2005 Summer Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum (MU)
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The MU Summer Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum showcases the creative and scholarly activities that undergraduates have been engaged in over the summer. All students engaged in scholarly or creative activity with a faculty mentor are invited to present their work.
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Item Issues with scale using very high resolution digital aerial photographs(University of Missouri--Columbia. Office of Undergraduate Research, 2005) Yousif, Mustafa; Larsen, David R. (David Rolf); Chastain, Robert; University of Missouri--Columbia. Office of Undergraduate Research; Summer Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum (2005 : University of Missouri--Columbia)This study involves the use of remote sensing equipment to observe plant communities. A remote sensor is any instrument that gathers information about an object or area from a distance. Advanced cameras, the most common sensors used in aerial study, take photographs capable of revealing objects (vegetation, trees, etc...) only a few millimeters or inches in width from altitudes of 10 to 150 meters. The objective of the projective is to determine the resolution to acquire the photographs. In this study, existing and current images are used to classify the vegetation into the classes as needed. The main goal is to classify the images based on the known targets. Images are taken primarily from helium balloons that have a digital attached to capture the image of the intended area of study. The tools used in this project are ERDAS Imagine 8.6 and ArcGIS for image processing and classifying the images into classes using colors and characteristics of the area and surroundings.Item The role of Periostin in regulating the biomechanical properties of cushion tissue(University of Missouri--Columbia. Office of Undergraduate Research, 2005) Wright, Lee; Damon, Brooke James, 1974-; Norris, Russell; Mjaatvedt, Corey; Mironov, Vladimir; Markwald, Roger; Forgács, Gabor, 1949-; University of Missouri--Columbia. Office of Undergraduate Research; Summer Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum (2005 : University of Missouri--Columbia)During embryonic heart development the atrio-ventricular (AV) cushions swell and fuse to form the valves and septa of the adult heart. Initially, the cushions appear as swellings on the interior wall of the AV canal and eventually fuse to form the septum and valvular leaflets. The morphogenetic event that the cushions undergo during the fusion process is, in part, driven by the cohesive energy of the tissue, which can be described by the tissue's surface tension. It has been shown earlier that many properties of embryonic tissues can be interpreted by using the analogy that they behave as liquids and it is this analogy that gives rise to apparent tissue surface tension. Periostin is hypothesized to affect cushion tissue surface tension, through its possible binding of the extracellular matrix of the tissue. In this study virus containing the sense strand of Periostin DNA is introduced into hanging drops containing living explants of AV cushion tissue. Overnight the tissue explants rounded up to form spheroids allowing their surface tension to be measured and compared to the surface tension of AV cushion tissue explants exposed to a LacZ promoter control virus. The surface tension was determined using a specifically designed apparatus that measures the viscoelastic response of spherical explants due to a compressive force. It was expected that the increased production of Periostin in the cushion explants due to exposure to the virus will result in an increased surface tension compared to that of explants exposed to the control virus. The preliminary results of the experiment have displayed no significant difference of surface tension between the control virus and the Periostin virus. Since earlier research has shown a significant difference in the rate of fusion of cushions exposed to Periostin DNA virus and those exposed to the control virus, and because fusion time is characterized by the ratio of the surface tension and the viscosity of the tissue, we believe that Periostin may be affecting the viscosity of the tissue explants instead of the surface tension.Item Molecular free volume and viscosity changes in non-Newtonian fluids probed with molecular rotors(University of Missouri--Columbia. Office of Undergraduate Research, 2005) Wilson, Joseph P.; Haidekker, Mark A., 1963-; University of Missouri--Columbia. Office of Undergraduate Research; Summer Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum (2005 : University of Missouri--Columbia)An empirical relationship between molecular free volume and viscosity has been established (Doolittle AK, J Appl. Phys. 1952; 23: 236-9). Non-Newtonian fluids hold much importance to scientific study because of their ubiquity in nature - from gelatins to starches to blood. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between molecular free volume and viscosity in non-Newtonian fluids under shear-thinning conditions. Molecular rotors are fluorescent probes for free volume. After photoexcitation, these molecules can decay from their singlet state either through radiation (fluorescence) or torsional relaxation (intramolecular rotation). In environments with low free volume, intramolecular rotation is hindered, and the radiative deexcitation pathway becomes dominant. This behavior is accompanied by a measurable increase in fluorescence intensity. Molecular rotors have been used successfully as viscosity probes in various fluids and polymers. Two molecular rotors, CCVJ (9-(2-carboxy-2-cyano)-vinyl-julolidine) and CCVJ-TEG (CCVJ-triethyleneglycol ester), were dissolved at 10µM in an aqueous solution of KelcoGelF (gellan gum) and subjected to shear forces both in a tube shear apparatus for fluorescence measurements and in a Haake VT-550 rheometer to determine the shear-thinning behavior. The gellan solution exhibited power-law behavior with an exponent n=0.48. In spite of this strong shear-thinning behavior, no change in rotor emission intensity was observed. Additionally, a novel behavior of some molecular rotors, a sensitivity towards fluid flow (Haidekker MA et al, Sensor Lett. 2005; 3: 42-8), was exploited to observe shear-thinning behavior by probing flow velocity in a tube. Under application of sufficiently high shear rates to cause shear thinning, molecular rotors revealed no change in free volume as observed with fluorescence intensity. This preliminary study suggests that molecular free volume and shear thinning are independent properties. Further studies will be needed to corroborate that the free volume of a fluid is not related to its viscosity in shear-thinning environments.Item "Either he was too weak, or the world was too strong" : motifs of male wounds and healing in African American literature(University of Missouri--Columbia. Office of Undergraduate Research, 2005) Wilmot, Jennifer M., 1984-; Prahlad, Anand; University of Missouri--Columbia. Office of Undergraduate Research; Summer Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum (2005 : University of Missouri--Columbia)African American men throughout history have tried to establish and define their identities, collectively and individually, beyond those formed, forced, and fashioned by western civilization. Consequently, they have inflicted pain and despair, consciously and subconsciously, on the entire race, Black women, and regrettably themselves. African American literature, fictional and non-fictional, has served as a measure capable of providing a study of the African American experience as a whole. In examining its works, readers meet the achievements and failures, hindrance and progression of its people. HTML In this research I will briefly examine through literary analysis the intense emotional wounds and perspectives of two archetypal males in African American non-fiction and poetry; the severely indignant and the emotionally detached character. I will investigate relationships between the male character, their female counterparts and children if existent through the novels, Jonah's Gourd Vine, Native Son, and In My Father's House, as well as the poetry of Etheridge Knight. Specifically, I will determine the origin, infliction, and potential healing of their wounds by analyzing certain influences in their lives such as; being slaves or direct descendants of slaves, the household conditions they grew up in physically and psychologically, the presence and/or absence of parents, and the impression of Christianity. Furthermore, I will explore the suggestions made by the authors on how these characters, if possible, can regain their manhood.Item Reduction of rheniumV oxo Schiff base complexes with triethylphosphine(University of Missouri--Columbia. Office of Undergraduate Research, 2005) Williams, Stephen A.; Lane, Stephanie R., 1982-; Sisay, Nebiat; Jurisson, Silvia S. (Silvia Sabine); University of Missouri--Columbia. Office of Undergraduate Research; Summer Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum (2005 : University of Missouri--Columbia)Pioneering techniques for therapeutic treatment of cancers involve targeting cancer sites with strong beta-emitting radionuclides, thereby destroying the cancer cells. This is achieved by coordinating the radioisotope to a very chemically stable environment and linking it to a specific biologically active targeting molecule, which interacts with particular cancer cells. Radioactive isotopes of rhenium possess characteristics of such a nuclide. The focus of our research is to investigate two possible pathways for the reaction of [ReOX(Schiff base)] with phosphine ligands, one a mono-substituted ReV complex and one a di-substituted ReIII complex. The preferred ReIII complex is lower in oxidation state and more kinetically inert or stable relative to ReV. For practical applications it is necessary to have an extremely stable in vivo radionuclide complex which can be conjugated to a suitable biological targeting agent. The rigid sal2phen ligand, where Sal2phen is a tetradentate Schiff base ligand, was investigated to determine if the ReIII could be synthesized from the ReV starting complex [ReVOCl(Sal2phen)]. [ReVOCl(Sal2phen)] was reacted with triethylphosphine (PEt3) in attempts to yield the ReIII complex trans-[ReIII(PEt3)2(Sal2phen)][X]. Previous work indicated that the strongly reducing and strongly nucleophilic PEt3 might yield the ReV product from [ReVOCl(Sal2phen)]. The synthesized coordinated complex was reacted with an quaternary ammonium salt, ammonium hexaflurophosphate (NH4PF6), to induce crystallization of target compound [ReIII(PEt3)2(Sal2phen)][PF6]. Preliminary 1H-NMR, 31P-NMR, and infrared spectroscopy spectra indicate the formation of cis-[ReVO(PPh3)(Sal2phen)][X]. FTIR shows the presence of the Rhenium oxo group; 31P-NMR and 1H-NMR indicate the presence of ReV and a 1:1 PEt3 : Sal2phen complex. Single crystal x-ray diffraction, mass spectroscopy, and elemental analysis are additional methods of characterization.