Table of Contents Beacon Conference Description and Steering Committee Members………………………………………….3 Community College Sponsors, Other Sponsors…………………………………………………………………………..4 Outstanding Papers Jon Carlson The Balance of Nature and the Hunger of Children: An Ethical Exploration of Genetically Modified Organisms………………………….…….…………………5 Sarah Chan Redefining Beauty Standards: The Negative Influence of the Western Aesthetic of Thinness……………………………………………………….…………..15 Rakesh Chopde ‘Caste-ing’ Call for the Social Network: Leveling the Playing Field in India…………35 Antonio Concolino So What’s the Deal with the Value of the Renminbi Anyway?..............................53 Laura Duran Shakespeare’s Ariel and Caliban: The Others…………………………………………………….63 Erica Espinosa The Good, the Bad, and the Hope: Remittances & Globalization……………….………73 Samuel Han The End of Religion: An Epistemo-personal Exploration……………….……………………90 Adrianne Kirk Medical Miracles: The Price of Creativity? Posthumous Diagnoses of Three Great Artists…………………………………………………………………………………….104 Hannah Knowlton The Irish Potato Famine: Act of Genocide………………………………………………………..122 Diane Lameira Creating the Terrorist: The Psychology of Group Dynamics……………………………..133 1 Ryan McGrail The DeLacey Family; the True Creators of Frankenstein’s Creature………………….149 Joselida Mercado Sowing Wild Oates: Sex, Fairy Tales and Rock and Roll……………………………………157 Siomara Parada Containing the Scourge of AIDS: A Case Study on Brazil…………………………………..164 Theresa Price Kidneys Anyone?.................................................................................................182 Chris Saffran The Digital Natives are Restless………………………………………………………………………199 Jusline Sayegh Addressing the Needs of Generation 1.5 in the Community College………………..213 Martina Thorne The Hurrian Myth of Kumarbi and Its Influences in Hesiod’s Theogony……………226 David Trabucco The Laplace Transform……………………………………………………………………………………235 Judson Williams Vaccine Accessibility for Developing Countries: The Promise of AMCs…………....253 Beacon 2011 Conference Schedule and Speakers.........………………………………………………………….267 Beacon Poster Presentations………………………………………………………………………………………………….277 2 The Beacon Conference is an annual conference that recognizes and celebrates the achievements of two-year college students in research and writing. It is sponsored by a coalition of member colleges. It creates an opportunity for faculty to mentor students as they begin their education at two-year colleges and showcases the work of outstanding students. The conference is held each year on the first Friday of June, and students present their work in a wide range of disciplines. Students work with their faculty mentors to prepare and submit papers that demonstrate outstanding scholarship and originality. All papers submitted are carefully reviewed by three readers, and the top three papers in each category are selected for presentation at the annual conference in June. Presentations are judged on originality and quality of research, written work, and oral presentation. The judge for each category chooses and outstanding presenter. Both the outstanding presenter and the presenter’s faculty mentor in each panel are recognized at the closing session of the conference, and each receives $100.00. Steering Committee Members 2011 Bergen Community College (NJ) Dorothy Altman, Anne Maganzini, Geoffrey Sadock, Sarah Shurts, Kathleen Williams Borough of Manhattan Community College (NY) Jerold Schoenblum, Carol Wasserman Brookdale Community College (NJ) Elaine Olaoye Dutchess Community College (NY) John Desmond, Kevin Cavanaugh Erie Community College (NY) Rene Rojas, Lisa Matthies-Wiza LaGuardia Community College Robert Kahn Lehigh Carbon Community College (PA) Christine Bowditch, Ned Schillow Montgomery College (MD) Lucy Laufe Northampton Community College (PA) Randy Boone, Ronit Shemtov, Nancy Trautmann Northern Virginia Community College (VA) Joyce Brotton Orange County Community College (NY) Michele Iannuzzi-Sucich, Melissa Browne Reading Area Community College (PA) Donna Singleton Rockland Community College (NY) Kristopher Baker, Thomas Butler, Robert Fuentes Sullivan County Community College (NY) Cindy Linden Ulster County Community College (NY) Miho Iwazaki, Robert Pucci Westchester Community College (NY) Lori Maida, Mira Sakrajda 3 Beacon 2011 Community College Sponsors Bergen Community College (NJ) Borough of Manhattan College (NY) Brookdale Community College (NJ) Dutchess Community College (NY) Erie Community College (NY) LaGuardia Community College (NY) Montgomery College (MD) Northampton Community College (PA) Northern Virginia Community College (VA) Orange County Community College (NY) Reading Area Community College (PA) Rockland Community College (NY) Sullivan County Community College (NY) Ulster County Community College (NY) Westchester Community College (NY) Additional Sponsors Coca Cola Columbia University Division of General Studies Follett Corporation Lehigh Carbon Community College Student Government Association Lehigh Carbon Community College Student Life Pearson Higher Education 4 The Balance of Nature and the Hunger of Children: An Ethical Exploration of Genetically Modified Organisms Jon W. Carlson Mentored by Professor Michael Feyers, Reading Area Community College Yesterday, over 14,000 children under the age of five died of starvation (UNICEF 2006). Scattered throughout what is euphemistically known as the “developing world,” these children died because of iron deficiencies, low caloric intake, and a lack of vitamin A. In developing countries, 9.7 million children under the age of five die each year; 53 percent of those deaths are caused by nutrition-related issues (UNICEF 2006). Nobel Peace Prize winning economist Muhammad Yunus, who has seen the effects of malnutrition in his native Bangladesh, describes death by starvation as “the most unacceptable *death+ of all. Second by second, the distance between life and death becomes smaller and smaller, until the two are in such close proximity that one can hardly tell the difference …. And all for the lack of a handful of rice at each meal” (Yunus 1999). While children are affected most frequently, many adults continue to suffer from inadequate access to basic necessities like food and water. Faced with this macro-level problem that spans continents and impacts billions of people, scientists, policy makers, and other experts are focusing their attention on a very micro- level solution—the nucleus of a cell. Within the nucleus resides a set of chemicals know as DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid. DNA contains a biological code in its sequences of the compounds adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine. By controlling the manufacture of proteins within cells, this code controls the attributes and behaviors of organisms, from the color and texture of fruit to the breeding capabilities of animals. Since DNA controls so many functions of an organism, some scientists believe that the manipulation of DNA in food sources, like corn and rice, can help to alleviate global malnutrition. These genetically modified crops may be engineered to be resistant to drought, disease, and infestation, or designed to produce more Vitamin A or iron. Many remain skeptical of genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) and 5 raise concern that this artificial manipulation of DNA may pose a threat to the delicate balance of nature. Humans’ understanding of the role DNA plays in an organism has developed over the past 150 years. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Gregor Mendel, an Austrian monk, identified a basic understanding of heredity starting in 1865 (NIH 2010). Although Mendel never saw the inner workings of a cell, his research conclusively showed that many of an organism’s characteristics are not random, but rather determined through heredity. Heredity refers to the process of offspring inheriting certain traits, such as the color or seed shape of the peas Mendel studied, from its parents. In 1869, Friedrich Miescher, a Swiss biologist, isolated DNA from white blood cells, calling it “nuclein” (NIH 2010). Although Miescher never made the connection between his research and Mendel’s, the fluid he isolated contained the workings of heredity that Mendel described. When an organism reproduces, DNA carries information from parent to child, working as the mechanism of heredity. Research into the cell continued in the twentieth-century. “William Astbury, a British scientist, obtained the first X-ray diffraction pattern of DNA” (NIH 2010). Building on this image of DNA, two scientists named Francis Crick and James Watson identified and described the structure of DNA—an elegant double helix (NIH 2010). In a 900-word paper published in the journal Nature, the scientists correctly noted that “the specific pairing we have postulated immediately suggests a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material” (Watson and Crick 1953). By identifying the shape of DNA and pointing to a replication mechanism, Watson and Crick provided essential insight into the mechanisms of genetic heredity. The double-helix uncoils and separates during cellular reproduction, and identical genetic material is copied according to the DNA’s code. Armed with this information, a new generation of geneticists set out to shape the future. In 1972, the first recombinant DNA molecules were created (NIH 2010): Recombinant DNA technology involves the joining of DNA from different species and subsequently inserting the hybrid DNA into a host cell, often a bacterium.