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Microspheres: Micro or Mega Problem?

Microbeads are added to personal care products such as body scrubs to aid in the exfoliation of skin and to toothpastes as an abrasive. They do not break down readily in the environment ther…

Microwave Oven: A Cooking Companion or a Dangerous Device?

Toxicology Fourth Award

Objectives/Goals The objective is to determine the effects of microwave radiation on the seed germination and growth of a bean plant. Methods/Materials Forty-two bean seeds were placed into…

miRNAs as Biomarkers of IAPP-induced Inflammation in Type 2 Diabetes

Systems Software Fourth Award

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a chronic disease brought about by metabolic events such as insulin resistance and the progressive dysfunction of insulin-secreting beta cells. Recently, both inflam…

Mis-Disordered Tau Protein Interactions with Curcuma longa Utilizing a C. elegans Model

Alzheimer’s disease is primarily caused by the misfolding and aggregation tau and amyloid-ß proteins interactions causing reduced neuronal function in over five million people in the United…

Missense Mutations in Colorectal Cancer: Targeting Pathways in Early vs. Late Stages--Could There be a Role for Early Intervention with Better Outcomes?

Translational Medical Science

Colorectal cancer arises from genetic aberrancies classified as driver mutations, which actively promote disease progression, and passenger mutations that provide no evident selective growth…

Miticide Microencapsulation: Evaluating the Effect of Microencapsulation of Thymol Miticide Treatments on Honey Bee [Apis mellifera] Colonies

Biochemistry

Varroa mites (Varroa destructor) have caused significant impacts on honey bees (Apis mellifera) in the United States through by introducing a new series of pathogens. The purpose of this res…

Mitigation of Hypoxic Ecosystems Using Hemolymph Analysis of Callinectes sapidus and Procambarus clarkii in Relation to Spartina Grasses, Year Two

In the past 80 years, Louisiana has lost over one-million acres in land, affecting plants and crustaceans that live in these environments. The first objective of this research was to determi…

Mitigation of the Cytotoxicity of Single-walled Carbon Nanotubes Using Nontoxic Surfactants and Surface Functionalization

Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design

This research sought to address the toxicity of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) when released into the environment through the addition of nontoxic surfactants and the novel method of surface functi…

Mitochondrial Protein CYP11A1 Changes Mitochondrial Morphology

Translational Medical Science Fourth Award

Mitochondria are the "energy factories" of the cell. Their main function is ATP production, and they are normally thumb-shaped with lamellar cristae. Mitochondrial morphology regulates apopt…

Mobile Device for Radiation Measurements in Big Cities

Fourth Award

In this research, we have introduced and analyzed a new method of creating a large-scale network for monitoring the radiation background in big cities. The project is based on integration of…

MobMall: The First Online Mall Platform

Introduction: In the last year the value of the online transactions increased to 2356 millions of dollars. The most part of these transactions was made using mobile gadgets. 45% of the gadge…

Modal Logic as a Programming Language

The logician Patrick Blackburn proposed several times to consider modal formulas as automata that are placed at some point inside a relational model and explore their environment by making t…

Modeling and Analyzing Melting Arctic Sea Ice with Percolation Theory

Fourth Award

Extreme losses in summer Arctic sea ice pack, a leading indicator of climate change, have led to the need for significant revisions of global climate models. Part of the efforts to improve t…

Modeling CMIP5 Projected Climate Change Impacts on Global Chiropteran Species-Range Shifts under RCP Emission Scenarios

Environmental Science First Award

Objectives/Goals The IPCC estimates that a 2-3C mean temperature rise would critically endanger 25% of the species. While projecting habitat shifts of terrestrial mammals is vital for mitiga…

Modeling Gas Flow in Hydraulically Fractured Shale

Natural gas currently supplies 22% of the energy that the United States consumes annually. As other supplies run low, there is a need to dig deeper in order to access a different resource ca…

Modeling of fMRI Data to Diagnose Patients with Autism Spectra Disorder

Status quo methods of autism diagnosis are subjective and varied. This can result in misdiagnosis as well as leave patients with the disorder undiagnosed for long periods of time. The goal o…

Model Order Reduction of Cell Signalling Pathways: An Investigation of the Invasive Mechanism of Ebola Virus

The recent Ebola virus (EBOV) epidemic has claimed over 4000 lives in West Africa. The fatal virus suppresses the host’s immune response by inhibiting IFN?-dependent p-STAT1 nuclear import b…

Model Order Reduction of Cell Signalling Pathways: An Investigation of the Invasive Mechanism of Ebola Virus

Mathematics & Software Honorable_mention Award

Objectives/Goals To formulate and implement a mathematical algorithm which reduces the dimensionality of kinetic models of cell signalling pathways while still preserving their most importan…

Modern Insulators

Product Science (Physical) (Junior Division Only)

Objectives/Goals The objective of this experiment was to find out which commonly used, modern insulation retains the most heat. Methods/Materials To complete this experiment three different…

Modifiers of Apis mellifera Flight Muscle Metabolism: A Field Study in a Working Apiary

Animal Sciences

Current trends indicate a distressing worldwide decline in honeybees with disease/pests, pesticides and sub-optimal nutrition likely offenders. Optimal energy metabolism may support colony h…

Modulation of Macrophage Phenotype Using Nanoparticle-Delivered Gene Therapy for Treatment of Inflammatory Diseases

Translational Medical Science Third Award

Chronic inflammation contributes to the pathogenesis of seven of the ten leading causes of mortality in the U.S. However, current anti-inflammatory drugs are oftentimes ineffective and/or cy…

Molecular Detection of Peronospora effusa during the Latent Period

Downy mildews are a serious disease of many crops in coastal California. In spinach, downy mildew is caused by the plant pathogenic microorganism Peronospora effusa. In California, where nea…

Molecular Detection of Peronospora effusa during the Latent Period

Microbiology (General)

Objectives/Goals Downy mildews are a serious disease of many crops in coastal California. In spinach, downy mildew is caused by Peronospora effusa. In California, where nearly 75% of the US…

Mom, Do I Have to Rinse/Scrub the Plates Before I Put Them in the Dishwasher?

Product Science (Biological) (Junior Division Only) Fourth Award

Objectives/Goals To determine if a pre-rinse or scrub step will help the ability of a dishwasher to clean dishes. Glo Germ(TM) was used as a bacterial surrogate to represent a biofilm that c…

Money and the Mind: How Does Someone's Economic Situation Affect Their Moral Decision Making?

Behavioral & Social Sciences

Objectives/Goals The purpose of this project was to find out how the factor of money in a person#s situation affects the way they make moral decisions. Methods/Materials In this experiment,…

Monitoring the Decline of Sea Fan Populations Near Anacapa Island Using a Remotely Operated Vehicle

Earth & Atmospheric Sciences (Junior Division Only)

Objectives/Goals Gorgonians, commonly referred to as sea fans, are a type of octocoral that are slow growing and sensitive to environmental fluctuations. Studies have shown that in areas wit…

Monitoring the Flight Patterns of Local White-Faced Ibis

Zoology

Objectives/Goals On the way to school one morning, and I saw a group of unusual looking birds flying overhead. They had a large wingspan, and an odd shaped beak. I told my science teacher ab…

Moral Judgment and the Principle of Double Effect

Behavioral & Social Sciences

Objectives/Goals An online survey was conducted to assess people's moral judgments using the classic trolley problems. I ask: To what extent do demographic characteristics like gender and ag…

More Efficient Cancer Treatment Using Novel Ferrocene and Titanocene Derivatives

Systems Software

Due to a growing number of patients diagnosed with cancer, constantly increasing resistance of cancer cells to the current chemotherapeutics such as cisplatin and large amount of adverse eff…

More than a Paycheck: The Relationship between Perceived Occupational Stress and Health Indicators

Biomedical and Health Sciences

The complex hormonal mechanisms of the autonomic nervous system provide the physiological conditions necessary to cope with a sudden crisis or emergency. Chronically stressful conditions cau…