URCAF Abstracts 2015

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https://hdl.handle.net/10057/11246

2015 URCAF Organizing Committee

Co-Chair: Trisha Self, Health Professions

Co-Chair: Douglas Parham, Health Professions

Ramazan Asmatulu, Engineering

Anthony May , Business

Dharam Chopra, Liberal Arts & Sciences

Kimberly Engber, Honors College

Kay Gibson, Education

Kyoung Lee, Liberal Arts & Sciences

William Flynn, Fine Arts

Manon Marcotte, Student Member

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Now showing 1 - 5 of 10

15th Annual Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Forum
(Wichita State University, 2015-04-07) WSU Undergraduate Students
Developing a targeting system for bacterial membranes
(Wichita State University, 2015-04-07) Thacker, Christopher
An ammonium picket porphyrin that targets bacterial membranes has been prepared and shown to bind to phosphatidylglycerol (PG), a bacterial lipid, when the lipid was in solution, contained within synthetic membrane vesicles, or when in Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacterial membranes. The multifunctional receptor was designed to interact with both the phosphate anion portion and neutral glycerol portion of the lipid headgroup. The receptor's affinity and selectivity for binding to surfactant vesicles or lipid vesicles that contain PG within their membranes was directly measured using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS). FCS demonstrated that the picket porphyrin's binding pocket was complementary for the lipid headgroup, since simple Coulumbic interactions alone did not induce binding. The lipid-receptor binding motif in solution was shown to mirror the binding motif of membrane-bound PG and receptor. Cell lysis assays with E. coli (Gram-negative) and Bacillus thuringensis (Gram-positive) probed with UV/Visible spectrophotometry indicated that the receptor was able to penetrate either bacterial cell wall and to bind to the bacterial inner membrane. Interestingly, the receptor itself inhibits gram-negative bacterial growth in low concentrations while not being degraded or metabolized.
Effects of fire on forb germination and survival in a south-central Kansas tallgrass prairie
(Wichita State University, 2015-04-07) Smith, Jennifer
Prescribed burning is an important tool for the conservation, restoration, and management of prairies, but, how fire impacts seeds in the year of the fire is poorly understood. For example, prairie burns can result in litter removal and increased nutrient availability, however it is unclear whether fire causes high seed mortality, or if such losses are offset by increased germination or establishment. In this study, we examined whether prescribed burning has facilitative or suppressive effects on the germination and survivorship of forbs in a south-central Kansas tallgrass prairie. Seven experimental treatments, which manipulated litter removal, burning of the seeds (lab and field), and burning of the prairie, were applied to 0.5 x 0.5-m plots to examine the effects on 15 species of common Kansas forbs. After one growing season, cumulative germination and end-of-season survivorship strongly increased in plots that were burned or had litter removed, though the effects were lower when seeds were sown prior to the burn. These results suggest that in similar tallgrass prairies, prescribed burns have a net positive effect on forb colonization and that sowing native forbs following a prescribed burn may be an effective restoration technique.
Reducing medication administration errors in emergency medical services through the implementation of a verbal verification method
(Wichita State University, 2015-04-07) Madi, Maha
Healthcare reform is a reoccurring issue that is common to legislatures across the country. Policy changes to healthcare affect everyone and in order to better provide for the citizens of the State agreements must be made on the type of reform that is needed. Reforming healthcare in the United States includes improving the access and quality of care provided to citizens. In order to improve the quality of care, medication errors need to be minimized in the healthcare field. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) professionals evaluate over 36 million people a year with over 16 million of these people transported to hospitals for additional care. Thousands of these people are prone to preventable medication administration errors made by providers. One of the many causes of these errors is in the way EMS professionals verify the drugs they are administering. The current verification method in place, is known as the 5 Rights method, has been questioned since no empirical data exists to support it. The 5 Rights method is a mental verification susceptible to fallibility of human processing. Currently we are studying the effects of a new Medication Administration Cross-Check (MACC) on the frequency of medication administration errors. We hypothesize that the introduction of the MACC will significantly reduce medication administration errors compared to prior MACC implementation. By implementing MACC, the quality of the administration of healthcare in Kansas can be greatly improved.
Pedestrian detection in a night time driving and texting task
(Wichita State University, 2015-04-07) Turner, Colton
The dangers of texting and driving have become the focal point of driving research in recent years. Most of this research has been directed at examining the dangers distracted drivers present to other motorists. However, roadside pedestrians are also endangered by distracted drivers. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration nearly 76,000 pedestrians were injured in traffic accidents in 2012. An additional 5,000 accidents resulted in pedestrian deaths. Current research tends to focuses on daytime driving despite the fact that distracted night time driving is far more dangerous for motorists and pedestrians alike. Nearly 70% of all pedestrian/automobile fatalities in 2012 occurred at night. These numbers are projected to continue over the coming years. Despite this projection surprisingly little research has been done on preventing pedestrian/vehicle collisions. Even less research has been done on night time prevention. The goal of this research study was to examine the effects texting while driving at night has on a driver's ability to detect roadside pedestrians as well as examining the effects the pedestrian's clothing has on their visibility. To do this participants were driven through a closed road course at night and given a texting task to complete when prompted. The participants were also asked to report anytime they saw a roadside pedestrian. The pedestrians were wearing one of three possible clothing options. The results of this study indicate that the presence of texting is not the determining factor of if a pedestrian will be detected, but instead it is the pedestrians clothing choice that determines detection and the distance of detection.

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