2011-2012 HURA Recipients
Andrew Church
Department: Journalism
Mentor: Todd Felts
Project Title: Challenges Facing Nicaraguan Media in a World of Open Dialogue
Michael Forney
Department: Biology
Mentor: Vladimir Pravosudov
Project Title: The effects of differential space use on cortical volume and neuron number in the side-blotched lizard (Uta stansburiana)
Melanie Frincke-Craig
Department: NRES
Mentor: Chris Feldman
Project Title: Correlation between Color, Body Condition, and Diet in the Lesser Goldfinch (Spinus psaltria)
Lisa Gilmore
Department: Nutrition
Mentor: Jamie Benedict
Project Title: The Role of Primary Health Care Providers in Reducing Intake of Sugary Drinks
Leanne Howard
Department: English
Mentor: Jen Hill
Project Title: Embodied Sexuality and Normativity in The Beetle and ‘Carmilla’
Schinria Islam
Department: Economics
Mentors: Robert Metts
Project Title: Assessment of Peer-to-Peer Microlending in Bangladesh and Implications for Microenterprise Initiatives in Nevada
Jade Keehn
Department: NRES
Mentors: Chris Feldman, Nathan Nieto
Project Title: Isolation at Work: A Comparison between Reptiles of Nevada’s Pyramid Lake and Anaho Island.
Shayla Kranovich
Department: Human Development and Family Studies
Mentor: Melissa Burnham
Project Title: A Comparison of On-Campus vs. Off-Campus Living
Ari Krause
Department: Anthropolgy
Mentor: Erin Stiles
Project Title: A War Born Sport: the evolution of contemporary horse show jumping
Ossian MacDonald
Department: Political Science
Mentor: Jennifer Ring
Project Title: Two Views of Nonviolence: Reconciling Principled and Strategic Nonviolence in Political Philosophy
Rachel Miller
Department: Physics
Mentor: Timothy Darling
Project Title: Correlation between acoustic emission and mechanoluminescence of rock cores under quasistatic compression
Muir Morrison
Department: Physics
Mentor: Andrei Derevianko
Project Title: “Magic” optical trapping of Rydberg atoms for quantum computation
Jennifer Musser
Department: Political Science
Mentor: William Eubank
Project Title: Constitutional Law Issues Surrounding Detainment at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base
Jessica Reynolds
Department: Mathematics
Mentor: Anna Panorska
Project Title: The Mathematical Signature of a Composer
Megan Stricker
Department: Psychology
Mentor: Gideon Caplovitz
Project Title: The “Color” of Music: An Investigation of Timbre and Color Association
Sara Thompson
Department: Social Work
Mentor: Mary Hylton
Project Title: HIV/AIDS: A Critical Look at Correctional Health Care Policies
Danielle Walsh
Department: NRES
Mentor: Kelley Stewart
Project Title: Resources Selection by North American Elk
Andy Wei
Department: Psychology
Mentor: Michael Crognale
Project Title: Evoked Potential Measures of Blur Adaptation
For the last several decades, Nicaragua has been a nation caught between political extremes. Fueled by both external and internal forces, this conflict has had a defining effect on the media landscape of the country. With the resurgence of the leftist Sandinistas under President Daniel Ortega, new political pressures have been placed on Nicaraguan conservative media organizations. This research paper analyzes how conservative media has responded to government pressure and censorship through the use of emerging technologies and online services. This project will begin by building a foundation using academic and scholarly articles, and then using primary research gained by interviewing selected media professionals in Nicaragua. More information regarding the details of this project and its methodology can be found in the following sections.
Previous research has shown the hippocampus is involved in spatial memory, and it is affected by spatial use experiences in both mammals and birds. The current hypothesis proposes that an animal living in a more complex environment thereby relying more on spatial memory will show an increase in hippocampal attributes. This project will examine the total neuron numbers and volume of the medial and dorsal cortices (which are analogous to the hippocampus in reptiles) of the side-blotched lizard, Uta stansburiana. The analysis will compare two samples of male lizards – one comprised of lizards raised in larger, more complex enclosures and the other comprised of lizards in smaller, less enriching enclosures – to determine if spatial use does indeed affect hippocampal attributes in a novel species.
The relationship between winter plumage coloration and fitness is not well understood in the lesser goldfinch (Spinus psaltria). Bright plumage is thought to be a true indicator of body condition because consuming high quality forage forms brighter plumage. The ability to collect quality forage indicates that the bird has high fitness. This relationship is mostly theoretical, but I hope to establish the relationship with empirical data. I propose to collect body measurements, pictures of plumage, and blood of goldfinches to assess their correlation. My results will help explain the importance of plumage coloration in evaluating the fitness of lesser goldfinches.
The goal of this honors thesis is to identify ways in which primary health care professionals influence low-income children to limit their intake of sugary drinks. Children from low-income households are at a higher-risk for obesity and reducing intake of sugary beverages may lessen this risk (Sichieri, 2009). As part of an on-going campaign to address this public health concern, this thesis will involve conducting a survey of primary health care providers in Northern Nevada regarding how or if they discuss sugary drinks with their young patients. The survey findings will be used to develop additional strategies for the campaign.
In my project “Embodied Sexuality and Normativity in The Beetle and ‘Carmilla,’” I will apply theoretical discussions of gender and sexuality to readings of the supernatural in late nineteenth century British literature. Specifically, I will examine the sensation novel The Beetle by Richard Marsh and the gothic short story “Carmilla” by Sheridan Le Fanu in order to reveal how their apparently scandalizing and radical embodiments of sexuality define normative sexual practices even as they liberate their readers from them. To make this argument in its full contextualization, I hope to travel to London to visit the British Library and the rare manuscript collection of the Welcome Library in order to access first editions of these texts, a variety of nineteenth century texts on the then-emergent fields of “sexology” and psychoanalysis, and unique, otherwise inaccessible archives.
This thesis will assess the implementation and performance of peer-to-peer lending and microcredit in Bangladesh and examine the potential for peer-to-peer lending in Nevada. Firstly, it will describe the lessons learned by Bangladeshi microfinance experts and practitioners about peer-to-peer lending. Secondly, it will produce salient recommendations for community development financial institutions in Nevada currently considering the use of peer-to-peer lending to promote microenterprise and boost Nevada’s economy.
Island environments provide excellent opportunities to study isolation in action. On Anaho Island, Nevada, preliminary studies have shown that isolated lizard species have begun to diverge from mainland relatives in respect to body size. This study examines divergence further by quantifying the specific ways that isolation has altered demographics, life history traits (time and energy spent on reproduction and growth), and selective regimes (set of environmental demands placed upon an organism) between lizard communities.
With a substantial number of freshmen living in residence halls each year, it is important to study the advantages and disadvantages of this type of living. Previous research on living in the residence halls has been narrowly focused, leaving many gaps for future studies. The gap this study will be focusing on is how sleep quality differs between students living on-campus vs. students living off-campus. Using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the sleep quality of freshman students living on-campus vs. off-campus will be compared and analyzed.
Horse show jumping is a relatively young sport. It has been a recognized sport for approximately 100 years (Gianoli and Monti, 191). Little research exists on how the sport developed. The written historical record of jumping horses is cursory. Horses were probably used to traverse obstacles long before jumping horses was mentioned in writing, and there are gaps in the written record of jumping horses, particularly until the 15th century. A consistent written record begins in 1757 when the practice of jumping horses was used by the Prussian cavalry to defeat the French (Gianoli and Monti, 118). This project examines the history of the practice of jumping horses from existing records, and explores how the use of horses by the Prussian cavalry evolved into contemporary show jumping.
There are two major schools of thought regarding the nature of political nonviolence: principled and strategic (Nagler,a). I intend to explore these different views in historical and contemporary political philosophy, with particular emphasis on the ideas of Mohandas Gandhi and Gene Sharp My hypothesis is that the two approaches to nonviolence are not as different as they appear to be. I am going to study the common elements of each view to determine whether they are as distinct as they appear. Such study could yield a modern conception of nonviolence that is appropriate for contemporary society and modern social movements.
Mechanical deformation of rocks often causes sharp cracking sounds and light emission known as acoustic emission (AE) and mechanoluminescence (ML), respectively. AE is used extensively for rock evaluation in geophysics, civil engineering, and mining. By comparison, ML has received little attention from the geoscience community. We propose to investigate the correlation between AE and ML in rock cores under quasistatic compression. This research is valuable for understanding rock fractures in mines and earthquakes, for nondestructive material testing, and for understanding the non-linear elastic behavior of porous rocks.
Quantum computers promise to revolutionize science and technology, yet constructing one remains an open challenge. Efforts using Rydberg states in laser-trapped neutral atoms are progressing, but they suffer from a crucial defect: the stored quantum information is slowly destroyed by the lasers trapping the atoms. Recent work suggests that exotic laser traps formed by interference of multiple lasers could create “magic” traps for Rydberg states. These ideal traps would cause no loss of stored quantum information. We propose a theoretical and computational search for such exotic trapping geometries, which would prove useful towards development of a quantum computer.
Located on the island of Cuba, the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base has become home to hundreds of detainees who are suspected of belonging to or aiding terrorist organizations throughout the war on terror. In the years since the base’s beginning as a detention center, legal issues have arisen over what constitutional provisions are to be afforded to detainees and the applicability of United States laws in such cases. The Supreme Court assumed the role of deciding these various matters, the heart of which were determined in four key cases: Rasul v. Bush (2004), Hamdi v. Rumsfeld 2004), Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (2006), and Boumediene v. Bush (2008). Because of the common law nature of the country’s judicial system and the emphasis placed on precedent, the decisions of the Court in these cases may have an impact on future cases and legal issues. This paper will examine the legal language exuded in the Court’s reasoning as well as review scholarly literature in order to determine the implications each of the cases will have in the field of constitutional law.
This thesis will explore methods for statistically defining a composer’s “signature” style of musical composition. Established computational systems for literature and online music recommendations will be studied and applied to multiple works from specific composers of different musical periods, including Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Debussy, Stravinsky, and contemporary composer Eric Whitacre. The paper will explore the primary elements of music that define a distinct style of composition in order to develop a system that can statistically compare composers and musical periods. This will provide a way to statistically determine composers of pieces, such as in cases where original sheet music has been lost.
Musical timbre has been thought to be associated with certain colors since Isaac Newton. Many theories exist that are connected directly to prior research done concerning pitch and chords, along with study of music and emotion, but few in terms of timbre (Barbiere, Vidal, & Zellner, 2007; Hailstone, Omar, Henley, Frost, Kenward, & Warren, 2009; Davies, 2010). This study will investigate the possible correlation between the lowness of timbre and the darkness of color. For example, one hypothesis is that the lower the timbre of the instrument, the darker the color will be imagined. I will investigate this idea with multiple basic experiments including both pictures and sounds of instruments and the concluding duty to choose the first color that comes to mind on a color wheel. These experiments will attempt to find consistencies in the degree of timbre and choice of color as well as the corresponding neural correlates of such associations. Success of this project could potentially allow us much more insight in pinpointing anatomical areas in the brain related to timbre processing, along with learning and contributing to the very popular knowledge base of music and the brain in general.
Public policy regarding health care in correctional facilities shapes how male inmates receive prevention and treatment for HIV/AIDS. This study will investigate and identify the ways in which specific legislation and judicial rulings on Federal have impacted management of HIV/AIDS and access to antiretroviral (ARV) treatment in correctional facilities. It will also investigate the ways these policies have influenced the rates of HIV/AIDS in prisons in comparison to the rates within the general population. Evaluating the effectiveness and influences of these policies, both state and federal, with regards to management and treatment is critical for the future of correctional health care. Because most inmates who have contracted HIV will be leaving the correctional setting and be re-engaging in their communities, it is imperative to discover the effective ways of treating and managing HIV/AIDS in order to teach the imprisoned population the necessary prevention and management skills.
Resource selection, such as food and vegetation density, varies between species and habitat. I will be looking at selection of resources by a population of North American elk with regards to sex, density, and changes between aggregation and segregation periods. Models constructed in ArcGIS with a variety of variables, such as elevation, temperature, and distance to water, will be compared and analyzed with statistical analysis software (SAS) in order to determine which factors influence resource selection. Due to the species being sexually dimorphic I predict that there will be differences between males and females in selection of resources.
Blurred images appear clearer after prolonged viewing, a process termed blur adaptation. However, behavioral measures of the physiological mechanisms tend to be subjective in nature, making it difficult to accurately form a general statement on the topic. This study aims to objectively quantify mechanisms of blur by using the visual evoked potential (VEP), which measures visual brain responses from scalp sensors. VEP responses will measure the magnitude of adaption and the degree to which blur adaptation effects are transferred from one eye to the other. The degree of this “interocular transfer” provides clues about the physiological locus of the adaptation.