Minnesota Undergraduate Research & Academic Journal

Predator-Prey Relations Between Martes flavigula and Pheasants in Taktsang-Bumdra Region of Bhutan

Kieran Timmins — 2026-07-16

Camera trapping research of predator-prey relationships often focuses on the roles of apex species, leaving mesopredators underrepresented in research. This study aimed to fill this knowledge gap by studying the yellow-throated marten (Martes flavigula), a species native to the Bhutan Himalayas, and its predatory interactions with pheasants such as the Himalayan monal (Lophophorus impejanus), kalij pheasant (Lophura leucomelanos), blood pheasant (Ithaginis cruentus), and satyr tragopan (Tragopan satyra). To understand this relationship, we collected camera traps and environmental data from 30 sites within the Taktsang-Bumdra region of the Paro Valley. RStudio was used to run Kruskal-Wallis and Chi-squared analysis on the relationships between yellow-throated martens and pheasants both as individual species and as a group with respect to variables such as elevation, distance to agriculture, distance to urban areas, time of day, and habitat type. GIS was used to create graphs and visual models of the data to interpolate the species ranges in order to provide valuable insight into the efficacy of future conservation efforts. The results indicate urban areas have a greater effect on marten and pheasant distribution than agricultural areas. There is a difference in marten and pheasant habitat preferences, with pheasants preferring mixed conifers overwhelmingly, while martens were divided between mixed conifers and blue pine forests. Both martens and pheasants were active most in the afternoon, co-occurring at similar times temporally but were found at different elevations, ultimately meaning that martens are not entirely responsible for the size of the pheasant populations in the Taktsang-Bumdra region.

Analyzing the laterality of superficial facial neuromasts in Astyanax mexicanus

Scarlett Anderson — 2026-07-16

Astyanax mexicanus are a species of fish that populate northeastern Mexico with both river-dwelling surface populations and cave populations. The cave fish have no eyes or pigmentation, and a variety of other altered behavioral traits, which allow them to adapt to the extreme darkness of the cave environment. Cave fish have also independently evolved enhanced lateral line systems to compensate for their lack of sight. This project aimed to determine if three populations of cave fish (Molino, Pachon, and Tinaja) differ from surface fish regarding the number of superficial neuromasts found in the suborbital 3 (SO3) region, and whether there are different degrees of asymmetry of neuromasts in the left vs. right side. An ImageJ code was used to outline the SO3 region on each side of a fish, and the number of neuromasts was also recorded. Using R programming, the average number of neuromasts on the right and left side, along with the total number of neuromasts for each population, was calculated. The absolute difference in neuromasts between each side for each fish was also analyzed. It was found that all cave fish populations contained more neuromasts when separately comparing the left and right sides, and when combined, than surface fish. Pachon and Tinaja populations also contained greater differences in the neuromast asymmetry than their surface counterparts. This gives more insight into mechanisms that drive the evolutionary selection of traits, and utility of asymmetry within the lateral line system in A.mexicanus populations.

The C-Cell Hyperplasia in Cellular Retinoic Acid Binding Protein 1 (CRABP1) Knockout Male Thyroid Gland

Jiaxuan Han — 2026-07-16

The thyroid gland consists of follicles lined by thyrocyte, while parafollicular cells or C-cells reside between follicles. C-cell hyperplasia is the increase of C-cell proliferation that might progress to medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC). MTC accounts for 4% of thyroid cancer. Despite that the thyrocytes are derived from the endoderm layer, and C-cells derived from the neural crest layer. Several transcription factors are shared between C-cells and thyrocyte progenitors. Cellular retinoic acid binding protein 1 (CRABP1) is highly expressed in the human thyroid gland. Previously, CRABP1 was reported to play a crucial role in maintaining thyrocytes’ functioning. Here, we evaluate several transcription factors and the histopathologic features of CRABP1 knocking out (CKO) mice.

The SOX17 and Calca gene expression in 15 month old mice are significantly higher in CKO mice than those of wild-type (W.T.) The FOXa2 gene expression in 3 months old mice is significantly higher in CKO than that of W.T. The histopathological examination indicated the significantly smaller follicle sizes and greater number of cells in CKO mice than that of W.T. CKO in 15 months old mice is associated with altered thyroid transcriptional factors, suggesting a potential role for CRABP1 in maintaining thyrocytes and C-cell balance in the thyroid gland.

Illuminating the Language of Identity: Nationalism and Interiority in Natsume Sōseki’s Kokoro

Kendra Martin — 2026-07-16

Natsume Sōseki’s Kokoro (心) is one of the most influential pieces of Japanese literature from the 20^th century. Framed by the end of the Meiji era and the beginning of the Taisho era, this canonized work has often been analyzed for its themes produced by a tumultuous, reforming Japanese society. Building off this scholarship, I utilize Anderson’s and Hobsbawm’s approaches to nationalism and invented tradition to inform my own analysis of national affectation on the individual at the turn of the century. Although the topic of nationalism in Meiji Japan is a common theme in scholarship, this paper examines it with the use of linguistic analysis predicated on national language policy of the late 19^th century. The government’s treatment of language is one disseminated form of nationalist sentiment that is invaluable to highlight in the cultural works of the time. The emergence of the I-novel (watakushi shōsetsu or shishōsetsu)–a genre consisting of confessional, realist works written in the first-person narrative style–during this period is evidence of linguistic style being used to build upon the discourse of identity. Kokoro is unique due to its liminal status as such, as Sōseki utilizes similar aspects to those inherent in the genre. The dichotomous nature of his techniques of obfuscation and revelation reveal a subtextual layer present in the novel’s themes of identity. Furthermore, his inclusion of pivotal, historical events as a backdrop for the daily lives and interactions of his fictitious characters conflates national affairs with that of the individual. Building upon this scholarship of Meiji nationalism and identity, this paper begins with a historical background on the standardization and nationalization of the Japanese language, the genbun itchi movement, the nature of native Japanese literature, and the effect of foreign, translated literature at the time. Utilizing this context, I discuss the shishōsetsu genre in relation to Kokoro, detailing how it flouts and follows its conventions. Furthermore, due to the concurrent emergence of this literary genre with the formation of the Japanese nation-state, I utilize scholarship on the era to contextualize the mise-en-scène of the novel. Through this, I discuss the dichotomy between individual and national identity, as presented by Sōseki. By highlighting the structure in my analysis of Kokoro’s nationalistic themes, I exemplify the importance of analyzing the literal language used to inform the reader’s understanding of its complicated characters.

“The Stage on Which the Whole East is Confined”: Asian American Racial Construction in Lauren Yee’s Ching Chong Chinaman

Simona Simha — 2026-07-16

Of medias in conversation with the construction of “Asian American” identity, Lauren Yee’s Ching Chong Chinaman explores these identity politics and proximity-based power in association with Whiteness through questions of racial essentialism; power dynamics; gender dynamics and Ornamental womanhood as outlined by Ann Anlin Cheng’s Ornamentalism; systemic power structures in relation to Whiteness; and what it means to be “American” at all. This study is organized in three sections: the history of Asian American racialized identity and “Othering” from the 1960s and analysis of Asian American identity and Ornamental Womanhood as seen in Yee’s Wong family, “J”, and “The Chinese Woman”, and the reality of identity within construction. The analysis begins with the narrative dichotomy between Desdemona Wong and Kim Lee Park and contextualizes them through Ornamentalism. Subsequently, the gender construction of the male characters “J” and Ed Wong as well as the female characters portrayed by “The Chinese Woman” is analyzed. Finally, the play’s understanding of proximity to Whiteness as survival in the United States is explored, as well as moments of alignment and subversion within the play. This study seeks to understand Asian American identity as outlined within Yee’s play, and contextualize it in the larger context of identity construction within the United States.

Meta-Representation and Spatial Perception

Joshua Gamboni — 2026-07-16

This paper examines how diagrams, rendering, and atmospheric representational modes mediate architectural perception and experience. Through a comparative analysis of OMA’s Seattle Central Library (2004), BIG’s The Twist (2019), and Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s Blur Building (2002), the study argues that representation functions beyond a communication tool as an active agent in shaping spatial knowledge. Each case illustrates a distinct mode of mediate: Seattle translates the conceptual diagram into an embodied paradox of clarity and confusion; The Twist collapses the gap between image and experience through digital fidelity; and Blur resists static forms of representations, existing instead as a living field of atmosphere that continuously evolves forced into representational limitations. Drawing from Robin Evans, Juhani Pallasmaa, Gernot Böhme, Mario Carpo and Benjami Bratton, the paper constructs a taxonomy of representational bias that clarifies how architectural images and media simultaneously describe and produce perception. The findings suggest that representation governs experiences as much as it depicts it – structuring how architecture is understood, navigated, and remembered. Ultimately, the project reframes representation as a site of architectural agency, calling for more deliberate use of its distortions to expand rather than limit the perceptual range of architecture.

Sports Team Participation and Wellbeing Among South Asian Adolescents in Minnesota

Siri Wilkes — 2026-07-16

Despite evidence that sports participation is associated with positive outcomes among adolescents, there is limited research on South Asian adolescents, in particular. Using data from the 2022 Minnesota Students Survey (N = 1,517), this study aims to examine the sport participation rates of South Asian students in Minnesota and how it affects their mental wellbeing and academic performance. Participation rates were variable by ethnic subgroup, with the highest being among multiethnic students (60%) and the lowest being from Bangladeshi students (32%). Logistic regression models indicated that sport participation was associated with lower odds of elevated anxiety (OR = 0.76, 95% CI [0.60, 0.96]) and depressive symptoms (OR = 0.46, 95% CI [0.34, 0.62]) and higher odds of receiving mostly A’s (OR = 1.58, 95% CI [1.19, 2.12]) among South Asian adolescents after controlling for assigned sex, grade, access to resources, number of non-sport activities. These findings suggest that sport participation could be a protective factor for mental health and boost academic performance among South Asian students. Disaggregating racial data allows for meaningful insights about specific ethnic subgroups, informing targeted intervention and public health initiatives.

An Exploratory Study of Single Channel Surface Electromyography for Hand Gesture Classification

Daanish Hindustani Daanish Hindustani — 2026-07-16

Accurate hand gesture recognition using surface
electromyography (sEMG) typically relies on multichannel sensor
arrays and computationally intensive models, limiting practical
deployment in low power and embedded systems. This study
investigates the feasibility of classifying ten hand gestures using
a single sEMG channel combined with lightweight machine
learning models. Raw sEMG signals were transformed into
a comprehensive feature based representation, including time
domain, frequency domain, higher order crossing, and rela-
tive intensity features. Feature redundancy was reduced using
Pearson correlation filtering and removing highly correlated
features, while dimensionality reduction techniques (LDA and
PCA) were applied selectively. Three classifiers—feed forward
neural network (NN), k-nearest neighbors (KNN), and sup-
port vector machine (SVM) was systematically evaluated across
four experiments. Results demonstrate that a carefully designed
feature based pipeline, particularly when combining time and
frequency features with Pearson filtering and a compact NN,
can achieve up to 90% accuracy, even with limited temporal
and spatial information. These findings highlight the potential
for single channel sEMG systems in cost effective, low power
gesture recognition applications.

Multi-View Learning with Multimodal Fusion for Urban Walkability Prediction

Shilong Xiang — 2026-07-16

Urban walkability is central to public health, sustainability, and quality of life, yet traditional assessments based on surveys and field audits are costly and difficult to scale. Recent computational approaches have used either satellite imagery, street view imagery, or population indicators, but each captures only a partial view: satellites provide spatial layout, street views capture pedestrian conditions, and population data reflect activity patterns. We present WalkCLIP: a multimodal framework that fuses these complementary perspectives to predict urban walkability. Our approach adapts vision–language representations with walkability-focused captions, enhances them with a spatial aggregation module to capture neighborhood context, and integrates non-visual population dynamics embeddings. Evaluated on 4,660 locations in Minneapolis–Saint Paul, the model outperforms unimodal and multimodal baselines in both predictive accuracy and spatial consistency. These findings demonstrate that combining visual and behavioral signals provides a scalable and reliable method for assessing urban walkability.

Letter from the Editor

Achyuta Telekicherla Kandalam — 2026-07-16