College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Chemistry

This paper discusses two instances where Maya people try to maintain their freedom to run their communities as they please. These are: the election and removal of alcaldes (traditional leaders), and, the decision making process over lands by alcaldes. A tit-for-tat occurs when Maya communities practice their traditional law which are sometimes tolerated and other times over-ruled by the government. Information for this study is gathered from documents of the association of alcaldes of Southern Belize; news reports; social media; and from personal observations while volunteering for the association. Information gathered shows how the government wants to rule these Maya communities, but, the communities challenge the government’s attempt to rule them. The communities use Belizean courts and laws to protect them against the government, even when these courts and laws have been used against them by the government. The central argument is that the government gets involved in a losing tit-for-tat to assert its existence. If the government did not intervene it would be made irrelevant; thus, non-existent. (Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level: 14)"

12217

Development of chemosensory proteins based electrochemical biosensor

"A biosensor is an analytical device made up with a biological sensing element and a signal transducer. Electrochemical biosensors combine the sensitivity of electrochemical transducers with the specificity of biological recognition process.

On the other hand, insects have long been recognized as having highly sensitive mechanisms of chemical perception. Chemosensory proteins (CSP) are unique proteins derived from insects including mosquitoes, tsetse fly, and fire ants. CSPs are mediators of the initial interactions with odorant molecules that lead to subsequent translation of chemical signals into action potentials and ultimately behavioral responses. Therefore, CSPs can be used as biological sensing elements in biosensors.

My researches have proven that CSP based biosensors have huge potential in detecting volatiles. Ongoing work is testing the biosensors for volatile compounds relevant to agricultural, environmental, and medical applications.

(Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level: 16.3)"

12210

"I am requesting funds to complete taxonomic research on jewel scarabs (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Rutelinae) that was begun last summer at the Centre de Conservation et d’Etude des Collections in Lyon, France. This is the largest, and arguably most important, collection of these scarabs in the world. The collection contains thousands of type specimens (the scientific name bearing specimens) representing hundreds of species. However, due to problems with the history of the collection, it contains numerous improperly designated type specimens, lacks basic information about the holdings of the collection, and contains loaned material that should repatriated back to other collections. This trip will allow me to complete gathering data on the collections holdings. These data will be used to create a two publication quality annotated checklists of the collections extensive type material and the complete taxonomic histories of two beetle groups.

This trip is very important to my professional development. First, the trip will allow me complete two papers. Papers published in peer-reviewed avenues are academic currency. Second, my previous activities working on this collection have benefited multiple entomological collections in North America and across Europe. In fact, I was previously funded by the British Museum of Natural History to curate this collection last summer. I was able to repatriate loaned specimens to collections that had been left behind in France after the owner of the collection died suddenly. These relationships I have fostered ensure that when I need to travel to these institutions for future research purposes I will be welcomed with open arms. "

Collaborative academic research occurs at museums around the world. Museum curators and collections managers ensure that specimens deposited in museums are freely available for people to study anywhere they may be housed. Museum specimens are freely loaned, when possible, to academicians around the world based on an honor system. Because of this freely open system, collections need to be protected and their holdings respected for these collaborations to continue smoothly. My work in France involves a case where terrible mistakes were made in collection management for over a decade and many important zoological specimens were permanently lost. My expertise on these beetles has allowed these mistakes to begin to be rectified to the extent possible. The work I have already completed has been met with great enthusiasm and appreciation by this community of North American and European entomology curators. As a representative of UF, and more broadly the US, this reaffirms our institutions' current relationships and strengthens the possibility of future collaborations in museum-based collections research.

12204

College of Education - Educational Leadership

"The overall political climate in education is negative, and teachers are the scapegoats. As a result, many education policies control what teachers teach, when they teach, and how they teach. Other education policies aim to remove ‘bad’ teachers from the classroom. Taken as a whole, education policies are made for teachers – not with or by teachers. Increasingly, however, a select group of teacher leaders across the country are becoming involved in the policymaking process. In so doing, these teacher leaders are changing how policy is shaped, unshaped, and reshaped. Simply put, these teacher leaders are changing how education policy is made.

Traditional methods of education policy analysis provide insufficient tools to investigate how this occurs. Conventional methods tend to quantitatively measure the effects of policy. Though important, less attention has been paid to analyzing how policy is made. In response, this paper introduces plasticity as an alternative method of understanding policy formation. Specifically, plasticity is a theoretical concept that describes how form is given, received, and destroyed. Importantly, these are the same processes though which policy gives, receives, and destroys form in education.

The core of the paper demonstrates how plastic readings offer a new mode of policy analysis. The theoretical traditions from which plasticity draws emphasize the need for policy analysts to engage in constructive, ethical forms of critique. For many scholars, this is “one of the most pressing issues in political analysis today” (Kirby, 2011, p. 83). By demonstrating how plastic readings provide opportunities to constructively critique policy, this paper offers a different means of studying the who, how, and why of education policy. By studying policy differently, perhaps better policy can be made. (Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level: 13.6)"

12203

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - Anthropology

I am presenting my research on a coastal archaeological mound site on the gulf coast of Florida near modern day Horseshoe Beach. Excavations conducted at the Garden Patch mound center were conducted in 2013 to better understand human activity during precolumbian times. For my research, I analyzed the food remains consumed by prehistoric Floridians who inhabited Garden Patch from ca. 250-450 AD. This involved analyzing thousands of animals bones including those of deer, sea turtles and most frequently saltwater fish. Studying the food remains from this time period, I aim to better understand diet, seasonal fishing practices, and explore the possibility of early people of Florida gathering for coastal feasts. (Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level: 11.7)

12199

College of Public Health and Health Professions - Psychology

Youth with asthma commonly frequently experience sleep disturbances and poor sleep quality due to asthma symptoms. These sleep-related difficulties due to asthma result in higher rates of daytime sleepiness, with important implications for cognitive and school functioning. The current study examined 1) relations between daytime sleepiness and health-related quality of life among youth with asthma and 2) whether daytime sleepiness was related to sleep hygiene and sleep disturbances. Participants included 36 youth with asthma and a caregiver. Youth completed the following questionnaires: Pediatric Daytime Sleepiness Scale (PDSS), Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 Generic Core Scale (PedsQL), Adolescent Sleep Hygiene Scale (ASHS; youth ages 13-17), and Children’s Report of Sleep Problems (youth ages 8-12). Caregivers completed the Sleep Disturbances Scale for Children (SDSC). Higher PDSS total scores were related to reduced PedsQL total scores and lower scores on the PedsQL Pyschosocial Health Summary Score. For children, the Sleep Hygiene Index of the CRSP was unrelated to PDSS total scores. Alternatively, for adolescents, lower ASHS total scores were related to higher PDSS total scores. PDSS total scores were marginally related to higher SDSC total scores. Exploratory analyses revealed that only the Initiating and Maintaining Sleep subscale of the SDSC was related to PDSS total scores. Findings emphasize the importance of intervening in sleep difficulties among youth with asthma. Adolescents are at increased risk for poor asthma related outcomes, and current findings indicate sleep, particularly sleep hygiene, is an area for intervention within this population. (Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level: 13.9)

12190

College of Health and Human Performance - Applied Physiology and Kinesiology

"The association between emotion and behavior has been of long-standing interest in the human movement research. It has been reported from previous literatures that our body movement is significantly altered or controlled by our emotion such as pleasant or unpleasant emotion. For example, our body posture during quiet standing tends to move backward when viewing unpleasant (fear or anger) emotional pictures. On the contrary, when we are exposed with pleasant emotional stimuli, our body posture tends to move forward. It has been said that these movement patterns are based on the survival strategy (motivated).

Therefore, a number of scientists and psychologists have tried to explore the association between emotion and motivated behavior by using a broad range of movement analyses such as physiological and mechanical analyses. Through those investigations, they could find the mechanism of the association between emotion and human behavior, and it could be manifested of how emotion affects human behavior, or how emotion is expressed by behavior or movement.

For a closer look into the association between emotion and movement, we studied about how emotional stimuli affect motor performance during a stationary cycle ergometer task. Further, to better understand underlying neural mechanism in the association between emotion and movement, we utilized 'the nonlinear analytical technique' to evaluate motor performance.

Participants (N = 20) performed cycle pedaling movement while viewing 6 different emotional pictures such as attack, contamination, erotic, happy faces, sad faces, and neutral images. Through 3D motion analysis system, we calculated their pedaling velocity and acceleration, and then calculated 'movement complexity' by using the nonlinear technique.

Our main finding from this study is that participants showed significantly less 'movement complexity' when viewing highly arousing pleasant images (erotic) compared to low arousing pleasant (happy faces) and unpleasant (sad faces).

12187

Dimensions of diversity mediated by habitat preference

The number of species that can co-occur in a place depends on how complex the environment is, and on how the species in the area interact with each other. The Amazon basin is known for the highest number of bird species occurring in the same region, despite the fact that the vast region of Amazonia has a relatively uniform climate. However, the landscape is still complex, with different habitat types (such as different forest types, river edges, oxbow lakes, river islands, open areas) replacing one another within short geographic distances. These habitat types are often delineated by soil types or bodies of water such as lakes and rivers. Different sets of species inhabit each habitat, sometimes overlapping each other, sometimes completely replacing each other. In addition, lowland rainforest also serve as cradles of biodiversity, generating clusters of closely related species in relative proximity to each other. Species are not evenly distributed in space. The objective of this study is to improve our understanding of the origin and maintenance of the species diversity and the evolutionary relationships underlying the diversity of bird communities in Amazonia. We explored the origin of the local communities by examining phylogenetic community structure at different spatial scales, and I investigated how dispersal limitation and habitat specialization affect or maintain patterns of diversity. (Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level: 17.6)

12184

Peer disagreement and second-order justification

"There are a number of cases discussed in the recent literature on peer disagreement. They are usually taken as puzzles as long as they admit of these elements: two parties with equal intellectual virtues and abilities, the same evidence regarding some proposition p, full disclosure of the evidence, yet disagreeing over the truth-value of p. Here is a canonical example:

""Both parties are standing by the window looking out on the quad. They seem to be equals in regard to intellectual virtues, abilities, &c. One claims to be seeing a person in a blue coat standing in the middle of the quad, whereas the other disagrees. They are both confident in their beliefs, taking themselves to be correct.""

How should you react to the information that the other party disagrees? The question is whether one should remain confident, and hold fast to one’s belief before further investigation, or one should suspend her belief. This is particularly puzzling in philosophical, moral, and religious disputes in which cases of peer disagreement abound. My thesis in this paper is that there is no such a thing as 'peer' disagreement in the first place, since disagreements are partially caused by the absence of peerhood. Moreover, given a case of putative peer disagreement, I argue that one should not suspend her belief, i.e. one is still rational in believing something even in a case of 'peer' disagreement.

(Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level: 12)"

12182

Paper

12163

Technology and Mediation in Manfred Stahnke's Orpheus Kristall (2001)

“This paper deals with the technological aspects of Orpheus Kristall, an opera composed by the German composers Manfred Stahnke in 2001. Orpheus Kristall employs the real-time improvisations by musicians and ensembles, who are connected to the music on the main stage through internet. In other words, Stahnke uses internet to extpand the domain of the live music on the stage to the domain of the live music played in the outer world. This aspect of the opera tackles contemporary existential issues, particularly the fact that nowadays, through the predominance of the digital media, our existence is strictly tied to the outer world. Using the Orpheus myth, it also touches upon ancient existential issues related to the viewpoint that consider the root of our existence in the nature, particularly in the ideologies like shamanism and animism.

Furthermore, this opera uses an innovative approach to tonal systems which is what the term “kristall” (crystal) is related to. As I argue in this paper, using innovative tonal systems, myth, and technology, this opera becomes a relevant example of a multi-facetted twenty-first century art work. Explaining the technological aspect of the opera and its relation to the philosophical implications and musical structure of the opera, I explore various facets of Orpheus kristall, demonstrating the synthesis of technology, mythology, and musical structures to depict the essence of the opera.

12162

European Union Aid in South Africa: The Unintended Consequences for Democracy

I will be examining how European Union (EU) aid has been used in South Africa. After the fall of apartheid, the EU became one of South Africa's largest aid donors. The primary objective of EU aid was to promote democratic transition and consolidation in the country. However, now that South Africa is viewed as a consolidated or 'successful' democracy (according to many respected measures like Freedom House), the EU's motivations for contributing aid to South Africa have changed. Its current objectives are to foster trade and development, seemingly noble goals. Yet those funds often find their way into the hands of tribal leaders (or traditional authorities), who have purportedly made use of that aid in corrupt ways that hamper democracy. Using reports from official EU evaluations and South African documents as well as materials from regional newspapers and non-governmental organization reports, I examine the ways EU aid may now be understood to have a negative impact on democratization in South Africa. (Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level: 13.6)

12156

Effects of Treatment Dose on Blood Lipids in the Behavioral Treatment of Obesity

Obesity is correlated with multiple risk factors for long term health conditions, including high cholesterol and high triglycerides (collectively referred to as blood lipids). Weight loss treatment has been shown to significantly reduce cholesterol and triglyceride levels in obese individuals. However, the amount of treatment required (i.e., the number of group weight loss sessions a participant must attend) in order to produce signification reductions is unknown. This study examined the effect of different dosages of treatment (i.e., 8, 16, or 24 sessions over six months, as well as a separate control condition) on these blood lipid markers. Sixth month weight loss for all participants was significantly correlated with reductions in blood lipids. For both triglycerides and LDL cholesterol, the highest dose of treatment (24 sessions) was required in order to show significant reductions above and beyond the normal reductions shown in the control group. This may have implications for clinicians in that a higher number of sessions may be required in order for patients to show significant health improvements related to weight loss. (Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level: 12.3)

12145

Double-Resonance HTS Coils toward Dual-Optimized High-Sensitivity NMR Probes

"Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a common yet powerful spectroscopic technique in chemistry to determine molecular structure. Thus NMR is a vital tool in fields such as drug development. However, NMR is often a bottleneck step in many cases where limited amounts of sample are available.

The use of superconducting coils enables higher sensitivity in NMR detection, which allows us to analyze very tiny amounts of material. In my PhD dissertation, I have focused on developing coil designs which are optimized for dual channel sensitivity. Toward this end, we have patented novel double-resonance coils, which represents a significant leap in superconducting probe technology.

Using this coil design, we are currently developing a high sensitivity probe that will detect both hydrogen and carbon atoms with exceptional sensitivity. Due to the ability to detect both hydrogen and carbon structure, this probe will equip the University of Florida with unique capabilities in structure determination of biological molecules. (Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level: 16)"

12143

Family functioning as a moderator of motivation to engage in a rural intervention program for overweight and obese youth

" Over 32% of American children are overweight or obese. Greater parent and child motivation to engage in pediatric obesity treatment has been shown to predict greater child weight loss. However, the relationship between parent and child motivation is less clear. Previous research suggests that level of cohesive family functioning may impact the association between parent motivation and child motivation. The current study examined whether family functioning moderated the relationship between parent motivation and child motivation to engage in a behavioral family lifestyle intervention program for rural families of overweight/obese children.

The current study used baseline data from a larger study that examined the effects of a behavioral family lifestyle intervention for overweight/obese rural youth (n=223), ages 8-12. Motivation for health behavior change was measured using the Parent Opinions on Health Behavior and Child Opinions on Health Behavior scales, and family functioning was assessed using the Global Functioning scale from the Family Assessment Device.

Bootstrapped moderation analysis revealed family functioning moderated the relationship between parent and child motivation to engage in a healthy lifestyle intervention (R2=0.12), such that higher parent motivation was associated with higher child motivation only in families who reported high family functioning.

Findings of the current study suggest that parent motivation to engage in a healthy lifestyle intervention may only predict child motivation in families that are functioning as a cohesive unit. Assessment of family functioning at baseline may inform family motivation for health behavior change. Longitudinal research is needed to determine whether family functioning and motivation influence outcomes of interest in healthy lifestyle intervention programs (e.g., attendance rates, weight reduction). Future research may explore whether incorporating steps to improve family functioning contribute to improved outcomes.