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Wind Resilience in Overwintering Monarch Butterflies: An Empirical Test of the Microclimate Hypothesis
No full textThe western monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) population has declined by over 99% since the 1980s, making conservation of overwintering habitat along California\u27s coast a management priority. For three decades, habitat management has followed the Disruptive Wind Hypothesis, which posits that wind speeds exceeding 2 m/s disrupt butterfly clusters and cause roost abandonment. This threshold has had substantial influence on restoration practices, despite lacking direct empirical validation.
This study provides the first experimental test of wind effects on overwintering monarch clusters. We deployed cameras and wind sensors at two sites on Vandenberg Space Force Base during the 2023-2024 overwintering season, collecting 1,894 paired observations at 30-minute intervals across 78 days. Time-lapse photography documented butterfly abundance while wind sensors at roost height recorded wind conditions.
Linear regression analysis revealed no significant relationship between wind speed and changes in cluster size at either 30-minute or daily timescales (R² = 0.002, p = 0.073 and R² = 0.013, p = 0.252, respectively). Every day with butterflies present experienced wind speeds exceeding the 2 m/s threshold, yet clusters persisted throughout the monitoring period. Generalized additive mixed models identified temperature, time of day, and an interaction between wind and sunlight as factors influencing cluster behavior (p \u3c 0.001), but wind alone showed no independent effect. When butterflies remained in shade, wind speed had no effect on cluster behavior across the entire observed range (0 to 12.4 m/s). Effects appeared only when butterflies occupied sunlit positions, suggesting that thermoregulation may be a primary driver of clustering behavior.
Our findings challenge fundamental assumptions in monarch habitat management. The absence of wind disruption indicates that monarchs may be more resilient to environmental variation than previously believed, with suitable habitat potentially more extensive than currently recognized. Conservation efforts should continue promoting healthy groves while reconsidering strict wind-based management requirements. Future research should investigate canopy structure and resulting light patterns that monarchs may select when choosing roost sites. As western monarch populations continue to face historic lows, evidence-based understanding of overwintering ecology becomes essential for effective conservation
Critical Hope as a Discipline: Resisting Neoliberal Education and Teaching Toward Futurity
No full textThe university was founded on the principles of critical thought and the critical examination of ideas. However, this vision has gradually eroded over time due to the permeation of neoliberal thought into the university’s walls. Since the last 1970s, hyper-capitalist ideologies have disrupted efforts to develop students into engaged citizens of the world who speak out against gendered, racial, sexual, economic and other forms of marginalization by propagating post-truth messages. Specifically, neoliberal entities produce messages that teach students that their role in life is not to build community and communal bonds among people. Rather, neoliberal entities produce post-truth messages that effectively convince students that their role, and concomitant value in life, is predicated on their ability to advance individualism, work, earn, and spend. Universities have also acquiesced to this hegemonic neoliberal ideology and now largely operate as corporations, not an institution of higher learning. Critical and feminist scholars must resist the encroachment of neoliberalism on the classroom be employing critical hope (Giroux, 2019). Like Kaba’s (2021) idea that “hope is a discipline,” (p. 69) critical hope involves action. In a society in which marginalization exists, hope itself is inadequate. Instead, critical hope involves hope with purpose. This critical commentary will serve to further operationalize the notion of critical hope with the goal of demonstrating how it can function as a pedagogical practice, specifically through the lens of critical communication pedagogy (CCP), in order to guide students to reimagine existing structures of oppression and work toward change
Exploring EPIC’s Effect on Student Confidence and Interest in STEM
No full textObtaining diverse representation in STEM fields is an ongoing challenge. Black and Hispanic workers remain underrepresented in the STEM workforce, and women continue to have low numbers in jobs within computing and engineering fields (Pew Research Center). Diverse representation in engineering is not only important to ensure equity but also serves as a benefit to the field itself as it brings diverse ideas and opinions. Achieving diverse representation in STEM can be aided with targeted STEM education programs that introduce all students (including those from historically marginalized backgrounds) to the world of STEM
Hands-on vs. critical-thinking labs and engineering pathways: a gender-comparative analysis
No full textThe purpose of this study is to compare short-term changes in students’ interest in engineering following two instructional formats: a hands-on lab activity (metal casting) and a critical thinking based lecture/lab (bmed). Using pre and post lab surveys, we evaluated changes in student engagement, confidence, and perceptions of engineering as a potential career. We also examined whether these patterns varied by gender among middle and high school students
Human-AI Collaboration for Creative Design
No full textDesign-by-Analogy (DbA) is a powerful design tool that uses analogical reasoning to help engineers develop groundbreaking innovations, such as cyclonic separator inspired bagless vacuum cleaner or gecko inspired adhesives. DbA leverages the natural, human process of analogical reasoning in a systematic manner in three phases namely: retrieval (what prior knowledge/experience is relevant to a design problem?), mapping (what elements of the design problem align with the retrieved knowledge?), and evaluation (how applicable is the retrieved knowledge to solving a design problem?). To date, most DbA techniques support one or two phases of analogical reasoning and therefore overlook important opportunities for more innovative engineering solutions. In this summer project, we aim to develop an intelligent DbA tool called VISION+ that provides a comprehensive guidance to designers during all phases of the analogical reasoning process, helping them generate innovative and successful design concepts. We propose to develop the tool by integrating a cognitive assistant (CA) into an existing DbA tool, VISION developed by the PI. VISION+, will function as a design collaborator, offering suggestions and examples that help designers expand the solution space and explore a wider range of possibilities. The CA will support designers during the analogical reasoning process by analyzing information from diverse sources and feature a natural language interface to facilitate communication between human designers and CA. This project will expand our efforts to enhance modern engineering design through human-AI collaboration
Signature-Based Attribution of Images Generated by Stable Diffusion
No full textGenerative AI is powerful yet controversial technology capable of spreading misinformation, non-consensual imagery, and offensive materials when not properly safeguarded against such abuse. Synthetic image alteration and generation have always been abused, from photo editing software to Generative Adversarial Nets, and now Diffusion Models. The Internet Watch Foundation and the National Center for Missing and Endangered Children have reported a consistent increase in reported AI generated child sexual assault materials (CSAM) and sextortion scams since the introduction of DMs. New digital forensics tools must evolve to adapt to the ever-changing landscape of AIG CSAM abuse. This work provides a comprehensive evaluation of signature-based model attribution for finetuned versions of Stable Diffusion and LoRAs, providing insight into detectability of models under a variety of circumstances and the effectiveness of the attribution methodology. Model signatures are created from and evaluated on a benign dataset of images from various finetuned Stable Diffusion models and associated LoRAs. Unseen image residuals are compared to model fingerprints through the use of comparison windows, mxm sections of an image or fingerprint, and a distance metric is calculated to attribute a given image to the model fingerprint it is most similar to. This thesis provides insight into the most effective size and location of a comparison window and compares performance across different signature creation methods in binary and multiclass classification. The results of this thesis indicate that signature-based attribution can be applied at a higher level of granularity than previously explored
Using Scenario-Based Design Activities to Explore Sociotechnical Thinking in Engineering Professionals
No full textSociotechnical thinking is the ability to recognize the interconnectedness of both technical and non-technical dimensions such as environmental, economic, social, cultural, and political factors. Although traditional engineering curriculum often emphasizes technical knowledge and skills, research suggests that engineering work is inherently sociotechnical. While sociotechnical thinking is a critical engineering skill, relatively little is understood about the nature of it or the different aspects comprised within it. To that end, this study addresses the following research question: What sociotechnical factors do engineering professionals consider in a collaborative scenario-based design activity? To answer this question, we conducted a qualitative study of engineering professionals from a wide range of experience levels and backgrounds. We created scenario-based design tasks that encouraged participants to examine the interplay between technical and non-technical factors. In groups of 2-3, participants collaborated to complete one of these tasks over a period of approximately 45 minutes. These design tasks provided participants with multiple scenarios to help guide their sociotechnical discussions. We used a combination of deductive and inductive coding to characterize the different factors discussed by participants with a focus on the breadth of factors they identified as salient. Analysis of the transcripts revealed nine distinct sociotechnical factors capturing the breadth of participants discussions. These factors showcased the wide array of technical and non-technical factors considered by participants. We also explored how participants connected these factors using simultaneous coding and code co-occurrence. Findings highlight both the wide range of factors that participants identified as well as the ways these factors overlap and intersect within discussions. From these findings, we explored several specific ways that participants engaged with sociotechnical thinking in their discussions including (1) navigating competing sociotechnical interests with tradeoffs, (2) designing for and alongside stakeholders, and (3) designing to fit in with the broader context. The ability of our data collection methods to elicit rich sociotechnical discussions from participants also highlights its effectiveness as a tool for future research and course integration. These design prompts guided participant discussions towards topics they may not have initially discussed, as well as provided them the open-ended environment to explore their interests. Additionally, assessments building off this one could also directly incorporate social and political factors often overlooked by students. Collectively, this study provides insight on what professional sociotechnical thinking is and how it might be implemented into coursework to better reflect engineering practice
