2022 CROW
LETTER FROM THE EDITORS
To our readers,
The Seventh Edition of The CROW was composed and published during the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic, where universities pivoted between online and in-person learning. During this time, members of the University of Washington Bothell community continued to feel the pandemic’s impact in every aspect of their lives, from the health and well-being of their families, friends, and communities to financial and job insecurity. Simultaneously, this time has been marked by incidents of global violence that have profound impact on the well-being of individuals, cultures, and nations globally. We have felt these impacts here at UW Bothell as well. We would like time to acknowledge the hardship and the loss this past year has brought to people both near and far.
With this edition, The CROW continues to highlight the incredible dedication of the students at UW Bothell as they conduct, analyze, and synthesize their own research investigations in topics ranging from science and technology, to interdisciplinary arts, health studies, and everything in between. The act of conducting research is a high-impact learning practice that engages students outside of the classroom setting and allows them to think more critically about the topics they wish to discover and the world around them. By taking the initiative to submit their work for review by a board of their peers, the authors in this journal have taken steps towards becoming active contributors to academic discourse that values inclusion, expansion, and critical thinking.
Due to the events, new and ongoing, that defined the 2021-22 academic year, we would like to extend special recognition and gratitude to our student writers. In addition to the personal risk each writer might experience in submitting their work for peer review, the students who worked with us this year did so through a unique set of global circumstances. We know submitting during this time must have been difficult, and we appreciate your patience and your effort. We are so excited we can share with you the 2022 Edition of The CROW!
Your friends on the Editorial Board,
Alex, Connor, Emily, Evelynn, Giselle, Grace, Jesse, Madison, Saajidah, Sakshi, Shahrzad, & Sidra
Changing The Landscape of America’s Dairyland: the Dominance of Holstein-Friesian Milk Products and Why this Breed no Longer Supports the Needs of the People
April Oertle
ABSTRACT: The classic dairy cow has a black and white hide: the classic appearance of the Holstein-Friesian breed. However, this breed of cattle may no longer be the most appropriate dairy cattle breed. There are over 6 different breed of milk cows used by American dairy producers; however, this research essay will only compare three breeds of milk cow (Holstein-Friesian, Brown Swiss, Jersey). The three different breeds of milk cow each have distinctly different physical characteristics as well as the composition of their milk. Today, American consumers are eating dairy products instead of drinking them. Cheese yield is directly linked to milk composition. Holstein-Frisian milk has the least fat and protein content of the three breeds of cattle, negatively impacting cheese yield. It would be beneficial to dairy farmers to switch breeds of cattle to either Brown Swiss or Jersey because of their smaller body size and higher composition of fats and proteins in their milk compared to Holstein-Friesian.
Literature as an Activist Tool to Spark Conversations
Raelynne Woo
ABSTRACT: When asked to think about activism and social change, what comes to mind are activists, political speeches, protests, and the notion of creating movements that bring people together to lend voice to their ideas. What comes before these acts of activism and social change are that they originate from ideas. Where can these ideas come from? One source is the arts. There is the belief that activist art does not have power and that people should become politicians and not artists if they want change. Art by itself may not do much work on its own, but where activist art contains power is that they can act as initial sparks for ideas. It is the realization that there is an aspect within society that needs to be brought up to attention and needs to be changed. The arts can spark change and literature is one example that has this kind of potential.
Existential Dread on Pro-Environmental Behavior in Young Adults
Jade Kanui Roque
ABSTRACT: The effects of climate change encompass more than its ramifications on the natural environment. As we venture further into modernity that is drastically different from the last 150 years, it’s become apparent that the effects of changing environments on the human psyche are worth studying as social scientists. Specifically, it’s become important to analyze the effects of climate change discourse and action on the mental health of young adults. Young adults are faced with a constantly changing social landscape that appears to compound the effects of changes in the global natural environment. Soon, young adults will have most of the decision-making power in the United States. This paper analyzes the current mental health landscape of young adults, the classification of climate change as ambiguous loss associated with existential dread, and the effects of hope and coping mechanisms on decision making. The proposed study aims to determine a threshold of existential dread, classified as ecoanxiety, that would elicit pro-environmental behavior from young adults. The anticipated outcome of this study is a contribution towards a novel theoretical framework aimed at understanding the psychological load that climate change and other existential concerns have on the developing psyche of future generations.
Impacts of Birth Modality on Rates of Postpartum Depression: An Explanatory Sequential Mixed Method Study
Fallon Zollars
ABSTRACT: Postpartum Depression (PPD) is the most common mental illness after childbirth. It has long lasting and often severe effects on both birthing parents and offspring. Some modes of birth are associated with higher rates of PPD but the link is controversial and not well understood. The manner by which a person gives birth could have an impact on their well-being after delivery and may affect rates of PPD. This study seeks to understand if one of the causal factors for differing rates of PPD by birth modality is the anticipation of mode of delivery. Using an explanatory sequential mixed method design, the impact of birth modality on PPD will be examined. Phase one is a case control study that will examine quantitative data comparing PPD in people who experience anticipated and unanticipated birth modalities. Phase two will consist of phenomenological interviews that intend to uncover the emotional relationship between birth modality and PPD. Deepening the understanding of PPD causality and its connection to birth modality is imperative to direct future research as well as develop effective and innovative treatments.
Cognitive Development in Young children during the Era of Mask Wearing: the Role of Emotion Recognition in Pediatric Brain Developmental Abilities
Vi Nguyen
ABSTRACT: Facial expressions are arguably one of the most critical social stimuli that allow infants and young children to communicate emotion and cognitively develop in areas of speech, language, and learning comprehension. Since the first reports of the 2020 novel coronavirus, mask-wearing has been a common practice to preventing the spread of the virus; however, with masks covering a great portion of an individual’s face, the lack of facial cues become a great concern to how infants and young children develop and mature to adulthood during the era of mask wearing in daycares, schools, and other everyday settings. This proposal aims to explore the correlation between mask-wearing frequency and emotion recognition skills in children by utilizing a cross-sectional study design with an online survey and emotion recognition task. Statistical evidence will be collected from the emotion recognition scoring results and will be compared with the online survey that interprets the child’s mask-wearing frequency. The results of the proposed study are expected to yield a more prominent understanding of pediatric cognitive development associated with the social impacts of COVID-19; we encourage the further research of the consequences of mask-wearing and to create further initiative to better support the future generations of our world.
Negative Impacts Stemming from the Lack of Sexual Education in Autistic People Assigned Female at Birth: An Explanatory Mixed Method Study
Ellie Henry
ABSTRACT: Sexual education has been deficient in serving the needs of mainstream and marginalized populations, rife with misinformation about sexual health. This negatively impacts everyone, especially marginalized groups such as autistic women and nonbinary people who are more likely to be sexually assaulted than the general population. Present and past stigma towards autistic people has led to insufficient sexual health education, as it ignores the specific needs and accommodations necessary for this population. This study uses a mixed methods explanatory design to gather quantitative data through surveys, which will be used to create relevant questions for the qualitative data stage. The qualitative stage involves interviewing autistic women and nonbinary people about their sexual education experiences and what they want for the future of disability informed sexual education. This study prides itself on its commitment to community involvement throughout the entire process as autistic people, (especially women and nonbinary people), have been left out of the programming and research that is written about them. The commitment to autistic participant involvement is novel and will improve the quality of intervention and sexual health outcomes in the future.
Improving Algorithm and Modular Programming in the Search of EHVO in SDSS Quasar Spectra
Mikel Charles, Dakota Bunger, Cora DeFrancesco, Wendy García Naranjo, Nathnael Kahassai, Michael Parker, & Anish Saurav Rijal
ABSTRACT: Quasars, the most luminous and energetic of Active Galactic Nuclei, are powered by a supermassive black hole with an accretion disk that creates wind-like outflows. These outflows provide us with key information that can contribute to understanding how the matter from the central region interacts with the surrounding galaxy. We observe quasar outflows as blue-shifted absorption features in the spectra. An outflow with speeds between 10-20% of the speed of light is classified as an extremely high-velocity outflow (EHVO). EHVOs have yet to be extensively studied, though their powerful outflows show the most potential for theoretical studies as they might be the most challenging for theoretical simulations.
We searched for EHVOs by developing automated algorithms to normalize spectra and search for broad Carbon IV absorption lines at 10-20% of the speed of light in quasar spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 16. The number of spectra available is rapidly growing with each data release which makes it vital to have accurate algorithms to limit the amount of work done manually. Here we discuss improvements that have been made to our algorithms and how we designed the code to be easily accessible to other researchers utilizing our code, as well as future undergraduate students that will continue the work on this project.
Self-reported Precautionary COVID-19 Measures Taken by Hikers, Mountain Bikers, and Trail Runners in California During Spring 2020
April Oertle
ABSTRACT: Introduction. To slow COVID-19’s progress in California, Governor Newsom issued an executive order on March 19, 2020, closing exercise facilities and implementing a stay-at-home order. This study sought to describe and compare social distancing habits and the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) by people participating in outdoor sports in California’s public open spaces during the pandemic.
Methods. From April 29 to May 20, 2020, an online LimeSurvey questionnaire was distributed to over 40 outdoor organizations across California. Data was analyzed via descriptive statistics and compared using Pearson Chi-squared test (P<0.05). The target population included hikers, mountain bikers, and trail runners using California’s public open space following Governor Newsom’s March 19, 2020, order.
Results. Of all the respondents (n=822), 87% (n=712) reported distancing of greater than 1.8 m (6 ft) around others on trails. Further, 56% of mountain bikers (n=223), 48% of trail runners (n=100), and 35% of hikers (n=499) reported not wearing a facial covering during outdoor exercise. Additionally, 71% (n=584) did not worry about COVID-19 exposure while outdoors and 59% (n=487) of respondents did not think it is important to wear PPE while participating in either hiking, mountain biking, or trail running.
Conclusions. Responding trail users reported adhering to physical distancing guidelines while on trail systems. However, respondents reported not wearing personal protective equipment while exercising outdoors.
From the author: Dr. Silvia Santiago, the second author, was instrumental to the project, she helped to create the project from the very beginning and aided greatly in generating the statistical responses. Dr. Dimitri Thellier was crucial to developing the methods section of the survey. Dr. Pablo Garcia provided oversight of the drafts. Lastly, Dr. Brandon Finley was an outstanding research mentor and guide through the process.
Is There Magic in the Table or the Screen: A Look at the Effects of Digitalization on Table-top-role-playing-games
Sam Buck
ABSTRACT: In this research paper I examine the transition of table-top role-playing games to an online platform like Discord, due to the circumstances of the Covid pandemic, using Dungeons and Dragons and Call of Cthulhu as my prime examples. After introducing the concept of digital disengagement, I delve into the history of both games and the evolution of computer technology that made the transition online possible. I then examine the differences between in-person and online play by synthesizing my own experiences with the research of other scholars within and related to this topic
Survive-at-Home Orders: COVID-19 Policy Through the Lens of Intimate Partner Violence
Tori Satterfield
ABSTRACT: Two years into the pandemic, the consequences of early United States COVID-19 policies on victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) remain largely hidden from view. I wanted to know how polices like stay-at-home orders and the stalled renewal of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), compounded by a lack of economic relief, may have influenced the risks associated with IPV in the United States. To do this, I performed a literature review of over 40 sources from the past ten years including data from previous natural disasters that have required stay-at-home orders and current social trends that have been altered due to COVID-19 such as unemployment, substance abuse, gun ownership, and mental health issues. I then compared these factors to screening instruments designed to assess fatality risks for victims of intimate partner violence. My findings highlight a dire, life-threatening crisis that was perpetuated and prolonged by our government’s clumsy initial responses to the pandemic and reduced funding for victim services. In addition to renewing VAWA, rather than solely focusing efforts on crisis services, I recommend investing heavily in prevention programs. Due to the intergenerational nature of IPV, adopting this recommendation before the next disaster strikes may mitigate rippling impacts that could be seen for many years to come.
Evidence that During the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum Plesiadapiform Primates did not Follow the Latitudinal Diversity Gradient
Isabel-Yelena Andreev
ABSTRACT: A warming event occurred fifty-six million years ago, in the Paleogene, on the border of the Paleocene and Eocene, known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. Many animals such as fish and insects suffered mass extinction, but primates increased in abundance and diversity. This study looks at whether there is a significant difference in the number of species of Plesiadapiform primates at higher latitudinal zones in the Eocene than in the Paleocene. A χ2 test was performed, with the latitudinal climate zone as the independent variable and the number of species of primates as the dependent variable. The results of this research are that the number of species of Plesiadapiform primates at higher latitudinal zones is significantly greater in the Eocene than in the Paleocene. The latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) was lacking during the PETM, which allowed primates to migrate to higher latitudes because Earth’s polar caps completely melted, and the tropical climate expanded far beyond the equatorial zone, meaning primates were able to migrate to higher latitudes through routes that would have previously been inaccessible because they were frozen and too cold.
Do Ghost Net Entanglement Rates Vary Among Sea Turtle Species? Comparative Analysis of Regional Studies Provides Insight
Helen Fita
ABSTRACT: The impacts ghost nets (fishing nets that have been lost, abandoned, or carelessly discarded by fishermen) have on marine ecosystems is beginning to be understood as previous instrumental limitations has made data collection difficult. Currently, it is known that ghost nets entangle sea turtles, reducing their population sizes and leading to faster spread of disease/scarcities in marine resources. With more advanced technology now available, conducting further research on ghost nets and sea turtle entanglements becomes critical as more accurate data provides better influences on policy decisions and fishing net regulations aimed to protect these endangered keystone species. For these reasons, I inquired whether different sea turtle species (olive ridley, leatherback, green, hawksbill, Kemp’s ridley, flatback, and loggerhead) are entangled in ghost nets at different rates by comparing and evaluating the findings of five original research papers. Data that has been collected for 14 years by researchers and citizen scientists on the number of sea turtle entanglements and ghost nets across four regions was used to calculate and compare entanglement rates for each species (measured in individuals per year). A total of 9,989 ghost nets both washed ashore and drifted in oceans entangled 1,374 sea turtles across all species and locations. Olive ridleys had the highest rate of entanglement at 132 and 80 individuals per year in the Maldives and Northern Australia, respectively. In Northern Peru where olive ridleys aren’t native, green sea turtles had the highest rate at 109 individuals entangled per year. Valencia had no observed olive ridleys entanglements since this species does not live here, but there were a reported 47 loggerheads annually entangled here, the highest rate among the present species in this region. It was interesting to observe that flatback sea turtles were only present in Northern Australia, and they had an entanglement rate of less than 5 individuals per year. What these findings suggest is that the impact of ghost nets on global sea turtle populations is larger than previously expected, with species that are entangled more frequently (like the olive ridley) being at an increased risk of becoming endangered. In order to more accurately estimate future sea turtle populations, more research and data collection needs to be performed.
Deconstructing Realism: Narrative Authority, Straddling Liminality, and the (Non)Fantastical in Restorative Poetics
Alysa Levi-D’Ancona
ABSTRACT: As authors, poets, and artists, we are both inclined and encouraged to dive into the wellspring of our personal lives. Yet, no one confronts the blank page after growing in a vacuum, and thus, we will inevitably incorporate real life experiences and people into our works. Journalist and academic Janene Carey poses the question of who gets to tell these stories, as well as whether or not these stories need to hold veracity and consent by all who are represented. Are these experiences ethically responsible to publish when we might heal from letting them live and die in a private journal, removing all potential harm to others the stories may cause?
These questions, while important to consider, ignore the obvious quandaries that surround them. Both the writer and the subject are not impervious to the influence of bias, and often, the artist uses art to heal. Should we censor the restorative process—where a person must unpack their traumas to confront and move past them—in favor of an abuser, simply because their victim never asked for consent to write their own story? Is it possible to even write an objective poem, story, or article; and who decides what reality merits existence?
This essay will explore objectivity (the extent to which we can present facts without bias), subjectivity (the extent to which our understanding of the world is influenced by our bias), and authorship (who owns a story)—using thought pieces such as the ones present in artist and editor Katherine Behar’s Object-Oriented Feminism—as well as the interconnectivity of these concepts in respect to genres like magical realism, absurdity, and fantasy in order to consider an author’s moral obligation to others during their own restorative and artistic journey.
Comparing the Efficacy of Pregabalin and Gabapentin in Treating Neuropathic Pain
Jacqueline Monteza
ABSTRACT: Neuropathic pain affects an estimated 10% of the United States population. Burning and shooting sensations of pain often elicited by non-harmful stimuli are characteristic symptoms of this condition, affecting central and peripheral regions of the body. While opioids have been observed to provide pain relief, studies have shown this class of drugs to pose high risks of dependency with potentially fatal results. In the clinical setting, the focus has shifted to using low-dependency risk drugs like anti-epileptics such as pregabalin and gabapentin. This paper compares the efficacy of pregabalin and gabapentin in treating neuropathic pain on the basis of the 11-point Likert scale by using four existing empirical research publications on this topic. Backonja (1999) and Serpell (2002) specifically investigated the treatment of neuropathic pain with gabapentin and found this drug to reduce pain by 1.5-2.5 units, a result that was significantly different from the placebo group (p<0.05, p<0.001, respectively). Moon et al. (2010) and van Seventer et al. (2010) focused on pregabalin, and found that pain was reduced by 1.4-1.67 units from baseline, which was significantly different from the placebo-treated group (p<0.05 for both studies). Pregabalin appears to have similar analgesic effects at lower doses compared to gabapentin, which may indicate greater efficacy, although this inference is not fully established and needs more rigorous research. These findings can provide clinicians with more information on whether pregabalin or gabapentin may provide more of an analgesic effect for neuropathic pain on the basis of a common pain metric.