Category: 2019

The role of limb dominance in visuoproprioceptive tasks

Presenter(s): Kieley Trempy

Faculty Mentor(s): Kate Spitzley & Andy Karduna

Poster 30

 Session: Sciences

Movement is the product of sensory input, mainly from vision and proprioception, and motor output. Vision is the sense of the surrounding space and proprioception is the sense of the body’s position in space. Joint position sense (JPS) is commonly used as a measure of proprioception. JPS of the dominant and nondominant shoulder was measured in healthy subjects to quantify error in a JPS task with and without visual information. Previous studies have examined sensory differences in limb dominance with conflicting results. Some have shown that no differences exist, while others show that movements with the dominant arm rely more on visual information and movements with the nondominant arm rely more on proprioceptive information. The latter theory is illustrated in activities of daily living, such as with preparing food, where the dominant arm uses a knife by viewing the movement while the nondominant arm guides the food by feeling the movement. It was hypothesized that in a JPS task, the dominant arm would have less error with visual information whereas the nondominant arm would have less error without visual information. Subjects wore a virtual reality headset with a tracker on their arm while performing a JPS task. Using the headset, subjects were presented with either a visual representation of their arm location or no visual information about arm location. No difference was found between sides. However, difference was seen between the vision and no vision conditions regardless of limb dominance. Higher error with no vision indicates that proprioception alone is not as effective in driving accurate movements as the combination of vision and proprioception. Future studies analyzing the contributions of vision and proprioception to movement may rule out variation associated with limb dominance.

Is Forgetting Good for Learning? Examining the Emergence of Abstract Rule Representations

Presenter(s): Tuong Vy Tran

Faculty Mentor(s): Ulrich Mayr & Atsushi Kikumoto

Poster 131

Session: Social Sciences & Humanities

Most actions are driven by abstract action rules that need to be applied to specific environmental conditions. The abstract goal to make coffee is implemented differently in your own than in your office kitchen. We examine here the degree to which improvements through practice result from (1) strengthened representations of abstract rules, from (2) better adaptation to specific environmental conditions, or from (3) representations that integrate abstract rules and specific conditions into conjunctive representations. We used a task that required the application of up to four different abstract spatial translation rules in order to respond to a given spatial stimulus. Subjects (N=46) performed an initial, 45-minute session applying two of the four rules to one of two possible stimulus configurations. During the second, 45-minute session, the two withheld abstract rules and the second stimulus configuration were introduced. To test the possibility that abstract, generalizable knowledge is fostered through consolidation or forgetting of specific conjunctive representations the second session occurred either right after the first session, or one week apart. Results showed that it was harder to apply new rules to practiced than to new stimulus configurations–– a clear indication conjunctive representations between abstract rules and stimulus settings. Importantly, this effect was substantially weakened when the new rules/stimulus settings were tested after one week. This suggests that during the 1-week delay, specific conjunctive representations were weakened (i.e., forgetting), thereby increasing the contributions of abstract rule representations. In other words, forgetting can benefit the emergence of generalizable skills.

Women Ball Too: Changing the Culture Around Women in Sports and Defining Women Excellence

Presenter(s): Corinne Togiai

Co Presenter(s): Donovan Neal

Faculty Mentor(s): Donovan Neal

Oral Session 2 O

Women Ball Too (WBT) is a social movement and business bringing awareness, advocating for recognition, and pushing towards equality for women excellence in sports. Thus, our central questions concern: how WBT can change the culture around women’s sports? What does changing the culture of women’s sports mean and look like? With that said, Women Ball Too’s mission is to change and cultivate a culture of excellence around women in sports that takes ownership and partnership. By recognizing and continually growing attention around women in sports through products, programs, and perspectives this will build a platform for an increase in women’s viewership, salaries and businesses.

In this project, we work through three main methodological approaches to enact the change we want to see: products, programs, and perspectives/community. Therefore, WBT current products sold include apparel from t-shirts, long sleeves, and hoodies. This is used to measure the level of engagement people are investing financially and socially via their purchase. For programs, we initiate teams to help host WBT events held before major women’s sporting events, collaborations with school departments and local businesses to host dances, sports camps, and other community activities to use as a platform to foster awareness about women in sports. Lastly, social media is one of our largest outlets to post current events regarding women in sports, to connect with major athletes and social influencers, and to encourage individuals to stand behind the WBT social movement and business to empower and respect women on and off the court.

Effects of Alisertib in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia NSG Mouse Models

Presenter(s): Corinne Togiai

Faculty Mentor(s): Bill Chang

Oral Session 3 M

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) is a common cause for disease-related mortality in children and adolescents. As we have made great strides in curing ALL we have identified subsets of diseases that continue to have a poor prognosis. To develop novel targeted therapies in hopes to advance the treatment of these diseases, our lab initiated the use of rapid, state-of-the-art genetic and functional assays to identify aberrant activated pathways from primary patient leukemic samples. Results through collaborative research with the Knight Cancer Institute Leukemia Research Group, have identified significant hypersensitivity to different cellular pathway inhibition. Our current proposal builds on these findings. We have identified a unique hypersensitivity of certain subsets of leukemic cells to inhibition of the Aurora class of cell cycle kinases. Aurora kinases are members of serine/threonine kinases that play pivotal roles for the cell to faithfully undergo mitosis. Studies have shown that certain cancers are heavily dependent on the activity of these kinases beyond mitosis and that these kinases can be targeted by specific small molecule drugs. Our preliminary data is the first to identify subsets of ALL that are hypersensitive to aurora kinase inhibition. What remains unknown is the mechanism of hypersensitivity in subsets of ALL as well as in vivo validation.

Other future directions in parallel aim towards determining the mechanism of hypersensitivity to Aurora kinase inhibitors in subsets of ALL, and developing in vivo models testing single agent and combination therapy specifically targeting these pathways.

Connecting Students to the Universe through Research and Outreach at Pine Mountain Observatory

Presenter(s): Maggie Thompson

Co Presenter(s): Odelia Hartl, Nicole Ringsdorf

Faculty Mentor(s): Scott Fisher

Visualization Lab 2 & 4 PSC

Located in central Oregon atop a 6500-foot peak, Pine Mountain Observatory (PMO) is an astronomical facility owned and operated by the UO Department of Physics. PMO is a hybrid research/outreach facility where UO students are deeply involved in projects that range from engineering and facility maintenance to making research-grade observations and data analysis. In particular, the size of the telescopes at PMO makes it well-suited for undergraduate research programs. In the last two years many UO undergraduates have worked at PMO to bring our newest telescope online. This robotic telescope, named ‘The Robbins’ after a generous benefactor, has been designed from the ground up to be operated remotely from the UO campus in Eugene.

Although we are still in the process of upgrading the internet connection to PMO to allow routine remote observing, in this presentation we will demonstrate the software programs that will be used when we have a live connection to the facility. Additionally, we will be demonstrating commercial and custom-written software packages that are used to reduce, calibrate, and analyze astronomical data. Our goal for this unique session of the symposium is to introduce visitors to PMO and the projects that our undergraduates are leading at their astronomical observatory.

Defamiliarizing the Horror Genre

Presenter(s): Jess Thompson

Faculty Mentor(s): Angela Bogart-Montieth

Oral Session 1 DL

This project explores the method behind the fear-inducing works of fiction created by two of the most famous masterminds of literary horror, Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen King. The research delves into close readings of both King and Poe’s work, and analyzes the tactic known as “defamiliarizing the familiar,” a strategy that turns a variety of recognizable components—from characters to setting to even stylistic choices—into something strange in order to disorient and scare the reader. As an aspiring horror fiction writer, my goal is to put the work of these two authors in conversation with each other in order to borrow tools from them and further improve my own writing.

A Lithostratigraphic Analysis of the Crooked River Mascall Formation

Presenter(s): Alexandra Thompson

Faculty Mentor(s): Samantha Hopkins

Poster 72

Session: Sciences

This project presents a comprehensive lithological and biostratigraphic record of the Miocene Mascall Formation deposits of the Crooked River Basin in Central Oregon. The Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG) covered the Crooked River Basin and much of the Pacific Northwest in the middle Miocene, altering the landscape and ecosystem. As a result of this event, an analysis of the depositional history of this region is worthwhile because it explores the impact of large scale basalt flows on subsequent basin evolution. University of Oregon geology students have measured stratigraphic sections in four different locations across the Crooked River basin in order to quantify the differences in depositional history across the basin. The sites are stratigraphically situated between the lower boundary CRBG and upper capping Rattlesnake Ash Flow Tuff (RAFT). For each region, we have created a representative stratigraphic column, and correlated rock units between the regions. The Mascall Formation in the Crooked River Basin is consistent with published descriptions of the Lower Mascall Formation: mostly fine siltstone and sandstone with diatomite, ash, and chert deposits and some tuff strata (Bestland, 1998). Each of the four sites share characteristics of the Lower Mascall which suggests similar depositional environments across the sites; however, the sections vary in the thickness and representation of individual identifiable strata, suggesting variation in where deposition was greatest through the half-million years of the section. This is the first comprehensive assessment of the stratigraphy of the Crooked River Basin, which has significant implications for understanding landscape reorganization following volcanism.

Communicating Change: A Study of Current and Proposed Communication Strategies for Prompting Individual Behavior Towards Ocean Conservation

Presenter(s): Kayla Thomet

Faculty Mentor(s): Dean Mundy & Hollie Smith

Poster 32

Session: Sciences

Due to the volatile state of our oceans, I am studying the effectiveness of different environmental campaigns on individual behavior towards reducing plastic waste in the ocean. Results indicate that individuals are most likely to change their behavior based on a moderately emotional advertisement which provides specific direction on how to alter behavior. Individuals appear willing to advocate for policy change to solve the overall problem. Currently, there is a shortage in research regarding the area of oceanic environmental communication. Through surveys, focus groups, and interviews, this study will address the effectiveness of current campaign strategies used to communicate environmental issues and provide suggestions for communicators to prompt sustained behavior change towards ocean conservation. The theoretical foundations of this study are the awareness-action gap, the effects of Grunig’s Theory of Publics, and the effectiveness of broad environmental campaigns. There is a profound lack of awareness regarding the health of the ocean; nearly half the survey respondents indicated that the ocean’s health is neutral, moderately healthy, or very healthy. Preliminary results from the survey indicate greater impact of emotional advertisements on prompting desire for action. Furthermore, advertisements depicting a consumer product directly harming an animal are the most effective in generating a visceral response. With the current status of the health of the ocean, it is crucial to take action as communicators and create lasting change. The environment is at a turning point; if communicators don’t act immediately, there will be no chance to reverse the damage done to the planet.

Greener Fields

Presenter(s): Andrew Tesoriero

Faculty Mentor(s): Mark Hennion

Oral Session 4 DL

“Greener Fields” is a story of unrequited love in a dystopian future. The ambiguity of the narrator—who has no name or gender—explores questions of identity and conveys the mutability of the story’s theme across genres. The narrator shares this sense of unknown identity and inner turmoil with the story’s setting: a future defined by corporate servitude and an endless war. As the narrator visits their childhood friend Aaron, now a veteran, in a strange facility, they are forced to confront their history with Aaron and their future without him. When writing this story, I considered how science fiction can explore themes of unrequited love in new ways. I wanted the larger world to be ambiguous as to focus the story on the two characters, and found through revision which details of the outside world are important to defining the worlds of the characters. “Greener Fields” confronts love and loss amidst the uncertainty of the future—while exploring how this future is painfully tethered to the past.