Category: Oral Presentation

Eyewitness Memory: How Stress and Situational Factors Affect Eyewitness Recall

Presenter: Anne Yilmaz

Faculty Mentor: Robert Mauro

Presentation Type: Oral

Primary Research Area: Social Science

Major: Psychology

As eyewitness memory and its current admissibility as evidence in courts have come under scrutiny, thousands of studies have been conducted examining variables that affect the accuracy of eyewitness memory. These variables are typically broken up as system and estimator variables—the first being factors affecting memory that are controllable after the event and the latter being uncontrollable situational factors that took place during the event. Decades of research has concluded that stress can both inhibit and enhance memory; this literature review will focus on the tie between stress, memory and various estimator variables such as seriousness, group eyewitness memory, weapon- focus, and victim vs bystander observation of a crime. Both field and lab studies will be examined. Despite the breadth of research in both eyewitness memory and stress’s effect on memory, there has been no comprehensive review in recent years combining stress and memory research with eyewitness data. This literature review will serve to bridge that gap and provide resources for those looking to continue research in the field of stress, situational psychology and eyewitness memory.

Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe: Combatting a Stolen Generation through Environmental Regeneration

Presenter: Cholena Wright

Faculty Mentor: Brian Klopotek

Presentation Type: Oral

Primary Research Area: Humanities

Major: Political Science

Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe located in western Washington state fell victim to a mysterious run of reproductive challenges. Over the span of more than a decade the majority of pregnancies in the community resulted in miscarriage, still born, and infant mortality. This tragic and overwhelming loss of pregnancies went largely ignored for years and remains unexplained to this day. The paper will attempt to offer insight into the potential for environmental pollution and contamination due to nearby fishing, cranberry, and forestry industries. The industries were negligent in their use of endocrine disrupting toxins and pesticides. Thus, the paper will argue that these industries were the perpetrators of environmental racism against the Shoalwater, and directly involved in causing this reproductive tragedy. Environmental degradation has prevented countless tribes from practicing their traditional ways, encroached on their traditional territory, and had adverse effect on the health of these nations. The Shoalwater are a very extreme example of how environmental racism, harmful stereotypes, and wanton disregard practiced by industries can reify intergenerational trauma and perpetuate the stolen generation practices of colonialism.

Indian Beauty Pageants: Performing Indigeneity or Celebrating It?

Presenter: Cholena Wright

Faculty Mentor: Stephanie Teves

Presentation Type: Oral

Primary Research Area: Humanities

Major: Political Science

Beauty pageants get a bad rap. Since their inception they have had a precarious and convoluted relationship with feminism. Beauty pageants have been targeted for criticism and protest by feminists who claim they perpetuate the objectification and sexualization of women, present unrealistic models of femininity, and perpetuate harmful images of white/middle-class beauty standards. But what about Indian beauty pageants? Does this harmful culture cross- over into the indigenous model of beauty pageantry? Much like the conversation surrounding mainstream beauty pageants, the answer is complicated and nuanced. Indian beauty pageants were originally instituted as a colonizing mechanism, but over time they have evolved into cultural celebrations of indigenous traditions and beauty. Indian beauty pageants today are merely a shadow of their white supremacist history. Tracing the history through personal accounts of these pageants showcases the persistence and continued resistance of indigenous culture. Beauty pageants can be mechanisms for empowerment and an acknowledgement of female achievement, leadership, and talent. This is also true for Indigenous pageants. Throughout the Americas and the Pacific, these beauty pageants celebrate indigeneity and provide a space for indigenous queer locality. In spite of its flawed history, indigenous pageants are an indigenous feminist act that should not be underestimated as a tool for resistance and cultural revitalization.

Characterization of a Pro-Proliferative Microbiota in Transgenic Drosophila

Presenter: Zoë Wong

Faculty Mentor: Karen Guillemin, Tiffani Jones

Presentation Type: Oral

Primary Research Area: Science

Major: Biology, Psychology

Gastric adenocarcinoma, or stomach cancer, is responsible for the second highest number of cancer-related mortalities. Infection with Helicobacter pylori, a human pathogen, is the strongest risk factor and results in clinical responses that vary from no symptoms, to ulcers, to gastric cancer. One major determinant of disease expression is the presence of a bacterial virulence factor, CagA. Transgenic Drosophila that express the CagA gene were generated in the Guillemin laboratory and can be used to genetically disentangle H. pylori infection from cagA expression. A simple microbial community, short generation time, easily manipulated genome, and the ability to be raised germ-free make Drosophila an ideal model organism.

The goal of my research is to determine the effect of dysbiotic, or altered microbiota of CagA transgenic flies. The dysbiotic microbial community of CagA transgenic flies consists of Lactobacillus brevis and Acetobacter pomoroum. To address this, I reared control and CagA lines germ-free. I inoculated flies with either L. brevis, A. pomorum, or the combined CagA community. Adult flies were dissected after 7 days and gut contents were plated to quantify the abundance of each strain within the gut. Overall, CagA transgenic flies harbored a greater amount of total microbes within their gut, and interestingly flies that received the combined CagA community showed an increased total abundance of microbes regardless of fly genotype.

Examining Inefficiencies in NBA Player Development and Potential Solutions

Presenter: Connor Williamson

Co-Presenters: Gregory Bothun, Joshua Gordon, Daniel Rosenberg

Faculty Mentor: Josh Gordon, Greg Bothun

Presentation Type: Oral

Primary Research Area: Social Science

Major: Business Administration

Though the United States has maintained an impressive performance record in international athletic competition, its amateur sport infrastructure has become less efficient than that in many other countries. For late-development sports like basketball, in which early athletic training should be varied and specialized late, training these inefficiencies have led to a lower skill level among players in the highest league, the NBA. Basketball-specific factors, like the preps- to-pros era coinciding with the post-Jordan generation, have severely affected the training methods in American basketball. The NBA has taken note of this change, as the San Antonio Spurs make headlines with a roster of imports, the percentage of foreign players in the NBA has never been higher. As rule changes in the NBA have made for a faster game predicated on skill and savvy, the American pipeline of players has never been less prepared.

This thesis will define problems with the current system in areas of physical, athletic, and mental athlete development and examining player development models through a holistic lens which digs into the underlying causes of skill deficiencies in the NBA player pool. After doing this, it will attempt to solve some of the major issues facing American basketball player development, like transitioning players into the NBA. Systems like Canada’s Long Term Athlete Development and the youth academy system in German club football provide an extensive list of alternatives to assess. By taking the best aspects of each and adjusting them to the American environment, a better system can be designed. The results of this research point to unstructured nature of youth basketball, which is the root cause of issues like lack of coaching educational standards, as well as many other pervading the NBA player development pipeline.

Not Just a Pretty Face: 19th Century Japanese Courtesans and their Influence in Art Exportation

Presenter: Brandi Wilkens

Faculty Mentor: Akiko Walley

Presentation Type: Oral

Primary Research Area: Humanities

Major: Art History

Funding Source: HURF, UO, $2500

19th century Japan was a time of momentous changes. The Edo period ended shortly after the country was opened to the West. The Meiji period, beginning in 1868, shows a society grappling with many changes. By examining
19th century woodblock prints and souvenir photography, I will examine Japanese courtesans, their reinvention in the 1870s as geisha, and their influence over art exportation. I will argue that these women were far more than common prostitutes, by exploring their rigorous training, and indicating in what ways they used their minds and business acumen to further their careers. These women were linked with Europeans due to their relationships with Dutch traders since the 16th century; courtesans provided the buffer between foreigners and the native Japanese population. Due to these close associations, courtesans were able to influence Japanese art exportation, both through woodblock prints and later through souvenir photography.

The complications of time period differences, and the difficulties in acquiring the necessary language skills (both Japanese and European languages are required), has created an unfortunate lack of scholarship on this vibrant time of change and cultural exchange between Japan and the West. It is my goal to shed more light on the changing dynamics of these tumultuous interactions, while bringing these marginalized women to the forefront, where there is evidence of their involvement with Westerners.

The Effect of Rigid Ankle-Foot Orthotics on Joint Range of Motion and Temporospatial Parameters

Presenter: Therese Wichmann

Faculty Mentor: Shannon Pomeroy, Michael Hahn

Presentation Type: Oral

Primary Research Area: Science

Major: Human Physiology

Ankle arthritis is the debilitating deterioration of the joint cartilage, resulting in pain and diminished quality of life. A surgical fusion of the affected bones can be performed on the ankle to alleviate pain and remove damaged cartilage, but ankle range of motion (ROM) becomes severely limited. Rigid ankle-foot orthotics (AFOs) have had positive outcomes regarding ankle mobility, stability, and pain relief in clinical populations, however, much is unknown about how externally limiting motion affects gait function. This preliminary work will help determine how wearing AFOs affect ROM and temporospatial parameters. We performed standard gait analysis on 16 healthy adult subjects during a baseline walking test without wearing an AFO and throughout thirty minutes of wearing an AFO on a treadmill. Reflective markers were placed on anatomical landmarks to capture segment motion and calculate lower extremity joint angles. Changes in ROM and stride length were analyzed and compared from baseline to minute one, minute fifteen, and minute thirty within the AFO test. Initial results reveal noticeable changes compared to baseline. Continued collections and analysis will be utilized to observe how these acute changes form overtime with AFO use. These data will assist in determining how rigid AFOs maintain normal mobility despite restricting the ankle, potentially giving support to the usage of rigid AFOs in some ankle arthritis cases rather than invasive surgery.

Women Working in the Public Relations Industry in Hong Kong

Presenter: Tiffany Wan Hoi Nga

Faculty Mentor: Kathryn Kuttis, David Remund

Presentation Type: Oral

Primary Research Area: Humanities

Major: Journalism: Public Relations

In the 21st century, public relations plays an important role in the business world. The majority of people who work in the public relations industry are female. This pattern leads to a significant question “Why are there many women working in the public relations industry in Hong Kong?” Is it only because women tend to have a better communication skill? Indeed, it is more than this reason. This research focused on women working in public relations industry in Hong Kong. In this study, I used qualitative and quantitative methods to examine and explain why there is a pattern of feminization in the public relations industry in Hong Kong. Results showed that Hong Kong’s unbalanced gender ratio issue can become an impact in the public relations industry. Moreover, education is another crucial factor that lead to many women working in the public relations industry. Besides the unbalanced gender ratio and education factors, the most significant finding in this study is that the majority of public relations leaders in Hong Kong are men not women.

The Ups and Downs of the Mammal World: How Mammal Diversity Has Changed in the United States throughout the 20th Century

Presenter: Kendra Walters

Faculty Mentor: Edward Davis, Samantha Hopkins

Presentation Type: Oral

Primary Research Area: Science

Major: Geology, Biology

Funding Source: Presidential Undergraduate Research Scholar, Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program, $5,000

Biodiversity loss is recognized as a global crisis. Current research strives to create models that predict regions that are at high risk for a significant drop in biodiversity levels. These models must be scaled by analyses of historic changes in biodiversity. However, no study has yet to analyze the changes in mammal richness in the United States at a high enough spatial and temporal resolution to produce a predictive model of mammal diversity. Our research is a high-resolution analysis of the changes in mammal richness in the contiguous United States from 1906 to 1995. We collected mammal occurrence data from the online database VertNet and BISON and individual museum collections, divided it into ten year increments, and used scripts in R to produce sampling-standardized patterns of mammal richness for each decade. We then analyzed the geographic distribution of change in richness over the 20th century. From our results, we were able to determine which regions experienced a significant rise in diversity levels and which experienced a significant drop. We also identified regions where sampling intensities remain too low to conclusively determine how mammal diversity has changed. Regions experiencing the most severe biodiversity changes, as well as those without adequate data, should be focal areas for continued research in conservation efforts.

Vestibular Modulation of the abductor hallucis and abductor digiti minimi Muscles in Response to Changes in Head Position and Visual Cues

Presenter: Jonathan Wallace

Faculty Mentor: Brain Dalton, Marjorie Woollacott

Presentation Type: Oral

Primary Research Area: Science

Major: Human Physiology

Maintaining standing balance involves processing of vestibular, visual, and somatosensory information to produce dynamic motor responses. The purpose of this experiment was to determine if intrinsic foot muscles are modulated by vestibular activity and if the medium-latency responses are altered by changes in head position and visual cues. Indwelling electromyography (EMG) of the abductor hallucis (AH) and abductor digiti minimi (ADM) were sampled while bilateral electrical vestibular stimulation (EVS) was administered to quietly standing participants. Vestibular stimulation delivered on the mastoid processes is interpreted as a true head acceleration which creates a medium- latency vestibular-evoked balance response. A cumulant density function (i.e. cross-correlation) was used to analyze EVS input and the muscle activity (output). When the head was positioned 90◦ to the left with the eyes closed, the medium-latency response amplitude was -0.122 ± 0.027 in the AH and 0.130 ± 0.048 in the ADM. Visual cues reduced the medium-latency amplitude by 14 and 23% in the AH and ADM, respectively (p < 0.05). When the head was oriented 90◦ to the right, the medium-latency response was opposite for the AH (0.101 ± 0.042) and ADM (0.065 ± 0.026, p < 0.05). The inversion and reduction of the medium-latency response with changes to head position and visual input indicate that the vestibular system is modulating activity in the ADM and AH. These results may suggest that the ADM and AH muscles are important contributors to standing balance control.