmarks uniquely colored. landmark selection in a spatial task; each environment colored After viewing the video 10 times to ensure learning, subjects subjects chose landmarks at turns landmark. We then landmarks in described the path through the environment and drew a more often (Swearingen, 2010). asked each subject to the memory map, in counterbalanced order. Each landmark that was Another study which placed perceptual and spatial draw the route they took, task only. included in the descriptions or maps was coded for its salience in competition found perceptually salient objects placing landmarks as location at the intersection, based on its position within the were encoded more often but failed to influence landmark they were in the Subjects map and its position relative to the path; whether its selection in spatial tasks (Miller & Carlson, in press). environment whenever were more intersection included a turn; and whether it was uniquely possible (example, right). likely to colored. Generally, participants preferred to include include landmarks located farther into the environment, at locations THE CURRENT STUDY landmarks at at the far corners of an intersection and at intersections that The purpose of the current study was to determine CODING position 2, included a turn. They included uniquely colored landmarks whether at an intersection with a perceptually salient object, Each landmark per significantly less often than expected by chance, and when they were will subjects choose landmarks based on spatial salience or 1 2 intersection was so in the mentioned, they were not associated with the object’s based on perceptual salience. To test this question in our assigned number 1-4 map- spatial features. These data suggest that spatial features environment, the perceptually salient object occurred at the 4 3 based on either the drawing predominantly define the selection of landmarks. different positions at different intersections (seen below). absolute (fixed) or ego task. Our 2 key predictions (relative) frame of introduction were: (1) spatial salience reference. Numbering began in the upper left DISCUSSION Landmarks are parts of an environment which serve as would guide landmark selection (landmarks and continued in the Effects of spatial salience (turning and position) were anchors on the route between a given origin and a desired clockwise direction. destination (Klippel & Winter, 2005). Landmarks are further into the shown in the map-drawing and description tasks (spatial characterized by their singularity to their environment environment would be In the absolute reference frame (shown above), tasks). This supports Swearingen (2010). Also, perceptual (Winter, Raubal & Nothegger, 2005) and mark progress on a chosen)and (2) perceptual landmarks 1 and 2 were consistently further into the salience only influenced landmark selection in the memory path (Nothegger, Winter & Raubal, 2004). However, it is not salience would aid in environment while 3 and 4 were closer to the viewer. task (a perceptual task). This supports Miller & Carlson (in- practical to select all landmarks in navigation (Winter, memory but NOT in Relative frames of reference were dictated by the motion of press). High accuracy between included objects and their Raubal & Nothegger, 2005). Landmark selection is influenced spatial placement. the traveler. Ego-in coding referred to the positions as the environmental colors (71%) indicate subjects remembered by salience, the prominence of an object relative to its traveler entered the section. Ego-out coding described them the colored landmarks well, but did not include them in environment (Nothegger, Winter & Raubal, 2004). Two as the traveler left the intersection. responses when they were not navigationally relevant. subtypes of salience are spatial salience, based on the PROCEDURE We coded each landmark included in each subject’s map, description and memory task based on whether the subject distance between a landmark and the desired path (Klippel Forty-one undergraduate students from the University REFERENCES reported a turn, whether the landmark was colored and & Winter, 2005), and perceptual salience, or prominence due of Notre Dame viewed a first-person video of a route Caduff, D. &Timpf, S. (2005). The landmark spider: Representing landmark knowledge for wayfinding tasks. based on position. Reasoning with Mental and External Diagrams: Computational Modeling and Spatial Assistance, to visual characteristics (Carlson & Hill, 2008). One form of through an environment. Nine of the 14 intersections 30-35. Carlson, L. A. & Hill, P. L. (2008). Processing the presence, placement and properties of a distractor in spatial spatial salience is decision-point salience, referring to a involved either a left or right turn. After viewing one video language tasks. Memory & Cognition, 36, (2), 240-255. landmark at point on the path at which a change in direction Klippel, A. & Winter, S. (2005). Structural salience of landmarks for route directions. Spatial 10 times to ensure learning, we asked each participant to RESULTS Information Theory, 347-362. can occur, such as an intersection (Lovelace & Hegarty, 1999). Lovelace, K. L., Hegarty, M., Montello, D.R. (1999). Elements of Good Route Directions in Familiar and perform 3 tasks. Unfamiliar Environments. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 1661, (751), 65-82 . Color is an important component of perceptual salience. For the first task, Miller, J.E. & Carlson, L.A., (2010) Selecting landmarks in novel environments. Submitted for publication. Nothegger, C., Winter, S. & Raubal, M. (2004). Selection of Salient Features for Route Directions. Spatial subjects were asked to Subjects Cognition & Computation, 4, (2), 113-136. “The Cube” at MMC Swearingen, C. (2010). What Makes a Landmark Special? An Examination of Route Directions in a Novel The “Kissing Bridge” at MMC either provide directions were more Environment. ******** Winter, S., Raubal, M. & Nothegger, C. (2005). Focalizing Measures of Salience for Route Directions. Lecture or describe the video likely to Notes in Computer Science, 347-362. environment (right). include For the second task, subjects landmarks ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS were asked to draw a freehand map at turning I would very much like to thank Dr. Laura Carlson (example on left) of the points in and staff of the Spatial Cognition Lab and Graduate environment, including the the map School of the University of Notre Dame. pictures of the landmarks in their drawing- Thank you also to Dr. Robert Lickliter, my McNair proper locations when possible. task. Program mentor, and to the Ronald E. Post-Baccalaureate SPATIAL SALIENCE PERCEPTUAL SALIENCE Achievement Program at FIU. 

Objective To determine whether at an intersection with a perceptually salient object, will subjects choose landmarks based on spatial salience or based on perceptual salience.

Florida International University 19 Cohort 20 7 Christian Bueno Undergraduate Achievement Journal McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program

Florida International University Abstrgraph. configuration the in of components number a the than less are home group of the of conjugates numbers the We on prove to that go game. of the invariant an is group this home We group. the that ongroup show to go ct this We moves. pebble call bythe permute to allowed are pebbles on how the based group natural its game each to assign we particular In problems. pebble permutation general on the perspective algebraic astrong We take Christian BuenoandMiroslav Yotov A GroupTheoreticPerspetiveonebbleMotionroblems my remaining highschoolcredits. Iwasin college credit primarilywhilefinishingup I went to school atthecollegeandaccumulated This was acollegiate highschool,meaning that College Academy program atBroward College. ever since.Atsports age16Ientered intothe that prevented mefrom seriouslypracticingthe school. Ihadtostopbothafterakneeinjury of highschoolIhadalsowrestled formyhigh the level ofblackbelt)andforthefirsttwo years school Ihadpracticed here ever since.During middleschoolandhigh to theUnited S about theageoftwomyfamilyandIimmigrated I wasborn in Lima, Peru on April 6, 2009. At tates ofAmericaandhave been T ae Kwon Do (attaining after Igraduate. on pursuinggraduatestudiesinmathematics 2010 I became a McN picked up a major in mathematics. Finally in my major. years later, short Afew Ihadalso International University andchosePhysics as the Fall of2007IbeganmystudiesatFlorida myinterestfirst begannurturing inphysics. In diploma. It wasattheCollegeAcademy thatI from the College Academy with myhighschool Associates Degree aftergraduated andshortly graduated from Broward Collegewith my and sophomore years of college. In 2007I of highschoolorequivalently, myfreshman the program formyjuniorandsenioryears air fellow and now plan 2010 McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

A Group Theoretic Perspective on Pebble Motion Problems Christian Bueno, Miroslav Yotov Department of Mathematics, Florida International University, Miami, Florida 33199

The first result worth proving is that if there exist a sequence of moves that can turn Introduction Home Group one configuration into another, then their respective home groups are identical.

The topic of this study deals with the connection between group theory and class of Select a starting configuration k and the vertices on which its pebbles lie. These Lemma 1. If two configurations k and k’ are connected by a sequence of moves, then problems known as Permutation Pebble Motion Problems (PPM), and how this pebbles will call these vertices their home. After using a sequence of moves, some or all H(G,p,k)=H(G,p,k’). connection may be exploited. A graph G can be though of as a set of vertices combined of the pebbles will have left their home and began exploring the rest of the graph, after with a set of relationships that connect them called edges. They can be easily and which the eventually come back home (if they don’t want to, we make them). (Sketch of Proof) If the set of allowable permutations for k is known, then we may use naturally visualized like these examples: Depending on which sequence of moves we chose, they may have returned home in a them to construct the permutations of k’. What we do is consider a sequence of moves different configuration, i.e. a different permutation. The set of all permutations that f that turn k’ into k and any permutation φ from H(G,p,k). By transforming k into k’ we can happen this way form the home group. For a graph G with p pebbles and initial can then additionally permute the pebbles according to φ and then using the inverted configuration k, we can create the home group H(G,p,k). [It is important to note that sequence of moves f -1 to bring the pebbles back to the home induced by k. This these are permutations on the pieces relative to the initial configuration]. The means that H(G,p,k) contains our arbitrary permutation φ, and thus all elements of Vertex examples below show what is meant: H(G,p,k’). Thus H(G,p,k) is a subset of H(G,p,k’). Reversing the argument we get H(G,p,k’) is a subset of H(G,p,k) and therefore H(G,p,k)=H(G,p,k’). Edge 1 1 1 Another useful property is that if two configurations k and k’ are rearrangements of each other such that they share the same underlying vertex set (same home) then their 3 3 3 respective home groups are conjugate.

Lemma 2. If two configurations k and k’ are permutations of each other, then their home Lets add another layer of complexity. If we consider a graph G and additionally a set P 2 2 2 of “pebbles” which are to be placed on distinct vertices of G, we may play a little game groups are conjugate in the symmetric group of p elements. in which pebbles are allowed to move from vertex to vertex based on some simple rules (like a game board). The rule is as follows: If a pebble is connected by an edge (Sketch of Proof). If there was space to more carefully examine the definition of the (23) (132) (23) (adjacent) to an unoccupied vertex, then it may move there. If all pebbles are home group, the result would fall out naturally.

considered distinct and we ask questions about whether one configurations of pebbles 1 2 1 can be transformed into another through a sequence of legal moves (plans), then we With these two properties combined, we may form a powerful statement about the

are discussing a permutation pebble motion problem (PPM). Here are some 2 1 2 home group: The home group is an invariant of the pebble game on G with p pebbles. illustrations: Theorem 3. If k and k’ are configurations for the game on G with p pebbles, then H(G,p,k) is 1 1 2 3 3 3 isomorphic to H(G,p,k’). More specifically H(G,p,k) and H(G,p,k’) are conjugates.

2 4 2 3 1 (Sketch of Proof). It is best to do this theorem by cases: e (231) (132)

1 1 3 Case 1. If k and k’ are connected by a sequence of moves, then by lemma 1 it follows 4 that the two home groups are equal, and thus trivially conjugate. 2 3 1 3 3 4 Case 2. If they are not connected by a sequence of moves, then some permutation k’’ of k’ is connected to k. To prove this we invoke the spanning tree theorem and 3 2 2 algorithmically move k to k’’ without a problem. The home groups H(G,p,k)=H(G,p,k’’) Lastly, a group is a set of elements (in this case operations) equipped with a binary e*(23)=(23) (231)*(132)=e (132)*(23)=(13) and H(G,p,k’’) is conjugate to H(G,p,k’) and thus H(G,p,k) is conjugate to H(G,p,k’). operation such that any two elements can be, in a sense, multiplied or composed. This binary operation is associative, the group contains an identity operation, and each operation has an inverse operation. In the image above we exemplify the permutation composition, identity and inverses. Theorem 4. The number of conjugates of H(G,p,k) is less than or equal to the number of What we do in this study is assign to each of these games a group that encodes which components of the graph of configurations. rearrangements are allowed, and then study these group objects and their various The first result worth proving about the home group is that if there exist a sequence of properties. This allows us to somewhat reduce a problem in algorithmic graph theory moves that can turn one configuration into another, then their respective home groups to one of group theory. are identical.

References Acknowledgements [1] Chartrand, Gary, and Ping Zhang. Introduction to Graph Theory. Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2005. Print. Thanks go out to my host school, Florida International University and the FIU Ronald E. McNair Program and its staff. Also an additional [2] Rotman, Joseph J. "Groups I." Advanced Modern Algebra. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2002. Print. thanks to Ronald E. McNair himself. Thanks also goes out to Dr. Gueo Grantcharov for introducing the problem that motivated the research. [3]“Four Knights Puzzle”. Interactive Mathematics Miscellany and Puzzles. Web. 07 Sept. 2010. Thanks also go out to Jason Espinosa, Kafung Mok, and Henry Zorrilla for their comments, suggestions and discussion they gave throughout http://www.cut-the- length of the research. knot.org/SimpleGames/Horse.shtml. [4]Goraly, Gilad, and Refael Hassin. "Multi-Color Pebble Motion on Graphs." Algorithmica 58.3 (2010). Springer LINK. Web. 2 Sept. 2010.

Objective The connection between group theory and class of problems known as Permutation Pebble Motion Problems (PPM), and how this connection may be exploited.

Florida International University 21 Cohort 22 7 Natalie Damaso Undergraduate Achievement Journal McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program is working to achieve her academic goal, which which goal, her academic to achieve working is she Currently cells. liver cancer and skin within LR by Microcystin Inhibition of Phosphatase2A with working Bay campus at Biscayne Berry’s lab John in research biochemistry in able to partake Florida International University of concentrations between response dependent a dose see to We barrier. expect brain blood and cell a liver into microcystin for proteins carrier the be to known is which proteins transfer anion organic their of affect the at look to used also was Acid Ursolic and Rifampicin cells. cancer liver and skin in microcystin of effects cellular the study to modifications with used was microcystin-LR detecting for protocol fluorometric (2002) al et Bouaicha study the In 2A. 1and phosphatase protein serine/threonine byinhibiting irritation and gastroenteritis, damage, liver cause as well as promoters tumor be to known been have that toxins are family, microcystin of the members common most one of the Microcystin-LR, water. drinking in contamination of their because issue health public aserious be to reported been have that cyanobacteria by produced heptapeptide cyclic toxic are Microcystins Inhibition ofproteinphosphates byMicroystin-LRinliverandskinanells N President the being of as the such activities, S Chemistry. aminor in Biology with in bachelor degree aBiology University pursuing International N in the N the in of 2008-2009, she year participated academic Abstra ct help the of Mcwith the of 2010, summer the During pseudo-nitzchia. with working research genetic in she participated Plymouth, N she Plymouth attended which S ational S ational asenior at Florida currently is Damaso atalie ational S ational tudent E ew Hampshire. During her exchange her exchange During Hampshire. ew he is involved with many student student he involved is many with tudent E xchange Club. During the the Club. During xchange N air program, she was she was program, air xchange Program in in Program xchange tate University in Universitytate in effect with the skin cancer cells. cancer skin the with effect the opposite showed but cells, cancer liver the on effect an have did inhibitors The inhibition. phosphatase and of microcystin concentrations of the response dependent adose show did Results of microcystin. inhibition PP2A the study to able be to phosphatase, alkaline and tyrosine as such phosphatases, other the inhibit help to concentrations S before. studied been never have they as cells cancer skin on the effect their see to hope also but cells, liver the effect that proteins transfer mediated cell the be to known been of the because cells liver the into microcystin of the uptake effect to acid) ursolic and (rifampicin inhibitors the see to expect We (PP2A). also enzyme acommercial using model simple by Bouaicha shown as inhibition and microcystin-LR academic career. academic topics open doors my new for and me during research of many to apart be unique opportunity Ph.D. The Mc degree. a dependent to obtain on goal my academic heavily are goals My lives. career more successful healthier live can others that so society in useful she what have learned to make and research edge of cutting area to work are an in goals career environment. a laboratory Her in success achieve how and to research of performing areas the in possible much as she as hopeprocess to learn this or field.During arelated genetics in degree aPh.D. to obtain is goal Her academic lasagna. Her favorite sports. is playing food and reading, N aPh-D or field. arelated to genetics obtain is in atalie really enjoys watching movies, socializing, socializing, movies, enjoys watching really atalie O A odium orthovanadate was used with microcystin microcystin with used was orthovanadate odium T P(organic anion transfer proteins), which have have proteins), which transfer anion P(organic N air program offers me the the offers me program air 2010 McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

Inhibition of protein phosphatase by MC-LR in liver and skin cancer cells Natalie Damaso, Alina Dorrego, Dr. John Berry Department of Biochemistry Florida International University Miami, FL

Methodology Fluorometric Cell Free Lysate Assay •Lysed HepG-2 and SKMEL-5 cells using RIPA buffer and Halt protease inhibitors followed by freeze/thaw process • Black 96-well plate set up using: 200ul MC-LR/H2O, 50ul 5X Bouaicha buffer, 25ul SKMEL-5/ HepG-2 lysate, 25ul 1X MUP Abstract • Two fold serial dilutions of microcystin-LR starting from 100ug/l, 10ug/l, and 1ug/ Conclusion • Analyzed plate using KC-4 software and Synergy HT-I plate reader at excitation/emission wavelengths of 360-460nm Microcystins are toxic cyclic heptapeptide produced by cyanobacteria It has been shown previously that microcystin-LR inhibits that have been reported to be a serious public health issue because of their Fluorometric Assay using Na3VO4 after direct exposure of SKMEL cells to MC-LR serine/threonine phosphatase 2A dose dependently using a commercial contamination in drinking water. Microcystin-LR, one of the most common •Exposed SKMEL-5 cells to serial dilution conc. of MC-LR for 1 hr in incubator enzyme (Bouaicha et al, 2002). In this study, his protocol was utilized to members of the microcystin family, are toxins that have been known to be • Lysed cells using RIPA buffer and Halt protease inhibitors followed by freeze/thaw process study their effect within the complex cell system. Given that the cell is a tumor promoters as well as cause liver damage, gastroenteritis, and irritation by • Transferred lysate to black 96-well plate. very complex system there are many other phosphatases that can be inhibiting serine/threonine protein phosphatase 1 and 2A. In the study • Added different concentrations of Na3VO4 (.1mM and 10mM) In Fig. 1-3 there is variability in protein phosphatase Bouaicha et al (2002) fluorometric protocol for detecting microcystin-LR was affected by the toxin. • Analyzed plate using KC-4 software and Synergy HT-I plate reader at excitation/emission wavelengths of 360-460nm used with modifications to study the cellular effects of microcystin in skin and activity as conc. of MC-LR increases however, increased inhibition (as a trend) liver cancer cells. Rifampicin and Ursolic Acid was also used to look at the Fluorometric Assay using high/low MC-LR conc. within cells and OATP inhibitors as conc. of MC-LR increases. Sodium orthovanadate was employed to affect of their organic anion transfer proteins which is known to be the carrier •Cultured each cell line into 27 Petri dishes inhibit other phosphatases that could be affecting the study, such as tyrosine proteins for microcystin into a liver cell and blood brain barrier. We expect to • Exposed SKMEL-5 cells to Rifampicin or Ursolic Acid for 30 minResults followed by exposure to MC-LR and inhibitors for 1 hr and alkaline phosphatases. These figures (4-5) not only show the effect of see a dose dependent response between concentrations of microcystin-LR and •HepG-2 cells had no previous exposure to inhibitors the phosphatase inhibitor, but also the effect of direct exposure of inhibition as shown by Bouaicha simple model using a commercial enzyme microcystin-LR within the cells for an hour. These data did show that the • Removed MC-LR and inhibitors with sterile PBS followed by addition of RIPA/protease inhibitors to lyse the cells using liquid N2 to snap freeze (PP2A). We also expect to see the inhibitors (rifampicin and ursolic acid) to optimal concentration of Na3VO4 addition to be 0.1mM before fluorescent • Black 96-well plate set up using: 200ul H2O, 50ul 5X Bouaicha buffer, 30ul Na3VO4, 25ul SKMEL-5/ HepG-2 lysate, 25ul 1X MUP effect the uptake of microcystin into the liver cells because of the • Analyzed plate using KC-4 software and Synergy HT-I plate reader at excitation/emission wavelengths of 360-460nm substrate is added. OATP(organic anion transfer proteins), which have been known to be the cell It has been reported that the uptake of microcystin-LR into liver cells mediated transfer proteins that effect the liver cells, but also hope to see their BCA Protein Assay and blood brain barrier is through cell mediated transfer proteins, effect on the skin cancer cells as they have never been studied before. Sodium •Prepared BSA standards: 2, 1, 0.5, 0.25, 0.125, 0 mg/ml specifically organic anion transfer proteins,OATPs, (Meirer-Abt et al, 2007) Prepared working reagent by mixing: (50:1), Reagent A: Reagent B orthovanadate was used with microcystin concentrations to help inhibit the • (Fischer et al, 2005), but there is no record of cell mediated transfer • Clear 96 well plate set up using: 25ul lysate, 25ul of BSA standards followed by 200ul of working reagent other phosphatases, such as tyrosine and alkaline phosphatase, to be able to proteins within skin cells. Inhibitors such as, Rifampicin and Ursolic Acid, • Mixed plate in plate shaker, covered plate, and incubated for 30 min study the PP2A inhibition of microcystin. Results did show a dose dependent potentially block uptake of microcystin by affecting the OATPs in HepG-2 • Analyzed plate using KC-4 software and Synergy HT-I plate reader at absorbance wavelength of 562nm response of the concentrations of microcystin and phosphatase inhibition. The (liver) cells. There is a significant difference when the inhibitors were added inhibitors did have an effect on the liver cancer cells, but showed the opposite than no inhibitors for Fig.7a HepG-2 (liver) cells. When the inhibitors were effect with the skin cancer cells. added, the change of activity of the low concentrations of microcystin was almost equal to the high concentrations of microcystin therefore, showing Results that they did block the uptake of microcystin-LR into the cell therefore not affecting the inhibition of the phosphatases. However, the opposite effect occurred within the SKMEL-5 (skin) cells, Fig. 6a. The BCA protein assay was used to quantify the amount of protein in each well to get a more Introduction accurate data that takes into account the amount of activity per unit of Microcystin have been declared a serious public health threat by the protein. This was calculated by solving for x by inputting the y (absorbance) World Health Organization because of their potential threat to organisms from using the linear regression line equation established by the absorbance and microalgae to humans. They have proposed that the lifetime safe consumption BSA standards that were graphed as shown in Fig. 6 &7b. level of microcystin-LR to be 1 g/l. Microcystin-LR, are monocyclic heptapeptides cyanobacteria with two variable amino acids leucine and arginine that have been known to promote tumors as well as cause liver damage. Their Figure 1: Exposure of serial dilutions from Figure 2: Exposure of serial dilutions from Figure 3: Exposure of serial dilutions from basis of toxicity is by the inhibition of serine/threonine protein phosphatase, 1ug/l- 0ug/l MC-LR to HepG-2 and SKMEL- 10ug/l- 0ug/l MC-LR to HepG-2 and 100ug/l- 0ug/l MC-LR to HepG-2 and Acknowledgements specifically PP1 and PP2A, which leads to hyperphosphorylation of cellular 5 lysates. SKMEL-5 lysates. SKMEL-5 lysates. proteins. Protein phosphatase 2A are important in cellular functions as well as I would like to thank Dr. Berry’s lab for their help and support especially Dr. important tumor suppressor proteins. John Berry for his mentorship. Alina Dorrego for being a great lab colleague and Microcystins are not cell permeable except in liver cells; their transport is partner during the research. I would also like to thank the McNair Post Bacclaurette mediated through carrier mediated transport. More specifically organic anion Program for their support in funding and workshops to help me succeed. transfer proteins (OATP) have been known to transfer microcystin-LR into hepatocytes as well as the blood brain barrier. There are inhibitors, such as Rifampicin and Ursolic Acid, which have been known to inhibit the toxic effect of microcystin by affecting the organic anion transfer proteins. Inhibition of protein phosphatase 2A can be observed using Bouaicha’s References fluorometric assay protocol usingthe substrate 4-MUP. The percent change in Figure 4: Direct exposure of serial dilutions from Figure 6a: Direct exposure of 1ug/l or 0ug/l Figure 7a: Direct exposure of 100ug/l or fluorescence is inversely related to the inhibition of phosphatases, which is the 100ug/l-0ug/l MC-LR to SKMEL-5 cells using MC-LR and inhibitors (None (PBS), 0ug/l MC-LR and inhibitors (None (PBS), •Bouaicha, N., Maatouk, and Y. Levi. "A colorimetric and fluorometric microplate assay for the ability to convert MUP (4-methylumbelliferyl phosphate) to MU (4- Rifampicin, Ursolic acid) to SKMEL-5 cells. Rifampicin, Ursolic acid) to HepG-2 cells. detection of microcystin-LR in drinking water without preconcentration." Food and Chemical 0.1mM Na3VO4. 0.1mM Na VO addition. Toxicology (2002): 1677-1683. Web. 14 May 2010. methylumbelliferone). 0.1mM Na3VO4 addition. 3 4 . •Figueiredo, Daniela, Azeiteiro Ulisses, Sonia Esteves, Fernando Goncalves, and Mario Pereira. "Microcystin-producing blooms--a serious global public health issue." Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 59. (2004): 151-163. Web. 17 May 2010. . •Dawson, R. "The toxicology of microcystins." Toxicon 36.7 (1998): 953-962. Web. 17 May 2010. . •Fischer, WJ, S Altheimer, V Cattori, PJ Meier, and DR Dietrich. "Organic anion transporting 4-Methylumbellieferyl Phosphate 4-Methylumbelliferone Figure 5: Direct exposure of serial dilutions from polypeptides expressed in liver and brain mediate uptake of microcystin.." Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology 203.3 (2005): 257-263. Web. 18 Aug 2010. 100ug/l- 0ug/l MC-LR to SKMEL-5 cells using Figure 6&7b: BCA Protein Assay: BSA standards (2, 1, 0.5, 0.25, 0.125, and 0mg/ml) to quantify protein. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15737679. 0.1mM Na3VO4. Objective Measure inhibition of protein phosphates by Microcystin- LR in liver and skin cancer cells.

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Kimberly Dizon, SN and Kathryn H. Anderson, PhD, ARNP || Florida International University, Miami, Florida Dr. Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program || COHORT 7 Background and Significance Findings Dual Diagnosis (DD) is the term used for individuals who interdependently suffer from both a Mental Illness (MI) and a Substance Use Barriers for Mental-Health Nurses in Disorder [SUD] (Department of Health, 2006). treating Adolescents with a Dual Diagnosis

There are 3 general DD treatment models: serial, parallel and integrated. Health care providers agree that the best treatment must - Lack of continuity of care from shift-to-shift decreases essential nurse/client relationship address both diagnoses at the same time which scholars refer to as an “integrated” treatment model (Schulte et al., 2008). While there is - Mental-health nurses’ stigma towards DD adolescents knowledge about what treatment model works, there is still no compelling evidence to support any one psychosocial intervention (Cleary et - Attitudes of mental-health nurses of their own competency in treating DD adolescents al., 2010). - Follow-up of client’s status after discharge is low which increases likelihood of relapse - Very few in-service programs available to train Mental-Health nurses Though research supports the overwhelming increase in prevalence among all age groups (Frisher et al., 2004; Trathen et al., 2007), the incidence is increasing particularly among the adolescent population for ages 12-18. Recommendations for Mental-Health Nurses to Improve Practice Some of the facts: •Adolescents who entered SUD treatment revealed 72% of the cannabis users reporting two or more psychiatric symptoms (Diamond et Specific DD Training should be focused on: al., 2006) 1) Early detection of DD by Mental-Health nurse with specific guidelines •The outcomes of DD adolescents have higher levels of depression symptoms, poorer global functioning and higher levels of substance 2) Emphasizing that program steps are available for successful DD treatment use compared to those who have no diagnosis (Vida et al., 2009) 3) Current knowledge of successful Evidence-Based Practice treatment strategies. •Despite the known high rates of DD, 57.5% of the treatment providers surveyed offer integrated care for dually diagnosed clients a) Examples: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Multi-System Therapy, Seeking Safety Therapy, Involving Family in Therapy (Ducharme, 2006) 4) Properly utilizing motivational interviewing skills with clients 5) Knowledge of alcohol-use and cannabis-use cessation techniques (since these are what adolescents tend to use) Developing a nursing plan of care that sufficiently address both diagnoses increases the mental-health nurses’ responsibilities. Nurses do 6) Knowledge to treat mental illnesses that are prevalent in this population. not only treat dually-diagnosed clients in the mental-health setting, but also on regular medical/surgical settings and community settings a) Examples: Depression, Anxiety, and Oppositional Behaviors (Edward & Munro, 2009). Care plans should include: From a mental-health nursing perspective, though there are evidenced-based practices available (SAMHSA, 2007) clearly defined 1) Educating client and family evidenced-based practice interventions for adolescents with DD are lacking. This contributes to the reported low confidence of nurses, a) About illness dynamics, their critical pathway, severity, and consequences when it comes to treating these individuals (Coombes, L. & Wratten, A., 2007). b) Local outreach treatment programs. Examples: school-based, community centers, in/out-patient facilities, group and network support Currently, a gap in the DD literature gap exists in regards to nursing interventions tailored for dually-diagnosed adolescents. The purpose 2) Identifying and encouraging client to take part in care support group of this poster is to provide needed information to increase awareness of practice issues in dual diagnosis adolescents, identify current 3) Ensuring a positive environment that promote treatment adherence barriers to interventions and tailor current evidence-based practice interventions to adolescents. 4) Harm reduction interventions. Example: Methadone therapy for heroine users 5) Emphasis of follow-up status after client’s discharge to promote less incidence of relapse Research Aims Limitations To raise nurses’ awareness of Dual Diagnosis treatment issues in adolescents by: 1)Identifying current barriers to successful Dual Diagnosis nursing interventions This literature review did not focus on one type of mental-illness or one type of drug-of-choice. Origin of 2)Describe current evidence-based practice interventions tailored to adolescents articles are from different countries such as US, UK, Australia which may affect application to own specific country. Because DD is complex in treatment, many aspects of care were not described and Method thus could not be adequately evaluated. Electronic research databases including MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Health Sciences, Nursing and psychARTICLES were used to locate topic of interest articles. Date parameters were originally set for 2005 to the present. Select articles published before 2005 Conclusions are included in this review to elaborate on prior knowledge that is still currently relevant. Meta-analyses, systematic reviews, peer- Future research needs to explore and evaluate specifically mental-health nurse interventions. For reviewed articles, randomly controlled trials, and primary studies were preferred articles selected for review. Additionally, reference list searches were done. Origin of articles, for example if published other than in the United States, was also taken into account for global example, studies that address the implementation and evaluation of mental-health nurses using “Matrix generalizability. Since the mental-health nursing scope of practice is the focal point, medical interventions such as pharmacological Model” of DD service delivery (Georgeson, 2009). modalities were classified as exclusion criteria for this review.

Basic search terms used were: adolescence, co-occurring disorders, co-morbidity, dual diagnosis, mental-health nursing, mental health Nurses should be open to sharing their knowledge to fellow colleagues to: services, mental illness, nursing, outcomes, prevalence, substance use disorders and treatment. Though there was a lot of general 1) Lessen the stigma that nurses have towards dually-diagnosed adolescents literature available, few nursing literature was identified that addressed dual diagnosis in the adolescent population AND mental health 2) Raise self-efficacy in treating dually-diagnosed adolescents nursing considerations. Findings were reviewed and interventions were adapted to adolescent DD care. Figure A – (Department of Health, 2002) Figure B – (Department of Health, 2002) Select References Cleary, M., Hunt. G., Matheson, S., Siegfried. N. & Walter, G. (2010). Psychosocial interventions for people with both severe mental illness and substance misuse: Review. The Cochrane Collaboration. Published by JohnWiley & Sons, Ltd. Department of Health. (2006). Dual Diagnosis in Mental Health Inpatient and Day Hospital Settings, Guidance on the Assessment and Management of Patients. Department of Health Publications, London. Department of Health. (2002). Mental Health Policy Implementation Guide: Dual Diagnosis Good Practice Guide. Department of Health, London. Diamond, G., Panichelli-Mindel, S., Shera, D., Dennis, M., Tims. & F. Ungemack, J. (2006). Psychiatric syndromes in adolescents seeking outpatient treatment for marijuana with abuse and dependency in outpatient treatment. Journal of Child Adolescent Substance Abuse, 15, 37-54. Ducharme, L., Knudsen, H. & Roman, P. (2006). Availability of Integrated Care for Co-occurring Substance Abuse and Psychiatric Conditions. Community Mental Health Journal, (42)4, 363-375. Edward, K. & Munro, I. (2009). Nursing considerations for dual diagnosis in mental health. International Journal of Nursing Practice, 15, 74-79. Frisher, M., Collins, J., Millson, D., Crome, I., & Croft, P. (2004). Prevalence of comorbid psychiatric illness and substance misuse in primary care in England and Wales. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 58, 1036-1041. Schulte, S., Meier, P., Stirling, J., & Berry, M. (2008). Treatment approaches for dual diagnosis clients in England. Drug and Alcohol Review, 27, 650-658. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services. (2007). Understanding evidenced-based practices for co-occurring disorders. Department of Health and Human Services, United States. Trathen, B., O'Gara, C., Sarkhel, A., Sessay, M., Rao, H., & Luty, J. (2007). Co-morbidity and cannabis use in a mental health trust in South East England. Addictive Behaviors, 32, 2164-2177. Vida, R., Brownlie, E., Beitchman, J., Adlaf, E., Atkinson, L., Escobar, M., Johnson, C., Jiang, H., Koyama, E. & Bender, D. (2009). Emerging adult outcomes of adolescent psychiatric and substance use disorders. Addictive Behaviors,34, 800-805. Acknowledgments Without the mentorship, guidance and encouragement of these people none of this would have been possible: Dr. Kathryn H. Anderson, Stuart Lancashire, Dr. E. George Simms, Dr. Jason Scott Hamilton, FIU’s College of Nursing and Health Sciences faculty, FIU’s McNair Program staff, FIU’s MHIRT Summer 2009 program, my parents and last but not least Dr. Ronald E. McNair for the legacy he left and his message of perseverance that still lives on.

Submitted: September 2010 Objective To raise nurses’ awareness of Dual Diagnosis treatment issues in adolescents by: 1) Identifying current barriers to successful Dual Diagnosis nursing interventions 2) Describe current evidence-based practice interventions tailored to adolescents

Florida International University 25 Cohort 26 7 Jason Espinoza Undergraduate Achievement Journal McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program

Florida International University Abstris unknown. it exists triangles other For which triangles. no right and triangles isosceles all some for it exists that concluded is E the of triangles classes For which centers. a triangle many connects which line, E the for posed question this and geometry, hyperbolic E aparticular whether ask to natural it is nature, its to Due of geometry. cthistory the to important and Postulate, Parallel Hyperbolic the of E postulate parallel famous the replacing by obtained is geometry The hyperbolic Abstract. This thesisisdedicatedtothememoryofDr. RonaldE.McNair A PARTIAL C HARACTERIZATION OFTHEEULERLINEINHYPERBOLICPLANE continue mywork. Ibelieve thatmathematics was awarded a Beyond the Book scholarship to at theUniversity ofMiami andonesummerI years ofresearch work intheastrophysics lab for graduatework anddoingresearch. Ihadtwo invaluable inbothdeveloping skillsIwillneed and students.The McN learn viaresearch andworking withcolleagues love forteachingandIwillalwayscontinueto and become a professor. I have a talent and math. I plan to earn my Ph.D. in Mathematics becauseIhave alwayshad abrainfor fortunate in Miami, Florida andIconsidermyselfvery senior majoringinmathematics.Iwasborn My nameisJason EspinosaandIama22year uclidean result has an analogue in in analogue an has result uclidean uler line exists is explored, and it and explored, is exists line uler air Fellowship proved uclidean Geometry with with Geometry uclidean uler uler and karate. hobbies are listeningtomusic,programming, is related tophysics,whichIalsolikealot.My ever sinceIwas5years old.My research topic Geometry. I’ve alwaysbeeninterested inmath, it. My current research topicisHyperbolic fundamental tounderstandingandimproving and connectionsinourworldisundeniably at the most basic study of patterns, structures, life,mathematics field ofsciencetoeveryday society forgenerations.From technologytoevery the subjectcanhave effectsthatripplethrough aspect ofourlives, andtheresearch donein is thebedrock ofoursociety. It permeatesevery 2010 McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

The Euler Line in Hyperbolic Geometry Jason Espinosa The Euler Line is an important line in Euclidean Introduction triangle geometry. It goes through 3 triangle centers. Conclusion Hyperbolic Geometry is the end of a 2000 The centroid is the point of intersection of the lines The current results suggest thattthe isosceles year quest to fix Euclid's Elements. The Elements connecting each vertex to the midpoint of the triangle is the only triangle with an Euler line in establishes geometry from axioms – statements opposite side. The orthocenter is formed from the the hyperbolic plane. After proving or taken for granted - and results that follow from those lines starting at a vertex and forming a right angle disproving this, there are other questions to axioms. Its genius is that the consequences of its with the opposite side. Finally, the circumcenter is the explore. Is the Euler line related to the defect (a axioms is the geometry we are familiar with. The center of the circle touching all three vertices of the hyperbolic property) of the triangle? Is there a most controversial axiom was the parallel postulate, triangle. relationship between the distances of the which states that for a point a and a line B, there is triangle centers? Given the importance of the only one line A through a that's parallel to B. Euler line to triangle geometry, it could prove as The hyperbolic parallel postulate states that there useful in the hyperbolic case. are infinitely many such lines. We can represent this by changing what a line looks like. In the Escher painting below, note that the white curves are parts of circles or straight lines through the center and Acknowledgements intersect the circle at 90 degrees, and that the I would like to thank Dr. Gueo Grantcharov for figures get smaller as the reach the edge. This is his invaluable guidance and feedback. I would how the Poincare model of hyperbolic geometry is Results especially like to thank the Ronald E. McNair defined. Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program for The Euler line has been characterized for hyperbolic financial support. This work is dedicated to the isosceles triangles and hyperbolic right triangles. For memory of Dr. Ronald E. McNair for being a hyperbolic isosceles triangles, the Euler line exists. It is continuing source of inspiration. possible, through basic geometry, to prove that any isosceles triangle is congruent to one like in the figure to the right. The hyperbolic Euler line (the green line in the figure), which is defined slightly differently from the standard one, always exists for isosceles triangles. It does not exist for most right triangles. Right: Isoceles triangle M.C. Escher. Circle Limit #3.

Objective It is natural to ask whether a particular Euclidean result has an analogue in hyperbolic geometry and this question posed for the Euler line which connects many triangle centers.

Florida International University 27 Cohort Erika NicoleFountain 28 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Academy High Miami, Florida. Aftergraduatingfrom Lourdes Florida International University condition load). Acontrol cognitive and (nervousness cues certain detect to ways one of two in trained were Participants others. in deception detect to people train to used be could approach load cognitive the whether examined study Fisher, Van2008).The present Hooff, Vrij, Leal, 2008; &Bull, Milne, Fisher, Leal, (Vrij, Mann, blinking eye in adecrease as such load, of cognitive result a as signs physical portray liars that shown have studies Instead, 2006). &Leal, (Vrij, Fisher, lies Mann, and truths between differentiate not do reliably and of nervousness, traits physiological just actually are of deception indicative S Can YouCat ch aLiar?IdentifyingPhysialSignsoCognitiveoad on aspects of psychology and the law. While experiences indifferent typesof research focusing the research process andledmetoacquire more conformitynourishedmyinterest in memory and various studies oneyewitnessmemory psychological research wasabout.Conducting Dr. Daniel Wright where Isawfirsthandwhat and WorkshopLaboratory under (C.L.A.W) I beganaresearch assistantshipintheCognitive things.Duringlearning new mysophomore year playing theguitar, andthussparked myinterest for hobbiessuchascookingand student Itookupnew Anthropology, andCriminal Justice. Asacollege studies intheareas ofPsychology, S Florida International University andbeganmy I wasborninHouston,

Abstra ct being of as thought generally cues that shown have tudies chool, I was admitted into School, Iwas admitted into T exas and was raised in exas andwasraisedin ociology & ociology & 55%). Further data collection is currently underway. currently is 55%). collection data Further = = control 53%; =65%; fidgeting (blinking group other any than truths detecting at better be may deception to cue a as patterns blinking use to trained those that show also results preliminary These made. be can inferences before needed is (53% however, more data control accurate); the and group accurate) (56% fidgeting the to compared when difference significant no was There time. 58% of the deception detect accurately to able were deception to a cue as patterns blinking for look to trained participants that show results Preliminary comparison. for included was psychology andthelaw. program and continuemyresearch intheareas of graduation, Ihopetobeacceptedintoadoctoral be graduatinginDecember of2010.Following process of finishingmy research project andwill become aMcN myresearchto further over thesummerand program, whichinturngave metheopportunity presented myideastotheDr. Ronald E.McN on deceptiondetectionandcognitive load.I to conductmyown research project thatfocuses research experienceIwasgiven theopportunity deception detection.Through thecourseofmy as well as effects, investigative interviewing, interested intopicssuchaseyewitnessfeedback Compo, and Dr. working withDr. Wright, Dr. N air fellow. Currently, Iaminthe S teve Charman I became very teve Charman I became very 2010 adja Schreiber air air McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

Detecting Deception by Observing Physical Signs of Cognitive Load Erika Nicole Fountain & Dr. Nadja Schreiber Compo, Florida International University

Abstract General Methods Results Procedure Participants Across training groups, the main dependent variable was Studies have shown that cues generally thought of as being Participants entered the lab and were asked to sign a consent form. A Two hundred participants will be recruited from the Psychology overall accuracy rates. That is, how often participants indicative of deception are actually just physiological traits of total of 24 student participants were trained in one of the three Department at FIU using the SONA-systems website. To date, a total correctly identified liars and truth tellers. Preliminary nervousness, and do not reliably differentiate between conditions: Blinking (8), Fidgeting (8), or Control (8). All participants of 24 participants have completed this study . Participants received results revealed that the blinking group (n=8) had 58% truths and lies (Vrij, Fisher, Mann, & Leal, 2006). Instead, were then shown the same ten videos and were asked to make veracity one research participation credit for their time. accuracy across tapes, the fidgeting group (n=8) had 56% studies have shown that liars portray physical signs as a judgments about the subject in each video. They were instructed to accuracy across tapes, and the control group (n=8) had result of cognitive load, such as a decrease in eye blinking Stimulus Material make these judgments using the training they had received prior. 52% accuracy across tapes. Accuracy rates for “truths” (5 (Vrij, Mann, Fisher, Leal, Milne, & Bull, 2008; Leal, Vrij, Fisher, Following the videos participants were asked to fill out a short truth tapes) showed that the blinking group had an Van Hooff, 2008). The present study examined whether the The stimulus materials were acquired from Russano, Meissner, demographics questionnaire. Finally, participants were debriefed and accuracy rate of 65%, the fidgeting group had an accuracy cognitive load approach could be used to train people to Narchet, and Kassin (2005). Ten videos (five portraying liars and five thanked for their time. rate of 53%, and the control had an accuracy rate of 55%. detect deception in others. Participants were trained in one portraying truth tellers) of approximately a minute and a half in All training groups performed at 50% accuracy for “lies” (5 of two ways to detect certain cues (nervousness and length were used to test participants. The videos depict a research Training Groups lie tapes). An analysis of variance revealed no significant cognitive load). A control condition was included for assistant posing as an interrogator accusing a participant of cheating differences in accuracy rates between training groups, comparison. Preliminary results show that participants on an assignment. The participants were told that the consequence Blink Group: This group was trained to look for a decrease in blinking which was expected due to the small sample size. All trained to look for blinking patterns as a cue to deception of cheating could include “academic misconduct”, which led during the interrogation followed by an increase directly after (cognitive groups displayed high confidence in their decisions with a were able to accurately detect deception 58% of the time. students to believe that they may be dismissed from the university. load condition). Specifically, this group was told that research has found mean of 6.7 out of 9. Further testing is underway. There was no significant difference when compared to the Some videos depict liars (i.e. students that cheated but deny it) and that people who lie blink less than people who tell the truth and that fidgeting group (56% accurate) and the control (53% some videos depict truth-tellers (i.e., students who did not cheat they should use this information when determining if the people in the Discussion accurate) group; however, more data is needed before and deny it). These videos are ideal because according to Vrij, videos they were about to watch were lying or telling the truth. inferences can be made. Interestingly, preliminary results Fisher, Mann, and Leal (2008), the cognitive load approach is to be Fidgeting Group: This group was trained to look for a specific sign of show that those trained to use blinking patterns as a cue to used in an interview setting where the individual has something to nervousness (fidgeting) in the subsequent videos. Specifically, this Preliminary data suggests that training does not increase deception may be better at detecting truths than any other lose. In the past, researchers have criticized the use of artificial group was told that research has found that people who lie exhibit signs overall accuracy rates. However, there does seem to be a group (blinking = 65%; fidgeting = 53%; control = 55%). stimulus materials. In most studies, students are asked to tell a lie of nervousness (e.g., fidgeting) and that they should use this trend forming in terms of “truth” accuracy. As Further data collection is currently underway. (e.g., “pretend you stole a purse and tell it to the camera”) and then information when determining if the people in the videos they were hypothesized, those trained to look for blinking patterns these tapes are used as stimulus material. However, the students in about to watch were lying or telling the truth. outperformed (65%) the fidgeting group (53%) and the these tapes have nothing to lose and may not display signs of Control Group: This group did not receive any training prior to viewing control group (55%) in detecting truths. Although still early deception. In contrast, the tapes used in this study more accurately the video. This allows for a base-line analysis of deception detection in the data collection process, current results give the Introduction mimic the real world, where criminals have something to lose. accuracy without any prior instruction/training. impression that we can increase accuracy rates for detecting truths with the proper training. This is There is an obvious need to find reliable cues to deception. important because although we may not be able to detect A reliable indicator of deceit could help investigators in deception all of the time, it could be made easier to every phase of a criminal case. Generally, researchers identify when a suspect is telling the truth. Identifying agree that people are not good at detecting deception. truth tellers can decrease coercive interrogation practices. There is also very little difference in their capability to Studies show that individuals can be persuaded into giving distinguish between liars and truth tellers (Vrij, 2000). In false confessions (Russano, Meissner, Narchet, and Kassin, most studies, lie detection precision falls just above chance 2005). This training could also lead to a decrease in false (Vrij, 2000). This may be due to common misconceptions confessions if an investigator is able to identify that a people and investigators alike have about cues to subject is telling the truth, instead of misinterpreting 65% deception. Researchers have found that the behaviors that 58% nervous cues for deceptive ones. If the supplemental data are more closely related to deception are signs of cognitive 56% supports these assumptions, training protocols currently 55% load (Vrij, Fisher, Mann, & Leal, 2008; Leal, Vrij, Fisher, & 52% 53% in use by police might one day include these reliable cues Van Hooff, 2008) not signs of nervousness, as most people 50% 50% 50% to better prepare officers for interviewing suspects. More believe. data is currently being gathered to investigate the effect that training individuals to identify signs of cognitive load Cognitive load refers to the amount of load put on working has on deception detection accuracy. memory at any given time. Lying is cognitively taxing. A study by Leal and colleagues’ study (2008) showed that cognitive load and deception are physiologically related. Acknowledgments That is, lying is cognitively taxing and liars exhibit signs of I would like to thank the following individuals for their cognitive load during the commission of a lie. One such support and help throughout the the course of this sign of cognitive load is eye-blinking. Research project: Dr. Nadja Schreiber Compo The present experiment tested if training individuals to look for signs of cognitive load (change in blink rates) Marianna E. Carlucci, M.S. improved accuracy rates of deception detection. Dr. George E. Simms, Dr. Jason Scott Hamilton, and the Ronald E. McNair Post Baccalaureate Program Objective The present study examined whether the cognitive load approach could be used to train people to detect deception in others.

Florida International University 29 Cohort 30 7 Juan SebastianGil Undergraduate Achievement Journal McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Florida International University S T report famous AP the when decades, postwar the in were they than operations their in centralized more and Congress, in united and disciplined more polarized, ideologically more now are parties political American similar. more become have parties British and American aspects several in that appears AP E 1965). Leon Beer late the It was ( democracies industrial advanced modern for system party of awell-functioning model alternative an as UK the at approvingly look to tended scholarship parties’ World American War II after aperiod for Indeed UK. of the parties class-based, ideological disciplined, highly the with comparison by incoherent ideologically and decentralized, highly weak, organizationally as regarded been traditionally have parties political major America’s Diverging Trends inBritainandtheUnitedStates P to helpwere asIwastostudy notasfortunate will begraduatingfallof2010witha3.9GPA. Political ScienceandPhilosophy inFIUwhere I Politics inparticular, motivated metostudy interest inpoliticsgeneral,andLatinAmerican Venezuela, CostaRica,Cuba, andS heritage which includes descendants Colombia, S done allmyformaleducationintheUnited in Maracaibo, Venezuela in 1987 thoughIhave a platformformyacademicfuture. Iwasborn grateful to the McN As a Latin American immigrant I am extremely model for American political parties. S parties. political American for model appropriate –an been had it ever –if nolonger was system party UK the that argued convincingly who Model” Party ystem (1950), U the ystem bemoaned tates. My parents share amixed Hispanic Abstra ct arty Polarization and Ideology S A presidential address “What Happened to the British British the to Happened “What address A presidential S ince very earlyonIhadthestrong desire ince very oward a More Responsible T Responsible aMore oward S air Fellowship for providing chattscheider 1942; Ranney 1962; 1942; Ranney chattscheider parties’ lack of those very very of those lack S parties’ pstein (1980) 1979pstein his in ince he wrote it he wrote ince pain. My wo Party Party wo S A’s than religious questions.than E the into integration and lifestyles, and values divisions, on regional more based cleavages new of rise the seen has process same the UK the In extent. unprecedented an to parties major the polarized has that observance religious and values moral on traditional based cleavage strong increasingly an by supplanted been has this United the In societies. both in cleavages economic class-based century of mid-20th erosion the to due changed have systems party Both 1960s. the since so more become has society American while polarized less somewhat become has society British as societies respective the in changes to more due is convergence apparent the –and aspect organizational their in particularly – different fundamentally remain parties British and American contemporary that argue we Here era. post-Thatcher the in system party British of the fragmentation increasing the assisted and parties, Conservative and Labor the between convergence ideological promoted mid-century, of parties political class-based of the dominance the eroded has change social contrast, by UK, the In characteristics. help thoseinneed. value ofgiving from one’s time and energies to do mybesttoleadalifethatexemplifies the experiences hadforgedinmetheobligationto Puerto Rico,andtheDominican Republic. These N work inColombia, service Venezuela, Honduras, well off.Ihave been privilegedtodocommunity investing one’s youth andenergyinplacesnotso the value ofgivingbacktothecommunityand in such a prosperous country. I believe strongly icaragua, China,Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, 2010 uropean Union, rather Union, rather uropean S tates tates McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

Party Polarization and Ideology Diverging Trends in Britain and the United States Abstract Causes of the UK Mass Party Model Discussion America’s major political parties have traditionally been regarded as organizationally • In the 20th century British parties exemplified Duverger’s mass In short the changes noted by Epstein (1980) in the traditional British party model so weak, highly decentralized, and ideologically incoherent by comparison with the party model venerated by postwar American party scholars, have been accelerated and reinforced highly disciplined, ideological class-based, parties of the UK. Indeed for a period after – Strong two part system: Conservative vs. Labor since he delivered his APSA presidential address in 1979. The UK has continued to move World War II American parties’ scholarship tended to look approvingly at the UK as an – Mass of dues paying members, hierarchical party structure, toward a multiparty system and the prevalence of the old mass parties – Labour and alternative model of a well-functioning party system for modern advanced industrial high discipline within parliament and ideological party Conservative – has eroded in favor of newer party formations more reflective of a less platform democracies (Schattscheider 1942; Ranney 1962; Beer 1965). It was the late Leon class-based British society. Given this situation it seems less likely than ever that the • Simultaneous causes of the mass party system Epstein (1980) in his 1979 APSA presidential address “What Happened to the British British parties and party system could ever again serve as a model for the US. – Fallout of rapid industrialization and swelling of working Party Model” who convincingly argued that the UK party system was no longer – if it Conversely it appears that the influence has recently been more in the other direction, labor class as the British parties – both old and new – have taken on more attributes of the ever had been – an appropriate model for American political parties. Since he wrote it – Rise of ideological socialist rhetoric and trade union appears that in several aspects American and British parties have become more movement contemporary American party in service in terms of organization, financing, and similar. American political parties are now more ideologically polarized, more – Expansion of voting rights to a mass citizenry campaigning, and reduced emphasis on traditional class-based ideologies. To this disciplined and united in Congress, and more centralized in their operations than they • Conservatives adopt to form Duverge’s “contagion from the extent there is now probably greater convergence in the nature of party politics were in the postwar decades, when the APSA’s famous report Toward a More left” between Britain and the US than at any time since the cadre party era of the early 19th Responsible Two Party System (1950), bemoaned the US parties’ lack of those very century. This convergence toward the American “party in service model’ is not unique characteristics. In the UK, by contrast, social change has eroded the dominance of the to Britain, of course as trends in party organization and competition in the other major class-based political parties of mid-century, promoted ideological convergence Causes of America’s “Cadre” Alternative democracies since World War II have been in the same direction: postmaterialism, less between the Labor and Conservative parties, and assisted the increasing • Lack of a strong socialist movement coupled with individualistic emphasis on class politics, the decline of class based parties, more values-based fragmentation of the British party system in the post-Thatcher era. Here we argue that culture preempted mass parties politics and parties, and the development of sub-national party systems. The contemporary American and British parties remain fundamentally different – • America party innovated by 1820’s model-Jacksonian democrats separation of powers in the US as opposed to the European parliamentary systems particularly in their organizational aspect – and the apparent convergence is due more – Regionally based local leaders that rallied voters mostly at state probably continues to be the most significant factor in structuring the essential level to changes in the respective societies as British society has become somewhat less differences between American parties and those of Britain and the other European • By 1840’s the party model had evolved into party bosses that democracies. polarized while American society has become more so since the 1960s. Both party traded votes for political spoils systems have changed due to the erosion of mid-20th century class-based economic – National convention achieved only every four years for cleavages in both societies. In the United States this has been supplanted by an presidential election Results increasingly strong cleavage based on traditional moral values and religious • Progressive reforms in 20th century furthered weakened chances at The fundamentals of the American political system have not changed since Epstein observance that has polarized the major parties to an unprecedented extent. In the national mass parties (1980) wrote, but the US parties have undoubtedly become more polarized and UK the same process has seen the rise of new cleavages based more on regional ideological while Britain’s – as we have seen in the preceding section – have become divisions, values and lifestyles, and integration into the European Union, rather than somewhat less so and the mass party organizational form of the major parties has come religious questions. considerable strain. From this it would appear that party polarization is not a product of strong party organization but deeper societal forces. The UK experience during the 20th Methodology US and UK since the 1970’s century has been that the mass party format can coexist easily with stable, consensual government, with party ideology being more emphasized in terms of rhetoric and ritual In order to determine the degree of convergence and divergence in respective • UK: Social change eroding foundations of mass parties than policy practice when Labour or the Conservatives have been in government. In the party models between the US and UK, we rely mainly on Duverger’s model of • Decrease in percentage of manual laborers and rise of US the mass party never developed and US parties remain organizationally weak mass parties. The indicators of the mass party model includes a high number of professional white collar workers, improvement of working dues paying members, a hierarchical top-down organization within the parties, conditions by labor movement, and a shift to more value- (although their national organizations are currently more vigorous than at any previous a disciplined vote by party members within parliament, and an clear ideological laden and lifestyle oriented political conversation point in US history). Yet the existence of increasingly strong cultural cleavages in platform espoused by the parties. As already mentioned, America has never • Fracturing of mass party politics by a decrease in party American society has polarized the party system as party activity at all levels has become developed mass party’s like most Western democracies, in particular European membership, decline of two-party vote within a now dominated by single-issue activists and interest groups on either side of the cultural- countries. Because our work is therefore an assessment of degree and quality, federalized UK, and the rise of third parties: the liberal religious divide. The end result has been a party system that more closely matches the rather than absolutes and quantity, additional theories are paramount to party and national parties in Scotland, Whales and Ireland prescriptions of the 1951 APSA report although whether this has had the desired positive expand our explanation of the effects social and political change have had on • US: Parties have become more polarized and centralized effect on the quality of American democracy and government is highly debatable. the party models in the UK and Us respectively. For example, Inglehart’s theory • McGovern-Frasier reforms permitted national party of the change in voter priorities in times of peace of prosperity within committees to wield more influence over local party Acknowledgments democracies is useful to provide a likely explanation on the degree of economic • The combination of the Democrats adoption of civil rights I would like to thank Dr. Nicol Rae for his unending guidance, wisdom, and presence during consensus between Conservative and Labor in the post-war period. movement and gerrymandering has allowed the increasing this project. Additionally to Dr. Hamilton and Dr. Simms I extend a deep sense of Additionally, the works of several other political scientists are referenced in an polarization of politics along conservative and liberal lines appreciation for the opportunity to be a part of McNair as well as Florida International inclusive attempt to incorporate their observations in order to produce a broad, University for hosting this great program. A final thanks to God and my family for all their cohesive, and intuitive assessment of the changes within the parties. love and support.

Objective Determine the degree of convergence and divergence in respective party models between the US and UK.

Florida International University 31 Cohort 32 7 German Gomez Undergraduate Achievement Journal McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Florida International University H Cookie BlockingandPriv rewarding andwork that theeffort we put like thisfacilitateourpassionforlearningby challenges. Financially speaking,programs order tobebetterprepared forfuture academic program has allowed metoconductresearch in required tomakethingsoperate.The McN between and electronics andprogramming passion andtounderstandtheconnection to becomeaComputerE computers and technology in general. I decided young ageIdevelopeda very passionfor obtain aPh.D. inComputerScience.From passionandgotograduateschool my true E Highstart School.AsaseniorinComputer United S originally from Bogota,Colombia.Imove My nameisGerman Felipe Gomez. Iam visiting allofQuantcast’s top100sites. We wrote acodein to collectrawstatisticsfrom allfive majorbrowsers while blocking indifferent browsers. O Abstrtwo experiments to determine the effectiveness of cookie effects ofcookieblockingand privacy. We conducted having their activities tracked. from users stop help to settings privacy new implemented all have browsers shipping major five the years, few past the In domains. other visit to leave they when even and domain the within navigate they as activity domain, same on this cookies site sets athird-party When cookies. a first-party called are site’s these that server, from directly machine on their set are cookies and adomain visits user a When users. track to parties by third used be also can they beneficial, be can of cookies ct types these Although sites. favorite their visit they when procedures in log avoid repetitive can they that so users returning recognize to sites allow can They more convenient. and faster web ngineering Irealize thatIwillliketopursue TT In thispaper, we describe ourinvestigation ofthe P cookies are small files that can make surfing the the surfing make can that files small are P cookies tates attheageof15justintimeto ngineer tofollow my ur firstexperimentwas acy: First P arties Remainaisk air cookies couldstillpotentiallybetrackers. cookies. That being said, we cansay that many first party on user’s machines by making them appear as firstparty that third are parties findingalternative waystosetcookies throughout ourtesting.Through trafficanalysis, wefound cookies makeupabout25%ofalltheset who wassettingcookies. names thatthecookiesoriginatedfrom sowe couldtell were abletolocatethesource IPaddresses anddomain using Wireshark. When we opened individual packets, we of cookiesbetween ourmachineanddifferent web servers an analysisoftraffictogetacloserlookatthe exchange the difference ineachbrowser. O third-party cookies blocked and unblocked to compare domains thatsetcookies. We ranthisexperimentwith prevalence ofeachcookienameandthenumberunique and thencountedthenumberofcookiesthatwere set, Python that openedall100pagesatonceineachbrowser, The of CaliforniaBerkeley todoresearch with The summer of 2010 I attended University California and spenda Year inCaliforniaattending ontheN participated FIUbackin2005;Iin ourstudies.Istarted future ofthisworld. generations hopingtoinspire andeducatethe the knowledge tomychildren andyounger O world countrieswhere technologyislimited. to thecommunityandespeciallythird technologies available. I plan to give back and research about the Internet and future in ComputerScienceandwork foracademia Internet Privacy. My goalistoobtainaPh.D. T echnology working withinCookiesand ne dayIwillbelikemyfatherandpasson In ournumericalresults, we foundthattracking T eam forResearch inUbiquitous S S tate University S ational S ur secondapproach was 2010 tudent E an Bernardino. xchange ecure McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

Cookie Blocking and Privacy: First Parties Remain a Risk

1 2 3 German Gomez, Chris Hoofnagle JD, Mario Garcia 1 Computer Engineering, Florida International University 2 School of Law, University of California Berkeley 4% 3 Cookie Name Analysis Top 15 4% Cookie Domain Analysis Top 15 Computer Science, Texas A&M University Corpus Christi 4% .insightexpressai.com 23 .whitepages.com 11 __qca = 40 4% __utma = 39 .pubmatic.com 22 __utmb = 39 .ask.com 10 __utmz = 39 3% A top level view flowchart (Figure 1) outlines the entire .rubiconproject.com INTRODUCTION s_vi = 25 16 TRUE = 23 .people.com 10 procedure. s_pers = 10 2% rsi_segs = 9 1% .revsci.net 13 uid = 8 1% .photobucket.com 10 ACOOKIE = 7 1% 1% The HTTP cookie was created to store textual information that a __qseg = 7 1% .whitepages.com 11 GUID = 6 73% 1% .rad.msn.com 10 OAX = 6 1% web application can use to identify clients and provide a state WT_FPC = 6 1% .ask.com 10 akmbldtct = 6 . yellowpages.com 10 of information. A cookie is a small text file stored on a user’s other = 716 .casalemedia.com 10 computer. Cookies are employed for a variety of reasons .bestbuy.com 9 including enhancing user’s online experience by helping sites Cookies unblocked Total = 986 .people.com 10 .metacafe.com 9 Quancast Google analytics cookies recognize users when they return. url list Cookies Script data.csv .photobucket.com 10 Top 100 Quancast cookies .microsoft.com 9 Cookies can be used to track users on the internet. Our 5% Omniture cookies 10 5% .rad.msn.com colleagues found in 2009 that over 70% of a large sample of .netflix.com 9

websites contained tracking cookies for Google Analytics. 5% .bestbuy.com 9 .att.com 8 __utma = 40 __utmb = 40 .fetchback.com 9 Figure 1. Method Flowchart. __utmz = 40 8 __qca = 38 5% .cnet.com TRUE = 19 .metacafe.com 9 RESEARCH GOAL s_vi = 19 s_pers = 10 2% .candystand.com 7 rsi_segs = 9 .microsoft.com 9 __qseg = 7 2% RESULTS .evite.com 7 WT_FPC = 6 1% ACOOKIE = 5 70% 1% Traditionally, advertising networks tracked consumers using mbox = 5 .netflix.com 9 1% 7 NGUserID = 4 1%1% .examiner.com third party cookies. In recent years, some internet browsers s_nr = 4 1% 0% 0 7.5 15.0 22.5 30.0 v1st = 4 0%0% have given users better tools to block these cookies, and t o Blocking third-party Cookies does reduce on average 40% the other = 586 block them by default. We are investigating whether blocking number of cookies on the browser as seen on Chart 1. From Cookies unblocked Third-party cookies blocked third party cookies is effective in avoiding tracking by third that same chart, one can see a 2:1 relationship between the Third-party cookies blocked Total = 586 number of unique cookie name and the unique cookie domain. parties. Chart 2. Data Analysis from Safari 5. However, despite blocking third-party cookies, we find that tracking cookies are still present in the form of first party METHODS cookies. The Results in Chart 2 represent a detail view from CONCLUSION Apples’ Safari 5.0 web browser. In our domain analysis we found there are some cases when third-parties double the We select two foundations for this project: we used the top five In fact 33% of the sites that issue the most number of cookies, number of cookies set on the browser versus the top 100 web browsers on the market to visit the top 100 websites, in our visit to the top 100 with cookies unblocked, were actually websites. Among the top cookie name we found strings such as ranked according to Quantcast in July 2010. from different domains. These cookies were still set when we __umta , __qca and s_vi among others belong to companies like blocked third party cookies. Thus, users who wish to avoid web Google, Quancast and Omniture. In spite of the fact that We focused on two browser scenarios: first, we visited the top tracking through cookies must also block some first party blocking third-party cookies reduces by 40% on average , 100 websites with the default cookie settings in the browser. cookies. Firefox, Chrome, and Opera accept all cookies by default, while tracking cookies make up more than 25% on average from the Safari blocks third party cookies, and Internet Explorer blocks total number of cookies on this test. FUTURE WORK third party cookies on sites lacking a compact privacy policy. I II I II I II Second, we took a standard privacy intervention: we blocked 1100 1027 825 986 974 Policymakers and web browser developers should take a closer third party cookies in the browsers and then visited the same 876 look to resolve third party tracking. Recent research by EFF has sites. 550 654 684 652 586 594 586 585 545 shown cookies are only a small piece of information used for 275 437 309 331 330 307 320 303 264 tracking, implemented by third party companies. New trends 172 173 171 197 0 total number of cookies total unique cookie name total unique cookie domain involve a technique call fingerprinting. Research should

I Cookies unblocked concentrate of providing a secure and safe internet experience Safari Firefox Chrome IE Opera II Third-party cookies blocked not at the expense of users’ privacy.

Chart 1. General Analysis Top Web Browsers.

Thursday, September 16, 2010 Objective We are investigating whether blocking third party cookies is effective in avoiding tracking by third parties.

Florida International University 33 Cohort 34 Sashay A.Goodletty 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Florida International University relationship parent-adolescent apoorer have will condition CLP the in participants that hypothesized It was area. Miami the in schools high alternative four attended and of 13-18ages the between were participants The American. Hispanic- being 46% approximately and American African- 54% being approximately with participants, 437 of size sample a was There baseline. at conditions across two the between interaction the gender, and ethnicity, as such relationships, paternal and maternal in differences contextual examine to It sought intervention. Program Lives Changing of the onset the at strategy Analysis Data Relational the using relationships parent-adolescent of the quality determine to conducted was study This Sashay A.Goodletty, Kurtines AlanMeca,&William Inter P my studies.In myspare time,Iliketoread and my time,butIdoenjoy timespentawayfrom next five orsix years) schooltakesupalotof the role of fathers.Rightnow (andforthe parental depression andchildoutcome, interests includeparent-child relationships, professor, andpsychologist. My research the future I will like to work as a researcher, and Adolescent Counseling Psychologist. In year ofhighschoolthatIwantedtobeaChild years of debating, I decided in my freshmen to have acareer working withchildren. After Iwanted school,Iknew I wasinelementary to theU.S.whenIwasfive years old.E I wasbornin Westmoreland, Jamaica andcame

Abstra ct arent-Adolescent Relationships at theOnsetofChangingLivesProgram vention andImplications for Later IdentityDevelopment ver since literature in groundbreaking ways. ways. groundbreaking in literature current the to contribute also can study present on the research further and adolescence during styles processing identity the and relationships parent-adolescent between association the illustrated literature Current counterparts. female their than fathers their with relationships positive more reporting males with relationships, adolescent paternal- and gender of that was detected difference only The relationships. parent-adolescent their described they of how terms in condition control the in participants the and condition intervention CLP the in participants the between no difference showed Results condition. control the involvement)than and of communication (i.e. low levels and TheN watching re-runs ofADifferent World, Bones, spare time,Ienjoy working out,reading and find answers tosuchquestions. During my my first year atFIU,that research canhelpme these things happening?” and I realized during even depression. Ialways asked myself “why are violence,or trajectories, whetheritwasdrugs, I witnessedmanyofmypeersonnegative life children andadolescents.During highschool, in theworld.I’ve alwaysbeenfascinatedwith My biggestdream istohelpallat-riskyouths Boss. Ialsoliketogooutandeatwithfriends. Different World, LivingS watch television,especiallyoldepisodesofA anny. ingle, and Who’s the 2010 McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

Parent-Adolescent Relationships At the Onset of the Changing Lives Program and Implications for Later Identity Development Sashay Goodletty, Alan Meca, & William Kurtines Florida International University

Background and Significance Participants Methods Results and Discussion A growing literature on promoting positive youth development began to unfold in the 21st There was a sample size of 437 participants. Approximately 54% were African-American and  Research Aim I century. This new trend, known as the Positive Youth Development Movement, is due to approximately 46% were Hispanic-American. The participants were between the ages of 13-18 and During the conceptual analysis phase of RDA, the theory neutral coders three occurrences: attended four alternative high schools in the Miami area. constructed three categories to describe parent-adolescent relationships: Open Communication, No Relationship, and Weak Relationship. 1. The emergence of applied developmental science (ADS), which is the scientific Those that served in the CLP intervention condition were referred by school counselors, teachers, and investigation that focuses on the use of research and application to promote positive administrators. The control condition was comprised of randomly selected students who had never During the theoretical analysis phase, new categories were created and are development across the life span. participated in the CLP intervention in previous school semesters. depicted in the RDA Structural Tree Chart below. The descriptive statistics for the categories are represented in Table s 1 and 2 below. 2. The shift in how the period of adolescence was viewed: instead of being viewed as Each participant completed an IRB approved parental consent and student assent forms before joining problems to be managed , adolescents were conceptualized as resources to be the intervention and control conditions.  Research Aim II developed (Roth & Brooks-Gunn, 2003).  Measures In order to detect statistically significant differences, the Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test was conducted. 3. Transformations in the intervention science allowed attention to be allocated to Parent-adolescent relationships were assessed using the Background Information Form-Updated (BIF- prevention and not just treatment alone. U). The BIF-U is a 33 item assessment that seeks to gain as much background knowledge as possible Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test detected a marginally significant (2-tailed value .077)  The Youth Development Project is a manifestation of the Positive Youth Development about each participant. Items number 11 and 12 were of particular interest because they inquired non-zero Z-score, suggesting group difference between male and female Movement. As such, its goal is to foster positive development among at-risk youth. about the participants’ relationship with their mothers and fathers. The guiding question asked to participant's subjective evaluation of their paternal relationship at level 1. This population of adolescents are usually from disempowered environments participants was: “How would you describe your relationship with the following? E.g., Do you spend Specifically, the Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test reported a Z score of -1.769, or that characterized by poverty, violence, drug use and abuse, and limited access to vital time with the person, can you communicate openly? Explain.” The responses to items 11 and 12 were the sums of the ranks of group 2 (males) were less than that of group 1 resources. coded using the Relational Data Analysis technique. (females) at the normal confidence level of 0.05.

 An implementation of YDP is The Changing Lives Program (CLP). Its main goal is to No additional differences were detected. generate a context in which troubled youth can transform their sense of control and responsibility and change their negative life trajectories into positive ones (Kurtines, et  Discussion and Future Research al., 2008). When considering the four parenting styles developed by Baumrind (1978),  Recognizing that identity formation is a pivotal event during the adolescent RDA Structural Tree Chart: Categories of Parent- effective communication and involvement (similar to this study’s open and developmental period, a key objective of CLP is to help at-risk adolescents create Adolescent Relationships involved relationship category) are the pillars of parenting styles and thus positive self identities. parent-adolescent relationships. Due to the similarity between Baumrind’s  While wrestling with their “identity crisis,” adolescents are also undergoing theory of parent-adolescent relationships and the categories developed biological, social, and cognitive changes. These changes have numerous effects, during the RDA process of this study (Baumrind’s theory was the guiding especially on parent-adolescent relationships. Consistent with the findings on the theory during the TOC phase), it is possible that the same effects that cognitive changes of adolescence, adolescents begin to question and challenge issues Baumrind (1978) and Berzonsky (2004b) described will also occur with that were previously viewed as legitimate for their parents to regulate, thus creating a the participants in the current study. context for contentions. Research Aims

Research Aims 1. The first aim was to use Relational Data Analysis to assess • Baumrind, D. (1978). Parental disciplinary patterns and social competence in the quality of parent-adolescent relationships at the onset of children. Youth and Society, 9, 239-276. the CLP intervention and to develop qualitatively different • Berzonsky, M., Branje, S., & Meeus, W. (2007). Identity processing style, categories that assess the quality of paternal and maternal psychosocial resources, and adolescents’ perceptions of parent-adolescent relationships. relations. Journal of Early Adolescence, 27, 324-344. Table 1 Father-Adolescent Relationship Table 2 Mother-Adolescent Relationship 2. The second aim was to examine differences in parent- • Hamner, T., & Turner, P. (2000). Parenting in contemporary society (4th ed.). adolescent relationships across ethnicity, gender, and New Jersey: Pearson. Maternal Relationship conditions at baseline. Additionally, the current study Paternal Relationship • Kurtines, W., Ferrer-Wreder, L., Berman, S., Lorente, C., Briones, E., sought to detect differences across conditions at baseline as Condition Ethnicity Gender Montgomery, M., Albrecht, R., Garcia, A., & Arrufat, O. (2008). Condition Ethnicity Gender CLP Control Female Male moderated by ethnicity, gender, and the interaction between Hispanic African Hispanic African Promoting positive youth development: The Miami youth development (n) (n) American American (n) (n) ethnicity and gender. CLP Control American American Female Male project (YDP). Journal of Adolescent Research, 23, 256-267. Closed/Uninvolve 44 13 31 26 36 21  Hypothesis (n) (n) (n) (n) (n) (n) Closed/Uninvolved 110 52 76 86 98 64 d 1. It was hypothesized that participants in the CLP condition A acknowledgements will have poorer parent-adolescent relationships (i.e. low Limited 39 19 24 34 28 30 Limited 53 30 37 46 45 38 Dr. Ronald E. McNair and the McNair Post-baccalaureate Achievement Program; Dr. levels of communication and involvement) than the Open/Involved 69 36 51 54 55 50 Open/Involved 109 60 74 95 90 79 Hamilton, Dr. Simms, and the entire McNair Office Staff; my mentors Dr. William participants in the control condition. Kurtines and Alan Meca; graduate students of the YDP lab; and my dear McNair Fellows.

Gaston Meca RIP you will never be forgot Objective To determine the quality of parent-adolescent relationships using the Relational Data Analysis strategy at the onset of the Changing Lives Program intervention.

Florida International University 35 Cohort 36 7 Gabriella Harari Undergraduate Achievement Journal McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Florida International University 1 a using worldviews unpredictable assessed others), and vis-à-vis of rank (perceptions measures subjective and attainment) educational and income household (annual measures objective both using class social We assessed chaotic. and unpredictable are world more generally the one’s and that life aview schema: unpredictability an to rise gives class social lower that We expected unpredictable. or as predictable theworld of people’s views influences ( study present the In lives. their in events perceive and experience people S Gabriella Harari Lower-class Unertainty andtheFormation o f Unpredictable Worldviews the effectsonidentityof recently launched thesis whichwillbeapilotstudyexamining In themeantime,Iamworking onmyhonor’s and planonbeginningaPhD program inthefall. Iwillbegraduatinginthespringof2011 (YDP). called theMiami Youth Development Project development labinthepsychology department am currently aresearch assistantforalifespan I formation. social classinfluenceonworldview outaresearch projectwas abletocarry examining O a fellow oftheUC Berkeley S Humanities. This past summer 2010 I became double majoringinPsychology andthe I amasenioratFlorida International University, Florida International University,Florida International

Abstra ct how shapes or SES status, socioeconomic class, ocial pportunity Programpportunity (SR 1 = 202), we tested whether social class class social whether N =202), tested we , PaulK.Piff 2 2 University of California, Berkeley University ofCalifornia, , MichaelW. Kraus P), through which I OP), through whichI ummer Research 2 , &RodolfoMendoza-Denton interpersonal relationships. interpersonal and behavior, risk-taking setting, goal for implications important have findings These significant. no longer were class of social indices objective whereas worldviews, unpredictable of predictor asignificant remained SES subjective one another, against pitted when Furthermore, more predictable. and chaotic less world as the viewed who counterparts, upper-class their to relative worldview, unpredictable an endorsed individuals lower-class that chaotic”). is (e.g.,worldfound We “The measure 13-item necessary alternative perspectives. necessary that traveling opensmindsandpresents uswith believe drinking coffeeinthemornings.Itruly perspectives,new reading, history, art and In myleisure, Ienjoy writing,painting,gaining both withintheindividualandacross cultures. how socialandmedia factorsaffectcognition, formation), andsocialbehavior. Iseektoexamine perceptions ofselfandother(impression I aminterested inidentitydevelopment, personality andsocialpsychology. S Project (ADP). university-based positive Adult Development My research interests lieinthefieldsof 2 2010 pecifically, McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

Lower-class Uncertainty and the Formation of Unpredictable Worldviews Gabriella Harari1, Paul K. Piff2, Michael W. Kraus2, & Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton2 Florida International University1, University of California, Berkeley2

Discussion Introduction Methods •Personal Control. a one-item measure Findings suggest that having economic resources indicating how much control participants felt over • Participants to rely on provides the individual with a safeguard •Individual perceptions of the world are shaped their own lives on a scale from 1(none at all) to by life circumstances and experiences with the A national sample of 202 adult volunteers (137 against unexpected hardship (e.g., car accidents, women, 58 men, 7 declined to state), 64% 10(a great deal). (M = 6.87, SD = 2.12) surrounding environment. job loss), rendering life and the world in general as European-Americans, 36% other ethnicities. Age more orderly and predictable. ranged from 18-72 years (M = 33.93, SD = Results •Social class —indexed as a person’s resources 13.331). and rank in a social hierarchy— influences •We found that lower-class individuals endorsed •The findings from the present study are consistent an unpredictable worldview, relative to their causal explanations of events in one’s personal with previous research finding subjective Procedure upper-class counterparts, who viewed the world life and the world (Kraus, Piff, & Keltner, 2009). perceptions of rank to be stronger predictors of Participants were provided with a link to the online as less chaotic and more predictable. class-based differences in social event explanations study. After giving consent, participants were (Kraus et al., 2009), highlighting the utility of • Research on wealth disparities in the U.S. instructed to complete a survey. •When objective and subjective social class were assessing subjective perceptions of individual report households in the top 1% of the wealth pitted against one another, and while accounting experiences with the objective, material conditions distribution to be more than 800 times wealthier Measures for control variables: subjective perceptions of of social class. than the individuals in the bottom 40% (Diaz- •Objective social class. Participant educational rank were significantly related to unpredictable Gimenez, Quadrini, & Rios-Rull, 1997). attainment and income were standardized and worldview beliefs ( = -.24, t(176) = -3.145, p < •Future studies should examine the relationship averaged. .01), as was personal control ( = -.341, t(176) = between unpredictable worldviews, interpersonal •43% reported high school diploma as highest level 5.002, p < .01). relationships, goal-setting, and the likelihood of of education, 49% reported annual incomes between • However, objective social class was no longer engaging in risk-taking behavior to assess the role $35,000-$50,000 or less. significant ( = -.02, t(176) = -.304, unpredictability beliefs play in planning for the p < .76). future. •Subjective Social Class. the MacArthur Scale of subjective SES uses a 10-rung ladder to assess Table 1. Correlations (Above the Diagonal) and Partial References subjective perceptions of level of education, Correlations (Below the Diagonal) Between Social Class, Dı´az-Gime´nez, J., Quadrini, V., & Rios-Rull, J.-V. (1997). Dimensions of Unpredictable Worldview, and Personal Control, Controlling for inequality: Facts on the U.S. distributions of earnings, income, and wealth. •Given the divergent experiences and life income, and occupation status relative to other Participant Age and Ethnicity Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Quarterly Review, 21, 3–21. members of the larger community (M = 6.09 ; SD Subj. Kraus, M. W., Piff, P. K., & Keltner, D. (2009). Social Class, Sense of Control, circumstances of upper- and lower-class Obj. Social Unpred. Personal = 1.98). Variables Social and Social Explanation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97(6), Class Worldview Control individuals, one can assume that worldview Class 992-1004. beliefs would reflect these differences. Obj. Social Class ____ .43** -.20** .13 Ross, L. T. & Hill, E. M. (2002). Childhood Unpredictability, schemas for future unpredictability, and risk taking. Social Behavior and Personality, 30, 453-474. Subj. Social ____ Acknowledgements Hypothesis .44** -.31** .13 •Unpredictable worldview beliefs. 13-item Class Thanks go to U.C. Berkeley’s Summer Research Opportunity quantitative measure adapted from Ross & Hill’s Program & the FIU Ronald E. McNair Fellowship for this We expected that lower-class individuals Unpred. opportunity, and to Paul K. Piff, Michael W. Kraus, (2002) unpredictability schema. Rated on a scale World- ____ -.19* -.31** -.39** & Dr. Mendoza-Denton for their constructive would endorse unpredictable worldviews, view 1(strongly disagree) to 7(strongly agree). comments, insight, and guidance relative to their upper-class counterparts. •Cronbach’s  = .75 on this project. Personal ____ •Ex: ―At any moment, things in my life could *CorrelationControl is significant.17* at p < .05.18* -.39** This material is based upon work supported by change‖ and ―The world is chaotic‖. ** Correlation is significant at p < .01 the National Science Foundation under Grant No. SMA-1005067.

TEMPLATE DESIGN © 2008 www.PosterPresentations.com Objective We expected that lower-class individuals would endorse unpredictable worldviews, relative to their upper-class counterparts.

Florida International University 37 Cohort 38 7 Reinier Hernandez Undergraduate Achievement Journal McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program chapter ofRonald E.McN excellence hewasselectedtointegratethe7thFIU in recognition tohisacademicandresearch conference: Waste Management 2010.In January, he presented a poster at the of his work on DOE related investigation Florida International University D with react can AlkB protein E that suggest findings Recent Various FunctionsonDNASubstrates byE.coliAdaptiveResponseProteinlkB Hanford technology foruraniumremediation atDOE focused ontheevaluation ofpolyphosphate program inwhichhehasbeeninvolved inresearch T FIU. Reinier joined theDOE/FIUScienceand a Bachelor of Havana, Cuba. Reinier iscurrently pursuing Bachelor’sRadiochemistry degree program from University in 2009 as a transfer student from a Reinier Hernandez entered Florida International M E Chromatography Liquid using analyzed were results the performed; were AlkB aged two and AlkB prepared (3, N substrates D of alkylated experiments reaction vitro In reactions. concomitant of these manifestation the role in important an play to seems aging pathway. AlkB repair dealkylation oxidative regular its than rather mechanisms various lectro spray –T spray lectro Abstra ct echnology Initiative program inMay 2009; S ES TO I- S F). ite in Washington 4-ethenoCystosine, 1- with one freshly one 1- freshly with 4-ethenoCystosine, pectrometry (LC- Spectrometry Mass of Flight ime cience degree in Chemistry at at Science degree in Chemistry air Post Baccalaureate . coli adaptive response response adaptive . coli N A substrates through through A substrates S tate. As a result N ational DOE N A A

for graduateschool. he was oriented on how to succeed at applying invited to2010Berkeley E remediation technology. Recently, Reinier was ofauranium analysis ofcalcitedissolutionaspart currently working onaproject related withthe work withtheDOEFellowship program, andis atMIT Laboratory here hepresented hiswork atJohn Essigmann Scholars with anoralpresentation attheannualAMGEN at MIT he was selected to represent MI T scholar at Massachusetts Institute of to go to aninternship which he had opportunity ofitsAMGENScholarProgram,part thanksto was selected by theAMGENfoundationtobe Achievement Program. In summer2010,Reinier ymposium celebrated at UCLA, ymposium celebratedatUCLA, . Back atFIUheresumed his dge conference were 2010 T echnology. While

McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

Various Functions on DNA Substrates by E. coli Adaptive Response Protein AlkB Reinier Hernandez, Deyu Li, Caroline E. Hagerman, John M. Essigmann Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA

Recent findings suggest that E. coli adaptive response protein AlkB can react with DNA substrates through various mechanisms rather than its regular oxidative dealkylation repair pathway. AlkB aging seems to play an important role in the manifestation of these concomitant reactions. In vitro reaction experiments of four alkylated DNA substrates (1,N6 -ethenoAdenine, 3,N4-ethenoCytosine, 1-methylAdenine, 3-methylCytosine) with one freshly prepared AlkB and two aged AlkB were performed; the results were analyzed by using Liquid Chromatography Electro spray - Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS ESI-TOF). E. Coli Adaptive Response Results Discussion Alkylation Damage Fig.1 Mass spectra (-4 charge state) of the DNA/AlkB in vitro reaction. A) Spectrum of 5'- Fig.3 Regular AlkB reaction mechanism. GAAGACCTXGGCGTCC-3' [X=eA] oligonucleotide. B) Spectrum of 5'-GAAGACCTXGGC GTCC-3' ENDOGENOUS EXOGENOUS [X=eA] oligonucleotide in presence of AlkB. A

1227.72

The reaction intermediates detected in the mass spectra agree with the type of mechanism proposed for AlkB dealkylation repair process. Fig.4 Concomitant reactions of aged AlkB on DNA. A) Base excision ADAPTIVE RESPONSE reaction. B) Oxidation of Guanine to 8-Oxoguanine. REPAIR MECH. B A) 1221.73 1232.2 1236.25 1227.72

Alk AlkA AdA AidB B) B

AlkB Fig.2 Comparative mass spectra (-4 charge state) of the DNA/AlkB/aged AlkB in vitro reaction. Different mass peak profiles were observed between newly prepared AlkB 216 amino acids with a M.W ~27 KDa and the aged ones. The presence of higher mass peaks indicate the α-ketoglutarate and non-heme Iron dependent dioxygenase oxidation of Guanine to 8-Oxoguanine in the oligonucleotide. An increment Versatile enzyme: acts on many substrates on the base excision product was observed . AlkB has 9 mammalian homologs : ABH1-8 and FTO Fresh AlkB Conclusions Experimental Procedure The newly prepared AlkB showed only the regular oxidative repair products. AlkB repair in vitro reactions Aged AlkB seems to form 8-Oxoguanine preferably with eA and eC DNA •Eight 25 μM solutions of 16-mer oligonucleotides of sequence substrates. 5’-GAAGACCTXGGCGTCC-3’ (X=m3C,eA,eC,A,G,T,C,m1A) were prepared. Low AP 1251.23 The base excision mechanism was manifested to a great extent with aged •Four sets of reactions were prepared (blank, fresh AlkB, two aged AlkB). AlkB. . •Four μL of a mixture of HEPES buffer (pH 8.0), 67μM Fe(NH4)2(SO4)2 6H2O , 0.9 mM Future Direction: Find the mutations/modifications in the protein responsible Keto glutarate and 1.8 mM ascorbate were added to the reaction. for its unusual behaviors. Relate them with the structure of the active site. •The reactions were performed using 100 μM of DNA and 50 μM of AlkB for a total volume of 10μL. Aged AlkB References & Acknowledgement •The reactions were incubated 1h at 37 0C and then analyzed by LC-MS ESI-TO F. LC-MS ESI-TOF • Delaney, J. C. et al. Nat. Struc. Mol. Bio. 12.10 (2005): 855. 1251.23 Delaney, J. C. et al. PNAS 101.39 (2004): 14051. •The analysis were performed in an Agilent ESI-TOF mass spectrometer (Palo • Alto,CA) with a needle voltage of 3.5 kV. • Sedgwick, B. et al. DNA Repair 6.4 (2007): 429. • Shrivastav, N. et al. Carcinogenesis 31.1 (2010): 59. Nitrogen gas was used as dryer (10 L/min) and nebulizer (15 psig) with a heated High AP • • Yu, B. et al. PNAS 106.34 (2009): 14315. capillary at 350 0C. I would like to thank all the Essigmann’s Lab •The LC separation were performed using an integrated Zorbax SB-Aq (2.1x150mm, members, specially my mentors John Essigmann 3.5 μm; Agilent Technologies) column. and Deyu Li and my colleague Carrie, for giving me A 0.2 mL/min mixed gradient was used to elute the reaction products (solvent A, the chance to play in their league. It is being quite • an experience. 10mM ammonium sulfate) (solvent B, acetonitrile). I also would like to acknowledge Ronald E. McNair •Data analyses were performed on Agilent Mass Hunter Workstation. Post Baccalaureate Achievement Program because without them nothing of this would ever happen. Objective The discovery of anomalous behavior of AlKB is of vital importance. The formation of 8-oxoguanine and AP sites very often lead to mutations that in many cases are genetic diseases and cancer precursors.

Florida International University 39 Cohort 40 7 David R.Jaramillo Undergraduate Achievement Journal McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Florida International University found study The all. at returned feedback no finally, and group, entire the to feedback one to person, given feedback -- conditions three were There group. the to distributed was feedback performance how the manipulated experimenter The of three. groups in telephones the assemble to returned later, participants one week Approximately session. of end the the at collected were task assembly on the reviews performance and telephones, assemble to ( participants study this In F O for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Academy ofManagement (A Industrial-O He isanalsoaffiliateofTheS Initiatives &Mentorship E a 2009APA PRIME(Psychology Research Honors College,andhasthehonorofbeing & Psychology. David isamemberoftheFIU majoring inHuman Resource Management David Jaramillo isasenioratFIUwhodouble Research AssistantatFIU’s Infant Development O asLabManagerserved atFIU’s Industrial-

Abstra ct ACILITATING TEAMTRANSACTIVEMEMORY THROUGHPERFORMANCEEEDBAK utside ofhisMcN rganizational Psychology Laboratory, andasa rganizational Psychology (SIOP), N air research, David has =76) were trained individually individually =76) trained were OM), andS xperience) Fellow. ociety for ociety for ociety ociety span more than one sitting, as well as in virtual teams. virtual in as well as one sitting, more than span that tasks complex on more effects these investigate should research Future committed. of errors number in variability alarge had and longest the took feedback without group error. The of rate higher asignificantly and task, the complete to taken time in variability alarge had condition feedback person thesingle comparison, In significance). not of (though time less took on average and errors, fewer significantly committed condition feedback group the that School ofManagement. at theUniversity ofPennsylvania, orMIT Harvard Business School,The School Wharton 2011 andintendstopursueaPhD from either track tograduateS industry.in thefinancialservices David ison Resources Generalist foraFortune 500company under hisbelt,having interned asa Human in arow. David alsohassomework experience as FIU’s bestHonor S oncampus,andhasbeenrecognized anniversary in Psychology, whichthisyear celebratedits36th Chapter ofPsi Chi,TheN Laboratory. David isalsoPresident ofFIU’s umma cumlaudeinS ociety for the last 6 years ociety forthelast6years ational Honor S 2010 ’s S ociety ociety pring pring loan loan McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

Facilitating Team Transactive Memory Through Performance Feedback David R. Jaramillo, Research Mentor: Bennett L. Schwartz, Ph.D McNair Fellowship Program, Florida International University, Miami Florida, 2010

LITERATURE METHODOLOGY RESULTS DISCUSSION & Participants signed up through the Psychology REVIEW Assembly Time (seconds) CONCLUSION Dept’s online research participation system, 1600 ABSTRACT Transactive memory is defined as a set for one 30 minute session and one 50 minute 1400 Contrary to our hypothesis, our study 1200 In this study participants (N=61) were of information possessed by each session approximately a week apart. 1000 indicates that distributing performance trained individually to assemble individual member of a group that 800 feedback to one individual increases 600 telephones, and performance reviews on allows a shared awareness of who In the first session, participants were shown 400 the total amount of errors committed, the assembly task were collected at the knows what within the group (Wegner, how to assemble half of a telephone kit by an 200 though on average leads to faster 0 end of the session. Approximately one 1987). experimenter. The telephone kit was divided Condition 1 Condition 2 Condition 3 completion times. Distributing week later, participants returned to into two halves, and at least 1 participant was feedback to the entire group leads to a Moreland and Myaskovsky (2000) Assembly Time: Condition 1 assemble the telephones in groups of familiar with each half for the second session. lower amount of errors committed and found that it was possible to artificially completes much faster and with three. The experimenter manipulated how Afterwards, the participant was allotted 15 although taking longer, not significantly create transactive memory systems by much less variability. Conditions 2 the performance feedback was distributed minutes to practice assembling the kit. Once longer. This group performance providing groups that were trained and 3 in the same range. to the group. There were three conditions the participant had completed the task, they feedback condition leads to the apart with feedback on each other’s -- feedback given to one person; feedback were asked to fill out a feedback form about Assembly Errors maximum desired outcome on tasks. skills and weaknesses, and that these to the entire group, or no feedback at their performance, and were dismissed. For 12 all. The study found that providing the groups performed as well as other the second session, participants were divided 10 More research is called for on this 8 feedback to one person led to faster groups that had been trained together. into groups of 3 according to the following topic as the growth in training costs They argue that it is possible to enjoy 6 often outpaces the growth of training completion times, albeit with more errors. conditions: 4 the benefits of transactive memory budgets. Future research should The group condition took longer, but 2 1. Separate training, performance feedback to 0 committed significantly less errors on the without initial group training. We investigate these effects on much more one individual Condition 1 Condition 2 Condition 3 task. The group without feedback took the sought to build on their research, and complex tasks that span more than one 2. Separate training, performance feedback to longest and had a larger variability in hypothesized that groups in which one Assembly Errors: Condition 2 on sitting. the entire group number of errors committed. individual receives feedback would demonstrates the least errors, perform on par with groups in which all 3. Separate training, no performance feedback while Condition 1 demonstrates members receive feedback. the most. Condition 3 has a large REFERENCES At the beginning of the second session, variability. Lewis, K. (2003). Measuring transactive PURPOSE PARTICIPANTS participants filled out Lewis’ (2003) TMS Scale. memory systems in the field: Scale Then performance feedback was distributed development and validation. Journal of Ninety-two students (39 males and 53 Transactive Memory Scale Index In 2008 the average firm spent upwards of to the groups. Condition 1 teams had only one 5.000 Applied Psychology, 88, 587-604. females) participated in our research $1,202 per employee on training and member who reviewed the feedback for 3 4.000 study. Excluding the pilot studies and Specialization Prior Moreland, R. L., & Myaskovsky, L. development. In this study, we aim to minutes. Condition 2 teams had 3 minutes to 3.000 Specialization After Credibility Prior (2000). Exploring the performance five groups which were excluded due to review the feedback as a group. Finally, 2.000 determine whether an entire group must Credibility After either a lack of participants or Coordination Prior benefits of group training: Transactive receive performance feedback, or if Condition 3 teams had no feedback returned 1.000 experimenter error, the final sample Coordination After memory or improved communication? relaying the feedback to one person is to them. 0.000 Condition 1 Condition 2 Condition 3 Organizational Behavior and Human enough to achieve satisfactory group consisted of 61 students. These students were divided into three Decision Processes, 82, 117-133. performance and transactive memory Participants were then given 30 minutes to Ratings on Specialization, conditions: Condition 1 (N=12), formation. Considering the high cost of assemble the entire telephone as a group. Credibility, and Coordination are Wegner, D. M. (1987). Transactive Condition 2 (N=23), and Condition 3 training, we believe that our research may Afterwards, they again filled out Lewis’ (2003) higher after the teams perform memory: A contemporary analysis of (N=26), as described in the Context be of use in instances in which training may TMS Scale, were debriefed, and dismissed. the assembly task. In Condition 1, the group mind. In B. Mullen & G. R. section. Participants were 45.4% not be possible, such as in cases where The experimenter then scored the groups on ratings on Specialization up 37%, Goethals (Eds.), Theories of group Freshmen, 19.4% Sophomores, 24.6% trainees may be geographically dispersed, time taken and any errors committed. Ratings ratings on Credibility up 13.6%, behavior (pp. 185-208). New York: Juniors, 9% Seniors, and 1.6% Other or where training may be too expensive or from the first administration of Lewis’ (2003) and ratings on Coordination up Springer-Verlag. (one graduate student). Participants infeasible. TMS Scale were also compared to ratings from 24%. All other Conditions show also reported an average of 2.97 years the second administration. similar improvements. of work experience.

Objective To determine whether an entire group must receive performance feedback, or if relaying the feedback to one person is enough to achieve satisfactory group performance and transactive memory formation.

Florida International University 41 Cohort 42 7 Nadia Lima Undergraduate Achievement Journal McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Florida International University ( Laboratory at S located Reactor The 105-P 105-P ReactorDisassembly BasinD&ECanalCellularGroutLaboratory Testing a focusinS her Bachelor’s degree in Civil Cuban parents in 1988. N Basin D & Basin Disassembly Reactor The 105-P decommissioning. situ in- as to referred is this materials; cementitious with areas grade below all filling involves process decommissioning of the Part decommissioning. for 105-P Reactor the S at footprint its reduce to of E Department The production. S in materials, andfoundationdesign.N concrete structures, steeldesign,cementitious in thesamefield. Her areas ofinterest include S current studiestoobtainherMaster’s degree in Bachelor’s degree, sheplanstocontinueher International University. Aftercompletingher

Abstra ct E tructural adia LimawasborninMiami Florida of outh Carolina is obsolete and no longer needed for for needed no longer and obsolete is Carolina outh Canal is one of these below grade areas areas grade below one of these is E Canal S R ngineering, followed by herPh.D N tructural E tructural L) at the S L) the at S he is currently pursuing avannah River S River avannah ngineering atFlorida R S avannah River N River avannah , therefore identifying identifying , therefore nergy has set a goal agoal set has nergy E ngineering with ngineering with adia interned adia interned ite ( ational ational S R S ) ) hydraulic conductivity, dry density, and moisture content. moisture and density, dry conductivity, hydraulic strength, compressive including tests of cured a series of conclusions and results the contains report technical This of tests. a series by conducting material the validate to important is it area, sub-grade any in filling Before weight. light of its because space this filling for candidate lead the is grout Cellular cavity. the avoidto collapsing material filling aproper use to imperative it is therefore, chase; underlying an is topon of filled be to is that section The materials. cementitious with filled being are that Chapter Professional E and President ofTheta and ChiE Fellow, McN honors andaffiliationsincludebeingaDOE Reactor Disassembly Basin D&ECanal.Her its useinin-situdecommissioningofthe105-P studying thecured ofcellulargrout properties for the summerof2010.Her maintaskinvolved at S avannah River N psilon E air Fellow, memberof ngineering Honors S L) (SRNL) ational Laboratory ngineering Fraternity. T au- O 2010 mega Gamma mega Gamma T au Beta Pi ociety,

McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

CURED PROPERTY TESTING OF CELLULAR GROUT FOR THE USE IN IN-SITU DECOMISSIONING OF THE 105-P REACTOR DISASSEMBLY BASIN D & E CANAL Nadia Lima, Michael G. Serrato Savannah River National Laboratory Applied Research Center at Florida International University BACKGROUND 1 RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS The 105-P Reactor at Savannah River Site (SRS) has been obsolete since Values attained are compared to literature values as seen in Table 2. 1988. The Department of Energy has set a goal to reduce its footprint at SRS, therefore identifying the 105-P Reactor for decommissioning. Part of Dry Density: The lab result of 35.8 lb/ft3 fit within the values obtained by National the decommissioning process involves filling all below grade areas with Bureau of Standards Data from “Insulating Concretes,” ACI Journal (Nov. 1956) as cemetious materials; this is referred to as in-situ decommissioning. A well as ACI 523.1. cross-sectional view of the Disassembly Basin D & E Canal to undergo decommissioning can be seen in Figure 3. The cavity itself cannot be filled Hydraulic Conductivity: The specific gravity of the material is approximately 0.57 due to the worker’s safety issue of drilling through irradiated materials with respect to water. Since cellular grout is less dense than water, it took a few located above the concrete slab layer. Therefore, the area to be filled is trials consisting of multiple hours at a time to achieve permeability in sample A. the remaining space on top of the PR-UZB-FF grouted layer. Modified Figure 5: P-Reactor at Savannah River Site The attained value of 5.0x10-5 cm/s was close to the range given by ACI 523.1. cellular grout is the desired material to be placed into this section. Since Figure 4: Savannah River Site the section that is to be filled is on top of the underlying D & E Canal Compressive Strength: The compressive strength found in the lab was lower than chase, it is imperative to use a proper filling material to avoid collapsing METHODS AND EXPERIMENTAL SETUP the average compressive strength that the National Bureau of Standards Data into the cavity. Cellular grout is the lead candidate for filling this space reported. This can be due to many reasons, mainly the curing of the cellular since it is known as a lightweight fill. Before using this material to fill the The following cured properties of the grout cylinder. However, results were within the values attained by ACI 523.1. Disassembly Basin D & E Canal, it is essential to be able to test the cured cellular grout were evaluated in The specimens failed as seen in Figures 9 and 10. The types of fractures were properties of a specimen of cellular grout in order to validate the grout. agreement with ASTM testing found to be shear and columnar fractures. Shear fractures may occur due to the standards: load being concentrated on one side more than another upon loading. Columnar fractures are common in specimens made from mortar or neat cement, as these Density of Cellular Concrete vs. Density of Water Dry Density specimens were. 70 60 Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity 50 density of water 40 Compressive Strength Moisture Content: Since the grout mixture had a water/cement ratio of 0.50, 30 density of cellular 20 concrete

Density (lb/cuft) Density 10 Moisture Content moisture content as high as 23.6% after leaving the sample in the oven for 72 0 density of water density of cellular hours is not surprising. concrete Sample The grout mixture utilized can be seen in Figure 1: Cellular Grout is Less Figure 2: Density of Cellular Grout Table 1. A number of individual samples Figure 6: Sample Preparation Table 2: Dense Than Water and Water from the 6x12 inch test cylinder were Data Comparison prepared for testing purposes. The individual test samples were prepared Test Lab Value ACI 523.1 Trip Report Value as seen in Figure 6. Dry Density 35.8 lb/ft3 up to 50 lb/ft3 34-43 lb/ft3 Table 1: -5 -6 -5 Cellular Grout per Yard Mix Design Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity 5x10 cm/s 1x10 -1x10 cm/s N/A Compressive Strength 278.4 psi, 315.2 psi N/A 330-640 psi Material Quantity Moisture Content 23.60% N/A N/A Portland Cement Type I 695 lbs Water 348 lbs (41 gallons) Figure 3: Area to Be Filled With Cellular Grout VariMac Liquid Foam 17.9 cf ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the Department of Energy's Office of environmental Management, Savannah River National Laboratory, the McNair program at FIU, and Dr.Leonel Lagos for providing me with this research opportunity. I would also like to thank Michael G. Serrato for his guidance and assistance. REFERENCES Trip Report: Gibson Pressure Grouting Service Visit- 6/10/2010, SRNL-L6010-2010-00012 ACI Committee 523. (2006). Guide for Cast-in-Place Low-Density Cellular Concrete. (2006). ACI. American Concrete Institute. "With ARRA Funds, P-Reactor Disassembly Basin Project." U.S. Department of Energy 21 04 Figure 7: Sample Preparation Figure 8: Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity Figure 9: Fractured Larger Sample Figure 10: Fractured Smaller Sample 2010: 1-2. Web. . American Society for Testing and Materials Objective Test the cured properties of a specimen of cellular grout in order to validate the grout.

Florida International University 43 Cohort 44 7 Francis Matthews Undergraduate Achievement Journal McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program

Florida International University Abstr volcanics undifferentiated either as mapped previously N Pacificassociations.have primarily Formation Chagres type the from Foraminifera Basin. Canal Panama of the formation youngest the Formation, Chagres Miocene uppermost the is Formation Gatun the O associations. Caribbean primarily have parts all from foraminifera and parts, upper and lower, middle into divided informally is Formation Gatun The basin. of the part a northern the in deposited were Formation Gatun lower of the sediments when time Miocene late to middle bylate reopened was and Basin), Canal Panama (central Formation Cucaracha underlying of the ctdeposits byterrestrial shown as Miocene, middle the in closed was strait The Panama. central Basin, Canal Panama the through was waters Pacific and Atlantic tropical O Miocene ForaminiferalB aPh.D. programplan tostart concentrating in with aminorinAnthropology/S After graduatingwithaB.S.inGeosciences of Irish andItalian descentandIamtrilingual. within the near future, aswell. My nationality is years oldandplanonattendinggraduateschool professionally in the years to come. I am 23 I amalsoanavidmusicianandplantoplay the E have donemultipleresearch projects dealingwith University. IamgraduatinginDecember and majoring inGeosciences atFlorida International and raisedinS My name is Francis Matthews and I was born ne of the last straits in Central America that connected connected that America Central in straits last ne of the ew foraminiferal collections were made from outcrops outcrops from made were collections foraminiferal ew verglades and other geology orientations. verglades andothergeologyorientations. outh Florida. Iamcurrently acies alongtheCaribbeanCoastofNorth west P ociology, I verlying verlying Pacific connections, and to infer formational boundaries. formational infer andto connections, Pacific Atlantic- and of uplift history of the reconstructions into incorporated are biofacies foraminiferal of the associations Bocas del del Bocas and Canal) Panama of the (west Gobea between coastline the and Canal), Panama of the (east Formation Gatun lowermost the from assemblages collected newly the to statistically compared are Formation Chagres of the section type neritic/upperbathyal outer and section Indio Rio neritic middle the from assemblages twelve and Formation, Gatun of the parts upper and lower, the middle from assemblages foraminiferal benthic neritic inner-middle two T basins. the between coast of Caribbean 180 km the along biofacies in changes identify to used are basins T del Bocas and Canal the Panama of facies different from those and foraminifera the between of similarity Analyses conglomerates. and silts lutites, or Miocene an academicachievement. be thefirstofmanyinmyfamilyto receive such challenge personallyandmostdefinitelywantto a graduatedegree. Ihave takentheMcN and surely, nooneinmyfamilytree hasreceived immediate family has received a bachelor’s degree enjoyable isalways appealing. although Iunderstandthatnoteverything prefer to work outdoors in the field environment, my approach topost-doctoralstudyandwould formingprocesses. Iamfairly optimisticin earth alternative energysources through fundamental I hopetowork foracompanythatisdeveloping sedimentology/petrology. With this career path, T oro. The paleoenvironments and biogeographic and biogeographic paleoenvironments oro. The 2010 N o one in my o one in my anama wenty- oro oro air air McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

MIOCENE FORAMINIFERAL BIOFACIES ALONG THE CARIBBEAN COAST OF NORTHWEST PANAMA Francis Alex MATTHEWS, Carla GARCIA INGUANTI, Ozlem GUROCAK-ORHUN, Laurel COLLINS 1Dept. of Earth and Environment, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199 McNair Fellowship

The dried residues were examined for their foraminiferal content . Each sample was The east of the Panama Canal (blue) is distinctly different from that west ABSTRACT sprinkled onto a sediment tray and observed under a light microscope. If a sample was • upper Gatun barren of microfossils it was discarded. If specimens were still covered with mud, the of the canal (green). The west contains more Uvigerina peregrina gp. and Hanzawaia One of the last straits in Central America that connected tropical Atlantic and Pacific samples were placed in beakers and covered with paint thinner overnight. The paint concentrica, and fewer Cassidulina and Pararotalia than the east. However, east and west upper waters was through the Panama Canal Basin, central Panama. The strait was closed in the thinner was drained from the samples using a filter paper and the remaining sample was Gatun are most similar to each other. middle Miocene, as shown by terrestrial deposits of the underlying Cucaracha Formation covered with a mixture of water and a tablespoon of washing soda (to buffer the calcite (central Panama Canal Basin), and was reopened by late middle to late Miocene time when tests). The samples were simmered without boiling on a hot plate for two-three hours, • The Rio Indio facies, Chagres Formation (purple, green) cluster with upper Gatun sediments of the lower Gatun Formation were deposited in the northern part of the basin. then washed, filtered and stored in labeled vials. samples from west of the Panama Canal, nearest to their localities. The Gatun Formation is informally divided into lower, middle and upper parts, and Sediment samples with sparse to abundant foraminifera were split using an MS-1 foraminifera from all parts have primarily Caribbean associations. Overlying the Gatun microsplitter to obtain at least 300-400 individuals, a number that on average yields Formation is the uppermost Miocene Chagres Formation, the youngest formation of the Plate 1. Benthic foraminifera from the statistically significant species proportions. After picking the individuals from the Panama Canal Basin. Foraminifera from the type Chagres Formation have primarily Pacific Culebra Formation. 1. Amphistegina sediments and placing them on slides, they were sorted by species and identified. associations. gibbosa, sample AT07-32-1. 2. Bolivina New foraminiferal collections were made from outcrops previously mapped as either Figure 2. Geologic map of Woodring (1957) showing predicted formations along the Percentages of abundant benthic foraminifera per sample were used in cluster tongi, sample LC 510. 3. Elphidium undifferentiated volcanics or Miocene lutites, silts and conglomerates. Analyses of similarity northwester coast of Panama west of the Panama Canal. analysis to determine variation of species assemblages among chosen sections. To study discoidale, sample AT07-29-1. 4. Nonionella between the foraminifera and those from different facies of the Panama Canal and Bocas del the assemblages of each section, the number of individuals of each species was divided atlantica, AT07-29-1. 5. Pararotalia Toro basins are used to identify changes in biofacies along the 180 km of Caribbean coast by the total number/sample to calculate specimen percentages of each faunal slide. A magdalenensis, sample AT07-29-1. 6. between the basins. Twenty-two inner-middle neritic benthic foraminiferal assemblages from multivariable statistical software application SYSTAT, v. 11 (2004) was used to run the Spiroloculina, sample AT07-32-1. 7. the lower, middle and upper parts of the Gatun Formation, and twelve assemblages from the cluster analysis. Species with numbers of individuals of > 1% in any one sample were middle neritic Rio Indio section and outer neritic/upperbathyal type section of the Chagres transformed from percentage data using the relationship 2 arcsin √P, where P= Bolivina subaenariensis mexicana, sample LC Formation are compared statistically to the newly collected assemblages from the lowermost percentage datum (Collins, 1993). Calculation of z values in the equation standardized 510. 8. Spiroloculina sp., sample AT07-32- Gatun Formation (east of the Panama Canal), and the coastline between Gobea (west of the the species variability and also equalized the percentage of each species to approximate 7. 9. Cancris sagra, sample LC 510. 10. Panama Canal) and Bocas del Toro. The paleoenvironments and biogeographic associations a multivariate normal distribution of the data. Glabratella, sample AT07-29-1. 11. of the foraminiferal biofacies are incorporated into reconstructions of the history of uplift Cornuspira, sample AT07-32-1. 12. and Atlantic-Pacific connections, and to infer formational boundaries. RESULTS Cassidulina subglobosa , sample LC 510. Hierarchical cluster analysis of the benthic foraminiferal assemblage data showed which Figure 3. Locality map of samples with formations, northwestern coast of Panama samples were most similar in biofacies. The method joins the two most closely related samples, CONCLUSIONS west of the Panama Canal. Adapted from Collins et al. (1996). and then the next two most similar samples or clusters, and this is repeated progressively until all samples are clustered. Six different algorithms (SYSTAT, 2004) were used to calculate the • The upper Gatun Formation west of the Panama Canal is similar to the Rio Indio facies of the distances between samples or clusters of samples. The results of the cluster analysis calculated overlying Chagres Formation, suggesting that the upper Gatun west is probably younger than the upper with Ward’s Algorithm are shown below (Figure 6), because although the results of the other Gatun east. algorithms are similar, the other algorithms joined samples one-at-a-time rather than grouping them, which produced long, stringy clusters that are more difficult to interpret because the • The upper Gatun samples are more diverse with abundant Uvigerina peregrina compared with the lower patterns are less obvious. The main patterns are described in Figure 6. Gatun that is rich in Nonionella atlantica, Elphidium spp. and Bolivina vaughani, suggesting a deeper and more open-ocean influence for the upper Gatun. They are both within 25 – 50 m paleobathymetry.

• The facies of the Gatun east of Miguel de la Borda to Gobea (Figure 3) is upper Gatun, which extends the upper Gatun a bit more eastward of where its boundary with the Rio Indio facies was Figure 1. Map of Panama, adapted from previously placed (Collins et al. 1996). http://www.geographicguide.net/america/panama. Study area is along north coast within box. See Figure 4 for sampling localities. • The formations are extended westward as follows: The grouping of sample AT05-3-3 with the lower Gatun facies (with all cluster algorithms) clearly shows the extent of the Gatun Formation at least 110 km west of Miguel de la Borda. However, within 25 km to the west of sample AT05-3-3, the facies INTRODUCTION changes to a new, unnamed formation (represented by sample AT07-29-1) that is much richer in Figure 4. Topographic map of Panama (inset of Fig. 1) with sample locations near the carbonate, more similar to the Pliocene formations of Bocas del Toro (Collins, 1993). In middle to late Miocene time, marine waters covered the area along the present-day Panama Canal and along the northwest coast. northwest coast of Panama, and sediments of the Middle – Upper Miocene Gatun ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Formation and Upper Miocene Chagres Formation were deposited. Earlier research (Woodring, 1957) on this region’s fossil mollusks defined the lower, middle and upper METHODS I want to thank Dr. Laurel Collins for her assistance and ability to allow extra time for this project. I parts of the Gatun Formation, and produced a geologic map (Figure 2) with crystalline New samples of sediments from west of the Panama Canal area were also want to thank all the team members who contributed and the National Science Foundation for basement rocks west of the canal area, although collecting along the coast in the 1980s sponsoring this study, as well. I would also like to give my sincerest gratitude to the McNair program (Coates et al., 1992) discovered probable Cenozoic sediments. Previous research (Figure collected by O’dea (AT samples) and Collins (LC samples), and compared to and staff for providing me the opportunity to exhibit this research and promote the Panama 3; Collins et al., 1996) defined some of the major facies of the Chagres Formation in the previously collected (PPP) samples. Sediments were placed in a sturdy plastic Paleontology Project(PPP). area closest to the Panama Canal: Sediments of the Rio Indio facies of the Chagres bag and hammered to obtain small chunks. Approximately 50-g portions were Formation were deposited at ~75 m water depth, and the type Chagres was upper bathyal, extracted and soaked in deionized water for two-three days to disaggregate Figure 6. Cluster analysis of 26 benthic foraminiferal assemblages, Ward’s algorithm. ~ 200 m. The purpose of this study is to describe the main facies of the underlying the clays. After particles were disaggregated, they were washed through a 63- All samples are from the Panama Paleontology Project (PPP) unless labeled AT or LC. REFERENCES Gatun Formation, which crops out on either side of the Panama Canal, relate these facies µm sieve to retain sand-sized sediments, and filtered through paper filters to Samples from units and facies within formations are grouped fairly well, as follows: Coates, A.G., Jackson, J.B.C., Collins, L.S., Cronin, T.S., Dowsett, H.J., Bybell, L.M., Jung, P., and Obando, J.A, 1992, to those of the Chagres Formation that crops out west of the canal, and to extend the drain the excess water. Then, the filtered samples were left under a fume-hood original study westward toward the Valiente Peninsula, Bocas del Toro (Collins, 1993). Closure of the Isthmus of Panama: The near-shore marine record of Costa rica and Panama: Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., v. overnight to dry. Dry samples were stored in labeled vials. 104, p. 814-828. • The type Chagres Formation deepwater (upper bathyal) samples (black lines) are The paleoenvironments of the Gatun and Chagres formations are interpreted from distinctly different from all others. Collins, L.S., 1993, Neogene paleoenvironments of the Bocas del Toro Basin, Panama: Journal of Paleontology, v. 67, the assemblages of benthic foraminifera contained in their sediments. Benthic a. b c. p. 699-710. foraminifera are found in nearly all marine-influenced sediments and are generally • The lower Gatun samples (orange) are the most closely related to each other, . SYSTAT v. 11, 2004: SYSTAT Software, Inc., Richmond, California. bathymetrically zoned, i.e., species live under certain marine conditions that correspond forming a cluster. generally to a range of water depths. Thus, from an assemblage of 50 – 100 species, most Woodring, W.P., 1957, Geology and Paleontology of Canal Zone and adjoining parts of Panama, Geology and of which are living today, we can interpret a paleobathymetry that is constrained by many • The middle Gatun sample PPP19 (pink) is most similar to upper Gatun sample description of Tertiary mollusks (gastropods: Trochidae to Turritellidae): U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, independent sources of information. PPP1660, but then joins with the lower Gatun cluster. no. 306-A, 145pp., 20 pl. Previously studied samples (Collins et al., 1996) from near the Panama Canal were combined with newly collected samples from west of that region to ascertain whether the • The other middle Gatun sample PPP18 (red) is unusual for the Gatun Formation in having moderately abundant carbonate-associated taxa, and is thus joined with the western facies were similar to those of the Panama Canal, or from different facies and Figure 5. a. Sample soaking in deionized water. b. Residue other sample AT07-29-1 having a rich carbonate-associated component. formations. collected in filter paper. c. Drying sample

Objective Miocene foraminiferal biofacies of the NW coast of Panama.

Florida International University 45 Cohort 46 7 Camilo Mohar Undergraduate Achievement Journal McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Florida International University 2 1 of D segregation unfaithful (CI instability chromosomal from results Aneuploidy of aneuploidy. degree ahigh showing carcinomas ductal O Camilo MiguelMohar invol Overexpression ofp190BRhoGAPinvialters expression levelsofmitoticgenes offered the chance to visit the University of academic interest inbiomedicalresearch andwas fellowship toexplore Igotthe opportunity my career nexttograduation. With thisprestigious Fellowship wasthesecondzenith ofmyacademic a bachelorinmyfamily, receiving theMcN shown more Being thefirstto support. receive biomedical sciences,myfamilycannothave School. When Idecidedtopursueacareer in magna cumlaudefrom S FIUinAugustI started 2005aftergraduating important than baseball and cigars is education, than baseball and cigars is education, important a Cuban familywhere theonlythingmore bachelor inBiological Sciences.Comingfrom accomplished muchandhave acquired my and developmental biology. S work satisfying myinterest incancerresearch School ofMedicine. There some Iperformed MD, PhD program withIndiana University Dame and experiencehow students work intheir structures such as the centrosomes and kinetochores kinetochores and centrosomes the as such structures mitotic in localize to observed been also has RhoGAP P190B cancer. of breast models mice genetic onco in formation tumor mammary of p190B increases morphogenesis. ductal during especially development gland mammary in of p190B observed is Rho G Rho p190B is network signaling Rho of the regulator important CI cause may disruption its that suggesting mitosis in pertinent is signaling Rho Cell cancer. breast in altered be to known is network signaling Rho the and CI is tumors of characteristic consistent most The Department ofBiochemistry andMolecularBiology, IndianaUniversitySchoolofMedicine Walther CancerResearch Center/DepartmentofBiologicalSciences, UniversityofNotre Dame, Abstra ct ver 70% of breast cancers are diagnosed as invasive invasive as diagnosed are cancers 70%ver of breast T ved withchromosomalinstability Pase activating protein (GAP). The importance importance The (GAP). protein activating Pase 1,2 , PeterMcHenry N outhwest Miami High A during cell division. division. cell A during ince then, I have ince then,Ihave 1,2 , Tracy Vargo-Gogola O verexpression verexpression N . An N. An otre N air air N ), and associated with mitosis/CI with associated and p190B via altered overexpression consistently most were of 31 that alist genes analysis, From this overexpression. CI in implicated genes including genes, of mitotic anumber that indicated cells epithelial mammary of p190B overexpressing analysis a microarray involving experiment Apreliminary mitosis. in involved are genes 29 of these interestingly, and 70over genes, contained list This cancer. breast particularly cancer of various outcomes clinical poor in common are that Carter S Carter CI and aneuploidy to lead could that abnormalities mitotic shown have cells p190B cancer MCF-7 in breast of overexpression inducible that suggested already have CI in involved is 190B RhoGAP overexpression that We MCF-7 hypothesize in cells. the support offamily.the support where Iamnow thankstothegraceofGod and am whoIam,dowhatdo,andhave gottento could sayanythingelseIwouldliketothat and laywaitformygraduatestudiestobegin.If I Until as an exampleto my siblings then, I serve of mentorship to students followingsort my path. inmysuccess andprovideto othercohorts some the McN Program. Ihope,inthefuture, Imayreturn to in N Minority S work intheAnnualBiomedical Conference for achievements I have been invited to present my I ameven gladtosaythatthanksthese my academicstopursueacareer inmedicine. and implementmyexperiencesalongwith Thanks to McN achieving thishasbeenparamountinmyhome. 1,2 ovember duetothisPost baccalaureate L, et al, identified a “CI identified al, et L, air office in FIU and serve as an example asanexample air officeinFIUandserve tudents inCharlotte,N air Ihave been able to expand was generated. generated. N was signature” list of genes of genes list N signature” N . Preliminary studies studies N. Preliminary 2010 , are altered by p190B altered , are orth Carolina Carolina orth N. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

Overexpression of p190B RhoGAP Alters Expression Levels of Mitotic Genes Involved With Chromosomal Instability. Camilo Miguel Mohar1, Peter McHenry2,3, Tracy Vargo-Gogola2,3 1Department of Molecular Microbiology and Infectious Disease, Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Florida International University, Miami, Fl 33199, 2Walther Cancer Research Center, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN 46556, 3Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Indiana University School of Medicine, South Bend, IN 46617. Abstract Methods Conclusions Over 70% of breast cancers are diagnosed as invasive ductal carcinomas, which show a high degree of MECs were isolated from developing mouse mammary glands at six weeks of age following seven • During ductal morphogenesis p190B overexpression (OE) in vivo alters significantly CIN signature genes Prc1, aneuploidy. Aneuploidy results from chromosomal instability (CIN), unfaithful segregation of DNA during cell days of treatment with doxycycline for 5 days to induce transgene expression. RNA was isolated via and Zwint. division. Rho signaling is altered in breast cancer and has been implicated in mitosis suggesting that its TRIzol method and purified via Qiagen RNeasy Kit. RNA was then converted to cDNA via reverse •Other genes that show an alteration of gene expression with p190B OE are Aurora B, and Survivin (Birc5). disruption may cause CIN. P190B RhoGAP is an important regulator of the Rho signaling network in mammary transcriptase from Applied Biosciences and primers were either ordered from Harvard Primer Bank or •P190B may directly or indirectly cause chromosomal instability (CIN) through interaction with prc1, zwint, gland development and promotes mammary tumor formation and metastasis. A list of genes that are common designed de novo according to specificity of gene studied. SYBR green with ROX internal standard (SA aurora B, and birc5. in CIN and predict poor clinical outcome in breast cancer have been designated as “CIN signature gene”(Carter Biosciences) was used as dye for Q-PCR and Applied Biosciences StepOnePlus Real-Time PCR Systems •QPCR data compliments experiments done on OE p190B MCF-7 cells in support of its potential mitotic et al 2006 Nature Genetics). The goal of the current study was to validate changes in expression of these was used to supply raw data with Gapdh as our house keeping gene. 2-∆∆CT method was performed to abnormalities such as multi-polar spindles, and multi-nucleation. genes using Q-PCR. We found that genes Zwint and Prc1were overexpressed 1.8 and 1.3 fold, respectively, in calculate data and statistics was used to find significance and trends of p190B OE effect. •Gene expression via QPCR showed substantial animal to animal variability as did the microarray analysis p190B OE mice with comparison to controls. Although other genes such as Aurkb (Aurora B)and Survivin however Prc1 and Zwint are distinguishably expressed 1.3 and 1.8 respectively in the experimental group to (Birc5) showed a trend of up-regulation, statistical significance was not accessible with our limited logically deduce their role with p190B OE and CIN. samples. Merotelic kinetochore-microtubule attachments, implicated as a mechanism of CIN, may be promoted by p190B OE due to the alteration of Zwint, PRC1, Birc5, and Aurora B gene expression. This study has provided evidence that p190B OE can cause alterations in gene expression particularly genes associated Results Future Work with CIN and breast cancer. Fig. 4 Introduction Mouse mammary ductal morphogenesis begins during puberty, at about 3 weeks after birth and lasts up to 9 weeks of age. P190B RhoGAP expression is high during ductal morphogenesis especially in highly replicative structures called (TEB) terminal end buds (Fig.1). Overexpression (OE) of p190B has been shown to cause hyperplastic lesions emphasizing its importance in mammary gland development and perhaps tumorgenicity. The Rho signaling pathway is altered in most breast cancer patients. Of the many Rho proteins known to exist in cells, the most studied are Rho, Rac1, and Cdc42 GTPases. These proteins cycle between the active GTP bound state and the inactive GDP bound state with the aid of RhoGEFs and RhoGAPs, respectively (Fig. 2).

Fig. 1 (A) Fig. 4 Endogenous p190B is observed to be localized at the centrosomes, kinetochores, and midbody during mitosis. Proteins prc1, aurora B, and birc5 have shown to work in correcting merotelic attachments, a common abnormality that leads to chromosome missegregation and potentially aneuploidy. Interestingly, p190B RhoGAP was found to localize in at the centromeres, kinetochores, and cell midbody during mitosis in the Fig. 1 (B) MCF-7 study (Fig. 4). Protein birc5 has been reported to be very important in the chromosome passenger complex (CPC). This is relevant because CPC consists of birc5, aurora b, borealin, and incenp, which together regulate proper chromosome alignment by fixing faulty chromosome-spindle interactions. These CPCs gather at the centromeres during prometaphase and disruption of CPCs have shown to cause spindle checkpoint impairment. This compliments the MCF-7 cells observation with our data reporting alterations in genes Birc5, and Aurora B. We can deduce that p190B may have some function with CPCs during mitosis that begs for further investigation. Further studies such as immunofluorescent stainings, Western blots, phosphorylation Fig. 1 (A)- Shows a mammary gland of normal developing female mouse. (B)- statuses, and immunoprecipitation will be conducted in the near future. This will give insight on our Table 1-The list of mammary epithelial cell (MEC) genes that were speculation and observe the protein-protein interactions that we need, for further understanding of p190B Depicts a terminal end bud and its surrounding tissue. role in MEC and its CIN inducebility. Fig. 2- Illustrates the basic role of the Rho Signaling Cascade and its many determined to be the most consistently altered in the microarray functions within cell physiology. distinguished as CIN signature genes on the left and mitotic genes Investigations are focusing on chromosomal instability (CIN) because it is the most consistent affected by p190B OE on right. characteristic of tumors. A set of genes associated with CIN referred to as “CIN signature” genes have been Table 2-The results of all the genes analyzed with statistical relevance, Acknowledgments linked to several cancers including breast cancer. This list included about 70 genes that were linked to CIN and -∆∆CT defined poor prognosis as an increase in metastases and malignant potential. With p190B RhoGAP shown to from isolated MECs, using the 2 method for comparison. be involved with cell mitosis and cytokinesis among MCF-7 cells (Fig. 3) derives the question, is p190B Graph 1-A graph Illustrating Prc1, and Zwint statistically significant National Cancer Institute (NCI) Grant R00CA127631 awarded to involved in CIN? Preliminary experiments have shown that an inducible overexpression of p190B in MCF-7 T.V.G. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Indiana cells produces centrosome abnormalities, multipolar spindles and multinucleation, confirming p190B’s role in overexpression and Aurora B, and Survivin (Birc5) overexpression trend University School of Medicine-South Bend. mitosis that warrants further investigation. in p190B OE MECs (blue) compared to control group (red). University of Notre Dame Walther Cancer Research Center/ Department of Biological Sciences. A Abnormal Multipolar Cytokinesis Fig. 3 Department of Education and faculty at FIU for the opportunity centrosomes spindles Multinucleation Graph1 failure to participate, serve and represent FIU in the Ronald E. McNair Post Aurora A Baccalaureate Achievement Program. Tubulin Special Thanks to Rita Mukhopadhyay, and Jason Scott Hamilton. DNA  - 7 cells MCF B overexpressing overexpressing - B p190 Fig. 3 OE of p190B MCF-7 cells showing abnormalities while undergoing B mitosis. Untransfected p190-B siRNA - 7 cells MCF Objective Overexpression of p190B RhoGAP alters expression levels of mitotic genes involved with chromosomal instability.

Florida International University 47 Cohort 48 7 Alexander Moncion Undergraduate Achievement Journal McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program

Florida International University Abstrmedicine andthoroughly enjoy naturalscience.For my with respect to carotenoid aggregation. I am interested in under the guidance of Dr.department John Landrum Dade College.Icurrently doresearch intheChemistry aInternational University as atransferstudent from Miami family toreach acollegelevel education.Ientered Florida father. Iamtheyoungest ofallandthe firstandonlyinthe ctI have manysiblings,tenintotal,from mymotherand of 6,andever sincethenIhave lived inS Republic andmigratedtotheUnited S majoring inphysics.IwasborntheDominican My nameisAlexMoncion, andIamcurrently asenior Measurement ofthe12C+12CFusionCrossSectionat Sub-Barrier Energies thoroughly enjoy natural science. For my aggregation. Iaminterested inmedicineand Dr. John with respect Landrum to carotenoid undertheguidanceof department Chemistry Dade College. I currently do research in the University asatransferstudentfrom Miami level education.Ientered Florida International first andonlyinthefamilyto reach acollege and father. Iamtheyoungest ofallandthe many siblings, ten in total, from my mother then I have lived in United S the Dominican Republic andmigratedtothe a seniormajoringinphysics.Iwasborn My nameisAlexMoncion, andIamcurrently tates attheageof6,andever since S outh Florida. I have tates attheage outh Florida. lives without endangering the people I am trying toserve. lives withoutendangeringthepeopleIamtrying intelligence. My goal is todevelop methods to save new that successrelies more onhard work thansolelyon to network withpeoplewhoare dedicatedandbelieve them. Being aMcN that willaimatcuringdiseasesandnotjusttreating synthesize medication and develop chemical mechanisms andmedicineto an extensive background inchemistry Molecular andCellularPharmacology withhopesofusing me. My ultimate goal is to acquire a MD/Ph.D. degree in and Ibelieve medicalphysicsistheidealfieldofstudyfor graduate studiesIwouldliketowork inthesetwofields, McN diseases andnotjusttreating them.Being a chemical mechanisms that will aim at curing medicine tosynthesize medicationanddevelop and an extensive background inchemistry and CellularPharmacology withhopesofusing is toacquire aMD/Ph.D. degree inMolecular ideal fieldofstudyforme. My ultimategoal two fields,andIbelieve medicalphysicsisthe graduate studiesIwouldliketowork inthese the people I am trying toserve. the peopleIamtrying methodstosavenew lives withoutendangering than solelyonintelligence.My goalistodevelop believe that successrelies more on hard work network withpeoplewhoare dedicatedand air Fellow to gave metheopportunity air Fellow gave me the opportunity 2010 McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

Alexander Moncion, Advisor: Dr. Xiao-Dong Tang Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556

0.70 The goal of nuclear astrophysics is to understand the nuclear processes When correcting for branching we must account for the probability of the where N440 depicts the number of 440 keV gamma recorded by our detector, which power the stars and synthesize heavier elements. One important nuclei decaying at a particular proton channel, ranging from p0 to p10. Once ε440 is the absolute efficiency at the 440 keV peak, C440 is the correction 0.60 12 12 nuclear process is the C+ C fusion occurring in massive stars. The the nuclei has decayed to a certain proton channel, that channel may contain factor which is ratio of the observed 440keV cross section and the actual 12C+12C fusion produces 24Mg which can decay to 20Ne or 23Na via particle further branching that must also be accounted for. Some excited states may fusion cross section for the proton channel as shown in Eq. 2. The particle 0.50 evaporation, shown in Fig. 1. Most of the residues may emit gamma have a cascading decay, a decay mode that emits more than one gamma fusion cross section used in the calculation is taken from [3]. In Equation 3, radiation that can be detected using a gamma detector. We have studied the 12 before reaching the ground state. Summing may occur in which two separate Nbeam is the total number of incident C beam particle, and Ns is the aerial 12 12 0.40 C+ C fusion reaction within the center of mass energy range of 4.1 MeV gamma particles interact with the detector simultaneously. The detector may density of the of the target in particles per millibarn. to 6.5 MeV by detecting the 440 keV and 1634 keV gamma lines using a record these two separate interactions as a single entity, which leads to error 4% Efficiency germanium detector. The total fusion reaction cross section is determined 0.30 1% Efficiency in counting the number of peak and total counts. In order to detect 440 keV 0.1% Efficiency Correction Factor after correcting decay branching ratios and summing effect. gamma rays, we must miss every single gamma particle emitted by the 0.20 source while the 440 keV gamma is being detected. We can correct for Our results, labeled ”REU”, are compared with those of Aguilera[4], summing by subtracting the gamma particles emitted by the source that are High[5], Patterson[6], Becker[3], and Mazaraki[7] in Figure 2. not 440 keV and implementing this into the same equation used to correct 0.10 The 12C+12C fusion reaction occurs in massive stars several times the size of for branching. This is expressed in the following set of equations. 9 20 REU 0.00 the Sun. The main products of the carbon fusion reaction are Ne through Aguilera 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 12 12 20 23 8 the alpha channel C( C,α) Ne reaction, Na through the proton channel High Energy c.m (MeV) 12 12 23 23 Patterson C( C,p) Na reaction, and Mg through the neutron channel 7 Mazarakis Figure 3: Correction factor based on simulations of three different 12 12 23 C( C,n) Mg reaction[2]. However, limited by time, our studies focus Becker Ge detectors with 0.1%, 1% and 4% peak efficiency at 440 keV solely on the proton channel. In order to determine the reaction probability 6 respectively. at a given energy, we detect the gamma radiation, emitted as a byproduct of 5 the alpha, proton, and neutron channels, with a germanium gamma particle For future experiments, an experimental standard should be placed. For the detector. Each channel emit gamma particles of particular energies, and 4 sub-barrier fusion reaction, because the cross section is very sensitive to

depending on the excitation energy of the produced fusion residue we can barns) (MeV Factor S energy, a careful beam energy calibration is required. The target thickness is deduce the identity of the reaction product and predict the likelihood (cross 3 also crucial for the yield determination as well as the effective beam energy. section) of the 12C+12C reaction occurring. Initially, 24Mg is produced from Because of carbon build up problems, the target thickness is a function of 2 the 12C+12C reaction, and that further decays via alpha, proton, or neutron integrated dose of the beam particle. In the future experiment, the target channels. There are various excited states that the fusion residues may decay 1 thickness needs to be monitored with elastically scattered beam particle. A to, and some of those excited states may branch into several gamma complimentary thick target measurement is useful. 0 channels. Each with their own probability of gamma emission. Aside from 24 where σi is the partial cross section of the parent nuclei, Mg, decaying to a 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 that, cascading decays may sum together, while being detected, and interfere 23 specific excited state of Na after evaporating a proton, Bi represents the Energy c.m (MeV) the detection of certain gamma rays. With our current equipment we focus branching ratio of the gamma that cascades to the 440 keV gamma, ηP440 is Figure 2: Modified S factor (see [1] for definition) for the proton on the two gamma rays, 440 keV and1634 keV gammas, which are emitted T channel from various experimenters between 4 and 6.5 MeV in the the peak efficiency of the 440 keV gamma, and η γ is the total efficiency of from the first excited states of the fusion residues, 23Na and 20Ne, center of mass frame. I’d like to thanks the NSF for funding my research experience at the a specified gamma. The sum of the 440 keV gammas is acquired for each University of Notre Dame. My gratitude is also extended to Dr. Umesh Garg respectively. Therefore, in order to accurately calculate the cross section of proton channel using each channel’s specified equation. This yields the the 12C+12C reaction we must correct for decay branching and the summing for giving me the opportunity to be part of the REU program. Many thanks actual observable cross section of 440 keV gamma emitted from a particular to Ms. Shari Herman and Ms. Susan Baxmeyer for their kindness and effect that occurs from the time span of the decay of the parent nuclei to the As you can see the data converges from about 5.3 to 6.5 MeVc.m, however proton channel and then detected by a Ge detector, σi,440. concern. I am extremely grateful to Dr. Xiao-Dong Tang, Brian Bucher, and detection of the gamma particle. there is discrepancy from 5.3 MeVc.m to lower energies. This may be due to different target thickness and large energy shifts between the different Xiao Fang for their help, support, advice, and endless patience. Infinite experimenters as depicted by Barnes, Trentalange, and Wu[8]. The error of thanks to Dr. Hamilton and Dr. Simms for giving me the opportunity to be a the beam particle is estimated as 5%. However, the target density is based on McNair fellow. The 12C+12C fusion reaction has been measured in a energy range of 4.1 the number provided by the supplier. It needs to be checked with an MeV to 6.5 MeV in the center of mass frame using the 12C2+ beam from the independent measurement, such as measuring alpha energy loss in the carbon foil. Branching and summing effects must always be corrected since [1] Kettner, K.U., ”The 12C+12C Reaction at Subcoulomb Energies.” In Zeitschrift fr Physik A Hadrons and Nuclei, 65-75. Springer Berlin / FN tandem accelerator at University of Notre Dame. The beam intensity is Heidelberg, 1980. We initially determined the relative efficiency of our germanium detector below 500 μA. A 20 μg/cm2 C foil is used as a target. Two Faraday cups are it is dependent on the detector used. It is widely known that larger detectors 56 [2] Fowler, W. A., 1983, Experimental and Theoretical Nuclear Astrophysics; the Quest for the Origin of the Elements, in Ekspang, G., ed., Nobel using a Co source. The relative efficiency provides a method of comparing placed before and after the target to measure the change of the charge state. seem to have a greater summing effect due to their greater exposure area. Lectures, Physics 1981-1990, World Scientific Publishing Co., Singapore, 172-229. the detector’s efficiency at various energies. The absolute peak efficiency The dependence of the correction factor on the Ge detection efficiency is [3] Becker, Hans-Werner. ”Teilchenspektroskopische Untersuchungen Zur Absorption Unter Der Barbiere Bei Der 12C+12C Reaktion.” Ph.D. diss., The gamma rays from the reaction is detected by a Ge detector placed at 90 Institut fur Kernphysik Munster was acquired using three radioactive sources with high decay intensity and with respect to the beam direction to minimize the Doppler shift effect. The investigated using a Geant4 simulation. We noticed an inverse relation 60 22 137 [4] E. F. Aguilera, P. Rosales, E. Martinez-Quiroz, G. Murillo, M. Fernndez, H. Berdejo, D. Lizcano, A. Gmez-Camacho, R. Policroniades, A. known radioactive activity, Co, Na, and Cs. The total number of fusion cross section for the proton channel can be determined using equation between the detector efficiency and corrected partial cross section. This is Varela, E. Moreno, E. Chvez, M. E. Ortz, A. Huerta, T. Belyaeva, and M. Wiescher. ”New γ-ray measurements for 12C+12C sub-Coulomb fusion: Toward data unification” Physical Review C, 2006. counts for the major peaks produced by the decay of these sources was 3. shown in Figure 3. [5] High, M.D., Cujec, B. ”THE 12C+ 12C SUB-COULOMB FUSION CROSS SECTION” In Nuclear Physics A282, 181-188. North-Holland acquired and compared to the source’s current decay rate. We then fit the Publishing Co., Amsterdam. relative efficiency to these points and acquired equation 1, where x N440 1 [6] Patterson, J.R., Winkler, H., Zaidins, C.S. ”Experimental Investigation of the Stellar Nuclear Reaction 12C+12C at Low Energies” In The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 157, 367- 373. University of Chicago, 1969. represents ln(Energy) in keV. p (3) 440C440 NbeamNs [7] Mazaraki, M.G., Stephens, W.E. ”Experimetal Measurements of the 12C+12C Nuclear Reactions at Low Energies” In Physical Review C, Vol. 7 #4, 1280-1287. 1973. 2 (1) Peak 0.00174x 0.87195x 4.224 [8] “Heavy ion reactions in Nuclear Astrophysics,” C.A. Barnes, S. Trentalange, and S.C. Wu, Treatise on Heavy-ion Science, edited by D. A. Bromley, Vol. 6, p. 3 (Plenum, New York, 1985). Objective In order to determine the reaction probability at a given energy, we detect the gamma radiation emitted as a byproduct of the alpha, proton, and neutron channels with a germanium particle detector.

Florida International University 49 McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

Alvaro Quinonez was born in New Jersey, U.S.A, of Wind facility, capable of subjecting full-scale and is of Colombian heritage. When he was building models to hurricane winds and wind- younger, he lived in Colombia for four years. He driven rain, Alvaro assisted graduate students in then moved back to New Jersey, and then Miami. preparing experiments. In the summer of 2009 He has lived in Miami for about 12 years. He and 2010, Alvaro was part of the Massachusetts is a graduate of Coral Reef Senior High School. Institute of Technology Summer Research Upon graduating high school, Alvaro enrolled Program. During both summers, Alvaro worked at Florida International University, deciding to on analyzing the stability of unreinforced study civil engineering because of his fascination masonry structures. In one of the studies, with structural engineering. Alvaro and the research team he formed a part Alvaro A. Quinonez In addition to studying civil engineering, of used a novel method for generating small- Alvaro is also a student in FIU’s Honors College. scale structural models of masonry structures. Furthermore, Alvaro is a member of Chi Epsilon From this study, Alvaro and the team published – The National Civil Engineering Honor Society. a paper titled Small-Scale Models for Testing During the spring semester of 2009, he served Masonry Structures, of which he is the first as the Secretary/Treasurer of the society’s FIU author. He presented this paper at the 7th chapter, and in the fall semester he was the International Conference on Structural Analysis chapter President. In 2010, Alvaro was chosen of Historic Constructions, held in October 2010 as a McNair Fellow by the Ronald E. McNair in Shanghai, China. Alvaro also presented some Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program at FIU. of the research he helped conduct at MIT at In 2007, Alvaro worked at the National FIU’s 7th Annual Ronald E. McNair Scientific Science Foundation (NSF) with the program Research Symposium. At the symposium, Alvaro director of the Network for Earthquake was awarded first place presentation and second Engineering Simulation (NEES). In 2008 and place poster. Alvaro’s future plans are to obtain 2009, Alvaro worked as an Undergraduate Master of Science and PhD degrees in structural Research Assistant at FIU’s Laboratory for Wind engineering. After graduate school, he wants to Engineering Research. At the laboratory’s Wall continue his research and consult in industry.

Physical Modeling of Curving Masonry Structures

Experiments on small-scale brick models are used to video camera to capture the collapse mechanisms. Results

ct investigate the lateral stability of unreinforced curving demonstrate that wall stability increases with the amount masonry walls. Understanding the mechanics of curving of curvature, and that collapse mechanisms are caused walls will advance the knowledge of the stability of historic by hinge lines forming due to a combination of brick masonry structures, enabling engineers to accurately assess rotation and sliding. Such experiments provide invaluable their safety. Five geometries are studied to observe the observations of collapse mechanisms, which can be effect of curvature on wall stability. Small-scale models compared to theoretical predictions and numerical models. are manually constructed using clay bricks measuring Construction issues presented by brick imperfections and 54x27x14mm. The walls are tilted on an inclining platform the construction method are also discussed. until collapse occurs. Tests are recorded using a high-speed Abstr a

50 Florida International University McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

Physical Modeling of Curving Masonry Structures Alvaro Quiñonez Mentor: Professor John Ochsendorf Building Technology Lab [email protected] Supervisor: Jennifer Furstenau Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Abstract Number of Bricks Used in Case Study Models Small-scale masonry wall models are used to study the lateral Wall Geometry No. of Bricks stability of curving unreinforced masonry walls. Understanding the mechanics of curving wall geometries advances the knowledge of Serpentine 187 the stability of historic masonry structures, enabling accurate Case Study Straight + Piers 323 assessments of their safety. Five geometries are studied to observe Straight 187 the effect of curvature on wall stability. Models are manually constructed using clay bricks measuring 54x27x14mm, and tilted on an inclining platform until collapse occurs. Tests are recorded on Half-angle of Embrace, α Results high-speed video to capture the collapse mechanisms. Experimental Theoretical Block Model Tilt Angle at Collapse (h/L = 72%) Tilt Angle at Collapse (h/L = 80%) results reveal that wall stability increases with curvature, and that collapse mechanisms are caused by hinge lines forming due to a combination of brick rotation and sliding. Such experiments provide invaluable observations of collapse mechanisms, which can be compared to theoretical predictions and numerical models. Construction issues presented by brick imperfections and the construction method are also discussed.

Initial Experimental Set-Up Final Experimental Set-Up Why Curving Masonry Walls?

•No engineering studies Case Study of Jefferson’s Serpentine Wall Increase in Material Wall Geometry Tilt Angle (°) Lateral Stability Efficiency Straight 1.6 -- 1 Scale 1 - 0°, ±30°, ±60° Scale 2 - 30°,60° Straight + Piers 4.5 181 % 1.6 Number of Bricks Used in Scale 1 & 2 Models Serpentine 4.1 156 % 2.6 Wall Geometry No. of Bricks 0° 96 Serpentine Wall, Serpentine Wall at UVa Conclusions & Future Work Maryland, U.S.A. (Harmon) (Virginia) Scale 1 ±30° 96 ±60° 112 •Small-scale structural models are advantageous 30° 225 •Curvature increases lateral stability of walls Scale 2 60° 250 •Serpentine walls have high material efficiency •Variation in brick geometry affected model construction •Future work Jefferson: Curving Walls vs. Plane Walls with Piers (Columbia) •DEM models – Defining joint parameters

Small-Scale Structural Models Collapse Sequence of 60° Wall (Scale 2) Acknowledgements •Theoretical model based on rigid block •2010 MIT Summer Research Program, McNair Scholars Program •Wall geometry based on α •Prof. John Ochsendorf, Jennifer Furstenau, Rolando Bermudez •Wall dimensions •Building Technology Lab, Edgerton Center •Scale 1 - 32 x 23 cm (h/L = 72%) •Scale 2 - 45 x 36 cm (h/L = 80%) References 1. Bearing Walls: Monolithic Masonry Construction [Online]. Columbia University. •Case Study - 60 x 24 cm Case Study of Walls: Serpentine, Straight + Piers, Straight 2. [Online] Computer Science. University of Virginia 3. Serpentine Wall [Online]. Mount Harmon Plantation. Objective Study the lateral stability of curving unreinforced masonry walls using small-scale masonry wall models.

Florida International University 51 Cohort 52 Rigoberto J.Roche 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program

Florida International University behavior the depict symbolically that of graphs a series able toproduce was model This systems. Abstrthese affect that conditions initial and variables relevant the all account a MA using performed were simulations Mathematical dispersion. anisotropic and isotropic in response the modular differentiate which trends specific reflected that models of mathematical series of a bymeans detail in described was implants orthopedic in composites particulate and fibrous implants, porous and cements, composites, filling on content dental of mineral effect the this, to addition In expressions. respective the a by described as materials composite of certain behavior particular the determine to order in made was models two these between contrast and Acomparison detail. ct in described and discussed are composites for models Reuss theand of Voigt and properties characteristics The University Rigoberto Roche&MichaelChristiePh.D,BiomedicalEngineering,FloridaInternational Anisotropic Distributions the MineralContentEffectsonodulusofBiomaterials withIsotropicand Comparison BetweentheVoigtandReussModelsforComposites,asitPertains to skills mademeabletoadaptmydisabilityand with me throughout the rest of my life. These commitment andselfreliance hascarriedon Jitsu andKravMaga. Thistrainingofdiscipline, then onIhave studiedJudo, Muay Thai, Jiu whenIwaseightyears old.From arts of martial jitters. My fatherintroduced meintothe world of periods oftime.However, through thestudy makes it difficult for me to read for prolonged nystagmus.Thisvisualimpediment all, rotatory advanced myopia,very astigmatismandworstof always beenanobstacleinmylife.Isufferfrom a Unfortunately, mysevere visualproblems have andreading thematmyownlocal library pace. borrowing the old Russian math books from the Cuba, limitedresources, withvery Iwasalways I wasborninasmalltown, calledS mathematics andsciences.Despite thefactthat From ayoung ageIdeveloped aninterest for T ai ChiIhave beenabletocontrol myeye T LAB® program that took into into took that program LAB® anta Clarain assumptions of the model. O model. of the assumptions the regarding identified were errors Finally, simulated. was composition mineral after observed was that values of output magnitude the in reduction bythe demonstrated is This increased. fraction inclusion mineral as behavior decreasing showed modulus the system, anisotropic and isotropic the For both fraction. volume inclusion of the afunction as modulus of the behavior exponential an shows model Reuss The of inclusions. fraction volume to respect with Young modulus describing when system linear of a behavior the Voigt follows the model that obtained it was simulation, mathematical From this conditions. anisotropic and isotropic as well as models respective the for conditions varied under parameters systematic of the and discussed. described also are response theobserved influence could imaging system. translation ofaninhousedeveloped optical Graphical User Interfaces fortheclinical Center atFIU,where Ifocusonprogramming O am an Undergraduate Research Assistant at the Oxide inhumantissue.In additiontothis,I of fluorescent dyes for the detection of University. In thislabIfocusonthesynthesis atFloridaand Biochemistry International of Chemistry Kavallieratos, inthedepartment currently doresearch underDr. Konstantinos and advanced treatments formyeyesight. I for a brighter futureseeking an opportunity my motherandImigratedtotheUnited S to completemystudiesthere becauseatage15 E was inductedintothePolytechnic Institute for highpointaverage. Afterthat,I with avery studies push myselftocompletemypreliminary xact ptical Imaging Laboratory intheE ptical Imaging Laboratory Sciences at the age of 14. Iwas unable ther extraneous factors which which factors extraneous ther 2010 ngineering N tates itric McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

E EV1 im E[1 V i ] Comparison Between the Voigt and Reuss Models for Composites, as it Pertain to the Mineral Content Effects on the Modulus of Biomaterials with Isotropic and Anisotropic Distributions Rigoberto Roche Michael Christie Ph.D Biomedical Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33174

Adoptic Dental Implants Adoptic Dental Implants with Increased Mineral Content Carbon Reinforced UHMWPE with Increased Mineral Content ABSTRACT A statement made for the bounds tacitly postulates the assumption that Carbon Reinforced UHMWPE 14 10 10 10 both phases are in a minimum initial energy state. They are found to have Voigt Model Isotropic Response Isotropic Response Isotropic Response Reuss Model 9 Anisotropic Response Anisotropic Response 9 Anisotropic Response 12 The characteristics and properties of the Voigt and Reuss models for 8 positive stiffness. Also worth mentioning is that within the interface an ideal 8 8 10 composites are discussed and described in detail. A comparison and attachment with no slip or chemical reactions exist. Thermoelastic effects 7 7 6 6 contrast between these two models was made in order to determine may also be ignored. For a viscoelastic composite, use of the stated 8 6 4 5 the particular behavior of certain composite materials as described by dynamic correspondence principle gives: 6 5

Young Modulus (GPa) Modulus Young 4 Young Modulus (GPa) Modulus Young E*c = E*1V1 + E*2V2 (GPa) Modulus Young 4 the respective expressions. In addition to this, the effect of mineral (GPa) Modulus Young 2 4 3 The symbol shown by * is an indicator of a set of complex numbers with a 3 content on dental filling composites, cements, and porous implants, 2 2 0 2 1 fibrous and particulate composites in orthopedic implants was specific magnitude and phase. 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 Volme Fraction of Inclusion 0 1 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 -2 described in detail by means of a series of mathematical models that 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 Volme Fraction of Inclusion Volme Fraction of Inclusion METHODS Volme Fraction of Inclusion reflected specific trends which differentiate the modular response in Figure 3 Comparisons of Voigt Figure 4 Comparison of the Isotropic Comparison of the Voigt and Reuss models for specific composites Figure 10 Isotropic and Figure 11: Reference to Fig10. This graph and Reuss Model for Adaptic and Anisotropic response for Adaptic isotropic and anisotropic dispersion. Mathematical simulations were including dental filling composites and cements, porous implants, and Anisotropic Response serves as a reference for the previous one. This Dental Implants Dental Implants with Increased performed using a MATLAB® program that took into account all the carbon reinforced UHMWPE yielded a tangible set of result that proved for carbon reinforced is the systematic response for isotropic and Mineral Content relevant variables and initial conditions that affect these systems. This mathematically where the analysis of the inclusions Modules was observed. anisotropic modules that are deficient in mineral Adoptic Dental Implants model was able to produce a series of graphs that symbolically depict Specified analysis of Adaptic Dental Implants with a modulus of 13.46 GPa 10 Isotropic Response concentration. the behavior of the systematic parameters under varied conditions for The modulus of inclusions and moduli of material was set to one. MATLAB 9 Anisotropic Response the respective models as well as isotropic and anisotropic conditions. simuations of these models was done to establish the appropriate response 8 DISCUSSIONS From this mathematical simulation, it was obtained that the Voigt that the different materials will have upon an increasing specified parameter 7 6 Mineral content in composite materials affects the properties of the model follows the behavior of a linear system when describing Young of inclusions represented as volume fraction. 5 composite and its corresponding modulus. Examination of two models

modulus with respect to volume fraction of inclusions. The Reuss (GPa) Modulus Young 4 Figure 5 Isotropic and classified as the Voigt and Reuss Models demonstrated different model shows an exponential behavior of the modulus as a function of 3 Anisotropic response for levels of stiffness within the composite materials of interest. Isotropic the inclusion volume fraction. For both the isotropic and anisotropic 2 adaptic dental implants 1 and anisotropic modular response was closely scrutinized among system, the modulus showed decreasing behavior as mineral 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 Volme Fraction of Inclusion various composites, including dental fillings, porous implants, and

inclusion fraction increased. This is demonstrated by the reduction in Open Porosity Titanium 120 particulate in orthopedic implants. The Voigt model was shown to the magnitude of output values that was observed after mineral Voigt Model Reuss Model portray linear behavior with respect to Young’s modulus while the composition was simulated. Finally, errors were identified regarding 100 Reuss model evidenced an exponential behavior as seen in figures 3, the assumptions of the model. Other extraneous factors which could 80 6 and 10. This was due to the relationship between the modulus and influence the observed response are also described and discussed. 60 volume fraction inclusion. It is also evident that the behavior of the isotropic modular response was also linear for all types of composites

Young Modulus (GPa) Modulus Young 40 Figure 6 Comparison of Voigt INTRODUCTION examined. This was shown in figure 4, 5, 7,8,10 and 11. and Reuss Models for Open 20 For the purpose of this project we will analyzed composite characteristics Porosity Titanium Upon analyzing the outputs, one can conclude that the modular 0 response is lower when the composites have a certain degree of based on the Voigt and Reuss models. In a given volume fraction of one 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 phase, the stiffness of the Voigt and Reuss composites for an elastic two- Volme Fraction of Inclusion mineral content. A higher level of mineral content in a given composite Open Porosity Titanium Implant with Increased Mineral Content 10 phase composite represent rigorous upper and lower bounds on the Isotropic Response will increase the strength of that composite. Young’s modulus. Neglecting Poisson effects and allowing no restriction on 9 Anisotropic Response Sources of error identified within our parameters were attributed to 8 the shape of the two phases, the modulus for the Voigt composite is: 7 the assumptions made within our mathematical model. This set of Ec = E1V1 + E2V2 6 Figure 7 Isotropic and assumptions allowed for the simplification of the calculations in order The overall modulus of the Reuss composite (neglecting Poisson effects on 5 Anisotropic Response for to model the phenomenon that was being simulated. However, the system) can be described by (GPa) Modulus Young 4 open porosity titanium implant 3 regardless of its limitations, this model can be used for biomaterial 1/Ec = V1/E1 + V2/E2. with increased mineral 2 selection. By knowing the properties of the biological tissue of interest Composite properties can be attained by the given structures evident in 1 content 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 one can input such properties in the model and generate a Figure1. These laminates are anisotropic. They represent an identical Volme Fraction of Inclusion Open Porosity Titanium mathematical distribution that describes the mechanical response of structure subjected to different orientations of stress. The bounds given by 10 Isotropic Response the composite as a function of inclusions, using the Young’s modulus. Voigt-Reuss are applicable for isotropic composites. Moduli given by the 9 Anisotropic Response Voigt-Reuss formulae are analogously attainable by the above hierarchical 8 This allows for the user to determine a ranking for different material for structures. In this composite the full volume is filled with layers of similar 7 implantation, judging their ability to mimic the mechanical response of material in the same phase; each layer has a coating of a given fraction 6 the tissue. This is of upmost importance because if there is a 5 unlike that made of the material in the second phase mismatch in the strain distribution of a region due to applied stress, it

Young Modulus (GPa) Modulus Young 4 RESULTS Figure 8 Isotropic and 3 could cause significant hindrance to the implantation and overall Anisotropic response for Figure 1 Layered Morphology for the Voigt A MATLAB code was created in order to evaluate the differences between 2 healing process. The characteristic evaluation of the mathematical the Voigt and Reuss model as functions of inclusion volume fraction. There 1 open porosity titanium (laminar) and Reuss (Composite) Model 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 simulation is the most significant aspect of this model because it were several assumptions made in order to simplify the comparison and Volme Fraction of Inclusion Carbon Reinforced UHMWPE validates, not only its theoretical application for the addressed attain a single variable parameter that could be evaluated for the two 1.035 Voigt Model comparison, but also the practical approach to a very real and vivid models. The base variable used to generate the scopes presented below Reuss Model 1.03 bioengineering challenge, biomaterial selection. from the mathematical model was inclusion volume fraction. It was assumed 1.025 that the inclusions present in the different components were transverse. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This was done in order to equalize the evaluation settings for the data 1.02 I WOULD LIKE TO EXPRESS MY GRATITUDE TO analysis process and for the creation of a subsequent algorithm that would 1.015 Figure 2 Upper and Lower Dr. Michael Christie

generate graphical outputs. It was assumed that the Poisson’s range (GPa) Modulus Young Stiffness Bounds for Voigt and presented in table 2 was an average value in order to find the matrix 1.01 Figure 9 Comparison of the For countless hours of consult and help in all aspects of this project Reuss Composite Models modulus of the characterized Adaptic dental implant. In addition to this, only 1.005 Voigt and Reuss model for and for his willingness to assist in any way possible. one specific material was chosen from the composite category in order to carbon reinforced UHMWPE FIU Ronald E. McNair Program 1 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 For all the assistance and understanding given to me by all the obtain a singular result, representative of the characteristics of the total Volme Fraction of Inclusion compendium of such biomaterial type. members of the office and special thanks to Dr. Simms

TEMPLATE DESIGN © 2008 www.PosterPresentations.com Objective The characteristics and properties of the Voigt and Reuss models for composites are discussed and described in detail. A comparison and contrast between these two models was made in order to determine the particular behavior of certain composite materials as described by the respective expressions.

Florida International University 53 Cohort 54 7 Andrea Rolong Undergraduate Achievement Journal McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Florida International University 1 ( cell endothelial stimulate to environment and ascaffold provide which grafts biodegradable molecule-impregnated designed have T failure. graft to lead eventually which rejection, and infections, occlusion, graft as such problems several cause to found are but they conditions, these in used been thus have grafts N site. destination their and location original their between size in discrepancies and availability scarce present grafts these or allografts; of autografts use the include disorders of vascular treatments graft Current Andrea Rolong FOR SMALL-DIAMETERV ELECTROSPUN NANOFIBERSAFFOLDIMPREGNATED WITHGROTHF major didnotmeetmyexpectationstothefullest College Ibegantorecognize thatmydeclared background. During thistime atMiami Dade choice sinceitwouldgive metheproper science was the obvious medical school, then Chemistry advisors who told me that if I wanted to go to the adviceoffellow studentsandacademic My camefrom decisiontopursueChemistry pursuit ofanAssociate’s Degree inChemistry. after, Ienrolled atMiami Dade Collegeinthe residing inMiami, Florida. About amonth mother and my two sisters who were already I moved totheUnited S after my high school graduation, my father and graduated valedictorian ofmyclass.Theday for elementary, middle and high school and I attendedtheItalian schoolGalileo Galilei parents, twooldersisters,andmygrandparents. 22nd ofAugust, 1988.Igrew upwithmy I wasborn in Barranquilla, Colombia on the factors such as V as such factors Growth here. grafts vascular engineering for materials scaffolding as selected are they polymers; biodegradable widely-used are PLGA and PCL material. the into factors E Florida International University,Florida International

Abstr growth byincorporating increased be can C activities a ct o decrease the incidence of these complications, we we complications, of these incidence the o decrease 1 , Walter Bonani E E C) adhesion, migration and proliferation. proliferation. and migration adhesion, C) GF are incorporated into a PCL-PLGA aPCL-PLGA into incorporated are GF 2 Mechanical EngineeringDepartment,University ofColoradoatBoulder, Boulder, CO tates toreunite withmy ASCULAR GRAFTS 2 , andWei Tan on-biodegradable on-biodegradable 2 occurs only on the side where it was placed. placed. it was where side on the only occurs factor growth of a specific release that show to expected are adouble chamber, in material the testing involves which test, spatial the from Results factor. of growth release continuous demonstrate will this time; elapsed and proliferation cell between relation exponential an find to is outcome expected The spectrofluorometry. as well as assay M using studied was behaviors cell modulating for space extracellular the into factors growth these of release temporal and spatial The accomplished. be will polymer the in impregnated factors growth of the release acontrolled degradation, polymer the over control Through nanostructure. the and composition chemical the bychanging adjusted be can degradation of polymer rate the developed, we technique double-electrospinning anew Using degrades. graft the when released and graft, towards myPhD inBiomedical E move directly into graduateschoolandwork plans after completing my current studies is to the summersof2009and2010respectively. My the University ofColoradoatBoulderduring institution aswell asatBrown University and to work in research projects both at my home “I found it! I have also had the opportunity the computerandranoutsidetocallmydad, was abigsmileonmyface;Iimmediatelyleft By thetimeIfinished therereading thearticle growing fieldcalled Biomedical E about. It talkedaboutarelatively butfast- new that Ihadheard intrigued ofbefore andwasvery I came acrossabout a field of study this article atMiamiworking Dade at thelibrary College, than ameanstoanend.O years ofundergraduatestudiesasnothingmore and Ididnotwanttoconsidermyfourorfive ACTORS ne afternoon,while assay, cell migration migration cell assay, TT 2010 ngineering. ngineering. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

Electrospun Nanofiber Scaffold Impregnated with Growth Factors for Small-Diameter Vascular Grafts Andrea Rolong1,Walter Bonani2, and Wei Tan2 1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, Fl 33174 2Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309

Abstract Proposed Solution Results PCL and PLGA are widely-used biodegradable polymers; they are  Biodegradable grafts impregnated with growth factors 0.4 selected as scaffolding materials for engineering vascular grafts Figure 1. MTT test performed . Nanofiber scaffold increases cell adhesion 0.35 on 3×10³ cells in 100 µL per well here. Growth factors such as VEGF are incorporated into a PCL- 0.3 with VEGF concentrations of 2 . Biodegradability allows for remodeling and regeneration ng/mL and 25 ng/mL. 2% FBS PLGA graft, and released when the graft degrades. Using a new media used . Growth factors (VEGF, PDGF, TGF-β) promote tissue 0.25 double-electrospinning technique we developed, the rate of polymer formation and eventually replace the graft 0.2 Control degradation can be adjusted by changing the chemical composition 0.15 2 ng/mL VEGF and the nanostructure. Through control over the polymer 0.1 25 ng/mL VEGF

degradation, a controlled release of the growth factors impregnated Absorbance at 560 nm 0.05 in the polymer will be accomplished. The spatial and temporal 0 release of these growth factors into the extracellular space for 0 1 2 modulating cell behaviors is studied using MTT assay, cell migration Time (days) assay as well as spectrofluorometry. The expected outcome is to find 0.7 an exponential relation between cell proliferation and elapsed time; this will demonstrate continuous release of growth factor. Results 0.6 Modified from original source: http://medgadget.com/archives/2008/11/novamesh_from_nic 0.5 from the spatial test are expected to show that release of a specific http://www.cellsignal.com/products/images/2479_if_ic_md_060330.jpg ast.html growth factor occurs only on the side where it was placed. 0.4 Control 0.3 Figure 2. MTT test performed on 2 ng/mL VEGF 1.25×10 cells in 100 µL per well 0.2 Introduction Manufacturing Process with VEGF concentrations of 2 ⁴ 25 ng/mL VEGF Grounded rotating ng/mL and 25 ng/mL. 10% FBS 0.1

Objective Absorbance at 560 nm collector media used To design molecule-impregnated biodegradable grafts which provide a Polymer solution A Polymer solution B 0 scaffold and environment to stimulate endothelial cell (EC) adhesion, 0 1 2 PLGA PCL migration and proliferation VEGF Time (days) Expected Results  The amount of EC Power supply A Power supply B proliferation depends on Biohybrid Nanofiber Constructs with Anisotropic Biomechanical Properties, W. Bonani, D. Maniglio, VEGF concentration and A. Motta, W. Tan, C. Migliaresi, Journal of Biomedical Mat Research, In press elapsed time Control http://www.people.vcu.edu/~glbowlin/research.html  Dose-response curves can 2 ng/mL VEGF

Absorbance or Absorbance Intensity Fluorescent 25 ng/mL VEGF Motivation be generated through http://medgadget.com/archives/2008/10/europe_green_li absorbance and 2  Approximately 3 million procedures ghts_a_nanofabricbased_avflo_vascular_graft.html 0 1 associated with vascular disease are fluorescence detection Time (days) performed in the United States every year Testing Methodology Discussion Future Work  Most are in small-caliber vessels Bradford assay – Spatial release test  Desired characteristics of  Perform MTT test after incubation (< 6mm diameter) vascular grafts: with VEGF impregnated graft sample  Current treatment: . Mechanical stability  Run spatial release test of the . Autografts and allografts http://www.zbmtp.meduniwien.ac.at/index.php?id=48 . Biocompatibility albumin impregnated sample in dual . Non-biodegradable synthetic grafts . Nonthrombogenicity chamber

http://www.polysciences.com/Catalog/De http://www.biochrom.co.uk/news/1/21/a . Availability  Perform cell migration test partment/Product/98/productId__2161/ca Limitations and Challenges nthos-zenyth-200.html?arc=5/2009 Polymer mesh tegoryId__334/ . Cost effectiveness  Autografts and allografts with albumin . Scarce availability MTT assay – Temporal release test . Discrepancies in size Acknowledgements SMART Program Dr. Devon Scott – Post-doc  Non-biodegradable grafts EC The Leadership Alliance University of Colorado at Boulder . Surface thrombogenicity Polymer mesh Membrane Dr. Wei Tan – Faculty mentor Florida International University . Intimal Hyperplasia with VEGF Buffer solution Walter Bonani–Graduate mentor McNair Program . Infections . Rejection by the organism Cell migration assay Rubber chamber http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1018266-overview Objective To design molecule-impregnated biodegradable grafts which provide a scaffold and environment to stimulate endothelial cell (EC) adhesion, migration and proliferation.

Florida International University 55 Cohort 56 7 Karina L.Saravia Undergraduate Achievement Journal McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Florida International University apostnatal show subsequently they hours, 24 for min/hr 10 for call maternal bobwhite of the variant individual an with presented are embryos quail bobwhite when that shown has research Previous embryos. quail bobwhite in learning auditory prenatal facilitating and attention recruiting for context optimal an provide can components these of combination aspecific if see to of stimulation duration total the and delivery of stimulus frequency the prenatal between therelationship explores study This Prenatal LearninginNorthern BobwhiteQuails Does theistributionofSensory StimulationInfluence? toanswer thequestionsIhadasachild necessary I realized thatscientificinvestigation wouldbe experience oftheresearch process. It wasthen and behaviorallowed me togetafirsthand C.A.P.P sparked myinterest indevelopment ofDr.the supervision Wendy S Program (C.A.P.P) as aresearch assistantunder accepted intotheChildAnxietyandPhobia and biologicalsciences.Asasophomore Iwas and beganmystudiesinthepsychological admitted intoFlorida International University graduating top tenin my highschool class, I was the nature ofhumanthoughtdeveloped. After playing softball,mycuriosityabouttheworldand helping mygrandmacookinthekitchenand N into awonderful making uswhowe are. IwasborninMiami, FL E

Abstra ct xperience is a major component involved in icaraguan family. Between ilverman. ilverman. subsequently show a postnatal preference. apostnatal show subsequently and stimulus to the attend to more opportunities be may there provided), stimulation of prenatal amount total the varying (without decreased is stimulus of each duration the and increased is delivery of stimulus frequency the if that 2002). We al., et hypothesized (Lickliter call familiarized for apreference show no longer they hours, for12 per 10 for minutes presented is call maternal same the However, when call. familiar that for preference into adoctoralprogram inneuroscience. graduation thisDecember, Ihopetobeadmitted can influenceinternalmechanisms. Following howas a whole and particularly external factors I am highly interested in how the brain operates andthusbecame aMcopportunity N E. McN mentor, Ipresented theproject totheDr. Ronald influence prenatal learning. With thehelpofmy different patternsofstimulusdistributioncan to conduct a research project focusing on how assisting inthelab, Iwasgiven theopportunity a developmental systemsperspective. While perception from with experience,suchassensory scientifically explore themechanismsinvolved Dr. Robert Lickliter. It was there thatI began to Developmental Psychobiology Lab(D.P.B) under and young adult.S air program forasummerresearch oon, I began to assist in the oon, Ibegantoassistinthe 2010 air fellow. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

Distribution of Sensory Stimulation: Prenatal Learning in Northern Bobwhite Quails Karina Saravia & Robert Lickliter Florida International University Miami, FL

Introduction Results Conclusions

Previous studies have shown that the type and amount of Experimental Condition 1 The experimental conditions of this study examined the prenatal sensory stimulation available to precocial avian embryos Group of chicks that received a short duration of prenatal auditory effects of distributed patterns of prenatal sensory can influence prenatal and postnatal perceptual learning and 11 stimulation over more cycles showed a significant preference for the familiar maternal call (Chi sq = 9.125, P = .0104) stimulation on subsequent auditory responsiveness to organization. The present study assessed the influence of the 10 9 maternal calls in bobwhite quail chicks. Preliminary Table 1 distribution of prenatal sensory stimulation to the auditory 8 Preference of Chicks in Simultaneous Auditory Choice Test results showed that chicks that received a variation of modality and subsequent prenatal learning. Relationships 7 Experimental Condition 1 the distribution the maternal call for the call for 1 6 between frequency of stimulus delivery and total duration of Preference 5 minutes every 6 minutes showed a preference for the stimulation were explored to see if a an optimal context for Birdsof Number 4 recruiting attention and facilitating prenatal learning could be Age n Call B: Call A: No familiar call they were prenatally exposed to, although (in hr) n responding Familiar Unfamiliar Preference established by manipulating the distribution of stimulation during 3 they did show a preference for the unfamiliar call when 24 18 16 2 11* 3 the late stages of the prenatal development in bobwhite quail 2 tested in a simultaneous choice test. 1 *p < .05 embryos. FAMILIAR CALL B UNFAMILIAR CALL A NO PREFERENCE Thus far, results indicate that a substantial difference in Preference learning exist between the preference demonstrated in all three conditions even though the amount of total Experimental Condition 2 Group of chicks that received a longer duration of prenatal auditory duration was consistent for both prenatal stimulation over fewer cycles showed a slight preference for the 9 unfamiliar call (Chi sq = 6.1429, P = .046) manipulations.

8 A major limitation of this study was the small sample Table 2

7 Preference of Chicks in Simultaneous Auditory Choice Test size. Further exploration of this topic may provide Experimental Condition 2 6 Preference insights into the optimal range of stimuli distribution for

5 learning in bobwhite quails. The data presented is not Age n Call B: Call A: No (in hr) n responding Familiar Unfamiliar Preference 4 sufficient to allow any precise predictions regarding Number of of BirdsNumber 24 14 14 2 9* 3 3 prenatal learning and the optimal thresholds or levels of *p < .05

Methods 2 stimulation required to achieve perceptual learning in embryos or neonates. The neural structures Northern bobwhite quail (Colinus virginianus) embryos (N = 61) 1 were exposed to an individual bobwhite maternal call in one of FAMILIAR CALL B UNFAMILIAR CALL A NO PREFERENCE responsible for these mechanisms of prenatal selective Preference two conditions 12 hours prior to hatching. In experimental attention and memory formation should also be Group of chicks that did not did receive any prenatal stimulation. Did explored. condition 1 (N= 18), embryos received auditory exposure to not demonstrate any preference for either maternal call during the CALL B, a bobwhite maternal call variant, for 1 minute every 6 Naïve/control Group simultaneous choice test (chi sq = .8966, P = .639); see Table 3. Acknowledgements minutes for a period of 12 hours (a total of 120 minutes of 11 I would like to thank the following individuals for their support Table 3 and help throughout the course of this research project: 10 Preference of Chicks in Simultaneous Auditory Choice Test exposure). In experimental condition 2(N= 14), embryos received • My mentor 9 Experimental Condition 3 Dr. Robert Lickliter the same maternal call (CALL B) for 10 consecutive minutes, 8 Preference • Graduate students every hour for a period of 12 hours (total of 120 minutes). The 7 Namitha Raju and Jimena Valliant n 6 Age Call B: Call A: No Naïve/control group (N= 29) did not receive any prenatal auditory (in hr) n responding Familiar Unfamiliar Preference • The Ronald E. McNair staff 5 Dr. Simms and Dr. Hamilton 24 29 29 12 9 8 stimulation. All chicks were tested postnatally at 24 hrs of age in a of BirdsNumber 4 simultaneous choice test between the familiarized maternal call and an 3 *p < .05 unfamiliar variant of the bobwhite maternal call. During these tests, the 2 1 two calls were played from opposite sides of a circular testing arena and CALL B CALL A NP chicks were scored for their latency and duration of approach to both Preference calls. A Chi-square test was used to find a p-value .

Objective Explore the relationship between the prenatal frequency of stimulus delivery and the total duration of stimulation.

Florida International University 57 Cohort Luis E.SaumellSanMartin 58 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Florida International University T physics. phenomenon in symmetry mirror the model to used are which varieties, toric called objects, of mathematical class a study to is work this of focus The relation. of that aspect one study we project, this In of them. some name to theory, string Mathematics, in theory of Yang-Mills applications Physics, in particles for model standard the relation: that on based Mathematics and Physics in both achievements great of full was Century last the of part second The field. their in phenomena new find physicists help models math accurate as well as of Physics needs the serving for developed are methods Mathematics fruitful: very be to proven has and Physics Mathematics between relation The Smooth ProjectiveToriVarieties My nameisLuis E.S in LaHabana, Cuba onS McN 2008 Itransferred toFIU(honorscollege)with inMiamiArts Dade College.Then,inS S studies inMiami Dade College,andinthe January 2006.In May myE 2006Istarted university inCuba IcametoMiami, USA,in University ofHavana. Aftermyfirst year atthe my university studies in Computer am 25years old). While IwasinCuba, Istarted

Abstra ct topursuetheAssociatein pring 2007Istarted air Fellow from I was born the 7th cohort. oric varieties are complex manifolds on which a a on which manifolds complex are varieties oric aumell S eptember 29th, 1985 (I eptember 29th,1985(I an Martin, I am a an Martin, Iama cience in Science in ummer ummer nglish nglish varieties in the Projective Space. Projective the in varieties toric smooth more specifically and varieties, toric study to is work this core of the Therefore, varieties. on such easily modelled be can physics, in forces the unify to hoped that theory the theory, super-string to the phenomenon related -a symmetry mirror the particular, In varieties. on toric based be can theories of physics examples nice many that of 1980 decade the in realized it was because important are E in cones of convex theory the and geometry of algebraic ground a common in belong (they methods combinatorial and by algebraic studied be can manifolds orbit. These a dense with acts torus complex Sciences atFIU. working onmyMaster Degree inMathematical and aminorinComputerScience.Iamnow S University ofN todoresearchopportunity thisS a McN Computer Scienceclassestoo. ThenIbecame my passion.N Science Idiscovered thatMathematics was because whileIwasinCuba studyingComputer mymajorinMathematics my A.A.andstarted ummer (2010)withabachelorinMathematics air Felllow andIhadthe (7thcohort) otre Dame. Igraduatedthispast evertheless, I continued taking Icontinuedtaking evertheless, uclidean spaces). These objects objects These spaces). uclidean 2010 ummer 2010 at ummer 2010at McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

X Smooth Projective Toric Varieties Luis E. Saumell1, Nero Budur2 P.hD, M. Yotov3 P.hD 1 – Student at Florida International University, 11200 S.W. 8th Street, Miami, Florida, 33199 2 - Assistant Professor, University of Notre Dame, Mathematics, 255 Hurley Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556 3 - Assistant Professor, Florida International University, Mathematics, 11200 S.W. 8th Street, Miami, Florida 33199

The relation between Mathematics and Physics has proven to be very 1.2 fruitful: Mathematics methods are developed for serving the needs of 1 Physics as well as accurate math models help physicists find new 0.8 X P V x0x3 x1x2

phenomena in their field. The second part of the last Century was full of 0.6 Here x 0 : x 1 : x 2 : x 3 are taken to be great achievements both in Physics and Mathematics based on that 0.4 P homogeneous coordinates in the 3- relation: the standard model for particles in Physics, applications of 0.2 dimensional projective space.

Yang-Mills theory in Mathematics, string theory, to name some of them. 0 In this project, we study one aspect of that relation. The focus of this 0 0.5 1 1.5 work is to study a class of mathematical objects, called toric varieties, 2-dimensional smooth lattice polytope and its corresponding smooth projective toric which are used to model the mirror symmetry phenomenon in physics. surface. Toric varieties are complex manifolds on which a complex torus acts with a dense orbit. These manifolds can be studied by algebraic and combinatorial methods (they belong in a common ground of algebraic A rational polyhedral cone, , and its dual, . geometry and the theory of convex cones in Euclidean spaces). These To get an n-dimensional smooth projective toric variety we need to do the following: n objects are important because it was realized in the decade of 1980 that •Fix a lattice M of dimension n, say . many nice examples of physics theories can be based on toric varieties. •Find a full dimensional lattice polytope P in the lattice, and let the number s P Let be a strongly convex rational polyhedral cone. Then we define its n s 1 •Construct the map : C P , by using the characters induced by the In particular, the mirror symmetry - a phenomenon related to the super- dual cone to be the strongly convex rational polyhedral cone: string theory, the theory that hoped to unify the forces in physics – can intersection of the polytope with the lattice. This map is a projective embedding. be modelled easily on such varieties. Therefore, the core of this work is m | m,u miui 0, u •The zarisky closure in the s-1 dimensional projective space of the image of this map is i the n-dimensional smooth projective toric variety X P . to study toric varieties, and while doing so we aim to provide a Note that this dual cone is generated by elements in the classification of smooth toric varieties in the Projective Space. corresponding dual lattice, M, hence the name of dual cone. Now, the set S M is an affine semigroup and so we get the affine toric variety U Spec S . A toric variety X is an irreducible variety that contains a torus as 2.5 2 an open subset and such that the action of the torus to itself 2 : C* P4 extends to an action of the torus to X. 1.5 x, y  1: xy : x2 y2 : xy 2 : y 1 A point p Xis said to be smooth or nonsingular if P One dimensional smooth lattice polytope corresponding to 0.5 dim T( p)X dim X. A toric variety X is smooth if every point the smooth toric variety in figure 1. X P V x1x3 x2x4, x1x4 x0x3 is smooth. 10 0 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 9

Affine representation of 8 1.2 the smooth projective * 2 5 7 1 : C P toric variety: 6 A fan is a finite collection of strongly convex rational polyhedral 0.8 2 3 5 cones satisfying the following properties: 0.6 x, y  1: x : x : x : xy : y 0.4 2 2 4 The intersection of any two cones of the fan is a face of each. X V y xz P • ______0.2 P 3 •A face of any cone in the fan is again a cone in the fan. X Im 2 0 P 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 1 A toric variety can be constructed from a fan and denoted byX in the 0 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 following way: For every cone in the fan we get an affine toric variety, then X is the union of all of this affine toric varieties and glue together via the intersections of any two affine pieces which correspond to the intersection of their corresponding cones. •Lattice points Every smooth toric variety is of the form X . •Toric Ideals •Ronald E. McNair Program at Florida International University •Affine Semigroups A polytope P is the convex hull of a finite set S. That is, •Graduate School of University of Notre Dame S P Conv(S) u | 1, 0 •Math Department of University of Notre Dame i i i . So we have that a polytope is A rational polyhedral cone is a set of the form: u S i 1 •Math Department at Florida International University the convex hull of its vertices, which are faces of dimension zero. A lattice

iu | i 0 , where S is a finite subset of a lattice N. polytope is a polytope where all its vertices are lattice points. A polytope u S has a fan associated to it, called the normal fan. Objective The focus of this work is to study a class of mathematical objects called toric varieties which are used to model the mirror symmetry phenomenon in physics.

Florida International University 59 Cohort 60 7 Maria Talavera Undergraduate Achievement Journal McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Florida International University D to of molecules types of many binding the of specificity sequences the determine to frequently employed been has that activity enzyme of restriction inhibition) (generally alterations observing be We will Considerations ofTopologyandFlankingSequences Restriction EnzymeActivityAnalysis ofSmallMoleculeBindingtoDNA: to amixture ofsupercoiled andrelaxed circular tetra(N-methyl-4-pyridyl)porphine, ethidium) amino)ethyl)amino)anthracene-9,10-dione, of intercalators (N examining the competitive binding of a variety of manytypesmoleculestoDNAs. While determine thesequencespecificityofbinding activity thathasbeenemployed frequently to generally inhibition,ofrestriction enzyme current alterations, research topicisobserving standing is a was borninHialeah, Florida. My current academic My ethnicityisCuban andS My nameisMaria which cut the target D target the cut which enzymes restriction employed either have studies these “short,” linear D “short,” linear ( of intercalators of avariety binding competitive the AbstrN a ct etropsin, bis(((di(aminoethyl)amino)anthracene-9,10- etropsin, S N enior and my major is Biology. My A fragments. In this study, we examined study, examined we this In A fragments. T etropsin, bis(((di(aminoethyl) alavera andIam23years old. N A several times or employed or employed times A several panish descent and I panish descentandI N As. Generally, Generally, As. readily done with linear D linear done with readily to twist D twist to known are molecules of these For many monitored. is sites primary to binding that so ratios pair low ligand/base at be N N I, Mlu I, Dra II, BssH Ava e.g., II, or twice, once ΦX circular relaxed and of supercoiled bromide) a to mixture tetra( dione, cheese pizzaandFettuccini Alfredo. Myand sports. favorite foodisN effective to treat cancers.I really enjoy cooking we whichwouldbealotmore candevelop drugs interactinmutative conditions. Thisway drugs help improve ourunderstandingofhow certain interesting because itcould found thetopicvery disease andmymomisacoloncancersurvivor. I my lifeseveral times,I’ve lostloved onesduetothis my research topicbecauseCancerhasimpacted International University. Ibecameinterested in research underDr. S which cleave onceortwice.Iconducted this phiX174RF DNAsusingrestriction enzymes ru I, Pst I, S PstI, I, ru 174RF D N A and may bind cooperatively – perhaps more more –perhaps cooperatively bind may A and N tu I, X I, tu N A using restriction enzymes which cleave cleave which enzymes restriction A using -methyl-4-pyridyl)porphine, E -methyl-4-pyridyl)porphine, ho N I, N tephen Winkle atFlorida ar I, AL W44. All studies will will studies W44. All AL I, ar A. 2010 ew ew York-style thidium thidium ci I, I, ci McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

Restriction Enzyme Activity Analysis of Small Molecule Binding to DNA: Considerations of Topology and Flanking Sequences S.A. Winkle, M.D. Talavera, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Florida International University, Miami, Florida 33199

We will be observing alterations (generally inhibition) of If a drug’s affinity is great for a sequence that resembles the cleaving Drug/Enzyme ALW44 Ava II BssH II Nci I Pst I Stu I Xho I restriction enzyme activity that has been employed frequently to site of the enzyme of interest, there should be some sort of intercalation determine the sequence specificity of the binding of many types which ultimately would inhibit cleavage. Act D IR/ISC IR/NSC IR/NSC PIR/NSC ER/ESC PIR/NSC IR/NSC of molecules to DNA. Generally, these studies have either Amet NR/ISC NR/ISC N/N IR/ISC PIR/ISC IR/NSC NR/ISC employed restriction enzymes which cut the target DNA several times or employed “short”, linear DNA fragments. In this study, EB -- PIR/PIS PIR/PIS IR/NSC PIR/ISC -- IR/PISC C C we will examine the competitive binding of a variety of All Restriction Endonucleases and buffers used were ordered from Porphyrin I/I I/I ER/ESC PIR/NSC IR/PISC I/-- I/I intercalators (Netropsin, Promega Laboratories and Fisher Scientific Laboratories. Enzyme Table-2: Enzymes that cleave ΦX174 DNA once and their respective results when interacted with various drugs. I stands for bis(((di(aminoethyl)amino)ethyl)amino)anthracene-9,10-dione, dilutions were constructed using 5 µl of the pure restriction inhibition of cleavage, P stands for partial, E stands for enhancement, N stands for no enzyme inhibition. R and SC are abbreviations for relaxed DNA and supercoiled DNA, respectively. Act D stands for Actinomycin D, Amet stands for tetra(N-methyl-4-pyridyl)porphine, ethidium) to a mixture of endonucleases of interest, 5 µl of its corresponding buffer and 40 µl of Ametantrone, and EB stands for Ethidium Bromide. supercoiled and relaxed circular ΦX174RF DNAs using Glycerin. Samples were numbered from 1 to 6. In this experiment we restriction enzymes which cleave once or twice, e.g., Ava II, used 1:10 dilution of ΦX174 DNA. Drug/Enzyme Dra I Mlu I Nar I Nru I BssH II, Dra I, Mlu I, Nci I, Nru I, Pst I, St I, Xho I. All studies will Act D PIR/NSC IR/ISC -- IR/NSC be at low ligand/ base pair ratios so that binding to primary sites Sample # Drug H2O Buffer DNA Total Amet IR/PISC NR/ISC PIR/ISC --/ISC is monitored. 1 0 µl 7 µl 1 µl 4 µl 12 µl EB IR/ISC IR/PISC -- IR/PISC 2 0 µl 7 µl 1 µl 4 µl 12 µl Porphyrin PIR/ISC PIR/-- -- IR/-- 3 1 µl 6 µl 1 µl 4 µl 12 µl Table-2: Cont. 4 2 µl 5 µl 1 µl 4 µl 12 µl 5 3 µl 4 µl 1 µl 4 µl 12 µl [Netrop.] ALW Ava II BssH Dra I Mlu I Nar I Nci I Nru I Pst I Stu I Xho I Restriction enzymes are enzymes that surf along DNA and 44 II 6 4 µl 3 µl 1 µl 4 µl 12 µl cleave at specific nucleotide sequences. In this case, they will Table-1: Sample protocol 1:100 IR/IS NR/N NR/N I/I NR/N IR/IS NR/N PI/I NR/N PIR/-- NR/N be used to help locate particular sequences where several dilution C SC SC SC C SC SC SC drugs of interest would bind to. We plan to study the drugs’ Samples one through six were incubated for 15 minutes at a temperature 1:25 PIR/I IR/IS ER/E -- I/I -- I/I -- IR/ISC -- I/I behavior when competing with restriction endonucleases, as of 37˚C. After fifteen minutes, these samples were taken out of the dilution SC C SC well as how they interact with DNA upon binding. PhiX174RF incubator. Samples 2 through 6 were given 3µl of enzyme dilution and Table-3: Results with Netropsin at different concentrations will be used in this experiment. Drugs used in this study placed back to be incubated for 15 more minutes. After the incubation included Netropsin, Ethidium Bromide, tetra(N-methyl-4- period ended, 5 µl of 1% sodium dodecyl sulfate was added to samples 1 pyridyl)porphine (Porphyrin), through 6. The samples were then incubated at 65˚C for eight minutes. bis(((di(aminoethyl)amino)ethyl)amino)anthracene-9,10-dione An amount of 4 µl of tracking dye was added to every sample. A 1% I would like thank the Ronald E. McNair Post-baccalaureate (Ametantrone) and Actinomycin D. All of these are known to Agarose gel is made; contents include 2 grams of Agarose (s); 178mL of Achievement Program for allowing me to conduct research during the summer. My mentor, Dr. Winkle, for allowing me to work in his lab and intercalate relaxed and supercoiled DNA. Intercalation of DNA deionized H2O; and 20mL of TBE. Agarose gel electrophoresis was occurs when the drug molecule binds itself between two base carried out in a FisherBiotech Mini-Horizontal Unit; model FB-SB-710. for all his help. I would also like to thank the staff of the McNair pairs within the DNA molecule. For specific information on this process, view article in references (2). program, Dr. Simms, Dr. Hamilton, Ms. Thompson and Ms. Colon, for After gel electrophoresis is complete, the Agarose gel is to be placed for all their help and support. Finally I would like to thank my parents and 15 minutes in a Ethidium staining bath. After completing this staining my boyfriend, for all their love, but particularly for always believing in Figure 1: Molecular bath, the gel is ready to be viewed under UV light for results. me especially during times when I didn’t. structure of Actinomycin D (left), Porphyrin (center), Netropsin (right) Meyers, Jane Aldrich, David Sanchez, Lynn Elwell, and Stanley Falkow. "Simple Agarose Gel Electrophoresis Method for the Identification and Characterization of Plasmid Deoxyribonucleic Acid." Journal of Bacteriology. 127.3 (1976): 1529-1537.

Objective Study the drugs’ behavior when competing with restriction endonucleases, as well as how they interact with DNA upon binding.

Florida International University 61 McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

Administrative Staff

Dr. Rosa L. Jones Vice President Division of Student Affairs

Dr. Helen Ellison Associate Vice President Division of Student Affairs

Dr. E. George Simms Principal Investigator & Director Pre-Collegiate Programs & Grants Ronald E. McNair Program

Dr. Ajamu A. Banjoko Associate Director Pre-Collegiate Programs & Grants Ronald E. McNair Program

62 Florida International University McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

Advisory Board

Dr. Eric Crumpler Dr. Ajamu A. Banjoko Associate Professor Associate Director Biomedical Engineering Grants and McNair Program

Dr. Kalai Mathee Dr. Joerg Reinhold Chair and Associate Professor Assistant Professor Molecular Microbiology & Immunology Physics Department

Dr. Ophelia Weeks Dr. William Beesting Associate Professor Assistant Dean Biological Sciences Dept. of Undergraduate Studies

Dr. Richard Bone Ms. Elena Cruz Professor Director Physics Department Upward Bound Math-Science

Dr. Stephen Mintz Dr. Kevin O’Shea Assistant Dean Professor, Graduate Coordinator University Graduate School Department of Chemisty Professor, Physics Department Dr. Thirunarayanan Dr. E. George Simms Associate Professor Principal Investigator & Director Dept. of Education, Curriculum Pre-Collegiate Programs & Grants Dr. Nikolaos Tsoukias Dr. Kinsey Jones Assistant Professor Director Biomedical Engineering Advance Materials Eng. Research Institute

Florida International University 63 McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

Acknowledgements

The McNair program staff and students gratefully acknowledge the following individuals and departments for their continued support and contribution:

office of the Provost office of the Vice President for Research & Graduate School office of Vice President of Student Affairs office of the Registrar office of Financial Aid office of University Comptroller Members of the McNair Advisory Board Faculty Mentors

64 Florida International University McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Cohort 7 Undergraduate Achievement Journal 2010

Cohort7

Florida International University 65 Ronald E. McNair