Category: Poster Presentation

Heat Gain is Not Retained

Presenter: Haley Davis

Co-Presenters: Robert Kiesler, Matthew Decker

Mentor: Alison Kwok

Poster: 7

Major: Architecture 

It is our responsibility at the University of Oregon to build buildings on our campus that do not require massive heating and cooling because it utilizes nonrenewable resources and costs the school a lot of money. During winter term 2014 we studied the John E. Jaqua Center for student-athletes to determine whether it is possible to have a fully-glazed facade that does not result in significant heat gains and losses. The John Jaqua Center, designed by ZGF Architects in Portland and completed in 2010, is one of the first large-scale double glass facade systems in the Pacific Northwest. The building is 40,000 square feet and has a facade made of 85% glass (ZGF Architects, 2010). Theoretically, temperature swings are controlled by the buffer that the five-foot air gap in the double glass cavity provides. This study focuses on testing the effectiveness of this system at regulating temperatures inside the Center to determine whether the double glass facade is a viable solution as a thermal barrier in the Pacific Northwest’s mild climatic variations. We have determined that this facade system is not functioning effectively and thus is resulting in high heating and cooling costs for the building. At this point we have concluded our primary research, but we are interested in continuing these studies in the future to generate a more comprehensive report that can be presenting to the university to ensure these types of inefficient buildings are not built again on our campus.

More Than Just Words: EMOTAIX-Tropes Examines Linguistic Predictors of Mental Health

Presenter: Jackie Cowell

Mentor: Jennifer Ablow

Poster: 6

Major: Psychology 

Given the fundamental role that language plays in our lives, it is apparent that the words people use reveal information the ways in which they experience and interact with those around them. Examining the language use of at-risk first- time mothers is especially pertinent as risk factors such as maternal depression and anxiety lead to adverse child outcomes including delayed emotional development, behavioral problems and lower IQ (Bergman et at., 2007). To broaden the understanding of how language is used in emotion processing with regards to mental health outcomes, we used EMOTAIX-Tropes, a text-analysis software program aimed at assessing the emotional lexicon, to examine 65 first-time mothers’ use of emotion language such as words denoting worry, happiness, or anger. The women were interviewed using the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) and were recorded and transcribed verbatim, then analyzed via EMOTAIX-Tropes, which divides and classifies emotion terms into semantic categories according to valence (positive or negative). Additionally, participants filled out questionnaires to assess levels of depression (CESD) (Radloff, 1977), anxiety (BAI) (Beck, Brown, Epstein & Steer, 1998), trauma history (TSC) (Elliot & Briere, 1992), alexithymia (TAS) (Bagby, Parker & Taylor, 1994), and intelligence (Shipley, 1940). We hypothesized that participants’ emotional language would correlate with self-reported measures of distress, such that those with greater symptomatology will use more negative affect terms. Preliminary Results show that depression is positively correlated with the use of negative emotion words. Further analyses will look at the correlation between emotion language and other mental health factors.

Exotic Sexuality: Examining the Effect of Exotic Dancing on Women’s Sexuality

Presenter: Amber Bryan

Mentor: Lamia Karim

Poster: 10

Major: Women’s and Gender Studies 

Exotic dancing has been studied widely in the fields of anthropology, sociology, psychology, and women’s and gender studies with scholars such as Bernadette Barton and Katherine Frank arguing that women become exotic dancers because they are suffering from repetition compulsion, causing dancers to follow intimacy scripts both at work and outside of work. However, these arguments, as well as the past research conducted, have not adequately addressed the issue of how exotic dancing may affect the sexuality of the women working in the exotic dancing profession.

My research has examined and compared the participatory sexual encounters of women before becoming dancers to their participatory sexual encounters after becoming dancers. The rarely acknowledged issue of working as an exotic dancer and the effects it has had on women’s sexual interest in other women was a particular point of interest throughout this study. Through ethnographic and empirical research, I have determined that working as an exotic dancer does have an impact on the women’s sexuality, who they choose to engage in sexual encounters with, and how frequently the women participated in sexual encounters outside of work, though the outcome was different for each woman. The data also shows that, while some of the women did experience an increase in sexual activity with multiple partners, most of the stereotypes about exotic dancers, that they are whores or lesbians, did not hold true.

A Predicted SH3 Binding Motif in Drosophila aPKC is Required for Proper Localization of aPKC During Asymmetric Cell Division of Neuroblasts

Presenter: Ryan Boileau

Mentor: Ken Prehoda

Poster: 5

Major: Human Physiology/Biochemistry/Biology

Asymmetric cell division of Drosophila neural stem cells, neuroblasts, requires the proper localization of factors that influence the orientation of cell divisions and future fates of mitotic progeny. Errors in the generation of this polarity could cause cells to overproliferate and become cancerous. In neuroblasts, atypical protein kinase C (aPKC) has been previously shown to be a key mediator in the generation of apico-basal polarity by localizing to the apical cortex and restricting the fate determinant proteins Numb and Miranda to the basal cortex during cell division. This allows the dividing neuroblast to maintain pluripotency while also generating a daughter cell that differentiates into neurons. Although the mechanism by which aPKC restricts basal determinants is known, how aPKC itself is apically localized is not fully known. Using transgenic fly lines and confocal fluorescence microscopy, we have found that a predicted SH3 binding motif within aPKC is necessary for its apical polarization in neuroblasts. We hypothesize that an SH3 domain containing protein binds to aPKC at this site and plays a role in stabilizing apical localization. Future research will be focused on finding interacting partners of this SH3 binding motif using a candidate gene-based approach and elucidating the mechanism by which this novel interaction may function to polarize aPKC.

Mandible Morphology and Habitat in the Extant Tribes Marmotini and Sciurini (Rodentia:Sciuridae)

Presenter: Eva Biedron

Mentor: Samantha Hopkins

Poster: 4

Major: Geology/Biology

Morphological convergence among rodents living in similar habitats is common and well recorded. While upper incisor angle has been studied in connection with diet, lower incisor angle has been relatively neglected, despite textbook assertions that it correlates to habitat. Due to the difference in diets and jaw use between the terrestrial tribe Marmotini and the arboreal tribe Sciurini, it is expected that the tribes will display different mandible morphology, specifically lower incisor angle and diastema depth. The inclination of the lower incisor was quantified by measuring its angle relative to the occlusal surface of the lower molars with the mandible in lateral view. Diastema depth was measured as a vertical line along the anterior edge of the mental foramina, again viewing the mandible laterally. Preliminary data supports a relationship between smaller lower incisor angles and arboreality (t22 = 2.652, p = 0.015), but does not support diastema depth (t12 = 0.375, p = 0.714) as a predictor of arboreality. Changing habitats during the early Oligocene could have prompted the radial evolution of sciurids; by understanding how modern squirrels’ morphology is related to the habitat they live in, paleontologists will be able to better reconstruct a fossil squirrel’s paleoenvironment by using measurements of commonly preserved cranial elements as a proxy for actual habitat data.

The Effects of Browsing and Grazing on Body Mass

Presenter: Mathew Beattie

Mentor: Samantha Hopkins

Poster: 3

Major: Biology/Geology 

Diet of mammals affects the metabolic rate, intelligence, and many other physical and behavioral characteristics. Understanding how the diets of mammals affect the development, evolutionary history, and overall biomass of species can be instrumental in understanding the needs of endothermic mammals and the large energy costs that it takes to maintain their bodies. Most large mammalian herbivores fall into two main dietary categories: browsers (animals that feed on the leaves, twigs, and the fruits of trees and shrubs) and grazers (animals that eat grasses
and forbs). It takes more mass of grass or forb to sustain a mammal than it does leaves or twigs; therefore, grazers must eat more food than browsers and will therefore have more body mass as a result of their dietary preference. A species body form is directly related to the actions it needs to do to survive. Therefore, by analyzing the phylogenetic relationship between the diet of Artiodactyla or “hooved mammals” in the families Bovidae (cows, sheep, goats, and antelope) and Cervidae (deer, moose, and elk), and the average body mass of species in each category, we have found that there is a strong correlation between increased body mass and grazing. However, this effect is mediated by habitat; those taxa that graze also tend to inhabit more open habitats, where the increased predation pressure may also select for greater size. Therefore, we will be analyzing the effect of diet, body size, habitat, and eventually tooth morphology to understand the evolutionary history of Artiodactyla.

Physical activity, Functional Abilities, and Health: Results of a WHO SAGE Sub-study Among Older Adults in an Urban Setting in India.

Presenter: Tyler Barrett

Mentor: Josh Snodgrass

Poster: 2

Major: Anthropology and Media Studies

Recent research in Western settings suggests that decreased physical activity in old age is detrimental to health, yet few studies have examined the relationships among physical activity, functional abilities, and health among older adults in non-Western settings. This study examines associations among measures of physical activity using seven consecutive days of ActiGraph GT3X accelerometry (total daily energy expenditure [TDEE; kcal/day], physical activity level [PAL], daily average activity count [AC], and activity energy expenditure [AEE; kcal/day]), physical function (grip strength, timed walk, daily average sit time, and average sleep time), and self-reported health conditions (diabetes, hypertension, arthritis, and depression) among 127 older adult women and 71 older adult men in an urban setting in India as part of a sub-study of the WHO’s Study on global AGEing and adult health (SAGE).

Findings among women (controlled for age) include a significant negative correlation between PAL and walking speed (p<0.05) and a significant positive correlation between AC and grip strength (p<0.01). Women diagnosed with hypertension had significantly lower PAL (p<0.05) and AC (p<0.05) than women without hypertension. Surprisingly, physical activity was not significantly associated with functional or health measures for men. This study documented relationships among physical activity, function, and health among older women, thereby further suggesting the use of physical activity intervention as a means for prolonging functional abilities and reducing chronic disease burden in older ages.

Support: NIH NIA Interagency Agreement YA1323-08-CN-0020; and grant NIH R01-AG034479

Sutural Methodology for Determining Age in Rhesus Monkeys (Macaca mulatta)

Presenter: Julia Arenson

Mentor: Frances White

Poster: 1

Major: Anthropology 

Cranial sutures are frequently used to determine age in forensic and bioarchaeological contexts. However, these methods are mostly only utilized in human populations, and a lack of comparative data for non-human primates makes visualizing the evolution of growth patterns difficult. This project documents cranial suture fusion in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) as a marker of development. To develop a standardized methodology, I used Meindl and Lovejoy’s (1985) established 0-3 point scale for human ectocranial fusion, and scored sutures all over the cranium that were included in Wang et al.’s research (2006). My sample included osteological specimens with known ages from the UO Comparative Primate Osteological Collection, ranging from 0 to over 14 years, totaling15 specimens (5 females and 10 males). Total percentage fusion of each region of the skull, divided into facial, neurocranial, and basicranial regions, revealed which areas correlated positively with age, while analysis of scoring precision over 10 trials of the same specimens showed which sutures were not scored reliably. Sutures on the neurocranium and face gave the best age correlates, while sutures within the eye orbit and the squamosal suture were not consistently scored. To best estimate the age of an osteological specimen, the findings suggest a focus on sutures of the face and neurocranium. Developing comparative methods to evaluate growth patterns can allow researchers to identify the changes and consistencies of important life history events within both human and nonhuman primate evolution.