Tag: 2011

Biostratigraphy of Miocene Camelids in the Juntura Formation

Presenter: Brianna McHorse, Biology

Poster: C-1

Mentor: Samantha Hopkins, Geology

Paleoecological research relies largely on the accuracy with which fossil specimens can be identified. Species-level identifications provide the most precise data for measuring diversity and communities through changing environments, space, and time. While cranial (skull) fossils allow a researcher to quickly identify specimens to the species level because of the density of characters (teeth, foramina, sutures, etc.), postcranial elements tend to be less diagnostic. However, postcranial material is favorably preserved in the fossil record. Previous studies have shown that the dimensions of camelid metapodials (cannon bones) tend to cluster in a species- specific way, as well as provide some indication of the presence or absence of a pacing gait. This study carries out measurements on Miocene camel metapodials from the Black Butte site in the Juntura Formation to identify each specimen more precisely, suggest the presence or absence of pacing, and examine whether sexual dimorphism was likely. A more precise understanding of the Juntura camel paleoecology will help to place them in ecological context relative to the other animals with which they lived. Preliminary results suggest that the two different camels present in this fauna had similar but distinct patterns of locomotion.

Affirmative Action and White Males: A Study of the Impacts of Framing

Presenter: Angela Stelson, Political Science

Poster: C-6

Mentor: Daniel Ho Sang, Political Science

Ballot measure campaigns have served as a discursive battleground for various arguments (or “frames”) of affirmative action. Using this historical backdrop, this study tests three models designed to predict the success of frames using demographic attributes: liberal vs. conservative, group dominance, and parent morality. The study used a survey of 104 Caucasian males to analyze the relationship between demographic factors, political ideology and morality models for frames found in the campaigns for affirmative action ballot measures. The survey was based around a fictitious ballot measure which the respondent could vote on, and then change their vote based on exposure to frames. The findings ascertained that no one model could completely explain the effect of the frames. However, different model predictions correlated positively with different types of frames; the parent morality model best described frames which addressed the same socioeconomic group (“in-group”), and the liberal-conservative model best fit frames which were oriented toward other demographics (“out-group”). These results help to contribute to the body of framing knowledge by providing a comparative test of these models and indicating their flaws, while providing an alternative model which combines the strengths of each model.

Nolli, Lanciani, and the Spatial History of Rome

Presenter: Kelly Mabry, Architecture

Poster: C-3

Mentor: James Tice, Architecture

Giambattista Nolli’s 1748 Baroque Map of Rome remains one of the most engaging and accurate maps of the city ever created. Rodolfo Lanciani’s 1902 archeological map of Rome, based on Nolli, depicts the city as a series of layers extending from antiquity to the beginning of the 20th century. By carefully comparing these two cartographic sources, one can create a clearer understanding of Rome’s spatial history and how, among other things, Rome’s famous seven hills have influenced the city’s growth over the centuries. By using the geo-database software, ArcGIS, both the Nolli and Lanciani maps can be further geo-rectified with recent satellite imagery and data to achieve an even richer, layered, spatial understanding of the city. This enhanced layered approach opens new possibilities toward the understanding of Rome’s spatial history and its evolution over two millennia.

Investigating Early Effects Following Glia Cell Ablation in Medulloblastoma

Presenter: Kelsey Wahl, Chemistry

PosterPoster: D-2

Mentor: Hui Zong, Institute of Molecular Biology

Medulloblastoma is the most common type of malignant brain tumor in children. During cerebellar development, granule neuron precursor cells (GNPs) proliferate along the external germinal layer in response to the sonic hedgehog signaling pathway. In our lab, medulloblastoma is modeled in mice by inducing heterozygous mutations in both the sonic hedgehog signaling receptor patched (Ptc) and the tumor suppressor gene p53. These mutations lead to a brain tumor in the cerebellum through over-proliferation of GNPs. From previous research, it is shown that unipotent GNPs in a tumor can somehow give rise to glia cells. In order to determine the role of glia cells within the tumor, they were selectively ablated through thymidine kinase (TK)-mediated cell ablation with administration of Ganciclovir (GCV). Amazingly, the proper dosing regime of GCV leads to complete tumor regression. To further understand the ablation process, we studied early time points during GCV injections to observe cellular processes within the tumor.

Acquisition of Second Language Vocabulary for Kindergartners with Speech Sound Disorders

Presenter: Tracy Zapf, Spanish

Poster: D-7

Mentor: Karen McLaughlin, Communicatgion Disorders and Sciences

Researchers and educators alike have raised concerns over the potential lack of inclusion of children with speech and language disorders in immersion programs. The purpose of this study was to determine if children with speech sound disorders acquired Spanish vocabulary at a similar rate as a typical peer when learning in an immersion program, and if there was a difference between rates of acquisition for expressive versus receptive vocabulary. Participants included five kindergartners attending a partial, early elementary immersion school, one control participant and four participants with speech sound disorders. Expressive and receptive vocabulary probes were used to test the number of Spanish vocabulary words children could produce and comprehend within an eight-week period. Results showed that children with speech sound disorders acquired expressive Spanish vocabulary at a similar rate as their typical peer, but had lower levels of acquisition overall; rates of receptive vocabulary acquisition varied across participants. The results of this pilot study suggest that children with speech sound disorders are able to acquire Spanish vocabulary and, as a result, should continue to be included in immersion programs in the future.

Using Forward Modeling to Optimize the Geometry of Geophysical Networks at the Summit of Kilauea Volcano: A Matter of Great Gravity

Presenter: Patricia Macqueen, Geological Sciences

Poster: B-8

Mentor: Katherine V. Cashman, Geological Sciences

Minute changes in the gravitational field of a volcano can give early warning of subsurface magma accumulation or withdrawal long before other more traditional precursors (e.g., seismic and deformation) and provide a valuable data set that is complementary to other data sets. Scientists have been monitoring gravity changes at the summit of Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii for decades, and these data sets have yielded valuable insight into volcanic activity at Kilauea. However, we currently have a poor understanding of the bias imposed by network geometry. My work focuses on using forward models of three known magma storage areas beneath Kilauea’s summit to test the resolving power of the current network. This forward modeling indicates that the current network can distinguish changes from sources near Halema`uma`u Crater and Keanakakoi Crater very well, but that additional station coverage is needed to decrease bias from network geometry in the south caldera region — known to be the primary magma storage reservoir beneath the summit. To this end I have suggested 5 new station sites in the south caldera area and evaluated the improvement that these stations would bring to the network. Forward modeling has also clarified the ability of the network to resolve sources with different mass changes and depths, and given insight on which stations are most useful for monitoring known sources of subsurface magma storage.

Interdependent Parts of the Whole: Edward Weston’s 1925 Studio Nudes Art History

Presenter: Laura Barton, Art History

Panel: Art & Popular Culture

Mentor: Kate Mondloch, Art History

Time: 1:15pm – 2:15pm

Location: Alsea Room

Photographer Edward Weston has long been hailed as one of the heroes of modern photography and has been praised for his stunning approach to landscapes, nudes, and still-lifes. This paper examines his treatment of the nude female form and examines the relationship that his photographs establish between the human body and the natural world. Through a series of in-depth visual and formal analyses of his early nudes and still-lifes, this paper shows that Weston un-animated the human body, while animating the vegetables, shells, and landscapes that he photographed. Thus, he created not a vertical hierarchy where humans are placed above the natural world, but instead created a horizontal plane where all natural forms are equalized. This approach differs from most of the pre-existing scholarship on Weston, which has long interpreted his work using either the biographical method or feminist theory, both of which serve primarily to either maintain or reject Weston’s heroic status; this paper attempts instead to explain how the photographs themselves serve to create meaning.

American Sign Language As a Choreographic Inspiration and Directive for Dance

Presenter: Alyssa Gentry, Dance

Panel: Art & Popular Culture

Mentor: Steven Chatfield, Dance

Time: 1:15pm – 2:15pm

Location: Alsea Room

American Sign Language for ‘journey’ has the dominant hand with the index and middle fingers slightly bent, moving forward from the signer in an ‘s’ shaped pathway. I have created a dance work exploring this concept of ‘journey’ that finds inspiration in the singular source of American Sign Language. ASL and Dance are intricately connected through their use of abstract movement as a means of communication and the strong influence of emotions on movement quality. This piece has been derived from ASL for the formations of the dancers, their pathways in space, their individual and group movement, and their emotional output.

To interpret and abstract sign movements to the full body and then to a larger group of dancers was challenging. Using improvisation, I explored the movement of signs like ‘journey,’ a wandering side to side pattern, that could be interpreted in an ‘s’ shaped pathway, a formation of dancers, or a movement contained within the body, like the ribs swaying from side to side. After finding movement, I built a piece where each dancer has a different pathway, coming together at certain moments and then parting, like the comings and goings in life. ASL mimics life, just as art mimics life, and this piece was given focus, opportunity, and a realism through its incorporation, which allows viewers to connect with the piece. Like the sum that is greater than its parts, this piece is more meaningful and cohesive through the incorporation of ASL.

Recent Developments in Canto-pop with YouTube – A Case Study of G.E.M. Tang

Presenter: Hei Ting Wong, Mathematics

Panel: Art & Popular Culture

Mentor: Mark Levy, Music

Time: 1:15pm – 2:15pm

Location: Alsea Room

Cantonese is a dialect of the Southeast region of China. Cantonese popular music (Canto-pop) is music with Cantonese lyrics, but most Canto-pop songs are produced in Hong Kong. Although Hong Kong is only a dot on the world map, Canto-pop can be found all over the world because of the migrated population and students who study overseas. With the development of the Internet, new media serves as an important channel in spreading recent as well as older Canto-pop songs all over the world. / G.E.M. Tang is the most successful new singer of Canto-pop in recent years. There are several reasons for her success, including promotion strategies which are different from those used by singers in previous generations. Her YouTube channel is her primary promotion medium. The content of her videos and the interactivity between her and her subscribers are attractive especially to the young generation – the main group of users of the Internet and the predominant audience for popular music. This project aims to investigate recent developments in Canto-pop. Canto-pop has been declining since the millennium due to the semi- withdrawal of the “four heavenly kings,” the four greatest male singers of the 1990’s, and problems of pirating. It is believed that the success of G.E.M. is based on a clearer understanding of the preferences of the current Canto-pop audience. This shows the industry a better way in promotion and music production, which hopefully to draw audience’s attention back to Canto-pop music.

All the Things It Was: Milton Babbitt and American Popular Culture

Presenter: Marissa Ochsner, Music

Panel: Art & Popular Culture

Mentor: Loren Kajikawa, Music

Time: 1:15pm – 2:15pm

Location: Alsea Room

The recent death of the composer Milton Babbitt has inspired a number of articles recounting his life and works. These accounts typically present Babbitt as the pinnacle of academic modernism, praising his accomplishments in the realm of theory and “serious” music composition and emphasizing that his music is difficult and complex. Many of these accounts also include, usually as a matter of trivia, the paradoxical fact that Babbitt was an avid jazz fan who grew up listening to and performing popular music. In this paper, I use the writings of Milton Babbitt, Roger Sessions, Joseph Horowitz, Dwight Macdonald, and other contemporary intellectuals to argue that Babbitt’s love of pop tunes is not incongruous with his interest in “serious” music. Babbitt’s advocacy of “serious” music composition is related to several cultural innovations of the early twentieth century, including the rise of the phonograph and radio, which accelerated the shift from song-based music composition in the style of Tin Pan Alley to artist-based music marketing of “stars” like Arturo Toscanini, Frank Sinatra, and Elvis Presley. Babbitt’s love of pop tunes from the 20s and 30s and advocacy for “serious” music composition in the 1950s and beyond wasn’t just a funny quirk — it was a reflection of what Babbitt wanted for American music culture: a more active and engaged public with an appreciation for the act of music composition.