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1. VEGF and vascular permeability in the cervix of pregnant mice.
Student	Major	Faculty Advisor	College	Department	Award Date
Whitney Irwin	Biology, Pre-professional	Chishimba Nathan Mowa	Arts and Sciences	Biology	May 10, 2008
Project Description: : Our lab?s long term goal is to find solutions for preventing/lessening obstetrical complications, by investigating the role of microvasculature remodeling in cervical remodeling (CR) using normal and mice models. The present studies will assess the underlying mechanisms of vascular remodeling, namely vascular permeability and its impact on CR. We hypothesize that vascular permeability is dependent on VEGF-induced vascular leakage mediated by PLC?/eNO/PKC signaling pathway in the cervix. We will rigorously test this hypothesis using pharmacologic agents for PKC, real time PCR and histology.

2. A History of Strength in the Midst of Loss and Despair: The Orphaned Child's perspective on AIDS and Orphanhood in South Africa
Student	Major	Faculty Advisor	College	Department	Award Date
Erica Adelman	History	Jeremiah Kitunda	Arts and Sciences	History	Mar 05, 2008
Project Description: The goal of this historical research project is to gain an understanding of the South African orphan crisis from the orphaned child's perspective. The number of orphans in South Africa has been rising since 1998. The sharpest increase has been in maternal orphans (children who have lost their mother) which rose from 2.8% to 5.1% of the total population aged 0-14 between 1995 and 2005. Because mothers generally have the primary care of their children, the death of a mother is of more immediate impact on a child's life. AIDS is largely responsible for this explosion of orphans. In 1990, there were 436,352 orphans. Only 86 of this total were AIDS orphans. By 2004, the total number of orphans jumped to 1,125,884. AIDS orphans numbered 626,458, easily surpassing the 499,425 non-AIDS orphans. The AIDS epidemic and the government's failure to respond to this epidemic in a timely manner contributed to the rise of orphans, which in turn put extreme strain on South African communities. Orphans who were previously absorbed easily into the families of relatives are becoming increasingly difficult for communities to care for. In the majority of cases, grandmothers take care of these orphans when their parents are dead or too ill to care for the children. The child-headed household is also becoming increasingly common. This project will outline the development of the orphan crisis from 1990-2005 while also examining government and community response, and, most importantly, the child's perspective on these responses and the crisis itself. In order to gain the child's perspective on this crisis and see its effects first-hand, I will travel to South Africa this summer from May 26 to August 4. While in South Africa, I will interview orphaned children, their care-takers, and those involved in non-governmental organizations responding to this crisis. I will arrive in Johannesburg and visit Bethesda Outreach Ministries of Hamaanskraal, a small community located outside of Pretoria. At Bethesda, I will work as a teacher's aide in Jabulane School with the orphaned children living in Bethesda homes. During this time, I will build a relationship with the children and conduct interviews to learn their individual stories. I will also interview the South African houseparents of Bethesda to discover their perspective on the orphan crisis and its effect on the children in their care. For two weeks in July, I will spend time in Pietermaritzburg. While there, I will interview professor Philippe Denis of Kwa-Zulu Natal University, who is involved in aiding orphaned children. I will also visit an SOS Children's Village and God's Golden Acre, interviewing children and caretakers at these non-governmental organizations. Finally, I will visit a South African elementary school and observe and interview children and teachers. I will use these interviews to explore the view-point of the orphaned child and to further understand how this crisis has affected South African communities.

3. Nutritional comparison of locally grown versus commercially shipped tomatoes
Student	Major	Faculty Advisor	College	Department	Award Date
Kasmira Adkins	Biology	Nicole Bennett	Arts and Sciences	Chemistry	Jan 29, 2008
Project Description: In collaboration with Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture, a support organization for farmers in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, a nutritional analysis comparing several species of locally grown tomatoes from farms in or near Boone, North Carolina with produce purchased from local grocery stores will be performed. Assays of commercial and local produce were extracted and analyzed using gas chromatography, focusing on flavonoids, carotenoids, and Vitamin C. All of which, naturally occur in tomatoes and are important in nutrition. Growing methods, post-harvest handling, and dates of harvest will be gathered and compared to address other possible sources of variability. Five species of tomatoes will be analyzed including tomatoes grown organically and conventionally. Results of this data will provide local farmers with a basis for comparison with distant commercial growers. This data may be used by BRWA to gain more support for local farmers in local restaurants and the university food services if nutritional values are equal or better than those shipped. Having equal nutritional values places local produce in a higher position of preference because expenses from shipping long distances will not have to be considered. If data shows that nutritional values of local farm produce are less than commercial produce, recommendations will be made on how to increase those values. Few nutritional comparisons of local versus shipped tomatoes has been performed using gas chromatography, therefore, this research may be beneficial in modifying the past methods of extraction and analysis.

4. The Effect of NCAA Banned Amounts of Guarana on Endurance Exercise Performance, Metabolic Rate, and Weight in Laboratory Mice
Student	Major	Faculty Advisor	College	Department	Award Date
Dianna Thomas	Exercise Science	Shea Tuberty	Arts and Sciences	Biology	Jan 29, 2008
Project Description: As the demands of everyday life are increasing, energy drinks are becoming more and more popular on college campuses and many have even been banned by the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) for containing alleged performance enhancing amounts of caffeine and related substances. One of the most popular banned substances on the list is caffeine and guarana. Guarana (Paullinia cupana, Brazilian cocoa) is a creeping shrub native to Venezuela and northern Brazil in the Amazon rain forest. Guarana seeds are rich in a form of caffeine called guaranine, which contains up to 4-8% caffeine. While caffeine from beverages provides a short-lived energy burst that overheats and excites the body, guaranine has a cooling action that revitalizes and relaxes. This is because guarana contains other components that modify the activity of this substance. Guarana is reputed to be a stimulant and increase mental alertness, fight fatigue, and increase stamina and physical endurance. In North America, guarana has recently become a popular ingredient in energy drinks and teas. Unlike coffee, the amount of caffeine doesn't have to be listed on guarana drinks. Guarana seed extract and caffeine are known to increase metabolic rate and plasma fatty acid concentrations. It has been suggested that the mechanism of action of these ingredients is related, in part, to stimulation of enzymes that control lipolysis. Guarana has been shown to stimulate the migration of lipids so fat can be burned as energy. It is also an appetite suppressant. Guarana and caffeine are central nervous system and cardiac stimulants. They also act as mild diuretics. Exercise physiologists have long suspected that caffeine might improve endurance performance and, as a central nervous system stimulant, caffeine has been used for many decades in an attempt to improve human performance. The exact metabolic mechanism of this ergogenic effect is unknown. Research does not support an ergogenic effect of caffeine for all types of exercise. There are a number of experimental factors which have been shown to influence the results of caffeine intake on exercise including dose, type of exercise, pre-exercise feedings, subject training status, previous caffeine use, and individual variation. The effects of differing doses of guarana will be determined by mice endurance exercise performance on a treadmill as well as the changes in metabolic rate. It is expected that the guarana will increase the mice metabolic rate and increase endurance and performance in timed treadmill running at a constant speed. It is also expected that the increasing doses of guarana will have incremental effects on both metabolic rate and performance. These test results will help to affirm the stimulating effects of guarana and the reasons the NCAA have added it to the Banned-Drug List.

5. Lenoir: Former Furniture Capitol of the South An installation project that serves as a reflection on the community and the furniture industry through the eyes of former furniture workers.
Student	Major	Faculty Advisor	College	Department	Award Date
Jennifer Livingston	Art	Lynn Duryea	Fine and Applied Arts	Art	Jan 23, 2008
Project Description: Concept Growing up in Lenoir, NC, I watched my hometown slowly dry up as factory after factory closed and thousands of furniture workers lost their jobs. To address this issue, I recently conducted an interview with my uncle who worked in the furniture industry in Lenoir for almost twenty years. After the interview, I realized that I want to give the working class citizens of Lenoir a chance to tell their stories. Aside from talking with these individuals, the most immediate and captivating way to go about presenting their stories is to record their dialogue with video. By conducting interviews with individuals who once were part of a thriving industry and community and displaying this footage publicly, it is my hope that others will gain a better understanding of how the community has changed since the factories have closed. Installation To present the collective narrative of former furniture workers in Lenoir, I plan to create an artistic installation that will consist of three main components: video projection, furniture and décor, and artificial fog. The video projection will display the footage of the interviews, the furniture arrangements will provide an environment into which the interviewees will be projected, and the fog (as dispensed from a fog machine) will serve as a means to physically connect the video projection and the furniture arrangements. I plan to create three different set-ups of projection, video, and fog in the installation space. I plan to interview 20 ? 25 individuals who have worked in the furniture industry in Lenoir, NC and record the interviews using digital video. Each interview will be conducted in the home of the participant. During the interview, I will ask each participant a series of questions relating to their experiences working in the furniture industry and how they feel that both their lives and the community have changed after the factories have closed. After the interviews, I will review and edit the footage. I plan to produce three videos. Each individual video will last approximately ten minutes; all three videos combined should last about half an hour. The furniture and other décor that I collect for my three arrangements will be determined by the furniture and décor in the homes of each participant. The furniture I select will be similar to the furniture in the participant?s home and will be set up in the same arrangement that it exists in the participant?s home. The fog will serve as way to physically place the projections of the interviewees into the furniture arrangements. The video projection and the fog will be directed at the arrangement of furniture so that the projection of the participant appears to be three-dimensional and physically existing within the furniture arrangement. This installation will take place in Lenoir in April 2008 as part of my senior exhibition required for graduation.

6. Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa: A case study of its role in the Somalia conflict Ethiopia is a struggling country in a very unstable part of the world. It is involved militarily in neighboring Somalia, where a collapsed government has given way to Islamic clan-based warlords. Ethiopia?s involvement in the Somalia conflict and support of the African Union (AU) backed transitional democracy, however, give hope to the ideas of democracy and stability in that region. Citizens? attitudes toward war can reveal underlying social and political tensions. Ethiopian elite perceptions of war can have much to say about where Ethiopia is going democratically. With Ethiopia?s involvement in the AU, attitudes toward war in Ethiopia can also be an indicator of future stability in the region. Ethiopia?s role in and the outcome of the Somalia conflict will ultimately determine the future stability of the Horn. If the outcome promotes stability, then the region will be more hospitable to democracy.
Student	Major	Faculty Advisor	College	Department	Award Date
Patrick Lineberry	Political Science	E. Ike Udogu	Arts and Sciences	Political Science/Criminal Justice	Nov 19, 2007
Project Description: While in Ethiopia, I plan to study the rationales for the government?s role in a pivotal and contemporary conflict involving Ethiopia?s military attempts to resolve the political crisis in Somalia. To accomplish this objective, I will conduct a series of interviews based on age, religion, class, gender, and occupation. I shall also attempt to collect official government statements as to its purposes and goals in the conflict. Because Ethiopian university students are the future economic and political elites in the society, most of the interviews will be conducted at the Addis Ababa University, and they will be compared to interviews with government officials. Not only could this be an indicator of the future stability of the country and region, but it will also allow for a comparison between the attitude of university students and government officials in the conflict and give light to Ethiopia?s foreign policy in the Horn of Africa. The question, ?How do Ethiopians perceive the role of their government in a time of war?? is presently critical. When a state is at war, this is when underlying tensions between ethnicities, religions, political affiliations, and classes rise to the top. Such developments could influence the activities of the government in the nation-state itself and its foreign policy, too. Internally, inter-ethnic conflict could impede the promotion of democracy in the society. One potential hope for democracy in Ethiopia is the stability of the region and the country itself, which is largely now dependent on the outcome of the Somali conflict. Regional stability would be self-reinforcing: it would attract investment and lead to democratic stability. To accomplish the objectives of this project, I have divided the study into several parts. Starting in September, 2007: ?Weeks 1-3: Acquire an understanding of Ethiopian culture and the government?s involvement in the Somali conflict. This will entail researching recent Ethiopian history and its ethnic portrait, establishing a network of contacts, and being immersed and understanding Ethiopian culture. ?Weeks 4-7: Conduct 10-15 interviews with Addis Ababa University students and faculty, and conduct 5 interviews with a selection of officials on their opinions regarding the government?s role in the Somali conflict. ?Weeks 8-9: Organize interviews and compile them into research data. ?Weeks 10-11: Research Ethiopia?s role in the African Union?s operation in Somalia. ?Week 12: Compile and write a major research paper. Within the context of this research I hope, among other things, to gain a general understanding of elite opinions and attitudes of students and government officials on the war in Somalia that is likely to bring about stability in the region?a condition that could advance democracy and development in the area. Moreover, I will share the outcome of my research with students in the Department of Political Science and Criminal Justice. I shall also present my findings at conferences and to student organizations on campus.

7. A Forest Reborn: Habitat Restoration in Modern India
Student	Major	Faculty Advisor	College	Department	Award Date
Daniel Brookshire	Interdisciplinary Studies	Chuck Smith	Arts and Sciences	Interdisciplinary Studies	Nov 08, 2007
Project Description: During my study abroad in spring semester 2008, to the ecovillage of Auroville, I plan to document the history and current practice of habitat restoration at Auroville, India. I have chosen Auroville as the sight of investigation because it was created as an ecovillage for the purpose of habitat restoration and to foster sustainable living techniques. This project will investigate the sources of inspiration for habitat restoration in a developing nation; sources of funding for restoring the surrounding environment of Auroville; techniques used to bring about habitat restoration; What is the final goal of this habitat restoration or has this already been achieved?; What defines a habitat as ?restored??; Can this been seen as a process with some fundamental place-independent techniques?; What level of importance is this for India and other developing nations? Methods of Research: I will conduct the stated research investigation through photo documentation of what Auroville once looked like before habitat restoration began and photos I will take of what the area looks like today. I will also conduct interviews with long time Auroville residents or current officials to discuss their experiences with, opinions of, and future visions of habitat restoration at Auroville. I will also conduct research through on site access to Auroville records regarding the history of the ecovillage. Furthermore I will also be involved in an internship throughout the semester abroad that deals with regeneration work and sustainable development during the semester abroad. This research project needs support from the Office of Student Research in order to research a topic that is very important to Appalachian State University?s sustainable development and environmental studies programs. This project needs specifically as much financial support as possible for traveling to and in Auroville, India in addition to the camera equipment I have requested. By investigating habitat restoration in a developing nation I will be able to better understand the need for habitat restoration world wide and how it can be conducted in all nations and not just developed ones. I plan on recording and documenting all of my research in an academic paper which I also plan on presenting on the next University Research Day following my return to the United States. I have discussed the outline of this project with Greg Orifici, Director of Admissions for the Living Routes Program I am doing this study abroad program with and he has stated that the faculty of the program will also be willing to assist me with this project.

8. The first complete biography of Sir George Dyson, English composer.
Student	Major	Faculty Advisor	College	Department	Award Date
Stephen Fogleman	Interdisciplinary Studies	Jay Wentworth	Arts and Sciences	Interdisciplinary Studies	May 11, 2007
Project Description: Last summer, I had the privilege of staying in Lichfield, England with Paul Spicer (wwww.paulspicer.com), a composer, conductor, writer, adjudicator, and recording producer. The purpose of this visit was to assist him in his research for the first complete biography of the English composer Sir George Dyson (1883-1964). Paul was then just beginning his research, and since last summer he has been uanble to devote much time to the project, due to his many other musical endeavors. Because of the assistance I provided him last summer, he has invited me back to stay so that more work can be done. I will be staying with Paul for approximately four weeks, from about June 16 to July 14, 2007. During this time, I will assist him by reading through archive materials, letters, books, interviews, photographs, and scores and annotating them and organizing them appropriately. I will also be transcribing a number of interviews that Paul has conducted with various people connected with Dyson. Much of this work can be done in Paul's home, but much of it will also be done at the Royal College of Music in London.

9. Where are the Men in Service? Understanding the Gender Divide in University Service Coordination Offices
Student	Major	Faculty Advisor	College	Department	Award Date
Jason Radford	Interdisciplinary Studies	Brad Nash	Arts and Sciences	Sociology and Social Work	Mar 26, 2007
Project Description: Over the past decade, service has been emphasized in American secondary and higher education as a way to connect students to the needs of their local community and an opportunity to overcome the egotistic tendencies of Western individualism. However, on university campuses, few men work with service coordination offices, a trend that confounds national statistics which shaw that women volunteer only slightly more than men. This study investigates how men are involved in service, why they are not getting involved in service offices on college campuses, and how these offices may be able to increase their male participation. Surveys will be given out to a convenient sample at a service event and a random sample online, both targeted at students of a comprehensive university in North Carolina. Also, focus groups will be conducted with male students with little or no involvement in service. This data will be analyzed to measure gender-based differences in service behavior and to qualitatively understand how uninvolved men view service and why they do and do not serve.