College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Chemistry

10378

Attending this conference will greatly enhance my professional development as a PhD student at UF. My intended dissertation topic involves pragmatic linguistic deficits seen in people with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder, and the ASHA conference I wish to attend includes many experts and researchers on autism spectrum disorder. One course with direct relevance to my dissertation topic is SC15 Sincerity, Sarcasm, & Lies, Oh My! EBP & High-Functioning Autism; this presentation will give an overview of the state of research of adolescents and adults with high-functioning autism. I also hope to have a chance to meet and network with the presenters, Kimberly Murza and Melissa Malani.

There is a growing trend of research on autism spectrum disorder and related disorders within the linguistics community, yet there are no dedicated linguistics conferences for these research interests. Many professionals attending the ASHA conference deal with autism spectrum disorder on a daily basis in their practices, and as a result there are multiple panels and researchers on autism at this conference. Attending this conference will hopefully give me the academic and professional contacts I need to further my research on autism and pin down a more specific dissertation topic.

" " My attendance at this conference enhances the Gator Nation by contributing to interdisciplinary collaboration between linguistics and speech-language-pathology. Furthermore, this conference will contribute to my own research on autism spectrum disorder, a disorder that affects millions of Americans. Research into autism spectrum disorder is lately on the rise, so developing this as my own research interest may help secure grants for research projects that further push the Gator Nation and its researchers into the national spotlight."

10377

College of Pharmacy - Pharmaceutical Sciences (Pharmacodynamics)

The brain is comprised of a network of different types of cells, including subsets of different types of neurons. These neurons talk to one another using both chemical and electrical mechanisms. During the process of aging the brain undergoes a shift in the balance of excitable and inhibitory currents, leading to greater inhibition. The memory can become impaired over the course of normal aging, in part due to the lack of excitation, which is primarily caused by the chemical messenger, glutamate. This research looks at the changes in glutamate signaling by pharmacologically blocking the sub-types of glutamate receptors, AMPA and NMDA. We look at the changes by the use of whole-cell patch clamp electrophysiology, in which we insert a recording pipette inside of a functioning neuron in order to record its electrical properties and monitor how these properties change overtime. Our results indicate that there was no significant change in the AMPA receptor mediated current to the NMDA receptor mediated current ratio in pyramidal neurons. On the other hand we saw an increase in the AMPA/NMDA ratio in the interneuron population in aged rodents, and we were also able to determine that this increase in was due to a decrease in the NMDA receptor mediated current. The interneurons are responsible for modulating the pyramidal cell population, and NMDA receptors have been found to play vital roles in receptor plasticity, effectively helping to form and strengthen memories. Thus the results shed some light on a possible mechanism behind the deficits seen in memory that come along with the normal aging process. (Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level: 15.4)

10373

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - Geology

The Northwest Cordilleran ice sheet (NCIS) is relatively understudied compared to ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica. Establishing the timing of the NCIS advance-retreat cycles in Southern Alaska allows for investigation of a global response to changes in climate. Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 341 set out to investigate past glacial advance-retreat cycles along the Southern Alaskan margin. Sediment cores were collected at site U1419, located in the Gulf of Alaska near the mouth of the Bering Glacier. These cores contain a record of glacially weathered sediments extending back ~36,000 years. Age of the core sediments has been determined using oxygen isotopes from foraminifera. Computed tomography images were used to investigate downcore changes of physical sedimentary features. These changes in physical features indicate the relative proximity of glaciers to the core site. Six groups of physical sediment features were identified; mud, thinly layered mud, mud and thinly layered mud with few dropstones (stones carried to sea and deposited by icebergs), mud with lots of dropstones (>1 stone/cm), and thickly layered (~1cm) mud with lots of dropstones. Thickly layered mud with lots of dropstones is interpreted as representing periods of maximum glacial advance (~18-20ka). Mud (~14ka-present) represents time when glaciers have retreated far onshore. Thinly layered mud, mud and thinly layered mud with few dropstones represent times of reduced ice cover. The most recent reduced ice cover event (~14.5ka) coincides with the Bolling Interstade, a warming event seen in Greenland/Europe. Elemental scanning x-ray fluorescence analysis was used to look at geochemical changes downcore. Geochemical variance is used to determine where the sediments were eroded from, which represents onshore glacier location. It appears that the geochemistry of the core varies with changes in physical sedimentary features. This suggests that changes in glacial location may be related to advance-retreat of the glaciers. (Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level: 13.9)

10371

College of Engineering - Biomedical Engineering

We all have some feelings of being on the same wavelength as someone—to feel charged by some tangible, electric connection with another human being. But very little are known about the neurological underpinnings of human social interaction. Our brains are made up of billions of neurons, which communicate with one another through bursts of electrical activity. The sum of all those electrical impulses can actually be recorded on the surface of our scalps with the electroencephalogram (EEG), allowing researchers to trace and analyze patterns of electrical activity, or brainwaves. To peer into the minds of individuals engaged in paired interaction, we try to use wireless EEG headsets (Emotiv) to analyze how their brainwaves behave as they communicate and how those patterns track with moments of meaningful social interaction. In our experiment, we took the wireless EEG headsets and had people sit face-to-face performing the finger-moving task in a leader-follower relationship. Three conditions were implemented in the experiment. In the pre-training condition, two subjects sat face-to-face with their index fingers held stationary and directed at each other. In the training part, one of the subjects served as a leader whose finger movements were tracked and mimicked by the follower. The post-training condition repeated the pre-training setup. We used amplitude envelopes of the filtered EEG data and computed spectral coherence between pairwise inter-brain EEG channels. It was found that the brain-to-brain coherence was highest during training condition, and larger in the post-training rather than the pre-training condition. Our findings suggest that the portable EEG headsets constitute a viable tool to capture brain-to-brain synchrony during interpersonal interaction. Further, our data processing method that is based on the amplitude envelopes of EEG signal differs from prior studies and may prove more resistant to noise. (Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level: 14.7)

10369

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - Geology

In past studies, sediments containing isotopes have been used as proxies to show that the amount and transport of weathered material have varied over million-year timescales and over cold and warm climate intervals. This is important because chemical weathering of rocks and subsequent transport of sediments to the ocean plays a fundamental role in consuming CO2 over geologic time. Specifically, my research focuses on understanding variations in isotopic values of different types of material weathered off the North American continent into the Gulf of Mexico over long and short timescales. Weathering products such as fresh bedrock material and old loose material vary as a function of changes in climate. As a result, exposed crystalline bedrock produces distinct isotopic signatures compared to weathering of friable weathered rock. I will present isotopic values from warm and cold climate intervals over the past three million years. Results show evidence of changes in weathered material into the Gulf, with sediments’ isotopic values increasing towards present day. During warm/cold climate intervals, larger variation is observed. Large grain sediments have higher isotopic values than small grain sediments in cold intervals. However, all sediments have similar values during warm intervals. These results in isotopic variation indicate that during warm/cold intervals and million-year timescales intensity of weathering off the North American continent varies, thus has distinct impact on past climate and the past CO2 budget. This study in reconstructing past weathering can have huge implications for further understanding the link between weathering and the long-term drawdown of CO2. (Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level: 15.6)

10358

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - Geology

The west coast of Chile has many earthquakes, one of which occurred in 2010 with a magnitude of 8.8 near Maule. We wanted to investigate the crustal and sub-crustal structure of this region. To do this, we installed 58 seismic stations in the area that recorded aftershocks for three months following the main magnitude 8.8 event. We examined the energy content of both the primary and secondary waves produced by local aftershocks. We calculated how much energy was lost, or attenuated, as the aftershock wave front propagated through the Earth. The amount of energy that is lost is indicative of the type of medium through which the wave passed: greater energy loss implies warmer material and less energy loss implies colder material. We used the frequency content of the waves to calculate the attenuation ratio between the primary and secondary waves. We found that there is higher seismic attenuation in the northeastern portion of the study area and lower seismic attenuation in the southwest. This reveals that the crust and sub-crustal structure of the northeastern region is more susceptible to seismic energy loss, possibly due to a warmer composition. This also means that less energy will reach the surface of the earth in the northeastern region, making it a less hazardous place for people to reside. (Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level: 11.4)

10350

College of Engineering - Chemical Engineering

The material properties of organisms can be examined and used to develop and improve existing technology. For example the wings of a cicada are super-hydrophobic, i.e they repel water and cause water to bead up and roll off of the surface. This gives the benefit of a surface that can be easily and rapidly cleaned. Another example is the structure of the eye of a moth. These structures, which give the eye a dark color, allow moths to avoid detection at night. These features also allow more light to be absorbed which is interesting for improving solar power. Adapting natural phenomena for man-made uses is known as bio-mimicry. In this presentation the application of bio-mimicry is discussed with respect to its application to solar cells and light detection. Specifically methods of how nature inspired structures can be created and implemented on the microscopic scale and how they can be evaluated. These methods involve material processing techniques for materials related to solar power, light detection and display technology. The materials are analyzed by imaging their microscopic structures and by measuring how much light is absorbed or transmitted. (Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level: 12.5)

10343

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - Geology

This work shows new geophysical results in the western part of United States, in Idaho and Oregon. The scope of this study is to understand a very old contact between the ancient North American continent and a group of island arc terranes that were pushed towards the continent about 110 million years ago. We used earthquakes to model images of the earth structure in this area by recording seismic events on 86 seismometer instruments between 2011 and 2013. Our methods involve seismic techniques called receiver function analysis and tomography. Our models show a thick and complicated structure in the Earth's crust beneath Idaho and Oregon, as well as structures at depths of 120-140 km down into the earth. Using these results we were able to propose a new model for the evolution of the western part of North American continent in this area. This study provides a unique image of the earth in this area and is the highest resolution study performed until today. (Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level: 13)

10339

College of Engineering - Chemical Engineering

"Developing renewable energy is critical to the stability and sustainability of human society in light of crude oil depletion and ever-increasing energy demand. Solar energy is commonly harvested by solar panels. Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have recently received a lot of attention. When compared with solar panels, DSSCs boast low cost and good adaptability to different substrates. The anode of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) consists of titania nanoparticles to which dye molecules are attached. The performance of DSSCs is measured by the energy conversion efficiency from light to electricity. Electron recombination occurred severely on the anode that limits the efficiency of DSSCs. Thin blocking layers of high bandgap materials have been commonly deposited on titania or current collector to reduce electron recombination. However, blocking layers have not been used on the same device to compare their respective role in reducing electron recombination. In this work, hafnium oxide (HfO2) blocking layers are deposited on either titania or current collector (tin-doped indium oxide, or ITO). Their impact on device properties is investigated. In both cases, addition of the blocking layer increases cell efficiencies to greater than 7%, which corresponds to ~ 80% increase from devices without blocking layers. The different mechanisms for efficiency increase are discussed.

10336

Functional Outcomes Associated With Expiratory Muscle Strength Training (EMST)

"The goal of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of available literature presenting research evidence for effects of the expiratory muscle strength training (EMST). EMST paradigm

We selected studies which used the pressure threshold EMST devices. The mechanism that creates the expiratory load in this device is a spring loaded relief valve housed inside the device. A trainee must forcefully exhale into the mouthpiece of the device and is required to generate a sufficient expiratory pressure in order to open a pressure threshold relief valve blocking the airflow. This maneuver requires an increase of expiratory muscle force, and, consequently, results in an increase in the expiratory muscle strength.

The most frequently reported outcome of EMST in the selected studies is an increase of maximum expiratory pressure (PEmax), an indirect measure of expiratory muscle strength in patients with respiratory and neurological diseases, and in healthy adults. In addition, studies have reported decreases in dyspnea in healthy participants and patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) during physical activities, and increases in walking distance within a time unit in patients with COPD.

Multiple studies have demonstrated cough improvements in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and elderly individuals. Post-EMST improvements in cough effectiveness and swallow safety have been reported in studies on patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). In addition, studies have shown post-EMST changes in voice parameters in healthy participants and persons with voice disorders, as well as improvements in speech intelligibility and swallow function in a patient with Lance- Adams and a group of patients with MS.

10329

Endo-Whatever: Can confusion or clarity be predicted from perceived health literacy?

Individuals of varying health literacy levels (how you search, find, read, and understand health information to make informed health decisions) approach the health care system differently and the same can be said of individuals undergoing colonoscopy. Lower health literacy levels may indicate how different individuals approach their endoscopic health and even, the health care system. We recommend that a quick health literacy screening (4-questions) can help a health care practitioner plan their approach with their patient to ensure that the patient completely understand their health and what they need to know. (Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level: 17.6)

10323

Evaluation of iron oxide supported reactive materials for thermochemical water splitting

"The production of clean, transportable and renewable fuels is needed to replace the reliance on fossil fuels as a primary energy source. Global consumption of liquid fuels is continually increasing such that the pollutants and greenhouse gases produced by combustion of these fuels motivate the need for a new green fuel such as hydrogen. Hydrogen can be produced in a two-step process that utilizes solar energy and water making it a clean energy solution. Direct water splitting is not feasible due to the energy restrictions and high operating temperatures that are unrealistic for plant scale. Iron oxides are one active metal that can effectively produce hydrogen in two simple chemical reactions at more favorable temperatures.

Our research looks at creating novel materials that can be employed to produce hydrogen using solar energy via this two-step thermochemical water splitting process. We synthesized reactive materials with various amounts of iron metal onto nanoparticle powder supports. These nanopowder supports provide high thermal shock resistance so that the reactive material can be continuously cycled to produce hydrogen over long periods of time. These materials were tested in a bench scale reactor system built in our lab at UF. The results from our experiments showed that there is an optimal amount of iron that can be actively used in the reaction in order to increase production and repeatability. Our results also helped us to elucidate how the iron interacts with and incorporates itself into the support material to improve our reaction capabilities. These results will help further research into understanding what materials will perform more favorably and why these types of materials actively aid in producing hydrogen. (Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level: 16.3)"

10321

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - Mathematics

Lastly, I heard the last conference in this series held a very helpful discussion panel regarding tips on how to search and apply for academic jobs in number theory. I am looking forward to this discussion, and it is certainly coming at an opportune time for me. Thank you.

" When I travel to the Palmetto Number Theory Series in Columbia, SC I will be representing the University of Florida. When my name and university are listed on the conference sheet, it shows that the University of Florida has an active research program in number theory. Approximately 10 to 15 schools in the southeast have participants attending the conference. Since the University of Florida does have a top ranking program in number theory, the University of Florida should be represented at the conference. I would not only represent U.F. at the conference but also play an active role in the conference by asking questions, participating in discussions, and giving and receiving new directions for research in my field. I believe this would stand very well to represent U.F. in a positive light among the University of Florida’s peers in the southeast. Thank you.

10314

Effects of cueing on anticipatory distractor suppression

Our brain is an extremely complex organ. To understand the vastness of its capabilities is the prime focus of all neuroscientists like me. As we go through our mundane routine, our brain is put under constant stimulation from various sources. This may include simple alarm clock sounds, watching a movie, or even complex interactions with people. From this pool of stimulations around us what our brain eventually perceives and form memories is depended on the focus of attention. This concept of focus of attention plays a huge part in shaping our personality. Our research is focused on understanding what brain networks and mechanisms are involved in this process of focus of attention. Specifically, in this poster we are trying to explain how various distractors around us influence our attention. Our attention span is heavily dependent on the nature of distractors around us and how our brain suppresses this to facilitate attention. Without this distractor suppression mechanism we would be psychologically paralyzed and not able to pay attention to anything. In order to understand this mechanism completely we used electroencephalograph (EEG) recordings. These are basically electrodes placed on scalp which records the electrical activity of the brain. We make the subject do some specific psychological tasks, presented to him in a monitor screen. In this task the subject is asked to pay attention to certain target pictures in the presence of some distracting pictures. We found some behavioral results which suggests that the distractors does influence the focus of attention. We are further studying this to quantitatively measure the distractor suppression abilities of brain. Understanding this may prove extremely beneficial in understanding attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and other attention disorders. (Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level: 12.9)