Celebration of Scholars
records, dating from the 1831 Census up to the 1926 Census, political charters and decrees presented by the English parliament, news paper articles and reports dating from the 18th and 19th centuries. Secondary sources focusing on language decline, the Irish Famine, and GIS tools and methodologies were also used.
Muhammad al-Khwarizmi and his Compendious Book on Calculation by Restoration and Balancing Ann Zaske, 2014
Major: Mathematics Hometown: Rosemount, Minn. Faculty Sponsor: James Lochtefeld
Who was Abu-Abdullah Muhammad ibn-Musa al-Khwarizmi, and what were his contributions to the math world? Through my research, I will prove that this man helped to begin algebra as we know it. With his book, Al-Kitab al-mukhtasar fi hisab al-gabr wa’lmuqabala, mainly known as The Compendious Book on Calculation by Restoration and Balancing, he forever changed mathematics from the geometric mathematics of the Greeks to much broader, may ideas. Though his other mathematical contributions will be mentioned, my focus will mainly be on the contents of this book and how they have shaped algebra today.
Teacher Attrition: The Current State and Efforts to Improve Retention Paul Zavada
Department: Education
Problem: Helping new teachers assimilate into and stay in the teaching profession. Significance: Teaching is a high turnover profession. Turnover is costly and disruptive to school systems. Early studies were done to try to understand underlying issues. The studies pointed to the need for a better assimilation process. New teachers need to understand the systems and cultures. As a result of those studies, teacher mentoring systems were implemented by colleges, in districts and states. The initial results of the programs were positive. Recently, however, a large federal study questioned the value of mentoring programs and concluded that mentoring programs did not appear to be stemming the tide of turnover. Scholars, question this study, stating that it did not account for district imposed layoffs. Additional work is needed to determine conclusively if mentoring programs work or others solutions are needed to deal with assimilation and attrition. Methods used: The education division is doing initial qualitative work to ascertain our graduates’ strengths and initial assimilation into the field. We are devising a system to track our graduates over time. We will determine via interview and surveys: who stays, who leaves, and why. The results will aid us in determining our role in helping people assimilate and stay in the teaching field. A future correlation study is possible--correlating the perceived strengths of the graduates and their attrition. Results: This work is ongoing. We hope to better understand and find solutions.
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The Putative Role of luxS in Neisseria gonorrhoeae Quorum Sensing Joey Zilisch, 2012
Major: Biology Hometown: Kenosha, Wis. Faculty Sponsor: Deborah Tobiason
Bacterial pathogenicity has been linked to phenotypical traits such as capsule, biofilm, and pili formation, among others. Quorum sensing, or a bacterium’s ability to sense and interact with other bacteria, has also been implicated as means of controlling virulence factors via regulation of bacterial gene expression through autoinduction. Although many autoinducers have been categorized along with their specific biochemical pathways, AI-2 remains the most studied autoinducer since it is was first discovered during inter-species bioluminescence research with Vibrio harveyi. The sequence of the AI-2 synthase gene (luxS) has homology in over 50 bacterial species, and its role in Neisseria gonorrhoeae (the causative agent of gonorrhea) has not been elucidated upon. To understand the role of luxS in N. gonorrhoeae’s phenotypic variability, a mutant with a luxS knock-out gene must be compared to a wild-type strain. The luxS gene from Neisseria gonorrhoeae has been cloned into an Escherichia coli plasmid vector, which was confirmed by restriction enzyme analysis. Gonococcal luxS will be insertionally inactivated by inserting a chloramphenicol antibiotic-resistance sequence into the luxS gene to eliminate the functionality of the gene, which will allow screening for the mutant bacteria on chloramphenicol-inoculated media. Once the luxS gene is successfully inactivated, the luxS:chlor plasmid can be reintroduced into N. gonorrhoeae for phenotypic comparisons against the wild-type strain. LuxS may prove to be instrumental in virulent gene expression through quorum sensing pathways in N. gonorrhoeae and could potentially become an antibiotic target.
Face: an Eastern and Western Concept Mitchem Zimber, 2014
Major: Japanese and Political Science Hometown: Rockford, Ill. Faculty Sponsor:
A definition of the Chinese and Japanese concept of ‘Face’ is the human need to have a public self-image that is respected and accepted by others. Similar to the Western concept of honor, it is a positive social virtue that a person claims for himself or herself by virtue of the person’s relative position in their social network, performance in that and other roles, moral conduct, and other factors that gain the person approval from society. Face can be measured in the amount of respect and deference that an individual claims. Some say that the people of the West, namely Americans, do not have a concept of face. I disagree with this statement. Based on my studies and observations, as well as my own experience, I believe that the people of the West do have a concept of face. Moreover, I claim that the Western concept of face is very similar to the Eastern concept of face. There seems to be a misconception that the people of countries like America know nothing about manners or politeness, and prefer to be direct and to the point in their speech. Statements like these may be true on a relative nationwide vs. nationwide scale (e.g. Japan vs. America), but I believe that the people of almost every country appreciate very similar if not the same types of polite, humble, and face-saving behavior from others.