Table of Contents
Schedule………...3
Welcome………..…4
Key to Abstract Numbers………...…..5
Abstracts Student Success and Enrollment Management………...7
Business……….…………..8
Education……….…………9
Engineering and Applied Science………...10
Letters, Arts and Sciences………...19
Nursing and Health Sciences………...……….….29
Public Affairs………...….…….34
NISSSC Institute………35
Special Violence Cluster Submissions………...………39
Index of Authors………44
Featured Speakers………..49
Mountain Lion Research Day 2012 Schedule
Presenter Registration
7:30-8:30 A.M.
Posters are available for
viewing all morning
Poster presentations
8:30-11:30 A.M.
Featured Speaker
9:00-9:15 A.M.
John Crumlin,
CU Aging Center
Featured Speaker
10:00-10:15 A.M.
Charles C. Benight,
Trauma, Health, and
Hazards Center
Featured Speaker
11:00-11:15 A.M.
Eugenia Olesnicky Killian.
Biology
Luncheon
Welcome
11:45 A.M.
Keynote speaker
11:50 A.M.-12:30 P.M.
James O. Hill, Ph.D.
Executive Director,
Colorado Center for Health
and Wellness
3rd Annual Mountain Lion Research Day Dear Friends and Colleagues:
Sponsored by El Pomar Institute for Innovation and
Commercialization (EPIIC) and
Welcome to the 4th annual Mountain Lion Research Day.
There are two major objectives for the Mountain Lion Research Day:
1. To allow UCCS faculty to become better acquainted with the research being conducted by col-leagues at the University with the hope of stimulating cross-campus collaborations.
2. To introduce potential partners in the Pikes Peak region to the research happening at UCCS. As a "regional" university, it behooves UCCS researchers to engage with entities in Colorado Springs. UCCS is important to the future growth of Southern Colorado in many ways, not the least of which is by being a vibrant research university providing support for the companies who are already here or who may relocate here.
Research Day is a showcase of projects across the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs campus. Thanks to all faculty, students, and staff involved. Let me take this opportunity to greet you. Have a great and productive day. Thank you for participating in Mountain Lion Research Day.
Dr. Michael Larson
Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and
Inno-vation
Key to Abstract Numbers Table
Code No. Category Discipline
1.01 Student Success and
Enroll-ment ManageEnroll-ment
UCCS Counseling Center
2.01 Business Accounting
2.02 Business Business Administration
2.03 Business Business Communication
2.04 Business Business Law
2.05 Business Finance
2.06 Business Human Resource Management
2.07 Business Information Systems
2.08 Business International Business
2.09 Business Management
2.10 Business Marketing
2.11 Business Operations & Tech Management
2.12 Business Professional Golf Management
2.13 Business Quantitative Methods
2.14 Business Sport Management
3.01 Education Counseling & Human Services
3.02 Education Curriculum
3.03 Education Leadership
3.04 Education Special Education
3.05 Education Professional Teacher Education
4.01 Engineering & Applied Sci Computer Science 4.02 Engineering & Applied Sci Computer Security 4.03 Engineering & Applied Sci Electrical Engineering
4.04 Engineering & Applied Sci Game Design and Development 4.05 Engineering & Applied Sci Mechanical Engineering
4.06 Engineering & Applied Sci Space Operations 5.01 Letters, Arts & Sciences Anthropology 5.02 Letters, Arts & Sciences Biology
5.03 Letters, Arts & Sciences Chemistry and Biochemistry 5.04 Letters, Arts & Sciences Communication
5.05 Letters, Arts & Sciences Economics 5.06 Letters, Arts & Sciences English
5.07 Letters, Arts & Sciences Energy Science
5.08 Letters, Arts & Sciences Geography & Environmental Studies 5.09 Letters, Arts & Sciences Geology
5.10 Letters, Arts & Sciences Gerontology 5.11 Letters, Arts & Sciences History 5.12 Letters, Arts & Sciences Journalism
5.13 Letters, Arts & Sciences Languages and Culture 5.14 Letters, Arts & Sciences Library Science
Code No. Category Discipline 5.16 Letters, Arts & Sciences Philosophy 5.17 Letters, Arts & Sciences Physics
5.18 Letters, Arts & Sciences Political Science 5.19 Letters, Arts & Sciences Psychology 5.20 Letters, Arts & Sciences Sociology
5.21 Letters, Arts & Sciences Sports & Leisure Studies 5.22 Letters, Arts & Sciences VAPA-Art
5.23 Letters, Arts & Sciences VAPA-Theatre 5.24 Letters, Arts & Sciences VAPA-Music
5.25 Letters, Arts & Sciences Women’s & Ethnic Studies 6.01 Nursing & Health Sciences Nursing
6.02 Nursing & Health Sciences Health Sciences 7.01 School of Public Affairs Criminal Justice 7.02 School of Public Affairs Public Administration 8.01 National Institute of Science,
Space, and Security Centers (NISSSC)
Center for Homeland Security (CHS)
8.02 National Institute of Science, Space, and Security Centers (NISSSC)
Center for Science, Technology, En-gineering and Mathematics Education (CSTEME/PIPES)
8.03 National Institute of Science, Space, and Security Centers (NISSSC)
Center for Space Studies (CSS)
8.04 National Institute of Science, Space, and Security Centers (NISSSC)
Trauma, Health and Hazards Center (THHC)
9.01 Special Violence Cluster Counseling Center 9.02 Special Violence Cluster School of Public Affairs
9.03 Special Violence Cluster Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences
Student Success and Enrollment Management UCCS Counseling Center 1.01
See 09.01.01 Violence Cluster Submission by Benek Altayli
See 09.01.02 Violence Cluster Submission by Susan Swank and Catherine Kaukinen See 09.01.03 Violence Cluster Submission by Susan Swank and Carrie Horner
Business Accounting 2.01 Business Administration 2.02 Business Communications 2.03 Business Law2.04 Finance 2.05
Human Resource Management 2.06 International Business 2.08
Management 2.09 Marketing 2.10
Operations and Tech Management 2.11 Professional Golf Management 2.12 Quantitative Methods 2.13
Education Counseling and Human Services 3.01
Curriculum in Education 3.02 Leadership 3.03
03.03.01 Women in Leadership Positions in the Field of Corrections: The Impact of Correction-al Fatigue on Their ProfessionCorrection-al and PersonCorrection-al Lives
Corinne Harmon, faculty, Leadership, Research, and Foundations Susan Jones, student, Leadership, Research, and Foundations Jennifer Jirous, student, Leadership, Research, and Foundations Emily Wassell, student, Leadership, Research, and Foundations
Between 1973 and 2009, the nation’s prison population grew by 705%, resulting in more than 1 in 100 adults being behind bars. Based on a recent report from the PEW Research Center, the recidivism rate for the 2004-2007 releases was 43.3% nationwide (PEW Center on the States, 2011). Job satisfaction of cor-rections personnel is a factor that impacts the overall working environment in prisons which then impacts the experiences of those incarcerated.
Research conducted via survey distribution to various correctional outreach publications, websites, and membership associations elicited 140 responses of which 94 were women (67%). Women respondents in positions of captain, major, associate warden, warden or higher was 41/140 (29%) and 30/140 (21%) held Executive Management positions above the level of Warden.
The study specifically investigates the perceptions and experiences of women in leadership positions in the field of corrections regarding identified variables related to the stress associated with their position, education level, job satisfaction and performance in their professional and personal lives.
Special Education 3.04
03.04.01 Disability Portraiture in Pre-service Teacher Education Jenny Romano, student, Special Education
Janet Sauer, faculty advisor, Special Education
One feature of the successful education of students includes the valuing of families and their children with disabilities. This presentation describes one university student’s portrait research project based upon using Skype as a research tool. This student’s project is one of about a hundred research projects used in an on-going study of the impact of having pre-service teachers learn about special education from the families of students with disabilities. In this project portraits of people with disabilities and their families are cre-ated based on interviews and time spent interacting with them. According to Lawrence-Lightfoot (2005), portraiture research requires structure, analytic rigor and empirical description while making active deci-sions “in selecting the themes that will be used to tell the story” (p.10). “One of the most powerful charac-teristics of portraiture,” she explains “is its ability to embrace contradictions, its ability to document the beautiful/ugly experiences that are so much a part of the texture of human development and social rela-tionships… The portraitist seeks to document and illuminate the complexity and detail of a unique experi-ence or place, hoping that the audiexperi-ence will see themselves reflected in it, trusting that the readers will feel identified” (Lawrence-Lightfoot, 2005, p. 9-13). Initial results suggest the cognitive dissonance pre-service teachers report feeling upon hearing the families’ stories seems to upset the dominant deficit mod-el imposed upon students with disabilities and their families resulting from societal structures where pow-er imbalance is the norm.
Engineering and Applied Science Computer Science 4.01
04.01.01 Mitigating Cross-Site form History Spamming Attacks with Domain-based Ranking Chuan Yue, faculty, Computer Science
Modern Web browsers often provide a very useful form autocomplete feature to help users con-veniently speed up their form filling process. However, browsers are generally too permissive in both saving form history data and suggesting them to users. Attackers can take advantage of this permissiveness and use malicious webpages to inject a large amount of junk or spam data into the form history database of a browser, performing invasive advertising or simply making this useful form autocomplete feature almost useless to users. In this paper, we illustrate that this type of cross-site form history spamming attacks can be feasibly achieved at least on the recent ver-sions of Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome browsers. We inspect the autocomplete feature im-plementations in open source Firefox and Chromium browsers to analyze how basic and ad-vanced cross-site form history spamming attacks can be successful. Browser vendors are appar-ently taking active measures to protect against these attacks, but we explore a different approach and propose a domain-based ranking mechanism to address the problem. Our mechanism is sim-ple, transparent to users, and easily adoptable by different browsers to complement their existing protection mechanisms. We have implemented this mechanism in Firefox 3 and verified its ef-fectiveness. We make our Firefox 3 build available for download and verification.
04.01.02 “Vaulted Verification”-A Scheme for Privacy-preserving Face Recognition Michael Wilber, student, Computer Science
Terrance Boult, faculty advisor, Computer Science
As biometric authentication systems become common in everyday use, researchers must address privacy issues in biometric recognition: If a subject uses his or her face to log into his or her bank account, for example, does their bank know what they look like? What happens when an attacker steals the bank's stored picture of the subject – can the attacker then break into the subject's bank account? What keeps the bank from disclosing their clients' pictures to advertisers or law enforcement? Such privacy issues are rarely considered in biometrics systems, but researchers should take extra care to develop biometric sys-tems that resist these attacks. This work shows one way of performing privacy-preserving face recogni-tion. First, we discuss limitations of earlier privacy-preserving authentication systems and present neces-sary privacy and security requirements that make a system attractive from both the bank's security point of view and from the client's privacy-centric point of view. We then present a novel protocol we call “Vaulted Verification” that allows a server to remotely authenticate a client's biometric in a privacy pre-serving way. We conclude with a small evaluation of performance, discussion of security implications, and ideas for future work.
Computer Security 4.02
Electrical and Computer Engineering 4.03
04.03.01 Reduced Order Model of Lithium-ion Batteries Jim Lee, student, Electrical and Computer Engineering Greg Plett, faculty advisor, ECE
The discrete-time realization algorithm (DRA) is a method to find a reduced-order, discrete-time realiza-tion of an infinite-order distributed-parameter system such as a transcendental impedance funcrealiza-tion. In contrast to other methods, the DRA is a bounded-time deterministic method that produces globally
opti-mal reduced-order models. In the DRA we use the sample and hold framework along with the inverse discrete Fourier transform to closely approximate the discrete-time impulse response. Next, the Ho-Kalman algorithm is used to produce a state-space realization from this discrete-time impulse response. The standard model of lithium-ion batteries consists of four coupled partial differential equations and one algebraic equation. These equations are too complex to solve in a real-time control applications. Using the DRA, we derive a reduced order battery model. We show that a fifth-order discrete-time model can close-ly approximate the infinite-order standard battery model.
04.03.02 Wireless Torque Sensing using SAW Technology Matthew Phelps, student, Electrical and Computer Engineering T.S. Kalkur, faculty advisor, ECE
Amidst this ear of rapidly changing technology, there resides an increasing demand for versatile, wireless torque sensors. One such technology that meets the demands of precise torque measurement is the surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensor. SAW sensors are ideal in that they offer high sensitivity, flexible mounting, and real-time measurement – all without the use of a battery. As a passive device, SAW sensors are small and lightweight. This enables implementation in a wide range of applications such as the power monitoring of engines, motors, turbines, or any rotating device. SAW sensors operate by inducing a surface acoustic wave on the desired material. As the wave propagates through the surface,changes in the velocity and amplitude of the wave are monitored by measuring the resulting fre-quency and phase variations within the SAW device. By transmitting electromagnetic waves to the de-vice and analyzing the response, measurement of the physical applied torque can be quantized and used for dynamic monitoring. In order to accommodate the need for accurate torque sensing in new ap-plications, the technology of SAW sensors continues to be developed and enhanced here at UCCS. This research is supported by the EAS Undergraduate department under the advisory of Dr. Kalkur.
04.03.03 A Circuit-Based Approach for the Compensation of Self-Heating-Induced Errors in Bi-polar Integrated Circuit Comparators
Kyle Webb, student, Electrical and Computer Engineering T.S. Kalkur, faculty advisor, ECE
Voltage comparator circuits are common integrated circuit (IC) building blocks found in ICs used in a variety of applications, including test and measurement instruments, wireline commu-nication systems, and data converters. High-performance comparators are often fabricated in high-bandwidth bipolar processes, which typically utilize trench-isolation to provide electrical isolation between transistors. Trench isolation also provides a high level of thermal isolation be-tween devices, resulting in circuits that are very susceptible to the effects of self-heating. Self-heating-induced offset voltages occur due to signal-dependent temperature differentials between nominally-matched devices. In linear circuits, self-heating effects manifest themselves as slow thermal tails, while in digital circuits self-heating results in timing errors. Because the output of a comparator circuit is a digital signal, self-heating of the transistors in the comparator results in data-dependent jitter on the output signal. Though techniques exist for the compensation of self-heating effects in purely linear or purely digital circuits, the compensation of self- self-heating-induced errors in comparator circuits presents a particular challenge due to the inherently mixed-signal nature of comparators – comparator inputs are analog, their outputs are digital, and the nature of the transition between the two domains is a function of the input signal. This research seeks to develop a circuit-based approach, independent of process or layout, for the compensa-tion of self-heating effects in integrated circuit bipolar comparators.
Communication Without Shared Secrets
William Bahn, student, Electrical and Computer Engineering Mark Wickert, faculty advisor, ECE
As commercial and military reliance on wireless communications grows, jam resistance in omni-directional radio communications becomes increasingly important. Presently, spread spectrum techniques that employ symmetric keys (i.e., shared secrets) provide this protection and key management is a barrier to scaling up critical networks such as the Global Information Grid (GIG). Asymmetric cryptography offers alternatives for the Traffic Encryption Keys (TEK) used to encrypt, decrypt, and authenticate transmissions, but the same cannot be said for the Trans-mission Security Keys (TSK) that protect the waveform itself from hostile jamming. While shared-secret schemes are workable in small networks, theater-wide mobile ad hoc wireless net-works may overwhelm any practical key management strategy. Making matters worse is that public-access systems - such as the civilian side of the Global Positioning System (GPS) - pre-clude reliance on secret keys since every person is an authorized user. Yet while these systems are recognized as having little to no jam resistance, they are becoming increasingly critical to activities such as civilian aviation operations. Presented here is a new form of spread spectrum based on a new coding theory - the theory of concurrent codes - that permits the construction of jam-resistant physical layers that rely on no keys at all. One particular unkeyed concurrent algo-rithm, the BBC algoalgo-rithm, is explored in depth and the performance of BBC pulse-based concur-rent code spread spectrum (CCSS) is analyzed for the case of additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) barrage jamming and compared to similar frequency hop (FHSS) and direct sequence (DSSS) systems.
04.03.05 Wireless Sensor Networks and Emergency Responder Tracking Aaron Danielson, student, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Robert Mann, student, Electrical and Computer Engineering Mark Wickert, faculty advisor, ECE
In the communications and signal processing community, and elsewhere, wireless sensor net-works have been receiving a lot of attention. Users of such netnet-works include
govern-ment/military, commercial, and industrial applications. One application of interest is emergency responder location tracking. The scenario may be indoors or outdoors. The indoor setting, or at least where GPS signals may not be reliable, introduces more of a challenge with regard to accu-rately/reliably tracking emergency responders. Consider a command/control center that is de-ployed in case of a building fire/partial collapse/flood/tornado, etc. For the safety of responders it is desired to keep track of their location as they carry out search and rescue. A sensor network can be used to provide this information and more. How to obtain precision location and track in-formation, is a worthy research topic that arises out of the emergency responder tracking scenar-io. Consider a network composed of coordinator, router, and end nodes. The router nodes would be at a fixed location while the end nodes correspond to the asset being tracked. The coordinator node collects information from the network for use in the control center. The indoor propagation channel complicates the location estimation process. Statistical radio channel models exist and ray tracing can be applied to a given building design, but what really works in practice? An ob-vious solution is to have a high density of router nodes. An excess of router nodes also makes the network more robust during emergencies, when fire for example may be taking out portions of the network. Cost and energy efficiency are concerns too. To better understand the design issues
a wireless sensor network test-bed is proposed. 04.03.06 Digital Family Radio
Evan Lojewski, student, Electrical and Computer Engineering William Foos, student, Electrical and Computer Engineering Mark Wickert, faculty advisor, ECE
The utilization of short-range communications systems is prevalent in modern day society for many applications such as hiking, car-to-car monitoring and other novel applications. The most commonly used technologies include FRS (family radio service) as well as analog unlicensed band radio systems. However, the usage of low power digital audio transmission at the ISM band has not been harnessed and may prove useful in situations where long battery life and high quali-ty streaming audio is found necessary.
This design and development project sets out to implement a digital two-way radio utilizing the 2.4GHz ISM band inside a user friendly enclosure and interface. Some premises behind this ra-dio include its implementation of low power and low voltage technologies, as well as utilizing modern audio CODEC and digital communication protocol to effectively stream higher quality audio than is normally witnessed in two-way radio operation.
04.03.07 Design, Fabrication, and Characterization of UWB (Ultra-Wide Band) Band-Pass Filter Chin C. Hsu, student, ECE
Hoyoung Song, faculty advisor, ECE
Ultra-wide band (UWB) that covers frequency range of 3.1 to 10.6 GHZ is the next generation standard frequency band for wireless communications. This frequency band will replace the USB 2.0 and will coexist with the current 802.11a/b/g. The UWB technology includes three general applications: Internet, consume electronics broadcasting system, and mobile handheld devices. The fractional bandwidth of band-pass filters for UWB applications exceeds 100%; thereby required special technique to realize. A direct cascade of low pass filter and a high pass filter, can be constructed as a wideband-pass filter to meet the UWB requirements. In this paper we present the design, fabrication, and characterization of UWB band-pass micro-strip filter us-ing quarter-wave resonators.
04.03.08 Multi-Band Meander-Line Monopole Antenna for Wireless LAN Communication Chin C. Hsu, student, ECE
Hoyoung Song, faculty advisor, ECE
A multi-band meander line monopole antenna that operates in frequency range of 2.4-2.48 GHZ, 5.15-5.35 GHz, and 5.725-5.825 GHz was designed, fabricated, and characterized. Analytical calculation and numerical-analysis were carried out to determine the critical antenna dimensions. A 3D electromagnetic finite-element solver, HFSS, was used in antenna simulation. The antenna was fabricated on a Rogers 4003 substrate with dielectric constant of 3.38 and thickness of 0.813 mm. The measurements were in good agreement with simulation results. The proposed antenna that operates in multi-band and presents omnidirectional radiation pattern can be potentially used for wireless LAN applications.
Mechanical Engineering 4.05
04.05.01 Flow Optimization Utilizing Flow Straighteners Bronson Stagner, student, MAE
Dr. Rebecca Webb, faculty advisor, MAE
The placement of a turbine in a wind farm can greatly affect performance. Downstream turbines suffer wake effects that decrease power and increase fatigue loads. Controlling wake growth would allow these negative effects to be minimized. This work seeks to determine if the use of a flow straightener behind an obstruction, like a wind turbine, will limit wake growth.
A parametric experimental study was designed to evaluate the impact of flow straighteners on wake growth behind an obstruction. First the flow behind an obstruction without a flow straight-ener was characterized. Using a 12” Open-Circuit “suck down” style wind tunnel, Model 402B, built by Engineering Laboratory Designs, Inc., a cylinder with a given diameter of 0.0762 m was placed at the start of the 0.3048 m x 0.3048 m test section. The cylinder height is equal to the test section height. For a given wind speed, the pressure is measured at 100 locations a distance of 0.3175 m from the center of the cylinder using a pitot static tube and a Dwyer Series 646-4 Dif-ferential Pressure transducer powered and monitored using LabView Express. Additional pres-sure meapres-surements spanning the test section are repeated for distances of 0.3429, 0.3683, 0.4699, 0.4953, 0.5207 m from the center of cylinder. The process is repeated for wind speeds ranging from 13.33 to 2.36 m/s and two additional cylinders with diameters of 0.0381 m and 0.01905 m, respectively.
04.05.02 Charge Exchange Containment Cell
Quiller, Trey; Johnson, Michael; Claes, Doug; and Bosworth, Ryan, students, MAE Dr. Andrew Ketsdever, faculty advisor, MAE
The charge exchange process between ionized and neutral particles is of significant importance in the propulsion industry. Propulsion concepts use charge exchange to create very high energy neutral particles to be propelled out of the system. In order to study this occurrence, we have de-signed and built a charge exchange containment cell. This cell has the ability to hold a neutral gas, such as Argon or Neon, in a vacuum environment with the gas keeping a constant number density and having the ability to vary the gas pressure. This containment cell was built to contain the neutral gas within the cell with minimal leakage of the contained gas into the rest of the vac-uum chamber. We have experimentally tested this charge exchange containment cell.
04.05.03 Numerical Modeling of Phase change Material in Thermal Energy Storage Reid, Michael, student, MAE
Dr. Rebecca Webb, faculty advisor, MAE
Enhancing the heat transfer characteristics of thermal energy storage systems would greatly ben-efit solar energy technology. Latent heat energy storage systems have higher energy density than their sensible heat counterparts and have the added benefit of constant temperature operation. This work computationally evaluates a thermal energy storage system using molten silicon as a phase change material. A three-dimensional model was generated in the commercially available COMSOL Multiphysics simulation software using the surface-to-surface radiation physics mod-ule. The model consisted of an insulated core of silicon that undergoes phase change to store so-lar energy gathered. The model tracks the movement of the melting front in the silicon core dur-ing cycles of solar heatdur-ing and heat loss through radiation. The work includes a parametric study of design characteristics that affect the storage characteristics. The results from this parametric study will be reported by this work.
04.05.04 Thermal Interaction Modeling of Radiometric Arrays for Near Space Vehicle Propul-sion
Bosworth, Ryan and Ventura, Austin, students, MAE
A radiometric engine has been proposed as a propulsion mechanism for dirigible near space ve-hicles. This system utilizes large arrays of radiometer vanes attached to the surface of the vehicle and uses a temperature gradient across the vane generated by solar energy to provide a locomo-tive force. The system was designed to correct for wind disturbance allowing the vehicles to maintain station over a target location. Thermal interactions between vanes were modeled using COMSOL Multiphysics 4.2a. Experimental data for force production with different array geome-tries was combined with the thermal data and used to develop a thermally efficient scale model for testing.
04.05.05 Chamber for Atmospheric and orbital Space Simulation (ChAOSS) Maldonado, Carlos and Bosworth, Ryan, students, MAE
Dr. Andrew Ketsdever and Dr. Taylor Lilly, faculty advisors, MAE
The need for a modern ground-based facility for accurate spacecraft environment simulation is growing due to the high cost and limited availability of in-flight experiments. The function of such simulation facilities is to assist scientists and engineers in design and selection of materials and systems for future space missions. There are currently facilities in existence that simulate space; however they are generally limited to testing one or two environmental factors at a time. This has drawbacks in that the combined effects of environmental factors can affect materials and systems in a different manner than the singular factors alone. A ground-based space simula-tion facility is currently being developed at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs to accurately simulate the orbital and inter orbital environments that spacecraft will be exposed to in future missions. This facility will have the ability to accurately simulate multiple space envi-ronment factors allowing for synergistic testing of materials, thermal systems, electronics, and optics.
04.05.06 Dynamic Response of Ultrasound Contrast Agents Carroll, James, student, MAE
Dr. Michael Calvisi, faculty advisor, MAE
The nonlinear dynamic response of spherical ultrasound contrast agent microbubbles driven by ultrasound is investigated to understand the effects on stability of common shells. The dynamic response is analyzed through the application of various techniques from dynamical systems theo-ry. Albunex, Sonazoid, and polymer shells are compared to determine the effect of shell materi-als on the system response. The exponential thin-shell model developed by Lars Hoff is imple-mented in combination with a compressible form of the Rayleigh-Plesset equation to study the various contrast agents. From a qualitative approach, Poincaré sections, phase portraits, and bi-furcation diagrams are plotted to illustrate system response and to determine where the transition to chaotic behavior begins. The bifurcation diagrams are complimented with corresponding cal-culations of the maximum Lyapunov exponent to provide quantitative data on the system stabil-ity. The results indicate the Albunex and polymer shells sufficiently stabilize the dynamic re-sponse and prevent transition to the chaotic regime throughout typical clinical ranges of ultra-sound pressure and frequency. By contrast, the Sonazoid shells are found to delay, but not pre-vent, the onset of chaos. The chaotic oscillations are further explored by mapping the complex structure that appears over time. A final contour plot of stability spanning the clinical ranges of pressure and frequency is provided.
04.05.07 Microwave Assisted Micro-Propulsion Lucas Derby, student, MAE
Rebecca Webb, faculty advisor, MAE
The goal of this project is to develop a propulsion system for CubeSat. CubeSats are becoming more desirable to governments and industries due to their low cost, mass, and size. Yet, the 10 x 10 x 10 cm cube envelopes greatly limit CubeSat’s onboard mass, volume, and power budgets. Only one CubeSat (CANX-2) has flown in space with a propulsion system with extremely lim-ited maneuverability. Increasing CubeSat’s propulsion capabilities is essential to increasing its mission capabilities, including altitude and inclination changes, drag make-up, deorbit, proximity operations, formation flying, and attitude control. To curb the 10 Watt power limitation of Cu-beSat, research is being conducted to develop a microwave augmented subliming solid thruster which can absorb beamed microwave energy from another spacecraft. This idea proposes a new approach which requires little to no power onboard CubeSat for propulsion. The system will oc-cupy one unit of a 3U CubeSat. A subliming solid propellant cube will be encased in a micro-wave absorbing material. A larger, micromicro-wave beaming satellite will beam micromicro-waves to the propulsion system of the CubeSat. The solid propellant will gain thermal energy from radiative heating of its case and gases will sublime off the solid propellant. Once enough pressure accumu-lates from the gas produced, this pressure can be released as exhaust resulting in thrust.
04.05.08 Numerical Modeling of Radiation Heat Transfer in a Channel Allen Boartfield, student, MAE
Rebecca Webb, faculty advisor, MAE
Concentrated solar power produces electricity by using a mirror to focus sunlight on a fluid filled tube known as a heat collection element. The fluid inside the element is then used as a heat source for steam generation in a conventional steam turbine power plant. It is possible that add-ing microstructures to the surface of the conventionally smooth heat collection element could improve system efficiency, motivating the need for an improved understanding of the radiation characteristics of a microstructured surface. The goal of this work was to predict the net radiative heat transfer in a two-dimensional, rectangular channel subject to concentrated solar irradiation using the Monte Carlo method. Angle of incidence and channel aspect ratio were varied. At low angles of incidence the net radiative heat transfer to the channeled surface was greater than that to the flat surface.
04.05.09 Modeling and Measuring Human Motion Matt Pedersen, student, MAE
Ryan Pedersen, student, MAE McKenzie Genin, student, MAE Steve Tragesser, faculty, MAE
This research aims at merging physics-based models of human motion with computer optimiza-tion algorithms to improve performance in highly skilled applicaoptimiza-tions such as elite athletics, lo-comotion in low-gravity environments, and rehabilitation. Baseline data for each application can be obtained from video capture systems, such as the one being developed in the Osborne Center. This data validates computer models generated with multiple rigid links and torque ac-tuators at the joints. Numerical optimization is then employed to suggest modifications to the baseline motion to either improve performance (e.g. speed or efficiency) or minimize loading (e.g. to mitigate the effects of an injury or disability).
Steven Long, student, MAE Jeffrey Rosado, student, MAE
Leal Ken Lauderbaugh, faculty advisor, MAE
Modeling human cell processes we create a set of first order nonlinear differential equation to represent various chemical reactions. Using these differential equations we are able to simulate the reactions of these biological processes in a purely mathematical simulation. Using Matlab and Simulink we look at different techniques that can be used to accurately simulate the internal reactions for various concentrations of stimulants. Using Simulink we attempt to find various methods that can be used to replace Matlab coding with more graphical representations that we hope can be used to create a simulation that can be more easily followed and more easily edited. 04.05.11 Modeling Cavitation in Ionic Liquids
Ross Elder, student, MAE
Michael Calvisi, faculty advisor, MAE
Ionic liquids are salts that are liquid at or near room temperature and have favorable properties such as high thermal stability and negligible vapor pressure. Ultrasonically-induced cavitation has been utilized to drive certain chemical reactions in ionic liquids due to the intense energy-focusing created by the ensuing bubble collapses. This has important applications in the field of sonochemistry. When bubbles are acoustically forced, they experience a relatively slow, iso-thermal expansion phase followed by a rapid, adiabatic collapse. During the collapse, the bub-bles canreach temperatures several times the temperature of the surface of the Sun. Modeling cavitation in ionic liquids presents certain challenges, for example, due to the high viscosity. Previous models accurately describe cavitation for a bubble consisting primarily of a nonconden-sable gas. Current research involves developing a computational model for a single, spherical bubble with a large quantity of water vapor. Unlike the noncondensable gas, the water vapor is able to evaporate and condense across the gas-liquid interface. This allows for larger compres-sion ratios, potentially yielding higher bubble temperatures. The derivation, progress, and results of the model are presented.
04.05.12 External Multipass Optical Cavity for Increased Laser Interaction Efficiency and Diagnostics
Jacob Graul, student, MAE
Taylor Lilly, faculty advisor, MAE
A multipass external optical cavity has been developed for use with high energy pulsed lasers with the intent of increasing the efficiency of a single laser pulse’s interaction with a given medium. By exploiting the closed-path recirculation of one or two counterpropagating laser pulses, obtained through polarization-dependent trapping of the pulse(s) inside the cavity, such an optical cavity allows the pulse(s) to repeatedly interact with a specific region in space with a frequency much higher than any conventional laser, while also permitting the laser greater sensi-tivity in probing of the medium. This cavity concept suggests a variety of potential applications ranging from increased efficiency of non-resonant laser gas heating and time-resolved scattering diagnostic studies of a medium subject to rapid non-equilibrium processes, to laser-based spec-troscopy studies and x-ray production.
04.05.13 Neutral Gas Heating via Pulsed Optical Lattices Barry Cornella, student, MAE
Andrew Ketsdever, faculty advisor, MAE
Traditional methods for creating a high temperature gas source typically require a combustion process (introducing unwanted species into the sample), an ionization process (and therefore re-combination) or rely on an internal resonance of the sample. The presented research proposes a new technique involving pulsed optical lattices. An optical lattice consists of two interfering la-ser beams that form a la-series of periodic electric potential wells. Atoms and molecules within these potential wells experience an induced dipole force that tends to move the particle towards areas of highest field strength (least potential). By utilizing high intensity, pulsed lattices, energy may be deposited into the surrounding gas via collisions. The interaction is arbitrary (any gas species), non-resonant, and tunable, appealing to many applications that require a high tempera-ture gas source greater than 2000 K. One particular application includes the study of hypersonic flows where current gas properties are not well known. By recreating these hypersonic flow conditions, properties such as chemical reaction/ionization rates, gas-gas and gas-surface interac-tions, and micro-scale mixing at extreme temperatures can be better understood.
04.05.14 Microchannels effect on Radiative Heat Transfer on High Temperature Applications Michael Johnson, student, MAE
Dan Lewis, student, MAE
Rebecca Webb, faculty advisor, MAE
With an ever-growing demand for energy and the increasing cost of fossil fuels, a reliable source of renewable energy needs to be found. Solar energy has always been used in smaller applica-tions, but lacks the ability to produce the massive amounts of energy that can be produced from a coal power plant. Solar power plants have recently been built in desert climates where there is an optimal amount of sun. Because of this, they are able to produce a considerable amount of energy. These plants have very high working temperatures, which causes the equipment used to differ from typical solar plants.
In order to be considered a legitimate source of energy and supplant fossil fuels, the efficiency of solar panels needs to be improved. Machining micro-channels into the linear heat collection elements on the solar panel has proven to increase the performance of the element. These micro-channels are to be tested at high temperatures in order see how the temperature affects the heat transfer into the working fluid.
Letters, Arts, and Sciences
Anthropology 5.01 Biology 5.02
05.02.01 Case Studies: Concentrated Cannabis Extracts Cure Squamous Cell Carcinoma Robert Melamede, faculty, Biology
The value and safety of medical marijuana is increasingly realized by people around the world as knowledge of the endocannabinoid system spreads and as word spreads of the impact cannabis based treatments are having on numerous illnesses and conditions. The endocannabinoid system homeostatically regulates all body systems. Through these numerous regulatory activities, the cannabinoid system also regulates appetite, pain, body temperature, mood and consciousness. Living systems are four dimensional dynamic structures in which all the components interact to create a whole it is greater than the sum of its parts. As such, the dynamical system both buffers and adapts to change (homeostasis). Therefore, to implement directed systemic change, for ex-ample creating a body that rejects its cancer, is unlikely to occur from a single magic bullet ap-proach.
In contrast to conventional pharmaceuticals, the Cannabis sativa plant produces well over a hun-dred biologically active cannabinoids, terpenes, and terpenoid compounds. Thus the plant im-pacts on the body in a holistic manner while targeting a central regulator of homeostasis, the en-docannabinoid system.
Dramatic sequential photographic documentation of a squamous cell cancerous tumor apparently being cured by the topical application of cannabis extracts will be presented.
05.02.02 Categorizing the role of the unknown RNA binding protein, CG11505, in Drosophila
Melanogaster neuronal development Evelyn Garcia, student, Biology
Eugenia O. Killian, faculty advisor, Biology
The purpose of our study is to elucidate the genetic basis for the development of neurons in the
Drosophila model system. We have focused our efforts on understanding the genetic basis for
generating complex neural structures such as dendrites and axons. Drosophila is a powerful sys-tem for such studies because it is amenable to genetic manipulation and imaging analyses throughout development. In an innovative RNA interference (RNAi) screen, an uncharacterized RNA binding protein, known as cg11505, was discovered as having a role in the development of
Drosophila sensory neurons. Importantly, cg11505 is conserved among animals; thus, studying
the role of cg11505 may give insight to the function of cg11505 orthologues in neurogenesis of other species, including humans. We find that cg11505 mRNA is localized to the posterior pole of the early embryo and is expressed in the central nervous system during development. While the function of cg11505 is unknown, the initial screen indicated neurons deficient for cg11505 had fewer dendritic termini which suggested a role in dendritic morphogenesis. We have prelim-inarily characterized the defects associated with decreased cg11505 function in both sensory and motor neurons. Our results indicate that cg11505 is required for the formation of both dendritic and axonal structures. Therefore, cg11505 regulates the formation of multiple neuronal structures in multiple cell types.
05.03.01 The Development of Some Three-Parameter Equations of State James G. Eberhart, faculty, Chemistry
Dustin Disalle Jr., student, Chemistry
The equation of state (EOS) of a fluid is the link that allows the prediction of unmeasured ther-modynamic properties from other properties that have been measured. In addition, an EOS is a mathematical model of the pressure-volume-temperature behavior of fluids. Thus, the improve-ment of EsOS has been a focus of this research group for a number of years. Our current pro-gram involves the exploration of three models that contain three adjustable parameters. In these models a van der Waals repulsive term with one parameter is coupled with an attractive term containing a temperature-dependent function with two additional parameters. The resulting fluid models are sometimes called augmented van der Waals or Redlich-Kwong EsOS, depending on the molar volume dependence of the attractive term. An exploration of three different attractive functions is presently underway: one developed in this group and two others proposed by Soave and by Prausnitz. In each case two of the parameters are found from the critical conditions for the fluid. The third parameter is determined from the Riedel factor for the fluid, a departure from the usual approach based the acentric factor for the fluid. The predictions of the various models are compared with experimental data to assess their accuracy.
05.03.02 Model Catecholate Siderophore: a Bioinorganic Laboratory Experiment Renee Henry, faculty, Chemistry and Biochemistry
A bioinorganic course is offered at UCCS in the fall semesters. We do not currently offer an ex-perimental laboratory section for this course in the chemistry department. Although several bio-inorganic laboratories are found in bio-inorganic laboratory textbooks and in literature articles, a suitable laboratory experiment that applies to all areas taught in this course are not presently available. One topic section covered in the lecture course that requires a matching experiment is the area of iron transport by catecholate siderophores. A laboratory experiment presented here uses dopamine as a model catecholate siderophore.
05.03.03 Synthesis of disubstituted 1,2,3-triazoles via copper (I) catalyzed cycloaddition Brayden Hamill, student, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Marcus Calvin, student, Chemistry and Biochemistry Joann Mueller, student, Chemistry and Biochemistry Allen Schoffstall, faculty, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Organic azides, synthesized from alkyl bromides, meta-fluorobenzyl bromide or glycidol by re-action with sodium azide, were allowed to react with meta-fluoroalkynylbenzene or a 3-aryl-2-alkynyl-carboxylic acid in the presence of copper sulfate pentahydrate and sodium ascorbate (Vitamin C) in a 1:1 tert-butyl alcohol/water solution. Decarboxylation of the
3-aryl-2-alkynylcarboxylic acids occurred under the conditions necessary to form 1,2,3-disubstituted tria-zoles by click chemistry. Compounds were purified from an ethanol/water solvent pair and ana-lyzed using TLC, NMR, IR, and techniques. Data for several of the triazole derivatives are pre-sented.
05.03.04 Development of Dispersed Liquid-Liquid Microextraction (DLLME) Method for the Quantita-tive Analysis of the Brominated Flame Retardant Tetrabromobisphenol-A on Consumer Electronics Gina Di Napoli-Davis, student, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBPA) is one of the most widely used brominated flame retardants worldwide. It is incorporated into items such as circuit boards and consumer electronics to pre-vent or retard the initial development of fires. Despite its widespread use, there is little data con-cerning the environmental presence or concentrations of TBBPA, its toxicity, or its environmen-tal fate and transport. Thus, the objective of this work is to develop a “green” method, called dis-persed liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME), to analyze swabbed surfaces of consumer elec-tronics to determine TBBPA concentrations. In DLLME, a ternary solvent system of aqueous sample, extraction solvent, and dispersive solvent is used to create micro-droplets for ultra-concentration of the analyte. After concentrating TBBPA, it is derivatized with acetic anhydride and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). In preliminary work, chloro-benzene was shown to be the optimal extraction solvent at 15 µL, a 100 µL dispersive solvent mixture of 75% acetone and 25% methanol was ideal, and kimwipe was determined to be the optimal material to swab electronic surfaces. Using a 13C-labeled internal standard to improve precision and quantitation, TBBPA concentrations on electronic surfaces have been reported. 05.03.05 Rapid Determination of a Panel of Neurotransmitters in Human Urine Using Capillary Electrophoresis
Sarah Gehrke, student, Chemistry and Biochemistry Elle Clarke, student, Chemistry and Biochemistry Pengxin Liu, student, Chemistry and Biochemistry Randy Robinson, student, Chemistry and Biochemistry David Weiss, faculty advisor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine have been linked to many neurological conditions. However, the relationship between these neurotransmitter concentrations and diseas-es is not well understood. A technique that offers rapid, non-invasive and quantitative analysis of neurotransmitters could aid physicians and researchers when studying neurological diseases. Capillary electrophoresis (CE), as opposed to liquid chromatography, yields higher peak effi-ciencies and is environmentally friendly due to its minimal use of organic solvents. This research will present a rapid method to identify and quantitate four neurotransmitters in human urine. First-morning urine samples were collected from a healthy adult male and solid-phase extraction was used for sample clean-up and preconcentration. CE with UV/Vis detection was utilized for analysis of urine samples with elution times of approximately 10 minutes. This research was supported by a Merck AAAS grant and the University of Colorado Colorado Springs LAS Scholar Award.
05.03.06 The Quantitation of a Panel of Neurotransmitters through Microchip Electrophoresis Kathryn Prescott, student, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Dr. David Weiss, faculty advisor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Neurological disorders, such as schizophrenia and Parkinson’s, as well as cerebrovascular disor-ders, such as stroke and cerebral edema, are believed to have causes related to the concentration of neurotransmitters in the blood resulting from an impairment of neurologic auto-regulatory re-sponse. Unfortunately, the techniques commonly used in researching cerebral auto-regulation are slow and expensive. A simple, fast, inexpensive method of analysis of neurotransmitters in phys-iological solutions is necessary. Microchip Electrophoresis offers fast analysis, low cost, dispos-ability and portdispos-ability. As of yet, quantitation of a panel of neurotransmitters, tested simultane-ously, in physiological solutions has not been achieved through this method, due to the low
con-centrations of neurotransmitters in serum. We will present our approach to overcoming this prob-lem. Limits of detection will be improved by adding a Pd decoupler in order to isolate the detec-tion electrode from the high voltage power source, and by sample stacking with the addidetec-tion of acetonitrile. The method we develop will also include sample preparation through solid phase extraction.
05.03.07 Determination of Binding Constant of Various sugars to Hexokinase Type II Malia Malihi, student, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Sonja Braun Sand, faculty advisory, Chemistry and Biochemistry Gordon Kresheck, faculty, Chemistry and Biochemistry
The specific interactions between ligands and proteins play an important role in many biochemi-cal processes. Understanding the thermodynamics of ligand binding is of fundamental and prac-tical interest, particularly when trying to understand structural differences between isozymes that lead to differences in ligand affinity. Hexokinase isozymes (HKs) were chosen because they cat-alyze the first step in glycolysis, and are virtually ubiquitous. Some isozymes are also overex-pressed in various tumors. The most recent binding constant (Kb) results for multiple ligands
binding to yeast isozymes determined using microcalorimetric methods will be reported. 05.03.08 Expression and Characterization of GST-HK1 Fusion Protein
Jimi Miller, student, Chemistry and Biochemistry Raquel Rosa, student, Chemistry and Biochemistry Sonja Braun-Sand, faculty, Chemistry and Biochemistry Wendy Haggren, instructor, Biology
Hexokinase Type I, HK1, is the main hexose kinase when grown on carbon sources oth-er than glucose and is required for glucose-dependent catabolic repression of othoth-er genes. Using the yeast strain Saccharomyces cerevisiae, an expression plasmid encoding the fusion protein of GST to HK1 was transfected and overexpressed by inducing the Gal 1-10 promoter with galac-tose. A Western blot, using an antibody to GST, identified the protein of the predicted molecular size of the GST-HK1 fusion protein. The fusion protein was cleaved using thrombin and Western blot analysis determined the GST tag was cleaved using an antibody to HK1. The activity of the enzyme was measured to determine KM and KI values for a variety of substrates and inhibitors
using UV-visible assays.
05.03.09 Determination of Carbamazepine, 14-α-ethynyl estradiol, and diclofenac’s bioaccumulation in green onion, spinach, and lettuce using High Performance Liquid Chromatograph
Cynthia Ortega, student, Chemistry Janel Owens, faculty advisor, Chemistry
A method for determining the amounts of bioaccumulation of carbamazepine, 17-ethynyl es-tradiol, and diclofenac in green onion, spinach, and lettuce with high percent recovery was test-ed. The presence of pharmaceuticals in edible plants is a growing concern since the effects of consuming these contaminated plants are unknown. Dispersive Liquid Liquid Microextraction (DLLME), which is known to be environmentally and experimentally effective, was utilized to extract the pharmaceutical components from a 50.0 ppm mixture of the three pharmaceuticals for analysis. Extractions without any parameters, of varying pH, varying salt levels, and the used of different solvents were analyzed using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). The percent recoveries ranged from 12.9%-20.80% for carbamazepine and 1.71%-2.06% for diclo-fenac without any parameters. The highest average percent recovery for all three pharmaceuticals was found at a pH of 4 with a range 2.76%-2.84% recovery. The results for the varying salt
lev-els of carbamazepine were found to have highest percent recovery with 0.0050 g of NaCl, with an average percent recovery of 14.17%. The effects of varying solvents is still being tested and analyzed.
05.03.10 Molecular Analysis of a Hexokinase I Encoding Plasmid Hong Luong, student, Chemistry
Wendy Haggren, Instructor, Biology
Sonja Braun-Sand, Faculty, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Hexokinase catalyzes the phosphorylation of glucose that has been transported into a cell. Two isozymes are found in yeast, hexokinase type 1, called HKI (The gene is HK1) and hexokinase type 2, called HK II. Both enzymes appear to function in repressing expression of genes for en-zymes involved in catabolism of carbon sources other than glucose or fructose (1). In order to study its kinetics and the function of inhibitors, HKI will be produced in and isolated from yeast cells. The goal of this research is to verify that the plasmid carried in Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain BY4741 (YFR053C) contains HKI and to determine how much of the coding region is in-cluded on the yeast genome insert.
05.03.11 Mountain Microbial Ecology: Isolation and Identification of Mesophilic/Psychrophilic Jan-thinobacterium lividum
Stephanie Morphet, student, Biology Wendy Haggren, Instructor, Biology
Among seven locations along a clear mountain stream in Buena Vista, Colorado, water collected at one site produced numerous unique bacterial colonies. This report details the isola-tion and identificaisola-tion of a violet pigment-producing bacterium. These striking purple colonies grow in 3 – 4 days on tryptic soy agar at both 21ºC (room temperature) as well as at 7ºC (refrig-erator temperature). The Gram-negative rod was identified as Janthinbacterium lividum using established tests from Bergey’s Manual of Determinative Bacteriology. Sampling the several-mile long stream on the Colorado mountainside was an opportunity to further our understanding of microbial ecology while pursuing a laboratory focus on the anti-microbial properties of the J.
lividum pigment (violacein) and on the structure of the J. lividum biofilm.
Communication 5.04 Economics 5.05
05.05.01 The Economy with the Political Contest of our Lawmakers Eu Gi Kim, student, Economics and Political Science
Max Solomon, student, Economics and Political Science Dalton Andrews, student, Economics and Political Science
From our fundamental understanding of economic forecast, we know the uncertainty of the future halts investment and some major financial transactions. Although there is an array of causes to this, we have to remind ourselves of the institution which embodies the power to shape our behavior immensely-the gov-ernment. The Congress and the President pass, reject or renew legislation to control the market. Depend-ing on the fate of legislations, individuals and businesses choose their course of action. Throughout histo-ry, however, these “lawmakers” have had the tendency to be in a stalemate if they lie on different party lines: The Congress majority from one party and a president from the other. Thus, what kind of econom-ic result do we have in such a case? Does the lack of government action lead to an increase in major spending or investment due to the “certain:” future? Or, does it decrease without the future hopes for fa-vorable laws? Our study is dedicated to finding correlations, if any, with the direction of the economy and this political contest through analyzing not only the trends of investment spending, but also its overall impact in the economy with data on inflation rate, GDP, real growth level, and more since WWI. Our
results will ultimately connote more precise forecasts of the economy by establishing trends English 5.06
Energy Science 5.07
Geography and Environmental Science 5.08
05.08.01 The role of interacting fire and livestock in modifying vegetation dynamics in Southern Africa: an application of remote sensing for environmental management
Cerian Gibbes, faculty, Geography and Environmental Studies
Vegetation dynamics of the semi-arid savanna regions in southern Africa are, to a large extent, determined by the independent and interacting effects of fire and herbivory. The positive feed-back relationship between biomass and fire intensity is frequently identified as controlling the distribution of vegetation in southern Africa but the balance between these factors is shifting. This preliminary work explores the use of remote sensing for examining the relationships amongst vegetation, fire and livestock by studying the spatio-temporal patterns of each inde-pendently and then in conjunction with each other. Vegetation trends are quantified across north-ern Botswana and north-eastnorth-ern Namibia, two countries with markedly different fire manage-ment approaches and where human and livestock densities are also different. The linkages be-tween the spatial and temporal vegetation trends and patterns of fire and livestock distribution are then examined. The study utilizes moderate-resolution satellite imagery in concert with field collected ancillary data. The findings of this work offer insights which can be used to improve the management of fire and herbivory in this environment.
05.08.02 Geographical Research Applications of 3D Terrestrial Laser Scanning Brandon Vogt, faculty, Geography and Environmental Studies
Cerian Gibbes, faculty, Geography and Environmental Studies Steve Jennings, faculty, Geography and Environmental Studies Matt Sidor, student, Geography and Environmental Studies
UCCS' College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences (LAS) recently acquired a Leica-Geosystems HDS C10 terrestrial laser scanner (TLS). The instrument, which is managed by the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies (GES), collects 3D point clouds from objects and surfac-es. Data collected include x, y, z, red, green, blue, and laser intensity at distance ranges from 1 m to 200 m. Models generated from the scanner serve forensics (crime scene mapping), engi-neering (materials assessment), geosciences (cut / fill volumetric calculations; change detection), historical preservation (archival), archaeology (site mapping / rock art preservation), utilities and manufacturing (facilities mapping), and many other disciplines. Within GES, several faculty and student projects are underway. These include rapidly estimating leaf area, monitoring erosion on Pikes Peak and the Hayman burn scar, mapping dinosaur tracks in southeast Colorado, measur-ing rock glacier movement in the San Juan Mountains of southwest Colorado, and mappmeasur-ing fine-scale insolation variation on the UCCS campus. This poster outlines benefits of TLS to geo-graphical research and elaborates on current GES projects.
5.08.03 Vegetation Recovery and Restoration of the Hayman Burn Area Andrea Hassler, student, Geography and Environmental Studies
David Havlick, faculty advisor, Geography and Environmental Studies Eric Billmeyer, Lecturer, Geography and Environmental Studies
This research included field observations and remote sensing data collection to investigate resto-ration that has taken place in the Hayman Burn Area. Identification of key actors in restoresto-ration
has led to the need to assess watershed scale restoration initiatives and their effectiveness. Treatments to ephemeral streams were one approach to decrease sediment loading that has been occurring in reservoirs within the region. Remote sensing using band 7 from Landsat TM/ETM+ was used to investigate areas of vegetation recovery. Preliminary findings show that although some areas are recovering there seems to be a net loss of vegetation since 2002. Further research will include interviews with stakeholders in the restoration process, identification of sites of ac-tion throughout the burn and a comparison of the remote sensing technique used in this study with widely used vegetation and burn indices.
05.08.04 Sustainability Means National Security
Chuck Dostal, Geography and Environmental Studies/Office of Sustainability Brandon Vogt, faculty advisor, Geography and Environmental Studies
Kevin Gilford, Assistant Director, Office of Sustainability
This poster’s intended audience is all military personnel and veterans. The purpose of it is to reach out to them to create a connection to sustainability. The message being conveyed is that sustainability is a matter of national security; energy independence and renewable energy will contribute to keeping our armed forces members out of conflicts in resource rich nations. The other part of the message is that the military is a leader in sustainability, something that most people don’t realize. So perhaps if the military is taking the lead on this issue, then it will prompt military personnel and veterans to get behind the effort to be more sustainable.
05.08.05 Investigating Geomorphic Processes Affecting Sediment Deposition within the Severy Creek Basin, Pikes Peak, Colorado
Eric Billmeyer, Lecturer, Geography and Environmental Studies
The Severy Creek Basin, located on the northeastern flank of Pikes Peak, CO, has been classified by the Colorado Natural Heritage Program as part of an area of outstanding biological diversity with many rare or imperiled plants, animals, and/or plant communities represented. The Severy Creek Basin includes a population of the threatened Colorado greenback cutthroat trout
(On-corhynchus clarki stomias) as well as the largest fen on the North Slope of Pikes Peak.
Protec-tion of these valuable ecological resources is a key concern for several local NGO's and federal land management agencies. However massive sediment deposition into the headwater area of the upper Severy Creek basin threatens the ecological health of the fen and the viability of Severy Creek for sustaining sensitive aquatic organisms. Using several geospatial technologies (GIS, GPS, remote sensing) and field techniques (surveying, carbon dating), this study examined a va-riety of geomorphic processes, including mass wasting events, fire, and anthropogenic activities that have exacerbated sediment deposition within the basin over the last 10,000 years. Results show that since the early 20th century, several large gullies up to 1100 meters in length have formed contributing to the deposition of approximately 32,500 m3 of alluvium into the basin. This is primarily due to past practices of directing stormwater runoff from the Pikes Peak High-way. The study is being used to inform sediment mitigation efforts within the upper Severy Creek basin. Geology 5.09 Gerontology 5.10 05.10.01 History 5.11 Journalism 5.12
Languages and Cultures 5.13 Library Science 5.14
Mathematics 5.15 Philosophy 5.16
Physics and Energy Science 5.17 Political Science 5.18
Psychology 5.19
05.19.02 Technology to Engage Family Members in Communications with Residents of Assisted Living
Kelly O’Malley, student, Psychology Sara Qualls, faculty advisor, Psychology
With many modern families increasingly reliant on electronic communication media to connect with each other, emerging technologies designed for use by frail elders in the ALF setting afford an opportunity to glimpse into the communication activity within those families. This project ex-amines the relationship of family structures to usage of an electronic social networking technolo-gy designed to connect ALF residents with family. Based on past research, family demographic factors such as gender, geographic proximity, and degree of relation to older adults in long-term care settings were predicted to impact frequency of communication (e.g., larger networks, more female kin, more geographically proximal network members, and more 1st degree family mem-bers). Electronic family networks were similar in composition by both gender and degree of rela-tion, although those participating in the electronic network tended to be more geographically dis-persed. Frequency of use of the social networking technology varied widely, with most electron-ic network members of AL residents using the system only infrequently during the first three months to communicate with the residents. Women engaged in greater electronic message send-ing, and thus represented a significant proportion of the high-frequency user group. Future direc-tions for research related to the family structure and communication behaviors of aging families in the long-term care setting are identified.
See 9.04.01 Violence Cluster Submission by Anna Marie Saxon and Sandy Wurtele See 9.04.02 Violence Cluster Submission by Tasha Moreno and Sandy Wurtele 05.19.03 The Impact of Trauma on Decision Making
Sandra Taylor, student, Psychology Charles Benight, faculty, Psychology
Every 9 second in the U.S., a woman is the victim of domestic violence (domesticvio-lencestatistics.org). In 2009, approximately 6 million children were victims of child abuse (childhelp.org). This poster will provide two different models that hypothesize different mecha-nisms by which trauma survivors may make decisions about committing an immoral act. The models presented will be moral disengagement and ego depletion. The theoretical backgrounds of both models as well as the proposed method and design for testing both models will be ex-plained. The moral disengagement model hypothesizes that the effect of trauma on the self may lead to increased rates of moral disengagement. Trauma can influence survivors’ belief structures about oneself, the future, and the world around them (Foa, Ehlers, Clark, Tolin, & Orsillo, 1999). These negative cognitions can lower internal moral standards guiding moral or immoral actions. Several studies have noted that the risk of perpetrating horrible acts such as sexual abuse is linked to past victimization (Glasser et al., 2001). Alternatively, the ego-depletion model hypoth-esizes that trauma survivors may commit immoral acts due to a lack of self-control. The constant
