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You can find examples of oral presentations from the Fall Undergraduate Research Symposiums here: http://learningforlife.fsu.edu/urcaa/
Sample posters from previous symposiums
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Title: "Be A Bro": Identity in a Christian Fraternity
Abtract:
This poster observes how membership in a Christian fraternity affects religious identity in young college students. Usually, Christian groups that appropriate elements of secular culture receive criticism for blurring the lines between “Christian” culture and “secular” culture in ways detrimental to maintaining a distinct religious identity. However, this new empiric demonstration of identity in a Christian fraternity suggests that appropriation can actually enhance religious identity. This case study includes fourteen in-depth interviews with members of the same Christian fraternity (Fraternity X) as well as field observation at two of the fraternity’s exclusive events. more.... Analyzing the interview transcriptions and the field notes, Fraternity X members collectively foster a sense of strong religious distinction from their reported spiritual purpose, moral precepts, level of commitment, and emphasis on intimacy. |
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Title: Early Intervention in English Language Learners
Abtract:
The Spanish-speaking English Language Learner (ELL)
population is rapidly rising to become the largest minority group in
the US. Dual language learners and speakers increasingly populate the
current school-age population, thus challenging the public education
system to examine and implement early educational programs for ELLs.
These children are at risk for experiencing the Hawthorne Effect,
which states that if the students are behind the norms at kindergarten
entry, then they will become exponentially behind not only in basic
language skills but also in cognition of different meanings of
second-language words. Because of the risks associated with second
language learners’ later academics and the potential benefits of
beginning an English intervention as early as possible, this study
will look at whether there are differences in phonological awareness
between ELL children who received early intervention or early
classroom instruction prior to kindergarten entry and those who did
not have any formal pre-kindergarten experience. PARTICIPANTS:
Participants will include approximately 24 children ages 5-5;11 in
kindergarten in Gadsden County Public Schools. The children’s native
language is Spanish, their second language is English, and the
majority comes from low-income families.
more....
METHODS: After a parent
questionnaire and consent form has been received back the children
will be placed on a scale from no previous English exposure to formal
English exposure .The Test of Preschool Early Literacy (TOPEL) and the
Test de Vocabulario en Imagenes Peabody (TVIP) will be used for this
study. The TOPEL will measure letter identification ability,
phonological awareness, and vocabulary while the TVIP will measure
Spanish vocabulary levels to ensure that low English task scores are
not a result of below-average Spanish language knowledge. RESULTS: A
regression analysis will be conducted to examine the potential
relationship between the dependent variable (phonological awareness)
and the independent variable of how much early English instruction
they received prior to kindergarten.
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Title: Examination of a nonpurging compensatory eating disorder
Abtract:
This study examined the clinical significance of a nonpurging
compensatory eating disorder (CED). The CED group is different from
the well known eating disorders of anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia
nervosa (AN) because these individuals are not underweight like in AN
and do not experience objectively large binge episodes, as in BN.
However, like AN and BN, these individuals excessively exercise and/or
fast to control their weight or shape. This study sought to examine
whether these individuals have the characteristics of eating disorders
by examining their eating attitudes and body image disturbance
compared to controls that exercised and dieted in a healthy manner.
These controls were used because they are representative of the
typical woman. The groups were also compared on eating disorder risk
factors to assess whether they may be similar to AN or BN. The risk
factors they were compared on were perfectionism, anxiety proneness,
and weight suppression. Weight suppression is the difference between
an individual's highest body weight and their current body weight.
more....
The results show that the CED group differed significantly from
controls on disordered eating and body image disturbance, evidence of
their clinical significance as an eating disorder. Relating to risk
factors, the CED group showed significantly higher levels of anxiety
than controls, and evidence of greater weight suppression. The high
anxiety of the CED group shows that they are similar to individuals
with AN. The evidence of weight suppression is similar to what is seen
in BN. There was also a trend of the CED group to report that their
mother's had a thinner figure than controls. This is unique because it
is not observed in either AN or BN. The groups showed no differences
in perfectionism. A limitation of this study is the small sample size.
Recruiting to the full sample size may show a difference in
perfectionism between the groups and the emerging difference in family
weight history.
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Title: Mechanisms of Facilitation on a Barrier Island
Department of Biological Science
Abtract:
Positive species relationships occur when a plant modifies
its microhabitat, improving the conditions for a neighboring
individual. It has been proposed that positive interactions
(facilitation) increase with environmental stress, although little is
known about how mechanisms involved can differ among dissimilar, but
related, sites. Facilitation was observed across sand dune habitats
on a barrier island in Apalachicola, FL. Shading, disturbance and
hydraulic lift were tested as mechanisms for the positive species
relationships observed in the habitats (fore-, inter-, and backdune)
found across the island. Results from observational and empirical work
reveal that both type and magnitude of facultative mechanisms
operating across dune habitats differ. In the foredune habitat, it is
likely that hydraulic lift plays a role in facilitation at shallow
soil depths.
more....
Alternatively, shading and hydraulic lift, at deeper
soil levels, appear to be mechanisms of facilitation in the interdune
habitat. In the backdune habitat, disturbance and shading appear to
encourage increases in species richness. This work has implications
for succession theory in stressful systems, which can be useful for
restoration work in these areas.
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Title: Investigation of kynurenic acid in cognitive dysfunction associated with schizophrenia
Abtract:
The tryptophan metabolite kynurenic acid (KYNA) is an
antagonist at the glycine-B binding site on N-methyl-D-aspartate
glutamate receptors (NMDA-R) and alpha7 nicotinic acetylcholine
receptors (a7-nACh-R), two receptors important in normal cognition
function. Elevated concentrations of KYNA have been found within the
brain and cerebral spinal fluid of schizophrenia patients, suggesting
KYNA may be involved in the cognitive impairments associated with
schizophrenia (CIAS). Previous reports have suggested that
administration of l-kynurenine (L-KYN), bioprecursor to KYNA, caused
impairments in working memory, stimulus processing, and contextual
learning. These data suggest endogenous increases in KYNA disrupted
cognitive processes. Our experiment tested the hypothesis that acute
administration of L-KYN would impair executive function (i.e.
cognitive flexibility and working memory) in rodents by increasing the
levels of KYNA.
more....
Cognitive flexibility was assessed using a
well-validated attentional set-shifting
(extradimensional-intradimensional; ED/ID) task that required rats to
solve a series of discrimination problems and shift an attentional set
across stimulus dimensions; working memory was assessed using a novel
object recognition task with a 24-hr delay test. For both tasks,
separate groups of adult male Long Evans rats received an acute
injection (ip) of either L-KYN (100 mg/kg) or vehicle 2-hr prior to
behavioral testing. Acute administration of L-KYN did not
significantly impair ED/ID shift learning. Similarly, this dose did
not significantly reduce novel object recognition, although
discrimination between novel and familiar objects was numerically
worse compared to control animals. These data suggest this dosing
regimen of L-KYN did not produce selective deficits in measures of
executive function and working memory as hypothesized. When taken in
sum, there is a clear need for additional research to elucidate the
possible contribution of KYNA in CIAS.
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Title: How did William Miller convince 15,000 people the world would end in 1843?
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