This past summer I participated in an internship in partnership with Dr. Peter Korpi, an optometrist from Muscatine, Iowa. Dr. Korpi has traveled to underdeveloped countries to examine people’s eyes and provide the residents with corrective eyeglasses free of charge. Dr. Korpi and I arrived in Uzbekistan, my home country, to inspect eyesight of citizens who lacked the financial means to afford basic healthcare. We hoped that our mission would lead to a dramatic improvement in their quality of life. Read More…

Mud layers trapped within stalagmites from caves in a variety of environmental settings have been interpreted as flood deposits.  Here we present a combined petrographic and isotopic analysis of one glacial-age stalagmite, AUS-118 from Cape Range, coastal Western Australia.  Stalagmite AUS-118 was thin sectioned and visually inspected and 121 mud layers were identified.  The distance of each layer was measured from the bottom of the stalagmite.  Read More…

Yeast (S. cerevisiae) are a relatively simple, ubiquitous, single-cell organism, like bacteria. However, unlike bacteria, yeast are eukaryotes, like humans. They also have some proteins that are similar to those found in humans. Some of the proteins are TOR proteins, which are responsible for many things, including resource partitioning. For this reason, TOR proteins influence a variety of issues, such as obesity and cancer. Read More…

Our experience of going to the Bahamas was a trip to the past. Reading the only surviving plantation owner’s journal from the Bahamas, kept by Charles Farquharson, the last remaining slaveholder on the island of San Salvador, was deeply enriched by the on-site learning experiences at the ruins of his plantation, Prospect Hill. The knowledge that we gained through our opportunities for experiential learning are best reflected in the final projects that our class produced using Farquharson’s journal and writing in the voices, and from the perspectives of, the actual slaves living at Prospect Hill in 1831 and 1832. Read More…

Paleoclimate reconstructions for Portugal and the Iberian margin have recently been conducted for the last glacial cycle with the main focus centered on both terrestrial and marine-based data. Portuguese stalagmites provide climatic information through oxygen and carbon isotopes in stalagmite calcite and can be dated using uranium-thorium techniques. One area of particular interest is the climatic response in Iberia to Heinrich-events, the coldest points during glacial stadials having sub-polar climatic conditions and are signaled in the Iberian margin by large influxes of ice-rafted debris. Read More…

An emerging counter to plant pathogens is biocontrol through antibiosis.  This project aimed to discern how antibiotic production by Pseudomonas fluorescens PF-5 was affected in the presence of fungal metabolites extracted from two unknown fungi (F-12 and F-42).  Antibiotics studied included 2,4-diacetylphloroglucinol, monoacetylphloroglucinol, pyoluteorin and pyrrolnitrin.  Read More…

Tropical cyclones (a.k.a. hurricanes and typhoons) are among the most devastating forms of extreme weather events in terms of loss of life and destruction of property.  Identifying long-term trends in tropical cyclone activity is crucial to understanding the mechanisms that drive variability in frequency and intensity.  Historical records of cyclone activity are high-resolution, but short-reaching, making them ineffective as tools to identify trends that may only appear over multi-decadal to centennial timescales. Read More…

Previous studies demonstrate that body composition (specifically the amount of body fat) influences autonomic function.  The autonomic nervous system is divided into two branches: the sympathetic nervous system prepares the body for energetic action (e.g., increases in heart rate and blood pressure) while the parasympathetic nervous system has antagonistic actions promoting relaxation.  Overweight individuals tend to demonstrate increased sympathetic activation; conversely, augmented parasympathetic activity has been shown in individuals with a low percentage of body fat. Read More…

This paper examines the relationship between racism, stress, and health disparities between Black and White Americans. Health disparities between Black and White Americans are a pressing issue in the United States. Blacks experience more severe and higher rates of a number of negative health outcomes than Whites experience, such as earlier development of hypertension, higher mortality due to cardiovascular disease, and higher rates of low birth weight and preterm birth. Read More…

During the summer of 2011, I spent three weeks in Provence, France, traveling with a group of students seeking to understand the connections between people and the terrain in this country so famous for its cuisine. From bustling marketplaces to vast swaying lavender fields, we explored many different centers of regional agriculture and spoke to some very passionate individuals about the work that they do. Read More…

The Lindy Hop was not a spontaneous creation, but rather the product of multiple influences across time.  This upbeat, partnered swing dance came into its own in the ’20s and ’30s in Harlem.  My presentation will explore the socio-cultural context of its development through both performance and an oral component, explaining its different names and variations as the dance came into contact with new groups of people and new music. Read More…

Bolivia is a country in which many very different cultures and religious traditions have come into contact with each other and often clashed violently; however, in spite of their radical differences, in a process akin to the creation of the mestizo race, these different traditions have blended together to form a culture that incorporates elements of both “parent” cultures, but is uniquely Bolivian.  Many aspects of Bolivian culture, such as the architecture, food, dress, and religious beliefs, reflect an amalgamation of different cultures, a process known as syncretism. Read More…

Our current understanding of trends in tropical cyclone activity in the Indo-Pacific is restricted by a limited historical record.  Mud layers deposited in stalagmites during flooding events in cave KNI-51 from tropical Western Australia appear to be a proxy for tropical cyclone activity in the region. Read More…

This qualitative study examines sibling relationships in a small-town school district and how birth order can affect student posture and performance in the school environment.  Several different birth order theories will be addressed and they will be used as a means of analyzing student academic and athletic performance, as well as social interaction. Read More…

Poenulus, a comedy by the Roman playwright Titus Maccius Plautus (254-184 BC) tells the story of two sisters who were abducted as children from Carthage and then sold into prostitution. A young man falls in love with one of the sisters and, through a series of comedic mishaps, he helps overthrow their pimp and returns the girls to their father. The jocular prowess of the play hinges upon the hilarity of slavery and the gendered, racial stereotypes that Romans held against Carthaginians. Read More…

Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), most commonly known as African sleeping sickness, is fatal if not treated, yet the currently available drugs must be given intravenously and are associated with significant toxicity risks.  Pafuramidine maleate (DB289) is an orally bioavailable pro-drug developed to treat HAT.  Pre-clinical trial data suggested promising oral efficacy and a potential for liver toxicity that was mild compared to current HAT drugs. Read More…

The United States Constitution has endured for well over two centuries, so it may seem strange that a country would rewrite its constitution entirely.  The remaking of a country’s constitution could set it on a dangerous trajectory toward autocratic rule or could set the country on a course of political, social, and economic growth.  Read More…

An ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphic zone has been identified in the North Qaidam Mountains of China. Located on the northeastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau, the North Qaidam Mountains contain UHP eclogites, which indicate subduction of continental materials to > 90 km deep. Read More…

 Among the myriad of renewable energy sources present in nature, solar energy is regarded as one of the most promising sources because of its abundance. To date, the field of commercial photovoltaics is dominated by conventional inorganic semiconductor technologies like silicon because of their relatively high efficiencies. Read More…

Christian Marclay filmed and recorded Guitar Drag in 1999 and released the video installation in 2000. Most critics focus on the work as a response to the racially-charged 1998 murder of African-American James Byrd, Jr., but Guitar Drag is more than a frightening commentary on racism and abuse. Three Anglo men tied Byrd to the back of their pick-up truck and dragged him through several miles of rural Texas. Read More…

We normally think of space as more or less Euclidean.  Straight lines are infinite; they cross maybe once, if that.  Mathematicians spent almost 2000 years trying to prove that this is the only kind of space that can possibly exist.  Instead they eventually found that there are non-Euclidean spaces that are logically, perfectly consistent. Read More…

 We quantified home range size and movements of hatchling and juvenile ornate box turtles (Terrapene ornata ornata) at Hawkeye Wildlife Area, Iowa, during the summer of 2011.  Ten hatchlings and juveniles were followed using radio telemetry from May through July. Read More…

This essay focuses on the theme of authority in François Truffaut’s 1959 film The 400 Blows (1959), and how it negatively affects the lead protagonist Antoine Doinel as he strives for intellectual freedom. Read More…

The evolutionary relationship of the Millepores in the Caribbean has been problematic for years. Taxonomic classification of these Millepores is based upon habitat and morphology. Two distinct morphologies, classified as separate species, have been recorded, but extensive phenotypic plasticity yields a large variety of intermediate morphologies that do not fit into the current taxonomic groupings. Read More…

Elizabeth Stanley, Countess of Derby, was the ruler of the Isle of Man from c.1612 to 1627, a tiny island in the Irish Sea that in the Medieval period was the seat of a powerful maritime kingdom ruled by Norse kings. By the Early Modern period the island was considered part of the wider British Isles but it was not part of the realm of England; rather, it was a dependent of the English crown with its own separate government exempt from acts of Parliament. Read More…

Procrastination is a widespread phenomenon in our society, resulting in self-help books and thousands of people that continue to procrastinate daily. Yet the question still remains: why do people procrastinate even when they know that it could potentially harm their chances of success? Given that approximately ninety-five percent of college students reported procrastinating during their education at some point, it is increasingly necessary to analyze the motivations that prelude this irrational behavior. Read More…

In order to examine the influence of affect on decision-making, experimenters assessed performance on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) as a function of affective prime type.  Primes were positive, negative, or neutral affective images.  Subjects in the exposure phase were prompted to view and rate neutral target images immediately following subliminally masked affective primes. Read More…

This presentation considers the various ways Alfred Hitchcock portrays women in his film Rear Window. As director, Hitchcock applies an assortment of film techniques to manipulate how the viewer sees the female characters. These techniques affect how women are viewed by both the main character, L. D. Jeffries, and the cinematic audience. Read More…

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is important for maintaining stability in the knee joint. Over 175,000 people in the United States experience ACL injuries each year. Surgical ACL repairs typically use autografts (tissue from the patient) or allografts (from a non-self source). The purpose of the study was to compare the success rates of allograft versus autograft ACL repair specifically in adolescents as this group has not previously been studied. Read More…

Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film Rear Window (1954), shot almost entirely from one room, focuses largely on what it means to observe and what it means to participate. As observers, we are watching, and as participants, we are engaging. But what happens when watching becomes participation? Read More…

The ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) is responsible for maintaining protein equilibrium and the degradation of damaged and misfolded proteins.  Dysfunction of the UPS has been observed in cardiovascular diseases.  Our lab has shown markedly decreased activity of proteasomes in failing hearts as compared to normal hearts. Read More…

Multiple myeloma (MM), a malignancy of plasma cells, accounts for ~13% of all hematological malignancies. Many genes have been identified in the pathogenesis of MM including interferon regulatory factor 4, IRF4, a proto-oncogene. IRF4 is a transcription factor activated by the NF-кB pathway and is a regulator of plasmacytic differentiation and cell cycle progression amongst other roles in the hematopoietic system. Read More…

The ornate box turtle, Terrapene ornata ornata, displays significant sexual dimorphism. Males generally have thicker and longer tails, modified hind toes, a concave plastron, more muscular hind legs, and vividly red or orange irises and antebrachial scales, as opposed to the pale yellows and browns of juveniles and females (Legler, 1960). Read More…

The segmentation of medical images to extract anatomical structures is an important problem in medical image analysis.  Traditionally, this is done through a time-consuming and error-prone process in which an experienced physician marks a series of parallel contours that outline the structures of interest. Read More…

2+ 2 cycloaddition reactions provide a means by which solids can react in the presence of light without any solvent. The reactants are oriented by metal-organic complexes that act as templates. These reactions are very useful in forming products that could otherwise not be formed in the liquid phase and enables stereospecific control of the products. Read More…

Computational chemistry is a largely theoretical approach to studying chemistry. In this field of chemistry, sophisticated mathematical models and computers are used to calculate properties of chemical species from fundamental principles. In this study, electronic structure methods were used to calculate the energy of CO₂-capturing reactions as well as the bond length and angle of the CO₂ in the product. Read More…

Colloidal metals, otherwise known as metallic nanoparticles, have many applications in optoelectronics, semiconductors, catalysis, and magnetic devices, while colloidal gold specifically has applications in drug delivery and health care due to its generally non-toxic characteristics.  The functionality of a nanoparticle depends on the material in use as well as the size and surrounding environment. Read More…

The number of inmates with severe mental disorders in correctional facilities has been increasing at an alarming rate. Individuals with mental conditions appear in courts in much higher frequencies than in emergency rooms or psychiatric clinics. This seems to be the result of a mental health policy, which states that a person with mental disorder(s) has to be an imminent danger—to the society or to self—before a third party can successfully intervene. Read More…

Previous research has indicated that proactivity may be an important personality trait in determining a number of behavioral outcomes that might otherwise appear to be results of environmental factors. The current study investigated the relationship between proactive personality and academic success as well as stress among college students. Read More…

The 2011 release of the movie Moneyball has sparked renewed interest in the impact the book left on the game of baseball. It is now claimed that Major League Baseball teams have embraced new methods of evaluating the performance of baseball players, shirking “old school” statistics such as batting average and fielding percentage in favor of “new school” statistics such as value over a replacement player and defensive runs saved. Read More…

In my research, I have looked at one story that occurs throughout the Gospels. My goal was to compare and contrast one story that occurs in different books, and to look at what that means for the main message and goal of the passage. I compared a story about one of the many healing miracles that Jesus performed in the New Testament. In this passage a woman is inflicted with chronic menstrual flow. Read More…

The speed of modern computing algorithms is limited by the basic operations allowed by classical physics. With the advent of quantum computing, there could be faster and more unique methods to solve a variety of problems. In order to create a quantum computer, liquid nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy can be utilized. Read More…

Hacking frequently gets a bad rap from media outlets and is a widely misused term. The truth is that techniques and software developed by hackers help to improve the level of security for all computer users.  It is up to the person using these techniques and software tools to decide if they hack for “good” or for personal benefit. Read More…

The Bahamas and Greece are both countries with rich histories, yet they provide examples of  extremely different approaches to preserving that history and making it accessible to the public. Measures have been taken at certain archaeological sites in Greece, specifically Knossos, Crete, to not only prevent further destruction, but to actually attempt to rebuild the sites. Read More…

In 1972, Professor Chris Stone published an article titled “Should Trees Have Standing?” In his essay, Stone called upon the Supreme Court to expand the legal concept of standing, which determines whether parties have the opportunity to have their cases heard in court. Read More…

During Argentina’s brutal military dictatorship of 1976-1983, the Naval Mechanics School (ESMA) in Buenos Aires became a clandestine military detention center where around 5,000 victims were tortured, held, and/or killed. After years of debate over the space, the property was converted into a museum in 2004 called the Space for Memory and the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights. Read More…

Though it is now quite unknown, Cornell College owned a printing press in the past that operated out of South Hall. The Cornell College Press, run by the English Club at Cornell, ran from 1935-1967. In this time, yearly chapbooks and other texts were produced and printed by the college, including The Husk, Cornell’s literary magazine from 1922-1967. Read More…

Nanoscience and nanotechnology research are rapidly growing research areas in chemistry, physics, and biology due mainly to nanoparticles’ unique properties associated with their size.  These properties include interesting optical, electrical, and chemical effects. Read More…

Modern fuel cell technology faces the challenge of developing efficient and long-term catalysts to reduce oxygen (ORR).  As the catalyst, metalloporphyrins have been of great interest, but the reduction mechanism is still a subject of debate.  Recent work has shown an increase in catalytic activity with metalloporphyrins co-deposited with transition metal oxides. Read More…

Figures of the Etruscan underworld and the afterlife appear on funerary mirrors and already have been addressed by Alexandra Carpino and others like Nancy Thompson de Grummond.  These characters include Mercury, the Dioscuri, and Eos. Scholars identify these by the attributes associated with Greek mythology, whose myths often are further mirrored in the Etruscan pantheon. Read More…