New hardware at the University of Washington’s resident astronomical research facility, Manastash Ridge Observatory, allows the opportunity to implement new software control systems. We’ve built these control systems, Bifrost and Evora, in the programming language Python to provide an intuitive well-documented replacement for former limited software. Bifrost is the telescope control computer, handling all aspects of physical telescope motion. The new auto-guider provides precise corrections to telescope motion and is controlled by the observer through Bifrost. Bifrost also provides the observer with a robust toolset such as logging, real-time airmass readout, and target trajectory plots. Additionally, scientific imaging is performed by the new Andor Camera. Evora interfaces with Andor, enabling a modern feature set of camera controls beyond simple exposures and temperature control. More advanced features include series imaging, camera scripting, and low level photo analysis. Together, Bifrost and Evora provide a feature-complete observing experience for the end-user. Most importantly, they provide a strong base for future projects through documentation and extensible design to enable the development of new software such as for the upcoming spectrograph.

Increasingly, as health issues transcend borders, nurses must graduate prepared to address global health issues in the workplace. Global health is an emerging field of study, research, and practice that places a priority on improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide. The UW School of Nursing (SoN) is committed to preparing nursing graduates with a global perspective. To achieve this, clear, defined strategies are needed to effectively incorporate relevant global health examples into undergraduate nursing curricula. The purpose of this research is to develop a framework for integrating global health content throughout the UW BSN curriculum. A review of websites of top tier nursing schools will be conducted to assess the ways other SoN have incorporated global health content and/or resources into their schools. We will interview 10 key academic leaders in the schools of nursing who are engaged in BSN curriculum development, using a standardized tool to assess how global health content is currently being integrated throughout their curriculum. The data obtained from the website analysis and interviews with key academic leaders will be analyzed using a constant comparative method and the results will inform the development of a framework for global health integration across the BSN curriculum at the UW SoN. This framework is needed to inform the BSN curriculum design process among academic leadership in schools of nursing. As the world becomes increasingly globalized, undergraduate nursing programs must evolve to reflect the global contexts in which the next generations of healthcare professionals will be providing care. This framework could then be used at other schools of nursing to globalize their curricula and produce nurses equipped with the knowledge, competencies, and critical thinking skills they need to provide care that is safe, effective, and appropriate within diverse cultural contexts.

As a part of the Astronomy Undergraduate Engineering Group, we have further developed the software responsible for controlling the Manastash Ridge Observatory’s (MRO) auto-guiding system. Using the programming language Python, we have evolved the guider’s graphical user interface (GUI) that will be used to control the auto-guiding system so as to make it capable of communicating with the telescope to make adjustments, such as tracking, focus, and guider rotation. The guider software establishes basic functionality allowing us to take images, locate stars in them, and log the associated data, as well as use the stars in the field of view to dynamically correct tracking and focus errors. Essentially, we have reconciled two partially developed systems—the GUI and the guider software—to use the GUI as an accessible and streamlined control system for the guider. This system will provide users with an easy means of regulating data collection.

Brain Drain, the global movement of medical doctors from developing to developed countries, has contributed to South Africa’s inability to supply its rural populations with access to medical care. The drivers of medical migration are generally attributed to economic, educational, and security-centered motivations; however, despite these conditions improving widely across South Africa, the number of young South African doctors who choose to emigrate annually continued to grow. Thus, it is important to understand what motivations for migration are uniquely salient to the Born Free Generation, South Africans who were born after the end of Apartheid. Using data collected from surveys and interviews, this study explores how Born Free Doctors interpret their national identity, and how this understanding contributes to their motivations to emigrate. This investigation of identity is characterized primarily by Rainbowism, the national project to create a common South African national identity around Nelson Mandela’s vision for an inclusive and diverse “rainbow nation”. Using common narratives from the collective memory of Born Free South Africans as ‘cultural tools’ for decision mediation, this study presents a framework to interpret motivations for migration based on common national narratives that reflect the conflicted national identity of Born Free Doctors, resulting from unfulfilled ambitions of the Rainbow Nation.

While the American juvenile justice system has undergone substantial alterations in the past few decades, some practices have yet to face revisions. In particular, girls on probation continue to be largely placed in programs developed to meet the needs of boys, despite facing significantly higher rates of mental health issues and histories of sexual abuse than their male counterparts. Girls Only Active Learning (GOAL) is a new rehabilitative program that focuses on building strengths in areas found to particularly affect adolescent female risky behaviors. The impact of GOAL was measured using a series of three surveys, administered at the beginning, middle, and end of the program. The data was quantified for analysis using nominal levels of measurement—qualitative responses were given quantitative values. The findings suggest that over the course of the program, girls who improved their emotional coping skills also had lower levels of drug and alcohol use at the end of the observation period. Additionally, focus groups conducted with girls who had completed GOAL indicate a high level of satisfaction with the program. Our research supports ongoing revisions to the current state of the juvenile justice system to discourage youth from recidivism, and from later adult incarceration.

The Baki Project began with the fall of the Ottoman Empire. In the years following written language in Turkey shifted from Ottoman Arabic script to a Latin-based Turkish alphabet. This language transformation occurred rapidly, and consequently some texts were transcribed incorrectly or called for subjective editorial decisions. These discrepancies resulted in inaccurate and incongruent transcriptions, which have been detrimental to the preservation of Ottoman history and culture. Transcription is a primitive and tedious task, as most transcribers perform their work manually, using pen and paper or simple text editing programs. No digital tools exist exclusively for Turkish manuscript transcription, so researchers do a considerable amount of work by hand just to verify the integrity of these documents. Digital tools created to facilitate this process could dramatically reduce overhead needed to study Turkish literature. The Baki Project is introducing a solution that will mitigate the faith gap between manuscripts written in the original Arabic script and those in Latin-based Turkish. A Reverse Transcription Tool is currently in development that will allow transcribers to dynamically verify the integrity of these manuscripts by facilitating the comparison of the original Ottoman text with the modern Latin Turkish output. The Reversible Transcription Tool will create a collaborative method for expediting the transcription process and simplifying a researcher’s workflow by providing the necessary element of standardization missing from Ottoman Literature transcriptions. The tool aims to maintain the authenticity of primary source texts in order to preserve the integrity of Ottoman tradition and literature.

Cells can be thought of as aqueous solutions of proteins enclosed within a lipid membrane. A surprising and exciting discovery in the past decade is that several proteins inside of cells aggregate to form separate liquid droplets. This discovery has potential medical applications because the types of proteins that undergo aggregation are associated with prion diseases. In the lab, researchers use a specific type of alcohol (1,6-hexanediol) to disrupt droplets in protein solutions. However, it is unknown whether hexanediol disrupts lipid membranes at the same concentration that it is used to disrupt liquid droplets. If so, then hexanediol cannot be used in cell systems. By probing the effects of 1,6 hexanediol on model lipid membrane physical properties, this study will determine the suitability of 1,6 hexanediol for in vivo studies of liquid droplets.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition marked by deficits in social communication. According to DSM-V, these deficits are characterized by lack of coordination between verbal and nonverbal language. Studies have shown that typically developing (TD) children with siblings display greater pro-social behavior and language development by forming close peer relationships with each other. In this study, we use Electroencephalogram (EEG) to explore how the presence of a TD sibling affects the sibling with ASD’s language learning system. EEG is a technique used to measure electrical activity in the brain. The N400 is a negative going ERP component that occurs 300-500ms after an auditory stimulus. The N400 is sensitive to the context of the word and is more negative to unexpected words compared to expected words. In our study, 60 ASD individuals with a TD sibling (n=30) and without (n=30) between the age of 8 and 17 completed a two-part EEG task. During the “learning” phase, the individuals listened to a robot speak a nonsense-language which consisted of a string of non-parsed syllables that were systematically ordered so that 3 sets of 12 phonemes statistically co-occur at a higher rate to create 4 words (e.g., “Pa-bi-ku”). In the test phase, EEG was measured as the individuals were exposed to the same words that should have been implicitly learned in the previous phase, as well as non-words (e.g., “Ku-do-ra”). We expect that children with ASD who have TD siblings will show a smaller average amplitude N400 to the learned words compared to non-words, indicating language learning occurred during the task. We also hypothesize that the difference in amplitude between the two conditions will be greater for individuals with siblings. This will provide evidence that sibling relationships may have a positive impact on the individual with ASD’s language learning skills.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder in which individuals experience significant problems with social skills, behavior, and communication. It is less clear if there are systematic impairments in executive function (EF), a set of mental processes that include working memory, mental flexibility, response inhibition, and planning/organizational skills. The prevalence of ASD is 1 in 68 children, with the diagnosis 4.5 times more prevalent among boys than girls. Impairment in EF may differ between genders with ASD, although previous findings suggest the magnitude and direction of the effect vary by age and EF subscale. For example, girls outperformed boys in multitasking and planning, adolescent girls compared to boys have been found to have poorer response inhibition, and adult males compared to females had better working memory and mental flexibility. The aim of this study was to further explore EF in individuals with ASD or neurotypical (NT) development, specifically comparing genders, age, and IQ and their role in the variability seen in EF. 50 boys and 50 girls age 8 to 17 years, with and without an ASD diagnosis, participated in this study. Parents completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) an 86-item questionnaire with 8 subscales. EF was compared between group (ASD/NT), sex (male/female), and IQ. We expect that ASD subjects will express greater deficits in EF when compared to NT subjects. Additionally, we expect that differences in EF will be present between boys and girls, but that the direction of these differences will vary by subscales. Lastly, we expect that a greater IQ will correlate to fewer EF deficits. This study will contribute to a greater understanding of the cognitive differences across genders that occur in ASD.

In individuals diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), social motivation often undergoes atypical development, with individuals reporting less pleasure from friendships and collaborative engagements. Because the severity of ASD can differ depending on various genetic and environmental factors, non-diagnosed individuals may exhibit traits similar to milder variants of those of ASD known as Broad Autism Phenotype (BAP) traits. These traits are found to be of high heritability in autism families. The goal of this study is to examine social motivation in individuals with ASD and their family members. First, we will analyze social motivation in children with ASD compared to children with neurotypical (NT) development (age- and sex-matched). Second, compare BAP traits of parents of children with ASD compared to parents of children with NT. Third, we compare the relationship between social motivation in children with ASD and BAP traits in parents. Children with ASD (n = 64) and with neurotypical development (n = 64) participated in this study. To measure ASD traits, the parents of the children filled out the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) questionnaire for both their child (SRS-2) and their significant other (if applicable; SRS-Adult), as well as a Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire (BAPQ) for themselves. We expect that: (1) children with ASD will exhibit more autism traits and lower social motivation than children with NT; (2) parents of children with ASD will exhibit more autism traits and lower social motivation than parents of children with NT; and (3) there will be a significant positive correlation between children with ASD and parents’ report of autism symptoms. Understanding the relationship between BAP traits in parents and ASD symptoms in children allows us to further understand the neurological diversity of ASD; Specifically, how ASD characteristics and traits may co-occur in both individuals diagnosed with the disorder and unaffected family members.

Since the 20th century, the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide has increased dramatically, inducing several environmental issues. Our research seeks to reduce this excess carbon dioxide in our atmosphere by using a chemical method to capture and utilize carbon dioxide. In our research, we have developed a bimetallic complex coordinated by a multidentate carbene-phosphine ligand. We hypothesize that the carbon dioxide molecule will be cooperatively reduced by the two metal centers. Using nuclear magnetic resonance and crystallography techniques we have been able to analyze our complex's molecular structure. So far, we have concluded that this complex successfully reduces a molecule with a shape and stability similar to that of carbon dioxide. Moving forward in our research, this bimetallic complex should behave similarly with the bonds of carbon dioxide and thus represents a potential method of reducing the amounts of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. 

The objective of this study is to explore the television viewing behavior of preschool-aged children (24-59 months) with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Data regarding television viewing behavior was constructed and collected via retrospective visual media diaries of television consumption reported by parents regarding duration, percentage focused, method of access, concurrent social interaction, and the presence of commercials. Comparisons will be made to a neurotypical control group along these dimensions in addition to between group comparisons made among participants in high and low severity ASD groups. I predict less variation in the content of programs consumed by children with ASD than their neurotypical counterparts (duration of a single program divided by total duration), in addition to a greater frequency of noncommercial television viewing. I anticipate that children with mild cases of ASD will demonstrate greater variation in the types of programs they watch, more frequent concurrent social initiation, more frequent viewing of live television versus recorded, and lesser focus on television programming. Lastly, repetitive behaviors have been found to be characteristic of ASD and are also considered, such that I expect to find a positive correlation between program variation among subjects in ASD groups and various aspects of repetitive behavior centered around limited interests and/or inflexibility of a routine. If correlations exist, I then further predict that parents will report these respective components of their child’s repetitive behavior as problematic.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex developmental disorder that includes impairments in social interaction, communication skills and presence of repetitive behaviors. The CDC estimates that rates of autism are almost five times higher in boys than among girls. Implicit learning tasks have demonstrated that ASD children have atypical neural responses to social rewards, and it seemed to negatively impact their implicit learning relative to typically developing (TD) children. TD boys are also more likely to learn faster and benefit more from implicit learning than girls, but this has not been examined in ASD. This study investigated whether the presence of social and non-social feedback can impact implicit learning in children with ASD, and whether there is a difference between genders. Forty children with ASD and forty children with TD between the ages of 8 and 17 completed an implicit learning task involving classification of visual shapes and provided positive and negative Social (happy or sad faces) or Nonsocial (symbols) performance feedback. We hypothesized that TD children will have better accuracy and faster reaction times to stimuli associated with social feedback compared to ASD children. We also hypothesized that within the ASD group, ASD boys will show enhanced implicit learning to social feedback compared to girls. The results of this study will provide insight into gender difference in implicit learning in autism.

Through interview-based research with parents and medical professionals, my study examines the complexity of decision-making and medical advancement in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) while assessing the experience’s emotional impact. The intersection of biomedicine and advancing technology changes perceptions and challenges the limits of supporting life. Within the NICU we hear of “miracle babies” — micro-preemies and babies with chromosomal or congenital abnormalities — who seem to defy all odds and survive, pushing the limits beyond what was initially thought to be impossible. Increased survival rates and miracle stories offer hope for life in cases where there was previously none. My methods include informational interviews, media analysis, and NICU visits in order to assess the complexity of the NICU space. My preliminary interpretation of findings from this ongoing research suggest that the notion of decision-making is intricate. Individuals in the NICU experience intensive medical encounters and are forced to make decisions while they are rushed, confused, and overwhelmed. Therefore, many do not identify distinct and important decisions in the exact moment but can recognize them broadly upon reflection. Additionally, I found that an emotionally demanding environment seems to have a psychological impact with individuals adapting in two ways. One may compartmentalize the experience (which has led to PTSD in some participants), or one may embrace their experience and take action to help others (i.e. becoming a neonatal nurse themselves). Research on this topic is evolving and I hope to contribute to the larger discourse of the NICU and understanding the experiences of parents and newborns. (UW IRB Approved)

The city of Seattle has experienced immense urban change. Over the past 15 years, we see companies expanding, neighborhoods evolving, and populations being displaced. Recently, sociologists have discovered that neighborhoods that were traditional oases for queer life and living, including neighborhoods in Seattle, have experienced losses in the queer population. The body of research emerging on this topic largely credits this to a greater public acceptance of LGBTQ+ identities which have reduced barriers that kept queer populations from living in other areas. Though many public sources of information, news sites, blogs, and forums, propose gentrification of these neighborhoods as the force driving queer people from their homes. Between 2000 and 2012 Seattle’s traditional gayborhood, Capitol Hill, has seen a significant decrease in same-sex couples, according to the US census. With Amazon and other tech companies expanding into the Capitol Hill neighborhood and subsequent rising rents in that area, it may be the case that queer people can no longer afford to live in the gayborhood has made itself known in Seattle. In this research project I examine the motives for why queer people leave Capitol Hill through a series of interviews with LGBTQ+ people who are moving out of Capitol Hill. These interviews will provide insight into how gentrification and greater acceptance of LGBTQ+ people and other social factors may play a role in this new form of urban change.

Recent studies have shown that electrical stimulation of the spinal cord can manipulate spinal cord plasticity and may be effective in recovering motor function after spinal cord injury. The emerging field of optogenetics allows researchers to change a cell’s membrane potential using light. Cells are made to express light-dependent ion channels (channelrhodopsins) which cause a cell to depolarize or hyperpolarize after being triggered by specific light wavelengths. Our lab has shown that optogenetics can be used to elicit forelimb movements in rats by stimulating the cervical spinal cord. Long-term methods for providing light stimulation in vivo are needed to explore the treatment potential of optogenetics. Initial experiments by our group using a LED implant stimulator demonstrated that long-term optogenetic stimulation of the spinal cord results in increased GAP-43 staining. GAP-43 staining highlights areas of new neuronal growth, suggesting an increase in neuronal plasticity in optogenetically stimulated rats. Animals in this study, however, also exhibited unusual tissue morphology around the site of implant. Current research is working to understand the possible sources of this tissue disruption, including heat production from the LED and inflammation induced by LED stimulator implantation near a spinal cord injury. To investigate the possibility of heat production, I developed a new implant prototype that incorporates a thermistor to monitor temperature changes during long-term light stimulation. I tested this implant design in anesthetized and freely-moving rats to investigate how different light stimulation parameters affected implant temperature. I then performed histological tissue analysis at the site of the implants to assess the effects these temperature changes had on tissue condition. The results from this work will inform the next generation of light stimulation implants, and help to improve function following spinal cord injury via optogenetic activation of neural tissue.

Hair cells are mechanosensory receptors of the auditory and vestibular systems in vertebrates. Loss of hair cells or hair cell dysfunction, leads to defects in hearing and balance. There are several mitochondrial gene mutations that lead to hearing loss, however, whether these mutations affect hair cells directly remains unknown. Two mitochondrial proteins known to be involved in sensorineural hearing loss, CLPP protease, and Timm8a translocate, were chosen as the focus of this study. To investigate the role of these proteins in hair cell function and susceptibility, I used the zebrafish lateral line as a model. Lateral line hair cells are structurally and functionally similar to those in the mammalian inner ear, but instead detect changes in water flow. CRIPSPR/Cas9 was used to introduce dsDNA breaks in CLPP and Timm8a in zebrafish embryos. Non-homologous end repair following dsDNA breaks is error prone, and can introduce small insertions or deletions (indels) in the protein coding sequence which often leads to a loss of function in the protein. In order to quantify hair cell susceptibility, I treated embryos 5 days post-fertilization with varying concentrations of neomycin, a well characterized ototoxin, and counted the hair cells remaining after treatment. Future characterization of these mutants will involve examining mitochondrial activity and oxidation levels. These studies will provide insight into how mutations in CLPP and Timm8a affect hair cell function and susceptibility to damage. Additionally, they will more broadly inform our understanding of how changes in mitochondrial function can cause deafness.

The University of Washington’s Manastash Ridge Observatory, a facility utilized by undergraduates to train students in current observational astronomy methods, is being upgraded with a new spectrograph system. Our student-led upgrade is a redesign of all aspects of the existing spectrograph and calibration system. We have purchased a new camera and redesigned a pickoff system that will allow the telescope to switch between spectroscopy and direct imaging. The necessary focal reducing and transfer optics are simple, off-the-shelf items, while the pickoff mirror and slit viewer optics will be made by us. The new spectrograph will use fiber optic cables to take light from multiple locations in the image and extract several spectra simultaneously. This will allow for the spectra of the target, background sky, and a calibration source, which consists of mercury and neon lamps, to be directly compared. Our new method simplifies the process of data reduction and reduces any systematic errors that may occur from one exposure to the next. The light from the dedicated calibration fiber will provide a consistent reference with known emission lines from one exposure to the next, and provide the baseline needed to scale wavelength dispersion per pixel. Once completed, the spectrograph will allow University of Washington students to perform spectroscopy during observation, which is relevant to both undergraduate astronomy course work and modern astronomy research.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) disrupts the communication between the body and the brain. As a result, people with SCI typically have significant sensorimotor deficits leading to a lower quality of life. Electrical epidural stimulation (EES)—that is, the stimulation of the spinal cord from the surface of the cord—has shown promise for enhancing recovery of the hindlimbs when applied to the thoracic spinal cord. The goal of this study is to determine whether this same therapy applied to the cervical spinal cord in rats with cervical injuries can improve forelimb function. Prior to injury, the rats perform multiple tasks: Irvine, Beatties and Bresnahan (IBB) task, Limb-use Asymmetry Test (LUAT), Automatic-pellet-reaching task, and a Lever task. Next, rats will receive a unilateral C4 hemicontusion and below the injury the rats will receive an epidural implant for stimulating the spinal cord. All of the rats will perform the former tasks—IBB and LUAT—once a week to track their recovery. Half of the rats will be stimulated via the epidural implant while performing the automatic-pellet-reaching task and Lever task in the hopes of inducing Hebbian plasticity to enhance functional recovery. We are currently testing different epidural implants to identify a method that provides robust, long-term EES. Post-injury performance will be compared to the rat’s pre-injury performance. Subsequently, the rats are perfused for tissue analysis. We are optimizing the tissue analysis protocols for identifying GAP-43 immunoreactivity to determine if there was an increase in plasticity and axonal growth. Cresyl violet and myelin staining will also be used to measure the magnitude of the injury by staining the spared neurons and myelin.

Archaeologists have explored the use of emerging technologies that utilize photogrammetric data in order to facilitate the preservation of archaeological sites and material culture in digital form. While conducting survey, mapping, and excavation at two sites on the Grande Ronde Reservation, a nineteenth-century schoolhouse and an early encampment, the 2016 Field Methods in Indigenous Archaeology field school collected consistently scaled photographs of the excavation units and their stratigraphic profiles, as well as aerial drone photography. Importing this data into Agisoft PhotoScan, a software package design to construct three-dimensional models based on photographs, I generated a series of point clouds, or visuals consistenting of data-points acquired from the overlapping photographs; these were given digital textures to mimic the various real-world materials and surface present at each site, and then assembled into scale models, or models that preserve the proportions of the sites in miniature. A similar procedure was used to construct models of artifacts found at both sites, as well as digital elevation models of both the schoolhouse and the encampment based on drone photography. The results demonstrate the utility of photogrammetry in ongoing efforts to preserve material culture and the context in which it is uncovered. These models will be shared with the Tribal Historic Preservation Office, which oversees cultural heritage management for the Confederated Tribes of Grande Ronde, and with the broader public. Making this data accessible to those outside the discipline is an important step towards outreach and education. Ultimately, this and other photogrammetry and digitization projects will contribute to efforts to expedite the return of material cultural heritage to tribal communities as well as encourage the development of collaborative, community-based partnerships between tribes and archaeologists.

Youth at risk of justice involvement often have histories of complex trauma. Complex trauma is exposure to traumatic stress at a critical age and is found to affect emotional self-regulation. Difficulties with self-regulation can lead to higher levels of aggression, which is associated with criminal behavior. Consequently, I am interested in how complex trauma affects overall aggression in youth. I used the results of a survey conducted by the Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative to examine the relationships between items on the trauma inventory and levels of aggression. I hypothesized that multiple trauma exposures, a lack of normal emotion, and increased arousal and vigilance would be positively associated with aggression. I also hypothesized that re-experiencing trauma and avoiding trauma reminders would not be associated with aggression. I found that multiple trauma exposures and re-experiencing trauma were significantly and positively associated with aggression. Avoiding trauma reminders, lacking normal emotion, and increased arousal and vigilance were not significantly associated with aggression. These results support my hypothesis that multiple exposures to trauma is positively associated with aggression in youth, but the results do not support my hypotheses that lacking normal emotion and increased arousal and vigilance are positively associated with aggression in youth as well. The significance of positive associations between multiple exposures to trauma and aggression as well as re-experiencing trauma and aggression suggests that there is a relationship between complex trauma and aggression in youth, which may also be related to criminal behavior. This research suggests the importance of addressing trauma in aggressive youth before their behavior progresses in order to prevent youth from being involved involved in criminal behavior.