Abel E Navarro received his PhD degree in Biomolecular Chemistry at New York University. Now, as a junior Faculty member at BMCC, he is developing new bioremediation alternatives for the elimination of pollutants from wastewaters as biodegradable and recyclable materials that can compete with currently available techniques. Navarro has a publication record of more than 50 articles in specialized and peer-reviewed journals and is members of several Editorial Boards. Navarro would like to thank BMCC and PNICP (project ECIP-1-P-042-14) for the financial support. This project was also sponsored by UPRRP Center for Renewable Energy and Sustainability and the HSI-STEM grant from the US Department of Education.

Kibrewossen Tesfagiorgis is from Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York in USA

Title: Modeling the breakthrough curves for fixed-bed column adsorption of heavy metals using spent tealeaves

Removal of pollutants using biomass in a fixed-bed column is an inexpensive and eco-friendly approach to decontaminate polluted water. Studies show that spent tealeaves have successfully been used to remove heavy metals from polluted water in a fixed-bed column adsorption experiment. The goal of this study is to evaluate the performance of various kinetic models to simulate the experimental breakthrough data. We chose three, namely the Thomas, Clark and Yoon-Nelson kinetic models to fit the experimental breakthrough data. The various model parameters needed by the kinetic models were determined using the shuffled complex evolution (SCE) algorithm. The impact of each parameter on the breakthrough curves was examined by performing parameter sensitivity analysis. Parameter sensitivity was carried out by varying one of the parameters while keeping the remaining parameters at optimal values. To demonstrate the influence of a parameter in a model, the RMSE versus the parameter for each experiment was analyzed. Preliminary results indicate that: a) the SCE algorithm can be used for parameter estimation; b) the Clark and Yoon-Nelson models were found to be the best kinetic model to simulate the experimental data.

Title: Response of environmental stress on microbial life in aquatic areas

Abundant in fresh water and marine habitats, bacteria and protists are essential to the foundations of aquatic ecosystem food webs and can be easily observed and monitored in the laboratory. Both types of organisms were studied for their response to changing environmental conditions. Water samples from two NYC fresh water regions and one intertidal marine area were collected and screened for bacterial content. Also studied was an intertidal ciliated marine protist that was previously co-isolated with eggs from the sea urchin Lytechinus variegatus. Preliminary data indicated that whereas fresh water bacterial isolates cannot survive in marine conditions, bacteria isolated from salt water are able to thrive in fresh water conditions. For the marine protist, growth kinetics indicated that cultures of this organism can grow at a similar rate in various saline levels that range from much lower to much higher than that of the ocean. For intertidal organisms, adaptability to salt levels is especially important given the unstable salinity in these waters. Knowing how microorganisms respond to varying conditions will elucidate how gross environmental shifts affect microbial life and feeding structure at this trophic level and enable predictions about how these changes might impact higher forms of life in the same ecosystems.

Title: Confocal Raman Studies of Raman Studies of single crystals of the CuAlSe2–CuGaSe2 system

The CuAlSe2 and CuGaSe2 ternary compounds and single crystals of the (CuGaSe2)1-x×(CuAlSe2)x system with the mole fraction of CuAlSe2 (x) equal to 0.20, and 0.90 were grown by Chemical Vapor Transport (CVT) with iodine as transporting agent and investigated by confocal Raman spectroscopy. It was established that all spectra were dominated by the total symmetric mode of A1 symmetry at 186 cm-1. The cluster analysis was applied and the redistribution of the intensities of the separate vibrational modes was explained by peculiarities of the morphology of as-grown CuAlSe2 – CuGaSe2 single crystals. A comparison of the data for each of these components will be presented.

Title: Optimizing the biosorption of 2-Chlorophenol using spent tea leaf wastes as adsorbent

The presence of phenolic compounds is often underestimated in environmental protection. However, the combination of their prevalence in industrial runoffs and negative impact in human health and ecology is a top-priority concern. Chamomile (CM), green tea (GT) and peppermint (PM) spent tea leaves were used as potential adsorbents of 2-chlorophenol (2-CP) from aqueous solutions in batch conditions at room temperature. Equilibrium parameters such as pH and adsorbent dose were studied to maximize the uptake of 2-CP. Moreover, the effect of interfering inorganic and organic substances on the adsorption was studied. Results indicate that the adsorption of 2-CP is strongly affected by the pH, showing its lowest and highest values at pH 6 (21%) and pH 9 (90%) for CM. Adsorption of 2-CP followed the trend: CM (80%) > PM (58%) > GT (47%) and was slightly affected by the presence of Cu(II) and Pb(II) metal ions and polyethyleneglycol as ionic and covalent interfering substances, respectively. According to the results, solid wastes such as spent tea leaves have not only proven to be potential 2-CP adsorbents, but also inexpensive and biodegradable materials. Keywords: 2-chlorophenol; Adsorption; Bioremediation; Tea Leaf Wastes

Title: Multidisciplinary research in STEM at BMCC: Building a culture of research at a community college

The Borough of Manhattan Community College has a robust multidisciplinary undergraduate research program supporting faculty mentored student research. BMCC is a pioneer among community colleges both within CUNY and nationally where students have an opportunity to be exposed to graduate level work in a state-of the-art research laboratory with talented and motivated faculty mentors. The BMCC administration has invested in the development of this research agenda and has made the expansion of the research enterprise a priority in its strategic plan. This has resulted in increased recruitment of students into STEM fields, improved retention in STEM majors and in graduation rates. Further, BMCC student researchers have served as co-authors on faculty peer-reviewed publications. In the last two years BMCC has seen an increase in the number of faculty mentored student researchers by 200 fold and this represents the commitment and perseverance of both faculty and administrators towards building a culture of research at a community college.

Title: A novel polyisoprenylated cysteinyl amide inhibitor, NSL-BA-055, selectively inhibits proliferation of hepatocellular carcinoma cells

The monomeric GTP-ase, Ras, is mutated in over 30% of cancers where it promotes uncontrolled proliferation of cancer cells. Ras signaling is one of many pathophysiological pathways implicat-ed in hepatocellular carcinoma that results in cell survival, differentiation, proliferation, and angi-ogenesis. Ras is bound to the cytoplasmic face of the plasma membrane where it relays intracellu-lar signals. Polyisoprenylated cysteinyl amide inhibitors (PCAIs) effectively disrupt the functions of polyisoprenylated proteins such as Ras. Many hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) have dysreg-ulated Ras signaling. However, the effects of PCAIs on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are un-known. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a novel PCAI, NSL-BA-055, on HCC. Initially, concentrations of NSL-BA-055 ranging from 0 to 100 µM were used for experi-mentation. Then, the effects on proliferation of BNL CL.2 (non-tumorigenic mouse hepatocytes), BNL 1ME A.7R.1 (mouse HCC cells derived from BNL CL.2 hepatocytes) and Hep G2 (human hepatocytes) were analyzed. Next, the effects of NSL-BA-055 on Ras, Akt, phosphorylated-Akt (p-Akt), Erk, and phosphorylated-Erk (p-Erk) protein expression, all downstream components of Ras signaling, were examined by western blotting. In addition, Annexin V for apoptosis and mi-gration assays were performed. Results indicate that NSL-BA-055 significantly inhibited the pro-liferation of BNL 1ME A. 7R.1 HCC cells, but not the non-tumorigenic BNL CL.2 hepatocytes. Also, concentrations of the NSL-BA-055 compound as low as 4 μM and 10 μM significantly in-hibited the proliferation of BNL 1ME A.7R.1 and Hep G2 HCC cells, respectively. Western blotting revealed that NSL-BA-055 inhibited Ras, Akt, p-Akt, Erk and p-Erk protein expression. Annexin V assay indicated that NSL-BA-055 induced late apoptosis in both cell lines. Addition-ally, NSL-BA-055 inhibited migration of BNL 1ME A.7R.1 and Hep G2 HCC cells as indicated by wound healing assays. Collectively, our results indicate that the PCAI, NSL-BA-055, is a novel compound that selectively inhibit the proliferation, migration and promotes apoptosis of HCC cells, but not normal hepatocytes. This effect may be via inhibition of the Ras signaling pathway. Consequently, NSL-BA-055 is a novel candidate agent for HCC therapy.

Title: Measurement of college students’ attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors regarding sustainability

Introduction: This exploratory study examined the personal sustainability practices of urban community college students as well as their level of satisfaction with the sustainable policies implemented on campus. Methods: The Sustainable Living survey was administered to 200 students and measured 1) the frequency of their sustainable practices, 2) their level of concern for sustainable issues, and 3) their level of satisfaction with the school’s indoor environment and the college’s implementation of sustainability practices. Correlation analysis was conducted between dependent measures to identify relationships between behaviors and attitudes/beliefs. Linear regression analysis was then conducted to determine whether environmental awareness contributed to or explained satisfaction with sustainability opportunities available to students on campus. Results: Significant correlations were found between issues of public concern (e.g. recycling and more open spaces; N=181,r=.768, p<.01) and between satisfaction levels on different aspects of the school’s environment (e.g. air quality and temperature; N=181, r=.719, p<.01) and between awareness of the school’s sustainability programs, such as sustainable landscaping and sustainable food options (N=181, r=.719, p<.01). Students’ awareness of the institutions’ practices in regard to both green purchasing (B=.354) and sustainable landscaping (B=.303) contributed to students’ satisfaction with the number of sustainable activities that were available to students to participate in (R=.678, R sq = .459, F (2, 178)=75.619, p < .000 ). Conclusion: The findings show that the majority of students personally implement energy conservation, waste management, and water conservation measures only sometimes; however, these same students, in the aggregate, rated sustainable issues as being a public concern of great importance. In addition, the majority of students indicated they were more than satisfied with the school’s indoor environment, specifically air quality, temperature, cleanliness, and availability of natural lighting, and that they also found the institution’s sustainable programs, such as recycling, landscaping, energy and water conservation practices, as being more than evident. Thus, it appears that students do not personally act on their concerns, but are content that their school’s policies address these concerns. Educational Implications: School institutions serve an important role in modeling sustainable practices that perhaps with additional supports could lead to students adopting the practices at home. Green school environments have been linked to increased learning; thus, sustainability practices of an academic institution may factor more importantly in educational outcomes than previously considered.

Title: Understanding estrogenic mechanisms driving Breast Cancer: Computational modeling of ER-Paraben complexes

Estrogenic chemicals in the environment have generated mainstream concerns over their potential link to breast cancer. Xenoestrogens, popularized by the media coverage of such chemicals as Bisphenol A, are synthetic compounds that mimic the effect of estrogen by binding to estrogen receptors inside the cell and promoting a similar cellular response. One group of xenoestrogens called parabens is used as an anti-bacterial preservative in many cosmetics, food, beauty products and pharmaceuticals. Experimental assays have demonstrated that parabens bind weakly to the estrogen receptor (ER) however, it is still unknown as to whether parabens mimic the magnitude of the estrogen’s response in the cell. Furthermore, there is also limited amount of structural data describing how parabens bind to the ER. In this work, we use computational modeling to predict the binding affinities and binding modes of several parabens to the ER. Future work will focus on evaluating the structural validity of these conformations and their impact on the downstream signaling processes involved in the estrogenic response related to the development of breast cancer.

Title: Visualizing the beauty of mathematics through the beauty of artwork by the technology of Maple-Software

The presenter is interested in sharing her pedagogical strategy of teaching mathematics by linking Calculus to Art and incorporating Maple-Software graphic projects in the Calculus curriculum design. Visualization of the beauty in Mathematics through the beauty in Art of computer-generated graphic images by the technology of Maple-Software program can enhance students' intuitive understanding of abstract mathematical concepts and develop students' application skills by using mathematical knowledge. During a sequence of pilot summer Calculus courses from 2013 to 2015 at BMCC, the presenter has created a sequence of art-related undergraduate student research projects in the Calculus sequence courses such as "2016 Geometric Abstract Art Calendar", "2015 Funny Face Images", and "2014 Polar Art Calendar". Research findings in this sequence of pilot Calculus courses will be presented at the end of this presentation. The sequence of pilot Calculus courses were supported by the grant from (MSEIP) Minority Science Engineering Improvement Program through US Department of Education and also supported from (ELIC) Enhanced Learning In Classroom Teaching Funds at BMCC.

Title: Computational studies of cis/trans preference in substituted proline dipeptides

Proline is an essential amino acid present in abundant quantities in collagen, the most abundant protein in the human body and other proteins and it plays a significant role in the stability of those proteins. Proline conformations are known to have significant influence on the secondary structure and functions of proteins. Studies have shown that the nature and relative position of the substituent at position four of the pyrrolidine ring in prolines critically influence the secondary structure and function of the resulting proteins. As with all amino acids, proline peptides exist in two isomeric forms, the cis and the trans isomer. There also exist two main conformations of proline, the exo and the endo conformers formed due to the puckering of the five membered pyrrolidine ring. The relative stabilities of these conformers also varies greatly depending on the substituents attached at position four. Quantum chemical methods have been used to study the effects of electronic factors on the relative stabilities of the cis and trans isomers by substitutions with electron withdrawing groups like halides and azides, and electron rich groups like the alkyl and methoxy groups.

Title: Construction of chlorins for biomedical applications

Multifunctional dyes comprised of a core chlorin platform appended with S-poly(etheleneglycol) chains (SPEG) and a carboxylate-linker allow rapid conjugation to biological and biotargeting motifs using click chemistry. As a demonstration, the chlorin platforms were conjugated to a protein and to DNA. The photophysical attributes of the chlorin allows both fluorescence diagnostics and photodynamic therapy to be applied in the clinics.

Title: A computational study of protein – micelle systems in implicit water

Membrane proteins are very difficult to handle due to their amphipathic nature of their surface. One of these difficulties is to find the correct membrane-mimicking environment that maintains protein structure stability and function. Surfactants such as detergents are used to solubilize proteins and also to mimic the natural membrane environment forming micelles. The most commonly used detergents are dodecylphosphocholine (DPC) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). It is computational expensive to perform atomistic simulations of the detergent self-assembly because it involves a significant number of particles and also the time scales to capture this process might be very long. We propose a modeling approach that treats the protein and detergent in atomistic detail and the solvent implicitly. The model is based on previous work on DPC micelles, adapted for use with the CHARMM36 force field and extended to SDS micelles. Solvation parameters were slightly adjusted to reproduce experimental data on aggregation numbers and critical micelle concentrations. To validate these models, additional molecular dynamic simulations were performed on small membrane peptides to confirm their stability inside the micellular environmnent. Due to the atomistic details of our models it is possible to obtain important information about the aggregation process and also about the interaction between proteins and lipids.

Title: Activity of commercial samples of Neem (Azadirachta indica) extracts

Neem tree, Azadirachta indica, (Meliaceae) is a native to Southeast Asia, has been used for thousands of years because of its versatility. Neem tree had been used in traditional medicine in India to alleviate different medical conditions, including diseases such as malaria, bacterial and worm infections, and various skin conditions. Many medicinal properties of neem are associated with chemical compounds accumulated in the plant such as total phenols and flavonoids. The objective of this work is to investigate the nematicidal, anti-yeast activity and antioxidant activity of different commercial samples neem tree. The nematicidal activity of plant extracts was tested using the free living nematode Panagrellus redivivus and anti-yeast activity of the plant extracts was assessed using an MTT-method. Total phenolics were quantified using the Folin-Ciocalteu method, and expressed as gallic acid equivalents. Antioxidant activity was quantified using the ABTS radical scavenging assay by expressing it as Trolox equivalents. Leaves, bark and twig extracts did not exhibit nematicidal activity against P. redivivus and no anti-yeast activity based on these results. Leaves and bark extracts that exhibited high total phenolic and flavonoids content were associated with high antioxidant capacity. This positive correlation between total phenolic content and anti-oxidative capacity suggests that strong antioxidant activity is due to the high phenolic and flavonoid content in these extracts. The results suggest that the high survival rate of P. redivivus could be related to the high antioxidant activity that is contributing to extend the lives of the nematodes.

Title: Limited resources for iconic and working memory

Working memory shows striking limits in capacity; it lasts on the order of seconds and it stores only a few items. Because of the importance of working memory for human cognition, it is crucial to understand its precursor, iconic memory, which has not been well characterized. In two experiments, we used the adjustment method to directly compare precision of iconic and working memory. In the first experiment, we tested memory for object orientation by displaying objects of different orientations. Participants reported the orientation of the cued object by clicking on a corresponding position on a circle. We varied the delay between object display and cue to tap into two memory systems, iconic (no delay) and working memory (delay). As expected, working memory precision declined with increasing set size, confirming previous observations. Interestingly, iconic memory showed similar pattern of results. Although precision for iconic memory was higher, data revealed continuous decline of precision with increasing set sizes, especially for set sizes four and higher. In the second experiment, we tested precision of iconic and working memory for motion. Iconic memory precision again declined with increasing set sizes, mimicking results for working memory. Our results demonstrate that iconic memory is limited in precision and that capacity limitations of working memory originate at the earliest stages of visual memory formation. In light of this evidence, we suggest that short-term memory systems are perhaps best conceived as a continuum rather than distinct memory stages.

Title: Map learning using mobile game for visually impaired

Pre-journey is very useful for every traveler, especially for visually impaired because they can learn maps and routes prior to their upcoming journey. Research on pre-journey attract more attention in the past decade. However, these methods have two limitations: (a) these methods usually make use of special visualization interfaces that are costly; (b) these methods mainly focus on outdoor scenes due to existing online map or GIS database of outdoor scenes, although the idea can be extended to handle indoor scene, however, it needs additional effort to generate indoor maps. Therefore, the above limitations make pre-journey unfeasible to most of visually impaired people. In this talk, I’ll present a novel pre-journey framework by applying gamification concept, particularly deal with indoor scenes. It can be also applied to outdoor scenes with little effort. First indoor accessible maps are automatically generated, and then a multi-level mobile game is designed and implemented for visually impaired to learn maps and routes prior to their travel. The proposed pre-journey method is easy to be applied to other indoor scenes and can encourage visually impaired to travel independently.