Third-party content on websites (such as included advertisements or social media widgets) has recently become a huge topic in computer privacy and security, but few studies have examined the visual impact of third-party content on web pages. Without this information, developers of commonly used tools that interact with third-party content (such as AdBlock and Ghostery) are unable to provide users with information on which advertisers are responsible for specific pieces of content on the page, which users could then use to selectively block certain third parties responsible for undesirable content. This project, in contrast, focuses on the visual nature of different types of third-party content. To gather this information, I created a tool to detect when third-party content is inserted into web pages, allowing me to connect third-party content to DOM nodes (elements of a webpage). This correspondence allows me to collect information on the visual characteristics of elements inserted by various third parties after they have been rendered by the browser. I am able to gather information that Ghostery and AdBlock cannot collect because of their usage of network requests to identify third-party content. I use this information to survey the distribution of size and location of different third-party elements, comparing web pages from different categories and countries to uncover trends in the layout of third-party content. Preliminary results indicate that there are specific visual hotspots for third-party content, and there are a few domains that provide a disproportionate amount of visible third-party content. Other possible directions to explore with this information include improving current tools to help users make informed decisions about which third-parties to block or allow, helping developers debug their web pages, and giving the research community a deeper understanding of how third-party content affects the visual layout of web pages.

Seattle has a well-established reputation as a progressive haven, and yet significant problems surround certain issues such as racial justice. One of the most striking examples is the current segregation of Seattle public schools; the north end schools are predominately White and the South End schools are predominately Black and Asian. My overall research question is: why is Seattle still unable to integrate its schools in 2016? To explore this question I am researching the mandatory bussing program that the city of Seattle instituted in 1977 that desegregated the schools within two years. This program was fiercely opposed by some community members, predominately White, at the time, and the main anti-bussing organizing group was the Citizens for Voluntary Integration Committee (CiVIC). I am using CiVIC as a case study and asking how it fits into a larger pattern of "Seattle racial backlash," a phenomenon that arises whenever Seattle tries to advance racial justice issues and involves predominately White community members pushing back against changes to the status quo. My qualitative methodology is primarily based on interviews with people that were involved with both sides of the bussing issue. My research thus far suggests that the ultimate downfall of bussing in Seattle was that the plan failed to attack the root of the school segregation problem, which was, and remains, housing segregation.

Previous research has found that risky sexual behavior, including not using a condom, is associated with alcohol use prior to the sexual experience. However, little is known about whether these relations differ by prototype favorability (defined as the perceived favorability of the typical person who engages in a risk behavior) of individuals who do not use condoms. The present study investigated whether prototype favorability moderates the relationship between prior alcohol consumption and condom use during sex. We hypothesized that prior alcohol consumption is positively associated with not using a condom. Additionally, we hypothesized that this association is stronger for those who have higher prototype favorability for individuals who do not use condoms during sex. To test these hypotheses, the current study (n=1002) used data from a national sample of young adults, ages 18-20, who completed a one-time online survey about health and risk behaviors, including sexual behavior and alcohol use. Participants were asked to report the frequency that they engaged in any type of sex after or while drinking alcohol during the past 3 months and the number of times they used a condom when having sex after or while drinking. Participants were also asked to report on a scale from 1 (not at all) to 7 (extremely) how much the following words: "smart", "popular", "mature", "careless", "attractive", and "risky", describe their image of a typical male or female their age who has sex without a condom with a casual partner after having 4/5 or more drinks (prototype favorability). Regression analyses were conducted to determine the association between alcohol use and condom use, and if prototype favorability moderates the association. Results from this study will help interventions focus on specific beliefs, such as prototype favorabilty, and how they relate to alcohol-related risk behaviors.

Marijuana is one of the most commonly used substances among young adults. Approximately 20% of college students at two major universities reported use in the past 30 days. Various methods of marijuana use are also becoming increasingly popular and may be perceived as less risky by young adults than smoking as a route of administration. Young adults are generally more aware of vaping (smoking vapor produced by an electronic device, e.g. vape pen or e-cig) than older individuals and the prevalence of vaping tobacco is highest among young adults. Dabbing (i.e., when an individual ingests heated butane hash oil) is another new method that young adults have reported using to consume marijuana. This research study investigated the behaviors and personal views of young adults (18-25 years old) regarding substance use and associated perceived health risks. Participants were recruited using online advertising and direct mailers within Washington State. Data was collected using an electronically delivered survey between April and August 2014 (n= 2,101) and June and November 2015 (n= 1,591). Results from the preliminary data on marijuana use suggest increased rates of new (vaping and dabbing; 5% in 2014, 10% in 2015) versus traditional (smoking and eating; 90% in 2014, 85% in 2015) methods (dabbing was added to the survey in 2015). The proposed research investigates whether there is a relationship between marijuana consumption methods and perceived physical, psychological, emotional, and cognitive risk. Considering the progression of relaxed policies on marijuana use and the lack of research on health risks associated with vaping and dabbing, significant results could influence and encourage further education of individuals, especially young adults, about the potential health risks of novel methods of marijuana use. 

Previous research has established a link between social media and risky drinking behavior, indicating that social networking sites provide exposure to drinking norms that predict attitudes and willingness towards alcohol use. However, despite the growing usage of social media, there is little research on the effects of social networks (other than Facebook) on risky sexual behaviors. Risky sexual behaviors have been previously defined as behaviors that increase the risk of negative outcomes associated with sexual contact such as unwanted pregnancies or sexually transmitted infections. The purpose of the current study is to describe the relationship between having an account with various social networking platforms and risky sexual behavior among young adults. For the present study, risky sexual behavior was defined as having sex with casual partners, having multiple sexual partners, and the lack of condom usage. We hypothesize that being a member of currently popular social media platforms will be positively associated with the aforementioned risky behaviors, while this relationship will be mediated by positive attitudes held towards risky sex. To test our hypotheses, a national sample of 1002 young adults aged 18-20 (53.6% female) were asked to complete a one-time online survey on social media use, health behaviors and risk behaviors, including sexual behavior. Participants reported which social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Snapchat) they have accounts with and their attitudes regarding casual sexual behavior, multiple sexual partners, and condom use. Additionally, participants reported on their sexual behaviors within the past 3 months, including: number of casual sexual partners, number of total sexual partners, and the frequency of condom use during sexual encounters. Results of this study may provide a better understanding of the nature and dangers of social media usage, and can help shape protective actions or interventions for reducing sexual behavioral risk.

Despite the importance of social support for patients with diverse cancers, there has been no study to date that examines the differences and similarities between partner caregivers' report of communication support given to the patient and the patients’ perception and appraisal of that support. The purpose of this paper is to analyze partner caregiver communication support to wives’ diagnosed with Stage IV ovarian cancer and compare it to the wives’ view of the support they receive from their partner caregiver. One of the most important measures of social support in the research literature is the form and type of communication the partner caregiver offers the wife regarding her feelings and emotions with the cancer. This paper will be a secondary analysis using data drawn from an ongoing clinical trial of women initially diagnosed with Stage IV ovarian cancer and their partner caregivers [both genders]. Analyses will include patient-reported appraisal of received supportive communication using a standardized quantitative measure “What He/She Does for Me”, and the comparable measure of partner caregivers report on a standardized measure, "What I Do for Her." Data will be compared to assess the concordance or discordance between the enacted versus the perceived support. Results will have implications for nurses’ teaching partner caregivers types of communication that in the data are commonly misperceived by the diagnosed patient, including methods spouses can more effectively use to offer support that will be interpreted as support.

As the Arctic warms, understanding the physical processes controlling ice melt will allow us to better understand and make predictions in our changing world. One aspect of the summer melt that is not well understood is the fluid permeability of sea ice. Current permeability tests determine that the ice is permeable, but do not show how permeable. Advanced summer melt ice has a physical structure that is similar to Swiss cheese. With this structure, sea water can penetrate to the interior of the ice sheet. In this project I use Darcy’s Law of fluid flow in a porous medium to evaluate the permeability of 3D printed ice core samples, created from CT scans of field samples. Darcy’s equation is mainly used to evaluate the flow of water in aquifers, but I believe it can be applied to porous summer sea ice as well. To test if this is a valid application of Darcy’s law I will create an apparatus to apply a constant hydraulic head to a 3D printed core. The reasoning behind using printed core samples is that a collar can be printed around edge of the core to prevent side seepage of water, as well as it is a material that will not decay over the course of the test. This test will give me parameters that will be used in a simple computer model for the fluid permeability of sea ice, that would quantify the sea water entering the ice sheet. I expect the results of this experiment to show a new method to evaluating the permeability of sea ice, and the effectiveness of 3D printed cores as a method to evaluate the structure of sea ice. A follow up study of the permeability of summer sea ice would expand on the thermal properties of the ice.

Ovarian cancer is the 2nd most frequent female cancer in the U.S. Among couples in which women have been diagnosed with stage III or IV ovarian cancer, the partner is often the caregiver, and his or her social support can greatly impact the diagnosed woman’s disease process. Despite advances in the study of the partner-caregiver’s role, there have been few nursing interventions specifically created to provide emotional healing and recovery for him or her during the disease process. Our study involves a 5-session nurse-delivered counseling intervention designed to address the partner-caregiver’s emotional care. The purpose of my research is to examine the data from before and after the intervention to determine the effect it had on the partner-caregiver’s depressed mood. Each participating partner-caregiver completed a CES-D (Center for Epidemiologic Studies – Depression) scale before and after the intervention. The target sample was 10 partners of women diagnosed with stage III and IV ovarian cancer who were enrolled in the Taking Care of Her Program. The data analysis entailed comparing the partner-caregiver’s CES-D scale results before and after the intervention to evaluate the intervention’s impact on the respondent’s wellbeing. Due to the swift and terminal effects of ovarian cancer, and the time period needed to complete the sessions, only five partner-caregivers’ results have been collected to date. Of the five, four scored lower on the CES-D when their baseline scores were compared to their post-intervention scores. Although we are optimistic over these early results, caution is also in order, given the single group design (pre-posttest). There could be plausible other causes of these results. This early suggestive evidence argues the potential importance of this intervention but future research is needed within a more rigorous experimental design with a larger sample.