Sixty-eight CSU undergraduate students had the opportunity to work on research projects with faculty mentors during Summer 2014. Fifty-seven proposals were received from five colleges with requests totaling $460,754. With the generous support of the Provost's office, 33 proposals were funded across 16 departments for a total of $249,838. The Fall 2014 Undergraduate Research Poster Session took place on September 4, 2014 from 10am - 2pm in the Student Center Atrium. Students, faculty, and staff were invited to attend the poster session, which provided students the opportunity to discuss their research with the CSU community.
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Cigarillo and Little Cigar (CLC) Portrayals on Instagram
Sarah Mosley, Katrina Tomc, Danielle Tracy, Kaala Walker, and Cheryl Bracken
Among US public health concerns, smoking remains a significant target for intervention. However, teen and young adult users appear to be adopting different preferences and patterns of smoking than prior generations. Little cigar and cigarillo (LCC) use is rapidly expanding among this age group. Depictions of LCC product use are highly prevalent on social media, a preferred and ubiquitous channel of communication among young people. The purpose of the study is to identify and examine primary themes and message attributes of posted LCC behaviors and messages on social media – ... Read More
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Fabrication and Characterization of Cell Membrane
Ali Naserallah, Valentinas Gruzdys, and Xue-Long Sun
Cell membrane plays critical cellular functions in both physiological and pathological pathways and thus is important target for both basic and applied biomedical research. The domain structure features of cell membrane strongly affect the functions of membrane embedded biomolecules such as proteins and carbohydrates. However, understanding the structural aspects of membrane effects on the embedded biomolecule’s function have not been able easily to do due to limited approaches available. We have engaged in fabrication of cell membrane mimetic systems for functional analysis of membrane proteins and cell surface carbohydrates [1,2]. ... Read More
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Activation of DNA Damage Checkpoint Pathways During Skeletal Myoblast Differentiation and Apoptosis
Mofetoluwa Oluwasanmi, Greg Kliment, and Crystal M. Weyman
A subset of skeletal myoblasts undergo apoptosis rather than differentiation when cultured in differentiation media (DM: absence of growth factors). While the muscle regulatory transcription factor MyoD is known to control the process of differentiation, our lab has recently discovered that MyoD is also controlling the apoptotic process in response to culture in DM by direct up-regulation of the pro-apoptotic Bcl2 family member PUMA. We similarly discovered that MyoD plays a role in the increased expression of PUMA and apoptosis in response to the DNA damaging agent, etoposide. This led ... Read More
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Cholesterol Conjugated HDAC Inhibitor as Novel Anticancer Agent
Paul Orefice, Jane Peterson, and Bin Sun
Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors are a class of promising new multifunctional anticancer agents. These agents are able to affect multiple epigenetic changes in aberrant cells. In addition to regulating the gene expression and transcription via chromatin remodeling, HDAC inhibitors can also modulate a variety of cellular functions including proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. Vorinostat (SuberAniloHydroxamic Acid, SAHA), the first HDAC inhibitor approved by FDA, inhibited the metastasis of various cancer cells. However, SAHA distributes in cancer tissue and normal tissue in a similar level. It will be ideal to selectively delivery ... Read More
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The Use of Elastin-like Polypeptides as a Drug Carrier Material: A Compatibility Study
Michael G. Price, John P. Gavin, Eric Helm, James T. Cole, and Nolan Holland
Stimuli responsive self-assembling nanoparticles of elastin-like polypeptides are promising platforms for targeted drug delivery and release. These particles spontaneously assemble from elastin-like polypeptide building blocks in solution. The nanoparticles stably self-assemble under specific temperature, salt, and pH conditions and can dissociate upon changing of these conditions. With appropriate design, the surface of the particles can be decorated with labels that cause them to accumulate in specific diseased tissues. In addition, the size of the particles is appropriate to minimize undesirable rapid clearance from the body. In this study, we are ... Read More
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Reaction Engineering Routes to Waste Gasification for Sustainable Living Environments
Stephen A. Reeves, Mohammed S. Suleiman, Joshua M. Cmar, and Jorge E. Gatica
There is an increasing pressure to reduce waste generation and dependence upon fossil fuels in our society. The approach investigated in this project aims to address both concerns by formulating a low-temperature gasification process to process long-chain polymers typically found in municipal waste. Gasification routes which convert plastic and bio-waste into useful fuel syngas products has been extensively investigated. The novelty of the approach examined here consists on the use of a variety of catalysts, which can promote high conversion in gasification reactions at much lower temperature and pressure conditions. ... Read More
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The Art of Polyfoam Puppetry
Rafeeq I. Roberts, Terry Pieritz, and Russell Borski
The construction of polyfoam puppets for theatrical productions is a highly specialized art form and requires a process that is often learned via mentorships and apprenticeships. Limited learning materials and resources presently exist or are publicly available on the techniques for producing these complex and genre specific puppets. This project investigated and visually documented the creative process and craftsmanship in the creation of polyfoam puppets. Working collaboratively with an undergraduate student of film and digital media, theatre Faculty Designers created an instructional video presentation of the step by step stages ... Read More
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Dark Awakening: Transmedia and Narrative Transportation
Rafeeq Roberts and Kimberly Neuendorf
Media convergence has led content creators to produce narratives that stretch across platforms, known as Transmedia. A Transmedia narrative titled Dark Awakening was created using three different platforms: A short film, an interactive short story, and a text based role playing game. All of these share overlapping themes, characters, and settings. Each narrative platform was designed to be taken and understood on its own, or viewed in conjunction with the others. A study of audience response to the Transmedia experience of Dark Awakening has been planned. The conditions for the ... Read More
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Analysis of Smartphone Traffic
Nick Ruffing and Ye Zhu
Smartphones have become the central communication and computing devices in our daily life because of their nearly ubiquitous Internet access through various communication capabilities such as WiFi, 3G, or even 4G networks, their user-friendly interfaces supporting touch and gesture based input, and their numerous applications and games. Operating system (OS) detection, the first step to launch security attacks on a target smartphone, enables an adversary to tailor attacks by exploiting the known vulnerabilities of the target system. We investigate OS identification against smartphones that use encrypted traffic. We evaluate the ... Read More
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Fun versus Practical: Physiological Responses and Preference of Exercise Equipment
Shana Strunk, Courtney Perkins, Brandon Musarra, Megan O’Keefe, Katie Webb, Kenneth E. Sparks, Emily Kullman, and Eddie T.C. Lam
The elliptical cross trainer has become a popular a mode of exercise, but can only be used indoors. The StreetStrider was designed as an outdoor elliptical-bike. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to determine whether the elliptical or the StreetStrider was more enjoyable, and to compare the physiological variables for energy expenditure, heart rate (HR), VO2, and Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE). METHODS: Thirty participants (15 male, 15 female, mean age=22±2) from Cleveland State University exercised for 20 minutes at 75% of their age predicted maximal heart rate on ... Read More
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Alternative Reaction Pathways to Metformin Hydrochloride
Mohammed S. Suleiman, Stephen A. Reeves, and Jorge E. Gatica
Metformin Hydrochloride is an important pharmaceutical used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. The current manufacturing of this product involves a well-known and proven process. The process includes the dissolution and reaction, followed by the precipitation of Metformin Hydrochloride. Although reliable and effective, the current process relies on the use of a solvent; which later needs to be eliminated from the precipitates. The purpose of this project is the investigation of an alternative reaction pathway which will avoid the use of solvents and simplify the final purification stage. The ... Read More
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Measuring Activity of Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase and Nanodisc Complex through Nitrate Production
Christopher Verdi, Ghaith Altawallbeh, and Mekki Bayachou
Nitric oxide is an important bioregulator generated in various regions throughout the body by a family of isozymes referred to as Nitric Oxide Synthases (NOS). Within vascular endothelial cells, nitric oxide is generated from oxygen and arginine (amino acid) by endothelial nitric oxide synthases (eNOS). Within this environment nitric oxide plays a critical paracrine role, mainly anithrombotic and anti-atherosclerotic. This is accomplished by vessel dilation and prevention of platelet and leukocyte aggregation and adherence to the vessel wall. The activity of the eNOS enzyme has been studied within solution and ... Read More
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Comparison of Electronic and Mechanical Handgrip Devices in Lowering Blood Pressure
Katie Webb, Brandon Musarra, Megan O’Keefe, Shana Strunk, Courtney Perkins, Kenneth E. Sparks, Emily Kullman, and Eddie T.C. Lam
Hypertension causes billions of deaths per year (Millar et al., 2013). The Zona PlusTM is an expensive tool designed to lower blood pressure (BP) using isometric exercise. This exercise may be achieved using a less expensive Handgrip Dynamometer. PURPOSE: The purpose of this research is to determine if the Zona or Handgrip Dynamometer is more efficient at lowering BP and most cost effective for patients. METHODS: Twenty subjects used the Zona and twenty subjects used the dynamometer three times per week for six weeks. BP was taken once per week ... Read More
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What are the best skeletal indicators of handedness?
Margret B. White and Anne Su
Previous research indicates that there are asymmetries in limb bone structure and dimensions. It is hypothesized that these asymmetries are the result of hand preference, or repeated unilateral mechanical loading. The aim of this study was to first identify the best skeletal indicators of handedness by means of a comprehensive literature search. Based on the previous findings of other researchers, we examined non-pathological male individuals (N=19, aged 20-35) from the Hamann-Todd Skeletal Collection at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History for asymmetry of paired second metacarpals, by measuring the difference ... Read More
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Validating TbTIF2-interacting Candidates
Fan Wu, Jennifer Berkey, Joshua Hellsing, Nisha Thaker, and Bibo Li
Transmitted by the tsetse fly, Trypanosoma brucei is a protozoan parasite that causes sleeping sickness in human and nagana in cattle. While infecting the bloodstream and central nervous system, T. brucei evades the immune system by altering its major surface antigen, Variant Surface Glycoproteins (VSGs), which forms a thick coat on its cell membrane. The expression sites for VSGs are at the sub-telomeric regions of T. brucei chromosomes. Telomeres, DNA-protein complexes located at the end of chromosomes, provide chromosome stability by preventing degradation of the chromosome ends. The telomere complex ... Read More
