Digital Commons Network^™

Urban Biogeography Of Fungal Endophytes In Metrosideros Excelsa Across San Francisco, Emma Gibson

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

Trees in cities confer health and psychological benefits to the city's inhabitants, so the urban forest is a major component of human health in urban settings. Previous studies have shown that environmental factors can impact endophytic (within-plant) microbial communities of forest trees, but the effects that urban environmental factors may have on these communities are not well understood. Here, we characterized asymptomatic fungal communities in 30 individual Metrosideros excelsa trees from 6 distinct sites using culturing and molecular methods. We found high community diversity both within and among sites, and several patterns within these communities. For example, we found similarities …

Forecasting Smart Meter Energy Usage Using Distributed Systems And Machine Learning, Feiran Ji, Chris Dong, Lingzhi Du, Zizhen Song, Yuedi Zheng, Paul Intrevado

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

In this research, we explore the technical and computational merits of a machine learning algorithm on a large data set, employing distributed systems. Using 167 million(10 GB) energy consumption observations collected by smart meters from residential consumers in London, England, we predict future residential energy consumption using a Random Forest machine learning algorithm. Distributed systems such as AWS S3 and EMR, MongoDB and Apache Spark are used. Computational times and predictive accuracy are evaluated. We conclude that there are significant computational advantages to using distributed systems when applying machine learning algorithms on large-scale data. We also observe that distributed systems …

The Impact Of Natural Disasters On Education Outcomes, Lois Onigbinde

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

Do natural disasters impact educational attainment? Education as a paramount factor of economic development, suffers from the uncontrollable effects of these increasing events from storms to floods, earthquakes to wildfires. Globally, educational resources are destroyed directly and indirectly, students and teachers are displaced or killed, incomes of parents are affected as well. Investments in human capital for rich- and low-income countries are exposed to the uneven impact of natural disasters that adjusts household and country-level decisions, leaving them to short and long run losses. Exploring the influence of natural disasters one primary school completion across a sample of countries from …

Three Strikes Law: Penal Extremism And Draconian Rhetoric, Marcelo Swofford

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

In our modern political history, there has been a separation between the two main political parties, the Democrats and Republicans, on virtually every major issue that has surfaced in our society aside from incarceration, which was emphasized by Democrat Bill Clinton’s introduction of the Three Strikes Law at the beginning of his term in 1994. The logistics of the Three Strikes Law are that once a criminal has been convicted of two violent/serious crimes, once they are convicted of a third felony then they will be sentenced to anything between a 25 year sentence and life sentence; the Three Strikes …

An Optimization Approach To Automate The Generation Of Radiotherapy Treatment Plans, Qian Li

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

The main goal of radiotherapy is to deliver a specified dose of radiation directly to the tumor while minimizing radiation damage to healthy tissues. Currently, the treatment plan is being developed by professional planners using a commercial treatment planning system. In this treatment planning system, the planner modifies the objectives and weights of the objectives until an ideal combination of doses is achieved. This arbitrary process can cost a few hours or a day to finish. My research aims to automate the generation of the plans by implementing an optimization algorithm on top of the treatment planning system using gradient …

Abroad Perspective: Conceptualizing The Relationship Between Language And Identity, Rita Louise Ewing

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

In the field of migration studies, research on transnationalism has been well established. By applying an intersectional framework of post-colonial narrative and sociolinguistics to research on transnational migration, this research allows us to better understand how the transnational immigrant deploys language. Through a nostalgia studies approach, this study is able to analyze how transnational immigrants place value on their heritage and second languages, and reflexively deploy their language sets to reflect their unique positionality. This paper is a case study examination of five adult members of the 1.5-Generation of Filipino American immigrants, who immigrated to the U.S. before the age …

Plant Biodiversity In The Face Of Climate Change: What Will Become Of Coastal Endemic Species?, Nila Le

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

How will longitudinally constrained coastal flora fare in the face of rapid anthropogenic climate change and disturbance? Coastal communities pose a unique problem for climate change and its associated risks. Species that are concentrated along the coast are naturally vulnerable to the influence of harsh abiotic ecology, such as coastal erosion and high salt concentrations. In addition, analogous to montane species-habitat interactions, coastal communities may be “pushed” off the coast edge as a result of tracking preferred climate in the face of climate variability and sea level rise. This can be problematic for species that cannot disperse quickly enough to …

Shake My Hand, Karenna R. Versalovic, Whitney Bagley, Linwan Lewis, Sarah Hoffman, Vernae Gallaread, John Hammond, William Bernick, Clifford Phillips

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

The purpose of this project is to explore the inevitable intertwining of the worlds of dance and disability. It investigates what can happen when a group of people of all abilities use movement as a source of connection. This project was based on a nine minute dance piece created over a seven month period with rehearsals once a week for three hours sessions. The final piece consisted of seven dancers, five of whom had intellectual and developmental disabilities. The performance utilized improvisation, discussions, choreography, and contact work as tools for the creative process. The intent of the piece was to …

The Impact Of Cleft Lip And Palate Repair Surgery On Cognitive And Academic Outcomes For Teens In India, Jeremiah R. Maller

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

India has a backlog of an estimated 1,000,000 patients in need of cleft lip and palate repair. Unrepaired clefts result in social stigma and diminished psychological well-being, physical health and academic functioning. Cleft repair surgery has the potential to restore functioning in these domains. However, the magnitude of the social, educational, and economic impact of cleft repair surgery has not been evaluated using statistically rigorous methods. An estimation of the psychosocial and educational impact of cleft repair has implications for the appropriate allocation of public health resources. We use data gathered from teenagers in India. A difference-in-differences method is employed …

The Controversial F-35 Joint Strike Fighter: America's Most Expensive Weapons System And Its Global Impact, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Creative Materials

Provides an overview on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program involving the U.S. and many allied countries. Describes the costs of this program, the technical problems it has experienced, its economic impact on the U.S. and allied countries, the JSF's operational capabilities, potential combat scenarios in which it could be used, and the campaign finance impact aerospace companies and unions have in the electoral process.

Many Faiths, One Beginning: Universality In Norse, Maya, Greek And Celtic Faiths

Symposium of Student Scholars

Numerous religious faiths have pervaded the world for much of known human history, but these belief systems often have significant variation in their core tenets, especially with those that have no contact. Religions which are in close proximity to one another tend to have some degree of syncretism, such as having comparable deities, due to having some transmission of their cultures. One group of similar base beliefs is the Indo-Europeans, with its members having been studied for parallels before. To contend with these previous studies, this project will look at the beliefs of the Norse, Greek, and Celtic cultures, all …

Queer Mississippi Oral History Project Performance, Jessica Wilkerson

Queer Mississippi (Complete Collection)

Members of Dr. Jessica Wilkerson's Oral History of Southern Social Movements class (S ST 560) gave a presentation on their findings at the end of the semester.

The Effectiveness Of Parental Involvement In Early Literacy Development, Meredith Seay

Graduate Research Symposium

When children start their schooling career, literacy development is immediately present and is key to their academic success. Parental involvement is widely believed to be critical to children’s early academic development. Research shows various factors are linked to a child’s literacy development, including socioeconomic status, parent depression, and single-parent status. Research has proven there are different ways in which parents can learn how to enhance their child’s literacy development, one of which includes the establishment of a home literacy environment.

Activate, Motivate, Participate: Strategies To Engage And Motivate Reluctant Students In Literacy., Hope Mounie

Graduate Research Symposium

Many schools serving low socio-economic families face the challenge of teaching reading to students who lack motivation or the desire to read. This could be caused by many factors. Do these students have the resources to become successful but choose not to, do they not have print rich environments at home, or is literacy not valued? There is a strong link between low socio-economic status and students’ low level of literacy achievement (Ng, C). Students need to be engaged in order to become self-motivated readers in the future. The ability to read is essential for securing well-paid employment and participating …

The Fine Line Between Helpful And Hurtful: English Language Learners And Unnecessary Special Education Placement., Jenny Bayer

Graduate Research Symposium

I will share key components of culturally responsive assessment and together we will explore alternative assessment and identification practices that affect our English Learners. With this knowledge, we, as teaching professionals, will be able to effectively reach this underserved population of students.

Health Care Transition Experience Of Emerging Adults With Sickle Cell Disease: Preliminary Results, Dora L. Clayton-Jones

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Error Processing In Speeded Response Tasks: Expertise Differences In Cognitive Control, Nicole Bing

John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference

In speeded response tasks, the time between external stimuli and the time to react is both minimal and relatively fixed. In accordance with speed-accuracy tradeoff (SAT) theories, reaction time (RT) is often slower after error in order to improve accuracy, which produces post-error slowing. However, in speeded response tasks, typical post-error slowing patterns may not occur. We examined two neural indices of self-regulatory cognitive control, the feedback-related negativity (FRN) and the P300, to identify whether time constraints disrupted the normal processing of performance errors and the refinement of behavior during task execution through cognitive control processes in accord with one’s …

A New Species Of Pristimantis (Amphibia: Anura: Strabomantidae) From Northern Peru, Shenyu Lyu

John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference

Frogs of the genus Pristimantis are most diverse in northwestern South America. They are distributed from lowland rainforest to elevations of about 4000 m in the Andes. Of the 516 species currently assigned to the genus Pristimantis, 138 species occur in Peru. Herein, we present a new species of Pristimantis from the Cajamarca Region of northern Peru. The new species is known from four male and five female specimens found in high Andean grasslands hiding in the rosette of Puya fastuosa (Bromeliaceae) at 3600 m above sea level. The new species is phenotypically distinguished from its congeners by having …

The Current State Of The Aviation Industry, Mike A. Burgener

Faculty Research Flash Talk

I will present on the current state of the aviation industry and how it relates to shortages of qualified pilots and aviation mechanics, demographic trends, and how the industry is responding to these historic shortages.

No One Left Behind: Forensic Anthropology In The Community, Keith Biddle, Britney Radford

UM Graduate Student Research Conference (GradCon)

Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology are subdisciplines of the field of Physical Anthropology. Forensic Anthropology deals with the study of human remains in the medico-legal context, while Bioarchaeology focuses on human remains and their excavation within the archaeological record. This historic burial case came to the University of Montana through the initiated request of a citizen in an effort to identify his relatives’ remains by correlating our findings with family records before being re- located to another cemetery. The remains were originally exhumed by Beaverhead County and transported to the Montana State Crime Lab in Missoula before being transferred to the …

The Use Of Forensic Anthropology Outside The Medico-Legal Context: Creating A Historic Biological Profile, Elena Hughes

UM Graduate Student Research Conference (GradCon)

The analysis of skeletal remains in the medico-legal context falls in the hands of a forensic anthropologist. The hands on skills that forensic anthropologists learn, and practice, help them to recreate the life and personhood of the deceased. In order to do so, the skeletonized remains of an individual or individuals is examined for characteristics indicative of age-at-death, sex, ancestry, pathology, stature, as well as trauma. This information is used to create a biological profile that can then be given to law enforcement to help identify the individual. There are various types of analyses that can be done to create …

Community And Individual Responses To Flooding On Louisiana's Last Inhabited Barrier Island, Lauren Miller

UM Graduate Student Research Conference (GradCon)

This case study attempted to better understand local attitudes of public flood interventions and their individual responses to flood risks on a remote barrier island—Grand Isle, Louisiana.

People have lived Grand Isle for over a century and the island has been an efficient community for tourism, seafood, and petroleum in the past. However, today’s residents are confronting social and environmental challenges that early settlers of the island did not experience. For example, oilfield employment on the island has dwindled and seafood workers are facing challenges within the surrounding natural environment. Both industries are now having to compete within the globalized …

Preventing Cancer Through Local Policy Change: Use Of Artificial Uv Tanning Services Among Minors., Stefanie Tassaro

UM Graduate Student Research Conference (GradCon)

No abstract provided.

Developing A Community Pathway To Improved Maternal Mental Health Outcomes, Holly J. Jordt

UM Graduate Student Research Conference (GradCon)

Developing a Community Pathway to Improved Maternal Mental Health Outcomes

To Know Is To Grow: How Different Types Of Contact With Transgender Individuals Is Associated With Varying Levels Of Anti-Transgender Prejudice, Oak Reed

UM Graduate Student Research Conference (GradCon)

In societies around the world, transgender individuals are often stigmatized and discriminated against due to their gender identity. Previous research suggests that transgender individuals, compared to other highly stigmatized sexual minority groups, experience some of the highest levels of prejudice (e.g., Dispenza, Warson, Chung, & Brack, 2012; Hughto, Reisner, & Pachankis, 2015; etc.). Importantly, gender-based prejudice is associated with negative mental health outcomes, particularly major depressive disorder and attempted suicidality (Nemoto, Boedecker, & Iwamoo, 2011; Clements-Noelle, Marx, & Katz, 2006). Therefore, examining and deploying methods to reduce anti-transgender prejudice may provide a socio-cultural approach to reducing mental health disparities among …

Communication Accommodation In Technologically-Mediated Conflict Between Romantic Partners, Benjamin Wassink, Callie Parrish, Mira Cleveland

UM Graduate Student Research Conference (GradCon)

This study explores communication accommodation via technologically-mediated (e.g., text message) conversations of romantic couples. Although research has previously examined how partners engage in accommodation through face-to-face communication, less is known concerning how accommodation functions over text message, particularly when couples engage in conflict. Participants (N = 28) completed an online survey, where they provided two text conversations with their partner: one on a “good” day in their relationship, and one on a “bad” day. Using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC, 2015), we measured participants’ language matching in each conversation. Additionally, participants completed scales indicating perceived self- and partner-accommodation levels …

A Comparative Reconstruction Of Proto-Eastern-Algonquian, Daniel Gaynes

UM Graduate Student Research Conference (GradCon)

No abstract provided.

Young Adults’ Gender Role Beliefs, Sexual Esteem And Need To Belong, Zelphair Grant, Kelli Murray, Imani Washington

Showcase of Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors (SOURCE)

We examined gender role perceptions, sexual esteem, and need to belong. Participants were 85 adults with a mean age of 19.0 (SD = 2.1); 52% were Caucasian and 35% were African-American. Participants responded to measures that assessed their gender role beliefs, gender role attitudes, sexual esteem and depression, and need to belong. We also asked participants to rate a list of sexual behaviors for appropriateness. Each behavior was described as being conducted by a man, and then the behavior was described as if the actor were a woman. We found that having non-traditional gender beliefs did not lead to …

Fomc Economic Outlook, Jonathan Herrmann, Stavros Xanthacos, Emma Stent, Gavin Thurlow, Jess Tavarez, Trevor Godston, Steven Schilder, Wilder Rumpf, Jacob Tomanelli

Academic Festival

Business students reporting on their current research in preparation for the Fed Reserve Challenge in the fall of 2018.

Marble, Glass, & A Lawn Chair: A Sculptural Exploration Of Culture Icons, Casey Schachner

UM Graduate Student Research Conference (GradCon)

No abstract provided.