College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Chemistry

13128

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - English

In nineteenth-century England, standardized time was introduced; however, local time was still predominantly used for most things (outside of the railroad). It’s association with the train prompted standardized time to be identified with progress, technology, and modernity. I decided to take a look at how time was presented in a popular Victorian serialized publication that was later turned into a novel: Wilkie Collins’ Woman in White. One of the earliest crime fiction novels, the story has multiple perspectives (using different narrators) and jumps back and forth in time as a means to uncover the truth. In other words, the author is aligning perspective and timelines with truth. This seemed a fitting text to emphasize the Victorians’ fixation on the “right” time. Therefore, my paper will examine the use of time and perspective in Woman in White to better understand the conflicting opinions of standardized vs. localized time, but more importantly, the discomfort from and resistance to progress, technology, and modernity. (Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level: 14.6)

13119

College of Engineering - Chemical Engineering

There is a large focus in the development of using nano-sized magnetic materials for the treatment of cancer, mainly the use of magnetic iron. Analysis of magnetic iron has become very important; determination of the amount required to kill the cells requires an understanding of magnetic iron uptake into cancer cells. All cells in the body naturally have some iron in them. Current methods only measures the total amount of iron, they do not differentiate between magnetic and non-magnetic iron. This is a problem as we will be overestimating the required amounts of magnetic iron to kill the cancer cells. We currently adapted a new technique that only measures the quantity of magnetic iron. The new method has proven to be simpler and more sensitive than other methods. Our studies thus far have shown that the technique does not detect non-magnetic iron contained in blood, cell, or tissue samples. The technique was able to measure the correct quantity of magnetic iron when it was loaded into similar samples. This shows that the technique can successfully determine the quantity of any magnetic iron in cancer cells. These studies will help us understand our magnetic iron and determine the correct dosage required to kill cancer cells. (Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level: 12.7)

13117

College of Fine Arts - Music

"The University of Florida is highly regarded as a top tier research institution in most academic fields. Contributions made from conducting faculty and its graduates are well respected in their field on a regional and national level. With our departmental presence at this festival, we will seek to nurture the relationships between the University of Florida Conducting Department and the broader music community. Resulting from my experiences attending this music festival, students under my direction will greatly benefit from the knowledge that I acquire this summer. Learning from different teaching styles will aid in my own approach to teaching music and positive characteristics from this experience will assimilate into my teaching strategies. As many undergraduate students attend this festival to perform in the orchestra, it is also a wonderful opportunity to highlight the benefits and advantages of our offerings at UF. One of the major determining factors in prospective students choosing schools is financial support beyond tuition and stipend. Often times, considerations like this separate schools for prospective students. I will highlight this grant program in the effort to attract the highest caliber students to UF, which will help accomplish the goal of UF becoming a top ten institution."

13112

College of Medicine - Oral Biology

Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune form of diabetes where the immune system attacks insulin producing cells in the pancreas, leading to increased blood glucose. Recent increases in the incidence of T1D suggest that environmental factors – such as viral infection or diet – are important players in the initiation of or progression to T1D. Rather than focus on the specific environmental factors at play, my research focuses on the way those environmental factors are perceived and how the body responds. We focus on these host-environment dialogues by studying the influence of the intestine - the largest environmental interface of the body - in the development of T1D. To answer these questions, we have evaluated fresh, whole, human intestinal tissue donated from individuals with diabetes and showed evidence of increased inflammation by production of inflammatory proteins and changes in the local immune cells toward a more inflammatory phenotype when compared to tissue from control donors. Additionally, we developed a method to culture the epithelial cells of the intestine to determine if a defect in the function of the epithelial cells – the first line of defense in the intestine – could explain the overall tissue changes we observed. Indeed we found similar inflammatory changes at the epithelial cell level in cultures derived from human donors with type 1 diabetes compared to at the whole tissue level. Further, we have shown that the intestinal epithelial cells derived from individuals with type 1 diabetes respond to environmental “triggers” such as microbial stimulation in a dysfunctional way by exhibiting excessive inflammatory signals in the absence of anti-inflammatory signals. Our data suggests that there is a loss of intestinal homeostasis in diabetes potentially as a result of epithelial cell-mediated miscommunication, but whether this is an early contributor to diabetes development is unclear. (Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level: 20.4)

13111

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - History

This study draws on over 1,500 previously unexamined documents, as well as published sources, to examine the utilization of this trope by whites in the area of Saint-Marc, Saint-Domingue. It finds that the idea of being the descendants of buccaneers was particularly common among a group of slave owners involved in salt collection, fishing, and smuggling. Furthermore, the trope had some basis in the historical development of the area: it had been one of the last areas of buccaneer activity during the early 1700s. Finally, the salters and fishermen had deployed the idea that they were the buccaneers' successors in the decades before the revolution to resist imperial efforts to stop their trading with ships from the United States and Jamaica.

The development of a white ""creole"" identity that differentiated whites born in America from those born in Europe was a key ideological and cultural shift during the Age of Revolutions (1776-1830). Although rebelling slaves would later decide the course of the Haitian Revolution, the formation of a white creole identity that called on the buccaneer past was a key part of whites' resistance to the bids by free people of color and slaves to political power, a crucial part of the revolution.

(Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level: 17)"

13109

Changes in salivary IgA and nasopharyngeal leukocyte populations in response to prolonged head elevation

My research investigates the impact of prolonged head elevation, which occurs during transportation, as a causative agent for respiratory disease in horses. These infections are highly contagious and the second most common cause of lost training days in racing stables, which amounts to vast financial losses to this billion dollar industry. In 2011, an Equine Herpes Virus outbreak in Utah resulted in 90 confirmed cases reported in 10 states and was responsible for the cancellation of several major horseshows. Transportation stress and subsequent increased risk of infection is not limited to one breed or riding discipline but occurs very frequently in all breeds and disciplines. The research described above investigated a quick, non-invasive way to measure immune status and potentially predict susceptibility to infection. The typical diagnostic procedures for respiratory tract infections in horses are highly invasive, require heavy sedation and can only diagnose on-going infection. The method we used was less invasive and required less sedation which allowed more frequent sampling and the ability to accurately track the progression of respiratory infection. This method could be very useful in equine veterinary medicine allowing veterinarians to diagnose infections sooner. Infected horses could be quarantined quicker, preventing spread of the infection and saving the horse industry an enormous amount of money. In addition to quicker diagnosis, a salivary marker of suppressed immune function would also be very useful. The salivary marker we used has previously been shown to accurately predict the onset of respiratory tract infections in human athletes. To my knowledge, there are no published studies investigating this salivary marker in horses but our results suggest it may be able to predict susceptibility to infections. Our saliva collection technique could easily be employed by veterinarians in the field and would provide another tool to easily measure immune function. (Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level: 17.5)

13107

My professional development experience consists of performing research with Prof. Matilde Marcolli of Caltech on family symmetry in the non-commutative Standard Model. For some background, the Standard Model is our current theory of particle physics that has been confirmed over and over in particle detectors. Most notably, the Standard Model predicted a particle with special properties known as the Higgs boson which was recently discovered at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Despite the continued experimental successes, the Standard Model has a host of theoretical issues including how it can be realized within a larger theory that includes gravity. A promising proposal made by mathematician Alain Connes, called the non-commutative Standard Model (NCSM), repackages the Standard Model as a theory of gravity itself living on an exotic geometric object known as a non-commutative manifold. Naturally this proposal has been investigated to see how it may solve some other problems with the Standard Model. An issue that has not been addressed much in the NCSM literature is that there is no explanation for why there happen to be three families of spin one-half particles. So my research with Prof. Marcolli will focus on seeing if this question can be answered by proposing a new hidden symmetry.

This opportunity will be incredibly beneficial in my development as a theoretical physicist as it will let me work on a very exciting topic, as NCSM is connected to a number of other deeper understandings of the Standard Model including String Theory. Also, it will allow me to work with a world leader in mathematical physics who has made many important contributions connecting theoretical physics to deep mathematics.

" I am very grateful that I am being offered such a research position by Prof. Marcolli as I recognize that most math or physics undergraduate students do not get to have such an opportunity. This is part of my motivation for becoming an officer for the University Math Society at UF as I will be able to take initiatives into benefiting undergraduate math majors who have an interest in pursuing a career in math research. The most important of these initiatives that I have in mind is starting an undergraduate seminar series, where about once every two weeks an undergraduate gives an hour long presentation on an advanced topic that may not be typically covered in courses. My fellows math majors (and other interested students) and I would develop our abilities to learn on our own and most importantly learn from our peers, two vital facilities necessary to be a successful researcher in any subject. My opportunity at Caltech would make me a more experienced researcher and thus would make me better in facilitating these seminars so as to maximize their benefit on interested UF undergraduates.

13091

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - Anthropology

Southeast Asian countries, such as Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines, are famous for their cuisines due to their distinct tastes and characteristic ingredients. However, we have no idea how these various cuisines were developed during ancient times, perhaps more than 2000 years ago. In order to evaluate the development of popular contemporary cuisines across Southeast Asia, an understanding of how these ancient cuisines began is required. From the past to the present, many food-related activities, from producing and getting food to the act of eating, are done together as a community. Present-day cultural diversity and identity revolve around cuisine, which is composed of food preparation and eating. Previous studies have focused on how modern Southeast Asian communities use clay pottery in food preparation and distribution. However, we have no clear idea of how food items were prepared and served in ancient times, and so we lack an understanding of the importance of food in maintaining and promoting community identity in prehistoric Southeast Asia. As a case study, I am presenting a paper on how cuisine and community involvement were possibly experienced by the people themselves during the Neolithic (when agriculture started) and the Metal Age (when metal technology started) in southern Vietnam. This paper is part of my dissertation research, which combines social theory with a visual and chemical analysis of pottery samples from four settlement sites in southern Vietnam to infer the past functions and food contents of these vessels. (Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level: 17.3)

13087

College of Engineering - Biomedical Engineering

"Purpose: Photon dosimetric quantities such as percentage depth doses(PDD), profiles and output–factors(Scp) describe the behavior in a medium(i.e. water) of the radiation exiting a radiotherapy linear accelerator’s(linac) head. These data is input into a treatment planning system(TPS) to model the beam and subsequently, this is the reference data for all patient treatment plans. The accurate acquisition of these data is extremely important for treatment outcome. Parameterization of the photon dosimetry creates a portable data set that is easy to implement for (1)beam modeling data input into a TPS, (2)comparing measured and TPS modelled data, (3)a linac’s beam characteristics quality assurance process, and (4)establishing a standard data set for data comparison. The aim of this study is to develop methods to parameterize these photon dosimetric quantities.

Methods: Scp, PDDs and profiles for different field sizes, depths and energies were measured in a linac using a water tank. The Scp and PDD processed data were analyzed using exponential functions. For profiles, each side was divided into three regions described by exponential, sigmoid and Gaussian equations. The model’s equations were chosen based on the physical principles described by these dosimetric quantities. The equations’ parameters were determined using a least square optimization method with the minimal amount of measured data necessary. The model’s accuracy was then evaluated via the calculation of absolute differences and distance–to–agreement analysis in low gradient and high gradient regions, respectively.

Results: All differences in the PDDs’ and profiles’ high gradient regions were less than 2 mm and 0.5mm, respectively. Differences in the low gradient regions were 0.20+0.20% and 0.50+0.35% for PDDs and profiles, respectively. For Scp data, all differences were less than 0.5%.

Conclusions: This novel analytical model with minimum measurement requirements proved to accurately calculate PDDs, profiles and Scp for different field sizes, depths and energies.

(Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level: 12.9)"

13071

In vitro evaluation of protein content on forage digestion using equine fecal inocula

As herbivores, horses consume a plant-based diet. Plants such as forages contain high amounts of fiber that are digested by the horse in their hindgut, consisting of the cecum and colon. Microbiota in the hindgut ferment fiber into volatile fatty acids. These volatile fatty acids can be converted to energy by the horse. When protein is overfed to horses, a common occurrence in the equine industry, protein can enter the hindgut of the horse with the forage fiber. Excess protein in the hindgut may influence the microbial community by increasing the amount of nitrogen available to the fiber fermenting bacteria. We hypothesize increased protein in the hindgut has the potential to augment fiber fermentation in the equine hindgut. The objective of this study was to determine the influence of increasing protein concentrations on forage digestibility using an in vitro model. Incubation jars were assigned to one of four protein treatments to represent control, protein nutrient requirements for horses, typical equine diets, and three times the protein requirement for horses. Casein (milk protein) was added to the incubation jars to adjust the protein levels. Four forage fiber sources (alfalfa, bermudagrass, orchardgrass, and cellulose) were added to the incubation jars and then incubated in a mix of buffer and equine fecal inocula for 48 h at 37.5°C. In vitro dry matter digestibility decreased with added protein from casein. Fiber digestibility was greater for the control treatment compared to the added casein treatments. This closed in vitro model did not show increased digestibility with added casein. Due to overfeeding of protein in the equine industry, further evaluations are needed to determine the relationship between protein and fiber digestion in vivo. Greater understanding of these interactions in horses can expand the body of knowledge on gut microbiota in all species, including humans. (Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level: 13.5)

13060

Role of Histone Variant H3.3 in KSHV Biology and Epigenetics

Cancer is a dreaded disease with limited treatment options. Due to complexities associated with cancer, there is an immediate need for drug development and molecular target identification for treating the cancer patients. In our lab, we study cancers caused by the virus Kaposi’s sarcoma Herpesvirus also known as Human Herpesvirus-8 (KSHV/HHV-8). KSHV causes multiple forms of human cancers such as Kaposi’s sarcoma, is the most common cancer associated with AID, and primary effusion lymphoma. We utilize this virus as a model system to understand the genetic and biochemical changes which are associated with cancer. This relatively simple system not only allows us to study the basic biological mechanisms in the creation of cancerous cells, but also provide us with a tool to develop therapeutics against some of the most complex cancers which are otherwise hard to study and understand. In this project we are collaborating with UF-Health hospital to obtain cancer tissue samples directly from patients who are suffering from KS tumors. UF-Health has largest collection of oral sample biopsies in the South-East United State that will be used for the first time for KSHV cancer research. This will be a unique collaboration to study KS tumors directly on samples obtained from patients; right here at the University of Florida. Using the virus infected oral cancer samples, we will identify novel targets for the treatment of this complex disease. Our experiments have shown for the first time that virus DNA incorporates a novel host protein variant known as histone H3.3 upon virus infection of the host. We conclude that this is a mechanism which could be used by the virus to protect itself from the host immune system, thereby allowing it to eventually cause tumors. We are deciphering the molecular role of this protein to develop it as a therapeutic target for future treatments. In this prestigious international conference we will be presenting our important findings to a renowned scientific community making a contribution towards our goal of a cancer free world. (Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level: 13.8)

13059

Screening for interactions among multiple stressors using response to light as a survival metric

In nature, animals are often exposed to stressful conditions, (e.g., extreme heat, drought, or pollution) which can become lethal depending on the intensity or duration of the stress. Simultaneous exposure to multiple stress conditions (e.g., heat and pollution) can result in interactions that multiply the lethal effects of the stress, and greatly reduce survival in exposed populations. One stress-enduring animal of particular interest to humans is the soil-dwelling roundworm C. elegans. This organism is closely related to other roundworms that destroy agricultural crops, and cost the global economy billions of dollars per year. By studying how stress factors interact to affect C. elegans survival, we can better predict how roundworm pests may be affected, and therefore improve our ability to estimate crop damage in a given year. Unfortunately, testing for interactions among stressors is difficult because it requires many treatment combinations, large numbers of animals and laborious survival measurements. Assessing survival for large numbers of worms is challenging because it requires poking individual worms with a wire to see if they respond to touch. To address this challenge we devised a new technique for assessing survival based on C. elegans’ aversion to bright, blue light. Live worms flee from light, while dead worms do not. In our assay, stress exposed worms are hit with bright light and filmed; the film is then reviewed to measure the fraction of worms that are alive. Using this technique we identified strong synergistic interactions between heat and drought, and heat and copper stress that reduce worm survival far beyond what would be expected by just adding the individual effects of the stressors alone. These synergistic interactions are likely to be important for other roundworm species exposed to heat in the natural environment and may have implications for agricultural managers. (Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level: 12.1)