Oregon Undergraduate Research Journal: Vol. 1 No. 1 (2011)
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Item Open Access U.S. Railroad Antitrust Immunity: Clarification, Discussion and Evaluation(University of Oregon, 2011-10-18) Goodling, William J.The U.S. Congress regulated the railroad industry in 1887, and over the course of the 20th century also granted the industry significant antitrust immunities. Antitrust immunities are laws that expressly exempt an industry from prosecution under antitrust laws, such as the Sherman Act. Presumably, the rationale for railroad antitrust immunities was that because railroads were stringently regulated, the regulators alone would uphold antitrust principles and make antitrust litigation unnecessary. However, culminating in the passage of the Staggers Rail Act of 1980, the railroad industry was largely deregulated, yet retained many antitrust immunities. This has raised concerns among shippers and consumers that railroad companies, which often face neither regulation nor antitrust liability, can freely commit anticompetitive abuses. Given these concerns and currently proposed legislation to abolish railroad antitrust immunities, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate the efficacy of legal outcomes in a counterfactual situation where antitrust immunities are abolished. To reach this end, I will first clarify railroad regulation and deregulation, antitrust laws as they apply to all other industries, and the poorly understood railroad antitrust immunities.Item Open Access Acquisition of Second Language Vocabularly for Kindergartners with Speech Sound Disorders(University of Oregon, 2011-10-18) Zapf, TracyResearchers and educators alike have raised concerns over the potential exclusion of children with speech and language disorders in immersion programs. The purpose of this pilot study is to determine whether children with speech sound disorders acquire Spanish vocabulary at a rate comparable to typical peers when learning in an immersion program, and if rates of acquisition differ for expressive versus receptive vocabulary. Five kindergartners attending a partial, early elementary immersion school were studied: one control participant and four participants with speech sound disorders. This investigation used expressive (spoken) and receptive (understood) vocabulary probes to test the number of Spanish vocabulary words children could produce and comprehend within an eight-week period. Results show that children with speech sound disorders acquire expressive Spanish vocabulary at a rate comparable to their typical peers but had lower levels of acquisition overall, while rates of receptive vocabulary acquisition varied across participants. The results of this pilot study, which are not yet comprehensive, suggest that children with speech sound disorders are able to acquire Spanish vocabulary and, as a result, should continue to be included in immersion programs in the future.Item Open Access Forward Modeling to Assess and Improve Gravity Network Geometry at Kilauea Volcano, Hawai'i(University of Oregon, 2011-10-18) MacQueen, PatriciaScientists have been using campaign gravity surveys to monitor volcanic activity at Kilauea's summit for decades, yet we have a poor understanding of the ability of the existing network to resolve sources of magma accumulation with different mass changes and depths. We also do not yet have a fully quantified measure of the relative importance of the stations in the network. This research tests the network using a simple forward modeling approach over a range of likely source volumes and depths. The analysis determines network sensitivity to three different likely source locations, calculates the relative importance of stations in the network, and examines the problem of signal distortion imposed by network geometry. This work finds that the current network is least sensitive to south caldera sources, and investigates the location and number of stations that will resolve this problem most effectively.Item Open Access Signaling for Attention: Mobility and Student Performance in United Way's Promise Neighborhoods(University of Oregon, 2011-10-18) Cronkrite, Neil; O'Gorman, IanFrom a middle school student’s perspective, the worst part about transferring schools is the need to make new friends. But is that the only negative impact of mobility on students? In this paper, we use a fixed effects linear least-squares statistical regression model to explore the relationship between student academic performance and student mobility in the Bethel School District in Eugene, Oregon. Our client, United Way of Lane County, has struggled with student mobility as the organization refines its new Promise Neighborhoods project, aimed at distressed neighborhoods in Lane County. Student mobility may limit United Way’s ability to improve the educational and developmental outcomes of students. We use voter registration data to estimate total mobility in Lane County and in the Promise Neighborhoods. We also use Bethel School District student transfer codes and statewide state test scores as data. Due to the structure of our data, we cannot draw a definitive conclusion regarding the direction of causality between mobility and learning. However, we can say with confidence that, at a minimum, there is a significant relationship between disruption to learning and high levels of mobility – a good starting point for United Way as they continue to explore mobility and refine their Promise Neighborhoods project.Item Open Access Welcome(University of Oregon, 2011-10-25) Gubbins, LucyIt is with great excitement that I welcome you to the inaugural issue of the Oregon Undergraduate Research Journal, the University of Oregon’s student-run, open access, peer-reviewed scholarly publication.Item Open Access Weapons for Oil: An Analysis of Contemporary Chinese Weapons Sales to Africa in Exchange for Oil(University of Oregon, 2011-10-18) Dickey, LaurenSince 1949, China has gradually increased the scope of its weapons sales overseas to include 40 countries, 23 of which are located in Africa. With Chinese weapons sales in 2009 reaching 946 million U.S. dollars, the global community cannot help but pay attention to China‘s overseas weapons sales model. Over the past few years, resource-rich African nations have become the center of China‘s new geopolitical strategies and the starting point for oil development and extraction programs. With decades of cooperative experience in the energy sector, Africa has become an important area through which China is able to further diversify its energy resources. While China helped Africa develop an oil market, many other forms of aid and investment were also necessary. The most important form of aid can be best seen through "goods for goods" bartering transactions, especially in the form of Chinese weapons for African oil. This article will examine the realities of weapons-for-oil transactions as well as other Chinese involvement in Africa‘s natural resources and domestic economies, paying particular attention to how China is defining its interactions with African nations as those of a socialist leader. Through research and analysis of both historical and contemporary Sino-African relations, this article will illustrate the implications continued weapons-for-oil exchanges have for the future of Sino-Africa relations as well as for the international community.Item Open Access Some Background on this New Journal(University of Oregon, 2011-10-25) Johnson, JQThe Oregon Undergraduate Research Journal began as an idea 18 months ago. It has evolved into a student-edited and -managed peer reviewed open access journal that showcases the best University of Oregon undergraduate work.Item Open Access Exploring the Adaptiveness of Moderate Dissociation in Response to Betrayal Trauma(University of Oregon, 2011-10-18) Chavez, JanaeFreyd's (1996) betrayal trauma theory posits that evolutionarily important attachment bonds make dissociation in response to trauma more likely when a relationship exists between victim and perpetrator. This dissociation, despite its immediate benefits in regards to attachment, is commonly thought to have harmful consequences over time. However, although negative mental and physical sequelae may result from chronic dissociation, it may also continue to serve a protective function in regards to attachment. This online study explores the relationship between dissociation, resiliency, betrayal trauma, and attachment using self-report questionnaires with a college student sample (400 participants, 68.7% female). We hypothesized that participants with moderate dissociation would be more resilient to childhood abuse and utilize multiple attachment strategies. Results revealed that higher dissociation was associated with poorer resiliency scores, although in a curvilinear analysis very high dissociative scores correlated with higher resiliency. Dissociation did not seem to be related to attachment; however, participants with a history of betrayal trauma were associated with more variability in attachment styles. These findings are particularly relevant because it could inform attachment theory and the effects of trauma on attachment.