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  Exploring Reasons for the Persistence of Girl-Child Marriage in Nigeria

  Oluwatomisin Bello

  Child marriage, here, is defined as marriage after the onset of puberty but before age 18. This is a problem particularly for adolescent girls, although it affects boys as well. Although the Child’s Right Act passed in Nigeria in 2003 defines the legal minimum age of marriage as 18 and thus criminalizes child marriage, child marriage is still occurring in various parts of the country. The problem of girl-child marriage in Nigeria is significant because it is a leading cause of reproductive health issues, specifically obstetric fistulas. Acknowledging the latter, one pressing question remains, “Why is child marriage continuing?” In this presentation, I will discuss how my research employs the Structural Functional theory of Sociology, which focuses on how function and dysfunction between societal institutions contributes to various societal phenomena, as a tool to understand why child marriage persists in Nigeria. Furthermore, I will discuss some of the health and socio-economic impacts of girl-child marriage and some suggestions on how to reduce the practice of girl-child marriage in Nigeria.

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  Synthetic Methods of CTS and CZTS Nanocrystals

  Rachel R. Bohling, Michael M. Davis, Blake J. Gerold, and Ted M. Pappenfus

  The synthesis of various morphologies of copper zinc tin sulfide (Cu2ZnSnS4) and copper tin sulfide (Cu2SnS3) nanocrystals were explored to find a more energy efficient synthesis. Reactions were all carried out at 220°C under either inert atmospheres or normal conditions. Variations in synthetic methods included reaction time and solvents used. Products were analyzed with powder X-Ray diffraction and compared to simulated powder patterns of zincblende and wurtzite nanocrystals. The synthesis of CTS nanocrystals required the reaction to be heated to 220°C overnight under an inert atmosphere. The reaction used for the synthesis of CZTS nanocrystals required less energy and only required the reaction to be heated to 220°C for four hours. The effects of solvents were found to be that 1-octadecene (ODE) yielded predominantly a zincblende morphology, oleylamine (OAm) yielded predominantly a Wurtzite morphology, and the use of 1-dodecanethiol (DDT) as the only solvent yielded a mixture of zincblende and Wurtzite nanocrystals. The various nanocrystals produced assisted in achieving our overall goal by narrowing down an energy efficient and effective synthesis of CZTS and CTS nanocrystals using earth-abundant and low cost reagents.

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  Academic Success and Christian Affiliation in College

  Eden M. Broberg and Mathea J. Krogstad

  The goal of our study was to provide a more thorough understanding of the relationship between religious attitudes and academic success, and will provide direction for future research in this domain. Our research examined the relationship between Christianity, academic achievement, and mediating variables in college-aged students. Past studies regarding religion and academic success have found that in some communities, academic success is positively correlated with religious involvement. However, these studies primarily looked at academic success in relation to involvement in a religious community, and not to personal attitudes regarding religion. To gain a better understanding of the role of personal religious attitudes in academic success, this study specifically examined academic success in relation to Christian affiliation and spirituality, as well as intrinsic dispositions of positivity and mastery. These mediating variables were included to control for factors that may relate to both academic success and religiosity, providing a more complete view of the relationship between religious attitudes and academic success. Study participants included college students currently attending a small, public, liberal-arts university. The study utilized a descriptive research design in which participants self-reported details about their demographics, academic performance (i.e. GPA and participation in honors programming), religious beliefs, and personality characteristics associated with outlook and hopefulness. Our presentation will examine the results of our study in relation to questions regarding the role of personal beliefs and dispositions in academic success.

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  The Effects of Water Quality on the Habitat Use of Tiger Salamanders in Prairie Wetlands

  Broc S. Kokesh

  The tiger salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum) is a wide-ranging amphibian of North America common to prairie wetlands. Nevertheless, little is actually known about their ecology, including what water quality conditions are desirable and what effects water quality may have on established populations. In this study, I assessed how water quality parameters affect salamander survival and microhabitat use in the prairie pothole region of Western Minnesota. My goal was to assess if differences in water quality between ponds act as potential indicators of microhabitat preferences among salamander populations. I took water quality samples and trapped salamanders from four ponds with differing pH levels. Results suggest that salamanders tend to prefer areas with higher pH levels relative to the rest of a pond. Furthermore, pH increased in shallow regions as the summer progressed, which correlated to higher trapping rates in shallow water. These results can help us understand how natural and human-caused changes in water quality affect wetland communities as a whole and lead to future research in seasonal water quality dynamics.

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  The Influence of Spines on Predation of Devonian Brachiopods

  Broc S. Kokesh

  Brachiopods are small animals that live on the seafloor and are prominent in the Devonian fossil record from 420 to 360 million years ago. An interesting feature of some species is that large spines develop on their exterior surfaces and are thought to have evolved for defense against predators. Fortunately, this hypothesis can be tested by observing wound marks indicative of attempted predation as described by Zhang et al. (2011). In this study, I examined wound marks on fossils of the spiny brachiopod Atrypa rockfordensis and the spineless Atrypa devoniana. Results show that A. rockfordensis only experienced attacks at lengths smaller than 16mm whereas A. devoniana experienced attacks at all sizes. Furthermore, A. rockfordensis experienced significantly fewer attacks than A. devoniana, suggesting that certain predators may preferentially avoid A. rockfordensis. These findings provide evidence of attempted predation as a means of discerning interactions among organisms and are useful in understanding predator-prey interactions in ancient marine ecosystems.

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  Developing Beginner-Friendly Programming Error Messages

  Aaron D. Lemmon, Emma Sax, and Paul A. Schliep

  The motivation for our work is to introduce a recently developed programming language, Clojure, in a beginner computer science (CSci) class at the University of Minnesota, Morris. Clojure is an industryaccepted programming language that provides significant benefits for beginner programmers, such as focus on a functional approach to programming which, in UMM experience, provides a good foundation for subsequent CSci curriculum. Learning Clojure in an introductory class opens opportunities for students to collaborate on numerous worldwide projects, as well as take advantage of improvements in modern computing hardware. However, Clojure is challenging to use because of its complicated handling of programmers’ mistakes. Mistakes in computer programming are a natural part of developing software. When a mistake happens, there is a system to notify the programmer of an error. The specific information that the programmer receives, known as an error message, may or may not be helpful in identifying the issue. Clojure error messages are notorious for being confusing to beginners. We are developing a system that intercepts the existing Clojure error messages and automatically rephrases them for beginner programmers. We will conduct usability tests by observing the interactions between beginner programmers and our system, and the feedback we receive will be used to further improve our project. We present our new error message handling and discuss testing our system with new programmers.

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  Modification of MOF-5 Hydrostability for Peptide Absorption Studies

  Margareta E. Nivision and Zachary L. Mensinger

  Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are an intriguing class of hybrid materials that consist of infinite crystalline lattices formed by metal ions bridged by organic linkers. Their porous interiors have highly variable properties, depending on the metal ions and linkers used. To date, MOFs have primarily been examined for uses such as gas separation and storage and catalysis, but recently researchers have described the adsorption of proteins and peptides, such as cytochrome C and a trypsin digest of bovine serum albumin, in MOF pores. The MOF pore provides a stable, ordered environment in which to isolate and characterize peptides. Our research thus far has suggested that MOF-5 readily adsorbs proteins and peptides, however most preparations of MOF-5 suffer from water sensitivity. This is problematic because water or water-based solutions are the most relevant solvent for disease-relevant peptides. We therefore have explored reported methods to improve the hydrostability of MOF-5 through several doping techniques as well as annealing processes. We then studied the adsorption behavior of MOF-5 derivatives toward a number of peptides, the results of which are presented here. Through these studies we strive to understand which differences brought about by structural changes may better facilitate peptide adsorption.

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  The Evolution of Women’s Roles in Modern Warfare

  Sarah M. Schroeder

  Beginning with the Mollies of the Revolutionary war, women have participated in American warfare since the nation's inception. More recently, a key development in women's roles took place two years ago when the United States lifted the ban on female combat. This has resulted in modifications to the military’s approach to war fighting and this process is ongoing. This study focuses specifically on the role of women WWII and the Iraq War, for these wars mark two particularly pivotal moments in their participation in warfare and evolution of their role. Using sources from American military history, especially of WWII and the Iraq War as well as current military policy, this study begins with a brief examination of women's roles in warfare beginning in the Revolutionary War and then focusses on the participation of women in combat zones during WWII and the Iraq War. Specifically, I examine the impact that new technology had on women's roles, the growing necessity of female acceptance in the military, and how as a result, women's roles in warfare have evolved greatly. The official changes in the military roles of women has changed the dynamic between women and men further and has brought women in the United States closer to equal status with their male counterparts. This research complements and expands our understanding of women’s participation in the American labor force as well as their stake in geopolitical and economic issues.

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  Constructing Health Together: Validating Knowledge in the Implementation of Community Health Initiatives

  Allison L. Wolf

  In the field of public health, peer-reviewed publications using randomized control trials are held in the highest regard. Unfortunately, for many members of the general public, peer-reviewed publications don't offer practical solutions to their community’s public health concerns. Additionally, when the two communities come together, conflict can arise from unequal perceptions of their own values, goals, and resources. Through the implementation and promotion of community-based participatory research (CBPR), academics and community members can produce public health outcomes that simultaneously benefit scholarly goals and practical applications when their knowledge bases are validated. The conflicts between academics and communities center around perceived and actual power differences, so social conflict theory is used to analyze how their perspectives both conflict and coincide with each other while also emphasizing the importance of everyday versus specialized knowledge to validate all types of experience being contributed into a successful CBPR process. My research explains how using CBPR to construct and design community health initiatives can repair weak connections between researchers and communities while simultaneously creating new methods for combating public health issues.

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  Traumatic brain injury and its effect on performance measures of Major League Soccer players

  Allison L. Wolf, Torri Jordan, Matteus Johnson, Richard E. Hardy, and Jefferson C. Brand

  Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a growing concern among professional athletes. Concern increased in soccer after several players immediately returned to play following TBI during the 2014 World Cup. The purpose of our study was to determine if individual performance measures (total years pro, total seasons, total games played, total games started, total minutes, total goals, total assists, total shots, and total shots on goal) were affected by TBI that occurred while competing in Major League Soccer (MLS). We also investigated if there were differences in career performance measures of MLS players with TBI versus without TBI in their career. Our sample consisted of 97 field players that competed in MLS between 1996-2014. After determining if the player suffered a TBI while competing in MLS, they were placed in either the TBI or the non-TBI group. We compared individual game performance measures of the TBI group prior to the year of TBI to performance measures occurring after the year of TBI. Furthermore, we compared total career performance measures of both groups and noted statistically significant differences between performance measures. Our research showed that certain individual player performance measures decreased after TBI. The players competed in fewer games, started fewer games, and played fewer minutes. Comparisons of the TBI to the non-TBI group, the TBI group competed longer in MLS and the non-TBI group had a greater number of hypotheses were supported, showing TBI has an impact in player performance.