Category: 2015

Experience of a Lifetime: Study Abroad, Trauma, and Institutional Betrayal

Presenter: Naomi Wright

Mentors: Jennifer Freyd and Carly Smith, Psychology

Oral Presentation

Major: Psychology 

While the number of U.S. undergraduates studying abroad during college continues to increase, emerging research suggests these students are at risk for experiencing trauma (Kimble, Flack, & Burbridge, 2013). The current study is the first to expand the investigation of study abroad risks to include a range of possible traumas, and to examine the unique effects of institutional betrayal (i.e., an institution’s failure to effectively prevent trauma or adequately support victims) in the study abroad setting. Many respondents (45.44%, n = 79) reported personally experiencing or witnessing at least one potentially traumatic experience (e.g., transportation accident, sexual assault, etc.) while studying abroad. Of these students, more than a third (35.44%, n = 28) also reported experiencing at least one form of institutional betrayal. As hypothesized, when controlling for previous trauma history, the experience of institutional betrayal uniquely predicted posttraumatic outcomes for witnessing and experiencing several types of study abroad trauma. This study revealed that students are experiencing a broader range of traumatic events during study abroad than previous research has indicated. It also illuminates possible patterns of trauma based on characteristics of study abroad experiences. Additionally, this study extends prior research by underscoring the importance of understanding institutional impact before, during, and after a student studies abroad.

The Study on Global AGEing and Adult Health (SAGE): Body Composition Measurements among Aging Populations

Presenter: Austin Wong

Mentors: Josh Snodgrass and Melissa Liebert, Anthropology

Poster: 65

Major: Biology

Frequently used as a predictor of obesity-related health risks, body mass index (BMI) estimates general adiposity instead of abdominal obesity, and does not distinguish between fat and lean mass. Further, previous research has found it is possible for adults to maintain a normal BMI, yet increase their waist circumference (WC) over time.

This makes BMI a less accurate predictor of cardiometabolic risk in older adults (/50 years old). While measures of central obesity have been found to be better indicators of cardiovascular disease than BMI, debate continues over the optimal measure of central adiposity. The current study uses data from the World Health Organization Study on global AGEing and adult health (SAGE), a longitudinal study of nationally representative samples from older adults
in six middle income countries (China, Ghana, Mexico, India, Russian Federation, and South Africa). We examine associations among body composition measures (BMI, WC, waist-to-stature ratio, and body adiposity index) across age groups, sex, and country. Furthermore, this study investigates associations between body composition measures and hypertension. We hypothesize that: 1)abdominal obesity measures will increase with age groups but decrease in those over 80 years old, 2) stronger associations will be found between abdominal adiposity measurements and blood pressure, and 3) diverse associations will be found in the populations examined due to a variety of factors including diet, urbanization, and health care access.

The Western Genre and Gun Violence in United States Culture: Using Theatre as a Laboratory for Social Critique

Presenter: Ariella Wolfe

Mentors: Michael Najjar, Theatre Arts; Mark Carey, Honors College

Oral Presentation

Major: Theatre Arts

The contemporary theatre director has the opportunity to encourage socially critical thought during the production process and in theatergoing audiences. This study seeks to demonstrate how the Western genre, which has mythicized the way of life on the United States frontier during westward expansion, can be used as a framework to understand the prevalence of gun violence in the contemporary United States. Moreover, the project endeavors to explore the theatre as a forum to address this issue. My methodology incorporates an application of my synthesis of Bertolt Brecht’s dialectical theatre to my direction of Afterlife, a Western genre play by Nicholas J. Maurer. The play suggests parallels between the issues of gun violence in the Western genre and present concerns regarding gun violence in our contemporary society. Following each performance I conducted post-show discussions with audience members to qualitatively assess how they critically engage with the cultural norms of gun use and gun violence.

This study presents an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on theatre directing theory, performance studies, history and sociology. The central argument of this thesis is that a socially conscious approach to theatre directing—taking into account the cultural, economic and social forces shaping the characters’ actions—will encourage audiences to engage cultural questions and recognize their ability to transform society. This research hopes to contribute to ongoing investigations that articulate the significance of theatre as a tool for social critique and social change.

Where the Wild Things Grow: A Case Study of Ventilation in Bathrooms

Presenter: Hannah Ward

Co-presenters: Alex Collins and Julia Frost

Mentors: Alison Kwok and Tom Collins, Architecture

Poster: 64

Major: Architecture

According to the City of Eugene’s website, newly constructed bathrooms must either have an operable window or “a venting system capable of 50 cubic feet per minute” controlled by “a dehumidistat, timer, or similar means of automatic control.”1 Spaces that do not provide enough ventilation can often be susceptible to damage such as mold growth and dry rot if humidity levels reach a certain point and stay there consistently. As Eugene is a mild and humid climate, many buildings have issues with mold growth because of high humidity levels. This study will assess which ventilation strategies are supportive in reducing humidity levels and ultimately preventing mold growth in a damp climate, such as Eugene. Specifically, this study will test the hypothesis that apartments with continuous bathroom ventilation systems are more capable of maintaining 50% RH [relative humidity] than apartments with non-continuous bathroom ventilation systems. To test the hypothesis, the study used a two-phase approach, which included four HOBO data loggers2 to record the relative humidity of three different apartment bathrooms using three different styles of ventilation, before testing the capacity of airflow from the two bath fans. Our results show that active ventilation techniques are not the only effective way to ventilate a space and, in fact, one of the bathrooms using an active fan actually performed worse than a comparable, passively ventilated bathroom.

How Smartphone Use during Walking Affects Ability to React to an Unexpected Event in Young Adults

Presenter: Deborah Wang

Mentors: Li-Shan Chou and On-Yee Lo, Human Physiology

Poster: C8

Major: Human Physiology

College students often engage in risky mobile phone behaviors. Though texting while driving has been an extensively studied, the issue of texting or other smartphone usage while walking has only been recently examined as a daily hazard. This project focused on how smartphone usage affected a person’s response to an unexpected event when the subject was looking intently at the screen. This study examined the failure rate as the subject stopped in front of a projected line, and associated gait characteristics including stride length, center of mass (COM) velocity and COM medial-lateral sway. In this experiment, whole body motion was collected with 29 reflective bony landmark markers and a 10-camera system. Subjects first stopped in front of a projected line at the same location, and with the same timing for 5 trials (expected condition, EX). Subjects were then asked to stop in front of the line projected at different times or locations for 10 trials (unexpected condition, UN), and then simultaneously completing a Stroop test on an iPod touch under the same unexpected condition for another 10 trials (UN_Stroop). A Stroop test has subjects pick the ink color a word of a color (IE green, blue or red) is written in (IE green, blue or red). This made the UN_Stroop condition the most challenging. UN and UN_Stroop had a higher failure rate than the 0% of EX (33% and 17% respectively). Furthermore, with smartphone usage, gait velocity and stride length decreased while medial-lateral sway increased, which could negatively impact pedestrian safety.

Influences on U.S. Mammal Diversity over the 20th Century: Implications for Future Response to Climate Change

Presenter: Kendra Walters

Mentor: Edward Davis, Geology

Poster: 63

Majors: Geology and Biology

Biodiversity loss is recognized as a global crisis. Current research strives to quantify and predict the change in biodiversity throughout the world, focusing on a wide range of taxa. However, current predictive models of mammal diversity in the United States suffer from low precision. They are not scaled with adequate spatial or temporal resolution because richness has not been evaluated at a broad spatiotemporal scale. Our research is a high- resolution analysis of the changes in mammal diversity in the continental United States through the last 110 years.

We collected mammal occurrence data from the online database VertNet and individual museum collections, divided it into ten year increments, and used scripts in ArcGIS 10.2 to produce sampling-standardized patterns of mammal diversity in each decade. We then analyzed the geographic distribution of diversity change over the 20th century. Mammal diversity in the last century increased in two regions: one northern horizontal strip between 43° and 47° latitude and one southeast strip from Texas to North Carolina. Diversity decreased throughout the rest of the United States. Our study describes regions in the United States that are experiencing the most severe biodiversity changes which suggests that those regions should be focal areas for conservation efforts. Further directions include testing hypotheses about the role of climate and human population change to influence these patterns of mammal diversity shifts.

Jewish Civicism in Oregon: How Jews Became Successful in a Plainly Racist State

Presenter: Jacob Valleau

Mentors: William Toll, History; Daniel Tichenor, Political Science

Oral Presentation

Major: Political Science 

Oregon Jews flourished economically and politically despite living in a state with many pro-hegemony laws, including severe measures such as a constitutional amendment barring blacks from entering the state. The purpose of this thesis is to answer the following questions using theories of historical regionalism coupled with demographic data, laws, and primary writings of the founders of Oregon from the mid-19th century through 1930. Why is there a general lack of anti-Semitism in a society that was (and some have argued, still is) determined to be racially hegemonic? Jews from Germany, a group favored by the immigration board of Oregon, created a lasting impact both economically and socially in Oregon. As Eastern European and Sephardic communities moved to Oregon and developed their own synagogues, larger systems of social control such as the various benevolent societies and the B’nai B’rith consolidated the ethnic variation of Oregon Jews, succeeding at reducing the ability for divisive groups like the Ku Klux Klan to blame Jews for any strife. The economic successes of the Oregonian Jewish merchant class made the Jewish ethnicity pronounced in the public eye. The integration of Jews into the majority ruling class in the West helps explain the strength of the Oregon Jewish ethnic group both civically and economically. This research helps answer the question: what defines “otherness” in the state of Oregon?

The Correlation of Prehistoric Wells, Groundwater Resources, and Statues on Easter Island Imply Greater Understanding of Natural Landscape by Prehistoric Rapanui People

Presenter: Sadie Trush

Mentors: Terry Hunt, Honors College Anthropology; Nick Dreher, Environmental Studies

Poster: C6

Major: Environmental Science

Commonly overlooked in the numerous narratives of Easter Island’s mystery, is the most critical resource to human beings: freshwater. Recent field research on the Island has focused on puna (archaeological well features) that may have allowed the prehistoric Rapanui people to obtain this essential element. An RC quadcopter, high resolution camera, and trimble unit were used on this research project to create 3-dimensional reconstructions of the puna, while the coastline was manually surveyed to find traces of freshwater at the marine interface. These two data sets were geographically compared with previously mapped locations of moai and ahu (great stone statues and platforms), since puna are always found within 50 meters of an ahu presentation. Additionally, in these areas notable amounts of fresh, potable, groundwater seeps into the sea. This correlation of puna, potable water, and
ahu with moai suggests a connection between resource use and moai placement, and challenges previous beliefs that moai were merely 70-ton manifestations of ancestor worship. In fact, the correlation may reflect the Rapanui’s connection to the natural landscape and understanding of limited resources. Given current freshwater shortages, these findings not only lend themselves to further knowledge of water resources on Easter Island in the context of Rapanui prehistory, but may also assist modern Rapanui people to utilize local water resources instead of shipping it thousands of kilometers from Chile.

Recycled Insulation for Resource Scarce Regions

Presenter: Katrina Tran

Co-Presenters: Kyle Plata and Alex Weaver

Mentors: Alison Kwok and Mathieu Deraspe, Architecture

Poster: C7

Major: Architecture

This experiment sought to assess the efficacy of using excess trash as a solution to resource scarcity in the developing world by testing the thermal efficiency of glass bottles as an insulating material. The glass bottles were packed densely with shredded paper and then laid on their sides into a rough wall assembly. The general thermal efficiency of this recycled insulation was tested inside a thermal hotbox using HOBO data loggers, which measured the temperatures inside the “hot” and “cold” sides of the hotbox for twelve hours. The hypothesis was that the recycled insulation could sustain a temperature difference greater than 5°F for at least three hours after applying heat to the “hot” side of the hotbox. The data collected showed a temperature difference greater than 5°F for four hours after the heating period. Once the original hypothesis held true, further testing was conducted using a heat flux transducer in order to calculate an exact R-value for the recycled insulation. The transducer data showed that the recycled insulation has an R-value of 15 hrft2°F/Btu. The results of this experiment indicate that this insulation may be suitable for mild to moderate climates.

Do Progenitor Subpopulations Contribute to Zebrafish Enteric Nervous System Development?

Presenter: Charlotte Taylor

Mentors: Judith Eisen and Julia Ganz, Biology

Poster: 62

Major: Biochemistry 

The enteric nervous system (ENS) provides intrinsic intestinal innervation and modulates intestinal function. The ENS forms a complex network of neuronal and glial subtypes. ENS progenitors that give rise to this network express different marker genes, e.g. phox2b, sox10, and ret. Using the zebrafish model, we investigated whether expression of these markers defines distinct ENS progenitor subpopulations. Gene expression revealed subpopulations, the most prominent of which are characterized by the following combinations: phox2b; phox2b/ret; phox2b/sox10; phox2b/ret/sox10. We will now determine whether these distinct progenitors have functional significance for ENS development. We will use the Cre/loxP lineage tracing system to track progeny of distinct progenitor subpopulations and determine if they give rise to different ENS cell types. Using BAC-recombineering, we will generate BAC- constructs that drive Cre recombinase expression under enteric progenitor specific promoters (e.g. ret). To test if BAC enteric progenitor promoter sequences drive expression faithfully, we are generating BAC-constructs that drive expression of green fluorescent proteins (GFP). We are currently analyzing ENS GFP expression of a modified ret BAC. After generating Cre-constructs, we will inject them into a reporter line and identify progeny of labeled progenitors at different times during ENS development. Our results will provide a comprehensive lineage analysis of ENS precursors in vivo and thus offer new insights into ENS development and the potential of individual ENS precursors.