Presentation Proposal Abstracts
Template: Insert abstract here. The abstract should be publishable (proofread and polished) and between 100 and 250 words in length. It should include your group's name, and names of everyone in your group who participated in the assignment today. When formatting for the table cell, the abstract should be one paragraph and have no hard right returns. Create a link to your group's index (Tabs) page. Template |
Automotive: As the end of oil is projected to be near, and the end of natural gas is not projected to be much farther out from oil, a new fuel needs to be developed for the automotive industry. In addition to finding a fuel to replace oil, the fuel needs to be clean to stymie the global warming issue. Most of the alternative fuels talked about use methanol/ethanol, but as these fuels are still hydrocarbons, they will release a significant amount of CO2. The most feasible fuels currently being developed include electricity, hydrogen, and air pressure. These fuels are both renewable and green, but they do have their drawbacks. Electric cars as well as electric hybrids must carry heavy battery banks that provide limited range as well as limited durability. Hydrogen powered “fuel cell” vehicles which have HOD (hydrogen on demand) systems are very inefficient, and hydrogen vehicles which store hydrogen gas are dangerous. In either set up, hydrogen cannot currently be manufactured efficiently and environmentally friendly. Air pressure also has limited range, but air powered cars emit no emissions, drive the same as gasoline powered cars, and can be quickly filled with an industrial air compressor current fueling stations could easily obtain. What fuel automobiles will use in the future is unclear, but what is clear is with rising gasoline prices and global temperatures a new fuel needs to be found. Automotive Research conducted by John Dearmond, Carmen Tataru and Jason Ambrose |
Climate and Agriculture: Our research group wants to study the effects of global warming on each of our fields. We want to know why droughts throughout the Midwest and the Southeast have become so devastating. We want to find out how these droughts caused by global warming have affected fish populations and aquacultures. We will look at specific events such as Hurricane Isabel’s effect on the environment and the ongoing droughts in North Carolina and Virginia. We will look at the predicted growth of the droughts through the National Integrated Drought Information System. We also hope to examine the effect of global warming on the severity of hurricanes. Hurricane Isabel was a Cape Verde hurricane that reached Category 5 status on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. Once it made landfall in the lower Outer Banks of North Carolina, it was at Category 2 status. In Hampton Roads, 5-6 feet storm surges hit the southern cities with storm surges at 3-4 feet at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. There was also a great deal of rainfall. Both droughts and hurricanes have a huge impact on the living creatures, such as fish. These two events can affect all types of aquaculture, from self sustaining farms to hatcheries. Droughts can affect aquaculture in many ways, the most direct and sever effects is the decrease in availability of water. This decreases the water level and can impact the fish in many ways such as a loss of habitat. This can drop the water level at the farms to a level where the fish are forced to live at too high of densities. Hurricanes have other drastic effects on aquaculture. They can damage the equipment through flooding and high winds. Hurricanes can drastically increase fish diversity which then can lead to the spread of disease and increased predation. |
Infrastructure: Depression in the occupants of a building is one of the leading psychological symptoms of Sick Building Syndrome. Building owners and city planners can use aesthetic and innovative building and city planning designs to counter the depression that occurs in the occupants. We propose to implement the use of bamboo bridges within and around the city to create a more aesthetic environment for which the occupants of the buildings within the city work. The ornate bamboo bridges can span waterways, create building to building walkways or improve existing parks and recreation areas. The use of these aesthetically pleasing structures will increase the overall city view from within and around the buildings. Since depression is affected by the environment which the depressed person lives, increasing the aesthetic environment around the person will help combat depression, and ultimately lead to a decrease in psychological Sick Building Syndrome cases. We propose to create a wiki page in order to increase the awareness of depression related to Sick Building Syndrome and how it affects high school and college students. High school and college students have the highest rate of depression of any age group. Targeting this age group would then allow us to combat depression where its affects the largest population per age group. Also, the wiki page will provide descriptions and model representations of bamboo bridges and city planning methods to implement these bridges. Our goal is through increased awareness of Sick Building Syndrome and through the use of aesthetic bamboo bridges, we can lower the incidence of depression, and hopefully reduce the incidence of Sick Building Syndrome in the process. |
Medical Research: The problem under research is whether or not the use of new technology and robotics will help or hinder the patient’s path of recovery. Should the money be granted to begin this research, the newest technology in mechanics and robotics will be used in surgical procedures and in emergency situations to aid the physicians in healing the sick and injured. If the proposal is approved, new researchers will be hired to monitor and comment on the machinery used in the hospitals. The money provided will pay for the machines and also pay for the training that selected physicians and surgeons will undergo in order to be able to use the technology. The research will be done solely on those individuals who agree to be test patients for the new treatments and all treatment options will be offered to patients. This new research will further strengthen the argument of previous studies that show that the use of robotics and mechanical equipment will help the recovery time of patients and aid the physicians. The delicate surgical machines are less invasive, and require less recovery time than ordinary surgery. This does not mean that one day the need for physicians will be obsolete; when the machine breaks someone needs to fix it and be able to take over manually if needed. These machines will simply help the process. Medical Research Using New Technologies and Robotics This research will be conducted by Jessica McLaughlin, Katy Gaston, Casey Booth, Adrian Peebles. |
Science Ethics: The reason science ethics is such a large issue in today’s society is because of the education gap between the common man and scientists. With this gap scientists tend to have the upper hand in certain circumstances. Our group is proposing to educate the common man by requiring a course in twelfth grade as a transition course from high school to college that is mandatory for graduation. This course will help educate people on the ethics of science and help bridge the gap between common man and scientists. In this course the teacher will explain proper steps needed to take before participating in experiments and will also educate the students on the effects and possible outcomes of their decisions. The course also explains certain ethics of science which help when the students attend college and read about particular science experiments. They will be able to critique methods involved in the experiments and explain whether the procedures are in fact ethical. By the end of the course, students will be able to know how to create and conduct an experiment following the given steps to making a procedure ethical. This will provide students with a better knowledge of the scientific field, and will ultimately bridge the existing gap between common man and scientists. The end result could eventually lead to the general population better understanding not only the scientific field, but also some terminology involved. Therefore, our group feels this course should be required as a transition class between high school and college to better educate the general public regarding matters of the scientific field of work |
Technology: Insert abstract here. |
page revision: 51, last edited: 11 Apr 2008 10:58