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Aspectos Morfosintácticos Del Español Dominicano, Orlando Alba

Faculty Publications

El objetivo de esta presentación consiste en ofrecer una visión general de diferentes aspectos de la estructura morfosintáctica del español hablado en la República Dominicana. Los fenómenos descritos aparecen ilustrados con ejemplos orales.

Pcom Biomedical Sciences Neuro-Behavior Track: Pilot Students' Perspective, Jenna Wynn, Catherine Tauro, Erica Stagliano

Research Day

INTRODUCTION: Three Master’s degree candidate students opted to pilot a neuro-behavior concentration track after completing the first year of core Biomedical Sciences courses.

METHODS: Courses from the Mental Health Counseling, School Psychology and Clinical Psychology programs as well as select classes from the second year Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine Clinical and Basic Neuroscience course were integrated into the curriculum. Routine discussions and additional clinical or research experiences enhanced the understanding and appreciation of the combination of courses from the various disciplines.

RESULTS: The integrated curriculum provides a unique angle to view the neuro-bio-psycho-social contributions to studying neuroscience …

Capstone: The Biopsychosocial Approach To The Mind-Brain-Body Connection, Erica Stagliano

Research Day

Introduction

The mind-brain-body connection The relationship between the mind, brain, and body was the highlight of the Neurobehavioral Biomedical Sciences Masters Concentration. While the brain and body are concrete entities, the mind is more abstract and complex and is different from one individual to another. The idea of the mind encompasses opinions, personality, and emotion, which, although seemingly philosophical, have been shown to have a real impact on physical health.

Mental Health and Primary Care Primary care providers are becoming more involved in the role of managing mental health, particularly depression and suicidal patients. 50% of all patients who commit …

Deer Droppings As A Diverse Invertebrate Habitat, Allison Furr, Dr. Kevin Geedey

Celebration of Learning

This project was performed at Augustana's Green Wing Environmental Laboratory and studied the richness and diversity of soil invertebrates in two conditions, deer poop enriched and surrounding soil. Soil invertebrates play an important role in soil quality which greatly affects ecosystems. The hypothesis of this study was that the diversity and richness would be the higher in the poop enriched soil samples. Soil samples were collected, Burlese funnels were used to collect the invertebrates, the invertebrates were examined under the microscope, and were assigned to taxa. The number of taxa (richness) and the number of individuals in each taxa (Simpson's …

The Effects Of Urbanization On Nitrogen Processing In Urban Streams, Peter Francissen, Dr. Kevin Geedey, Dr. Michael Reisner

Celebration of Learning

Urban stream syndrome is described as the deterioration of stream health in an urbanized watershed and is associated with the loss of ecosystem services, which in turn degrades downstream environments. One key symptom of the urban stream syndrome is reduced processing of inorganic nitrogen. Previous research suggests that as urbanization increases and water quality decreases, the uptake length (Sw) of inorganic N increases. This indicates that the stream is increasing the export of N downstream compared to in situ incorporation of N into the ecosystem. We measured uptake length (Sw) of NO3, using a pulse addition method, along 9 different …

Unsupervised Machine Learning In Agent-Based Modeling, Luke D. Robinson

Celebration of Learning

Agent-based models (ABMs) are used by researchers in a variety of fields to model natural phenomena. In an ABM, a wide range of behaviors and outcomes can be observed based on the parameters of the model. In many cases, these behaviors can be categorized into discrete outcomes identifiable by human observers. Our goal was to use clustering algorithms to identify those outcomes from model output data. For this project, we used data from the NetLogo Wolf Sheep Predation model to explore and evaluate three clustering algorithms from Python's scikit-learn package. If this task can be completed reliably by a computer, …

Student-Teacher Rapport Moderates The Relationship Between Course Difficulty And Academic Dishonesty, Phoebe Strell, Payton Petruchuis, Nora Bosslet, Allison Bjork

Celebration of Learning

Surveys indicate around 75% of undergraduates intentionally cheat on schoolwork and, not surprisingly, there are normative beliefs among students that this figure is correlated with course difficulty (Rettinger, Jordan, & Peschiera, 2004; Rettinger & Kramer, 2009; Witherspoon, Maldonado, & Lacey, 2010). We asked whether student-teacher rapport might moderate those beliefs, hypothesizing that rapport with a teacher reduces the estimated likelihood of cheating.

Researchers distributed an online survey to traditional-aged college students at a selective liberal arts college receiving 95 completed forms. Participants indicated whether they had engaged in each of 14 academically dishonest behaviors (Witherspoon, Maldando, & Lacy, 2010), which …

Information Literacy In Higher Education: Now More Than Ever, Sharon A. Weiner

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Dr. Weiner will offer an overview of information literacy issues present in society that result from lack of attention to it in educational systems. She will discuss ways to position academic libraries to strengthen librarians’ roles as essential educators, and will provide talking points for making convincing cases for information literacy with faculty and administrators.

Facilitation On Community And Police Relations In Harrisonburg, Nicole R. Chillemi, Chase R. Dunn, Erika S. Harrington, Ryan L. Shaw

SCOM Undergraduate Research Conference

The strained relationship between marginalized groups and law enforcement has effected Harrisonburg at a local level. This report focuses on an event held at James Madison University in which various stakeholders deliberated on actions and priorities that should be focused on while addressing police/community based problems.

An Ideological Criticism Of Todrick Hall's Visual Album Straight Outta Oz, Rachel Moss

SCOM Undergraduate Research Conference

American entertainer Todrick Hall released his visual album Straight Outta Oz in 2016 in order to communicate his views on a wide range of topics from sexuality to family life. Hall used the video to advance challenging ideologies that discuss the harmful effects of the church on LGBTQ+ youth, problems the LGBTQ+ community face, the discrimination faced by black Americans, and pitfalls of the entertainment industry, with the purpose of forming a call to action for society to advocate for equality. By placing these themes into a medium popular at the time of release, Hall created a better chance for …

Scholarly Publishing Education For Academic Authors: Reframing The Library’S Instruction Role - Scholarly Publishing, Information Literacy, And Social Justice, Charlotte Roh

Gleeson Library Faculty and Staff Research and Scholarship

Scholarly publishing has made great strides in fulfilling the vision of open access, with more journals and papers now freely available to read and reference on the Internet. Yet that achievement falls short of a truly global open, trusted, and reuseable scholarly record. What are the next steps in openness and the pain points in providing completely open scholarship? Education about the publishing process is still developing, particularly when the publishing infrastructure includes the same colonial systems and biases in academic research and publishing that persist throughout academia. These biases influence what gets published, who gets tenure, what research gets …

Drunkorexia And The Motives Behind Substance Abuse And Eating Disorder Pathology Amongst College Culture, Nicole Caron, Ginette Gosselin Ferszt

Senior Honors Projects

Amongst college campuses throughout the United States, binge drinking has become a major concern. It seems to be integrated into campus culture, and considered “normal behavior”. However, binge drinking is not without its consequences. There are programs and educational materials which warn about the dangers of binge drinking. While binge drinking behaviors are common, there are other troublesome behaviors that are experienced amongst college students which are not discussed as often. In addition, there is an increase in the integration of binge drinking and eating disorder behaviors. This behavior is referred to as “drunkorexia”. Drunkorexia involves the exhibition of eating …

Cultural Hegemony In American Democracy, Mark A. Bocchini

Senior Honors Projects

The 2016 presidential election and the rise of Trump caught most of us (if not all) by surprise. Over the course of the months leading up to the election, it became apparent the American people weren’t being given the truth, and if we were, it was framed—we were primed to believe certain things, and the agenda was already set. In the face of this I decided to look into exactly what caused the media’s behavior in this election cycle. It became apparent that the media, and the rise of Trump into prominence (and the presidency) had a common connection, which …

Redefining “Success”: Toward A Community Minded Restaurant Industry, Molly Bennett

Senior Honors Projects

Restaurants are at the heart of communities across the United States. They contribute to the local culture, provide space for families and neighbors to gather, and help shape the identity of towns, and cities. Restaurants should reflect not just the culture, but the values and priorities of the communities where they are located. Whether it’s in terms of the treatment of their workers, the environmental impact of their daily operations, or the health implications of their food, I believe that restaurants should reflect the values of a community. As a student graduating with a major in supply chain management, my …

Tour Guides Take Technology: Mobilizing The Coverage Process, Cassie Jes Jacob

Senior Honors Projects

Technology has progressed more in the past decade than it has in the past century, and it has changed the way we live. To succeed in this society, innovation is a necessity. A recent phenomenon in technology is the use of mobile applications designed to make our lives and daily activities, such as note-taking and scheduling, more convenient.

This project explores the use of mobile applications in a business. At URI, the Tour Guide team acts as a business that manages over 100 employees as they lead visits around campus for prospective students.

These employees are college-age students raised in …

Evaluating The Safety And Efficacy Of Classical Greek And Roman Treatments Compared To Modern Treatment, Morgan A. Wynes

Senior Honors Projects

Classical Greek and Roman civilizations survived for centuries and have greatly influenced the civilizations that have succeeded them. The treatments of diseases of both civilizations changed over time as physicians and philosophers such as Hippocrates and Galen developed a better understanding of the human body. Some of the treatments for disease used in ancient Greece and Rome remain in use today.

This project was designed to assess the safety and efficacy of classical Greek and Roman medicinal treatments and compare them to modern day treatments. The first step of the project was to identify classical diseases with telltale symptoms that …

A Behavioral Prerequisite For The Genetic Analysis Of Auditory Feature Detection Mechanisms In Female Crickets, Rebecca L. Blisko

Senior Honors Projects

Sexual dimorphism is exhibited across all cricket species and is a central aspect of the mating processes of these insects. Only male crickets possess wing structures and pattern generators in the central nervous system that allow them to produce a mating call that is unique to their species in order to attract conspecific females. Conspecific females possess an auditory feature detection circuit in the central nervous system that is capable of detecting the species-specific frequency and temporal pattern of sound pulses within a male call. In order for dimorphic differences in mating behavior to result in successful continuation of a …

Sometimes Laughter Is The Best Medicine: Stand-Up Comedy, Humor, And Healthcare, Haran Mennillo

Senior Honors Projects

While for many healthcare is no laughing matter, humor can be a valuable tool for physicians. Hospitals and other healthcare environments can be very stressful places for patients, many of whom are having the worst day of their lives. Humor is an excellent medium through which doctors can connect with their patients, improving the doctor-patient relationship. Patients will often use humor as a way to cope with their stress, and doctors with a sense of humor are able to better connect with their patients. This use of humor has many applications across different fields of medicine, including pediatrics, oncology, palliative …

Designing Towards A Dream, Danielle Alexys Williams

Senior Honors Projects

Fashion has been a part of the world since the beginning of time and will continue to advance. From the Victorian Era and cage crinoline skirts, to contemporary time and casual clothing, styles have come and gone. As a textiles, fashion merchandising and design major, my goal is to continue this process that allows people to de ne themselves every day. is lead to the project: Designing Towards a Dream.

Designing Towards a Dream was created to advance my skills in the design aspect of fashion. During the rst semester research was completed to investigate the relationship between women and …

"Transnational" Eating: The Food Culture Of Dominican Immigrants In Ri, Vanessa Garcia Polanco

Senior Honors Projects

Food, as an universal topic that transcends borders, times, and places, is a pathway towards understanding a group's transnational and local identity (Mares). Food culture as it refers to the practices, attitudes, and beliefs as well as the networks and institutions surrounding the production, distribution, and consumption of food provides fundamental understanding of a group (Long).Sociologists defined “transnationalism” as the process by which immigrants build social fields that link together their country of origin and their country of settlement (Glick Schiller et al. 1992:1). At the same time, migration flows influence the local context structure and the impacts of global …

Helping Hands, Raquél Pérez

Senior Honors Projects

Every Saturday I make a difference in a child’s life. I am not a surgeon, a firefighter, or a police officer. I do not use surgical sutures to mend a wound, a firehose to put out fires, or courage and precision to keep towns and cities safe. I use my two hands, my broad smile, and my beating heart to aid children who need me…I am a volunteer. In one way or another, most people have benefitted from the helping hands of volunteers. Some rely on volunteers to help make parks cleaner, reaching a fundraising goal easier, or staying at …

A Process For Field Studies In Behavioral Economics, Victoria Ferraro

Senior Honors Projects

Field experiments enable economists to test whether theory adequately captures behavior in natural settings, or whether evidence supports reevaluating the reasoned abstractions comprising the theory. Economics, and social science more generally, has increasingly valued the evidence provided by field studies. These studies typically require a relationship with an external partner site providing the environment for the study, but existent research offers little guidance for developing these relationships and designing procedures for effective collaboration. The purpose of this paper is to provide greater insight into what is necessary to conduct field experiments in economics, particularly behavioral economics in private market settings. …

Paws And Breathe: How Pet Therapy Thrives In An Academic Library, Pamela N. Martin, Andrea Krebs, William Rozum

Library Faculty & Staff Presentations

Since the spring of 2014, the Merrill-Cazier library has offered stress-relieving activities during finals week to help students cope with their heavy workloads. The most popular activity offered (by far) is pet therapy. In the past, the library offered two sessions during finals week, but because of positive feedback and the huge student turnout at these sessions, the library has started to make pet therapy a weekly occurrence. Thanks to the kindness of our volunteer handlers, the therapy dogs have started to come to the library every Tuesday, and the feedback from students has been overwhelmingly positive.

Pet therapy does …

Cambios En El Léxico Disponible De Los Dominicanos, Orlando Alba

Faculty Publications

El objetivo de esta presentación consiste en mostrar los cambios ocurridos en el léxico disponible de los dominicanos durante dos décadas. Se realizó un estudio longitudinal, de tendencia, en el que se comparan datos recogidos durante el invierno de 2008, con otros reunidos en 1990 con la misma metodología. La movilidad léxica observada revela que, al igual que toda lengua, el español dominicano es un sistema dinámico y variable, cuyo vocabulario cambia constantemente: por un lado, elimina palabras y, por el otro, las añade, de acuerdo con la volubilidad de las circunstancias históricas, económicas y sociales. Vale afirmar, por tanto, …

Australian Government Information Resources, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Provides an overview of Australian Government information resources. Features content from Australian Government agency websites such as the Department of Environment and Energy, Department of Defence, Australian National Maritime Museum, ANZAC Memorial in Sydney, Department of Immigration & Border Protection, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Dept. of Agriculture and Water Resources, Australian Parliament, Australian Treasury, Australian Transport Safety Board, and Australian Parliamentary Library. Content includes a video excerpt from Australian parliamentary debate.

Electronic Swiss Army Knife: Deploying An Online Reference Service As An Interdepartmental Multi-Use Tool, Laura Edwards, Kelly Smith, Jens Arneson

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

While Springshare’s LibAnswers product is marketed as an end-to-end online reference product, the Metadata & Discovery (M&D) team at EKU Libraries recognized the potential LibAnswers had to solve workflow problems within the team and provide faster service for our users. The M&D team envisioned using LibAnswers as a ticketing system for troubleshooting problems, managing workflow, assessment of eResources, and storing documentation. Since adopting the LibAnswers product over a year ago, the team has seen reduced confusion around the tracking of workflow tasks in the eResource lifecycle and a significant improvement in turnaround time on troubleshooting problems. In addition, built-in functionality …

Bilingualism And The American Family, Caitlin M. Nickerson

Senior Honors Projects

Bilingualism is the ability to speak more than one language fluently. People of all ages may aspire to learn a second or third language in order to fulfill both personal goals and communicate with a variety of people in different contexts. Irrespective of one’s walk of life or socioeconomic status, being bilingual is a valuable skill. Although English is the language of power in the United States, there are hundreds of other languages spoken in this country.

There are a number of different ways in which children can become bilingual. For example, they may enter the school system speaking the …

The Missoula Monologues, Lexi J. Klawitter

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

As a modern, local version of The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler, The Missoula Monologues (TMM) consists of a series of community members sharing their stories in monologue performance style. TMM intends to engage the audience’s empathy through personal narrative, creating a grassroots movement for social change. As an annual event, TMM focuses on a different topic each year, depending on the relevant issues of the time and always including as diverse a group of speakers as possible. The theme of the 2017 Missoula Monologues is “Toxic Masculinity.” This aims to analyze the detrimental effects of the disconnect between individuals’ …

Silk Adhesives For Biomedical Application, Alexander S. Riffey

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Silk fibroin, extracted from the cocoon of the silk worm Bombyx Mori, is a versatile protein polymer that is relatively easy to process into a variety of biomaterials including solutions, foams, and films. Silk has been used for years in medical applications due to its high strength, low cost, and biocompatibility. When processed into an aqueous solution and concentrated, silk fibroin has exhibited adhesive properties making it a desirable platform for the production of tissue adhesives. Currently, tissue adhesives are used in the medical field for a variety of surgical applications, including to aid hemostasis during surgeries and, in some …

The Role Of Wilderness Orientation Programs: What Purpose Do They Serve?, Reid M. Hensen, Libby C. Metcalf

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Understanding the Freshman Wilderness Experience (FWE) at the University of Montana provides insight into the resilience of first-year college students. Prior research on the effects of outdoor orientation programs in student retention suggests positive outcomes from these experiences. The extant literature concerning orientation programs suggests that the successful adaptation of students, a sense of belonging, social adjustment, self-efficacy, goal orientation, and positively responding to rapidly changing circumstances are all key mediators of understanding student resilience. The present study looked specifically at resilience and self-efficacy. Students were asked to participate in a survey before and after FWE and again at the …