Browse the Kent State University Undergraduate Symposium on Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity Collections
Strategy use and math anxiety in fractions number line estimation03/15/2016Throughout the 20th century, mathematics education in the United States has gone through an ebb and flow of changing pedagogical perspectives. Significant technological advances and their effect upon the economy underscored the importance of mathematics in the modern world (Klein, 2003). Thus, mathematics achievement affects us at both a macro and micro level. At the macro level, math achievement is implicated in national economic competitiveness and longevity. A 2008 report by the National Mathematics Advisory Panel found that the United States is falling behind its international peers in overall mathematics achievement. At the micro level, mathematics achievement in early education has been correlated to higher salaries and less unemployment. Mathematics achievement is strongly predicted by fractions knowledge past other contributors such as whole numbers knowledge, working memory, etc (Siegler et al., 2012). However, both children and adults struggle with fractions knowledge. Since previous studies have examined fractions knowledge in children, our study examined the types of erroneous strategies that may persist in adult participants when estimating the location of fractions on number lines and comparing the values of two fractions. Additionally, we examined the effect of self-reported math anxiety on fraction performance and strategy use. Math anxiety is detrimental to the performance and overall motivation of students in math courses. We hypothesized that higher math anxiety would correlate with poorer strategy use. Our preliminary results indicate a significant correlation between the lack of strategy use and/or guessing with poor performance in both number line estimation and magnitude comparison. |
Stimulation of the Rostral-Ventrolateral Medulla by DREADDs03/15/2016Everyday life is full of events that can cause stress. Exposure to chronic stress is linked to a number of diseases such as depression, heart disease, and hypertension. Stress causes an increase in circulating glucocorticoid and sympathetic nervous system output, commonly referred to as the fight-flight response. However, it is not clear whether the actual stress stimulus is required or if repeated activation of the fight-flight responses in the absence of a physical/psychological stressor is sufficient to cause impaired health outcomes. In this study we sought to develop a method to gain control over neurons that control fight-flight responses. Rats were put under an anesthetic and a virus was injected into the Rostral-Ventrolateral Medulla (RVLM), a brainstem nuclei that controls the stress response. The virus infects neurons with a vector that causes the expression of Designer Receptor Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADDs) giving us control over the activation of these neurons. After three weeks, experimental animals were anesthetized and electrocardiogram electrodes attached for monitoring heart rate. Animals injected with the designer drug, clozapine-n-oxide (CNO) that activates neurons expressing DREADDs showed a spike in heart rate forty minutes after injection and a general increase thereafter. In contrast, control animals injected with saline showed a slow gradual decrease in heart rate. This study demonstrated we could gain control over the fight-flight response of an animal without physically exposing it to an actual stressor. |
Stanislavski and Csikszentmihalyi on Inspired Acting and How It Is Achieved Through Concentration and Imagination03/15/2016In An Actor’s Work, Konstantin Stanislavski examines the concepts of concentration and imagination and how they are essential components of an actor’s ability to effectively pursue an objective. The purpose of having an objective is so that the actor might live in the moment by being fully absorbed in the given circumstances of the play. Objectives must be sufficiently specific to inspire this kind of subconscious absorption and therefore inspired acting that is exactly as in nature. Similarly, in Flow, Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi states that focus and concentration in pursuit of a complex goal balanced against an individual’s skill level leads to optimal experience. Optimal experience is a psychological state that allows for goals to be pursued as efficiently as possible. Stanislavski and Csikszentmahalyi’s theories appear to be synonymous. Therefore, we can use Csikszentmihalyi’s psychology of optimal experience to bolster Stanislavski’s contention, in theory and practice, that focus and concentration in the pursuit of an objective or goal help an actor to poke at the subconscious and achieve a state of inspired acting/optimal experience. |
Spain’s Atonement for the Inquisition03/15/2016In 2015, a law in Spain was passed that grants dual citizenship to Jews who can trace their ancestry to Spain. Jews who trace their ancestry to Spain are known as Sephardic Jews. The Spanish government passed the law as atonement to the Sephardim on account of their expulsion by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in 1492. Approximately 200,000 Jews were forced to leave the country. Others were forced to convert to Catholicism or suffer the consequences of being caught practicing Judaism. It should be noted that the new law has received criticism on account of its overly restrictive nature. Critics claim that, in the end, very few Sephardic Jews will succeed in gaining dual citizenship. Nevertheless, no such law whatsoever has been proposed offering dual citizenship to Muslims, who were expelled from Spain in 1609. The purpose of this study is to consider the apparent contradiction between granting dual citizenship to Sephardic Jews, however limited, but not to the Muslim descendants of Spain. The research is conducted through examination of scholarly articles, newspapers articles, and the text of the law itself. This paper is expected to demonstrate that both Muslims of Spanish descent and Sephardic Jews should be offered the right to Spanish citizenship. |
skin bleaching amongst Nigerian women03/15/2016Meanings of skin-bleaching: The construction of beauty amongst Nigerian women. Dr. Joelle Cruz Dominique Y. Freeman School of Communication Studies Kent State University The purpose of this study is demonstrate the practices of skin bleaching amongst Nigerian women. This study is important because African women needs to be aware of the risks due to skin bleaching. They also need to recognize their own beauty, and create their own standards of beauty and not to compare it to white women. According to Hall (1995), “women are participating in this activity to be beautiful regardless of the negative factors associated with it” (p.172). Skin bleaching has become a worldwide phenomenon over the past 30 years. This qualitative research study was conducted through the thematic analysis. I used 20 newspapers articles that deal with Nigerian women who bleach their skin. These articles discuss the reasons why Nigerian women participate in these harmful behaviors. In today’s society being non-color is said to be more attractive and superior than being of color. My data connects similarities in each article that pertains to skin bleaching. Each article supports the fact that skin bleaching industry companies main target is Africa, in places such as Nigeria where skin bleaching is used at the highest rate by women, with Nigerian women at 70%, Ghana women at 30% and Senegal women at 27%. These percentages show that skin bleaching is spreading throughout Africa and also throughout the world. This study suggests that skin bleaching negatively impacts beauty norms amongst Nigerian women. Keywords: “Skin-bleaching”, “Nigerian Women”, “Beauty.” |
Simple image normalization dramatically improves Transport-of-Intensity (TIE)-derived phase images03/15/2016Quantitative phase mapping is useful for non-invasively quantifying cell properties, such as water concentration. The phase image can be obtained by solving the Transport-of-Intensity equation (TIE) for two brightfield images I1 and I2 taken at two defocus distances. Phase restoration by TIE is based on the gradient of axial intensity, which is approximated by the difference I1-I2. The results of computation, however, are very sensitive to slight fluctuations of intensity between I1 and I2, resulting in a spatially variable background and difficulty analyzing the data. This is especially true for spherical cells, driving our current focus on finding additional ways to increase the accuracy of the phase image calculated for these spherical objects. Thus far, we have found that the quality of phase images can be drastically improved by manually equalizing the intensities of the input images before processing. The tolerance of the computed phase to the input focal planes can be further enhanced by averaging multiple time-lapse images to represent each of I1 and I2. With this simple modification, TIE microscopy can be easily applied to various biological problems. |
Sexual Orientation Discrimination Mediates the Relationship between Family Social Support and PTSD symptoms in a Sample of Traumatized Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual (LGB) Adolescents03/15/2016We wanted to assess the relationship between discrimination of sexual orientation and family social support as an indicator for PTSD symptoms. Therefore, we examined sexual orientation discrimination stress as a mechanism through which family social support predicts PTSD symptoms in a traumatized sample of LGB adolescents. We recruited (N=76) LGBT adolescents from a social service agency. The sample consisted of 49 males, and 80.3% identified as African-American with a mean age of 19.8 (SD = 2.2). Participants completed a questionnaire battery including questionnaires about stress related to sexual orientation discrimination experiences, PTSD symptoms, and perceived family social support. A mediation model with 1,000 bootstrapping resamples examined the mediating effect of stress from sexual orientation discrimination on family social support and PTSD symptoms. Sexual orientation discrimination stress had a significant indirect effect (95% BCI: -.487, -.005) on the relationship between family social support and PTSD symptoms. Thus we can conclude that the level of family social support on traumatized LGB youths can greatly impact PTSD symptoms. |
Self Healing Concrete as a Sustainable Alternative to Concrete03/15/2016Concrete has a high compressive strength and a low tensile strength, which is why it is used commonly for construction and infrastructure. The issue with concrete is that once it cracks, it becomes unstable, and the cracks can spread if not taken care of quickly. There are methods of repairing it can become expensive and it’s more often than not a temporary fix. There are also environmental factors that make concrete inefficient or unusable. A possible solution to these issues is the increased use of self-healing concrete. This type of concrete has a different makeup than that of regular concrete, utilizing bacteria that can survive in high alkaline environments to fill in and repair cracks that occur in concrete, quickly and effectively. The testing procedure of this includes the intentional cracking of concrete and allowing it to heal itself. The tests are to see if the compressive strength is either preserved or improved as a result of the healing. The results from various tests and research show that there is little to no difference in the performance of concrete that has healed itself than that of regular un-cracked concrete. The bacteria work quickly and effectively, producing a substance that has the qualities of concrete and completely filling in the cracks. This self-healing factor is time and cost efficient, where it would initially cost more than regular cement, but due to it not requiring as much maintenance or replacements, makes this a more sustainable and cost efficient alternative to regular concrete. |
Secondary Analysis of Binge Drinking Behaviors in a Drinking Population03/15/2016With the prevalence of alcohol use on the rise, the exploration of risk factors is vital to aid in the understanding and prevention of inappropriate alcoholic behaviors. Therefore, this research examined if there was a relationship between the initiation of alcohol/cigarette use in early adolescence and adult binge alcohol consumption. This research was a secondary analysis of a 55,602 unit data-set, National Survey on Drug Use and Health, gathered nationwide by the U.S. Department of HHS (77% response rate) in 2004. Age at first drink/smoke (AFD/AFS) and other demographic factors were used as independent variables and binge drinking in the past month was the quantitative dependent variable. All variables were significantly related to binge drinking and almost 3/4 of the heaviest binge-drinkers had their AFD and AFS before the age of 15. It was concluded that the earlier the age of first alcohol/cigarette usage, the more likely an individual was to develop binge-drinking tendencies later in adulthood and demographic variables influenced this tendency. |
Revitalizing Culture: Baum03/15/2016This studio design project focused on the ideas of abstract concepts and thematic research to develop a design for an upscale restaurant. After identifying the abstract concept (ex. wind), different avenues of thematic development were researched as potential design directions. The research was a major component of the project, utilizing online, library and journal sources to gather data for the thematic background for the restaurant. In addition, additional areas of research focused on the technical issues of restaurant design and accessibility requirements. The abstract concept for this project was to use the word mysterious to develop an intriguing design exploring a culture that we were not personally familiar with. Using aspects of the German culture discovered through research, the necessary interior elements were developed in order for the concept to be readable to the projected market. This concept was used as the basis for the thematic development of the restaurant which was brought through with a German motif as the logo, baum, meaning tree, in the German language, and lastly, the use of a natural color palette and materials. The results of the research were used to develop the thematic design of the restaurant. The functional layout of the restaurant, the selection of materials and finishes and the ambience experienced by guests were a direct result of the research component of the project. As shown in this project, the development of interior spaces is a direct result of the various avenues of research undertaken. |