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Item INTERGROUP RELATIONS AND THE PERPETUATION OF EXTREME VIOLENCE WITHIN THE CONGO FREE STATE, 1880-1910(SUNY Brockport, 2024) Borkholder, RileyIn the beginning of the scramble for Africa, world superpowers such as Great Britain, France, and Portugal obtained control of pockets within Africa during the 1880s. European interest was sparked in the continent as economic motivations for exploration were clear, Africa possessed various wealthy resources and items that manufacturers in the west could use for profit. In turn, this heavily influenced King Leopold II of Belgium to establish his own colony in the Congo River Basin.1 At the Berlin Conference in 1885, Leopold announced the official establishment of the Congo Free State (CFS) upon its recognition by the other European powers.2 As this exploration continued and Leopold further established his reign within the Congo basin wealthy items, such as ivory, were exported to Europe; it was not until the mid 1890s that rubber was found within the Congo. The discovery of rubber was revolutionary for Leopold II, as it was in high demand in the European market.3 The dramatic increase of the rubber trade in Europe propelled the king himself, agents, and imperial officials of the CFS to gain wealth quickly in substantial amounts.Item Paleoclimate changes in the Northwest Pacific Ocean as inferred from Mid-Pliocene Biogenic Silica at ODP Site 1207(SUNY Brockport: Friends of Drake Library, 2024) Lembo-Ehms, AndrewA sediment core containing biogenic opal was recovered from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 1207, located on Shatsky Rise in the Northwest Pacific Ocean. Samples used in this study span ~3.18-3.34 Ma and cover glacial-interglacial periods in the mid-Pliocene. The assumption that the Oyashio and Kuroshio currents migrate north and south across ODP Site 1207 in response to Earth’s prevailing climate state will be tested. The Kuroshio Current is responsible for transporting heat from the tropics towards higher latitudes in the northern hemisphere. The mixed water region (MWR) bounded by the Oyashio and Kuroshio currents is nutrient-rich and supports high biologic productivity. Biogenic silica (BSi) will be analyzed to understand paleoproductivity of diatoms, an important phytoplankton. BSi, reported as %BSi, will be extracted from sediments using a wet-alkaline digestion method and then measured as dissolved silica (SiO2). %BSi at this site reflects productivity changes due to the migration of the nutrient supplying ocean currents, as global climate changes through time. Results will be compared to existing records from ODP Site 882 to assess how productivity responds to climate changes at a mid-latitude site (1207) compared to high-latitude site (882). BSi productivity is a significant pathway for carbon sequestration, with global climate implications. The mid-Pliocene section of the sediment core provides an opportunity to study BSi productivity at a time when global atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations were comparable to today. Low Bsi during a period of warmer global temperatures might indicate a northward migration of the nutrient supplying ocean currents. This is significant for understanding how present-day diatom populations may respond to predicted climate changes, and successively, how Earth’s climate may respond to the changes in diatom population size.Item Caring For those with Dementia: How Can Evidence Based Care Support Healthcare to Improve Outcomes?(SUNY Brockport, 2023-04) Curry, MelissaFor healthcare professionals, a large percentage of the geriatric population in need of care has a diagnosis related to Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2019) estimate that there will be approximately 14 million individuals living with dementia. This is a significant increase from the present number of individuals with a diagnosis. With this growing number it is apparent that families as well as health care personnel need to be equipped for the unique care of those with these diagnoses. In 2019 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the minimal number of three percent or less of medical students choose to electively take geriatric trainings, which in turn proves that a miniscule number of providers are entering the healthcare field with experience to care for these individuals.Item Insight into the Salmonines of California(SUNY Brockport, 2023-04) Ludwig, JarrodCalifornia is home to an astounding 32 distinct species of salmonids with 20 of them being endemic and 21 of them being anadromous species, depicting the necessity of the Pacific Ocean. The California Current is one of the most productive regions in the world which many of these species utilize during their growth and maturation into reproductive adults (Moyle 2002). The cold California Current flows from North to South, down the California coastline bringing nutrient-rich productive water. With such a productive system, it has been colonized by many marine species such as Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), coho salmon (O. kisutch), and steelhead trout (O. mykiss). These species are an important piece of California’s history because they hold high cultural and economic importance and are umbrella species for the conservation of the greater aquatic environment as well as sentinel species as their presence helps sustain the biota associated with them (Moyle et al. 2017)Item Rattus norvegicus hypothetical protein LOC685762 classification with in silico bioinformatics computational tools(SUNY Brockport, 2023-04) Isereau, AllysonComputer software capable of protein analysis, such as bioinformatics tools, were used to help gain preferential, thorough, and accessible significant classifying information on a hypothetical protein of interest. The tools used in this study classified the protein of choice, hypothetical protein LOC685762, found in Rattus norvegicus, a multi-pass/polytopic transmembrane protein. Tools such as SMART and Protter were able to characterize the hypothetical protein as a polytopic integral transmembrane protein, which extends through the semi-permeable lipid bilayer several times. Spermatogenesis associated multi-pass transmembrane protein 3, was discovered to be a homologous protein by using the online bioinformatics tools, Protein BLAST and Needle. Homology can be a vital aspect when determining the function of a protein. The amino acid sequence in a protein determines the structure and thus the structure defines the relative function of the protein. With this rational and conceptualization, it is implied that homology can be used to help compare the functionality of the protein of interest in this study. A homologous protein is not identical to the protein, it is simply similar. Spermatogenesis associated multi-pass transmembrane protein 3, was found to be ̴74% similar to LOC685762 and ̴ 61% identical. With this knowledge, mutational analysis can also be used to determine the stability of the protein under different conditions, such as a single amino acid variation. Mutational evaluation was performed by the tool I-mutant. At position 51 in the amino acid sequence, a lysine (K) residue was found to be more stable than a threonine (T) residue. Not only is the primary structure of a protein essential to fully understand a protein, but its secondary structure is just as significant, specifically when there are alpha helices and beta sheets present. LOC685762 maximizes its hydrogen bonding within these complex secondary structures. Phyre 2 was used to specify the specific secondary structures and domains present in the hypothetical protein and the homologous protein. With further in silico analysis scientists were able to gain a better conceptualization of what the potential function and role of LOC685762 is in the Rattus norvegicus.