Islands are home to some of the world's most unique and rare species but often are heavily underfunded for scientific monitoring and conservation efforts. In light of a changing climate, it is important to catalogue the diverse species in island environments to estimate current distribution and abundance to establish baseline data records. Historically, smaller organisms like insects are overlooked. However, native pollinators are an integral component of ecosystem functioning and health. In summer of 2015, I surveyed a small island in the middle of the Indian Ocean off the western coast of Java, Indonesia for native bee and wasp species. Utilizing hand held GPS, insect net collection techniques, and colored bowl traps, I was able to conduct the first pollinator survey on Tinjil Island getting a glimpse of the myriad of pollinators inhabiting the area. Transition from my Indonesian field research experience, beginning in March 2016, I am now surveying the coastal meadows and endemic wildflowers of the San Juan Islands for native bee species. By photographing pollinator visitation of wildflowers in San Juan Island National Historical Park, I am contributing to the creation of a citizen scientist species identification catalogue for the region. In celebration of the National Park Service centennial, I am collaborating with a small team of regional pollinator experts to help identify native bee species of Washington's most iconic islands through a rapid 24-hour survey known as a BioBlitz (May 21-22). In addition, I share with you how you can contribute to local citizen science initiatives and entomology-based educational experiences from your own backyard.

People in agriculture commonly use pesticides to prevent insect damage on crops. One common pesticide is called acetamiprid (ACP). While this pesticide has low toxicity to mammals, there have been cases of acute toxicity from overexposure to this pesticide. In this study, we focused on pesticide handlers, people who apply pesticide to crops in the fields, from the Yakima valley and analyzed their urine samples to measure their exposure to the pesticide ACP. The primary goal of the study was to quantify urine biomarkers to ACP exposure, including the parent compound ACP, and two metabolites: acetamiprid-N-desmethyl (ACPDM) and 6-chloronicotinic acid (6-CNA). We collected urine samples from 10 pesticide handlers in the 24 hours after applying ACP in an orchard. Each person was given a liter sized sampling vial to collect each void. We collected 34 human samples in total. I identified and quantified the biomarkers in the human urine samples collected. I did this by processing the samples using Solid Phase Extraction (SPE) and then quantifying them by using high-performance liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). We expected to see small amounts of each biomarker in each sample, but found relatively high concentrations of the metabolite ACPDM. The results of this study will help to improve our ability to measure urinary markers of exposure, better estimate exposure and risk to pesticide handlers, understand the kinetics of ACP in the human body, and think of means to minimize exposure to prevent acute toxicity.

This project investigates the transfer of spirantization into the English of native Spanish-speakers. Spirantization is a type of weakening in which the consonants /b d g/ are reduced to fricatives or approximants (Kirchner, 2004: 313) in certain linguistic environments. Previous studies (Zampini 1995 and Algara, González, & Boada 2004) have shown that native Spanish-speakers do transfer spirantization when speaking English, however they relied on impressionistic transcription and were carried out under the assumption that native English-speakers do not spirantize. In this project, I use intensity ratios and a qualitative spirantization score to re-examine the spirantization of target English-voiced stops by L1 Spanish speakers. Native Spanish-speaking undergraduate students and recent graduates were recruited and recorded at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), the University of Querétaro, and the Centro del Inglés Abraham Lincoln (CIAL). In addition, the speech of 6 monolingual speakers of American English was analyzed as part of a control group. I will present data from a subset of this corpus: 4 intermediate students of English, 4 advanced students of English, and 4 monolingual American English speakers.

Preliminary results show that Spanish-speakers do transfer spirantization into their English. That is, while both Spanish-speakers and English speakers lenite voiced stops, Spanish speakers spirantize to a greater degree. The data presented in this paper also suggest that advanced leaners of English produce more English-like stop realizations than beginners, suggesting that Spanish-speakers are able to suppress the transfer of spirantization. In addition, the results presented in this paper suggest that Spanish speakers spirantize to a greater degree in less formal tasks.

Microplastics are a marine pollutant estimated to be in the range of 4-8 million tons released annually in to the world’s oceans. Microplastics have been shown to bio-accumulate in marine life, specifically fish and bivalves. Due to the hydrophobic properties of plastics, non-polar organic pollutants will interact chemically and physically. Adsorption of pollutants allows plastics in the marine environment to act as a distribution vector. This project focuses on the microplastic content in food grade sea salts, specifically those made from solar evaporation. Due to the nature of how sea water is concentrated down to form sea salt, these salt crystals are at risk of harboring microplastics. We have investigated the potential for microplastic bound organic molecules in sea salts. To address this we analyzed four kinds of commercially available salt. These salts were dissolved in water and filtered through 2 micron filters, and analyzed by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to characterize the filtrate. Following this, we washed the filtrate with dichloromethane and analyzed this with Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). SEM analysis showed particles of 5-500 m diameter present in teh filtered salt solutions. When microplastics were washed with dichloromethane, phthalic acid was identified in the eluted fraction by GC-MS. Thus, preliminary results indicate the presence of organic pollutant absorbed to the surface of microplastics in sea-salt. Future work will focus on improving extraction of persistent organic pollutants. With microplastics becoming an ever more present pollutant in the global marine environment, the continuation of our research should include the health hazards of ingestion of large quantities of microplastics that have been exposed to the marine environment.

Arsenic is a toxic heavy metal to humans that can cause serious health damages. Exposure to arsenic can cause various health conditions such as skin damage, lung, bladder, kidney and liver cancer, as well as nerve and circulatory problems. Arsenic contamination in water and soil can be naturally sourced from local geology or human sourced from pesticide and preservative uses. Studies have shown that rice will uptake arsenic from water and soil. Rice is a very easily digestible grain which makes it very suitable source of nutrition for children, whom are more susceptible to toxins. Therefore, it is important to develop and continue the study of methods that can help to quantitatively detect arsenic in rice. For this experiment, the objective was to look at a previously published method used to detect arsenic and validate its effectiveness on five store-bought rice samples. The broader implication of this experiment is to validate a method and modify it to gain quantitative data in order to assess whether harmful levels can be detected and to determine background levels of arsenic in rice. Rice was powdered and 1.0 g of rice sample was digested in 10mL of 0.28M nitric acid for 90 minutes at 95°C. The samples were analyzed with ICP-MS to detect arsenic based on its mass. A calibration plot with a correlation coefficient of 0.96278 and a slope of 1856.48 was created. The calibration plot was made from concentration of 1ppb, 5 ppb, 10 ppb, and 50ppb in which all had intensities that were detectable. The detection value of the samples falls in between the calibration intensities. The data that is obtained suggests mean concentration of arsenic range from 1ppb to 30 ppb in 10mL solution of HNO3. This indicates that there is a range of 10 ppb to 300ppb per grams of rice. These data are corroborated by other studies analyzing levels of arsenic in rice.

Every year bee specialists report detection of larger numbers of bee colonies suffering from colony collapse disorder. One of the suggested causes of colony collapse disorder is the increasing use of neonicotinoid pesticides in farming agriculture. Neonicotinoids like clothianidin, thiacloprid and imidacloprid are effective insect neurotoxins created as a safer alternative to previous insecticides. Neonicotinoid pesticides have many distribution methods including dusting methods and application to soil and root systems; leading to their dispersion in a multitude of matrices. The quantity of these pesticides in water and soil samples needs to be measured to further asses the effect of these pesticides on bees and other species including fish and humans. However, differences in extraction methodology can lead to differences in analyte detection. Water and soil samples are complex matrices to be separated before being assessed through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry or liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry. Here I present my work in comparing methods for extracting imidacloprid, a specific pesticide in the neonicotinoid category. Results from determining a reliable and accurate method of imidacloprid will help to increase the ability for future research to be conducted on collected environmental samples.

Protein quality control degradation systems allow the cell to maintain normal function by eliminating anomalous proteins. The attachment of the small protein ubiquitin to lysine residues in other proteins is important for their proteasome-mediated degradation. Ubiquitin is attached to the lysines of proteins by the action of ubiquitin ligases. However, if ubiquitin ligases spuriously add ubiquitin to themselves, they could also be destroyed by the proteasome. Therefore, it is important that ubiquitin ligases have the means of preventing autoubiquitination. One particular ubiquitin ligase (San1) is involved in the degradation of misfolded proteins in the nucleus of yeast cells. We previously found that San1 prevents autoubiquitination from occurring by not having lysine residues in the N-terminal and C-terminal region of the protein. However when lysine residues are introduced to the N- and C-terminal regions of San1, it undergoes autoubiquitination, both within itself (in cis) and by other San1 ligases (in trans). The introduction of lysine residues also causes degradation of San1 by an additional protein. The premise of my experiments is to identify the novel form of degradation as well as the protein(s) involved. Retained stability of San1 within cells with blocked proteasomes indicates that the mechanism is proteasome dependent. Additionally, degradation of San1 in cells containing temperature dependent ubiquitin indicates that the mechanism of degradation is not ubiquitin dependent. Ubiquitin-like modifiers are now being knocked down to determine whether the novel mechanism may utilize them instead. The potential for uncovering a novel protein quality control mechanism relates to many neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Lou Gehrig's which all correlate strongly with high levels of misfolded protein aggregates.

Traditional remote sensing techniques are best suited to aid in large scale geospatial problems. With the advent of terrestrial LiDAR, detailed remote sensing of surface environments has become more practical than ever before. However, terrestrial LiDAR units are expensive and often difficult to carry into remote field locations. As an alternative, using Structure from Motion (SfM), a digital photogrammetry method traditionally used to build models from aerial photos, to build spatial models in surface environments could be adequate for many remote sensing applications if spatial resolution and model accuracy is found to be high enough. The technique we are using to evaluate the efficacy of SfM uses oblique images taken using an inexpensive digital camera, and Agisoft PhotoScan processing software to generate surface environment models. To evaluate the accuracy of these models, we compare the spatial dimensions of objects measured in the field to the spatial dimension of objects measured from the models. Presented here are several examples of the models we have created using SfM and comparisons to on the ground measurements. These examples include both laboratory and natural settings.

Depressive disorders are a significant public health concern, affecting 11.4% of youth, and are associated with a loss of interest in activities and anxiety, psychosocial problems such as academic difficulties, and psychosocial impairment in adulthood including increased risk for substance abuse and suicide. By providing adequate mental health treatment, adverse effects of depressive disorders in youth and adolescence may be mitigated. Although mental health services for youth are currently inaccessible for 70% of the youth population who would benefit from these services, healthcare is experiencing a trend towards increased access to mental health services both through the Affordable Care Act and the expansion of Medicaid. My study’s goal is to look at ways to provide these quality mental health services to youth. In order to provide quality health mental health care for youth with depressive disorder, a collaborative care model may be used. Collaborative care uses a multidisciplinary team of primary care providers, mental health specialists, and community support to deliver a multifaceted approach to patients with mental health issues through cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), pharmacotherapy, or both delivered by primary care providers in community health settings. To date, 3 RCTs have evaluated the effectiveness of collaborative care against usual care for youth depression. One mainstay treatment for youth depression has been CBT. While collaborative care is an emerging model of treatment for youth depression, it has not been compared to stand-alone CBT. In this investigation, benchmarking is used to find an applied effectiveness for both collaborative care and cognitive behavioral therapy. I searched through peer-reviewed journals using search engines such as Medline and PsychInfo to gather published studies. Using these results and data, I then used statistical analyses and benchmarking to compare the effectiveness of both CBT and collaborative care.

Blind programmers bring a unique perspective to the computer developer workplace, and make important contributions to the computer science field. However, blind programmers often cannot use computer development environments because they are inaccessible, and usage can be slow and tedious for blind developers who use screen readers. The goal of our research is to design and build plug-ins for various coding environments to make it easier for blind developers to code. In prior work, Ms. Baker made a plug-in called StructJumper for Eclipse, a Java Integrated Development Environment (IDE). The plug-in creates a navigable hieratical tree based on the nesting structure of a Java class, essentially creating an outline of key points (such as method headings and control flow statements) in the code structure. Blind programmers can switch between StructJumper’s TreeView and default Text Editor to navigate code with greater ease. The usability of StructJumper was tested by seven blind programmers, whose results showed a trend of completing tasks faster with the plug-in then without. This suggests that StructJumper is a viable plug-in to improve accessibility to blind developers. However Java is not the only major programming language developers’ use on a daily basis. Thus we are pursuing further research to extend StructJumper beyond Java and implement plug-ins/add-ons for other commonly used programming languages and development environments, such as for the programming language Python. My work is the start of coding StructJumper as a plug-in for Visual Studio (practically the only screen reader compatible Python IDE). This plug-in is written in Visual Studio using C#, .NET framework, and IronPython to parse Python files open in the IDE.