Digital Commons Network^™

Climate Change Action: Chilean Response To An Altering Environment, Rebecca L. Levandowski

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Chile is one of the most biologically diverse areas in the world and recently published a "Plan de Accion Nacional de Cambio Climatico 2017-2022" (PANCC-II). This plan, further referred to as the National Action Plan, outlines their commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating climate change impacts on their country. The ambitious goals put them on the forefront of climate change action in South America. Due to lack of research, it is difficult to implement climate action plans including restoration and reforestation of degraded areas because there is little to no data on how to achieve these goals. This …

Spatial Patterns Of Winter Roadside Gray Wolf Sightability In Yellowstone National Park, Jeremy Sunderraj

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Imperfect detection is ubiquitous among wildlife research and can affect research conclusions and management. Accordingly, detection probability is often included in observation-based models. Here, we leveraged long-term research of gray wolves (Canis lupus) in northern Yellowstone National Park to evaluate how the probability of sighting radio-collared wolf packs from ground-based locations was affected by the characteristics of each spatial location (i.e., distance from the road and viewability [a combination of landscape “openness” and whether visible from a viewshed created from the road and nearby observation points]). To do so, we used 2,681 unique, daily observations of 17 wolf packs collected …

Suprasegmental Production By American Learners Of Japanese: A Phonetic Investigation, Yuna Hiranuma

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

This research examines second language acquisition (SLA) of English speakers learning Japanese by investigating how acoustic features of the first language influence the learners’ pronunciation. According to the theoretical notion of language transfer in SLA, linguistic features of learners’ first language emerge in their pronunciation of second language (Saville-Troike, 2006). Linguistic features concerned here are phonetic elements of word prominence (strongest part of a word). Beckman (1984; 1989) claims that English is considered a stress-accent language in which prominence is indicated by the combination of pitch and loudness, whereas Japanese is a pitch-accent language in which prominence is solely indicated …

Finding Hope In The Face Of Climate Change: Lessons From Costa Rican Activists, Lindsay Ashton

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Four years of Environmental Studies and Climate Change Studies classes have left me with a deep understanding of climate change and the ways it affects the world around us. However, recognizing the complexity and magnitude of this global problem is undeniably overwhelming. After long days in the classroom, learning about the latest news, statistics, economic roadblocks, political inaction, and social consequences of climate change it is difficult for me and my classmates to not feel discouraged and anxious about the future. Climate change education is essential, but these negative feelings aren’t productive to the actions we must take to solve …

Use Of Genetic Techniques To Address Biases In Northern Goshawk Turnover Metrics, Carly F. Muench

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

The Northern Goshawk is listed as a management indicator species for the Minidoka Ranger District of the Sawtooth National Forest. This distinction has enhanced research interest on goshawk population health in the region. For raptors, annual adult turnover is considered a crucial metric of population health; providing insights into mortality, fidelity, and population disturbances. Over the past 25 years of studying goshawks, the Intermountain Bird Observatory (IBO) has observed abnormally high female turnover as compared to other places the species has been studied. Their estimations are based on banding and resighting birds, and may be biased high due to undetected …

Water And Us: Education As The First Line Of Defense, Cassandra Sevigny, Kyra Searcy, Sarah Maxwell, Kevin Mason, Miranda Henrich, Isabella Diaz

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Access to clean water is a problem the world will continue to face in the future. Droughts, climate change, and contamination are just a few examples of water-related issues humans deal with daily. By addressing these problems through education, we targeted future adults by fostering positive environmental attitudes. To celebrate World Water Day on March 22nd, we held a Water Field Day for sixth graders in Lolo, Montana to supplement their science curriculum. Through hands-on activities, our target population was immersed in water issues related to water contamination and conservation. Our Water Field Day comprised multiple stations with activities including …

What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?, Martha Krebill, Melanie Gagen, Melisande Slater, Anna Peterson, Nikia Reynolds

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Our group seeks to explore the nature of career development in children and demonstrate the importance of career exploration from a young age, especially in a globalized society. Around the world, studies have shown that children’s career aspirations are influenced by a wide range of factors, including gender stereotypes, socioeconomic status, parents’ and role models’ professions, and community. Through art and storytelling, our group will create a children’s book aimed at children in 4th to 6th grade, the age group in which career exploration tends to become most salient. The book will present many careers and paths to attaining these …

Creating The Fourth Wave: The Evolution And Impact Of The Black Athlete Protest, Reagan Colyer

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

In 1968 in Mexico City, John Carlos and Tommie Smith became the subjects of a photograph that would become synonymous with Black Power the world over. Both athletes would be suspended from the US track and field team, and both would be ordered to leave the Olympic stadium—all for removing their shoes, unzipping their jackets, and raising a fist.

Before and since the 1968 Olympics, athletes of color have chosen to utilize the venue of major sporting events to voice their feelings on race relations, institutional racism, and systemic violence. But why do protests in athletic contexts garner the reaction …

The Effect Of Floral Resource Removal On Plant-Pollinator Interactions, Rachel G. Dickson

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

An important component of understanding the dynamics and stability of communities is to elucidate how interspecific species interactions respond to various ecological disturbances. We address this issue by removing a dominant floral resource, Helianthella quinquenervis (Asteraceae) from an alpine meadow and observing the effects on plant-pollinator interactions. Specifically, we examined how this removal effected pollinator visitation, pollinator community structure, and co-flowering plant reproduction. We addressed three primary questions: (1) How do pollinator visitation rates vary between unmanipulated floral communities and those where the dominant floral resource is removed? (2) How does pollinator diversity and community composition differ between natural and …

Deconstructing Discourse: Gaps In María De Zayas's Feminsim, Jennifer Zundel

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

María de Zayas y Sotomayor (1591 – 1661?) was the best-selling woman author of two extant collections of novellas, translated as Exemplary Tales of Love (1637) and The Disenchantments of Love (1647), that consist of stories of love, marriage, and gendered violence between aristocratic men and women. These 17^th-century Spanish books, as popular as Cervantes’, were explicitly and unapologetically pro-woman. Indeed, Zayas has retroactively been placed as an early modern feminist for her condemnation of systematic misogyny and her call for gender equality. Despite her depictions of violence against women and her denunciation of patriarchal institutions that neither …

Language In Totalistic Social Groups, Emily H. Allen

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

A totalistic social group is defined as a collection of individuals who share similar values and goals and who live together within intensive boundaries enforced by the group’s leadership and/or members themselves (Lifton 1969). The focus of this project is to better understand the effect of language on (I) a totalistic group’s social structure and (II) the ideologies and actions of members. The limited linguistic research on totalistic groups claims that leaders and members use language in order to enforce rules and beliefs, encourage conformity, and maintain as well as increase membership. By examining language practices in the US military, …

Mapping Mount Saint Helens: Capturing The Volcano's Geomorphologic Change Over Time, Jennifer Haas

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

On the morning of May 18, 1980, in the state of Washington, Mount Saint Helens violently erupted, causing the reshaping of the volcano and the largest historical landslide on Earth. This volcanic episode caused significant modifications to the surrounding landscape, including the loss of 70% of the volcano’s glacier mass and 1,314 feet of elevation. Capturing this dynamic environment cartographically has been a challenge. This paper reports on a study aimed at investigating a particular type of cartography called geomorphological mapping, which represents landscapes and their processes of change over time. The study also applies this type of mapping to …

A Bacteriophage Integrase Regulates Virulence Factor Production In Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, Jake Cohen

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

A bacteriophage integrase regulates virulence factor production in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a bacterial pathogen that causes hospital-acquired infections and is difficult to kill with antibiotics. This is especially true when P. aeruginosa grows as a biofilm—a complex community of bacteria encased in a protective extracellular matrix. P. aeruginosa biofilms produce large amounts of filamentous Pf bacteriophage, which are viruses that infect P. aeruginosa. Pf bacteriophage are known to increase the virulence of P. aeruginosa; however, the underlying mechanisms are unknown. Our preliminary results suggest that when the Pf bacteriophage integrase gene, intP, is overexpressed, production of the virulence …

Creating Shift In Power And Gender Dynamics In Professional Cultures: Combatting Sexual Harassment Through Interdisciplinary Education, Amanda Rosbarsky

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

The #metoo movement has taken our world by storm, and made the pervasiveness of sexual harassment and gender based violence in our workplaces both watercooler and dinner table conversation. As society reels from the daily accusations of assaults, attacks, and aggressions, we acknowledge that this is not a newly discovered problem in our country’s various industries, but an impromptu collective unveiling of a common cultural phenomena. Sexual harassment in the workplace was labeled as a form of discrimination decades ago, but here we are confronted with the reality that sexual harassment is still incredibly commonplace. Discriminations which have the potential …

World War I, Fears Of White Americans, And The Black Militancy Leaders Capitalized On, Madison L. Renaldo

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

African Americans have fought in every U.S. war since the creation of the country, but in many instances, they experienced racism while serving. Learning about the Civil Rights Movement that took place after World War II has become common, but even before the Second World War, African Americans were attempting to use their military service as a platform for gaining equal rights. During World War I, many African Americans in the U.S. military were placed under the leadership of the French military and were treated with more respect than they had experienced at home. After receiving better treatment from the …

Exploring The Role Of A Novel "Σ" ^70 Protein In Borrelia Burgdorferi, Bethany Crouse

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

The bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi is the causative agent of Lyme disease, the most common arthropod-borne disease in the Northern Hemisphere. This ailment affects 400,000 people annually, and can cause symptoms such as fever, joint stiffness, fatigue, carditis, and neurological issues. One of the most fundamental processes in any cell, including B. burgdorferi, is the transcription of DNA into an RNA messenger, which is later translated into proteins. Transcription is carried out by a multisubunit molecular complex called RNA polymerase, which is recruited onto the DNA strand and synthesizes RNA by reading the DNA. RpoD, also known as σ^{70 …}

Pedagogy Of Pitch In Second Language Learners Of Blackfoot, Naatosi I. Fish

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Abstract Pedagogy of Pitch in L2 Blackfoot Pitch in Blackfoot is characterized by the raising of relative pitch on a syllable in a word. Pitch is not a consciously recognized piece of information among native speakers or teachers.However, pitch is important as it impacts the meaning of words. This study looks at the efficacy of visual guides for Blackfoot pronunciation of pitch by second language learners. I hypothesized that use of visual assistance would improve pitch pronunciation in second language learners. Subjects were nine Blackfoot learners recruited on campus. Participants were shown 15 words with images and asked to pronounce …

Fantasy Versus Reality: A Twenty-First Century Film Series To Explore How The Absurdity Of Alternate Realities Affects The Individual In The Audience, Courtney Wunderwald

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

The purpose of this study is to understand how film viewers contextualize on-screen alternate realities with their personal perspectives, and if that is accurately represented by scholarly film critique. I then compared my findings with filmmaker interviews, which discuss their reasons for including specific imagery, symbols, and characters to evoke certain emotions or reactions from their audiences. My project aspired to offer a method that might redefine how viewers reflect on films and to open a discussion to gather data from audiences before assuming their reactions to film critique. I was always fascinated by the power of cinema, particularly how …

The Impact Of Outdoor Education On Health, Tessa A. Leake

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

The effect, if any, that outdoor education and experiential learning has on health was studied by interviewing students who participated in the University of Montana’s Patagonia winter session study abroad course. I interviewed participants before and after the course and asked them a series of questions about their health. Questions included how they defined health, what the greatest determinants of health are, if they have control over their health, and if they considered themselves to be in good health. Students were also asked to rate their levels of health overall, mentally, and physically in regard to themselves and compared to …

Bat Hibernation In Talus Slopes, Sarah Gaulke

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Twelve species of bats are thought to overwinter in Montana, but surveys have found few individuals hibernating within caves and mines. However, bats are consistently recorded on acoustic detectors year round across the state indicating that they are hibernating in other places, Talus slopes may be a potential hibernacula as there is anecdotal evidence of bats using talus slopes for roosting and foraging. This is a time sensitive issue as disease called White Nose Syndrome, a pathogenic fungus, has been found nearby in Washington. White Nose Syndrome caused severe population declines on the East coast by impacting hibernation behavior. Knowing …

"You Know Where I Stand"- The Irish Catholic Response To The Boston Busing Crisis Of 1974, Meaghan Fernandes

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

In 1974, a federal court order mandated busing in Boston Public Schools after decades of de facto segregation; in response, the city’s majority Irish Catholic population became unparalleled in their resistance to busing in comparison of the rest of the city and even in the face of their own diocese. In this essay, I argue that despite support for desegregation from most of the Archdiocese of Boston as well as the newly seated Bishop, Irish Catholics living in the area refused to support integration efforts via government intervention. Using the family first theology of Irish-American Cardinal William O’Connell as their …

The Effect Of Accountability On Dialectical And Elaborative Complexity, Gavin W. Ploger

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

This experiment examined how accountability to an audience with unknown views influenced the integrative, dialectical, and elaborative complexity of people’s statements. The experiment tested 185 undergraduate students randomly assigned to one of two conditions: No Accountability and Accountability. Participants in the No Accountability condition were assured their responses would be completely anonymous. Participants in the Accountability condition were told they would have to explain their views to another individual, but not what that individual’s views were. Participants responded with their views on 4 controversial social issues: abortion, immigration, climate change, and gun ownership. Hypothesis One: Individuals who are accountable to …

Development Of A Novel Vaccine To Specifically Treat Autoimmune Diseases, Maya K. Dahlgren

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Development of a Novel Vaccine to Specifically Treat Autoimmune Diseases

Maya Dahlgren, Fanny Astruc-Diaz, Celine Beamer, Shelby Cole, Joanna Kreitinger, and David Shepherd

Over the last few decades, there has been a significant increase in the amount of people with autoimmune diseases, leading to frequent morbidity and mortality. Immune-mediated diseases, such as lupus, multiple sclerosis, and many others, involve dis-regulation of the immune system, which causes inappropriate attacking of self tissue and organs. Current treatments for these disorders are inadequate and cause many adverse effects, creating a need for a better therapy that can better target and regulate the immune …

Improving Habitat Restoration For Native Pollinators In San Francisco, Tyrha Delger

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

By looking at how these three species are conserved inside and outside of San Francisco, how an urban environment might affect habitat conservation, and lessons learned from other cities’ restoration projects, we can improve urban habitat conservation projects.

Waves Of Change: Political Violence And Displacement During The Internal War In Peru (1980-2000), Sarah Benewith

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

This investigation responds to the problem of the approximate 600,000 people that were internally displaced from 1980 to 2000 due to the political violence that took place between the Peruvian State and insurgent groups like Sendero Luminoso. Specifically, I investigate the relationship between political violence and internal displacement, as well as the nature of the personal experiences of the displaced. Developing the investigation in Cusco and Lima, I utilize a combination of archival revision, direct observation, and interviews. The interviews, from indigenous people displaced from Apurímac during the Internal War, serve as testimonies which I compare with other testimonies collected …

Community Space In Little Russia, Kay Cassidy

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

What makes a public space really work? What is the critical mix/balance of elements that exist in places that are successful and obvious when missing? How can urban designers account for what will make it successful, especially when designing for a specific community? Kay investigates the "Little Russia" neighborhood of San Francisco with mapping and interview techniques.

Is Oil Nationalization For The Nation? The Causal Nature Of Institutional Impacts And Economic Hindrances Of The “Resource Curse”, Imani Sherrill

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

This thesis examines the theory of the “oil resource curse” and how structural, demographic, and economic variables presented by previous scholars and academics do not fully unpack the narrative and mechanisms of how the “resource curse” is developed. Different oil wealthy nations around the world have varying levels of development. Why? Adding to the existing literature of the Resource curse and Institutions, my hypothesis remains that through institutions that history has developed, mechanisms, such as oil nationalization lead to different varieties of the economic resource curse. Using a most-difference case scenario in a historical analysis, statistical and empirical data will …

Small Scale Mining From The Perspective Of Disabled Miners, Karenna R. Versalovic, Dashka Otgon

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

"This project is based on a case study of the lives of people in Mongolia who have a disability as a result of working as a small scale miner (with a focus on artisanal and ninja miners). The research for this project was conducted after the culmination of a four month study abroad experience in Mongolia in Spring 2017. It was carried out over a four week period in Ulaanbaatar, Bayankhongor, and Naiklah and consisted of nine in person interviews, two phone interviews, two visits to mines (one coal mine and one gold mine), a visit to the Bayankhongor Aimag …

Interpreting San Francisco Identities, Grace Hanford, Grace Hale

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

This presentation provides an overview of the exhibition, Interpreting San Francisco Identities, organized by art history students in ART 200 Museum Studies. This exhibition features rare books, photographs, prints, and other material from the collection of the Donahue Rare Book room. It explores how guidebooks, travelogues, world’s fairs, and various print material have shaped and reflected San Francisco’s various identities over the past 150 years. The exhibition is on display in the Donahue Rare Book room beginning Monday, April 30th.

Does The Power Pose Influence Confidence And Competitiveness?, Hannah Cummons, Mahsa Ashabi, Madison Levine, Ashwini Shridhar

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

Amy Cuddy's paper on the Power Pose rocked the academic world with its results and controversial fallout. We replicate her experiment with undergraduate students and examine whether performing a Power Pose has an effect on an individual's confidence and competitive spirit. Randomly selected students perform the Power Pose and following that the entire class is invited to participate in a game that can measure their competitiveness. In doing so, we can look at how confidence and competitiveness is affected by physical expressions of power.