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The Highest Stakes Data Visualizations: Climate Change Data
Full text linkThis study examines how design elements of data visualizations affect attention and urgency toward climate change. Specifically, we focused on climate crisis data visualizations, adjusting the position of key takeaways and manipulating images to amplify the message. Our experimental conditions enabled us to show how viewers interpreted the climate data visualizations and how viewers engaged with the visualizations. In our study, we utilized eye-tracking technology to gain insights into how participants process information while observing the impact on viewer attitudes via surveys. The outcomes help us recommend the best ways to present climate change visualizations to capture viewers\u27 attention
The Erasure of Reverse Acculturation in Pre-Modern Latin America Through the Paper Trail of Cochineal, Cacao, and Copal
Full text linkThe diaspora of Europeanized individuals across the globe are often cited viewing academic institutions as the most credible means by which one can derive an understanding of history. With this in mind, I argue that one need not travel further than their local shopping mall, coffee shop, or even their kitchen to discover palpable evidence of a history worth understanding. When one peruses the red garments or cosmetics on the racks and shelves at a nearby retail store, unbeknownst to the modern-day consumer, the carminic acid used to color this merchandise can be attributed to the discovery of the cochineal dye made by Nahua natives in 17th century pre-modern Latin America. When one drinks hot chocolate, most don\u27t realize that this widely popular drink contains the cacao bean -- an integral element of Aztec cultural drinks linked to a socioeconomic identity. The varnish used to polish the dining room tables in which we eat often contain copal resin, a resource used as an incense and deeply engendered in the ritual of Nahua religious demonstrations. Likewise, even euphemisms such as the the unvarnished truth -- a saying that implies a stripped-down aim at honesty in imparting a tough pill to swallow -- finds itself used in the dialogue of Americans across the nation. History is all around us: in the food we eat, the clothing we wear, and the products we use to refine the furniture within our homes, yet not all indigenous goods hijacked by colonial presences are created equal within the sphere of present-day capitalism. It is the commodities the Spanish Inquisition could sever from their intersection with Aztec supernaturalism that sport a notable reputation within modern-day consumerism today -- a concept that the average history class neglects. To be sufficiently informed on the historical origins of products part our day-to-day lives, one must understand the idea that Aztec history has, largely, created the world we experience in the present
Preservation of Gar Scales To Explore The Depositional Settings of Late Cretaceous Paleoecosystems
No full textThe Late Cretaceous was a period of ecosystem instability that eventually led to a mass extinction event. Microvertebrate fossil assemblages preserve details about these ecosystems. One of the most common animals preserved is gar fish scales. We can use how these fossils are preserved to reconstruct the depositional setting of these assemblages. Here, we examine gar scales to determine preservational conditions at two different Late Cretaceous sites.We examined the histology and the abrasion of these fossils to describe and quantify preservation. Knowledge of the depositional setting provides insights into modern-day biodiversity and the rate of the current mass extinction
Assembly and Annotation of the Shortnose Gar Mitogenome
Full text linkEnvironmental DNA (eDNA) is an emerging technique that ascertains species presence by collecting DNA that is shed by organisms and deposited in the environment. eDNA methods rely on the availability of genomes for target species, and the mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) is frequently used due to its abundance in the environment compared to nuclear DNA. One of the shortcomings of current eDNA work is the lack of mitogenomes against which to reference collected DNA samples. To help rectify this, I assembled and annotated the mitochondrial genome of the shortnose gar (Lepisosteus platostomus), a fish extant in the Mississippi River basin
Modeling Fast Fashion Dynamics with Differential Equations
Full text linkFast fashion contributes to environmental degradation, yet its full impact remains unclear due to limited data. Initially, we modeled overproduction using a logistic growth model but transitioned to a two-variable system due to data constraints. We applied a competing species Lotka-Volterra model to exam- ine the dynamic between fast fashion and thrift stores. This research explores the unexpected mutualistic relationship between these industries
Investigating the Glutathione-Dependent Mechanism of Mosquito Infection by Malaria Parasite Plasmodium
No full textThe oxidizing environment in the mosquito midgut poses a challenge for the malaria parasite Plasmodium. To protect itself, the parasite employs antioxidant strategies, such as the glutathione (GSH) and thioredoxin (Trx) systems. Here, we present our first differential gene expression analysis of Trx- and GSH-associated genes between knockout Plasmodium berghei with a disrupted GSH system and wild-type parasites in the asexual blood stages and mosquito-stage ookinete cultures. Our findings suggest that compensation by the thioredoxin system may not be sufficient or does not occur, highlighting the central role of the GSH system in the development and survival of Plasmodium
Enhanced Quantitation of Amine Drug Derivatives by GC-MS Analysis
No full textMany controlled substances fall into the family of compounds known as amines. Analysis of these drugs in crime labs represents about 30% of all drug
exhibits in the US. Confirmatory and quantitative analysis is typically
performed by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS).
The highly polar nature of the drugs causes strong interactions with surfaces
such as the inlet and stationary phase in the GC; these interactions are
problematic, especially for quantitation. Our laboratory has discovered that
improved chromatographic behavior and detector response can be achieved via
derivatization of the basic nitrogen with alkanoic anhydrides
Modeling Predator-Prey Interactions with ODE Systems
Full text linkSystems of Ordinary Differential Equations (ODE) are a common tool used to study population dynamics. Here, we analyze a predator-prey ODE system, which models two populations in the wild, where one preys upon the other. The system also describes the Allee Effect which is key in describing species that rely on collectivist behaviors, to derive conditions for stability. We found that the stability of the system is predominantly determined by the relationship between a hyperparameter derived from the description of the predator species, and the carrying capacity of the prey population
GirlForward Programs Internship
No full textWorking as GirlForward\u27s Programs Intern has allowed me to work with immigrant and refugee girls and build skills that I will carry on with me into my career
