2019 – Undergraduate Research Symposium Abstracts

Comparing Language Input Measures with TV Exposure in Dual Language Learners

Presenter(s): Brandon Zuel

Co Presenter(s): Rachael Dahlen, Sean Galka

Faculty Mentor(s): Stephanie De Anda & Lauren Cycyk

Poster 157

Session: Social Sciences & Humanities

The use of parent report is a common method for quantifying language exposure in bilingual children. A less studied method is analyzing real-world language input. Additionally, there is a lack of research that examines how English and Spanish language input from television (TV) can impact the linguistic experience of bilingual children. The present study seeks to fill the gap of quantifying language exposure by examining the amount of language input in each language through real-world audio recording in the everyday lives of bilingual toddlers.

The study presents data on participants from Spanish-speaking homes (N= 10 participants; 4 female, 6 male, median age = 19.5 months; range: 17 months to 22 months). Sixteen hours of language input data were collected over three days for each participant. From these recordings, we calculated exposure to Spanish and English via TV sources during periods when the child had the highest amount of (a) adult words, (b) linguistically meaningful interactions (highest amount of human input within six feet), and (c) child-directed speech (versus overheard speech).

Results showed that TV exposure is related to the segmentation method categories of highest adult words, linguistically meaningful interactions, and highest child-directed speech due to a lot of meaningful language being present within those language samples. Typically, we found that the moments of high TV exposure did not align with moments of high language exposure as a function of adult words, linguistically meaningful interactions, and child-directed speech. This work informs our understanding of the language environment of bilinguals across a variety of sources.

Associations of Adherence to Exercise Dependence Symptoms in Asian/Asian American Men

Presenter(s): Shijing Zhou

Co Presenter(s): Kylie Rothhouse

Faculty Mentor(s): Nichole Kelly & Claire Guidinger

Poster 123

Session: Social Sciences & Humanities

Exercise dependence (ED) symptoms, which can be conceptualized as a complex pattern of excessive exercise behaviors, have been shown to be more prevalent in males than females. Preliminary data suggest that Asian/Asian American men frequently endorse ED symptoms. However, the sociocultural correlates of ED symptoms in this population are understudied. The purpose of this study was to examine whether Asian cultural values were associated with ED symptoms in Asian/Asian American men. Internalization of both muscularity and thinness appearance ideals were examined as potential moderators. We hypothesized that men who endorsed greater adherence to Asian cultural values would report more ED symptoms. We also hypothesized that greater internalization of both muscularity and thinness appearance ideals would exacerbate this positive association. The present sample consisted of 266 Asian/Asian American men between 18-30 years. The mean age was 24.4 and the mean body mass index (BMI) was 24.2 kg/m2. Participants completed an online survey that assessed demographic information, ED symptoms, adherence to Asian cultural values, and internalization of both muscularity and thinness appearance ideals. All analyses adjusted for BMI, education, income, and presence of a psychiatric diagnosis. Multiple linear regression models indicated that adherence to Asian cultural values was significantly and positively associated with ED symptoms. Men who reported greater adherence to Asian cultural values reported more ED symptoms, p<.05. Neither internalization of muscular nor thinness appearance ideals moderated this association. These findings highlight the importance of considering cultural factors in our investigations of ED symptoms and related pathology in men.

Helping STEM Students Thrive: Investigating the Relationship of Course Belongingness and Approaches to Learning

Presenter(s): Shan Zhang

Faculty Mentor(s): Shawn Lampkins & Jenefer Husman

Poster 121

Session: Social Sciences & Humanities

In college, students become increasingly responsible for their learning behaviors which determine their academic performance, known as self-regulation. If instructors expect students to be self-regulated, they need to know what factors they must address to support student self- regulation. We argue that self-efficacy (students’ belief in their ability to complete a task) and course belongingness (feeling of being valued in the course) are related to student self- regulation (SR), low-regulation (LR), deep learning strategies, (e.g., QAH, engagement of material by asking questions that take critical thought) and surface learning strategies (e.g., QAL, asking surface level questions ). The majority of research in university science education have male- dominated samples, our sample is 61% female-identified. We hypothesized that self-efficacy and course belongingness together would explain a significant portion of the variance in SR. By utilizing an existing validated survey of student approaches to learning from 271 undergraduate, non-major physics students, we conducted multiple regression analyses to explore these topics. We found that course belongingness and self-efficacy had strong positive relations with SR and strong negative relationship with LR. We also found that course belongingness and self-efficacy had a positive relationship with QAH and QAL, though its relation was not as strong as with SR. In conclusion, self-efficacy and course belongingness are strongly and positively related to students’ self-regulation. Based on these preliminary results, professors should consider promoting students’ sense of self-efficacy and feeling of belongingness in their courses. We will also explore gender as a moderator and mediator in this context.

Antagonistic River: Reading Nature through Ken Kesey’s Sometimes a Great Notion

Presenter(s): Scott Zeigler

Faculty Mentor(s): Gordon Sayre & Stephanie LeMenager

Oral Session 1 SW

This research evaluates the representation of the fictional Wakonda Auga River as a character in Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel Sometimes a Great Notion. By investigating Kesey’s personal journals and correspondence, I show how Kesey took his native Oregon, the natural world in which he lived, and wrote it into his story. Rivers are traditionally viewed in English literature as a component of setting or as a metaphorical representation of some human dilemma. Occasionally, a fantastical work gives nature agency by applying human characteristics like speech or movement or some combination thereof. Yet, a river is a force unto itself, and it interacts with the human animal in its own ways, both positively and negatively. Ecocriticism offers a method for exploring how rivers can be given agency without adding anthropocentric characteristics. Through the ecocritical theoretical lens, readers can evaluate the natural components of a text, understand the figurative or metaphoric meanings, and still read nature for its powerful literal meaning. I will use this lens to evaluate the text and show how Kesey represented the Wakonda Auga River in the novel as both a fictive place, one based on the actual Siuslaw River, and as an antagonistic character in conflict with other characters in the story. By reading Sometimes a Great Notion in this way, readers gain access to the historical world of Kesey’s Oregon and the fictive world of an Oregon mill town in the 1960s, and they are encouraged to explore today the natural places associated with both.

Reducing Plastic Straw Use on the University of Oregon Campus

Presenter(s): Nozomi Yamada

Co Presenter(s): Alexandra Urrutia, Riley Roefaro

Faculty Mentor(s): Peg Boulay & Sarah Stoeckl

Poster 177

Session: Environmental Leaders ARC

In the U.S alone, approximately 500 million plastic straws are used everyday. Earlier studies estimate that about 8.3 billion plastic straws pollute the beaches around the world (Gibbons). Most plastic debris end up in the ocean and in the bellies of wildlife creatures, compromising the welfare of marine ecosystems and organisms. Because plastic is not biodegradable, it remains in the ocean and the environment for years. Our mission is to create an environment for students to consider taking action to reduce plastic straw use. Our project works to try and minimize the use of plastic straws on campus so that less waste is produced and that students will rethink their lifestyle choices by considering what role plastic plays in their lives. Using the results of our recently conducted survey, we will make flyers about plastic straws and promote the issue of plastic pollution on campus. Our goal is to propose a policy change that will make plastic straws available on request only at all dining halls. In regards to our survey results, 75.2% of the 234 respondents are in favor of such a policy. By proposing a straw upon request only policy statement, we will be helping make the University of Oregon a more sustainable campus.

Low Level Control of a Quadrotor with Deep Model-Based Reinforcement learning

Presenter(s): Joseph Yaconelli

Oral Session 2 C

Generating low-level robot controllers often requires manual parameters tuning and significant system knowledge, which can result in long design times for highly specialized controllers. With the growth of automation, the need for such controllers might grow faster than the number of expert designers. To address the problem of rapidly generating low-level controllers without domain knowledge, we propose using model-based reinforcement learning (MBRL) trained on few minutes of automatically generated data. In this paper, we explore the capabilities of MBRL on a Crazyflie quadrotor with rapid dynamics where existing classical control schemes offer a baseline against the new method’s performance. To our knowledge, this is the first use of MBRL for low-level controlled hover of a quadrotor using only on-board sensors, direct motor input signals, and no initial dynamics knowledge. Our forward dynamics model for prediction is a neural network tuned to predict the state variables at the next time step, with a regularization term on the variance of predictions. The model predictive controller then transmits best actions from a GPU-enabled base station to the quadrotor firmware via radio. In our experiments, the quadrotor achieved hovering capability of up to 6 seconds with 3 minutes of experimental training data.

Niche Separation Between Three Sympatric Lemur Species at Berenty Reserve, Madagascar

Presenter(s): Erick Wonderly

Faculty Mentor(s): Frances White & Colin Brand

Poster 50

Session: Sciences

One of the central goals of ecology is to understand niche differentiation: how different species use the same environment in different enough ways so as to coexist. Typically, this is tested by examining dietary overlap between species. The Lemuriformes, lemurs and their relatives, provide an interesting test of niche differentiation given the antiquity of this superfamily and subsequent adaptation to various unoccupied niches. In this study we first tested for dietary overlap in feeding ecology among three lemur species: Ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta), Verreaux’s sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi), and Brown lemurs (Eulemur fulvus rufus), at Berenty Nature Reserve, Madagascar. We also considered the degree to which species can monopolize a food source from other species. We analyzed 1,988.16 hours of feeding and social behavior data collected by Alison Jolly between 1988-89 and 1992-93. We found consistent, substantial overlap in the diets of all three lemur species across all four study periods. The majority of aggressive intergroup encounters were within species. Between species encounters rarely resulted in aggression and exclusion from a feeding patch. Collectively, these results suggest greater dietary overlap than previously considered in these taxa and that niche separation beyond lemurs occurs beyond feeding contexts.

Variation in Severity of Cartilaginous Fusions in fras1 Mutant Zebrafish Following Independent Transgene Insertions

Presenter(s): Alexander Wind

Co Presenter(s): Sam Ahlquist, Whitney Oliva

Faculty Mentor(s): Charles Kimmel

Poster 74

Session: Sciences

This study assesses the effect of the fli1a:gal4vp16 transgene insertion on fras1 mutant zebrafish. The Fras1 protein stabilizes craniofacial development and is studied to understand Fraser syndrome in humans. Fraser syndrome is a fatal disease that results in facial deformities and hearing loss. Zebrafish facial cartilages are homologous with human ear bones, making them good model organisms. The fras1 homozygous mutation causes fusions between the Meckel’s (m) and palatoquadrate (pq) cartilages in the zebrafish jaw. In previous experiments, we found that fras1 mutant embryos containing the transgene increased m-pq fusion severity. One hypothesis is that increased severity results from changes in host DNA sequences at the insertion site. An alternative hypothesis is that increased severity results from function of sequences within the transgene. In this study we hope to distinguish between these hypotheses by generating independent insertional lines with the expectation that the transgene has inserted in a unique location in each line. Mutant eggs were injected with the transgene and raised to score severity between transgene-containing and control groups. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) can be used to verify the location of the independent insertions. As predicted by the second hypothesis, the majority of genetic lines with new transgene insertions exhibited increased m-pq severity, suggesting importance of the transgene sequences. This study gives us insight on the widespread variation of mutation in Fraser syndrome in humans to help us treat/prevent it, and helps us gain a better understanding of transgenic effects on mutants in general.

Behavioral Correlates in Sleeping Laboratory Mice with Widefield Imaging

Presenter(s): Ally Wimberly

Faculty Mentor(s): Paul Steffan & David McCormick

Poster 70

Session: Sciences

Pupillometry has effectively correlated pupil size with cortical states in awake mice. High amounts of brain activity have been associated with large pupil size whereas low amounts of brain activity associate with smaller pupil size in awake mice. The purpose of this project is to acquire widefield imaging on sleeping laboratory mice in order to gain a better understanding of mouse neuronal activity during sleep. I aim to find lower amounts of brain activity and small pupil size during non-REM sleep along with high amounts of brain activity with large pupil size during REM sleep. The widefield and pupil imaging will provide the opportunity to correlate certain neuronal activity with behaviors and other neuronal activity with deeper neural mechanisms happening during sleep. Some of the behavior correlates we will use are: movement of whiskers, paws, and fluctuation of the pupil size. Once the behavioral activity is excluded, the deeper neural mechanisms during sleep will be narrowed down and able to be focused on. Finding the deeper neural mechanisms will enable us to track neural circuits and networks involved during different stages of sleep in order to evolve a better profile of overall neuronal activity during sleep.

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