100
THE SPATIAL EFFECTS ON THE RATE OF ECONOMIC GROWTH: EVIDENCE
FROM SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
Bichaka Fayissa, Faculty, Economics and Finance; Christian Nsiah, Faculty, Baldwin
Wallace University; Chen Wu, Faculty, Black Hills State University
Many studies have investigated the determinants of economic growth rate of African countries with mixed findings, i.e. some positive and others negative without taking into account the impact of space on economic growth. In this study, we estimate a spatial model of growth of Sub-Saharan economies with spatial correlations in the dependent variable and the error terms. Specifically, our study will explore the effect of the rate of economic growth of one country on the growth rate of other countries in its proximity.
Our results can be summarized into two main parts. First, our result indicates that without correcting for spatial linkages in determining growth rates, the estimation results may be downward biased. Specifically, we find statistically significant spatial linkages in both the dependent variable and the error term, indicating that geographically proximate sub-Saharan African countries experiences similar levels of economic growth. This is indicative of positive spillover effects. Second, we find that while the impact of FDI on sub-Saharan African economies is positive, it is not statistically significant. This result may be due to several factors, including the fact that FDI inflow into this region is mainly focused outward i.e. the extraction and export of natural resources, leading to minimal added value to the domestic economy. Furthermore, the channel for the extraction of natural resources tends to be highly specialized and as such limiting the possibility of the recipient economies from experiencing positive spillover effects. Another possibility is the non-effectiveness of an institutional framework and culture necessary to foster and harvest the potential benefits of FDI inflows to the sub-Saharan African region.

101
RESPONSES TO STUDENT ERRORS IN CHINESE AND US MATHEMATICS
CLASSROOMS
Rongjin Huang, Faculty, Mathematical Sciences; Teresa Schmidt, Graduate student,
Mathematical Sciences; Kyle Prince, Graduate student, Mathematical Sciences
This poster focuses on teachers’ responses to students’ errors in mathematics classrooms in China and the United States. The Chinese teacher treated students’ errors in multiple ways: correcting errors through public discussions, double-check, deliberately questioning and clarifying while the U.S. teacher treated students’ errors mainly through re-explanation. The lessons examined in this study were taken from Chinese and U.S. data sets of an international comparative study (Clarke et al., 2006). A fine-grained analysis of one Chinese lesson and one U.S. lesson was conducted to identify the patterns of dealing with students’ errors. In summary, students in the Chinese classroom did not feel embarrassed for making errors and discussing their errors, and the teacher purposely made use of errors to promote student understanding. Examining the Chinese practice of dealing with students’ errors and misconceptions may provide valuable insight for U.S. mathematics educators in how to view student errors and how to use them to promote student understanding.

102
INFLUENCE OF TEACHING EXPERIENCE ON FACULTY PERCEPTIONS OF ON-
LINE & TRADITIONAL COURSES
Becky Alexander, Faculty, Elementary and Special Education; Carol Boraiko, Faculty,
Engineering Technology; Tim Graeff, Faculty, Management and Marketing; Joey Gray,
Faculty, Recreation and Leisure Services; Ryan Otter, Faculty, Biology; Kim Sadler,
Faculty, Biology; Karen Petersen, Faculty, Political Science; Scott Seipel, Faculty,
Computer Information Systems
The use of online courses on college campuses has grown substantially in recent years, despite limited information on how these courses are perceived by faculty as compared to traditional (classroom) classes. Obtaining a clear understanding of faculty perceptions of online education is essential if online education is going to be an effective component of higher education. Ferreira & Santoso (2008) maintain that perceptions impact attitudes regarding learning, and subsequently; influence performance. Examining similarities and differences in faculty perceptions allows for the interpretation of factors that may directly or indirectly influence participation (to teaching or not teaching online), effort put forth to teach online, and student knowledge acquisition. The purpose of the present study is to examine faculty perceptions of on-online and traditional courses to obtain a better understanding how these perceptions might influence faculty member’s willingness to invest time and effort creating online instructional resources. Obtaining a clear understanding of faculty perceptions of online courses will help provide a realistic platform for which faculty can make better decisions regarding advisement of students and efforts to teach courses with the ultimate goal to facilitate learning.

103
MATHEMATICS AS A FIRSTSTEP TO SUCCESS IN STEM
Tom Cheatham, Faculty, Director, Tennessee STEM Education Center; Donald Nelson,
Faculty, Mathematical Sciences; Ginger Holmes Rowell, Faculty, Mathematical
Sciences; Chris Stephens, Faculty, Mathematical Sciences; Elaine Bouldin Tenpenny,
Faculty, Mathematical Sciences; Jennifer Yantz, Graduate student, Mathematics and
Science Education Ph.D. Program; Brittany Smith; Graduate student, Mathematics and
Science Education Ph.D. Program
The Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) FirstSTEP program focuses on retention of freshman and sophomore Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
(STEM) majors who do not have a strong background in mathematics prior to coming to
MTSU. FirstSTEP recruits a cohort of up to 50 STEM majors whose mathematics ACT is between 19 and 23, inclusive, and provides these students with a set of experiences to help prepare them for success in STEM. Activities focus on mathematics preparation but include life and college skills as well. Before they begin their freshman year in college, the cohort spends two weeks in a summer mathematics bridge program that assesses and addresses their deficiencies in mathematics. Believing that providing context for learning is important, students also learn how mathematics is used in their discipline. During the
Fall and Spring semesters of their freshman and sophomore years, each student enrolls in a one-credit pass/fail seminar to help them stay on track in mathematics and to learn more about skills for being successful in life and college. As a part of these seminars, the participants also complete required tutoring in mathematics each week. The students are engaged in an in-depth, introductory, team-based research experience in the summer before their sophomore year to provide a deeper understanding of one STEM area. The
PIs observed positive changes in the participants’ subject knowledge, research ability, and self-discipline by the end of their summer introductory research experience. This project has collected data on the effectiveness of the mathematics summer bridge, the academic year seminars, and the summer introductory research experience to assess students’ progress toward improved retention in STEM. Data will also be presented on how these project components improve the students’ motivation and academic success.
The ultimate goal of this project is to improve STEM graduation rates at MTSU.

104
MODULES FOR TEACHING STATISTICS WITH PEDAGOGIES USING ACTIVE
LEARNING
Ginger Holmes Rowell, Faculty, Mathematical Sciences; Lisa Green, Faculty,
Mathematical Sciences; Scott McDaniel, Faculty, University Studies; Nancy McCormick,
Faculty, Mathematical Sciences; Jeremy Strayer, Faculty, Mathematical Sciences;
Natasha Gerstenschlager, Graduate student, Mathematics and Science Education Ph.D.
Program.
The American Statistical Association endorses the Guidelines for Assessment and
Instruction in Statistics Education recommendations, which include using active learning to teach concepts in introductory statistics effectively. With current support from a
National Science Foundation Transforming Undergraduate Education in STEM grant and prior support from an MTSU Instructional Technologies Development grant, MTSU faculty are developing Modules for Teaching Statistics with Pedagogies using Active
Learning (MTStatPAL). This package of technology-facilitated learning materials is designed to help instructors effectively use active learning to teach important concepts in introductory statistics. During Fall 2013, the team developed and pilot tested three new modules: Introduction to Probability, The Binomial Distribution, and Understanding
Confidence Levels. Each module is built around an in-class activity. Teachers are provided with activity handouts and pre- or post-class activities that students complete independently. These are supplemented with a teacher tip sheet with a script for the instructor and a video of an experienced teacher using the materials in an actual class.
The MTStatPAL project team is researching how the elements of the introductory statistics learning ecology (tasks students solve, kinds of classroom discourse, norms of participation, tools used for learning, and the practical ways the teacher orchestrates relations between these elements) are impacted by the implementation of the MTStatPAL modules. Data were collected using student and faculty surveys, teacher interviews, classroom observations, pre- and post-test results, and final exam questions. This poster focuses on class-testing results from the Fall 2012 and Spring 2013 semesters using the
Regression on the Rebound module in six MTSU MATH 1530, Applied Statistics classes.
During the observation of the regression lesson, students were engaged in statistical decision-making, asked statistical questions of one another, and discussed and resolved data collection difficulties.

105
TRADITION, POWER, AND DIALOGUE: A HERMENEUTIC EXPLORATION OF
WORKING-CLASS YOUTH MEDIA IN PALESTINE AND ISRAEL
Sanjay Asthana, Faculty, Journalism
A primary purpose of my proposed research is to demonstrate that Palestinian youth living in refugee camps in Bethlehem and Ramallah in West Bank, and poor workingclass Jewish youth in Haifa and Tel Aviv in Israel appropriate old and new media to create personal and social narratives. Drawing insights from postcolonial and feminist epistemologies, media and cultural studies, certain strands of media education scholarship, and philosophical writings of Paul Ricoeur, the project shall probe the issues through a set of inter-related questions: What kinds of media narratives are produced and how do these relate to young people’s notions of identity and selfhood? How do young people refashion the notion of the political? What do these media practices mean in Arab and
Jewish cultural contexts and settings? What kinds of translocal connections collaborations are being forged, and how do they relate to the global-local dialectic in youth media practices?

106
“IT WAS FUNNY, BUT DISGUSTING” THE IMPACT OF ENTERTAINMENT
TELEVISION ON BREASTFEEDING ATTITUDES
Katie Foss, Faculty, Journalism; Ken Blake, Faculty, Journalism
Extensive research has demonstrated the numerous health benefits of breastfeeding, including the dramatically reduced risk of childhood leukemia, obesity, asthma, allergies, diabetes and other chronic health conditions (van Odijk et al., 2003; Palmer, 1998;
Wright et al.,1998; Villegas et al., 2008; Caplan et al., 2008; Owen et al., 2006; Pratt,
1984). Despite these known benefits, only 33 percent of American women are breastfeeding at three months postpartum (“Breastfeeding Report Card,” 2010).
Breastfeeding success depends on complex individual, interpersonal, and institutional factors, including cultural attitudes toward breastfeeding, which can affect the extent to which women feel comfortable nursing (Hausman, 2003; Blum, 1999; Koerber, 2005;
Koerber, 2006; Wolf, 2006; Avery et al., 1998; Sheeshka et al., 2001). Scholars and public health advocates have attributed some of the public’s discomfort to negative media messages about breastfeeding (“Breastfeeding and the Use of Human Milk,” 2005;
Brown & Peuchaud, 2008; “The Surgeon General’s Call to Action,” 2011).
Based on results of a randomized-group experiment involving 364 students, this study finds that participants exposed to clips of prime-time entertainment television programming depicting breastfeeding a newborn in a hospital and depicting nursing an older child expressed significantly more negative attitudes toward breastfeeding than did students exposed to a control clip depicting a mother and child with no breastfeeding and a clip showing a waiter criticizing a mother for breastfeeding in a restaurant. Some patterns appeared significantly more pronounced among male participants. Furthermore, qualitative responses indicated that many participants found the clips awkward, pointless, or irrelevant to their lives. The study concludes that entertainment television can affect attitudes toward breastfeeding, even in a population that includes few parents. It also speculates that more pro-breastfeeding images in entertainment television content could help normalize breastfeeding and create a cultural climate conducive to breastfeeding success (Singhal et al., 2004).

107
WHOLE TRANSCRIPTOME PROFILING OF THE RAINBOW TROUT PINEAL
GLAND: RNA-SEQ APPROACH
Mohamed Seda, Visiting Scholar, Biology; Jesse Chambers, Undergraduate, Biology;
Mohamed Salem, Faculty, Biology; Mohamed Salem (Faculty Sponsor), Biology
Pineal gland is important endocrine gland found in all vertebrates. In response to changes in external light-dark phases, the pineal gland secretes melatonin which keeps the body synchronized with the circadian rhythm. The melatonin hormone is integrated in many biological processes and metabolic pathways related to sleeping cycles, feeding behavior, growth and reproduction. Pineal gland in fish is considered as a unique modified photosensory organ. In salmonids fish like rainbow trout, the pineal gland lost its endogenous regulation of melatonin secretion. RNA-SEQ sequencing approach was used to decode the rainbow trout pineal gland transcriptome allowing identification of a large number of novel genes associated with the pineal functions. Digital gene expression, allowed detection of pineal gland specific genes. Gene enrichment analysis identified genes belonging to important gene pathways including the phototransduction pathway, hedgehog signaling, Wnt signaling, and melanogenesis. Insights gained from understanding the rainbow trout pineal gland transcriptome have potentially applications in aquaculture and medicine.

108
CHARACTERIZATION OF RAINBOW TROUT ( ONCORHYNCHUS MYKISS )
SPLEEN TRANSCRIPTOME AND IDENTIFICATION OF IMMUNE-RELATED
GENES
Ali Ali, Visiting Scholar, Biology; Yniv Palti, USDA, ; Caird E. Rexroad, USDA, ;
Jianbo Yao, West Virginia University; Gregory Wiens, USDA; Gary Thorgaard,
Washington State University; Mohamed Salem, Faculty, Biology; Mohamed Salem
(Faculty Sponsor), Biology
Background: Resistance against diseases affects profitability of fish production including rainbow trout. Limited information is known about functions and mechanisms of teleosts immune pathways. Immunogenomics are powerful tools to determine disease resistance genes/gene pathways and develop genetic markers for genomic selection.
Results: RNA-Seq sequencing of the rainbow trout spleen yielded 93,532,200 reads
(100bp). High quality reads were assembled into 43,047 contigs. 26,334 (61.17%) contigs had hits to NR protein database and 7,024 (16.32%) had hits to KEGG database. Gene ontology showed significant percentage of transcripts assigned to binding (55.17%), signaling (14.93%), response to stimuli (12.21%) and receptor activity (7.41%) suggesting existence of many immune-related genes in the data. KEGG annotation revealed 2,828 sequences belonging to “organismal systems” with the highest number of sequences, 845 (29.88%), assigned to immune system. A number of sequences belong to
Toll-like (43), T-cell (68) and B-cell receptor signaling (60) pathways were annotated for the first time in rainbow trout. The list includes 37 full length cDNAs. In addition, 51 transcripts were identified as spleen specific genes.
Conclusion: Presence of a large number of immune-related genes and pathways similar to other vertebrates suggests that innate and adaptive immunity in fish is conserved. This study provides deep-sequence data of rainbow trout's spleen transcriptome and identifies many new immune-related genes and full-length cDNAs. This data will help in identification of allelic variations suitable for applications of genomic selection and genetic manipulations in aquaculture.

109
EQUINE EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES AFFECT STUDENT SUCCESS IN A
UNIVERSITY HORSE PROGRAM
Lacey Johnston, Graduate student, Agribusiness and Agriscience; Dr. Rhonda Hoffman,
Faculty, Agribusiness and Agriscience; Dr. Warren Gill, Faculty, Agribusiness and
Agriscience; Anne Brzezicki, Agribusiness and Agriscience; Dr. Rhonda Hoffman
(Faculty Sponsor), Agribusiness and Agriscience
Previous studies indicate positive relationships between GPA and extracurricular activities (ECA), identification with a mentor, and retention. Extracurricular activities engage students to maintain their interest through involvement, provide greater access to mentors, and encourage students to identify with peers. Students invested in an institution are more likely to persist to graduation. The objectives of this study were to explore effects of ECA in Horse Science students at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) and identify variables related to retention and persistence based on level of involvement.
Our hypothesis was that ECA participation would positively influence GPA and identification with a mentor.
A survey was created containing 26 questions, with 5 added questions for seniors, and administered to Horse Science students in the spring 2013 semester. The survey was approved by the MTSU Institutional Review Board. Questions included demographic data, current extracurricular activity participation, self-reported GPA, and whether students identified with a peer group or mentor. Data were analyzed using Pearson’s correlation coefficients and a PROC FREQ option of SAS.
70 surveys were collected. As commute increased, GPA tended to decrease (R 2 = -0.23; P
= 0.08); ECA decreased (R
2
= -0.42; P = 0.001); and identification with a mentor decreased (R
2
= -0.31; P = 0.02). There was no correlation between time spent studying and GPA, but students reporting

200
HOW DOES THE AMINE LIGAND AFFECT NANOPOROUS MATERIAL
AFFINITY FOR AN EXPLOSIVES MODEL?
Gabrielle Ashley, Undergraduate, Chemistry; Ja'be G. Kiri, Graduate student, Chemistry;
Andrienne C. Friedli, Faculty, Chemistry; Andrienne C. Friedli (Faculty Sponsor),
Chemistry
Imprinted polymeric materials can recognize template molecules from vapors or solutions.
Organically-modified silicates (ormosils) containing functionalized organosilanes, including phenyl trimethoxysilane and either 3-aminopropyl triethoxysilane (1), 3-(Nmethylamino)propyl trimethoxysilane (2), or 3-(N,N-dimethyl-3-aminopropyl) trimethoxysilane (3). The ormosils were spin-coated from sol-gel solutions containing template 2, 4-dinitrotoluene (DNT), a model for the explosive 2, 4, 6-trinitrotoluene
(TNT). After being heated in an 80_C furnace for an hour to solidify the gels, organic components in the resulting films were quantified with UV spectroscopy, film thicknesses were obtained using profilometry and ellipsometry, and surface hydrophobicity was measured with contract angle geometry. After template extraction with methanol, films were exposed to DNT vapor and then re-extracted. Results of films containing a secondary amine (2) and a tertiary amine (3) will be compared to preliminary data and results using primary amine 1 and the secondary amine 3-(Nmethylamino)propyl triethoxysilane with the tertiary amine expected not to show strong affinity for the template DNT. Preliminary results show the rate of extraction was highest when no organic material was present and lowest when primary amine was used.

201
A NEW HEMOGLOBIN QUANTITATION TECHNIQUE FOR EFFECTIVE
TREATMENT OF SICKLE CELL DISEASE
James Cooper, Undergraduate, Physics and Astronomy; Daniel Erenso (Faculty Sponsor),
Physics and Astronomy
Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a devastating blood disorder resulting from genetic mutation in the beta hemoglobin chain. It causes excruciating pain and reduces the quality of life beginning at early childhood with no curative therapy. Patients with SCD are commonly treated by an FDA approved oral medication, Hydroxeurea, and a regular normal blood transfusion. Clinical studies have shown that over 20% of patients do not respond to
Hydroxeurea therapy and currently there is no clinical procedure that can predict this before the patient is given the treatment. Recently, we have developed a new technique that is based on laser trapping (LT) that would potentially be applicable in predicting the efficacy of Hydroxeurea in patients with SCD. This technique accurately measures the different charges associated with various types of hemoglobin in individual red blood cells (RBCs). We have tested this new technique using blood samples with normal RBCs
(hemoglobin type AA) and SC trait (hemoglobin type AS). From each of these samples a
RBC is trapped with a LT and, maintained at constant power until the cell membrane is ruptured and the cell becomes ionized with a sufficient charge such that enough electrostatic force is exerted on the cell that causes ejection of the cell from the trap. By taking pictures at a fast frame rate we are then able to calculate the ejecting cell’s distance as a function of time and thus calculate the amount of force that the cell was experiencing and the charge associated with the cells hemoglobin.

202
WHAT'S WRONG WITH BLACK?
Deidre Lattimore, Undergraduate, English; Alexis Williams, Undergraduate, English;
Lamekia Steele, Undergraduate, English; Laura Dubek (Faculty Sponsor), English
Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), The Color Purple (1982), and Sula (1973), are all novels written by African American women that explore what it means to be black in a world dominated by white culture. Through their prose, Zora Neale Hurston, Alice
Walker, and Toni Morrison illustrate that far from being confined to the white community, racism is prevalent among African Americans as well. The aforementioned authors use their novels to expose the color hierarchy that exists among blacks and to point out the danger of African Americans adopting white ideas of racial perfection. Our poster will explore the racial prejudices that exist among people of color in Their Eyes
Were Watching God , The Color Purple , and Sula in order to better understand the relationship between black women writers and their communities. Despite the opposition that Hurston, Walker, and Morrison often received from fellow African Americans they consistently strived to preserve their culture and begged the question, "What's Wrong with Black?"

203
NEEDS ASSESSMENT FOR HEALTH LITERACY IN MIDDLE TENNESSEE
Hailey Lawson, Undergraduate, Psychology; Hannah Todd, Undergraduate, Psychology;
Kaitlyn Hawkins, Undergraduate, Psychology; Stuart Bernstein (Faculty Sponsor),
Psychology
The National Assessment of Adult Literacy (Kunter, Greenberg, Jin, & Paulsen 2006), a large-scale assessment of literacy, shows that 14% of U.S. adults are below basic in health literacy. We used a revised version of the Medical Knowledge Assessment (MKA-
R) and the Newest Vital Sign (NVS) for a needs assessment of health literacy in a middle
Tennessee community. If needed, we would implement an intervention through already established health literacy nights. We tested adults from a senior center, a children's museum, and a Boys and Girls Club. For the MKA-R, 42.5% of participants showed probable limited health literacy and 15% indicated high likelihood of limited literacy. For the NVS, 30% of participants showed probable limited health literacy and 7.5% indicated high likelihood of limited literacy. These results agree with 14% of the country scoring below basic health literacy. This needs assessment concluded that intervention is needed in the middle Tennessee community.

204
THE EFFECT OF FAT SUPPLEMENTATION ON GLYCEMIC RESPONSE AND
BEHAVIOR IN HORSES
Kendall Martin, Undergraduate, Agribusiness and Agriscience; Rhonda Hoffman,
Faculty, Agribusiness and Agriscience; Holly Spooner, Faculty, Agribusiness and
Agriscience; Rhonda Hoffman (Faculty Sponsor), Agribusiness and Agriscience
Previous research indicates that when fed a high fat diet, horses are less reactive to novel stimuli, yet there has not been any research documenting the mechanism for this phenomenon. The purpose of this study was to evaluate glycemic response as a mechanism for decreased reactivity in horses fed a high fat diet. We evaluated startle response and glycemic response of six Quarter horse geldings aged 8 to 15 years when fed a pelleted control diet of Purina Strategy versus an experimental diet of Purina
Strategy plus fat in the form of soybean oil added at the rate of 324 mg per kilogram of body weight. The horses were paired based on initial body weight, and then given the two diets in a crossover design, so each horse was used as its own control. Each diet was fed for 21 days with the reactivity tests done on day 19 and glycemic response tests on day
21. Reactivity was measured using a fog machine as the stimulus, and heart rates and behavior scores were collected. For the glycemic response test, jugular catheters were placed to facilitate ease of repeated blood sampling. Blood samples were collected 15 minutes prior to feeding, and at 30, 60, 90, 120, 180, 240, and 300 minutes after feeding.
Plasma glucose concentrations are currently in analysis using a colormetric assay, and the incremental area under the curve of glucose response to the meal in each horse will be calculated using graphical approximation. Overall, heart rate responses to the novel stimulus during the reactivity test were lower when horses were fed the high fat diet compared to the control diet (P < 0.0001). These results agree with previous reports, indicating that high fat diets decrease reactivity in horses.

205
THE EFFECTS OF SULFURIC ACID SCARIFICATION AND SEED COAT
REMOVAL IN THE GERMINATION OF MIRACLE BERRIES ( SYNSEPALUM
DULCIFICUM DANIELL)
Carly Schall, Undergraduate, Agribusiness and Agriscience; Nate Phillip, Staff,
Agribusiness and Agriscience; Eric Limbird, Graduate student, Biology; Nate Phillips
(Faculty Sponsor), Agribusiness and Agriscience
Synsepalum dulcificum , a species endemic to the West Africa region, is a species of horticultural, economical, and medical importance.It has been used to make unpalatable foods taste better for West Africans.Since its discovery more people are becoming aware of its benefits as a horticultural, health, and trade and industry product.It contains the glycoprotein miraculin within the pulp which is responsible for binding to the taste receptors causing anything that tastes sour to become sweet.Little research has been conducted on seed germination behavior due to its current lack of popularity as a horticultural crop.However, the medical and economical potential impact for the horticultural community makes the study of seed germination beneficial.Therefore, this experiment was initiated to evaluate germination behavior.Manipulation of the seed by removal of the seed coat and two sulfuric acid soak durations were conducted to determine if the seed coat contributes to its recalcitrance.Tetrazolium testing was conducted to evaluate staining patterns related to seed viability.The germination percentages (88.9%) were equal between the de-coated seeds and the intact seeds not exposed to the sulfuric acid soak.Seeds scarified with sulfuric acid for 1 minute achieved a (57.4%) germination compared to no germination in seeds subjected to the 5 minute sulfuric acid scarification.Despite achieving equal germination percentages, the de-coated seeds germinated at a faster and more uniform rate than the intact seeds (T1 = 16.7, T50
= 18.6, and T10-90 = 9.4).Uniformity and rate were significantly better in the de-coated seeds.Absent existing protocols for S. dulcificum , our initial tetrazolium testing provided a range of staining patterns that presented no apparent correlation with viability.Our assumption, based on the proven viability of other seeds from the same lot, is that any staining at all indicates a viable seed. However, more work needs to be done to establish reliable tetrazolium testing protocol for this species.

206
DOES SUGAR HELP YOU RUN?
Kelsey Branstetter, Undergraduate, Health and Human Performance; Katelen Robertson,
Undergraduate, Health and Human Performance; Emily Hartshorn, Undergraduate,
Health and Human Performance; Brian Ridge, Undergraduate, Health and Human
Performance; Dominique Duncan, Undergraduate, Health and Human Performance;
Sandy Stevens (Faculty Sponsor), Health and Human Performance
Carbohydrates are the main source of energy used by the body when running; due to this, many endurance athletes take a supplement during competition. Numerous studies have observed long duration activities and the time frame to ingest supplementation for optimal effects. There has not been much research on the carbohydrate supplementation during middle distance running. Objective: Examine whether the addition of carbohydrate supplementation will yield performance improvement when compared to simply ingesting water during middle distance running, and if improved performance is effected by the type of carbohydrate supplementation.
Methods:
The participants (n=15) were volunteers from Middle Tennessee State University’s
Women’s Soccer team, ranging in age from 18-21. Participants were divided into three supplementation groups: 1) water, 2) Starburst, 3) Gatorade Chew. Each group ran a timed mile, followed by a 15-minute break to consume their assigned supplement, and then ran another timed mile. The study assessed the athletes’ fatigue between miles with and without supplementation, as well as mental perception and running time.
Results:
Analysis demonstrated: Gatorade Chew (f(1,4) = 2.5; p = 0.18), Starburst (f(1,4) = 6; p =
0.07), and water (f(1,4) = 0.07; p = 0.79) groups had no significant effect on perceived exertion between miles. Participants in the three groups didn’t differ significantly in perceived effectiveness of supplement (f(2,12) = 0.50; p = 0.59) or point of fatigue
(f(2,12) = 0.90; p = 0.43). A significance difference was found among groups regarding mile time (f(2,12) = 5.12; p = 0.02).
Conclusions:
This study revealed carbohydrate supplementation during middle distance running was more beneficial than water in improving running time, but demonstrated no effect on perceived exertion and fatigue. Starbursts supplementation was more effective than the
Gatorade Chews in improving running time.

207
THE EFFECTS OF FEMALES ON MUSCULAR STRENGTH AND ENDURANCE
Zack Brazzell, Undergraduate, Health and Human Performance; Lindsey Stevens,
Undergraduate, Health and Human Performance; Sunny Lavender, Undergraduate,
Health and Human Performance; Chris Renegar, Undergraduate, Health and Human
Performance; Justin Judge, Undergraduate, Health and Human Performance; Timothy
Johnson, Undergraduate, Health and Human Performance; Sandra Stevens (Faculty
Sponsor), Health and Human Performance
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of having females present in the workout environment on muscular strength and endurance in males.
Methods: Participants included males between the ages of 18 and 27 years old. The participants’ muscular strength was assessed using a leg dynamometer. Muscular endurance was determined by having the participants do as many repetitions as possible at 75% of one repetition maximum (1-RM). The participants were randomly divided into two groups. Group one had a pre-test and post-test with no females present. Group two had a pre-test with no females present, but females were present in the workout environment during the post-test. Information regarding the stimulus being tested was given to the participants following completion of the testing.
Results/Conclusions: During this poster presentation, we will discuss the effects of having females present in the workout environment on muscular strength and endurance in males.

208
KNEES OF THE TREES AND EYES IN THE SKY
Megan Burnham, Undergraduate, English; Bridget Carlson, Undergraduate, English;
Stephanie Ellis, Undergraduate, English; Constance Graves, Undergraduate, English;
Laura Dubek (Faculty Sponsor), English
The relationship between Zora Neale Hurston and Alice Walker is revealed in their consistent use of spirituality in Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) and The Color
Purple (1982). Even though Walker is often credited with the revival of Hurston's scholarly audience, and for this reason the two are often compared with each other, their personal ideas of God are manifested through their characters, making the spiritual elements an area for conversation. Our poster will explore how Hurston's oppressive depiction of God is a biographical reference to her life, and is a stark contrast to Walker's all-encompassing view of God, which is shown in her personal life as well as The Color
Purple . These concepts of spirituality, both biographical and fictional, are most readily depicted in the authors' use of nature as a confrontational force or an escape mechanism.
Although Walker honors Hurston consistently throughout her text, she uses nature to redefine Hurston's patriarchal view of God.

209
EFFECTS OF CAFFEINE ON MUSCULAR ENDURANCE IN FEMALE ATHLETES
Jordan Burroughs, Undergraduate, Health and Human Performance; Kim Ploof,
Undergraduate, Health and Human Performance; Kelsie Roberts, Undergraduate, Health and Human Performance; Chris Chiarot, Undergraduate, Health and Human
Performance; Kameron Rory, Undergraduate, Health and Human Performance; Ryan
Foley, Undergraduate, Health and Human Performance; Sandy Stevens (Faculty Sponsor),
Health and Human Performance
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of caffeine on muscular endurance in trained female college athletes.
Methods: Female college soccer players volunteered to participate in this study (n = 6; age = 19 years-old). Participants completed two exercise trials: one after ingesting a placebo beverage and the other after ingesting a caffeinated beverage (containing 160 milligrams of caffeine). Participants were blinded as to which beverage they received.
Prior to trial one, height, weight, and resting heart rate were assessed. Exercise heart rate was taken three times throughout the two trials. Repetitions were counted for push-ups within a minute, curl-ups up to seventy-five or failure, and body weight squats within a minute.
Results: Repeated measures ANOVAs were conducted to determine the effect of caffeine on exercise performance between trials. Results of this analysis indicated that no significant difference was observed in the number of repetitions the participants were able to perform for push-ups, curl-ups, or body weight squats during the timed trials between conditions: (F(1,5) = 4.64, p = 0.059; F(1,5) = 2.84, p = 0.14; F(1,5) = 1.81, p =
0.27).
Conclusion: Results from this study indicate the consumption of a beverage, containing
160 mg of caffeine, does not result in statically significant improvements in the performance of endurance exercises in female collegiate soccer players.

210
DOES ACUTE CONSUMPTION OF GLUCOSE EFFECT MUSCLE ENDURANCE
DURING EXERCISE?
Hailie Cochran, Undergraduate, Health and Human Performance; Andy Hart,
Undergraduate, Health and Human Performance; Josh Bustamante, Undergraduate,
Health and Human Performance; Aaron Davis Jr., Undergraduate, Health and Human
Performance; Todd Ozment, Undergraduate, Health and Human Performance; Vaughn
Barry (Faculty Sponsor), Health and Human Performance
Background
It has been found that glucose is a primary substrate needed by the body to produce energy. (Browning et al. 2012) The purpose of this research is to determine if acute consumption of glucose effects muscle endurance during exercise.
Methods
Fifty males and females ranging from 18-25 years old participated in this study, with the exclusion of those diagnosed with diabetes mellitus type 1 or types 2. This study consisted of two sessions of squatting exercises. One session with glucose consumed thirty minutes before the exercise, and one session without. Participants were chosen at random to receive glucose in the first session; those that did not consume it the first time did so in the second session. All glucose consumed was a measured amount relevant to each individual (1 teaspoon per 30 pounds). All tests began by recording weight and height of each participant followed by a five minute warm up and instruction video to assure proper form. Exercises were then performed with three sets of as many reps of squats as possible, with two minute resting periods between each set. The number of maximum squats in each set will be recorded for each participant. During each set of exercise if a participant failed to maintain timing or proper technique, the set was terminated. To prevent bias this study was disguised as an examination of the effects of glucose in muscle soreness.
Results/Conclusion
During this poster presentation, the relationship between acute glucose consumption and muscle endurance will be discussed.

211
DETAILED STUDY OF PB(II)/CD(II) CATION EXCHANGE REACTIONS IN PBS
QUANTUM DOTS
Amanda Evans, Undergraduate, Chemistry; Alexander Morris, Undergraduate,
Chemistry; Jason Gurchiek, Undergraduate, Chemistry; Wayne Tilluck, Undergraduate,
Chemistry; Morgan Brewer, High School Student; Hannah Alsup, High School Student;
Badri Mainali, Undergraduate, Chemistry; Clay Mings, Undergraduate, Chemistry; Greg
Van Patten, Faculty, Chemistry; Greg Van Patten (Faculty Sponsor), Chemistry
Cation exchange reactions are a powerful tool for post-synthetic modification of semicondutor quantum dots (QDs). Partial and complete cation exchange reactions have previously been documented in multiple II-VI and IV-VI QD systems. Partial cation exchange is one approach to encapsulating QDs with a protective, inorganic shell material, while both partial and complete exchange can yield materials that are difficult or impossible to synthesize directly from molecular precursors. In this contribution, we study in detail the exchange of Pb(II) ions by Cd(II) ions under various reaction conditions. Factors such as reaction temperature, identity of the counter ion, QD size, and exclusion of air have been examined, and their effects are reported here. The effect of these factors on the composition, atomic distribution (core/shell vs. alloyed), and electronic structure of the resulting QDs will be reported. The data suggests that the particle size and reaction conditions can allow us to tune the core/shell system continuously between a type I and type II electronic structure.

212
EFFECTS OF CREATINE MONOHYDRATE ON MUSCULAR ENDURANCE AND
RPE
Kylie Flowers, Undergraduate, Health and Human Performance; Josh Graves,
Undergraduate, Health and Human Performance; Jessica Odigie, Undergraduate, Health and Human Performance; Gabrielle Odeneal, Undergraduate, Health and Human
Performance; Ginny St. Lawrence, Undergraduate, Health and Human Performance.;
Vaughn Barry (Faculty Sponsor), Health and Human Performance
Background: Long term creatine supplementation is widely used to enhance performance and prolong the onset of fatigue. However, the short-term effects of creatine are unclear in regards to direct correlation with muscular performance and ones perceived performance. The purpose of the study is to compare the participant’s muscular performance in relation to their perceived exertion.
Methods: Thirty healthy males and females (age 18-30) engaged in exercise assessment tests in three different sessions. First, each participant performed a baseline assessment.
The baseline included air squats, push-ups, and curl-ups. The following two sessions included the exact same exercises and were conducted after the participants had received the placebo or creatine (consumed three consecutive days prior to assessment). An instructor was present to demonstrate and collect all data from workouts by participants.
The true purpose of the study was withheld from the participants in order for the placebo
(dextrose) to be effective. The mock purpose was to test the effects of two different amounts of creatine.
Results/Conclusions: During this poster presentation, the correlation between performance enhancing supplements (creatine-monohydrate) and muscular endurance and perceived exertion will be discussed.

213
THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING THE BOONDOCKS
Donovan Holt, Undergraduate, English; Victoria Jones, Graduate student, ; Darren
Collins, Undergraduate, Political Science; Ukyeye Wilt, Undergraduate, Liberal Arts;
Rebekah Dawson, Undergraduate, Liberal Arts; Laura Dubek (Faculty Sponsor),
In Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), Zora Neale Hurston examines the complicated nature of race and racism. Hurston’s novel can be seen as an ancestor text to
The
Boondocks (2005), an animated adult sitcom fearless in its portrayal of modern race relations. Many of Hurston’s fictional characters have their counterparts in
The
Boondocks . The most prevalent parallel is between Hurston’s protagonist, Janie Crawford, and Jasmine Du Bois: both of these characters have everything handed to them, and although they are black, they embody the ways of the white culture. The “Uncle Ruckus mentality” shows through Mrs. Turner, one of Hurston’s most controversial and unlikeable characters. The Mayor and the Overseer's controlling mannerisms find their parallel in The Boondock
’s Ed Wuncler. Tea Cake, Janie’s third husband, can be compared to Riley Freeman, the youngest character in The Boondocks . Logan Killicks,
Janie’s first husband, and Nanny both find their parallel in Robert Freeman, Riley’s
Grandad: all three c characters share the mentality that life should be lived in the
"traditional" way. Richard Wright, a harsh critic of Hurston’s, is portrayed through the character of Huey Freeman, Riley’s brother: both Wright and Huey (named after Black
Panther “Huey Newton”) disapprove of Jasmine (the Hurston character) due to their whiteness. Our poster will present the connections between these characters, demonstrating how racial stereotypes and attitudes from the past are being used for modern entertainment.

214
ROLE MODELS MATTER AT THE MTSU EXPANDING YOUR HORIZONS
CONFERENCE
Caleb Hough, Undergraduate, Biology; Sierra Shipley, Undergraduate, Criminal Justice
Administration; Lorrie Pruett, Undergraduate, Chemistry; Mehreen Fatima,
Undergraduate, Biology; Judith Iriarte-Gross (Faculty Sponsor), Chemistry
Research shows that role models matter when recruiting and retaining girls in the STEM disciplines. There is a critical need to raise awareness and to change the stereotypes about
STEM jobs for middle and high school girls in Tennessee. The MTSU Women In
STEM (WISTEM) Center plays a strategic role in encouraging young women in STEM through successful K-16 programs such as the MTSU Expanding Your Horizons (EYH)
Conference, GRITS (Girls Raised In Tennessee Science) Collaborative Project, and
WISE, Women In Science and Engineering. MTSU is the home to the first EYH in
Tennessee and has served over 6,800 Tennessee girls. For the last 17 years, we have held our annual EYH conference to introduce girls to role models and to lay the foundation for them to succeed as STEM majors in college. Comments from the girls and the STEM workshop leaders illustrate the importance of role models as they explore STEM careers.

215
""AS IS"": REDESIGN OF AN EXISTING SPACE
Koree Madewell, Undergraduate, Human Sciences; Marcus Byers, Undergraduate,
Human Sciences; Kaitlyn Daniel, Undergraduate, Human Sciences; Mary K. Harrell,
Undergraduate, Human Sciences; Paige Jenkins, Undergraduate, Human Sciences; Molly
Norris, Undergraduate, Human Sciences; Lesley Robinson, Undergraduate, Human
Sciences; Shelby Stone, Undergraduate, Human Sciences; Deborah Belcher (Faculty
Sponsor), Human Sciences
The relationship between past, present and future is a connection that is tied closely to our built environment. Cultural, political, religious, and technical developments are represented through the architecture of a specific time. As designers, we must provide that sense of time, place, and belonging which is so necessary to human beings.
In the design process, the analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of a design solution is essential to the designer. A thorough understanding of existing conditions is essential in effective interior design of any given space. By systematically analyzing an existing space, we can begin to determine the requirements involved in creating a complete interior design project. Likewise, the same design process is used in creating new spaces.
Analysis techniques are used in developing visual illustrations of design requirements and schematics for possible solutions.
In this team project, the design process was applied. As part of the programming phase, existing spaces (Stark Agribusiness and Agriscience Center lobby, Green House lobby and classroom) were measured, photographed and floor plans developed. Our clients, Dr.
Warren Gill and Dr. Nate Phillips, were interviewed and a needs assessment was developed. Existing furniture (chairs, drafting tables, etc.) located in the Ellington
Human Sciences annex was measured and inventoried.
Concepts and parti boards showing ideas based on our findings and client needs and a furniture layout appropriate to the spaces were developed. ""Before"" and ""after"" photographs show how the design impacts the function and aesthetics of the spaces. This project shows how the positive impact of the reuse of existing furniture can dramatically improve existing spaces.

216
SHOW ME HOW TO DO LIKE YOU: AN ANALYSIS OF AUTHOR-CHARACTER
PARALLELS IN THE WORKS OF ZORA NEALE HURSTON AND ALICE
WALKER
Chloe Madigan, Undergraduate, English; Amy Cheatham, Undergraduate, English;
Melody Cook, Undergraduate, English; Katherine Smith, Undergraduate, English; Laura
Dubek (Faculty Sponsor), English
Works of fiction often imitate life, especially when it comes to drawing parallels between great authors and their main characters. In Their Eyes Were Watching God , Janie can be seen as a mirror for Zora Neale Hurston in much the same way that Celie is a parallel to
Alice Walker in her novel The Color Purple . These links between fictional characters and their authors are especially interesting when examined through the lense that many
African American female authors use the works of Zora Neale Hurston as “ancestor text” to their own writings. In fact, it can be argued that Alice Walker was not only responsible for reviving the works of Zora Neale Hurston through her studies of Hurston but also by reincarnating the author herself in the character of Shug Avery in The Color
Purple . The characterization of Shug is so similar to that of Hurston that it seems impossible for this to be a coincidence. Therefore, our goal in this presentation is to show that authors not only write themselves into their texts (often unintentionally) but have the power to revive the works of past authors through their writings.

217
INCIDENCE AND THERMAL BIOLOGY OF AN INVASIVE CLADOCERAN,
DAPHNIA LUMHOLTZI
Jessica Marcy-Quay, Undergraduate, Biology; Jeffrey White, Undergraduate, Biology;
Melissa Pompilius, Graduate student, Biology; Robert Fischer, Faculty, College of Basic and Applied Sciences; Robert Fischer (Faculty Sponsor), Other
Nearly every wetland and aquatic ecosystem in the U.S. is being impacted by nonindigenous species (NIS). Among these, the Southeast Atlantic-Gulf region has the greatest number of aquatic species introductions. In addition to documenting introductions and assessing their impacts, it is important to summarize the traits that characterize successful invaders. One NIS that is generating increasing interest is the subtropical zooplankton Daphnia lumholtzi , which has spread to aquatic systems throughout the US. Many studies have documented the success of D. lumholtzi in reservoirs and lakes, where high thermal tolerance allows it to exploit a vacant thermal niche. However, to date there has been limited characterization of its establishment in estuarine environments. The Alabama River delta offers a unique opportunity to investigate D. lumholtzi distribution compared to native species, as well as how thermal factors may affect its invasive potential in this ecosystem. We collected monthly zooplankton samples from 8 sites across the Alabama River delta system over a two-year period, which confirmed that D. lumholtzi has established a population in the estuary and is most often found during warmer summer months. We are currently conducting studies to determine how thermal factors affect its survival and life history characteristics in the estuary.

218
SYNTHESIS OF PBS QUANTUM DOTS USING THIOACETAMIDE AS A SULFUR
SOURCE
Alexander L. Morris, Undergraduate, Chemistry; Amanda D. Evans, Undergraduate,
Chemistry; Jason Gurcheik, Undergraduate, Chemistry; Wayne Tilluck, Undergraduate,
Chemistry; Morgan Brewer, High School Student; Hannah Alsup, High School Student;
Badri Mainali, Undergraduate, Chemistry; Clay Mings, Undergraduate, Chemistry; P.
Gregory Van Patten, Faculty, Chemistry; P. Gregory Van Patten (Faculty Sponsor),
Chemistry
Thioacetamide (TA) has previously been reported by other authors as a sulfur source in the preparation of PbS quantum dots (QDs). Thioacetamide is stable, non-volatile, easy to handle safely, and inexpensive. However, in spite of these advantages, thioacetamide has been much less widely used than other precursors like hexamethyldisilathiane (HMDS) and sulfur/oleylamine (S/OA) mixtures. We examine here the utility of thioacetamide as a sulfide precursor for the preparation of high quality PbS QDs, and report a general procedure that yields highly luminescent QDs whose size and band gap energy can be tuned over a relatively wide range in the near infrared. These particles are easy to isolate, have moderately narrow size distributions, are highly soluble in non-polar organic solvents, and show strong band edge photoluminescence. We have characterized these
PbS QDs using optical spectroscopy, TEM, and x-ray diffraction. Size tunability, size distributions, and PL quantum yields will be reported. In addition, the relative advantages and drawbacks of the PbS QD products obtained from the various sulfur sources (TA,
HMDS, and S/OA) will be described.

219
BURN, BABY, BURN
Mary Powell, Undergraduate, English; Janie Jefferson, Undergraduate, English; Leigh
Gardner, Undergraduate, Biology; Kristen Bezner, Undergraduate, English; Laura Dubek
(Faculty Sponsor), English
Novels written by black women often contain undertones of darkness and oppression. In the novels Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) by Zora Neale Hurston, Sula (1973) by
Toni Morrison and The Color Purple (1982) by Alice Walker, nearly all forms of abuse are represented. The characters accept mental, emotional and even physical abuse as ordinary and expected. By tackling this topic in their works, the authors not only draw attention to the dangers of abuse and the effect it has on the individuals involved; they also challenge our perceptions of relationships. Our poster will explore the various forms of abuse displayed in the works through the lives of the characters and how those suffering from abusive relationships have managed to overcome their past and grow from their experiences. By closely examining the literary representation of abuse in the texts, we can more effectively recognize and combat abuse in our own lives.

220
ARE ATTITUDES TOWARD GENETICALLY MODIFIED CROPS IMPACTED BY
COLLEGE MAJOR?
Cristie Sanborn, Undergraduate, Psychology; Eleanor Ellis, Graduate student,
Psychology; Angela Bowman, Graduate student, Psychology; Heather Jimenez,
Undergraduate, Psychology; Gloria Hamilton (Faculty Sponsor), Psychology
This pilot study was designed to investigate whether attitudes toward genetically modified crops (GMOs) differ by college major and knowledge of genetics. A survey was created to measure respondent knowledge of genetically modified crops and their beliefs regarding safety of GMOs. Students in the crop and food sciences were presented with 1) questions to test factual knowledge of GMOs, 2) questions to elicit their attitudes and perceptions of GMOs, and 3) whether they attempted to avoid consumption of GMObased products. Hypotheses were that respondents who had studied genetics would be more favorably disposed toward GMOs while those without a background in genetics would demonstrate less knowledge and familiarity with GMOS. Participants did not differ in attitude or knowledge by discipline or coursework in genetics. Participants did differ by gender, with females expressing greater concern about foods containing GMOs.

221
THE EFFECTS OF CARDIORESPIRATORY FITNESS ON VERTICAL JUMP
FOLLOWING A STANDARD STRETCHING REGIMENT
Jayda Singleton, Undergraduate, Health and Human Performance; Monica Brown,
Undergraduate, Health and Human Performance; Elizabeth Mikhail, Undergraduate,
Health and Human Performance; Gary Mitchell, Undergraduate, Human and Health
Performance; Jauwon Cain, Undergraduate, Health and Human Performance; Vaughn
Barry (Faculty Sponsor), Health and Human Performance
Background- To our understanding, no study has compared the effects of static stretching on vertical jump between trained and untrained individuals. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to find how fitness level affects the relationship between static stretching and vertical jump.
Methods- Participants reported to the testing site on 2 separate sessions. The trials were counterbalanced. During the first session, participants were familiarized with the test and how it should be performed. This session started with a 5 minute warm–up of low intensity jogging along with 3 practice vertical jumps. After the warm-up the participants performed 4 different static stretches. Participants held their stretches for 30 seconds
(ACSM guidelines). They performed 3 consecutive jumps in which the best score was recorded. All vertical jumps will be measured using the Vertec Jump Trainer (VERTEC2,
Vertec Jump Trainer, Sports Imports, Columbus, Ohio). The participant jumped by touching the highest vane possible with their third finger on their dominant hand. During the second session, participants performed the exact same test excluding the different static stretches.
Results/Conclusion- During this poster presentation, we will discuss how fitness levels- effects the relationship between static stretching and vertical jump in males between the ages of 18-26 years, who have not had a lower extremity injury within the past year.

222
CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN SCIENCE: CLASS PROJECTS BY THE HONORS
COLLEGE
Alison Taylor, Undergraduate, History; Wesley Alexander, Undergraduate, Computer
Science; Morgan Murphy, Undergraduate, Economics and Finance; Katherine
Stubblefield, Undergraduate, Global Studies; Judith Iriate-Gross (Faculty Sponsor),
Chemistry
Contemporary Issues in Science, PSCI 1130H/1131H, is an Honors general education course with the goal of helping non-science majors connect to science ""through"" an additional focus on complex, capacious, and often unsolved problems of civic consequence. As an Honors’ College course, PSCI 1130H/1131H strives to keep the ideals of “character, creativity, commitment, curiosity, discipline, faith, honor, and integrity” which helped develop the Honors College Creed “designed to inspire the entire
Honors community to reach its highest levels” (MTSU).
Students examine physical science as it is currently presented in films and through global issues. These topics might include the following: sustainability and its impact on our state, national, and global communities, green chemistry, water resources, air pollution, global climate change, fossil fuels, alternative energy sources, nuclear power, and technology.
Students develop teamwork skills by participating in discussions, problem-solving, and collaborating on a Honors’ Project. The best example of the Honors’ ideals are displayed in the project, which help students become more responsible and creative through researching together in small, collaborative groups. The students present their work to the campus community in the Honors’ College at the end of the semester. This project has been a part of the course for four semesters with 76 students participating. The current class will present their work on April 10, 2014. In our presentation, we will demonstrate that PSCI 1130 H/1131H is a class that facilitates the physical science learning experience through testimony of previous students, stories from our personal experience, and examples of our projects.
Works Cited:
""University Honors College - Mission and Creed."" University Honors College - Middle
Tennessee State University | Middle Tennessee State University. MTSU, 15 Oct. 2013.
Web. 24 Feb. 2014.

223
EVALUATION OF SELECTED PLANT EXTRACTS FOR ANTI-HERPES SIMPLEX
VIRUS ACTIVITY
Lauren Whaley, Undergraduate, Biology; Megan House, Graduate student, Biology;
Matthew Wright, Graduate student, Chemistry; Stephen Wright, Faculty, Biology;
Stephen Wright (Faculty Sponsor), Biology
Herpes Simplex Virus type 1 (HSV-1) is a common pathogen that affects people worldwide. There are few medicines that are effective against HSV-1 and little effort has been made to find new treatments from natural sources such as ethno-botanicals and
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) extracts. The goal of our study is to identify TCM plant extracts that inhibit HSV-1. Following a cytotoxicity screen of 140 TCM extracts,
Vero cells were exposed to HSV-1 and plant extracts simultaneously. After 48 hour incubation, cell viability was measured using a fluorescent dye, PrestoBlue. Ten extracts showed potential anti-viral activity, inhibiting the virus by at least 50%. The most promising TCM extract, 19A, demonstrated nearly 100% inhibition of HSV-1. 19A was divided by column fractionation into 11 sub-fractions and anti-viral activity has been narrowed down to approximately 4 compounds. On-going work seeks to identify a novel chemotherapeutic agent that could treat HSV-1 infection.

224
ISOLATION OF BIOACTIVE COMPONENTS FROM PLANTS
Shannon Allen, Undergraduate, Chemistry; Chelsea Harmon, Undergraduate, Chemistry;
Norma Dunlap (Faculty Sponsor), Chemistry
The Tennessee Center for Botanical Medicine Research is investigating plants used in traditional herbal remedies. Many of these plants have shown anti-tumor, anti-microbial, anti-viral, anti-internal parasite, and/or anti-inflammatory activity. They are also being tested for inhibition of the BACE enzyme related to progression of Alzheimer’s disease.
A plant, labeled as “Plant 19”, tested positive for activity against the Herpes Simplex
Virus (HSV-1). The strongest activity against this virus was discovered in the hexane fraction, labeled “19A.” Liquid chromatography has been used to try to isolate the compounds found in extract 19A. Spectral analysis will be used to identify these compounds after purification. In addition to Plant 19, chicory is being tested for anti-viral activity as well.

225
CLIMATE CONTROLLED GREEN HOUSE
Bryan Armstrong, Undergraduate, Engineering Technology; Dr. Chong Chen (Faculty
Sponsor), Engineering Technology
Due to the breakthrough of Electronics into industrial production, several integrated circuit devices are being manufactured to help a wide variety of process. Although the
Lab View program is a computer software based program, the diversity allows for several capabilities that can be used to revolutionize Green Energy as an easier product in the world market. It could easily be a big step in a different direction that guides production along.
In this undergraduate research study it is believed that Lab View can be used to monitor climate change in a green house to see how electrical components can help with assisting of efficient greenhouse process. Throughout this research study, National Instruments program Lab View was used to allow interfacing between electrical components and instrumentation controls. The core of the project revolves around using graphical code to structure a programming language between components. The Control programming language builds on a base of a block diagrams allowing for operations that represent actual components that are wired through a USB device. The functionality of the program is similar to using a Coke Machine, Printer, or KIOSK
The results will show how using imaging interfacing coding such as the Lab View program allows for low cost and efficient ways of monitoring everyday situations in a more accurate way. The Green House will be fitted and incorporate with a NI- DAQmx
USB instrument, that will monitor and assist in the controlling of heat, humidity, light and temperature.

226
CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SUCRALOSE VERSUS
SUCROSE
Otilia Bilauca, Undergraduate, Chemistry; Beng Ooi (Faculty Sponsor), Chemistry
Sucralose or 1,6-Dichloro-1,6-dideoxy-_-D-fructofuranosyl-4-chloro-4-deoxy-_-Dgalactopyranoside is an artificial sweetener that is approximately 600 times sweeter than sucrose or table sugar. It is a trichlorosucrose in which two of the three chlorine atoms replaced the hydroxyl groups on the fructose portion of sucrose. Sucralose has no calories because the majority of it is not absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract and the small amount absorbed is mostly eliminated in the urine. It is believed to be heat-stable and is used as a sugar substitute. Previous studies have shown that the thermal decomposition of sucralose in aqueous solution increase with increased pH. This project investigates the effects of temperature and pH on sucralose when used in various cooking conditions including boiling, baking, microwaving, and pickling. Processed or cooked as well as the unprocessed sucralose will be characterized using Raman and FT-IR spectroscopy.
Sucrose and sucralose have distinguishable Raman spectral signals in the dry and aqueous form.

227
BARIUM OXIDE AS A CATALYST IN BIODIESEL PRODUCTION
Angela Blevins, Undergraduate, Chemistry; Dr. Beng Guat Ooi (Faculty Sponsor),
Chemistry
Biodiesel is fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) produced from the reaction of oil with alcohol using the catalyst sodium hydroxide (NaOH). The current use of NaOH is not particularly environmentally friendly since large amount of water is required to wash away the catalyst. This project explores the use of an alternative heterogeneous catalyst barium oxide (BaO) that can be easily pelleted and recycled. In this study, biodiesel is produced by reacting soybean oil with methanol at 1:4 ratios, 0.2g BaO and at approximately 65_C. Variables including temperatures, oil-to-methanol ratios, BaO amounts, and reaction times are adjusted for best biodiesel yield. All reactions are terminated by the removal of the catalyst by centrifugation and the unreacted methanol evaporated from the sample. FT-IR analyses detected the presences of FAME and GC-
MS analyses identified methyl linoleate, methyl oleate, methyl stearate, methyl palmitate, and methyl palmitoleate in the samples.

228
A COMPUTATIONAL INVESTIGATION WITH CONSIDERATION TO THREE
DIMENSIONAL FLOW OVER ROTATING CYLINDRICAL AND SPHEROID
BODIES
Brett Bornhoft, Undergraduate, Aerospace; Nicodemus Myhre, Undergraduate,
Aerospace; Nate Callender (Faculty Sponsor), Aerospace
By being able to numerically approximate analytically unsolvable equations, numerical methods have become the third pillar in scientific research and development sitting comfortably next to theory and experiment. The following work took up a challenge proposed by Dr. Callender’s “A Viscous Flow Analog to Prandtl’s Optimized Lifting
Line Theory Utilizing Rotating Biquadratic Bodies of Rotation [(BBOR)]” to numerically investigate the flow over fully three dimensional cylinders. In this document, fluid flow over cylindrical bodies at low Reynold’s numbers was discussed at length. Callender provided both the theoretical basis and experimental results for the BBOR. We set out to conduct the computational portion of the study. By doing a computational investigation of the BBOR, we were able to determine pressure and velocity distributions, and the force coefficients. The study also probed the three dimensional qualities of the flow that are extremely difficult to determine experimentally and almost impossible to discover theoretically. First, the cylindrical geometries were created using ANSYS’ Design
Modeler. Next, the geometries were meshed using ANSYS Meshing. The meshed geometries were then evaluated by a computational fluid dynamics software known as
Fluent. Lastly, the geometries were rotated about their major axis. Force coefficients (and force coefficients ratios) of the different geometries were compared to one another as well as to the experimental results obtained by Callender.

229
THE ART OF DIRECTING
Stephanie Bottum, Undergraduate, Speech and Theatre; Virginia Donnell (Faculty
Sponsor), Speech and Theatre
The art of directing is a critical aspect to the success of a play. While some play directing methods are commonly held, an individual director will develop a unique style and techniques to realize the action of the play. This project will showcase the process of directing a theatrical production involving applied research used to develop and portray characters within the context of a setting and physical environment. Using a scene from
Amen Corner , a recent MTSU Theatre main-stage production, written by James Baldwin, the student presenter will demonstrate how she directed this scene to communicate character and story to the audience on a scale replica of the setting with an accompanying performance video. A thorough analysis based on the method of Francis Hodge, has been completed to assist the student director in creating the environment in which the scene takes place. “What a director finds in his play-analysis depends on how thoroughly he can take the play apart in his own mind and then put it back together again…” Francis
Hodge, Play Directing: Analysis, Communication, and Style.

230
THE EFFECTS OF CHLORINE DIOXIDE ON LYSOZYME ACTIVITY
Sharon Branning, Undergraduate, Chemistry; Beng Ooi (Faculty Sponsor), Chemistry
Chlorine dioxide is a potent oxidizing agent that can be used for treatment of drinking water, decontamination of rooms and equipment in manufacturing and health facilities.
The purpose of this research is to elucidate the manner in which chlorine dioxide destroys microbes by studying the effects of chlorine dioxide on a simple enzyme, lysozyme. It is possible that the biocidal effects may be due to the inactivation of enzymes in the microbes as a result of protein denaturation. In this study, chicken egg lysozyme, a 129amino acid protein will be treated with chlorine dioxide gas for varying time periods. The activities of the treated lysozymes versus the untreated will be determined by comparing the rate at which these enzymes digest cellular membrane of the bacteria Micrococcus lysodeikticus . The degree of enzyme activity loss can be correlated to the treatment time and levels of the chlorine dioxide.

231
GARDNERELLA VAGINALIS : INFLAMMATORY IMPACT ON AMNIOTIC CELLS
AND IMMUNE INTERACTIONS
Matt Brooks, Undergraduate, Biology; Anthony Farone (Faculty Sponsor), Biology
Inflammation within the uterus during pregnancy can cause prenatal brain injury, and has been associated with preterm birth. Gardnerella vaginalis ( G. vaginalis ) is a Gram- variable, rod-shaped bacterium associated with bacterial vaginosis, pelvic inflammatory disease, bacteremia, preterm birth, and is a risk factor for HIV acquisition. Clinical isolates in cases of bacterial vaginosis demonstrate up-regulation in Toll-like Receptor 2 and 4 transcript levels and increased release of IL-1_, which itself is correlated to preterm birth. Further, IL-1_ is among a few cytokines that are regulated by the Nod-like receptor family leading to inflammasome formation, Caspase-1 activation, and pyroptosis. As inflammatory characteristics of G. vaginalis have not been characterized yet in this model, we studied three closely related strains of G. vaginalis looking for cytokine release, inflammasome recruitment, and cell death. THP-1 cells, THP-1 NLRP3 knock-down cells, THP-1 ASC-YFP expressing cells, and Human Peripheral Blood Monocytic Cells
(PBMCs) were used to study the effects of G. vaginalis co-culture. Cytokines were quantified by ELISA, and Nod-like receptor activation was quantified by FLICA assay and confocal microscopy. Cell death was characterized by Annexin-V assay and western blot. A significant increase in IL-1_, IL-18, and TNF-_ activity was produced by only two G. vaginalis strains over untreated samples but was not significantly different compared to LPS/ATP. NLRP3-knockdown caused a decrease in IL-1_ release, but did not prevent an increase in IL-1_ over control. Ac-YVAD-cmk, a caspase-1 inhibitor, prevented elevation of IL-1_ all together. Visualization of NLRP3 and NLRC4 by confocal microscopy showed NLRP3 and NLRC4 both co-localize with ASC after stimulation with G. vaginalis . Strain variability in inflammation could be the reason for variability observed clinically between women colonized with G. vaginalis . It is additionally capable of a large degree of inflammation, which could partly contribute to its ability to lead to preterm birth.

232
DETECTION OF ENTAMOEBA GINGIVALIS AND TRICHOMONAS TENAX USING
QUANTITATIVE PCR
Cameron Crawford, Undergraduate, Biology; Mary Farone (Faculty Sponsor), Biology
Two amoebae are almost exclusively found in the oral cavity of humans with gingivitis, and may play a role in the development of this disease state. Because of its ease of use, along with quick and accurate results, quantitative PCR (qPCR) is becoming a standard molecular laboratory technique. We have developed a qPCR technique using DNA sequences that are specific for the two oral protozoans, Entamoeba gingivalis and
Trichomonas tenax . We have successfully used this qPCR method to accurately identify these two amoebae in patient samples that have moderate to severe cases of gingivitis.
The uniqueness of these protozoa as markers is evidenced by our finding that of 33 patients, only 9 were positive for E. gingivalis . We have also optimized this technique so that both organisms can be identified simultaneously. Studies are continuing to determine the frequency of T. tenax and a combination of both protozoa in patient samples.

233
SYNTHESIS & MICROSTRUCTURAL CHARACTERIZATION OF HIGH ENERGY
DENSITY PIEZOELECTRIC CERAMIC COMPOSITIONS
Ryan Daugherty, Undergraduate, Engineering Technology; Vishwas Bedekar, Faculty,
Engineering Technology; Vishwas Bedekar (Faculty Sponsor), Engineering Technology
The objective of this research is to design, synthesize and characterize high energy density piezoelectric ceramics for harvesting electrical energy from mechanical vibrations. Piezoelectric ceramic compositions based upon Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) were synthesized using conventional mixed oxide ceramic processing route which includes ball milling, drying, calcination and sintering. Microstructural Characterization was performed using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to calculate average grain size of the sintered compositions and an Electron Dispersion Spectroscopy (EDS) for quantitative elemental analysis. Sintered samples were painted with electrodes using Ag-
Pd paste and poled in an oil bath at 120 º C using high voltage power supply.
Piezoelectric and dielectric properties were measured using d33 meter, impedance analyzer, and LCR meter and compared for various compositions. Our results show that there is a direct correlation between energy density and the piezoelectric properties of the ceramics.

234
MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY
Chanelle Despins, Undergraduate, Electronic Media Communication; Jonathan Trundle
(Faculty Sponsor),
I would like to educate and demonstrate to the public about macro photography, or closeup photography. Macro photography is an exciting form of art and communication because it allows us to see a new perspective that the naked human eye can't see. Macro photography has the power to abstract simple, recognizable objects and show how complex some of the most simple objects really are.
I would like to set up the camera with Professor Trundle and bring in small, detailed objects to show off their complexity. We will take two photographs of the same object.
One photograph where the object is recognizable. In the second photograph, the camera lens will be magnified so that the object will become unrecognizable and the detail will be highly interesting.
The best part is that the macro photography camera set up is easy to use. It takes little instruction to learn how to function the device so that basically anybody can use it! It will allow the public to interact with their creative side as well.

235
WORKING MEMORY CAPACITY AND INATTENTIONAL BLINDNESS IN
INDIVIDUALS WITH AND WITHOUT DEPRESSION
Jonathan Driver, Undergraduate, Psychology; Dr. Stephen Schmidt (Faculty Sponsor),
Psychology
Previous research suggests individuals with depression tend to have lower working memory capacities than those without depression. This study investigated if individuals with depression were more likely to have inattentional blindness due to having lower working memory capacities. Inattentional blindness is the failure to notice a fully-visible, but unexpected object because attention was focused elsewhere. Working memory capacity is the capacity of the system that actively holds multiple pieces of transitory information in the mind, where they can be manipulated. There is no previous research looking to see if individuals with depression are more likely to have inattentional blindness. A color block recall task was used to measure working memory capacity prior to participants completing a task that measured whether or not they had inattentional blindness. This is an on going study, so results are yet to be determined. It is expected that individuals with depression will have lower working memory capacities, therefore they should be more likely to have inattentional blindness.

236
ANALYSIS OF NITROANILINE ISOMERS VIA SURFACE ENHANCED RAMAN
SPECTROSCOPY (SERS)
Yvonne Ejorh, Undergraduate, Chemistry; Chelsey Williams-Miles, Undergraduate,
Chemistry; Beng Ooi (Faculty Sponsor), Chemistry
Nitroanilines serve as a chemical intermediate in the manufacturing of dyes, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and poultry medications. Nitroanilines are derivatives of aniline and there are three isomeric forms depending on the positions of the nitro substituent groups.
The three isomeric forms 2-nitroaniline, 3-nitroaniline, and 4-nitroaniline can be distinguished by Raman Spectroscopy. The Raman signal can be intensified by the use of gold or silver nanoparticles, a technique referred to as Surface Enhanced Raman
Spectroscopy (SERS). In this project, colloidal gold nanostars were used for SERS analysis and characterization of the three isomers. The degree of signal enhancement of the different isomers will depend on the ortho, meta, and para position of the nitro group.
The steric hindrance effects for chemisorption as well as the inductive effects due to the position of the nitro substituent group will be investigated by comparing the enhancement factors of the isomers.

237
ISOLATION OF COMPOUNDS FROM PLANT SOURCES, INCLUDING
TRADITIONAL MEDICINES
Yvonne Ejorh, Undergraduate, Chemistry; Ariel Stephenson, Undergraduate, Chemistry;
Norma Dunlap (Faculty Sponsor), Chemistry
Plants such as dandelion, passionflower, and yarrow have been found to contain compounds that exhibit properties that have the potential to treat common health problems. Some plants have been found to contain compounds that exhibit anticancer, antiviral, and anti-inflammatory properties. In this study we collected May apple
( Podophyllum Peltatum ), Poke Weed ( Phytolacca ), and Mullein ( Verbascum Thapsus ).
We took each plant and performed extractions and purification methods to isolate other purified components. These could then be tested for any active compounds that have properties to treat conditions as minor as a cold and as severe as cancerous, viral, and respiratory conditions. We used several techniques that include liquid-liquid extraction,
TLC, Column Chromatography, NMR, Soxhlet Extraction and Steam Distillation.

238
ANALYSIS OF HALOGENATED DERIVATIVES OF ANILINE USING SURFACE
ENHANCED RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY
Chelsey Williams-Miles, Undergraduate, Chemistry; Beng Ooi (Faculty Sponsor),
Chemistry
Aniline is an aromatic compound commonly used as a precursor to many industrial chemicals. Raman Spectroscopy can be used to differentiate among the different derivatives of aniline. The Raman spectra of these compounds can often be enhanced through the adsorption of analytes onto gold or silver nanostructures. This technique in which the Raman signal is enhanced is known as Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy
(SERS). In this study, colloidal gold nanostars were used to obtain the SERS spectra of the halogenated substituents of aniline in both the ortho and para positions. The degrees of Raman signal enhancement were based on the various substituents in the ortho and para positions. The intensities of the SERS signals for each of these analytes were used to probe the effects of steric hindrance on chemisorption as well as the inductive effects due to the substituent group and the Spartan electron density mapping was used to aid data interpretation.

239
RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION (RFID) DOOR LOCK AND INTRUDER
ALERT
Zachary Goforth, Undergraduate, Engineering Technology; Saleh Sbenaty (Faculty
Sponsor), Engineering Technology
Over the past few years, home automation and security have become a growing industry.
As the technology grows and prices shrink, more and more homes are adopting these systems to help protect their families and property. My project takes ideas from both systems and integrates them with the ultimate goal of creating fully capable automation and security systems. The RFID door lock and intruder alert will use a RFID chip instead of a traditional key to unlock a door. The RFID key will be read by an Arduino microcontroller, which will control the electromagnetic lock in the door. The micro-controller will then send the RFID key's information to a server, in this case a Raspberry Pi. The server will then send out an e-mail to the owner explaining whether or not the door was opened with a RFID key and the key's owner. Once this initial step is completed, multiple other micro-controllers, serving different purposes, can be added creating a complete home automation and security system.

240
MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY: PRINT MEDIA NEEDS ON CAMPUS
Allison Griffin, Undergraduate, Social Work; Melissa McGuire, Undergraduate, Social
Work; Julie Taylor Hopkins (Faculty Sponsor), Social Work
Many students utilize electronic media and oftentimes print media is forgotten. The utility of using print media enables students to read the newspaper in a hands on fashion.
While electronic media is useful and readily available, the researchers feel that print media should be equally available and utilized on campus. The study surveyed 500 students at Middle Tennessee State University regarding print media needs on campus.
The sample includes social work students as well as students from a variety of disciplines on campus and degree levels. Students were surveyed regarding usage of electronic media versus print media. Students were also surveyed on the anticipated usage of print media if it became readily available at a free or reduced cost. Questions regarding knowledge of social policy issues at the local and global level aided the researchers to ascertain knowledge of these issues among students, with particular focus on social work students. This study is a three-fold: (1) it aids in understanding print media needs across campus and proposes ideas for greater involvement in awareness and understanding of social policy issues; (2) provides the social work department with data on how to better address print media in social policy analysis across the core curriculum; (3) aids undergraduate student researchers the opportunity to engage in the entire research and data analysis process. The researchers engaged in univariate and multivariate analysis of the survey data.

241
JUPITER'S DECAMETRIC RADIO SOURCES CHANGING OVER TIME
John Griffith, Undergraduate, Physics and Astronomy; Chuck Higgins (Faculty Sponsor),
Physics and Astronomy
We will analyze 50 years of Jovian decametric radio emission data from the University of
Florida Radio Observatory to investigate possible changes over time. As a result of
Jupiter’s magnetic field lines interacting with its moon, Io, the spatial location of radio sources A, B, and C can be determined. It should be possible to plot yearly changes in occurrence probabilities at 18MHz, 20MHz, and 22MHz as a function of time. We are interested in seeing how the positions, intensity, and shapes of these sources change over time. By analyzing these data, it is also possible to determine whether an unknown phenomenon is responsible for long term changes in occurrence probabilities at different frequencies, or if known phenomena can be used to account for these changes. By using this research, it is possible to work towards a better understanding of the interaction of
Jupiter’s magnetic field and its radio sources, leading to better models to describe the behavior.

242
CYCLOPROPYL PEPTIDOMIMETICS AS POTENTIAL HCV NS3 PROTEASE AND
BACE-1 INHIBITORS
Brandon Hazlett, Undergraduate, Chemistry; Michael Lampley, Undergraduate,
Chemistry; Norma Dunlap (Faculty Sponsor), Chemistry
A series of nitro-cyclopropyl and ester-cyclopropyl peptidomimetics have been synthesized as potential enzyme inhibitors. The core structure is prepared in a four-step sequence from protected amino acids, and then derivatized to target specific enzymes.
Proline and hydroxy-proline have been converted to potential HCV NS3 protease inhibitors. In another series, phenylalanine, leucine and valine have been carried forward to provide potential BACE-1 inhibitors.

243
FOCUSING AND DAMPING OF FLEXURAL WAVES IN A VARIABLE
THICKNESS PLATE
Jonathan Herlan, Undergraduate, Physics and Astronomy; William Robertson (Faculty
Sponsor), Physics and Astronomy
A procedure for actively damping the flexural waves propagating through a variable thickness plate is explored. This work aims to provide a light weight method of damping the acoustic energy transmitted by power-train induced structural vibrations into the cabins of rotary wing aircraft. Flexural vibrations in a plate have been focused with the application of an analogy to gradient index lensing. A sample plate has been fabricated with stepped ply layup in order to demonstrate this lensing behavior. Finite element simulations have predicted that this focusing effect localizes the distribution of kinetic energy across the surface of the plate in such a way that localized damping, when applied to the focused region, is expected to provide an effective means of energy dissipation. An algorithm for defining the ideal signal for successful active damping is developed with the capability to do so for other systems at any chosen frequency. Additional flexibility is built into the program to allow the user to select a desired coefficient of damping. The data acquisition and processing capabilities of MATLAB were utilized to construct a series of programs to take a set of data for system calibration at a given frequency and derive the ideal damping signal according to the selected damping coefficient. We predict that a teaming of variable thickness plating and local damping treatment would provide a more effective means of noise mitigation than can be achieved on a uniform thickness plate with the same damping. Ultimately, this would advance NASA’s objective to ready rotorcraft for frequent use in public transportation systems.

244
ANALYSIS OF ATTITUDES AND BELIEFS OF PREVENTABLE FALLS IN THE
ELDERLY
Meredith Holt, Undergraduate, Biology; Gloria Hamilton (Faculty Sponsor), Psychology
Falls in the elderly often lead to preventable injuries and deaths, in addition to high medical expenses due to hospitalization and treatment of the consequences of falls. The
United States Department of Public Health estimates that two-thirds of falls are preventable and the National Institute of Health has determined the risk factors that are predictive of falls. This study was designed to pilot an instrument to collect data on beliefs and attitudes of four groups of adults about whether and how balance, strength, or flexibility can be positively altered in the elderly. Survey data were gathered from noncollege adults, gerontology students, psychology students, and yoga students to assess their beliefs as to what they believe can help prevent falls. The study utilized a survey instrument to evaluate people’s beliefs and knowledge of various risks for falling in the elderly, including reduced balance, reduced bone mass, reduced muscle mass, and reduced flexibility. Suggested interventions to reduce falls were evaluated and include,
Tai Chi, yoga, improved nutrition, decreased medication, and physical therapy. Results suggested that, while participants held similar beliefs that falls risk could be mitigated by interventions, they differed as to the degree to which balance, bone and muscle mass, and flexibility could be positively impacted by the various interventions.

245
HOW CHILDHOOD UPBRINGING AFFECTS STUDENTS' VIEW ON FAMILIES
Sara Johns, Undergraduate, Human Sciences; Caroline Busbey, Undergraduate, Human
Sciences; Sandra Poirier (Faculty Sponsor), Human Sciences
The purpose of this project is to identify the relationships between family upbringings and what students consider to be “a family”. The different types of family upbringings could range from single mother or father, gay/lesbian parent(s), heterosexual married parents, foster home, grandparents, adopted, or other. The description of “a family” can be very subjective and varies greatly between each student. We are seeking to find out if a child’s upbringing can affect what he/she considers to be “a family”. People make assumptions of what “a family” is or what it should be. There are various definitions of what a family is today, therefore causing conflict and confusion for many scientists, laypeople, and even insurance companies. The findings can be useful in understanding our changing society today, as well as realizing that the “normal family” has changed to a wide range of family structures.

246
SOLAR FLARES IN THE RADIO SPECTRUM
Joe Kimball, Undergraduate, Physics and Astronomy; Chuck Higgins (Faculty Sponsor),
Physics and Astronomy
It is easy to think of the sun as a plain, consistent sphere of gas, but in reality it is covered with sunspots and protrusions spanning the size of Earth. The activity from these features often release large amounts of radiation in the form of Solar Flares. These flares, which are the source of aurora and have been known to cause blackouts, are most easily observable in the radio spectrum, and we have chosen the 20.1 MHz radio frequency to study them. By analyzing several years of data and comparing them to the sunspot number, we hope to verify the connection between the two and to search for any other trends that may refine our understanding of solar physics.

247
A COMPARISON OF REST-PAUSE AND TRADITIONAL RESISTANCE
TRAINING ON BENCH PRESS
Steven Kneisel, Undergraduate, Health and Human Performance; Jack Singleton,
Undergraduate, Health and Human Performance; John Coons (Faculty Sponsor), Health and Human Performance
Rest-pause resistance training is a newly popular alternative to traditional resistance training that has been proposed to be superior at increasing muscle strength. The purpose of this study was to identify differences in one repetition max (1RM) bench press and volume of training between rest-pause and traditional bench press training. Sixteen college-aged males were randomly divided into a rest-pause (RP) group and a standard training (ST) group. The four week training period consisted 1-session per week training of either a rest-pause or a standard training protocol at 60% of 1RM until failure. Twoway repeated measures ANOVAs demonstrated that the RP group had significantly greater gains in 1RM bench press (P < .001) and volume of training (P = .008). Post-hoc dependent-samples t-tests revealed that the RP group increased 1RM bench press (P
< .001) and the volume of training (P = .004). Also, post-hoc dependent-samples t-tests showed that the ST group increased 1RM bench press (P < .001) and the volume of training (P = .02). While both groups significantly improved 1RM bench press, it appears that rest-pause resistance training may be more effective at increasing strength than standard resistance training.

248
LITERACY RATES IN PREDOMINANTLY ISLAMIC NATIONS
Kayla McCrary, Undergraduate, Political Science; David Carleton (Faculty Sponsor),
Political Science
This project analyses the relationship between literacy rates in Islamic nations in respect to the government's secular characteristics. This study shows the following: Some predominantly Islamic nations exhibit extremely low literacy rates, while others have higher literacy rates. While observing two highly literate and two highly illiterate countries with predominant Islamic populations, it becomes apparent that secularised states have higher literacy rates. As a result of secularism in a country’s government, there is a better educational system and gender equality. In illiterate nations lacking secularised governments, educational systems are wanting, and there is a significant gender divide. Successfully literate countries, therefore, have included a sense of secularisation in their governments. The methodology used in this research study takes four case study countries into consideration: Turkey, Tajikistan, Senegal, and Niger.
Each is analysed as secular or unsecular. Gender equality and divide determine the social aspect of secularism, as does religious influence upon governmental realms within the nation itself. Therefore, the government can have a significant influence upon the literacy rate and educational system within the country.

249
INTERIOR DESIGN PERSPECTIVE DRAWINGS
Haifa Mhanna, Undergraduate, Human Sciences; Kaitlin Styer, Undergraduate, Human
Sciences; Deborah Belcher (Faculty Sponsor), Human Sciences
Perspective drawings is a way for interior designers to present their work as a visual representation of their ideas and design concepts. Designers create their perspective from a rendered floor plan of the overall space. Perspectives can include one-point, two-points, or three-points. Perspectives are mechanically drawn using different pencil techniques and line weights. Designers use a 1/4" scale floor plan and enlarge it to 1/2" to begin drawing their grid. The grid is then used to draw in the foreground, middle ground, background, framing, proportion, architectural details, entourage, composition, and furniture. The designers later add materials, finishes, accessories, and artwork by both drawing them in or rendering them in using different techniques. Pastel, pencil, watercolor, or marker are different rendering options that the designer can use. Designers then use different techniques in rendering such as grounding, contouring, shading, and shadowing to complete their rendered perspective that will be the sales 'pitch' for the client.

250
EFFECTS OF A SMART-PHONE APPLICATION ON PSYCHOLOGICAL,
PHYSIOLOGICAL, AND PERFORMANCE VARIABLES IN COLLEGE-AGED
INDIVIDUALS WHILE RUNNING
Martin Moran, Undergraduate, Health and Human Performance; John Coons, Faculty,
Health and Human Performance; John Coons (Faculty Sponsor), Health and Human
Performance
The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of auditory exergaming through the use of a smart-phone app on psychological, physiological, and performance variables in college-aged individuals while running. Participants included both males (n = 10) and females (n = 10). Participants ran three 15 minute trials, after which they completed motivational questionnaires. The first run was to get the participants accustomed to the application. The second and third were randomly counterbalanced either using the application again or running with no auditory stimulus. The analysis found that both sexes felt more inspired using the Zombies, Run! application than when running with no auditory stimulus (P = .003), males felt more confident they could complete the trials (P
= .02), females felt they exerted themselves more during the zombie run (P = .03), males were more motivated than females to run faster to avoid losing items (P = .005) and males felt more motivated than females to collect items and improve their in-game township (P = .002). These results indicated that females perceived more exertion and felt less confident, but were more inspired while running using the Zombies, Run! application on a smart phone. Males felt more confident, more inspired, and more intrigued by the video game itself than females. Therefore, both were more motivated to run with than without the application.

251
DEVELOPMENT OF A NOVEL FLUORESCENT TOOL FOR PROTEIN
SECRETION AND DETECTION, SACCHAROMYCES CEREVISIAE
Joseph Mosqueda, Undergraduate, Biology; J. Brian Robertson (Faculty Sponsor),
Biology
In the biotech industry the collection of cellular products is traditionally achieved through cell lysis or supernatant collection (for secreted products). The preferential method involves collection of secreted products, as that method is easier and more cost effective for biotech companies. By utilizing the properties of split-GFP (two functional polypeptide halves of Green Fluorescent Protein, which when reconstituted fluoresces) in conjunction with a yeast invertase secretion signal peptide sequence we hypothesize that we will be able to trace the protein and potentially investigate the limitations on size for efficient secretion. The yeast cell wall is a physical barrier that restricts efficient secretion for large proteins, and yeast is a good microbe for protein production when post translational modification is required. The use of split-GFP as a marker is of interest due to the size of its polypeptide fragments and its fluorescent properties, which can allot for protein detection without the use of antibodies; subsequently lowering the cost for financially disadvantaged institutions. Our aim in this study is to conduct the preliminary research that would enable further investigation of the yeast secretory pathway by developing a tool for secretion and protein detection through fluorescence.

252
GRATING ENHANCED ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS IN PHOTONIC BAND-GAP
MULTILAYERS
Daniel Murphy, Undergraduate, Physics and Astronomy; William Robertson (Faculty
Sponsor), Physics and Astronomy
This research presents a computational study of a unique dielectric structure capable of dramatically enhancing linear and non-linear optical effects. The enhancement results from localizing light from a three dimensional beam into a two dimensional Bloch surface wave (BSW) in a Photonic Band-gap (PBG) multilayer. This process leads to the amplification of the electromagnetic field of light by several orders of magnitude.
Coupling light into a BSW in a PBG multilayer is typically performed using a prism arrangement to overcome the phase mismatch between light and BSWs. Through
COMSOL simulations, this project shows that BSWs can be efficiently generated in a
PBG multilayer by coupling light with a diffraction grating. The sensitivity and efficiency of such coupling was investigated as a function of the wavelength of light, the height of the diffraction grating, and the number of bilayers in the PBG multilayer configuration. For a grating in optimal configurations, a simulated amplification in the field intensity orders of magnitude above that of the incident light has been achieved.
Future areas of research include optimizing this configuration for use as a molecule detecting biosensor, enhancement of solar cell collection efficiency, and constructing three dimensional grating configurations that would generate unprecedented localized electromagnetic field intensities.

253
THE EFFECTS OF COLOR ON FLAVOR IDENTIFICATION ACCURACY
John Murphy, Undergraduate, Psychology; John Pennington, Faculty, Psychology; John
Pennington (Faculty Sponsor), Psychology
A food’s appearance often affects its flavor vis-à-vis one’s expectations. This study examined whether color/flavor mismatching inhibits one’s ability to detect common flavors. One hundred and twenty undergraduates (66% female, mean age = 20) sampled and attempted to identify the flavor of 3 candies (cinnamon, clove, and wintergreen) presented in random order. Next, to assess taste sensitivity, participants tasted phenylthiocarbamide and recorded its intensity. On average, participants accurately identified the flavor of 2 out of the 3 candies. A correlational analysis was performed to test if taste sensitivity predicted flavor indentification accuracy. No relationship was found, r(117) = -.01, p = 0.88. This suggests retronasal olfaction is the method of detecting complex flavors.

254
DYNAMIC BEHAVIOR OF THE POLARIZATION OF JOVIAN RADIO WAVES
Corbin Osborne, Undergraduate, Physics and Astronomy; Charles Higgins (Faculty
Sponsor), Physics and Astronomy
Since the discovery of the radio emissions coming from Jupiter, it was concluded that the signals come from three distinct longitudinal regions on the gas giant called regions A, B, and C. The emission of the radiation is proposed to be due to electrons spiraling through
Jupiter’s extremely strong magnetic field at high speeds. We want to know why exactly the radio waves coming from Jupiter are elliptically polarized, and what the connection between the polarization and the source region (A, B, or C). Specifically we want to verify source locations and study the events with changing and/or mixed polarization to determine their origins. To do such an experiment requires examining radio storm data for multiple different frequencies and antennas. We are using 8 years of University of
Florida radio data to study Jupiter's radio emission. The radio storm data is interpreted through making graphs of the axial ratios of the radio emissions. This radio storm data will be compared to data published previously by another team.

255
HOW ONLINE COMMUNITIES CAN PRODUCE SOCIAL CAPITAL
Jimmy Peters, Undergraduate, Political Science; Patrick Richey (Faculty Sponsor),
Speech and Theatre
The essay examines the communities of online games. Scholars have not studied this area in depth. I would like to investigate the workings of groups inside online games, such as "clans" and "laidback friends." Trust is a key factor in online communities and can be a way to gain social capital. Call of Duty, which has a huge player base, is a good baseline for a community to participate together. Other online games like World of
Warcraft also have clan features where bands of players team up together. The use of a microphone is common in many video games. Studies show there are "increases in liking and trust due to the addition of voice, as well as insulation from unexpected negative impacts of text-only play" (Williams D. Caplan, Can You Hear Me Now?). I plan to further develop theories of online communities and social capital by deconstructing the roles of "clans" and "laidback friends."

256
A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF THE EFFECT OF CHROMIUM ON FASTING
BLOOD GLUCOSE LEVELS IN TYPE 2 DIABETIC PATIENTS
Kanwal Qureshi, Undergraduate, Human Sciences; Janet Colson (Faculty Sponsor),
Human Sciences
Background: Although the functions of most nutrients are well known and recognized, the function of trace minerals like chromium, are not as well understood. This trace mineral has often been called the 'Glucose Tolerance Factor' due to its claimed effect of lowering blood glucose levels in type 2 diabetic patients by increasing insulin sensitivity.
I conducted a systemic review to evaluate the reliability of these claims and to identify the mechanism, effect, and (possible) benefits of chromium for type 2 diabetic patients.
My goal was to confirm or refute the hypothesis that chromium supplements can be used to prevent or treat type 2 diabetes.
Methods: Studies were selected from PUBMED, ScienceDirect, and MTSU's library database using the key terms “chromium and diabetes,” “chromium's role in glucose metabolism,” and “chromium's effect on insulin sensitivity of cells,”. Studies selected were peer-reviewed, published from the year 2000 to the present, and contained details regarding either chromium, diabetes, or their correlation. All selected papers were carefully reviewed and analyzed, before being categorized into three broad sections: lowers glucose levels, does not lower glucose levels, or more research needs to be done.
Conclusion: The ratio of studies that demonstrate that chromium does have a role in lowering blood glucose in diabetic patients to those which show that it does not, is approximately 5:2. But even though the majority of these studies state that the relation is positive, it has to be noted that chromium has positive effects only in diabetic conditions, and in populations which have chromium deficiency. Hence, it can be safely deduced that more research needs to be done to know how chromium functions, and why it only exerts effects in specific conditions. Only after that is understood can its use for the prevention and/or treatment of type 2 diabetes be confirmed.

257
DRUG DISCOVERY: PRIMARY SCREENING OF TRADITIONAL CHINESE
MEDICINES FOR ANTI-CANCER ACTIVITY USING HIGH-THROUGHPUT
SCREENING
Amy Ridings, Undergraduate, Biology; Elliot Altman (Faculty Sponsor), Biology; Iris
Gao (Faculty Sponsor), Biology
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been practiced in Asia for over two thousand years, however it has been mostly overlooked in drug discovery studies. Cancer is one the deadliest and most complicated diseases on the planet. Effective treatment usually involves highly toxic chemotherapies that reduce the patient’s quality of life, and many cancers can develop resistance to currently available therapies. New drugs that eliminate these challenges are a must in order to treat cancer effectively. A handful of new drugs for cancer treatment such as Paclitaxel, Arsenic Trioxide and Camptothecin derivatives have come from the TCM vault, but there are thousands more remedies that have yet to be thoroughly studied as potential drugs for cancer treatment. The Tennessee Center for
Botanical Medicine Research (TCBMR) has taken on the task of studying TCMs for their potential in the western drug market, and one of its goals is to find new drugs to fight cancer. One of the earliest steps in this process is primary screening, which involves in vitro testing of TCM extracts for cytotoxicity on lung and breast cancer cells and very low toxicity on healthy cells. Using a high-throughput screening technique and fluorescence indicator AlarmarBlue, the effectiveness of each extract sample can be characterized. High throughput screening will allow a large number of extracts and concentrations to be tested simultaneously. AlarmarBlue, which is initially blue in color will be converted to a highly fluorescent pink compound in the presence of viable cells.
Completion of primary screening provides information needed for further study of promising extracts and advances them to the next step in the long process of drug discovery.

258
SLEEP QUALITY
Brittany Rimer, Undergraduate, Health and Human Performance; Sandra Stevens
(Faculty Sponsor), Health and Human Performance
Background: Sleep is an important aspect of everyday life. Physical activity and exercise are often intertwined in association with sleep quality. Research shows that exercise has a more defined impact on sleep quality than physical activity, yet quantification of the impact is unknown.
Objective: To quantify the effect of exercise and physically activity on quality of sleep.
Design: Cross-sectional
Participants: Male and female volunteers ranging in age from 18-30.
Methods: Participants will be divided into two groups (exercise or physical activity) based on information from an activity log. Data related to sleep quality will be collected using “The Sleep Cycle” application, and a sleep journal. Data will be analyzed to determine differences in sleep quality between the exercise group and the physical activity group. Our hypothesis suggests that participating in exercise 3-5 days a week will yield greater sleep quality than physical activity.
Results/Conclusion: During the poster presentation we will discuss the relationship between exercise, physical activity and sleep quality.

259
THE EVOLUTION OF DISNEY PRINCESSES
Claire Rodgers, Undergraduate, Psychology; Patrick Richey (Faculty Sponsor), Speech and Theatre
There are very few children in the United States of America who have never watched or heard of a Disney movie. There also are not many countries that do not know about the
Disney dynasty. All Disney movies are magical and enchanting, it also does not hurt that there is a catchy song every fifteen minutes to capture the child’s attention, but when children are younger, they do not pay much attention to the true meaning behind the movie, all they see is the big picture. They see a young woman whose life is in shambles, until their prince comes along to save the day, well that is the story line for most of the more popular Disney movies. What parents do not realize is that it is being instilled in them at a young age that that is the way life is supposed to go. Boys grow up thinking a woman’s life is not complete until they come in and save their lives. A girl grows up waiting her whole life for her prince charming. The 1990s generation of children all the way back to the 1940s generation, when the first round of Disney movies were produced, have this mindset of thinking when it comes to love, but the children of the new millennium not so much. Disney has begun changing the way that they write their movies, but what has sparked this new change? It could be that women in general have changed so much, or is it simply that Disney is just trying out something new?

260
PROM NIGHT IN MISSISSIPPI: A LOOK INTO THE CONTROVERSY OF
INTERRACIAL DATING
Emily Russell, Undergraduate, Speech and Theatre; Patrick Richey (Faculty Sponsor),
Speech and Theatre
In 2008, Morgan Freeman confronted the citizens of Charleston, MS. He proposed having the first integrated High School prom versus the segregated prom that the school traditionally practiced. Morgan Freeman lives in Charleston and is baffled by the concept that a school is still segregating their prom, the controversy led to the documentary,
“Prom Night in Mississippi” which delves into the possibility of having the school’s first integrated prom as well as the controversial attitudes towards interracial dating, specifically African Americans and Caucasians.
Critical theories about ideology can help audiences with understanding a segregated prom and the racist views that are still prominent in Charleston. By using this theory to understand the ideology resident’s use in the documentary, I hope that I will be able to connect the hidden hostility and the open hostility. I will also examine, “Perceptions of
Interracial Dating” written by Jacklyn Logue (2013). She explores the connection between how this stigma of interracial dating started and how it has continued to be relevant after the civil rights. The article will help with providing the research of interracial dating and a historical overview of how these relationships developed over time.
By using the two artifacts and the ideology of racism, and critical theory, I will help connect how and why there is still a prevalent issue that exists. The students in
Charleston made history in their small town, with the help of Morgan Freeman, by taking a stand against many members of the community in hopes for equality, for all.

261
FORAGE NUTRITIVE VALUES OF THREE GRASS SPECIES AFFECTED BY
DAIRY MANURE OR N FERTILIZER
Michelle Shelly, Undergraduate, Agribusiness and Agriscience; Song Cui, Faculty,
Agribusiness and Agriscience; Song Cui (Faculty Sponsor), Agribusiness and
Agriscience
The aim of this study was to compare the effects of organic and inorganic N sources on three forage grass species, including timothy ( Phleum pretense L .), switchgrass ( Panicum virgatum L
.), and ‘WW-B. Dahl’ old world bluestems [OWB;
Bothriochloa bladhii
(Retz) S.T. Blake]. All three species were treated with both organic (dairy manure) and inorganic (urea) N sources at low (33 kg ha
-1
), medium (67 kg ha
-1
), and high rates (134 kg ha
-1
). The treatments were replicated four times in a greenhouse for a total of 82 pots.
Forage biomass samples were taken three and four months after the planting date. Forage nutritive values were analyzed by the University of Tennessee Soil and Forage Test
Laboratory in Nashville, TN. The results indicated that N fertilizer increased crude protein concentration of timothy (P < 0.05). Dairy manure increased P concentration of timothy and OWB (P < 0.05). Sugar concentration of timothy was reduced by N fertilizer (P < 0.05) and fructan concentration was reduced by both dairy manure and N fertilizer (P < 0.05). A longer-term study is warranted to evaluate the effects of these N sources on forage biomass production.

262
RESPONSE OF TOMATO SEEDLINGS TO JUGLONE TOXICITY
Michelle Shelly, Undergraduate, Agribusiness and Agriscience; Warren Anderson
(Faculty Sponsor), Agribusiness and Agriscience
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the germination response of tomato seeds to juglone solutions. Juglone is known as an organic chemical found in black walnut.
Various species of tomato seeds were used for this bioassay because of their documented overall sensitivity to juglone. The null hypothesis was that the seeds would either not germinate (juglone acting as pre-emergent herbicide), or one week-old seedlings would expire (juglone acting as post-emergent herbicide) once exposed to juglone. During the six-week long evolution, seeds were cultivated in petri dishes under grow lights, while exposed to various treatments of juglone extracted from MTSU’s black walnut trees in
Walnut Grove. The results indicated positive tomato seed germination when low concentrations of juglone were applied. Throughout observation and analysis, it was inferred that soil texture influenced the phytotoxicity of juglone, decreasing its effects.
At the conclusion of the experiment, it was apparent that phytotoxicity is situationalbased.

263
INVESTIGATION OF ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE IN STREPTOCOCCUS
PYOGENES
Logan Smith, Undergraduate, Biology; Stephen Wright (Faculty Sponsor), Biology
Although advances in modern medicine allow accurate identification of infectious agents, pathogenic microorganisms still cause a significant portion of deaths throughout the world. Streptococcus pyogenes , also known as Group A Strep (GAS), is the causative agent for a number of diseases, such as toxic shock syndrome and necrotizing fasciitis. It is estimated that this virulent bacterium causes nearly 700 million annual cases of infection worldwide. Many antibiotics are used to treat these infections, but because of inherent variation and improper use of medicine, some strains of GAS have been reported to be developing resistance to prescribed medication. This project was undertaken to evaluate resistance of clinical GAS isolates to four antibiotics commonly used in treatment (Erythromycin, Clindamycin, Cefaclor and Amoxicillin+Clavulanic Acid).
Suspected GAS samples were provided by the Murfreesboro Medical Clinic following screening of patients for “Strep Throat.” Organisms were isolated on blood agar plates; verification of beta hemolysis and bacitracin sensitivity confirmed GAS. Positive samples were evaluated by standard Kirby-Bauer antibiotic sensitivity tests. Testing to date has determined that several clinical isolates from the middle Tennessee area are increasing in resistance to Erythromycin. Continued monitoring of resistance would be prudent to prevent the development of more serious GAS illness.

264
DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW TEST METHOD FOR DETERMINING THE SURFACE
INFILTRATION RATE OF PERMEABLE UNIT PAVEMENT SYSTEMS
Michael Smith, Undergraduate, Concrete Industry Management; Heather Brown (Faculty
Sponsor), Concrete Industry Management
ABSTRACT: ASTM C1701, Standard Test Method for Infiltration Rate of In Place
Pervious Concrete, provides a surface infiltration test method for pervious concrete and was first published in August 2009 by Subcommittee C09.49 on Pervious Concrete. The test method is used for acceptance of surface infiltration from new pervious concrete and to determine the need for maintenance (surface vacuum cleaning) for in-service pavements with minimum performance levels typically established by a local stormwater agency or project owner. The applicability of C1701 test method to permeable interlocking concrete pavement was presented at the December 2011 ASTM Symposium on Pervious Concrete in a paper entitled, “Potential Application of ASTM C1701 for
Evaluating Surface Infiltration of Permeable Interlocking Concrete Pavements.” To address permeable pavements with clay and concrete unit paving surfaces, Subcommittee
C15.04 on Research has developed a new test method C1781-13 entitled, Standard Test
Method for Determining the Surface Infiltration Rate of Permeable Unit Pavement
Systems. C1781 is essentially the same as C1701 except that it is designed for unit pavement systems which are outside the scope of C09. The only modifications made to
C1701 were those necessary to perform the test on a discontinuous unit pavement system, with joints and openings instead of a continuous pervious concrete surface. This creates a test method whose procedures and results are comparable to C1701 for pervious concrete providing stormwater agencies and other users a means to compare surface infiltration performance for each permeable pavement type. This paper explains the details of the C1781 test procedure and presents data and rationale for a newly proposed precision and bias statement in C1781.

265
ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION PEER MENTORING PROGRAM
Rebecca Smith, Undergraduate, Speech and Theatre; Janet McCormick (Faculty Sponsor),
Speech and Theatre
Mentoring by ORCO majors for ORCO majors!
Peer mentoring programs help build community in mid-size to large universities where a new student may feel a bit lost compared to life at a small college. Mentors help the new students with scheduling, prepare them for advising sessions with faculty, help them find information on internships and applied projects opportunities, and invite the students to participate in social groups, events and activities.
Mentors in the ORCO peer mentoring program will typically begin communicating with the assigned mentee several weeks before the new semester begins. They do many different things with the new students, including assisting them considering course schedules, and providing them with information and on-campus resources for achieving academic success. Peer mentors might discuss study skills, or how to succeed in an online class. They can review ORCO major requirements and suggest course progressions based on their own experiences.
Mentors help newer students get involved in activities and groups such as IABC (the
International Association of Business Communicators). They introduce the students to other ORCO majors and to faculty members, particularly professors who specialize in the new student's area of interest. They also provide information on volunteer activities relating to Organizational Communication, such as event planning, fund-raising, working for a non-profit or helping out at a community social services organization.
The mentor will participate in a brief online training course and then be given the name and email of a mentee to initiate the relationship.
Make it BIG - make a DIFFERENCE - positively ORCO!

266
THE CHANGE IN PITCH OVER TIME
Seth Smith, Undergraduate, Physics and Astronomy; William Robertson (Faculty
Sponsor), Physics and Astronomy
If one plucks a guitar string, one expects the guitar to produce the note, or more specifically, the frequency, that is plucked. However, does the note that is played begin as the note that is expected or does it begin sharp? If you sit down and ask a musician to listen to the note, there are high chances that the musician will say that the note begins sharp, or at a higher frequency, and then slides into tune. Also, some electronic tuners back this idea up. Is this true? Does the note begin sharp? If so, what are these musicians hearing, and why is it sharp in the first place? What factors of a note determines its pitch?
These are some of the questions that we plan answer in this project.
Basically what we are doing is analyzing the note in a very detailed fashion. We are breaking it down into very small pieces to see if the frequency of the note changes as time goes on. One specific function we are using gives us a graph of the note with very noticeable dips in the graph. By using these dips, or minima, we can get a pretty accurate reading of the frequency of that note. By doing this over the entire duration of the note we should be able to tell whether or not the note begins at a higher frequency than the actual pitch of the note or not.

267
ALTERNATIVE NEW APPROACHES TO EARLY DETECTION AND EFFECTIVE
TREATMENTS OF CANCER
Rance Solomon, Undergraduate, Physics and Astronomy; Daniel Erenso (Faculty
Sponsor), Physics and Astronomy
We present studies demonstrating alternative approaches for detection, measuring chemo therapy efficacies, and precise dose determination in radiation therapy of cancer. Cancer cells become more elastic compared to normal cells when it reaches to malignancy and in fact that is how it can spread in the body. The relative comparison of the elasticity of cancerous vs. normal cells can be extremely useful in early detection of cancer. We have conducted such comparison in cancerous and normal breast cells using a linear laser trapping system suitably known as laser tweezers (LTs). LTs are able to apply a small centralized force on appropriately sized dielectric materials including living cells. We use this force to compress and induce elastic deformation in individual cells. The cells are then released and left to relax back to their equilibrium states. The relative contraction and relaxation rate of the cells are analyzed and studied for normal and cancerous breast cells. A similar procedure and analyses is also used on breast cancer cells treated by a specific Chinese botanical chemo therapy to measure the efficacy of the treatment. The application of LTs for precise dose determination in radiation therapy is demonstrated by capturing a cancer cell at high power until the cell become ionized and escaped from the trap. From the measurement of power and time the minimum energy needed to ionize the cell is determined. Using this energy and the mass of the individual cells the radiation dose needed to ionize is calculated.

268
S.M.A.R.T MOMS
Jasmine Stevenson, Undergraduate, Political Science; Martha Edwards (Faculty Sponsor),
Center for Health and Human Services
The Adam’s Chair of Excellence works to strengthen the working relationships between
MTSU’s programs in health services and the regional health care community, and to promote the health and well-being of Tennesseans through information sharing and community service projects. In the past fifty years, the Surgeon General’s Reports on smoking and health have provided critical information for the public health action directed at reducing tobacco use and preventing tobacco related diseases. These reports show that the disease risks from smoking by women have risen sharply and now equal the risks of men for many tobacco related diseases. With gathered information from the
Surgeon General Reports and help by the Anti-Tobacco Advocacy Initiative, the center has focused on serving the community of expecting mothers, with emphasis on WIC patients, through the S.M.A.R.T Moms (Smart mothers are resisting tobacco) program.
Some of the known related risks of pregnant smokers are low birth weights of children, premature births, and respiratory disorders during childhood. The S.M.A.R.T Moms program uses the 5 A’s to help counsel and provide materials to the mothers in their attempt to stop smoking, especially during their pregnancy.

269
SYNTHESIS OF AURONES
Zachary Taylor, Undergraduate, Chemistry; Scott Handy, Faculty, Chemistry; Scott
Handy (Faculty Sponsor), Chemistry
Aurones are a subclass of aromatic compounds located within the flavonoid family. They are present in nature although only in small quantities. Aurones have been shown to be biologically active yet remain a relatively under studied class of compounds. With this in mind we have synthesized various aurones using a variety of methods. The core method is the reaction of 3-coumaranone with an aryl aldehyde; with a variety of solvents, and mixture methods applied in order to optimize yield. Three of the methods that we have tried are the following. One is a combination of an ionic liquid and heat with the aryl aldehyde and 3-coumaranone. The second method includes dichloromethane, neutral alumina, aryl aldehyde, and 3-coumaranone, and is stirred overnight. The third method is the combination of Barium hydroxide, the aryl aldehyde, and 3-coumaranone; the three reagents are then ground in a mortar and pestle. Once synthesized, analyzed, and purified, the aurones are then studied for biological potential by the Tennessee Center for
Botanical Research.

270
ART PORTFOLIO
Alicia Washer, Undergraduate, Art; Jean Nagy (Faculty Sponsor), Art
This will be a conglomeration of my recent and previous work as a student at MTSU. I will be displaying work that is both 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional. I have several
Illustrations that I have done this semester, one for Rolling Stones magazine featuring the best song of 2013, another is an illustration of a wolf and a bear I also have two others that are done in a vector art style one is a portrait the other is a landscape. I will also be showing my letter head work that I did for a women's defense company from last semester I created the logo, envelope, letter head and business card. I also have another magazine 2 page spread for a travel magazine and 3 blue law posters. I also have 3 tradition style artworks one is a self portrait in graphite another is an inked pointilism piece and the last is a line work done in ink of the ruins of the Parthenon. Likewise I have another logo and product label work that I have done this semester that I will be showing.
Along with my 2D work I will be displaying my 3D sculptures as well. I have an abstract plastic sculpture, a metal fox helmet and 3 clay cylinders.

271
THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN STUDENT WELL-BEING AND STUDENT-
TEACHER RELATIONSHIPS
William Feck, Undergraduate, Psychology; Mary Ellen Fromuth (Faculty Sponsor),
Psychology
The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between student well-being and student-teacher relationships. Participants were 26 students (i.e., 9 boys and 17 girls) in the 6th and 7th grade at a small rural middle school in the South. The study was administered using anonymous surveys, in which students answered questions about their well-being and about their relationship with one of their teachers. Student well-being scales included a satisfaction scale from the Satisfaction with Life Scale – Children
(SWLS-C) and selective anxiety subscales (i.e., symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder, school phobia, and social phobia) from the Screen for Child Anxiety Related
Emotional Disorders – Revised (SCARED-R). The student-teacher relationship scale utilized selective subscales (i.e., conflicts, instrumental aid, affection, reassurance of worth, satisfaction, and punishment) from the Network of Relationships Inventory –
Social Provisions Version (NRI-SPV). Results of this study indicated a significant positive correlation between students who experience symptoms of school phobia and students’ perception of conflict and punishment from teachers. Exploratory analyses of the results indicated a significant negative correlation between boys’ satisfaction with life and perception of punishment from teachers. There also was a significant positive correlation between boys’ symptoms of school phobia and perceptions of affection and punishment from teachers. Further exploratory analysis showed a significant positive correlation between girls’ symptoms of school phobia and perceptions of conflict from teachers. Despite the limitations of the study (e.g., small sample size and self-report measures), additional studies should be conducted to determine associations between student well-being and student-teacher relationships.

272
A PETROLOGICAL AND GEOCHEMICAL INVESTIGATION OF TERTIARY TO
QUATERNARY MAGMA EVOLUTION IN THE MOUNT HOOD REGION,
CASCADE RANGE, NORTH AMERICA
Victoria Worrell, Undergraduate, Geosciences; Warner Cribb (Faculty Sponsor),
Geosciences
Over the last 700,000 years, Mount Hood, Oregon has erupted chemically consistent andesitic lavas and pyroclastic flow deposits. Lavas generally fall into the calc-alkaline range with a restricted composition of approximately 50-65 wt% SiO
2
. Major element geochemistry suggests Tertiary lavas have undergone more fractional crystallization and magmatic differentiation processes than those of the Quaternary. Evidence of magma mixing is also found in thin section analyses with inclusions, sieve textures, and resorbed phenocrysts. Trace element analyses indicate the absence of HSFE depletion relative to
LILE in Quaternary samples, indicating Tertiary samples exhibit a closer relationship to arc magmas than what is seen in Quaternary samples. The depletion in Tertiary samples implies a modification of their upper-mantle source region by slab-derived fluids in the subduction zone to the west of the Cascades. The depletion also implies that Quaternary lavas underwent less intereaction with subducted sediment or less magmatic differentiation than Tertiary samples.

273
SYNTHESIS OF PIPERIDINYL DONOR-ACCEPTOR POLYENE DYE
Donnan Keith, Undergraduate, Chemistry; Andrienne Friedli (Faculty Sponsor),
Chemistry
Organic dyes that express nonlinear optics are becoming more prevalent in emerging fields in chemistry, and materials today. Emerging technology has led to a field In which controlling phase, polarization, direction and amplitude of optical beams. Therein by creating a need for understanding organic nonlinear dyes and development of optic systems.
Here we report the synthesis of a piperidinyl donor-acceptor dye, 1,3-diethyl-5-((2E,4E)-
5-(4-(4- pentylpiperidin-1-yl)phenyl)penta-2,4-dienylidene)-2- thioxodihydro pyrimidine-
4,6(1H,5H)-dione. A nine step synthesis, starting form basic commercially available starting materials, was proposed to construct the dye molecule. The synthesis was divided into three major stages; construction of the donor group, connection to the conjugated alkene bridge, and condensation with an acceptor group. Construction of the donor group initialized with a double malonic ester synthesis between dimethyl malonate ester and hexanal. The product compound underwent a double decarboxylation. Each remaining carboxylic acids were then turned into a acid chloride, then to a methyl ester compounds, reduced, and then bromanated. Reacting this compound with 4-bromoaniline produces the piperidinyl group that is characteristic to this dye. Stage two, the preceding compound is fused to the conjugated alkene bridge. Subsequently, the product is condensed with the acceptor group under Knoecenagel conditions. The purpose of developing this dye is to examine its solvatochromic properties when compared to dyes with variant donor groups which retain the pentadienyl bridge and thiobarbituric acid acceptor group. The resulting dye molecule is to be characterized by NMR methods and MS.

400
GRACEFUL STORM
StarShield Lortie, Undergraduate, English; Jennifer Kates (Faculty Sponsor), English
A selection of poems from my new collection titled Graceful Storm.

401
THE WILDS
StarShield Lortie, Undergraduate, English; Jennifer Kates (Faculty Sponsor), English
I will be reading an excerpt from my short story The Wilds. A captive troop of cats who realize they are in grave danger and plan an escape. They are assisted by a group of free cats that have already escaped into the wild.

402
BEASTS
David Dial, Undergraduate, Speech and Theatre; Jennifer Kates (Faculty Sponsor),
English
My piece to read is a short story that I have done for my Fiction Writing Class. I am a
Theater major but this was done for a class in the English Department. I feel this story in particular shows how I've excelled in my passion for creative writing. This story and its idea truly got me excited to write. It is a story that involves a family in a rather unusual town. Though this town is unusual, its residents see everyday as a normal thing. The unusual thing about the town brings on a twist in the story. Once the twist is revealed, the readers and listeners will view the characters in a whole new light. This is a story I feel will be especially good for reading aloud. It contains different characters and unique dialogue which will benefit greatly to everyone's hearing pleasure. The unusual characters will bring a unique element the audience won't immediately expect.

403
FIRST LOOK
Edward Bowen, Faculty, Electronic Media Communication
First Look is a video compilation of the most accomplished and recognized productions by students in the Electronic Media Communication concentration. Live events, animation, scripted fiction, news and documentary are all represented. As such there is no singular author. I have cited myself as the author for communication purposes, but the authors are actually dozens of MSTU students.
This Vimeo channel shows segments of the overall presentation. https://vimeo.com/channels/firstlook

404
GOING DOWN
Patrick Woodruff, Undergraduate, English; Jennifer Kates (Faculty Sponsor), English
A critical, sensible look at the world and the immediately relevant people from Alan’s demented point of view. An accomplished musician with a promising future suffering from a condition that not only obscured his ability to perform, it altered his perception of the world and everyone in it. To Alan, everyone is out to steal something from him, and they are everywhere he goes.
Alan decides its time to go down on the street after being cooped up in a blacked-out thirteenth floor hotel suite for some time. As he descends his thoughts run through the course of the past several years of his life and the people in it, from his perspective. His thoughts demonstrate his view of his father, mother, and fiancée, as well as a former employer and the doorman of the hotel. Meanwhile, his father, a respected History professor, and his fiancée are planning an intervention, as they fear his condition is worsening rapidly.
The story concludes as the cast of characters meet on the street in front of the hotel, with a revelation even Alan did not see coming.

405
SINS OF THE FATHERS
Jordan Powell, Undergraduate, Electronic Media Communication; Edward Bowen
(Faculty Sponsor), Electronic Media Communication
""Sins of the Fathers"" is a scripted film production, a fantasy derived from real world actions, with a powerful and personal message. It is among the absolute best work our students have produced - beautifully photographed, evocatively lit, powerfully performed.

406
SUNDAY MORNING AND OTHER THOUGHTS
Joseph Stokes, Undergraduate, English; Jennifer Kates (Faculty Sponsor), English
My performance will consist of the first three pages of a novel entitled Care Like
Clockwork that I have been working on all throughout my college education, and two poems titled "cataclysmic integrity, i've kept myself" and "These are the days that i missed". The novel has been one of my consistent projects that remains unfinished, but would never have been started if it weren’t for the experiences I’ve had in the environment provided by the area, people, and very air in Murfreesboro. As cliché as that sounds, it’s true. The beginning is very naturalistic and describes a boy who lives out in the woods with his family, apart from everyone else but surrounded by a living playground. The two poems (“cataclysmic…” and “These are…”) are: a background of my latest emotional breakdown and subsequent metamorphosis (though more are sure to follow) and a simple poem about how good it feels on the first sunny day of the first actually new year in a long time, respectively.

407
THE BIRDMAN
Scotty Wright, Undergraduate, Electronic Media Communication; Sam WIley, Graduate student, Electronic Media Communication; Edward Bowen (Faculty Sponsor), Electronic
Media Communication
""The Birdman"" is a scripted film production, a dark and resonant tale of family relations, obsessions, and delusion. It is among the absolute best work our students have produced - beautifully shot, evocatively lit, movingly scored, powerfully performed.
To view the film's trailer, go to https://vimeo.com/81051433

408
THE ONE
Mark Lukas Tallent, Undergraduate, English; Jennifer Kates (Faculty Sponsor), English
During Dr. Jennifer Kates's fiction writing class, I wrote and workshopped a short story titled "The One." I have since revised the piece taking into account the suggestions and criticism of the class. The story chronicles a young man's encounter with his long-pinedafter ex-girlfriend. The two former sweethearts meet at a local restaurant and are forced to confront truths about their old relationship and grapple with their current reality. This short piece demonstrates all the characteristics of what I call "southern punk" fiction.
Young people deal with disillusionment and southern romanticism under the guidance and intervention of supernatural elements. The setting is simple enough, but the entire piece carries with it a certain "off-kilterness." We get the feeling something isn't right about our characters and their surroundings. Nevertheless, this story was a pleasure to write and workshop. Any opportunity to present our work for the university is highly appreciated.

500
3-D PLANT CELL ARCHITECTURE OF ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA
(BRASSICACEAE) USING FOCUSED ION BEAM-SCANNING ELECTRON
MICROSCOPY
Bhawana , Graduate student, Biology; Joyce Miller, Staff, Biology; Bruce Cahoon,
Faculty, Biology; Aubrey Cahoon (Faculty Sponsor), Biology
Focused Ion Beam Scanning Electron Microscopy (FIB-SEM) offers the ability to produce serial sections of materials and produce high quality SEM images. These images can be used to create 3-dimensional renderings of an object with micron level resolution.
It has been primarily used for applications in materials sciences but has recently gained attention as a tool to study biological tissues. We have applied FIB-SEM to study
Arabidopsis cell architecture. Our goals are to determine the efficacy of this technique in plant tissue/cellular studies and demonstrate its usefulness in studying organelle architecture and distribution. To date we have successfully used FIB-SEM to produce 3dimensional renderings of cells from five different tissues: seed aleurone, leaf mesophyll, stem cortex, root cortex and petal lamina. These renderings are yielding unique visualizations of whole cell architecture. Organelles within the cells are easily identifiable and other structures such as internal membranous connections between mesophyll chloroplasts, distinct lipid bodies in endosperm, and starch grains in root cortex are distinguishable. We have also found that the best results have come from cytoplasmically dense cells. An explanation of the technique, SEM micrographs and 3-D renderings of the five tissues will be presented.

501
RNA-SEQ IDENTIFIES GENETIC MARKERS FOR MUSCLE FAT CONTENT IN
RAINBOW TROUT
Fatima Abdouni, Graduate student, Biology; Bam Paneru, Graduate student, Biology;
Imtiyazuddin Mohammed, Graduate student, Biology; Mohamed Salem (Faculty
Sponsor), Biology
Rainbow trout ( Oncorhynchus mykiss ) is considered as one of the most cultivated cold freshwater fish. Having a good quality fillet is a worthy criterion for rainbow trout since it is highly desired for food and sport fish. Therefore, discovering Single Nucleotide
Polymorphisms (SNPs) genetic markers that are related to high quality fillet allows obtaining desirable quality of fish products. Our objective is to identify SNPs genetic markers and differential gene expression that are associated with variation in muscle fat percentages of rainbow trout families raised at the USDA/NCCCWA selection program.
This experiment was performed on 98 families of rainbow trout which were classified into two groups: 5 high-fat content families [10.20± 0.329] versus 3 low-fat content families [5.51± 0.579]. Pooled cDNA samples from each family were analyzed by using
RNA-Seq whole-transcriptome sequencing technology. As a result, a subset of 48 SNPs
(30 high fat SNPs and 18 low fat SNPs) was identified. 11 SNPs were validated and evaluated for association with fat content in 872 individuals of a two-generation parent/offspring panel representing 98 families. Additionally, gene expression analysis of high verses low fat content in rainbow fish revealed 13 potential genes with a fold change
≥±2 and a FDR ≤0.1. Therefore, the RNA-Seq technique demonstrates to be a fast and effective method to detect genetic markers predictive of muscle fat content in rainbow trout; a non-model species that still lacks complete and well-annotated genome reference.

502
IMPROVING ATTITUDES AND SELF-EFFICACY IN A LIFE SCIENCE COURSE
FOR PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS.
Heather Barker, Graduate student, Biology; Cindi Smith-Walters, Faculty, Biology;
Thomas Brinthaupt, Faculty, Psychology; Cindi Smith-Walters (Faculty Sponsor),
Biology
Due to increasing emphasis on in-depth scientific content knowledge and delivery methods, teachers now more than ever must be prepared, self-confident, and skilled in effective approaches to conveying science content and skills. However, research suggests that the teaching of science is often approached with hesitation and that increasing interest in science and self-efficacy in learning and teaching science can lead to greater course achievement and success as a future teacher. Our university requires a content knowledge-based life science course for pre-service teachers in lieu of the traditional science methods course. We examined the effect of the pedagogically rich approach of the course by analyzing responses to a science teaching questionnaire, a science learning questionnaire, and a middle grades Praxis exam confidence survey administered at the beginning and end of the semester. Results showed an overwhelmingly positive and statistically significant difference in all areas measured. Our poster will report those findings and note the research-based pedagogies and contextual factors we believe most positively impact the pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy and attitudes.

503
SYNTHETIC APPROACH TO ANALOGS OF BELACTOSIN A
Kara Dawson-Cole, Graduate student, Chemistry; Anuradha Pathirinage, Graduate student, Chemistry; Nikita Shokur, Undergraduate, Chemistry; Norma Dunlap (Faculty
Sponsor), Chemistry
Belactosin A is a naturally occurring proteasome inhibitor with potent anti-tumor activity.
Several syntheses have been reported, however only a few analogs have been prepared.
An approach to the synthesis of analogs is reported here, with the key step being the nitrocyclopropanation of an amino-acid derived enone. This efficient approach leads to nitrocyclopropyl peptidomimetics in four steps. Reduction of the nitro group, followed by coupling to a beta-lactone affords belactosin A analogs. The use of alanine, phenylalanine and aspartic acid as starting materials leads to methyl, benzyl and acetyl analogs of the natural product.

504
VALIDATING THE SENSEWEAR® ARMBAND AS A MEASURE OF
SEDENTARY BEHAVIOR.
James Farnsworth, Graduate student, Health and Human Performance; Youngdeok Kim,
Graduate student, Health and Human Performance; Minsoo Kang, Faculty, Health and
Human Performance; Minsoo Kang (Faculty Sponsor), Health and Human Performance
Physical activity is an important health outcome variable, however recent literature has expressed the equally detrimental effects of prolonged sedentary behavior (SB). The
SenseWear® armband computes minutes of SB, but little is known about its validity.
PURPOSE: To examine the validity of the SenseWear® armband as a measure of SB.
METHODS: Twenty-four participants were recruited to complete this study. Participants were required to wear the SenseWear armband, an Actigraph GT3X+ accelerometer, and to complete the Sedentary Behavior Record (SBR) for 7-days. The armband estimates energy expenditure using complex algorithms with data from multiple sensors. Minutes of SB are determined from where MET values are <1.5. Accelerometer sedentary time was computed where activity counts were <150 counts per minute. Sedentary time is calculated from the SBR in 15-minute blocks, each day through summation of SB minutes. Sleep time was not included in calculation of SB for any of the three measures.
Convergent validity was assessed with Repeated Measures ANOVA (_ = 0.05). Knowngroup difference validity was assessed using an independent t-test (_ = 0.05) to examine differences in sedentary behavior between young and middle-aged adults. RESULTS:
There were no significant differences found in sedentary time between the SBR (mean ±
SD; 522.53 ± 161.01), accelerometer (591.03 ± 148.58), and armband (610.22 ± 89.69) devices. A significant group difference was found (t21=2.12; p = 0.04) in sedentary minutes measured with the armband between young (582.90 ± 66.13) and middle-aged adults (656.40 ± 101.00). CONCLUSIONS: Our ANOVA results provide convergent validity evidence for measurement of SB with the SenseWear® armband device. As expected, there was a difference in SB minutes between young and middle-aged adults which further supports validity evidence. These results suggest that the armband may be a useful measure of SB in adults.

505
ROLES OF LOCAL ADAPTATION AND POLLINATOR SELECTION IN THE
MAINTENANCE OF FLOWER COLOR POLYMORPHISM IN LEAVENWORTHIA
STYLOSA
Mahaguruge Thilina Fernando, Graduate student, Biology; Chris Herlihy, Faculty,
Biology; Jeffrey Walck, Faculty, Biology; Jeffrey Walck (Faculty Sponsor), Biology
Flowering plants show an extraordinary diversity, especially in their reproductive structures. Among floral traits, variation in flower color is the most noticeable trait to the human eye and is a striking feature of many angiosperm species. Once a color polymorphism has arisen in a population, it may be maintained either through adaptive processes like pollinator selection or through non-adaptive processes such as pleiotropic effects or genetic drift. Our study species Leavenworthia stylosa , which is endemic to cedar glades in middle Tennessee, has two main flower color morphs: yellow and white, with most populations containing only one color. The goal of this study was to determine if local adaptation to abiotic factors or if differences in pollinator abundance or color preference maintain the flower color polymorphism in this species. We conducted a reciprocal transplant experiment by planting individuals from four populations into arrays of 100 plants alternating in flower color and source population. Pollinator identity, abundance and preference were observed and plant survival and fruit production were determined during the 2013 growing season. Pollinators were also observed in two natural mixed populations. We found variation in pollinator abundance among sites, and variation in the color preference of pollinators, however this did not occur in a way that could maintain the flower color polymorphism. Overall, pollinators showed a 2:1 preference for white flowers in white, yellow, and mixed populations. White plants had slightly reduced survival in yellow sites and the yellow plants had significantly reduced fruit production in white sites. Thus, pollinator-mediated selection on flower color was not observed in these populations. Although some evidence of local adaptation was found, it appears unlikely to play a strong role in the maintenance of the flower color polymorphism in L. stylosa .

506
MEASUREMENTS OF TEAM COGNITION, TEAM PROCESSES AND
PERFORMANCE IN A HIGH-FIDELITY SIMULATION
Amber Fritsch, Graduate student, Psychology; Morgan Pearn, Graduate student,
Psychology; Evan Lester, Undergraduate, Aerospace; Glenn Littlepage (Faculty Sponsor),
Psychology
Within the NASA Flight Operations Center-Unified Simulation (FOCUS) Lab, students from various aerospace disciplines at Middle Tennessee State University work interpedently to run a simulated flight operations center. Various measures are utilized within the Lab to examine the effects of high-fidelity team simulation training on team performance. Measures included participant ratings, peer ratings, observer ratings, tests, and objective measures.
Team performance theories (e.g. Ilgen, Hollenback, Johnson, and Jundt, 2005) suggest that performance depends largely on the inputs and two categories of mediators: cognitive states (i.e., mental models, collective efficacy) and team processes (e.g. communication, teamwork). Likewise, group performance is a multilevel outcome reflecting both individual performance and interactive team performance (Kozlowski &
Klein, 2000).
The measures used in the Lab capture individual performance, teamwork, emergent cognitive states, and group performance. Individual performance measures include position specific individual performance measures and the Comprehensive Assessment of
Team Member Effectiveness (CATME) (Ohlin, et al., 2012). Group process measures include communication patterns, teamwork questionnaire (Marks, et al., 2001), transition performance (Adapted from Marks, et al., 2001), and a group grading rubric. Measures of emergent cognitive states include scenario effectiveness, teamwork situational judgment test, transactive memory (Lewis, et al., 2003), collective efficacy (Guzzo, et al., 1993), response involvement questionnaire, and interdependence. Team effectiveness measures include airline revenue, delay time, and trigger response effectiveness. These measures utilize converging operations in an attempt to capture meaningful cognitive, behavioral, and outcome events occurring in a highly-complex and dynamic environment.

507
DYE-DOPED POLYMER THIN FILMS TO TEST NONLINEAR FLUORESCENCE
ENHANCEMENT
Peter Haddix, Graduate student, Chemistry; Andrienne Friedli, Faculty, Chemistry;
William Robertson, Faculty, Physics and Astronomy; Andrienne Friedli (Faculty
Sponsor), Chemistry
Photonic band gap multilayers (PBGM) containing quarter wave stacks of alternating
SiO
2
/TiO
2
layers generate Bloch surface waves (BSWs) at a specific laser wavelength.
PBGMs were used to observe label-free protein/antibody binding events at the multilayer surface with higher optical sensitivity than for fluorescent-labeled proteins and antibodies on glass substrates. Here we report the investigation of nonlinear enhancement of fluorescence through coupling with BSWs. MATLAB simulations show that BSWs are maximized inside the PBGM top layer. The SiO
2
top PBGM layer was replaced either with a mesoporous silicate (m-SiO
2
) or polymer thin film. Since the m-SiO
2
layer did not successfully couple to the PBGM with light, two different dye-doped polymer layers were used: polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) and AF1600. The dye-doped polymers, applied to silica wafers, were tested at the Vanderbilt Institute of Nanoscale Science and
Engineering (VINSE) to determine fluorescent yield. Dye-doped PMMA was found to fluoresce better than the AF1600 and the fluorescence maximum was found in the 10
-3
-
10 -4 M range. Dinitrotoluene vapor testing was also performed at VINSE to determine the fluorescence quenching of the dye doped PMMA thin film. Dye doped PMMA was applied to glass and PBGM substrates for comparison to determine the fluorescence enhancement of the PBGM.

508
COMPARATIVE STUDY OF BETAINE LIPID COMPOSITION OF CHROMERIDS
AND RED ALGAE USING ELECTROSPRAY IONIZATION TANDEM MASS
SPECTROMETRY
Manoj Khadka, Graduate student, Biology; John Carter, Graduate student, Biology;
Jeffrey Leblond, Faculty, Biology; Jeffrey Leblond (Faculty Sponsor), Biology
Vitrella brassicaformis belongs to the recently illustrated phylum Chromerida, and is another close photosynthetic relative of non-photosynthetic apicomplexans described after Chromera velia . The analyses of plastid genome of C. velia and V. brassicaformis showed their red algal origin. Betaine lipids are amphipathic glycerolipids which have polar group linked to sn-3 position by an ether bond and fatty acids esterified to sn-1 and sn-2 positions of the glycerol moiety. Several molecular and biochemical studies using nucleotide sequences, galactolipid and sterol composition have been made to elucidate their closeness between themselves and with other groups of algae. To date, no studies have been published regarding the biochemical study of its betaine lipids that could be useful for making a chemotaxonomic inference between V. brassicaformis and C. velia and the red algae- Polysiphonia , Porphyridium and to the other groups of algae. In this study, we used a positive-ion electrospray ionization/mass spectrometry (ESI/MS) and
ESI/MS/MS approach to elucidate the betaine lipids and possibly their fatty acid regiochemical composition in V. brassicaformis in order to provide a comparison with the forms of C. velia , Polysiphonia , and Porphyridium . Diaclyglycerylhydroxymethyl-
N,N,N-trimethyl-_-alanine (DGTA) and diacylglyceryl-N,N,N-trimethylhomoserine
(DGTS) were two forms of betaine lipid described in C. velia and V. brassicaformis ,
DGTS being the dominant form. Here we have found out different types of DGTA and
DGTS in C. velia , and V. brassicaformis , consistent with similar types of studies that compared galactolipids and sterols. However some of the DGTS and DGTA produced by chromerids were similar to Polysiphonia , and Porphyridium suggesting some biochemical similarities in betaine lipid production between chromerids and red algae.
Thus we recommend a future study at genomic and transcriptomic level and phylogenetic analyses to reveal the biosynthetic genes and the biosynthetic pathway and the in-depth relationship of C. velia and V. brassicaformis with other group of algae.

509
IS DOING KNOWING? ELEMENTARY STUDENT VIEWS ABOUT SCIENTIFIC
INQUIRY
Jennifer Parrish, Graduate student, Biology; Kim Sadler, Faculty, Biology; Stephen
Bartos, Faculty, Educational Leadership; Kim Sadler (Faculty Sponsor), Biology
Current reform documents have stressed the importance of helping students develop informed views about scientific inquiry (National Research Council, 2011). Classroom teachers make the assumption that students will develop informed views of the practices of science simply by participating in inquiry-based activities. The purpose of the current study was to examine changes in 5th grade students’ views about scientific inquiry after completing an open-ended inquiry investigation with explicit instruction on scientific inquiry. This idea was tested in a pilot study of fifth grade students from an elementary school in Middle Tennessee. The study examined the following question: does explicit inquiry instruction combined with doing inquiry inform student views about the practice of science? An abridged version of the Views About Science Inquiry instrument (VASI) developed by Lederman et al. (2014) was administered in a pre- and post-survey design.
The classroom teacher and researchers facilitated student learning by explicitly teaching the process of scientific inquiry using the Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning (CER) framework to guide students’ ability to write scientific explanations during a six-week unit on soils. The unit culminated with an open-ended inquiry investigation where groups of 3 – 5 students worked cooperatively to answer an original, student-generated testable question. Preliminary results showed few changes in students’ views about scientific inquiry. The findings revealed that students had no difficulty learning science content knowledge when engaged in an inquiry-based activity but struggled to understand the process of acquiring scientific knowledge. Implications from this preliminary study support the idea that students may need more teacher guidance and classroom discourse to understand the practices of science.

510
AN ANALYSIS OF SECONDARY VOCABULARY INTERVENTION PROGRAMS
Esther Clark, Graduate student, Literacy Studies Ph.D.; Leticia Skae-Jackson, Graduate student, Literacy Studies Ph.D.; Sang Hee Jung, Graduate student, Literacy Studies
Ph.D.; Tyra Pickens, Graduate student, Literacy Studies Ph.D.; Amy Ellman (Faculty
Sponsor), Literacy Studies Ph.D.
According to research done by the NRP (National Reading Panel), vocabulary studies have commonly focused on certain areas for vocabulary instruction: 1) Direct Instruction,
2) Repetition and multiple exposure, 3) Rich context and content, 4) Active student engagement features, 5) Varied vocabulary instructional strategies and 6) Computer technology. Four secondary vocabulary intervention programs (Spelling Connections,
Word Generation, Townsend Press and Vocabulary Workshop) were specifically analyzed according to NRP’s suggested areas of helpful vocabulary instruction techniques. In an effort to adequately analyze each vocabulary program a chart was created to assess how closely the vocabulary programs aligned with NRP’s suggested vocabulary areas of instruction. All programs had at least 5 of the 6 vocabulary components available but failed to produce research-based data that each program was successful in vocabulary instruction. Additionally, because motivation and engagement are important concerns within secondary students, a motivation/engagement chart was created to assess each vocabulary program to instructional motivational areas: 1) Age appropriate features, 2) Student voice and choice, 3) Variety of techniques and strategies,
4) Media/Technology opportunities, 5) Visuals, 6) Suitable repetition. All programs meet at least 4 of the 6 motivation/engagement aspects from the chart. However, all programs, except for Townsend Press, lacked an option for students to have voice and choice.
Furthermore, more empirical research needs to be done with actual student feedback to truly assess the areas of motivation and engagement for each program.

511
USING THE CORPUS OF CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN ENGLISH TO DEVELOP
MORPHOLOGICAL AWARENESS TASKS
Joanne Coggins, Graduate student, Literacy Studies Ph.D.; Zachary Barnes, Graduate student, Literacy Studies Ph.D.; Laura Briggs, Graduate student, Literacy Studies Ph.D.;
Sara Hays, English; Weon Kim; Literacy Studies Ph.D. Perry Louden, Literacy Studies
Ph.D. Heechun Moon, Literacy Studies Ph.D. Anne Phillips, Literacy Studies Ph.D. Tyra
Pickens, Literacy Studies Ph.D. Summer Talbert, Literacy Studies Ph.D. Deana Wildish,
Literacy Studies Ph.D.; Aleka Blackwell (Faculty Sponsor), English
Morphological awareness is the meta-linguistic skill engaged when a speaker of a language consciously considers individual morphemes within a word to derive a word’s meaning, e.g., determining the meaning of the word 'precondition' based on the compositional meaning of the morpheme 'pre-' and the base word 'condition'. Research has shown that morphological awareness develops gradually over time (e.g., Anglin,
2000), and children’s performance on morphological awareness tasks significantly predicts, as a unique predictor, their literacy achievement (e.g., Apel et al., 2013). In this poster, we present three morphological awareness tasks developed using The Corpus of
Contemporary American English (COCA) (Davies, 2010). COCA is the largest up-todate, genre balanced corpus of any language. Currently the corpus consists of 450 million words representing spoken language, fictional works, popular magazines, newspapers, and academic journals from 1990 to 2012. As such, this corpus is the largest and most current source for drawing frequency usage counts of English words.
Morphological awareness tasks are particularly sensitive to word frequency, and, in the absence of a corpus of contemporary American English, researchers have relied on published word frequency lists in the past. In this work, we present an alternative resource for developing morphological awareness tasks for American English with the most up-to-date measures of word frequency. Two of our tasks are adapations of the dynamic morphological assessment task developed by Larsen and Nippold (2007) and were designed to measure the morphological awareness in fifth and sixth graders respectively. The third task is an adaptation of the task developed by Maag (2007) and was designed to measure morphological awareness with high school and college students.

512
AMPEROMETRIC DETECTION WITH A DENDRIMER-ENCAPSULATED
PLATINUM NANOPARTICLE-CARBON NANOTUBE COMPOSITE
Anup Deb, Graduate student, Chemistry; Anita Saha, Undergraduate, Chemistry; Shawtik
Das, Undergraduate, Chemistry; Dr. Charles C. Chusuei; Charles Chusuei (Faculty
Sponsor), Chemistry
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), decorated with Pt nanoparticles have gained considerable attention for electrochemical sensing. The unusual structural, mechanical, and electrochemical properties of carbon nanotubes coupled with extraordinary properties of
Pt nanoparticles such as having a high catalytic activity and fast electron transfer characteristics make the nanocomposite highly promising material for electrochemical sensor applications.
A sensitive, non-enzyme based electrochemical biosensor has been developed to detect ascorbic acid, hydrogen peroxide (H
2
O
2
), ascorbic acid, acetaminophen, and folic acid.
Polyaniline (PANI) coated single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) were decorated with
Pt-encapsulated fourth-generation NH
2
-terminated poly(amidoamine) (G4-PAMAM) dendrimers. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), attenuated total reflectance infrared
(ATR-IR), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to characterize the resulting nanocomposite (Pt-DEN-PANI-CNT) structure. Electrochemical activity of Pt-
DEN-PANI-CNT composite was studied using cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometric techniques. High catalytic activity and fast electron transfer characteristics of the Pt-DEN-PANI-CNT nanocomposite were demonstrated. The measured concentration ranges for ascorbic acid, H
2
O
2
, acetaminophen, and folic acid were 10 µM - 10 mM, 50 µM – 8 mM, 20 µM–1 mM, and 50 µM–20 mM, respectively.
H
2
O
2 was detected selectively in the presence of acetaminophen, ascorbic acid, and folic acid.

513
AN EXAMINATION OF BARRIERS TO CONDOM USE AMONG GHANAIANS
Amber Dorsey, Graduate student, Health and Human Performance; Andrew Owusu,
Faculty, Health and Human Performance; Brittney Oliver, Graduate student, Health and
Human Performance; Amanda Cole, Health and Human Performance; Andrew Owusu
(Faculty Sponsor), Health and Human Performance
Introduction: Ghana has a relatively low and stable HIV prevalence rate of 1.5%.
However in-country variation in infection prevalence dictate need to explore condom use barriers; an impediment to lowering HIV transmission. This study explores the relationship between perceived condom use barriers and condom use among Ghanaians.
Methods: Data from 3,517 sexually active individuals from the Condom Barrier Scale
(CBS) were analyzed. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was employed to identify latentfactors among 29 items. Standardized factor scores were used to create categorical variables based on tertiles for each factor. Binary logistic regression predicted condom use based on latent-factors.
Results: Thirteen items were removed via series of EFAs leaving 16 items and subsequent extraction of three latent factors; partner barrier (PB), effect on sexual experience (ESE) and motivational barriers (MB). Participants in higher tertiles of PB were more likely to report condom use compared to 1st tertile (OR= 1.31, CI 1.05-1.64, for 2nd tertile; and OR= 2.50, CI 1.96-3.13, for 3rd tertile). MB-participants in higher tertiles were more likely to report condom use compared to 1st tertile (OR= 1.51, CI
1.21-1.89, for 2nd tertile; and OR= 4.10, CI 3.24-5.19, for 3rd tertile). For ESE, participants in higher tertiles were less likely to report condom use compared to 1st tertile
(OR= .57, CI.46-.70, for 2nd tertile; and OR= .57, CI .46-.71, for 3rd tertile).
Discussion: Partner barriers, effect on sex, and motivational barriers are significant constructs to consider as part of interventions to reduce condom use barriers among
Ghanaians.

514
THE DETECTION OF METHICILLIN-RESISTANT STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS
ON PRINTER TOUCHSCREENS AND KEYBOARDS
Sade Dunn, Graduate student, Biology; Melissa Shelby, Graduate student, Professional
Science; Fatimah Al Abbass, Graduate student, Professional Science; Fatmah Hani,
Graduate student, Biology; Mary Farone (Faculty Sponsor), Biology
Recent studies have shown an increase in the presence of methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) on college campuses. Due to this finding, a study was developed to test for the presence of community acquired methicillin-resistant S. aureus
(CA-MRSA) in high traffic areas on the MTSU campus. The areas tested were keyboards and printer screens in the campus computer laboratories and library. Selective growth medium in RODAC “touch” plates were used to sample screens and keyboards.
Suspect colonies were selected from these plates and identified as S. aureus using diagnostic tests. A total of 19 suspect colonies were identified. The antibiotic susceptibility patterns of all colonies were tested to confirm that they were unique isolates and not redundant colonies. DNA was extracted from each colony and quantitative real-time PCR was used to confirm whether the isolates had the femA gene
( S. aureus ) and whether the mecA gene was present (MRSA). Of the 19 isolates, 14 were confirmed as S. aureus at the molecular level, and 1 isolate was identified as a MRSA strain. The results of this study showed that not only was there an abundance of S. aureus on printer touchscreens and keyboards, but that a MRSA stain also survived on these surfaces, indicating the potential spread of the organism via the community printers.
These findings suggest that a new sanitation protocol for the computer areas should be examined.

515
INFLUENCE OF RHYTHM AWARENESS ON SINGLE WORD READING
Hershel Eason, Graduate student, Psychology; Michael Pridmore, Graduate student,
Psychology; Nicole Brunas, Graduate student, Psychology; Cyrille Magne, Faculty,
Psychology; Cyrille Magne (Faculty Sponsor), Psychology
Speech rhythm corresponds to the temporal organization of stressed and unstressed syllables in spoken utterances. Recent findings suggest that sensitivity to speech rhythm predicts the ability to acquire good reading skills. In addition, speech rhythm may still play an active role in silent reading as well. The purpose of the present study was to examine which phonetic feature of speech rhythm (duration vs intensity) contributes the most to automatic rhythm reactivation during reading. EEG was recorded in adult participants while they performed a lexical decision task on written words. Stimuli were composed of an auditory prime tone pattern followed by a visual target word. The twotone pattern varied in either duration or amplitude (long-short, short-long, loud-soft, softloud). The visual targets were either bisyllabic real words or bisyllabic pseudowords. In addition, Half the real words were stressed on the first syllable, while the other half were stressed on the second syllable. Auditory primes and visual targets were combined so that the tone pattern either matched or mismatched the expected stress pattern of the visual words. Analysis of the Electrophysiological data showed an increased negativity when the stress pattern of the visual did not match the expectancy set by the prime tone pattern. In addition, this negative effect was modulated by the type of auditory prime.
Implications will be discussed for the current cognitive models of reading as well as ongoing research exploring neural markers of reading disorders.

516
OUTCOMES OF TREATMENT FOR SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND CO-OCCURING
MENTAL HEALTH CONDITIONS: EVALUATION OF THE MY RECOVERY
PROGRAM
Vickie Harden, Graduate student, Health and Human Performance; Greg Lewis,
Community member, ; Tammy Holmes, Other, ; Shelba Hodges; Niki Payne; Chris
Wyre; Norman Weatherby, Health and Human Performance; Norman Weatherby
(Faculty Sponsor), Health and Human Performance
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is working with Volunteer Behavioral Health Care System (VBHCS) to improve outcomes of individuals who receive treatment for substance abuse and co-occurring mental health conditions in Tennessee.
These individuals reside in many counties throughout Middle and East Tennessee. Mental health and substance abuse counselors are not available in all counties. Peer-to-peer recovery support interventions, endorsed by SAMHSA, are designed and delivered by peers -- people who have shared the experiences of addiction and recovery -- rather than by professionals. Participation in the Peer-to-Peer intervention is conducted primarily through a web-based My Recovery support network.
Research questions include (1) What effect does participation in the Peer-to-Peer support intervention have on the extent to which individuals reduce their use of alcohol and illicit drugs? (2) What effect does behavioral intention (Stage of Change) have on level of participation in the Peer-to-Peer support intervention and, subsequently, reductions in drug and alcohol use? Because random assignment was not used for the intervention, we control for demographic and baseline alcohol/drug use variables in the analyses to account for selection bias.
This evaluation of My Recovery from 2010 to 2012 uses de-identified data from the prospective design. Six-month followups were conducted for 175 of the 276 individuals who participated in My Recovery . Analysis of Covariance models will be used to estimate the effects on reductions in substance and alcohol abuse of (1) baseline alcohol and drug use variables, (2) behavioral intention at baseline, and (3) level of participation in the
Peer-to-Peer intervention.
SAMHSA endorses Peer-to-Peer support as a recommended method for encouraging lifelong recovery from drug use. Evaluating the effectiveness of this intervention will help document whether or not it is a Best Practice in this population.

517
IN-PERSON VERSUS DVD EXERCISE IN COLLEGE AGE FEMALES
Lauren Killen, Graduate student, Health and Human Performance; John Coons, Faculty,
Health and Human Performance; Vaughn Barry, Faculty, Health and Human
Performance; Cathy Cooper, Nursing; John Coons (Faculty Sponsor), Health and Human
Performance
Background: While exercise digital video disc (DVD) sales have substantially increased over the past decade, little is known on the effectiveness of personal training versus DVD exercises. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare energy expenditures and heart rates of in-person and DVD exercise sessions. Methods: Twenty low-to-moderate fit, college-age females completed two identical exercise sessions. Each exercise session consisted of six exercises one session was completed with a personal trainer and the other with a DVD. A portable metabolic analyzer was used to measure oxygen consumption and record heart rate. Results: Both energy expenditure (P < .001) and heart rate (P
= .001) were significantly higher during the in-person exercise session as compared to the
DVD exercise session. Rate of perceived exertion (RPE) was significantly higher for the in-person exercise session compared to the DVD exercise session (P = .045). Lastly, the majority (89%) of the participants reported that they preferred the in-person exercise session over the DVD exercise session. Conclusion: The results suggest that low-tomoderately fit college aged females not only prefer exercise sessions with a personal trainer but will also demonstrate higher energy expenditures and heart rates.

518
A PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF GK-12 GRADUATE FELLOW CLASSROOM
INTERACTIONS ON SECONDARY STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF SCIENCE
Rachel Lytle, Graduate student, Biology; Kim Sadler, Faculty, Biology; Anthony Farone,
Faculty, Biology; Mary Farone, Faculty, Biology; Ginger Rowell, Faculty, Math; Kim
Sadler (Faculty Sponsor), Biology
The NSF GK-12 program at MTSU partners graduate students and high school teachers with biotechnology companies to promote STEM learning opportunities. Graduate
Fellows spend one year in high school biology classrooms mentoring student research projects. The purpose of the study was to determine if introducing Graduate Fellows into high school science classrooms to engage with students during the year influences the students’ attitudes toward science. We hypothesize that implementing programs such as
GK-12 may generate a positive perception of science and increase interest in pursuing a science career.
Using a pre- and post-survey design, experimental classes (n=143) interacting with a
Fellow were compared with a corresponding control class (n=103) with no Fellow but the same teacher. The Student Attitude Inventory-II (Moore and Foy, 1997) was used to determine student perception of science and scientists. Survey statements were clustered into six categories with Likert scale responses ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. Preliminary analysis shows similar trends in Fellow classes and control classes.
Most students agree: (1) laws of science may change (90%, 87%); (2) science is limited
(64%, 61%); (3) scientists must be honest, objective, and flexible (85%, 82%); (4) sciences value lies in its theoretical aspects (59%, 56%); (5) public awareness of science is important (67%, 64%); and, (6) pursuing a science career interests me (60%, 52%).
Post-surveys along with student interviews will be collected and analyzed at the end of the academic year.
We anticipate seeing a positive difference between pre- and post- survey responses with classes that interacted with the Graduate Fellow. This data could provide support for the implementation of graduate scientist mentor programs in high school classrooms.
Positive student attitudes about science careers could lead to more college STEM majors, more filled STEM careers, and an eventual boost in our country’s economy.

519
CHARACTERIZATION OF TWO NOVEL BACTERIA INFECTING THE NUCLEUS
OF EUKARYOTIC CELLS
Yohannes T. Mehari, Graduate student, Biology; Anthony L. Farone, Faculty, Biology;
Mary B. Farone, Faculty, Biology; Sharon G. Berk, Tennessee Technological University;
John H. Gunderson, Tennessee Technological University; Mary B. Farone (Faculty
Sponsor), Biology
A group of obligate intracellular bacteria that resemble Legionella are commonly recovered from free-living amoeba are referred as Legionella-like amoebal pathogens
(LLAPs). Like Legionella, these LLAPs survive phagocytosis by amoebae and replicate within these amoeba hosts. The two novel bacteria in this study were isolated from amoeba recovered from biofilms of a cooling tower (CC99) and an outdoor hot tub
(HT99). Both novel bacteria were shown to infect the nuclei of amoeba which has never been described for bacteria infecting amoebae. CC99 also invades the human macrophage nucleus and resulting in death of majority of cells within 48 to 72 hours. Whole genome sequencing has been completed on the DNA of these bacteria. Bioinformatics tools have also been employed to identify putative genes involved in intracellular growth. Both bacteria exhibit 16S rRNA sequences with 94% similarity to one another and less than
92% similarity to Legionella and Coxiella species. Phylogenetic analysis inferred from the three gene sequences indicated that the two isolates were grouped into a distinct cluster. In addition, whole genome annotation has also revealed the presence of genes important for intracellular growth, such as mip and dot/icm that are conserved within closely related Legionella and Coxiella species. Annually, in the US, more than 500,000 cases of adult pneumonia are reported, with about 50% of community-acquired pneumonia cases and nearly 75% of healthcare-acquired cases having no known etiology.
The two nonculturable bacteria possess genes for virulence traits found in other pathogenic strains and infect human cells, possibly representing undescribed causes of disease. Based on phenotypic and phylogenetic characteristics, it is proposed that these two isolates be classified as two novel species in a novel genus within the order
Legionellales. Their unique trafficking to the nucleus suggests that these bacteria contain novel gene sequences that are important for intranuclear growth.

520
MUSIC FOR SENIORS WEB APPLICATION
Ross Mohsenzadeh, Graduate student, Computer Information Systems; Reema Kurani,
Graduate student, Computer Information Systems; Keith Tennant, Undergraduate,
Computer Information Systems; Lee Lester, Computer Information Systems; Nick
Miakysh, Computer Information Systems; Melinda Korzaan (Faculty Sponsor),
Computer Information Systems
This project follow the systems development life-cycle from initiation to completion. The project is developing a web application for a nonprofit organization named Music for
Seniors. There are several teams in the project. They are: project management, front end development, user interface, QA and security. Members are tasked with meeting with the client and gathering requirements and creating functional specifications. They then used this information as guidelines to increase the attractiveness of the current site's design while also giving the client administrative authority and capabilities.

521
RASCH PARTIAL CREDIT MODEL ANALYSIS OF THE BINGE EATING SCALE
Tracy Morris, Graduate student, Health and Human Performance; Amanda Cole,
Graduate student, Health and Human Performance; Norman Weatherby, Faculty, Health and Human Performance; Minsoo Kang, Faculty, Health and Human Performance;
Norman Weatherby (Faculty Sponsor), Health and Human Performance
Binge eating is a disordered eating pattern characterized by consuming unusually large amounts of food during a discrete time period with a sense of lack of control over eating during that period. The Binge Eating Scale (BES) is a 16 item self-reported questionnaire used to access level of binge eating in an individual. A single sum of the scores represents the level of binge eating behavior, and higher scores indicate a higher level of binge eating behavior. The summed score format of the BES is problematic because each of the 16 items does not have the same number of category options: 14 of the items have
4 category options and 2 of the items have 3 category options. Therefore, total scores cannot be accurately compared between individuals.
Rasch analysis can be used to examine the assumption of unidimensionality required for a summed score format as well as the response-category function of individual items on questionnaires like the BES. In this study, data from 216 Middle Tennessee State
University students who completed the BES questionnaire will be analyzed with the
Winsteps software using the Rasch Partial Credit Model. The response-category function of each of the 16 items on the BES will be examined in an attempt to collapse each 4category option item on the BES into an optimal 3-category option item. When all 16 items have 3 category options, the total summed score format of a modified-BES can be tested for unidimensionality in a future confirmatory study.

522
MARKETING STRATEGY: THE CORPORATE PERSPECTIVE OF CAUSE
RELATED MARKETING AND SPORTS SPONSORSHIP
Tyler Finch, Graduate student, Management and Marketing; Diane Edmondson (Faculty
Sponsor), Management and Marketing
Recent scrutiny surrounding the capitalist structure paired with growing concern for societal causes has pushed Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to the forefront of marketers’ objectives in the twenty-first century. This becomes an important issue for marketers because corporations have to maintain strict budgets for the sake of staying competitive in the contemporary marketplace. Therefore, it is essential that a company allocates its resources with intelligence in order to maximize the profit potential of these resources. For these reasons, corporations are attempting to reestablish brand images while simultaneously seizing new opportunities through advanced marketing techniques known as cause related marketing (CRM) and sports sponsorship. Despite the growing popularity and indisputable benefits of these promotional tactics, there is not a sufficient amount of research examining the comparable trade-offs for the purposes of arriving at the optimal strategic decision. This paper attempts to resolve this issue by exploring the distinctive advantages and disadvantages of CRM and sports sponsorship, providing real business examples where the tactics would apply, and illustrating steps a company should take in order to arrive at the appropriate tactical decision for their marketing strategy.

523
RNA SEQ IDENTIFIES SINGLE NUCLEOTIDE POLYMORPHISM (SNP)
ASSOCIATED WITH MUSCLE YIELD AND SHEAR FORCE OF FLESH IN
RAINBOW TROUT
Bam Paneru, Graduate student, Biology; Ashlin Harris, Undergraduate, Biology; Rhett
Layman, Graduate student, Biology; Timothy D. Leeds, NCCCWA: Jianbo Yao, UWV:
Brett Kenney, UWV; Mohamed Salem (Faculty Sponsor), Biology
Rainbow trout ( Oncorhynchus mykiss ) is one of the top five sport fish species in North
America and the second most widely cultivated fish species for food. Muscle content and shear force are two important characteristics of fish flesh which determine consumer satisfaction. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) determines 90% of genetic difference between individuals and is utilized in genetic evaluation and selective breeding.
Our previous studies using the RNA-Seq technique were successful in finding SNPs markers associated with growth traits in rainbow trout. In this study, RNA-Seq was used to identify SNPs associated with fish muscle yield and shear force. RNA was isolated from fish belonging to 100 different families. These families were classified into two groups: high muscle yield families (50.9% of BW ± 1.8) and low muscle yield families
(43.2% of BW ± 2.1). RNA sample from all individuals belonging to each muscle yield group was pooled and sequenced by illumina platform. Sequencing reads from high muscle and low muscle families were mapped to a transcriptome reference to predict the
SNPs associated with muscle content and shear force. Phenotypic variations in muscle yield were measured in these 100 families from the USDA rainbow trout breeding program. Predicted SNPs were validated by the sequenom genotyping technology. Out of validated SNPs, 42 SNPs were evaluated for association with muscle traits in 1000 fish from two generations. The study identified SNP (potential genetic markers) associated with shear force.

524
STUDY OF DEVELOPMENT AND TREND OF DOUBLE WISHBONE
SUSPENSION
Wenbo Dong, Graduate student, Engineering Technology; Carol Boraiko (Faculty
Sponsor), Engineering Technology
Suspension is the supporting system which is a framework between the body of the vehicle and tires, includes the spring, shock absorber and the structure of multilink. The function of the suspension system is to support the body, improve the ride fell and stability. According to the different suspension structures and settings, the driver will have different driving experience. In the current familiar structures of independent suspension, the Double Wishbone Suspension is recognized as the best structure of the performance of control and stability. However, more and more famous models of vehicle started to use the McPherson Suspension as the structure of the front suspension, such as
Honda Accord, Mazda 6 and Citroen C5. In this study, the classification and composition of suspension systems will be discussed. By reviewing the history of the suspension, this study will indicate some problems of historical as well as current structure and provide corresponding solutions. Finally, based on the detailed analysis of the pros and cons of various suspension systems and some tested data, a direction of development and to expect the trend of the Double Wishbone Suspension for the future will be found in the study.

525
DETERMINATION OF THE CONFORMATION OF SPECIFIC RESIDUES IN A
MODEL PEPTIDE BY
13
C ISOTOPE EDITED ATR-FTIR IN H
2
O
Olaa Alharbi, Graduate student, Chemistry; Chengshan Wang, Faculty, Chemistry;
Chengshan Wang (Faculty Sponsor), Chemistry
Determination of protein structures is important to correlate the function of a protein with its structure. X-ray crystallography is a powerful technique but it requires proteins to form single crystal structure. However, lots of proteins do not meet this requirement.
NMR can determine the structure of peptides/proteins in aqueous environment but the measurement is time-consuming. Recently, IR spectroscopy has been reported to be able to address the structure of peptide with
13
C isotopic labels in deuterated water (D
2
O) in residue level. Although similar to regular water, D
2
O is not physiologically approved. On the other hand, H
2
O has intensive absorption around 1610 cm -1 (this will cover the IR absorption of proteins/peptides) in IR spectroscopy. As a consequence, traditional transmission measurement of IR spectra of proteins/peptides will fail, because the thickness of normal liquid FTIR cell is in millimeter level. Here,
13
C isotope edited FTIR was applied in H
2
O solution by attenuated total reflection (ATR) technique, which can avoid H
2
O background absorption because the path-length of IR in the sample solution of
ATR is only several micrometers. A model peptide was synthesized and
13
C labels were introduced into the model peptide. No difference was detected between the IR spectra of regular and
13
C labeled residues in unstructured conformation. However, the peak of
13
C labeled residues in _-helix appears at 1602 cm
-1
, which can be used as a fingerprint peak of _-helix for specifically
13
C labeled residue. For example, no peak at 1602 cm
-1
was detected although residues 2 and 3 at C-terminus were
13
C labeled at pH 13. Therefore, residues 2 and 3 are in unstructured conformation even at pH 13. On the contrary, other residues are in _-helix at pH 13 because of the presence of the peak at 1602 cm
-1
in the
ATR-FTIR spectra.

526
THE EXAMINATION OF SCHEDULING AND ENGLISH AT ELS
Sattam Alkhuleeb, Graduate student, Educational Leadership; Dorothy Craig (Faculty
Sponsor), Educational Leadership
This action research project investigated perspectives held by students and instructors currently working at the English Language Services Center on campus. The study utilized an action research design and was framed by the following questions: a) The following areas as focus points: a) perceptions of work and instructional hours, b) impact of schedule and work hours on student success, and c) suggestions for improving practice at the center. Primary sources of data included interviews and survey response. The results of the study may help to identify the advantages and the disadvantages of the long working hours in the ELS center as well as offering suggestions for alternative scheduling. The findings in turn may help to improve the quality of education offered by the center and might also increase students productivity and performance in the future.

527
IDIOT, INTELLIGENT, ARROGANT OR GOOD? ONE-WORD DESCRIPTIONS OF
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES AND SECOND-LEVEL AGENDA SETTING
Aileen Bennett, Graduate student, Journalism; Jason Reineke, Faculty, Journalism;
(Faculty Sponsor),
Agenda-setting theory (McCombs and Shaw, 1972) says that the media are able to influence what individuals think about. Second-level agenda-setting theory (McCombs et al., 1997; McCombs & Reynolds, 2008) extends this concept to examine the salience of specific characteristics, or attributes, of objects depicted in media. This research tests the relationship between public opinion data collected by the Pew Research Center asking participants to give a one-word description of the Democratic and Republican party nominees for president in 2012, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney; and news media coverage of four common attributes in the days preceding the public opinion polls.
Attributes characterized in terms of competence and integrity are examined. The study found that evidence of a relationship does exist with some attributes and public opinion mentions but not with all attributes. Further, there is evidence of a significant relationship across some attributes. These results are consistent with some other findings of secondlevel agenda-setting studies, and implications for future research are discussed.

528
A NOVEL HIGHER ORDER ETD SCHEME FOR SYSTEM OF COUPLED
NONLINEAR SCHRÖDINGER EQUATIONS
Harish Bhatt, Graduate student, Computational Sciences; Abdul Khaliq (Faculty
Sponsor), Mathematical Sciences
We introduce a novel version of the Cox and Matthew third order exponential time differencing Runge-Kutta (ETD3RK) scheme based on (1, 2)-Padé approximation to exponential function In addition, we develop its extrapolation form to improve temporal accuracy to the fourth order. A partial fraction splitting technique is utilized to obtain computationally efficient algorithm. The developed scheme and its extrapolation are seen to be strongly stable and have ability to damp spurious oscillations caused by high frequency components in the solution. In order to investigate the performance of the novel scheme we considered the system of two and four coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations and enzyme kinetics of Michaelis-Menten type reaction-diffusion problem, which contains discontinuity between initial and boundary conditions. The numerical experiments showed that the developed numerical schemes provide an efficient and reliable way from computing long-range solitary solutions given by coupled nonlinear
Schrödinger equations and conversed the conserved quantities mass and energy exactly to at least five decimal places.

529
EFFECTIVENESS OF A GUIDED LEARNING TOOL IN AN UNDERGRADUATE
MICROBIOLOGY LABORATORY COURSE
Jeffery Bonner, Graduate student, Biology; Jeannie M. Stubblefield, Graduate student,
Biology; Mary Farone (Faculty Sponsor), Biology
Undergraduate microbiology laboratory students are presented with a large amount of information such as staining techniques, reagents used, interpretation of results and example microorganisms. In an effort to improve student outcomes in the course, an intuitive organizational chart was developed over multiple semesters using various iterations to serve as a guided learning tool. The purpose of this study is to quantify the effect of using this tool as an instructional method in terms of both student performance and attitude. Two versions of the tool were tested: one included a manipulative activity with colored drawings, while the other did not incorporate colored drawings. A control group that did not receive the tool was studied for comparison. Quantitative data was collected from student performance based on course assessments. Additionally, students in past semesters have acknowledged this tool as helpful, so here we also present student attitudes on the instructional materials used. For this poster, a description and examples of the tool are displayed along with results and a discussion to inform laboratory instructors of a practical way to enhance teaching and learning in a microbiology lab.
Students who have been taught to use this tool may also gain study skills that they can apply to other courses. Biology lab instructors who adapt this tool to their course content may likewise enhance outcomes in other laboratory courses.

530
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DISCOURSE-LEVEL PROSODIC SENSITIVITY
AND READING SKILLS: AN ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION
Melissa Brock, Graduate student, Literacy Studies Ph.D.; Cyrille Magne (Faculty
Sponsor), Psychology
The relationship between phonological awareness and reading abilities has been well established. While the literature has primarily focused on the segmental aspect of phonology, recent data suggest that suprasegmental information, namely prosody, may also be related to reading achievement. However, to date, the research has focused primarily on word-level prosody. The purpose of the present experiment was to identify neural markers of prosodic sensitivity at the sentence level and to examine the link between those markers and reading achievement in adults. To accomplish this task, electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded while participants followed pairs of spoken instructions regarding the movement of objects onto shapes. Each trial was composed of a context instruction (e.g., “Put the mouse on the square”) followed by a target instruction.
The target instruction included either the same object (“Now, put the mouse on the circle”) or the same shape (Now, put the frog on the square”) that was previously mentioned in the context instruction. The prosody of the target instruction was manipulated so that the accented word was either the new object/shape (expected prosodic pattern) or the previously cited object/shape (unexpected prosodic pattern). To assess reading achievement, participants were administered a series of standardized reading measures. Results indicate that objects pronounced with an unexpected accent elicited an increased negativity with similar properties as the N400 effect known to reflect semantic integration difficulty. A relationship was found between scores on the reading fluency measure and the magnitude of the unexpected accent effect.

531
2-HYDROXYPROPYL-BETA-CYCLODEXTRIN’S POTENTIAL INHIBITORY-
LIKE MECHANISM ON LYSOSOMAL ACID SPHINGOMYELINASE
Nicholas Chamberlain, Graduate student, Biology; Rebecca Seipelt-Thiemann (Faculty
Sponsor), Biology
The stress sensing sphingomyelin / ceramide pathway is capable of inducing apoptosis or rampant proliferation through the production and regulation of ceramide and ceramide metabolites. Specific interest has been addressed for understanding the role of acid sphingomyelinase (aSMase) in the regulation of ceramide production, a common apoptotic inducer. A detailed understanding of the potential mechanisms regulating acid sphingomyelinase is crucial for elucidating how the sphingomyelin / ceramide pathway can be activated or repressed. Sphingomyelinases are phosphodiesterases that specifically hydrolyze sphingomyelin to yield ceramide and phosphorylcholine.
Lysosomal aSMase is a zymogen that requires a C-terminal cleavage event in the endosomal or lysosomal compartment to become active. Therefore, proper trafficking and C-terminal maturation of aSMase are critical for enzyme activation. Unpublished findings in the Reagan lab demonstrate a dramatic reduction of aSMase activity in the
Chinese Hamster Ovary cell line (CHO-K1) following a 2-hydroxylpropyl-_-cyclodextrin
(2HP_CD) treatment. The goal of our research is to determine the mechanism by which
2HP_CD, an amphipathic molecule routinely used to solubilize and deliver hydrophobic drugs, decreases aSMase activity to advance the current knowledge of aSMase regulation.
Our research aims to determine if 2HP_CD is able to regulate aSMase activity through three specific mechanisms. First, immunofluorescent staining was used to address if trafficking of aSMase to the lysosomal compartment was disrupted by 2HP_CD. Second, western blot analysis was utilized to address if 2HP_CD is able to influence the proper proteolytic activation of aSMase. Finally, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and quantitative RT-PCR are currently being performed to determine if 2HP_CD is capable of inducing changes in aSMase isoform expression.

532
MODELING AND SIMULATION,OPTIMIZATION OF BIOMORPH FOR
VIBRATION ENERGY HARVESTING
Nan Chen, Graduate student, Engineering Technology; Vishwas Bedekar, Faculty,
Engineering Technology; Vishwas Bedekar (Faculty Sponsor), Engineering Technology
Recent developments in the area of micro-sensors technology such as structural heath monitoring, bio-chemical sensor and pressure sensors have increased the demand for portable, low coast, high efficiency energy harvesting devices to provide on-board power.
In this research, we use COMSOL finite element analysis software to design, simulate and analyze the voltage and power characteristics under applied mechanical vibrations.
Two piezoelectric ceramic compositions PZT5A and PZT5H were compared using series and parallel combinations of bimorph energy harvester design vibrating at natural frequency of the beam. We proposed new design and geometry of bimorph harvesters to capture energy at multiple frequencies to realize broadband vibration energy harvester.
Our results of simulations show a promising method to design energy harvesters to provide power for small scale sensors.

533
TRIAD IN CHILE: TEACHING, RESEARCH, AND INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIPS
TO ADVANCE GLOBAL SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDING THROUGH THE NSF
GK-12 PROGRAM
Corbett Ouellette, Graduate student, Biology; Kim Sadler, Faculty, Biology; Anthony
Farone, Faculty, Biology; Mary Farone, Faculty, Biology; Rachel Lytle, Graduate student,
Biology; Nicholas Chamberlain, Graduate student, Biology; Eric Vick, Graduate student,
Biology; Ashley Elliott-Cole, Graduate student, Biology; Paola Molina, Graduate student,
Biology; Anthony Farone (Faculty Sponsor), Biology
The NSF GK-12 program at MTSU partners graduate students and high school teachers with biotechnology companies to promote STEM learning opportunities. Graduate
Fellows also spend one year in high school biology classrooms facilitating learning and mentoring student research projects. The year culminates with student research presentations at TJAS or the TRIAD Research Symposium. To make global connections through our GK-12 project, we fostered relationships with scientists at the Universidad de
Chile Departamento de Biologia in Santiago who work with Chilean biotechnology companies and Chilean high schools. In August 2013, our team visited Chile to work in research labs and teach lessons in high schools. Despite having limited materials, engaging and challenging lessons were conducted resulting in Chilean students’ eager participation and meaningful inquisitions. This year our TRIAD classes are interacting with Chilean high schools, sharing research projects and teaching lessons. We return to
Chile in May 2014 to further develop this international relationship.

534
ACTIVE SPORT TOURISM: EFFECTS OF AGE AND DISTANCE TRAVELED ON
HALF-IRONMAN PARTICIPATION
Jessica Finnerty-Monu, Graduate student, Health and Human Performance; Rudy Dunlap
(Faculty Sponsor), Health and Human Performance
The “Ironman Hawaii” is the most prestigious Ironman triathlon (3.8km swim, 180km cycle, and 42.2km run) in the world and over tens of thousands of triathletes try to qualify each year (Rust, Knechtle, Knechtle, Pfeifer, Rosemann, Lepers, & Senn, 2013). With the full Ironman growing so rapidly so has the Half-Ironman (1.69km swim, 90km bike, and
21.1km run). In the United States alone, approximately 40% of all triathletes participate in a Half-Ironman triathlon distance race (Knechtle, 2012). As triathlons have increased in popularity so has the age of amateur athletes participating. Studies have looked into age, gender, and performance differences in triathlons, but where and how far participants’ travel to compete has not been examined. ‘Active Sport Tourism’ which refers to participation in a sport away from their home community (Gibson, 1998) is a fairly new term. Gibson (1998) first described ‘active sport tourism’ and compared it to the involvement and specialization of why individuals participated and traveled the way they did. With our society’s transportation system anyone can go just about anywhere within the United States or outside the United States within a relatively short amount of time, which has opened up a number of opportunities. Hence, this study examined the possible effect of age and distance traveled on participation in Half-Ironman triathlons.
This study found that within the last six years the average distance traveled to participate in Half-Ironman races has increased by almost 10% with men in their fifties and women in their forties being the highest traveling cohorts.

535
APPLICATION OF PARALLEL INTERFACING, ROBOTIC VIDEO
SURVEILLANCE TOY CAR
Filmon Gebreyesus, Graduate student, Molecular Biosciences; Saleh Sbenaty (Faculty
Sponsor), Engineering Technology
This project is an implementation of parallel port interfacing applications which particularly emphasizes on robotic car video surveillance. The robotic car is controlled by a computer program via the computer's parallel port to guide the toy car's movement.
Motion Detection concepts are employed in the program to decide if and in what way the toy car is to follow a moving object based on per-recorded video that mimics real time surveillance video. Appropriate signals containing direction instructions are then relayed to the car as a response to the motion detected. These signals are sent from the PC to the toy car (device) through a wireless radio frequency (RF) transmission medium.
The project consists of two parts: the software part and the hardware part. The hardware
(the toy car with all the electronic components involved) will be controlled by a program
(software) which first analyzes the video to determine if there is any motion detected, and then relays signals accordingly. In addition the software can be used in controlling the toy car by the user using manual keyboard control. Thus the project tries to demonstrate the application of parallel interfacing controlled by the user or automated based on the surveillance video.

536
RNA-SEQ ANALYSIS OF THE MAIZE LEAF USING DE-NOVO GENOME
ASSEMBLIES
Filmon Gebreyesus, Graduate student, Molecular Biosciences; Hyrum Carroll (Faculty
Sponsor), Other
Differential expression (DE) is an important analysis in bioinformatics because it shows how genes are expressed at different conditions for a particular species. DE can be performed using a reference genome (in which you compare the sequence to the reference genome to get the abundance estimation of expression) or de novo method
(which doesn’t involve any reference genome, but uses an assembly created from a list of transcripts). A reference genome is generally preferred, but is only available for the few model organisms (e.g., human, mouse, corn, etc.) and the de novo method can be used for any organism.
In this study we compare a reference genome based analysis and de novo analysis. We used the publicly available data set from Pingua et al. 2010. They performed DE using a reference genome based analysis. We used their data to assemble the list of transcripts and perform a de novo based analysis. This comparison will address the outstanding question of whether or not a reference genome based analysis is necessary.

537
CREATION OF AN ENERGETIC POLYMER 1,2,3-TRIAZOLE FROM ARYL
AZIDES
Elsbeth Griffiths, Graduate student, Chemistry; Scott Handy, Faculty, Chemistry; Scott
Handy (Faculty Sponsor), Chemistry
Energetics is a field composed of rockets, explosives and propellants, I am attempting to synthesize energetic binders to replace current isocyanate-based binders that are toxic and harmful to the environment. Energetic binders also contribute to the power of the device, enabling smaller of amounts of the core energetic compound to be required, thus making products with these binders safer to transport. My target begins with triiodoimidazole which is alkylated on one of the nitrogens using allyl bromide. The tethered alkene can be later used to crosslink the final polymer. This will be followed by an addition of 2- methyl-3-butyn-2-ol to the iodine adjacent to the alkylated nitrogen. The 2methylpropan-2-ol is then removed to make a terminal alkyne. The molecule will undergo an reaction with sodium azide and copper iodide to create an aryl azide which will undergo “click” condensation to afford a 1, 2, 3-triazole . The will resulting polymer will feature a high nitrogen content and a high kinetic energy, thereby making it a promising energetic polymer.

538
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BULLYING AND SUBSTANCE USE AMONG
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN GHANA, WEST-AFRICA
Marquinta Harvey, Graduate student, Health and Human Performance; Andrew Owusu,
Faculty, Health and Human Performance; Andrew Owusu (Faculty Sponsor), Health and
Human Performance
Introduction: School-based bullying, a global challenge, adversely contributes to psychological and physical development of adolescents. Existing evidence indicates an association between bully perpetration and substance use. Conversely, bully prevention interventions are linked to lower reports of substance use. This study examines the relationship between bullying perpetration and substance use among senior high school students in Ghana, West Africa.
Methods: Data from the 2012 Ghana Global School-based Student Health Survey
(GSHS) were utilized. A total of 1,984 students participated in the 2012 GSHS. Complex sample frequencies and logistic regression analysis were utilized to calculate prevalence estimates and odds ratios respectively, focusing on bullying and substance use.
Results: Overall, 23.4% of students reported bullying other students in the 30 days preceding survey. Among bullies, 9.8% smoke, 20.5% use alcohol, 16.1% had ever binge drunk and, 10.4% had used marijuana one of more times in lifetime. Students who smoke
(OR 2.9; CI 1.6-5.5), use alcohol (OR 2.1; CI 1.5-2.8), binge drink (OR 1.8; CI 1.4-2.4), or ever used marijuana (OR 2.4; CI 1.5-3.9) were significantly more likely to report being involved in bullying other students compared to those who did not use aforementioned substances.
Conclusion: The significant association between bullying and substance use (cigarette, alcohol, and marijuana) suggests the need to consider addressing substance use as part of bullying intervention efforts among senior high school students in Ghana.

539
BREAKING NEWS: HAS TRADITIONAL MEDIA LOST ITS TOUCH? COLLEGE
STUDENTS SPEAK!
DeJanel Henry, Graduate student, Educational Leadership; DOROTHY VALCARCEL
CRAIG (Faculty Sponsor), Educational Leadership
BREAKING NEWS: Has Traditional Media Lost its touch? College Students SPEAK, is an action research that examines and questions the loss of interest in traditional media to college students of today. Traditional media such as the newscast, newspapers and radio broadcast are some examples of media most college students do not use a source for national, local and national information. The research will also take a spin to analyze the current impacts of today’s social media and technology advances as a factor in the less participation in traditional forms of media. Participants in this action research study consists of undergraduate eighteen year old freshman, seniors and graduate students all attending Middle Tennessee State University. Using qualitative data collected through from the participant’s surveys, one on one interviews and update to date related blogs, magazines and internet sources, college undergraduate and graduate students, the research will reveal the disconnect amongst traditional media and social society.

540
MOTIVATIONAL FACTORS AND STUDY HABITS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO
ACADEMIC SUCCESS IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Kerri Huffines, Graduate student, Educational Leadership; Dorothy Craig (Faculty
Sponsor), Educational Leadership
The United States’ Hispanic population continues to grow each year at a very rapid pace.
Currently, there are 316,128,839 Hispanics in the United States. By the year 2060, the
Hispanic population is expected to contribute to 31% of the US population. Therefore, it is critical that not only current generations, but also future generations learn the Spanish language. This study examined the effectiveness of specific study habits and motivational factors that impact students’ academic achievement among high school students in a foreign language. The study took place over one academic semester and included multiple forms of data that were collected throughout the semester. The data was organized and ciphered in relation to survey questions in order to determine the correlation between specific study habits and success involving academic assessments in the foreign language classroom. Findings indicated specific study habits and motivational factors contributed to the individual student’s academic success in the foreign language classroom.

541
THE CHALLENGES OF ACQUIRING ENGLISH SPEECH FOR STUDENTS WHO
LEARN ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE (ESL)
Ghaliah Khayyat, Graduate student, Educational Leadership; Dorothy Craig (Faculty
Sponsor), Educational Leadership
This action research study examined the international students' who had limited time to learn English in ESL class and they still do not have enough encouragement to practice
English outside the class in order to get familiar with English. This becomes a problem which makes academic students to have difficulties with communicating in English. This research analyzed the causes that make them difficult for students to speak English and helped them find some solutions to overcome their problems.
The data were included as structured interview protocol collected from students from the
Saudi student club enrolled in classes at Middle Tennessee State University. The action research designed as qualitative approach to assist the ELL students facing typical problems and challenges in speaking, which slowed them down in their daily lives, because they live in an environment where English is the official language.
The analysis provided insight for English as a Second Language Learner (ESL) on how to solve their difficulties in communicating by English. This action research were also helped to gather appropriate strategies for speaking in English and offering suggestions to improve practical resource for ESL adults.

542
EXTRAORDINARY ACOUSTIC TRANSMISSION MEDIATED BY HELMHOLTZ
RESONATORS
Vijay Koju, Graduate student, Computational Sciences; Ebony Rowe, Undergraduate,
Physics and Astronomy; William Robertson (Faculty Sponsor), Physics and Astronomy
We demonstrate perfect transmission of sound through a rigid barrier embedded with
Helmholtz resonators. The resonators are oriented such that one neck protrudes onto each side of the barrier. Perfect sound transmission occurs even though the open area of the necks is less than 3% of the barrier area. Maximum transmission occurs at the resonant frequency of the Helmholtz resonator.
Because the dimensions of the Helmholtz resonators are much smaller than the resonant wavelength, the transmission is independent of the direction of sound on the barrier and of the relative placement of the necks. Further, we show that the transmitted sound experiences a continuous phase transition of pi radians as a function of frequency through resonance. In simulations of adjacent resonators with slightly offset resonance frequencies, this phase difference leads to destructive interference in the far field. By manipulating the phase of a plane acoustic wave, Helmholtz resonator arrays can create a new class of acoustic beam-forming devices analogous to diffractive optics.

543
CONNECTING WITH THE COMMUNITY: BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN
SCHOOLS AND ELL PARENTS
Rebecca Kokubun, Graduate student, Educational Leadership; Dorothy Craig (Faculty
Sponsor), Educational Leadership
Parental involvement plays a critical role in student’s success in school. To ensure parents feel empowered to get involved there needs to be effective communication between school and home. Studies have shown that involvement among English
Language Learner (ELL) parents is significantly lower than parents of native English speakers. Multiple factors contribute to low involvement including language and cultural barriers. This qualitative study looked at ELL parent satisfaction with the current communication methods used at an elementary school within Metro Nashville Public
Schools. The study focused on the questions, (1)Do parents of ELL students feel that the school communication they receive is effective and meets their needs as English language learners? (2) What alternative methods do they feel, as an ELL parent, would enhance their communication with the school? The parents completed a survey that analyzed their level of English proficiency along with their experiences with communication from the school and the effectiveness of the communication. In addition, the parents were given a chance to provide feedback on what they would like to see change and what they feel would work better in the future. The results from the survey will be used to create a plan of action to develop methods for better communication between the school and ELL parents.

544
RESISTANCE TRAINING RECOVERY: CONSIDERATIONS FOR SINGLE VS.
MULTI-JOINT MOVEMENTS AND UPPER VS. LOWER BODY MUSCLES
Adam Korak, Graduate student, Health and Human Performance; Richard Farley (Faculty
Sponsor), Health and Human Performance
This study examined muscle recovery patterns between single-joint (SJ) versus multijoint (MJ), and upper-body (UB) versus lower-body (LB) exercises and the utility of perceptual measures (ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) and perceived recovery scale
(PRS)) to assess recovery status. A 10 repetition max (10-RM) was determined for 6 SJ and 4 MJ exercises (5 UB and 5 LB) for male recreational weightlifters (n = 10).
Participants completed a baseline protocol including 8 repetitions at 85% of 10-RM followed by a set to failure with 100% of 10-RM. In a counter-balanced crossover design, participants returned at 24 or 48 h to repeat the protocol. PRS and RPE were assessed following the first and second sets of each exercise respectively. Wilcoxon matched pair signed-rank tests determined performance improved (p < 0.05) for every lift type category from 24 to 48 h, but the only difference in ∆ repetitions from baseline at the same time point was between MJ (-1.7 ± 1.5 repetitions ) and SJ (-0.5 ± 1.8 repetitions ) at 24 h (p = 0.037). Higher RPE and lower PRS estimations (p < 0.05) support the utility of perceptual measures to gage recovery as the only between group differences were also found between MJ and SJ at 24 h. Eighty percent of participants completed within 1 repetition of baseline for all exercises at 48 h except bench press (70%) and deadlift
(60%); suggesting 72 h of recovery should be implemented for multi-joint barbell lifts targeting the same muscle groups in slower recovering lifters.

545
DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTIGATION OF A DUAL-COLOR LUCIFERASE
REPORTER IN SACCHAROMYCES CEREVISIAE
Archana Krishnamoorthy, Graduate student, Biology; James Robertson (Faculty Sponsor),
Biology
A reporter gene helps determine the function of a gene of interest by producing a protein product that can be easily detected when the gene of interest is transcribed and translated.
The luciferase gene from click beetles and fireflies can be used as a reporter gene because its protein product emits light that can be measured by a camera without having to disturb the cells under investigation. Fast growing organisms undergo rapid metabolic changes in culture. Monitoring transcription by luciferase activity is then hampered by sudden changes in cell number and demand for oxygen as these changes also affect light emission. We propose that a dual color luciferase reporter can identify and compensate when these sudden metabolic changes occur. The investigation uses a green luciferase to report transcription of a gene of interest and a red luciferase to simultaneously report transcription of a stably expressed reference gene. My hypothesis is that the green-to-red ratio will be a more accurate measurement of gene expression for the gene of interest than a single color luciferase alone. Initial research focused on finding compatible pairs of luciferases to minimize spectral overlap and normalize light emission. Currently, we are testing my hypothesis using well-characterized yeast promoters. We expect the investigation to provide insight into sensitive, high-throughput monitoring of transcriptional events during times of active metabolic activity.

546
THE FUTURE OF NANOROBOTICS IN THE MEDICAL FIELD
Scarlett Lanning, Graduate student, Engineering Technology; Carol Boraiko (Faculty
Sponsor), Engineering Technology
Nanotechnology is the study of particles ranging on a scale between 1 and 100 nanometers. A nanometer is defined as 10
-9
of a meter. Biologists, engineers, physicists and chemists all play a part in the study of materials at a nanoscale. All fields believe nanotechnology is the science of the future, and its applications and possibilities are endless. The study of nanotechnology involving robots is called nanorobotics. Though the idea of nanorobots is fairly fresh to the scientific world, many have already begun developing theories and concepts in which nanorobots could be used in all types of areas, specifically in medical applications. These applications range anywhere from muscle and tissue repair, drug delivery that is site-specific, treatment for cancer, advancements in surgery, and aiding in removal of blockages in the arteries. Scientists around the world are making progress towards the use of nanorobots in medicine and even more scientists have theories they believe will be available for use in the very near future. In my presentation, I will discuss in more detail the future role nanorobots could play in the medical field, as well as, the daunting challenges that scientist in this area currently face.

547
IMPROVING DRIVER EDUCATION
Brittany Leedham, Graduate student, Health and Human Performance; Norman
Weatherby, Faculty, Health and Human Performance; Norman Weatherby (Faculty
Sponsor), Health and Human Performance
According to the Centers for Disease Control, in their first year on the road teens are 10 times more likely to be in a crash. Tennessee has a 15% fatality rate for driver’s ages 16-
17 who are involved in motor vehicle crashes according to statistics from the CDC.
Spotlight on Highway Safety Report 2012 from the Governors Highway Safety
Association shows that Tennessee is leading the nation in teen driver deaths. Factors that contribute to fatalities are speeding, alcohol use, distracted driving, and lack of seat belt use. Current driver education programs can be more in-depth and interactive, leading to a reduction in the number of teens killed within the first year of driving.
The goal of this study would be to improve the current driver education programs. The participants will be 15-19 year olds in the Middle Tennessee area. I will evaluate the effectiveness of the program by using a Pre-test/Post-test design. By partnering with the
Traffic Division of the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, I will gain access to the de-identified driving records of my participants by having their full name and date of birth to give to the Police Department. They can then retrieve the information of the participant’s records for three months before and three months after they attended the program to count accidents, tickets, and warnings. The information given back to me will have no identifiers. The result, if the program is successful, is that their driving records improved. Once completed, data will be shared with colleagues to improve driver education programs.

548
ABNORMAL FEATURE SELECTION OF CONNECTIONS AMONG BRAIN
REGIONS OF AUTISM VIA FMRI
Jingsai Liang, Graduate student, Mathematical Sciences; Don Hong (Faculty Sponsor),
Mathematical Sciences
Differences of fMRI between individuals with autism or not have been intensively studied in recent years. Most of these results focus on the connections of the brain regions, either of the interesting parts or of the whole brain, and they are not easy to summarize to clear features/biomarkers. In this poster, we use some advanced statistical tools to study features for autism which combine the significant differences of the interesting parts and the overall connections of the brain. This new algorithm shows effectiveness in performance and efficiency in calculation. We tested our method on some selected datasets.

549
COUNTY SPECIFIC ELASTICITY OF LABOR DEMAND IN THE UNITED STATES
Abhradeep Maiti, Graduate student, Economics and Finance; Debarshi Indra, Graduate student, Other; Joachim Zietz (Faculty Sponsor), Economics and Finance
We use a large panel dataset covering the years 1988 to 2010 to estimate county specific total wage elasticity of labor demand for four highly aggregated industries in the United
States. Our industries are: construction, finance/real estate/service, manufacturing, and retail trade, which together employ on average over eighty percent of the U.S. national labor force per year. We employ a two-step procedure to arrive at our results. In step one, we estimate a log linear labor demand function using the First-Difference panel data estimator. We then use the results from step one to estimate a random parameter panel data model using maximum simulated likelihood. In step two we assume that the absolute value of the total wage elasticity of labor demand is distributed i.i.d log normal in the population of counties. We find evidence that the total wage elasticity of labor demand exhibits spatial variation. Finally, all our estimates of total wage elasticity of labor demand fall in the range mentioned in the existing literature.

550
DOES PARENTING STYLE MATTER FOR LABOR MARKET OUTCOMES?
EVIDENCE FROM THE USA
Md. Alauddin Majumder, Graduate student, Economics and Finance; Stuart Fowler
(Faculty Sponsor), Economics and Finance
The impact of family background on children’s outcomes appears to have gained increasing attention and interest. One of the most important family background variables is parenting style. This paper is an attempt to investigate whether this variable has any causal impact on children’s adult labor market outcomes. Most of the parenting style literature overlooks such investigation due to lack of suitable data that permit linking childhood events to outcomes in adult years. I take advantage of the National
Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97) to fill that gap. Four labor market outcomes, namely, wages, number of weeks worked, number of weeks unemployed, and probability of having white collar job, are considered. Logit and OLS are used as empirical strategies. Findings suggest that parenting style is an important determinant of labor market outcomes. Among four categories of parenting style, authoritative parenting style (AVPS) is found to be the most beneficial. Permissive parenting style (PPS) is seen to be better than uninvolved parenting style (UPS) only in terms of weeks worked. In terms of other labor market outcomes, it is no different than UPS. Authoritarian parenting style (ANPS), on the other hand, seems to remain as good as UPS across the series of estimations performed.

551
LEARNING SIGHT WORDS WITHOUT DRILL OVERKILL: A STUDY OF FIRST
GRADE ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS
Tara McCamey, Graduate student, Educational Leadership; Dorothy Craig (Faculty
Sponsor), Educational Leadership
Being able to read sight words is an early sign of reading success (Murphy & Hernandez,
2011.) English language learning students (ELLs) are at higher risk of reading difficulties, such as learning sight words. Two of our school’s first grade ELL students have marginal success reading sight words in decodable texts. This action research study is intended to employ research-based sight word learning activities into the daily ESL pull out class to see if these struggling readers benefit from these activities alongside and integrated into their existing intervention curriculum. After measuring students’ abilities to identify the first 50 of Fry’s Sight Words (1992), the researcher will introduce students to a word wall.
Students will interact with 5 unknown words weekly for two weeks with games and word wall activities. The researcher will also look for opportunities to authentically connect words encountered with words on the wall. At the conclusion of the study, the pre-test will be administered again to measure success of the repetition and activities’ benefit of helping the ELL students learn new sight words. Qualitative data will also be collected in field notes to better improve practice as the students engage in the activities.
Preliminary findings indicate that the authentic nature of connecting the word wall with words encountered elsewhere and repetition offered by the word wall games and activities is contributing to growth in sight word recognition. Upon completion of the study, the researcher hopes to find what combination of techniques proves most successful in assisting the ELLs in sight word retention and reading fluency.
References
Fry, E. (1992). Spelling book: Words most needed plus phonics for grades 1-6. Laguna
Beach, CA: Laguna Beach Educational Books.
Murphy, J.C. & Hernandez, L. (2011). “Teacher, I can read!” Kappa Delta Pi Record,
47(4), 166-169. doi: 10.1080/00228958.2001.10516585

552
SCHOOL READINESS SKILLS: PARENT AND TEACHER PERCEPTIONS
Tara Melton, Graduate student, Psychology; Aimee Holt (Faculty Sponsor), Psychology
The purpose of this study is to determine how parents and teachers define kindergarten readiness, i.e. what characteristics and qualities are important for a child to possess to begin kindergarten and be successful. The study will determine what characteristics kindergarten teachers and parents of 3 and 4-year-old children find important for children to be ready to begin school. The skills addressed will focus on academic, social/emotional and behavioral, and national standards of readiness.

553
COMPARISON BETWEEN ARTIFACT REMOVAL METHODS USING ICA
ALGORITHM: RUNICA AND SOBI
Heechun Moon, Graduate student, Literacy Studies Ph.D.; Cyrille Magne, Faculty,
Psychology; Cyrille Magne (Faculty Sponsor), Psychology
Researchers in literacy studies become increasingly interested in using electroencephalography (EEG) to explore the brain mechanisms related to reading issues, such as phonological awareness, phonics (decoding), vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. In addition, EEG can be used to identify neural markers of reading disorders. However, one main limitation of reading studies using this method is that the raw EEG signals may be contaminated by various artefacts, such as muscle activities, eye blink and movements. As a result, EEG studies of sentence reading mainly use a (nonnatural) word by word presentation rate. Several artifact removal methods have been proposed to isolate ocular artifacts and sensor noise from brain signals. In particular,
Independent component analysis (ICA) algorithms have been popularly used for separating the mixture of EEG signals into multiple components and isolate such artifacts
(e.g. Jung et al., 2000; Tang et al., 2005).
The purpose of the study is to compare the efficiency of two ICA algorithms to identify artifacts: RUNICA and SOBI. An auditory experiment that contained easily identifiable eye artefacts was used to test the algorithms. An artifact removal procedure was applied using each algorithm as follows: (1) visual inspection, (2) ICA separation using RUNICA or SOBI, (3) artifact identification, (4) re-mixing sources, (5) comparison between original signals and corrected signals. Finally, the corrected signals will be compared between the two methods.
The finding of the present study has the potential for allowing more natural situations during EEG experiments.

554
COLLEGE STUDENTS DO NOT HOLD SEXUAL DOUBLE STANDARDS FOR
MEN AND WOMEN
Mary Morrison, Graduate student, Psychology; Michelle Boyer-Pennington, Faculty,
Psychology; Michelle Boyer-Pennington (Faculty Sponsor), Psychology
We addressed whether college-aged students hold a sexual double standard-- a belief that women and men’s sexual behavior should be held to different standards. Studying the existence and nature of sexual double standards is important because of their impact on individuals’ self-esteem, beliefs about sexuality, and sexual behavior.
Fredrick (2012) found that college-aged women did not hold different beliefs about men and women’s sexuality, but they were less accepting about their own sexuality in comparison. Although she did not find a difference, perhaps suggesting a lessening of a sexual double standard, beliefs and experiences were not intuitively related.
In this study, we compared college-aged men and women’s ratings of the self and others’ sexuality to determine whether men are more likely to hold a sexual double standard and how this belief may be related to beliefs about one’s sexuality and sexual behavior.
Participants were 293 unmarried traditional-aged college students (male = 92; female =
201; M age = 19.08 years). The majority were heterosexual (87.0%), Protestant (58.7%), and Caucasian (60.1%). Participants completed the Sexual Double Standard Scale
(Fredrick, 2012), which included 12 experience and 21 belief questions that were randomly ordered, followed by demographic questions.
We predicted that women would rate the self more negatively and men and women would differ in their ratings for others, such that men would be more likely to hold a sexual double standard. As predicted, women (M = 16.78) rated the self more negatively than did men (M = 18.93), and similar to Fredrick (2012), they rated other women (M =
17.76) and men (M = 17.53) more positively than the self. Men, however, rated all three groups more positively than did women, and equally positively (M women = 18.96; M men = 19.18; M self = 18.93).

555
CRYPTOGRAPHY VIA CELLULAR AUTOMATA
Daniel Nichols, Graduate student, Engineering Technology; Karim Salman (Faculty
Sponsor), Engineering Technology
Elementary cellular automata (ECA) is using Boolean logic functions to generate populations of ones and zeros. Population takes place temporally; each row of bits are populated based on the data from the previous row. The rules followed for generation of the next row are the functions mentioned above. Some rules produce very linear and predictable sets of binary data whereas some of them are chaotic in nature and can be used to produce pseudo-random populations. This state by state calculation is ideal for cryptography in that it relies on an initial state (password or key) and can be streamed or generated as more data is transferred; the patterns are also largely unknown and are not predictable or linear in some cases. Currently, research shows many promising configurations of population generation that can be used for securing digital data or communications. Unfortunately the chaotic rules tend to repeat themselves after a given amount of temporal generation. This cyclic behavior is non-linear and near impossible to detect without generating the ECA. This research is aimed at finding the relationships between row length and cycle length in an effort to make a given key more effective by lengthening or eliminating this repetitious behavior.

556
INNOVATIVE UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT TO
INCREASE RETENTION RATE AT MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY
Jeremy Posey, Graduate student, Engineering Technology; Saeed Foroudastan, Faculty,
Engineering Technology; Saeed Foroudastan (Faculty Sponsor), Engineering Technology
Housed in the Department of Engineering Technology, the Experimental Vehicles
Program (EVP) provides a student-driven, interdisciplinary, hands-on learning experience that is open to all students attending Middle Tennessee State University. Initiated in 2004,
EVP is composed of five project teams--Baja SAE, Formula SAE, Formula Hybrid,
Moonbuggy NASA, and Solarboat ASME--which are designed, crafted, and led by students. Members are provided the opportunity to learn every aspect of product design.
Each project is tasked with development, research, design, fabrication, safety considerations, writing of technical and cost reports, business, marketing, accounting, and leadership involved in prototype vehicle design in accordance to the rules provided by each oversight organization. Students fabricate in-house 80-90% of vehicle components, including vehicle frame and space-age carbon fiber composites. EVP membership allows students to develop or enhance technical skills and develop soft skills within the context of an educational atmosphere that provides students with an excellent opportunity to build their resume and stay at school until they graduate.

557
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES AND APPLICATIONS OF GRAPHENE
Whitley Rau, Graduate student, Engineering Technology; Carol Boraiko (Faculty
Sponsor), Engineering Technology
Graphene is a form of carbon. Graphene was discovered in 2004 by a pair of Russian researchers working at the University of Manchester. These two researchers received a
Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010 for their discovery of graphene. Graphene's shape is best described as a sheet of carbon atoms in a single layer. These carbon atoms are arranged in a hexagonal pattern. This pattern of atoms allows graphene to carry electricity through its form at room temperature. The pattern of carbon atoms in graphene affects the paths of electrons within the pattern oddly. Electrons within graphene behave as if they are weightless and jump over energy barriers. This property is called Klein tunneling. This property of graphene to carry electricity at room temperature allows graphene to be used in a variety of applications, such as super-capacitors, transistors, circuits and beyond.
Graphene can also be transparent. This could allow for graphene to be used to create transparent touch screens. The transparent property of graphene could also allow it to be used in photovoltaic panels. The purpose of this paper is to present the electrical properties of graphene and also to present the potential usage of graphene in different applications. Additionally, the process of creating graphene will be briefly touched on.

558
EFFECT OF PYRAMIDALIZATION AT NITROGREN IN A SERIES OF DONOR-PI-
ACCEPTOR DYES
Matthew Robinson, Graduate student, Chemistry; Andrienne Friedli, Faculty, Chemistry;
Andrienne Friedli (Faculty Sponsor), Chemistry
To determine the effect of donor group geometry on stability and conjugation in donoracceptor polyenes, eight molecules were synthesized and characterized. Four had tricyanofuran acceptors: 5-(4-N,N-dimethylaminophenyl)- (1); 5-(5-N-methylindolinyl)-
(2); 5-(6-N-methyl-2,3,4-trihydroquinolinyl)- (3); and 5-(4-julolidinyl)-hexa-1,3,5trienyl- (4) tricyanofuran. Four had thiobarbituric acid acceptors: 5-(4-N,Ndimethylaminophenyl)- (5 ); 5-(5-N-methylindolinyl)- (6 ); 5-(6-N-methyl-2,3,4trihydroquinolinyl)- (7); and 5-(4-julolidinyl)-2,4-pentadienyl- (8) N,Ndiethylthiobarbituric acid. A three-step procedure was used to synthesize each target.
Compounds 1-8 were characterized with UV/vis, IR,
1
H NMR, and
13
C NMR spectroscopy. UV and
1
H NMR solvatochromism (in a wide range of solvents) was correlated with the pi* polarity scale. NMR coupling constants were related to bond length alternation. While the acceptor was altered, the polyene length remained constant and trends were used to compare donor strength and conjugation. Results were supported with geometry calculations using the B3LYP and HF methods.

559
AN EXAMINATION OF UNDERGRADUATE ESL PREPARATION
Shunda Rodgers, Graduate student, Educational Leadership; Dorothy Craig (Faculty
Sponsor), Educational Leadership
Since the fall of 2004, Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) has experienced a yearly increase in undergraduates, making MTSU “the undergraduate college” of
Tennessee. MTSU offers a variety of different programs. While the education program teaches, addresses many factors in relation to the skills and techniques required and used in the classroom, it seems to lag in other areas- like ESL (English as a Second Language) education. ESL education is provided in schools across America to students that a have a native language other than English. Moreover, there are several education classes available at MTSU that address literacy in the classroom, practicums, and even a SPED
(Special education) class that addresses the needs of special children. However, there is no program or class that addresses the needs of ESL children. So, are we truly preparing education majors for real life issues and situations in the classroom? In this action research, the researcher will interview twelve students, in different classifications, that are currently in the teacher education program. With the data retrieved, the researcher will report its findings to MTSU in hopes of creating a pilot program for ESL preparation for classrooms.

560
MERIT-BASED SCHOLARSHIPS AND THEIR IMPACT ON COLLEGE MAJOR
CHOICE
Dustin Rumbaugh, Graduate student, Economics and Finance; Mark Owens (Faculty
Sponsor), Economics and Finance
Merit-based scholarship programs have expanded dramatically in the last decade. While there is evidence that these scholarships are effective ways to increase some desirable outcomes (increased retention, increased grade point average, and higher effort toward study) the research has been oriented toward quantitative rather than qualitative results.
Using the Beginning College Students longitudinal 2003-04 survey, I study whether students receiving merit-based scholarships select into a college major that has less desirable long-term outcomes for the student. In particular, I focus on STEM majors, which are considered to be more difficult degrees to finish, while also being more beneficial to the long-run labor market outcomes. I find evidence that students faced with having to maintain GPA requirements of merit-based scholarships choose to major in
STEM fields less often. I also find evidence that students who begin in STEM majors are more likely to switch away from STEM majors when faced with losing their scholarship.

561
DESIGNING A SWITCHED RELUCTANCE MOTOR FOR ELECTRIC
MOTORCYCLES
Milton Sager, Graduate student, Mathematical Sciences; saleh Sbenaty (Faculty Sponsor),
Engineering Technology
Is it feasible to replace the conventional gasoline engine and subsequent drive system in a motorcycle with an electric switched reluctance motor (SRM) by placing the SRM inside the rear wheel removing the need for things such as a clutch, chain, transmission, gears and sprockets.
The goal of this research is to study the theoretical aspect of prototyping and analyzing an in-wheel electric hub motor to replace the standard gasoline engine traditionally found on motorcycles. Specifically studying an SRM that uses electromagnets around a nonmagnetic core to convert electrical energy into mechanical energy that drives the rear wheel. Though the motor itself will not be simulated inside a wheel, factors such as friction of the road and weight will be taken into account to create a similar environment.
Since electric motorcycles are becoming more common, this research stands apart by attempting to design an SRM for a motorcycle whereas all currently produced electric motorcycles use conventional prefabricated electric motors connected to traditional sprocket and chain design, which greatly restricts the efficiency and range of these motorcycles. To our knowledge there is currently no motorcycle designed with an inwheel hub SRM.
A three phase and five phase SRM’s will be simulated and analyzed using MATLAB and
Simulink. Since time and resources may not allow for building a full scale prototype, a scaled prototype three-phase SRM will be attempted for demonstration purposes.

562
UBIQUITIN- AND PROTEASOME-RICH SPHERES FORM IN RESPONSE TO
CELLULAR STRESS
Katherine Sampuda, Graduate student, Biology; Lynn Boyd (Faculty Sponsor), Biology
The ubiquitin proteasome system is essential for maintaining nuclear and cytoplasmic protein levels. Ubiquitin is directly involved in DNA repair, histone modification, endosomal sorting, protein-protein interactions, and autophagy. The regulation of protein turnover is one of the numerous functions of ubiquitin. Currently, the Boyd lab is investigating the role of ubiquitin and proteasome during a cellular stress response. Our studies have shown that cellular stress causes the re-localization of ubiquitin and proteasome into distinct spheres within the nucleus of a C. elegans oocyte. Different stressors, such as high salt exposure and starvation, induce these nuclear stress bodies.
The function of the nuclear stress bodies is currently unknown. A proteasome inhibitor,
MG132, was used to test if proteasome activity is required for the formation of ubiquitin- and proteasome-rich nuclear stress bodies. It was shown that proteasome activity was not required for the formation of either ubiquitin or proteasome nuclear stress bodies.
Examination of worm strains with tagged nuclear pore proteins has indicated that the nuclear envelope appears to remain intact during stress conditions. In order to test whether the spheres might be precursors to cell death, a recovery experiment was conducted. Fertilized C. elegans embryos with nuclear spheres were compared to embryos without nuclear spheres. Embryos without spheres hatched and matured normally, whereas, embryos with spheres failed to hatch. Therefore, nuclear spheres maybe indicative of cellular distress. Other nuclear bodies, such as promyelocytic leukemia protein (PML) nuclear bodies, are known to be enriched in ubiquitin and proteasome; however, it is currently unclear whether the nuclear spheres we are seeing correspond to other known nuclear bodies. We aim to elucidate the pathway of how ubiquitin and the 26 S proteasome affect nuclear sphere formation during stress conditions.

563
SEXUAL ESTIMATION USING COMPLETE AND FRAGMENTARY CUBOID
BONES
Amber Schmuhl, Graduate student, Sociology and Anthropology; Hugh Berryman, PhD,
D-ABFA, Faculty, ; Hugh Berryman (Faculty Sponsor), Sociology and Anthropology
Sex estimation is a vital step in the correct identification of unknown individual.
Expanding sexing methods to include unused and underused bones will increase the accuracy of this assessment, especially in cases where the remains are incomplete or fragmentary. In 1976, Steele was one of the first researchers to examine sexual dimorphism of the talus and calcaneus. Since then, other researchers have repeated
Steele’s research and established that the talus and calcaneus are useful tools in sex estimation. However, little research has been conducted using the remaining tarsals.
This study used twelve univariate measurements that taken from the cuboids of 100 adult skeletons (50 male and 50 female) from the William M. Bass Skeletal Collection. Once the data had been collected, these univariate measurements were subjected to discriminant function analysis. Following the baseline suggested by Scheuer and
Elkington, measurements with accuracies equal or greater than 80% were considered to be useful in this study. Five out of the 12 univariate measurements taken in this study meet or exceed that baseline. When multivariate approaches are taken into account, the accuracy raises even higher. While some of the individual variable accuracy rates fell below 80%, that rate increased above 80% when combined with at least one other measurement. In conclusion, although the cuboid is one of the smaller bones of the body, it should be considered a useful tool for estimating sex regardless of its completeness.

564
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SELF-TALK AND FLOW EXPERIENCES IN
ENDURANCE ATHLETES
Rachel Taylor, Graduate student, Psychology; Tom Brinthaupt, Faculty, Psychology;
Tom Brinthaupt (Faculty Sponsor), Psychology
Sport and exercise psychologists have researched many factors that influence athlete performance including confidence, anxiety, self-talk and flow. Specifically, self-talk research has indicated that different types of self-talk effect athletes differently depending on the sport. Often, motivational self-talk is more beneficial for endurance sports (i.e., running) while instructional self-talk is more beneficial for precision-based sports (i.e., basketball). The experience of flow, another frequently studied factor in sport and exercise, has similarly been positively related to benefiting endurance athletes. Flow is often associated with optimal performances. Although flow and type of self-talk have been studied as independent factors, there has been little discussion n a possible relationship between the two. Given the importance to athletic performance, it is necessary to understand their connection in order to develop mental strategies for successful performances. The current study’s hypothesis stated that endurance athletes who practice more motivational self-talk compared to instructional self-talk would show more characteristics of flow experiences in competition. Forty-five collegiate runners from two Northeast universities participated in a survey study 30 minutes after competing in individual races. Runners participated in race distances ranging from 400 meters to
5,000 meters. Self-talk was measured using motivational and instructional self-talk scales and positive and negative self-talk scales. Flow was measured using the Dispositional
Flow Scale-2. Correlational results yielded strong, positive relationships between motivational self-talk and flow experiences (r= .64, p< .001). While instructional self-talk and flow experiences yielded a significant correlation, it was moderately less than motivational self-talk (r= .38, p= .01). Thus, endurance athletes who practice more motivational self-talk are more likely to experience flow. Because flow is associated with optimal performances, it is beneficial for researchers, athletes, and coaches to acknowledge this relationship. By practicing more motivational self-talk, athletes will be more likely to experience flow and higher quality performances.

565
MEASURING PRE-KINDERGARTEN CLASSROOM TEACHERS’ KNOWLEDGE
OF STATE STANDARDS THROUGH PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
TRAINING
Penny Thompson, Graduate student, Other; Cyrille Magne (Faculty Sponsor),
Psychology
In accordance with Tennessee’s Race to the Top initiative for K-12, the state revised the
Tennessee Early Learning Developmental Standards (TN-ELDS) to align with Common
Core standards. This study examines the impact of a two-day statewide professional development training for Pre-Kindergarten teachers to measure their knowledge of the
TN-ELDS on English language arts and math content. A survey was developed to measure teachers’ knowledge both before and after standards training. Participating teachers (N=221) attended training in the three regions of Tennessee (east, middle, and west). Analyses revealed significant improvement between the pre and post-training for both English language Arts (ELA) and math. Analyses did not show significant difference when comparing teacher’s teaching degree level and gain in training knowledge, nor when comparing teacher’s years of experience and training knowledge.
Overall, the present results indicated that the two-day training appeared to be an effective form of professional development for Pre-Kindergarten teachers.

566
A STUDY OF SAFETY-RELATED PROBLEMS AND HAZARDS WITHIN THE OIL
EXTRACTION INDUSTRY
Mevlut Turkyilmaz, Graduate student, Engineering Technology; Carol Boraiko (Faculty
Sponsor), Engineering Technology
Oil and gas extraction industry involves a wide range of hazards and fatality rates are quite high in this field. From 2003 to 2010, 823 oil and gas extraction workers were killed on the job and this fatality rate is seven times greater than the rate for all U.S industries. Therefore, it is very important to be aware of the threats to lives and hazards in gas extraction industry. In this study, initially, the safety- related issues and problems existing in oil drilling and extraction industry that lead to fatalities the most will be identified. After identifying the problems and issues, what precautions and measures gas extraction companies take to eliminate these safety-related problems will be analyzed.
Based on the analysis and research, new propositions for minimizing the occurrence of fatalities and the existence of safety-related problems will be tried to be developed.

567
PREDICTING COLLEGE STUDENTS’ POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY ATTRIBUTES
WITH DIMENSIONS OF EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING
Hanni Watson, Graduate student, Psychology; Seth Marshall, Faculty, Psychology; Seth
Marshall (Faculty Sponsor), Psychology
The purpose of this study was to investigate how, and to what extent, dimensions of executive functioning (EF) predicted college students’ positive psychology attributes, namely grit, optimism, positive affect, and life satisfaction. Seventy-nine participants were administered a self-report EF measure, the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive
Function-Adult Version (Gioia, Isquith, Guy, & Kenworthy, 2000), which assesses EF behavior regulation and metacognitive skills. In addition, four self-report positive psychology surveys were completed by each participant. Results indicated that EF behavior regulation and metacognitive skills successfully predicted grit and optimism. In addition, EF metacognitive skills predicted positive affect and life satisfaction. In general, findings extend previous EF and positive psychology research by investigating dimensions of EF that appear to contribute to life well-being factors.

568
IDENTIFICATION OF ANCIENT GREEK PAPYRUS FRAGMENTS USING
GENETIC SEQUENCE ALIGNMENT ALGORITHMS
Alex Williams, Graduate student, Computer Science; John Wallin (Faculty Sponsor),
Physics and Astronomy; Hyrum Carroll (Faculty Sponsor), Computer Science
Papyrologists analyze, transcribe, and interpret papyrus fragments in order to enrich modern lives by better understanding the linguistics, culture, and literature of the ancient world. One of their common tasks is to take an anonymous fragment and to identify the original known manuscript. This is especially challenging when the fragments are damaged and contain only limited information (e.g., due to deterioration). In the last 100 years, only about 2% of the 500,000 fragments recovered from the Egyptian village of
Oxyrhynchus have been edited and published, and only about 10% have even been examined by professionals and given preliminary identifications. We do not know what new ancient texts might be found and what can be learned from them, but using current methods of identification this process will take in excess of 1000 years.
The identification of an anonymous string of characters with a collection of known text sequences is ubiquitous in computational biology. Genes are often digitally represented by a sequence of continuous characters, each of which denotes an amino acid.
Relationships are inferred by finding multi-letter patterns shared between the anonymous sequence and a known sequence. This process is commonly referred to as genetic sequence alignment. In this paper, we introduce Greek-BLAST, which utilizes genetic sequence alignment algorithms as a method for identification of Ancient Greek text fragments. This application will offer papyrologists and other professionals in the humanities the ability to rapidly transcribe and identify severely damaged texts. Greek-
BLAST leverages a new form of non-contextual, multi-line text identification for the
Greek language that can greatly accelerate the tedious task of transcription and identification. Our preliminary results using naive methods have already demonstrated the applicability of this approach.

569
THE APPLICATION OF MULTI-TASK LEARNING INTO FMRI
Xin Yang, Graduate student, Mathematical Sciences; Qiang Wu, Faculty, Mathematical
Sciences; Don Hong (Faculty Sponsor), Mathematical Sciences
Multi-task learning (MTL) is an approach in machine learning that learns a task together with other related problems at the same time, using a shared representation. This often leads to a better model for the main task, because it allows the learner to use the commonality among the tasks. The goal of MTL is to improve the performance of learning algorithms by learning classifier for multiple tasks jointly. In general, fMRI analysis methods have centralized on the relationship between cognitive variables and individual brain voxels, but it has limits on what can be learned about brain activity by isolated voxel study. In this presentation, we present MTL approach for fMRI analysis, we applied multi-task methods to explore the information of the brain activity, instead of focusing on individual voxels. In particular, the application of Multitask method into fMRI data is motivated by fMRI studies in which functional activity is classified using brain voxels as features. By using Multitask, each voxel can be studied as a task. This training processed has significant advantages. Because the related tasks (voxels) can help each other to get better performance.

570
POOR PERFORMANCE IN ENGLISH OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS IN THE
UNITED STATES
Ream Ziyad, Graduate student, Educational Leadership; Dorothy Craig (Faculty Sponsor),
Educational Leadership
This action research study took a qualitative stance in examining and analyzing the difficulties in specific skills such as reading, writing, and speaking among international students who are enrolled in MTSU graduate programs, that focuses on those students whose first language is Arabic. The research study included approximately 5-6 international students who are enrolled in MTSU as graduate students in programs offered by the Department of Educational Leadership in the College of Education. The study lasted approximately 2-3 weeks. The study included: a) interviewing international students; three interviews (regarding conversational English, structure of English language, decoding the English language for comprehension), b) demographic survey, and c) collecting examples of student’s work. Findings identified the possible causes of the learners' poor performance in English and offered some suggestions that could help international students in improving their skills.

571
ASSOCIATION OF OBJECTIVELY MEASURED SEDENTARY BEHAVIOR WITH
OBESITY IN US ADULTS
Junbae Mun, Graduate student, Health and Human Performance; Youngdeok Kim,
Graduate student, Health and Human Performance; James Farnsworth, Graduate student,
Health and Human Performance; Minsoo Kang, Faculty, Health and Human
Performance; Minsoo Kang (Faculty Sponsor), Health and Human Performance
Obesity has been a significant public health concern among US adults. Recently, a great attention has been given to the sedentary behavior (SB) in relation to obesity; however, controversial results have been reported due to the use of less accurate measures of SB and obesity in adults. PURPOSE: The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between accelerometer-derived SB time and obesity measured by Dualenergy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) among US adults. METHODS: Data from the 2003-
2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were analyzed for this study. A total of 2577 adults (≥20 years, male = 1331) were included in this analysis. SB time was defined as 10 or more consecutive minutes without moving.

572
TRANSCRIPTOME_WIDE DETECTION OF TISSUE_SPECIFIC ALTERNATIVE
SPLICING IN RAINBOW TROUT
Rafet Al-Tobasei, Graduate student, Molecular Biosciences; Mohamed Salem (Faculty
Sponsor), Biology
Alternative splicing allow generation of different RNA transcripts from same genes which produce structurally and functionally different proteins/isoforms. Determining the alternative splice variants answers important questions in the genome biology of any species. Emergence of the next-generation RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) technology offers unprecedented opportunity for genome-wide detection of alternative splicing.
However, detection of alternative splicing in non-model species, where a complete reference genome is not available, is one of the most challenging bioinformatics processes.
In this study, a new approach is introduced to detect alternative splicing without the need to a reference genome. The main concept of this method is “Splice Detection through
Gap Existence” “SDTGE”. The method is based on the fact that splice variance leads to gap formation when sequence reads with splice variances (e.g. from different tissues) are mapped back to a transcriptome reference that is assembled from all reads.
In this study, thirteen cDNA libraries were sequenced from different tissues of a rainbow trout fish using Illumina platform. A total of ~1.167 billion reads were de novo assembled using Trinity RNA-Seq assembler. 15,802 full-length sequences were identified and used as a reference where reads were mapped back. Using the SDTGE approach, a large number of putative splice variant events were identified. These data are currently validated using other in silico and in vitro approaches. This method is promising in detecting splice variance in none-model species like many of the agriculture species.

573
3D PRINTING BODY PARTS: AN OVERVIEW OF HOW ADDITIVE
MANUFACTURING IS SHAPING TISSUE ENGINEERING
Grant Cross, Graduate student, Engineering Technology; Carol Boraiko (Faculty
Sponsor), Engineering Technology
Additive manufacturing, commonly referred to as 3D printing, is a manufacturing technique that emerged in the 1980’s mainly focused on engineering prototyping. Recent advances in the precision and cost of the techniques, as well as the widespread use of 3D modeling have increased 3D printing’s scope of use from high-end engineering prototypes to a large variety of uses in manufacturing. 3D printing has been shown to improve the processing time, reduce waste, and increase the level of customization of certain products by eliminating the need for the specialty tooling and dies that are traditionally used in manufacturing. Additionally, the ability to physically print complex shapes based on a computer model has given rise to new products that would otherwise be simply impossible to create. The field of tissue engineering has taken advantage of this technology by printing organic cells and inorganic biomaterials with levels of control and precision that surpass previous production techniques. Furthermore, 3D printing allows for applications that can be customized on a case-by-case basis to fit the needs of individual patients. This review will overview the 3D printing-based techniques being used in tissue engineering, and discuss the current applications and challenges of this rapidly advancing field.

574
M1 AMINOPEPTIDASES: AN ANALYSIS OF PHYLOGENY AND FUNCTION
Karen Maynard, Graduate student, Biology; Shannon Smith, Graduate student,
Professional Science; Rebecca Seipelt-Thiemann (Faculty Sponsor), Biology
The human M1 aminopeptidase gene family encodes twelve proteins that catalyze numerous important reactions in the body, including several in the immune system.
However, the activity and function of some members are yet to be determined. While they have maintained several distinct features that enable their function, such as the characteristic HEXXHX18E motif, overall amino acid sequence identity is fairly low.
This suggests that divergence began long ago. The goal of this study was to compare the gene structure, amino acid sequence similarity and identity, and published functional characteristics to determine the relationships among the gene family members. For the most part, gene structure comparisons, sequence identity/similarity analyses, and functional studies subdivide the family into at least three major groups. Group 1 is
TRHDE, ANPEP, LNPEP, ENPEP, NPEPPS, ERAP1, and ERAP2. Group 2 is RNPEP,
RNPEPL1, and LTA4H. Group 3 is APO. Gene structure comparisons, multiple alignments, phylogenetic trees, Consurf 3-dimensional analyses, as well as function tables, will be presented.

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MTSU’S MASTERS OF SCIENCE IN PROFESSIONAL SCIENCE PROGRAM
CONTINUES TO EXPAND WITH THE SUCCESS OF THE ENGINEERING
MANAGEMENT AND GEOSCIENCES CONCENTRATIONS
Brigette Prater Thompson, Graduate student, Professional Science; Saeed Foroudastan
(Faculty Sponsor), Professional Science
MTSU’s Masters of Science in Professional Science Program was the first of its kind in
Tennessee. The program has become renowned for its popularity and success; becoming the national model for all Professional Science Masters programs. The program requires students to engage in the upper level science of their choosing while taking a subset of core business courses. Research has shown that students that are able to master more than one discipline are more capable of adapting to tough job related situations. More specifically these graduates will have the combined skills of a business professional with the technical abilities of a scientist. These students will be able to bridge the ever expanding gap between business and science and fill a niche in several local industries.
Currently the MSPS program offers 6 concentrations: Biostatistics, Biotechnology,
Actuarial Sciences, Health Care Informatics, and most recently Engineering Management and Geosciences. The Engineering Management concentration is built to prepare students for careers in the management of technology and engineering. The program requires students to take courses focusing on project management, safety planning, research methods, and technology trends. The MSPS Engineering Management degree is oriented to Engineering Systems students and those with a related undergraduate degree. As part of the program the students obtain certifications that allow them to seamlessly transition into the workforce.
The Geosciences concentration provides training for students seeking careers as geologist in either private or government agencies. This program offers the option for students to complete specializations in Geographic Information Systems, Environmental Geosystems, or general Geoscience.
As always both the Engineering Management and Geosciences concentrations require their students to complete a 250 hour internship which allows them to make connections within the industry while gaining valuable hands-on experience. Both programs have been an outstanding contribution to MTSU’s MSPS program