Graduate & Professional Student Research Forum Hosted by the Graduate College and Graduate & Professional Student Association University of Nevada, Las Vegas Student Union Saturday, March 21, 2015 The Graduate & Professional Student Research Forum is co‐hosted by the Graduate & Professional Student Association and the Graduate College We’d like to thank the faculty judges and student volunteers. Without your support this event would not be possible. 2015 Graduate & Professional Student Research Forum Schedule of Events Pages Abstracts at a glance 7 – 25 Platform Sessions 9:00 – 11:30am Science Session A: room 205 27 – 35 9:00 – 11:30am Science Session B: room 207 37 – 45 8:45 – 11:30am Science and Engineering Session C: room 208A 47 – 56 8:45 – 11:45am Humanities and Fine Arts Session A: room 208B 57 – 67 9:00 – 11:30am Social Science Session A: room 208C 69 – 77 9:00 – 11:30am Social Science Session B: room 209 79 – 87 9:15 – 11:30am Social Science Session C: room 211 89 – 96 9:00 – 11:30am Social Science and Law Session D: room 213 97 – 105 8:30 – 11:30am Social Science Session E: room 218 107 – 117 8:30 – 11:30am Social Science Session F: room 219 119 – 129 8:30 – 11:30am Education Session A: room 222 131 – 142 Poster Sessions 8:45 – 10:00am Science and Engineering Session A: Ballroom Posters 1 – 5 143 – 148 10:15 – 11:30am Posters 6 – 10 149 – 153 8:45 – 10:00am Science and Engineering Session B: Ballroom Posters 11 – 15 155 – 160 2015 Graduate & Professional Student Research Forum Schedule of Events Poster Sessions (cont.) Pages 10:30 – 11:30am Science and Engineering Session B: Ballroom Posters 16 – 19 (cont.) 161 – 164 8:45 –10:00am Science and Health Science Session C: Ballroom Posters 20 – 24 165 – 170 10:15 – 11:30am Posters 25 – 29 171 – 175 8:30 – 10:00am Science and Health Science Session D: Ballroom Posters 30 – 35 177 – 183 10:15 – 11:30am Posters 36 – 40 184 – 188 9:00 – 10:00am Social Science and Law Session A: Ballroom Posters 41 – 44 189 – 193 10:30 – 11:30am Posters 45 – 48 194 – 197 9:00 – 10:15am Social Science Session B: Ballroom Posters 49 – 53 199 – 204 10:30 – 11:30am Posters 54 – 57 205 – 208 9:00 – 10:00am Social Science Session C: Ballroom Posters 58 – 61 209 – 213 10:30 – 11:30am Posters 62 – 65 214 – 217 8:30 – 9:30am Education Session A: Ballroom Posters 66 – 69 219 – 223 9:30 – 10:30am Posters 70 – 73 224 – 227 2015 Graduate & Professional Student Research Forum Schedule of Events Poster Sessions (cont.) Pages 10:45 – 11:30am Education Session A: Ballroom (cont.) Posters 74 – 76 228 – 230 8:45 – 10:00am Fine Arts A: Ballroom Posters 77 – 81 231 – 236 10:30 – 11:30am Posters 82 – 85 237 – 240 Index 241 – 243 Noon – 1:30pm Luncheon and Awards Ceremony Ballroom 2015 Graduate & Professional Student Research Forum at a Glance Science Platform Session A: Room 205 9:00 – 9:15am Facilitation and Competition within Joshua Tree (Yucca brevifolia) - Spiny hopsage (Grayia spinosa) Nurse-Plant Associations. Author: Eric Chameroy, School of Life Sciences 9:15 – 9:30am Analyzing Caterpillar-Ant Interactions in Three Butterfly Species of the Mojave Desert: Are Caterpillars Buying Protection or Appeasing Potential Predators? Author: Alicia Crespin, School of Life Sciences 9:30 – 9:45am Beryllium: A Simple Metal Cation with Possible Therapeutic Potential towards Type II Diabetes and Various Cancers. Author: Ata Ur Rahman Mohammed Abdul, Department of Chemistry 9:45 – 10:00am A Tubular 3D Force Analysis of Kangaroo Rat Burrowing. Author: Alexis Crisp, School of Life Sciences 10:00 – 10:30am Break 10:30 – 10:45am A Life Spent Dry: Interactive Effects of Age, Sex, Genotype and Rate of Drying Upon Survival in the Desert Moss Bryum argenteum. Author: Joshua Greenwood, School of Life Sciences 10:45 – 11:00am Acute Effects of Dynamic Compression on Heart Rate Variability and Peak Heart Rate while Running. Authors: Jenni Kumanchik, John A. Mercer and W.A. Sands, Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences 11:00 – 11:15am Characterization of Novel Biosurfactant/Bioemulsifier Producing Bacteria Isolated from Hydraulic Fracturing Waters. Author: Anthony Harrington, School of Life Sciences 11:15 – 11:30am On a Statistical Investigation of the Dependence Structure Between Two Related Time Series: Application to Hurricane Frequency Modeling. Authors: Moinak Bhaduri and Chih-Hsiang Ho, Department of Mathematical Sciences Science Platform Session B: Room 207 9:00 – 9:15am DNA Twisting and VirB: Mechanistic Insight into a DNA binding Protein Essential for Virulence in the Human Pathogen Shigella flexneri. Authors: Michael A. Picker, Juan C. Duhart, Joy A. Immak and Helen J. Wing, School of Life Sciences 7 2015 Graduate & Professional Student Research Forum at a Glance Science Platform Session B: Room 207 (cont.) 9:15 – 9:30am Development of Competence Leads to Mutagenesis in Stressed Bacillus subtilis Cells. Authors: Amanda A. Prisbrey, Carmen Vallin, John Creech, Holly A. Martin and Eduardo A. Robleto, School of Life Sciences 9:30 – 9:45am C-Terminome Web-Application: A Tool to Mine the C-Termini of Human Proteome. Author: Surbhi Sharma, School of Life Sciences 9:45 – 10:00am Minimalist vs. Cushioned Running Shoes: Impact Loads Vary with Foot-Strike Pattern. Authors: Andrew D. Nordin and Janet S. Dufek, Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences 10:00 – 10:30am Break 10:30 – 10:45am Non-B DNA Promotes Genetic Diversity in B. subtilis Stationary Phase Cells. Authors: Carmen Vallin, Amanda A. Prisbrey and Eduardo A. Robleto School of Life Sciences 10:45 – 11:00am Tiling Assembly: A New Tool for Reference Annotation Independent Transcript Assembly and Novel Gene Identification by RNA- Sequencing. Author: Kenneth Watanabe, School of Life Sciences 11:00 – 11:15am Studying Tadpoles for Insights into Natural Tissue Regeneration. Authors: Cindy X. Kha and Ai-Sun Tseng, School of Life Sciences 11:15 – 11:30am Generalized Markoff Equations, Euclid Trees and Chebyshev Polynomials. Author: Donald McGinn, Department of Mathematical Sciences Science and Engineering Platform Session C: Room 208A 8:45 – 9:00am A Hazardous Ozone Disinfection Byproduct: NDMA Formation and Implications for Water Reuse. Authors: Erica Marti, Jacimaria Batista and Eric Dickenson, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction 9:00 – 9:15am Established Models of Hydrothermal Fluid Distribution around Porphyry Deposits: The Application of Fluid Inclusion Research to Porphyry Exploration. Authors: Wyatt M. Bain, Jean S. Cline, Tim M. Marsh, Department of Geoscience 9:15 – 9:30am Neutron Spectroscopy with Scintillation Detectors Using Wavelets. Author: Jessica Hartman, Department of Mechanical Engineering 8 2015 Graduate & Professional Student Research Forum at a Glance Science and Engineering Platform Session C: Room 208A (cont.) 9:30 – 9:45am Weathering Profiles at Mawrth Vallis Yield Insight into the Aqueous History and Potential Habitability of Mars. Authors: Seth Gainey and Elisabeth Hausrath, Department of Geoscience 9:45 – 10:00am Hydrologic evaluation in a Snow Dominated Watershed Using a Process Based Model. Author: Chao Chen, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction 10:00 – 10:30am Break 10:30 – 10:45am Influence of Larrea tridentata on Chloride Concentration in Shallow Desert Soils. Author: Sara Gedo, Department of Geosciences 10:45 – 11:00am An Evaluation of Current Practices of Road Maintenance Contracting Methods. Authors: Kishor Shrestha and Pramen P. Shrestha, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction 11:00 – 11:15am Building Better Climate Models: When Caves and Computers Collaborate. Authors: Jonathan Baker and Matthew Lachniet, Department of Geoscience 11:15 – 11:30am Practical Procedure to Measure Mechanical Properties of Vaginal Tissue. Authors: Sogol Pirbastami, Brendan O'Toole and Mohamed Trabia, Department of Mechanical Engineering Fine Arts and Humanities Platform Session A: Room 208B 8:45 – 9:00am HIP Harpsichords: Historically Informed Performance of Early Keyboard Music. Author: Monique Arar, Department of Music 9:00 – 9:15am Hartford, Connecticut 1900: The Story of a Suicide. Author: Aurora Brackett, Department of English 9:15 – 9:30am Sin City in Tokyo. Author: Joleen Long, Department of English 9:30 – 9:45am The Gothic Other in J.M. Coetzee’s “Waiting for the Barbarians”. Author: Clancy McGilligan, Department of English 9:45 – 10:00am John Wayne in Spain. Author: Kayla Miller, Department of English 10:00 – 10:30am Break 10:30 – 10:45am Enlightenment. Author: Camilla Oldenkamp, Department of Art 9 2015 Graduate & Professional Student Research Forum at a Glance Humanities and Fine Arts Platform Session A: Room 208B (cont.) 10:45 – 11:00am The Poem as Plastic Art: Mina Loy’s “Brancusi’s Golden Bird”. Author: Derek Pollard, Department of English 11:00 – 11:15am Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Conference. Author: Rebecca Robison, Department of English 11:15 – 11:30am Poetry as an Ethical Act: The Human Will in T. S. Eliot’s “Ash Wednesday”. Author: Michelle Villanueva, Department of English 11:30 – 11:45am Lowly Saints in Holy Places: Poetry of Humility & Exaltation. Author: Denise Weber, Department of English Social Science Platform Session A: Room 208C 9:00 – 9:15am The Painted Motifs of Cypriot Ceramic Art: A Study of Iconography and Identity. Author: Paige Bockman, Department of Anthropology 9:15 – 9:30am Performance or Processing? Effects of Levels of Processing and Divided Attention on Memory-Related Eye Movements. Authors: Wei An and Colleen Parks, Department of Psychology 9:30 – 9:45am Rafts (or floats?) 'Ahoy: Documenting Animal Transportation to Cyprus during the Pre- and Early Neolithic. Author: Katelyn DiBenedetto, Department of Anthropology 9:45 – 10:00am Interactions of Behavioral Training and Ketamine Administration on Changes in Parvalbumin Positive Neurons. Authors: Monica Bolton, Chelcie Heaney, Andrew Murtishaw, Michael Langhardt and Jefferson Kinney, Department of Psychology 10:00 – 10:30am Break 10:30 – 10:45am Research with an Agenda: Creationist Media on Archaeological Discoveries.