2016 Poster Presentations Abstracts (Alphabetical)

2016 Poster Presentations Abstracts (Alphabetical)

Symbols:

** = Graduate Student

* = Honors Project

^ = Received an Undergraduate Research Grant

+ = Georgia Power Scholar

Jeanna Adams, Rachel Anderson, Claire Edwards, Taralyn Gillham, Ashley McCurley

Mentor: Barbara Serianni, Special and Adult Education

PBIS

School-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) is a preventative program designed to reduce problem behaviors and create school environments that are safe and positive. The program is founded on the principle that behavioral expectations, like any academic content, must be explicitly taught to students. Schools select 3-5 positively stated behavioral expectations that are easy to remember as the focus of their SWPBIS program. This project demonstrates the complexity of effective implementation of SWPBIS implementation in an imaginary school, Peabody Elementary. The presenters identified the functional components of an elementary school including faculty, staff, support personnel, and students. The project includes descriptive student and teacher profiles as well as a framework for implementing the positive behavioral expectations.

**Dina Ahmed

Mentor: Sara Plaspohl, Health Sciences

Impacts of Obesity in Pregnancy: Life style Intervention to Improve Outcome

With a worldwide rising prevalence, being overweight or obese poses a big threat to pregnancy. It is affiliated with adverse maternal and fetal outcomes. Obese parturients are at high risk of common disorders during pregnancy. These disorders include: Gestational diabetes (GDM), fetal macrosomia, and increased neonatal fat mass. Maternal obesity may also negatively affect the child by increasing the likelihood of obesity and poor metabolic health in childhood, which can persist into adulthood. The offspring of obese women are more likely to be obese than the offspring of lean women. Healthy people 2020 initiative included obesity as a Leading Health Indicator (LHI), which reflects the significance of this public health topic. This exposition will discuss the positive impact that healthy lifestyle have on reducing the risks to the developing fetus and decreasing adverse perinatal outcomes. This presentation will include a descriptive synthesis using a selection of peer reviewed journals from 2011-2016 and addressing ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) of a research report to produce a proper research article.

Key messages: Strong evidence suggests that lifestyle intervention, including physical activity, is an appropriate plan to control pregnancy-related risk factors associated with excessive fetal growth, which may represent the true starting point of a life-long propensity to obesity. The challenge remains to develop effective interventions that encourage obese pregnant women to be physically active. Future research may focus on maternal obesity control among those who live in different socioeconomic statuses.
*^+Krystin Allaire, Kayla Lord

Mentors: Todd Hizer, Catherine MacGowan, Chemistry and Physics

Tithonia rotundifolia, Helianthus annuus, Dracaena braunii, & Phyllostachys edulis as Phytoremediation Agents of Soil and Water from Toxic Heavy Metal Contamination.

Contamination of agricultural soil from heavy metals such as copper, lead, nickel, and zinc poses a significant health threat worldwide. The remediation of contaminated soils is not only an expensive proposition but is often an environmentally invasive and tedious process. A range of technologies have been developed to facilitate the removal of heavy metals from contaminated soils, however many methods trigger secondary environmental effects (e.g. transportation and disposal of the contaminated soil or leach water) and have adverse biological effects. A promising approach which minimizes environmental and biological effects at the site is phytoremediation. This relatively inexpensive process uses living plants to physically remove heavy metals from soil through their root systems. Plants classified as hyperaccumulators, such as sunflowers and bamboo (e.g. Tithonia rotundifolia, Helianthus annuus, Dracaena braunii, & Phyllostachys edulis) are ideal for phytoremediation due to their large biomass production, significant plant tissue growth above ground level that would be available for heavy metal ion storage, and global availability. Each plant species will be examined as to its efficacy for removing heavy metal via atomic absorption (AA) spectroscopy. The research knowledge gained from this project will be incorporated into a new undergraduate science majors (biology and/or chemistry) inquiry-based laboratory module that has real world implications.

^Julia De Amorim, Forrest Collins, Athena Downes, David Reichert, Kelsea Young

Mentor: Jennifer Zettler, Biology

Foraging Behaviors of the Fungus-growing Ant, Cyphomyrmex rimosus

Cyphomyrmex rimosus is a species of fungal farming ants native to the Neotropics that has become established throughout the southeastern United States. Unlike its relative, the tropical leaf-cutting ants, which cultivate their fungal crops on leaves, C. rimosus uses insect excrement as a fungal substrate. C. rimosus is active year-round, so we hope to determine any seasonal changes in foraging behavior. We are monitoring and comparing the temporal foraging behaviors and movements of C. rimosus colonies in ten nests found in both lawn and forested habitats on the Armstrong State University campus in Savannah, Georgia. Preliminary observations show that C. rimosus primarily collect insect excrement, invertebrate parts, wood pieces, and fresh plant material. Forage is identified and catalogued by macro photography. Further, we collect and examine discard piles located outside nest entrances to search for materials that are collected for fungal substrate within the nest. We hope our study will provide an understanding of how C. rimosus foraging can differ across an urban landscape where substrates might be limited.

**Andrea Amszynski, Emily Bowen

Mentor: April Garrity, Communication Sciences and Disorders

Improving Expressive Naming Skills in Individuals with Aphasia: Constraint-Induced Therapy versus Gesture/Multimodality Therapy

Aphasia is an acquired neurogenic communication disorder that affects spoken language, written language, reading comprehension, and auditory comprehension. Although aphasia symptoms manifest differently in each affected individual, all individuals with aphasia present with word-finding deficits, or anomia. Two therapy approaches aimed at improving word-finding skills in individuals with aphasia are constraint-induced therapy and gesture/multimodality therapy. Constraint-induced therapy is an impairment-based treatment that limits responses to the verbal modality only, to improve language function by directly stimulating speaking, writing, reading, and listening skills. Gesture/multimodality therapy is a communication-based treatment that encourages using all modalities, including alternate communication means, and therefore aims to enhance communication by any means utilizing natural interactions involving real-life communication challenges. We reviewed four studies that examined the effects of constraint-induced aphasia therapy and gesture/multi-modality aphasia therapy on expressive naming tasks. Rose et. al (2013) and Kurland et. al (2012) published studies exploring the effects of constraint-induced therapy and gesture/multimodality therapy on expressive naming tasks to determine whether one treatment is more effective than the other. Rose et. al (2013) found constraint-induced treatments and gesture/multimodality treatments to be equally as efficacious. Kurland et. al (2012) found that participants produced more target words accurately following a constraint-induced treatment opposed to a gesture/multimodality treatment. These results suggest that both therapies were effective in improving expressive naming skills. Due to the limited studies comparing treatment efficacy, clinicians need to consider the effects on expressive naming tasks in individual clients using constraint-induced therapy versus gesture/multimodality therapy to determine the best treatment approach.

Cheryl Armstrong, Emily Foster, Prestina Harris, Courtney Horne

Mentor: Pamela Cartright, Radiologic Sciences

Carcinoma of the Prostate

Carcinoma of the prostate is the most common malignancy and the second leading cause of cancer death in men. African American men have a higher prevalence of developing prostate cancer than any other racial group. Age is the most significant risk factor. The presentation of symptoms implies metastatic disease; therefore, early detection is essential. Controversies exist over the effectiveness of the use of prostate specific antigen (PSA) used as a screening and diagnostic tool. Recent studies show that new biomarkers may be more effective in establishing a diagnosis with more reliability and fewer false positives. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment for prostate cancer.

**Lissette Badillo

Mentor: Sarah Plaspohl, Health Sciences

Evidence-Based Review of Contradictory Diet and Physical Health Attributes Among Low-Income Hispanic Children

Dietary Guidelines for America states three-fourths of the population, including children, consume too few vegetables. Healthy People 2020, a 10-year national initiative with objectives for improving the health of all Americans, has created the leading health indicator (LHI) NSW-15.1 aimed at increasing the contribution of total vegetables to the diets of the population aged 2 years and older. Evidence demonstrates low-income Hispanic children consume more vegetables than their non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic White counterparts, yet there is resounding evidence indicating Hispanic children are still physically unhealthy. The objectives of this report are as follows: 1) to identify factors for the increased vegetable consumption in low-income Hispanic children when compared to low-income non-Hispanic Blacks and non-Hispanic Whites, and 2) identify factors that demonstrate low-income Hispanic children are still, nonetheless, physically unhealthy. The articles reviewed in this study are peer reviewed, less than 5 years old, and examine vegetable consumption in low-income children of varying ethnicities, including Hispanics. Additionally, articles with evidence on possible factors that contribute to poor health in low-income Hispanic children were selected and analyzed. Findings revealed three factors associated with vegetable consumptions in low-income Hispanic children. The findings suggest relationships between the three. Factors as possible contributors to poor health in Hispanic children were also identified and analyzed. Understanding factors relevant to vegetable consumption and poor health may pose an opportunity for better design of intervention to improve dietary habits in the general population; proving to be a contributory asset to the NSW-15.1 leading health indicator.

Lindsey Bailey, Savannah Berkel, Jonathan Hatala, Justin Phillips, Theresa Reilly, Joshua Sharpe Tiffany Whetzel

Mentors: Nancy McCarley, Joshua Williams, Psychology

Students’ use of a relevance definition to identify important information on PowerPoint slides

College students use various note-taking techniques to enhance retention of information. Previous research has shown that students have difficulty distinguishing relevant from irrelevant information, thus, leading to poor information retention. The current study aims to address this issue by providing different levels of feedback in order to improve students’ abilities to identify relevant information. In Experiment 1, students were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: No Feedback (NF), General Feedback (GF), or Specific Feedback (SF). Students in the NF condition were instructed to highlight what they believed to be important information on four PowerPoint slides without feedback. Students in the GF and SF conditions were first given two practice slides and instructed to highlight what they believed to be important information. After each practice slide, they were told the percentage of relevant words they correctly identified. Furthermore, students in the SF condition were given the opportunity to review their graded PowerPoint slide. After the practice slides, they were given the same four PowerPoint slides and instructions as the NF condition. In Experiment 2, we extended the study to a classroom setting where the results were consistent with the findings in Experiment 1. Results suggest that providing specific feedback improves students’ performance on identifying relevant information on PowerPoint slides and in a real-world classroom. This feedback task could potentially improve student’s note-taking and lead to enhanced recall of the information.

Jessica Bain

Mentor: Ho Huynh, Psychology

Leader-Member Exchange Theory Applied to Clinician-Patient Relationships

Physicians have the responsibility to motivate their patients to adhere to medical regimens and other positive health routines. There are many approaches that the physician may take in order to achieve this, yet many of these methods have not been extensively studied. Leader-Member Exchange theory (LMX) focuses on unique dyadic relationships between a leader and a follower, usually within an industrial or organizational setting. In order for LMX to be effective there must be mutual trust, respect and obligation between the leader and follower (Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995). This research introduces a novel application of LMX theory, the clinician-patient relationship. In this research, the LMX7 scale was modified to measure patients’ perceptions of their relationship with their physician (Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995; Gerstner & Day, 1997). This research consisted of two studies using the modified LMX7 scale. In study 1, a modified 7 item scale was used, then the scale was modified again to only 6 items. Participants also rated care provider’s effectiveness, liking, satisfaction with provider and care, and adherence behavior following the visit. The patients that considered themselves to have higher aspects of LMX with their physician are thought to adhere better to their medical regimens than those that rated these items lower.

**Victoria Baldwin

Mentor: Lesley Clack, Health Sciences

How can communication barriers between nurses and physicians affect a patient’s quality of care?

It is well known that there is a lack of communication between physicians and nurses in the health care profession. In many cases, the outlook of patient care is viewed differently between the two professions. Literature suggests that it could stem from the way in which they were taught to care or that the superiority of one profession leads to better care than the other. Unfortunately, these gaps in communication are leading to higher error rates in hospitals. What are the causes of these communication barriers between the two professions, and how do they affect a patient’s quality of care? A review of the literature revealed many different methods of resolving communication barriers. After further review, the research revealed a three pronged strategy that would be the most effective in bridging the gap between nurse – physician communication and relationships. The strategy involves a combination of culture change, use of structured communication tools, and supportive technology. The literature reveled that with the use of this strategy nurses and physicians will gain the ability to work and communicate effectively, which can result in higher patient longevity and satisfaction. This presentation will highlight the issues and discuss beneficial strategies for the use of the three pronged strategy in nurse and physician communication and how it could potentially reduce the occurrence of errors in patient care.

**Cheri Barclay, Erica Brode

Mentor: April Garrity, Communication Sciences and Disorders

Multimodal vs Constraint-induced: Evidence for a Superior Treatment Technique?

Aphasia therapy generally includes two forms: communication-based therapies and impairment-based therapies. Communication-based therapy allows for compensatory strategies, such as gesturing, whereas impairment-based therapies require the individual to use impaired spoken language by constraining compensatory strategies. This current literature review investigated evidence-based practices of both forms of therapy in an attempt to identify if there is evidence to suggest multimodal treatment techniques, as part of communication-based therapy, are superior to constraint-induced treatment techniques, as part of impairment-based therapy, in recovering overall language ability for individuals with aphasia. After analyzing three individual studies and two systematic reviews, it was revealed that gains in post-stroke language ability have been reported as the result of both multimodal and constraint-induced treatment techniques. Review of current evidence was unable to identify a statistically superior treatment technique and revealed a need for more controlled research within this inquiry (Rose, 2013, Maher et al. 2006). Among variables, intensity was often cited as a main contributor to positive outcomes following these two therapy techniques (Cherney, et al. 2008). Since evidence for intensive treatment has been modest, treatment outcomes should be considered preliminary and must not negate clinical expertise and the client’s individual values when making treatment decisions (Cherney, et al. 2008). This literature review explores the clinical implications of a multilevel approach to treatment of individuals with aphasia including therapy technique, individual skill, and treatment dosage and reports the possibilities for methodological control of future research in multimodal and constraint-induced treatment.

**Mary Barnes

Mentor: Jackie Kim, Early Childhood Education

Which of the four strategies will improve my students’ proficiency in multiplication facts the most: One-on-one drill practice, games and practice drills on the computer, or timed practice sheets?

The purpose of this research project was to determine through observation and data analysis which strategy would be best for helping my special needs student master all of the multiplication facts. In order for students to be successful in the fifth grade, students need to have a sound knowledge of the multiplication facts. Students are required to use their knowledge of the multiplication facts to solve 1, 2, and 3 digit multiplication problems and long division problems. The student I will be working with in this study is a special needs student that has extreme difficulty staying focused long enough to master the multiplication facts. According to the article, How technology is Helping Special Needs Students Excel (Hayes, 2013), special needs students working on the computer have shown significant success in excelling in academics. In my poster presentation I will analyze my student’s performance using the three different strategies: One-on-one drill practice, games and practice drills on the computer, and timed practice sheets.

Alexandria Battle, Mandy Coleman, Dena Amanda Eaves, Brynn Webster

Mentor: Laurie Adams, Radiologic Sciences

Glioblastoma

Though glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common primary brain malignancy, its origin, method of treatment, and prognosis is not well known. Some surprising factors have been loosely correlated with the maturation of GBM. Glioblastoma currently has two different manifestations. There are a variety of indications for glioma adding to the difficulty in diagnosis. Consequently, the method of detection has many routes. Specific guidelines have been created for the grading and staging of gliomas. Glioblastoma does not tend to travel to other parts of the body. Although GBM has a high proliferation rate, the metastasis is known to stay within the brain and spinal cord. Supplementary studies are necessary to further clarify intracranial versus extracranial metastasis. Patients burdened with glioblastoma typically have very limited time before death. Combinations of different chemotherapy drugs with the use of temozolomide for adjuvant treatment are still undergoing investigation. The combination of radiation therapy with adjuvant chemotherapy may improve survival rates. Additional research is essential to assess the best method of treatment to prolong the median survival rate. When implementing radiation therapy, dose limiting fractionations should be observed for surrounding organs. It is important to take into consideration healthy tissues in the treatment of GBM. There are currently no known cures for patients with glioblastoma. Knowledge on glioma is incomplete despite a compilation of research findings. Investigation is needed to a much greater extent to improve the patient’s life as well as increase the survival rate. Endeavors towards the ultimate goal of curing patients with glioblastoma have yet to be seen.

**Rachel Beattie, Lauren Pigott

Mentor: April Garrity, Communication Sciences and Disorders

Improving Functional Communication in Individuals with Bilingual Aphasia through Semantic Generalization: A Comparison of Treatment in Dominant Language and Treatment in Weaker Language

Aphasia is a selective impairment of the cognitive system specialized for comprehending and formulating language, leaving other cognitive capacities relatively intact. It can be the result of damage to the cortical or subcortical regions of the language-dominant hemisphere of the brain. The hallmark feature of aphasia is a general problem of finding and retrieving words, a condition called anomia. Worldwide, approximately 60% of individuals speak two or more languages (Kiran et al. 2010). The purpose of this literature review is to investigate the effects of treatment in individuals with bilingual aphasia when treated in the stronger language versus when treated in the weaker language. In reviewing the literature available on aphasia treatment for bilingual individuals, four studies that researched the effects of treatment administered in the individual’s dominant language and in the individual’s weaker language provided comparable results. Edmonds and Kiran (2006) examined the effect of semantic naming treatment targeting anomia difficulties on crosslinguistic generalization to determine the language outcomes in bilinguals’ dominant language and in their weaker language. The results imply that treatment in the weaker language may be more beneficial in facilitating crosslinguistic generalization to the untreated, dominant language. Kiran et al. (2010) and Knoph (2013) had similar findings of crosslinguistic generalization when primary treatment was administered in the weaker language. Findings suggest that therapy conducted in the impacted individual’s weaker language will provide greater language outcomes. Further research, however, is needed to determine most effective generalization outcomes due to limited research on bilingual aphasia treatment.

**Gina Benavidez

Mentor: Kathleen Burke-Fabrikant, Middle and Secondary Education

International and American Adolescent Leisure Time: A Comparison

This presentation examines research literature that studies patterns and trends of international and American adolescent leisure time. This research will develop the question of how adolescents around the world spend their leisure time in comparison to American adolescents. The primary question to answer is which the most beneficial activity for adolescents to spend their free time doing is in order to become a better rounded student and perform well on international test scores. The basis for comparison was determined by the 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) scores in reading, mathematics, and science. After an evaluation of a variety of studies, from which I was able to discern what percentage of free time is devoted to which activities for teenagers from countries in Africa, Europe, Asia, and the United States, the results were placed on a scale in comparison to the PISA results. The goal was not to determine the amount of free time in relation to the test results, but to determine a healthy balance of leisure time, time devoted to studies, and productive uses of free time. After completing my research, I concluded that the best use of leisure time for adolescents is school-sponsored and adult framed youth participation groups in order for young people to avoid large blocks of unstructured time, which is when the most unproductive behavior occurs.

Kayla Berns

Mentors: Alison Hatch, Jennifer Wyse, Criminal Justice, Social and Political Science

Sexual Assault Prevention and Bystander Training

Sexual Assault has a surprisingly larger presence on college campuses than most students would believe. Too often ignored, hidden, and minimized, sexual assault cases and sexual assault awareness is dying to be heard. According to recent research, one in five women who attend college are sexually assaulted. For this reason, Armstrong State University is taking a stand in preventing sexual assault. This past academic year, first year students participated in a sexual assault awareness program that included learning bystander intervention. During this program, each student was surveyed at the beginning and end of the day to gauge how much insight they gained. Then, three months later, a cohort of 370 students was surveyed again to see how much knowledge the students retained. I hypothesize that students do not retain this insight simply in one training session, but rather need continuous programming throughout the entire year. We utilized SPSS and performed a one-way ANOVA in order to analyze our data for each surveyed cohort of students. Ultimately, the results proved to be significant in that students will lose this knowledge over time if they do not continue to refresh their awareness and knowledge pertaining to sexual assault.

**Karuna Mary Bollam

Mentor: Sara Plaspohl, Health Sciences

Evidence based support for self-management of hypertension among young adults

In examining the rate of preventable deaths in the United States, hypertension takes first place as the leading risk factor of premature mortality. Cardiovascular disease accounts for approximately 17 million deaths a year in the U.S., and one third of the total deaths are due to complications related to hypertension. Hypertension is the main cause for 45% of the deaths due to heart disease and 51% of deaths due to stroke. Healthy People 2020 is a federal public health initiative that prioritizes 12 major community health issues, including 26 sub-categories, known as leading health indicators (LHI). The purpose of this research is to apply the Healthy People 2020 LHI of “Adults with hypertension under control” as a ground work for analyzing an evidence-based literature review focusing on life style modifications which includes physical activity, diet, stress management, weight management, tobacco and alcohol cessation, regular use of medications, regular blood pressure checkup and follow up in adults with hypertension.

Chance Borgeson, Robyn Callaghan

Mentor: Priya Goeser, Engineering Studies

Harvesting Power from High Altitude Winds

There is much discussion in the method of utilizing tethered kite-mounted wind turbine systems. These systems would harvest power from high-altitude winds to include jet streams at elevations from 6 to 15 kilometers (4 to 9 miles). If implemented and deployed in sufficient numbers, would these systems meet a significant share of the total U.S. demand for electricity? Determining the feasibility of implementing such a system by 2025 will require certain considerations: the means for deploying such a system to the proper altitude, how the power developed is transferred to ground level, infrastructure requirements, environmental impacts, material specifications, cost, and aesthetics. Such a system is predicted to be an improvement of current wind turbine technologies. A kite system will however not be restricted to a fixed tower, and hence require less materials. This in turn would decrease the cost of each system, allowing for an increase in the number of kite systems in operation. The use of higher altitude winds compared to the traditional use of wind turbines would also decrease the limitations of location selection, as winds at higher altitudes are more reliable than at sea level. The objective of this work is to show that the use of tethered kite-mounted wind turbine systems will prove to be an efficient replacement for current wind turbine technologies.

Skylar Bosak

Mentor: Ho Phi Huynh, Psychology

The Color Red: Does it have an Effect on Attractiveness of Different Races?

Previous research has indic, ated that the color red increases an individual’s perception of another’s overall attractiveness. However, current research fails to account for diversity within ethnicities. Our study examines the significance of the red effect while also examining how a participant’s ethnicity influences perception of their own race and other races. A total of 264 participants, 167 Caucasian Americans and 97 African Americans, were used for our study. The results indicate a significant interaction in ethnicity, such that African Americans tend to rate other African Americans as more attractive than Caucasian Americans and Caucasian Americans tend to rate other Caucasian Americans as more attractive than African Americans. The color red has no effect on the overall attractiveness of the displayed individuals.

Nick Brodak, Mickel Craig, Nikki Vitistas

Mentor: Sara Gremillion, Biology

Using a controllable promoter to evaluate proteins involved in vesicle transport in fungal cells

Filamentous fungi expand their cells into new environments in search of food and mates. This new growth is maintained by the continuous delivery of new cell wall and plasma membrane materials from the Golgi apparatus via vesicles. In order to maintain proper Golgi function, this organelle must continually recycle membrane and enzymes lost by departing vesicles. The Conserved Oligomeric Golgi (COG) complex is a tethering complex involved in the retrograde transport, or recycling, of vesicles within the Golgi. Using a controllable promoter called AlcA, we evaluated subunits of the COG complex to determine their role in this process.

*^Hannah Bryan

Mentor: Chris Cartright, Language, Literature and Philosophy

Cultural Discourse Analysis of Popular Media

The goal for our project is to find out how American culture is influenced by media. We posit that there are dominant ideologies such as patriarchy or white supremacy,that permeate various media. Our purpose for this project is to measure the prevalence of these ideologies.

The first phase of the project has been collecting data on popular media. I compiled an annotated bibliography of best-selling new media with information that will be used in our second phase.

We designed an analytic model, and we hope to test it in this second phase. The model draws on critical theories that focus on ideology, such as Marxism and feminism. The third phase will be to apply our model to some of these popular texts. I hope to present my bibliographies and the model and demonstrate our analytic method at the symposium. Our eventual goal is to make this available for other scholars who are using critical theory to analyze popular culture.

**Myka Bussey-Campbell

Mentor: Lesely Clack, Health Sciences

Food Insecurity and the Lack of Proper Food Education in America

According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the names and definitions regarding food insecurity were changed in response to recommendations by an expert panel by the Committee on National Statistics (CNSTAT) of the National Academies in 2006. Food insecurity is now defined as either low food security (formerly food insecurity without hunger) or very low food security (formerly food insecurity with huger). In 2014, the USDA conducted a study that included ten reported conditions. The top conditions were the following: 1) 98 percent of Americans reported having worried that their food would run out before they got money to buy more. 2) 97 percent reported: a. the food they bought just did not last, and they did not have money to get more, b. they could not afford to eat balanced meals. In a country where food insecurity should not exist due to food abundance and waste, food insecurity is an issue that plagues millions of Americans today. A literature reveals that this issue further complicates a family’s ability to make wise food choices and lead healthy lifestyles, especially concerning children. This presentation will focus on the importance of education in an effort to overcome food insecurity and educating individuals in order to promote healthy lifestyle behavior changes. It will also identify assistance programs [i.e. Cooking Matters, No Kid Hungry and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)] that have been developed to address food insecurity issues in America.

^Amy Butler

Mentor: Laura Seifert, Criminal Justice, Social and Political Science

Archaeology and Curation

There are certain responsibilities that an institution or archaeologists excepts when excavating a site. Understanding our past is important, and we have the duty to preserve the evidence of that past to the best of our ability for as long as we can. This presentation will attempt to educate the community on these issues. I am currently an undergraduate research assistant and, I came to realize certain issues facing archeology today. Professor Laura Seifert is the faculty adviser for this project. This poster will discuss the importance of ethical curation of archaeological artifacts. I have the reprocessed of several Armstrong collections from the 1980s and will be use them as case examples. I have based this presentation on work that has been carried out over the school year by myself and several papers written by other scholars in the related fields.

*^James Carl
Mentor: Melanie Link-Pérez, Biology

Improving Accessibility to and Documentation of Light Microscopy: an Evaluation of Technology Resources and Alternative Methods of Preparing Materials for Microscopic Study of Plants

This research examines technology and alternative methods for microscopic observation of plant structures and associated biological systems. The technologies reviewed were the MiPlatform and Digital Microscope, which were assessed for their feasibility as a means to document and improve accessibility to microscopic investigations. The MiPlatform holds various photographic devices (smartphones) and was effective—but costly—for use in science classrooms. Alternative materials were investigated for construction of smartphone-microscope adapters that would be more cost-effective than the MiPlatform, with Styrofoam showing the most promise. The Digital Microscope, which is powered by a USB cable that the user attaches to a laptop computer, offered clarity and ease-of-use for classroom and field. The cost was reasonable compared to similar devices, but the battery life of the computer was a limiting factor. The second area of research was to develop new methods of making microscope slides. Previous research focused on packing tape and rigid cardholders. The present research incorporates the use of mineral agarose media within cardholders and various small plastic containers and evaluates their use as living microscope slides. These materials were particularly effective and offered excellent images of ferns, bacteria, and the internal portion of leaves. Methods were evaluated for sample survival and potential for observation of details including chloroplasts, root and shoot growth, root hairs, bacterial colonies, fungi and other microorganisms. In conclusion, both technologies offered benefits, but cheaper alternatives can be constructed. Interesting observations were possible when combined with the alternative slide preparation methods and should be further investigated.

^Rebecca Carter

Mentor: Ho Huynh, Psychology

How Do Students Respond When Their Expectations are Manipulated?

Prior research indicates that the same outcome can produce different responses based on one’s expectations for that outcome. We hypothesized that people will display different levels of aggression toward an expectation providing target based on how well the outcome aligns with the expectation. In Study 1, a researcher led participants to believe an impending reading comprehension test would contained 5, 15, or 25 questions. After taking a 15 question test, we provided participants with an opportunity to evaluate and aggress toward the researcher in a veiled task. In Study 2, participants rated hypothetical instructors who correctly or incorrectly warn students about the number of questions on a forthcoming exam. We found that, in both studies, participants were more likely to aggress and provide negative evaluations of the expectation providing target when expectations were different from the outcome. This was especially true when expectations exceeded the actual outcome.

Farryn Chapman, Cierra Drake, Brandon Goodwin

Mentor: MvKinley Thomas, Adolescent and Adult Education

Untreated Syphilis on Fetal and Infant Development