Western Research Day
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Item Nonlinear Optical Materials, Applications from the Science Building at WCSU(2011-05-20T01:31:27Z) Litwin, Brandon MThis presentation focuses on the applications of my research rather than on the science, the content is summarized as follows: Nonlinear optical materials are electromagnetic (i.e. light) frequency modulating compounds synthesized and engineered for use in technology such as Lasers (Medical, Optical/Electronics data (CD's, DVD's), Spectroscopy), Fiber optic devices, telecom devices, and any other piece of equipment with a function of changing the frequency of a signal of light. The class of materials I synthesized at this university is extremely useful and is sold to a multi-billion dollar global market demand. These materials are extremely high quality optically active compounds, and were synthesized on a nearly nonexistent budget and under standard conditions (atmospheric pressure, room temperature, neutral pH). This research is cutting edge, and is a step into the future of optoelectronics materials synthesis and engineering, whose products will generate significant revenue for the university... or rather the state.Item Gendered Expectations; Moderate Deviance in Georgian London(2011-05) McDonald, ShannonThe Duchess of Devonshire was a passionate participant in the Westminster Election of 1784. Her experience is an illustrious example of a woman in history who faced ridicule due to failure to comply to her gender and social roles. The rich primary sources that document the event, including satire, memoirs and personal letters tell the story of a prestigious woman who battled against expectations for "proper" behavior of women in society. Her actions throughout the election were met with great discomfort thus; she was made a mockery. Reactions to the Duchess' political involvement was warped by the media making her out to be more deviant than she really was.Item Primary Culture of Brain Stem Cells(2011-05-14T16:59:37Z) Fitzgerald, Mark P.; Fignar, Brittany E.; Dye, Frank J.Neurospheres are multicellular, spherical clusters of cells derived from brain tissue placed in cell culture. According to the literature, neurospheres are heterogeneous populations consisting of, at least, neural stem and neural progenitor cells. We successfully established primary cultures of neurospheres from fetal mouse brain tissue. Disaggregation and passage of these neurospheres into expansion media lacking growth factors typically necessary for cellular differentiation revealed the formation of strut-like cellular structures with associated smaller cells. We hypothesize that these struts are conglomerates of neurons, and the smaller motile cells associated with them are glial cells involved in their maintenance. The motility of the small cells was revealed by time-lapse videomicrography.Item Cloning and Expression of a Haloacid Dehalogenase Enzyme(2011-05-14T15:13:03Z) Van, SkylerThe purpose of this research project is to clone the gene JHP1130 from Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). JHP1130 is a member of the Haloacid Dehalogenase (HAD) superfamily, which is characterized by a varied group including but not limited to phosphatases, epimerases, and dehalogenases (Allen). JHP1130 has been identified as a phosphatase, but not much is known about its physiological role. In order to learn more about this role, the gene was cloned into a pet21b vector for subsequent expression. Once a clone was created, the plasmid was transformed into BL21 E. coli cells for protein expression. After induction, confirmation of protein expression was verified by checking the protein against a molecular weight ladder. The expected molecular weight of the desired protein was roughly 25 kDa and a band at this molecular weight confirmed the presence of the correct protein. The next phase of testing will involve purifying the protein as well as testing various substrates capable of binding to the enzyme. The importance of this research project lies with the fact that JHP1130 has little homology to the phosphatases of other types of bacteria. If the reason behind this difference is that H. pylori possesses a different metabolic pathway from most bacteria, then this research project could reveal a treatment for H. pylori infection that won't have adverse effects on the normal bacterial flora existing within the human body.Item The Effect of Question Wording on the Resolution of Visual Ambiguity(2011-05-14T05:39:53Z) Talibon, MereditheAmbiguity is valuable because it can lead to new insights which arise from a shift in perspective. In order to evaluate how visual ambiguity is resolved, college students were shown an ambiguous picture and asked to respond to one of three questions. These three questions varied in sentence structure, and they assessed the students' ability to identify whether the ambiguous picture had one of two components, two of two components, or two independent components which form one cohesive unit. Contrary to the researchers' hypothesis, the way in which the questions were worded did not influence how quickly ambiguity was resolved.