Digital Commons Network^™

Palynostratigraphy And Bayesian Age Stratigraphic Model Of New Ca-Id-Tims Zircon Ages From The Walloon Coal Measures, Surat Basin, Australia, K. Sobczak, J. Cooling, T. Crossingham, H. G. Holl, M. Reilly, J. Esterle, J. L. Crowley, C. Hannaford, M. T. Mohr, Z. Hamerli, S. Hurter

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Surat Basin hosts significant coal and coal seam gas resources. New high-precision CA-TIMS U/Pb zircon ages from tuffs and Bayesian age stratigraphic models are combined with palynology from fine-grained sedimentary rocks and zircon trace elements to provide further chronostratigraphic and biostratigraphic constrains on the Walloon Coal Measures in the eastern margin of the Surat Basin and infer the palaeoenvironment and tectonic setting. The tuff ages range from 165.88 ± 0.11 Ma to 158.84 ± 0.05 Ma, with those from the stratigraphically lower Taroom Coal Measures ranging from 165.88 ± 0.11 to 163.05 ± 0.08 Ma and Juandah Coal Measures …

Application Of Criminology In Urban Ecology And Evolution: Routine Activity Theory And Field Equipment Disappearance Dynamics, Ignacy Stadnicki, Michela Corsini, Marta Szulkin

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Research in urban ecology and evolution relies on the use of deployable scientific equipment. If left unattended in the field, scientific equipment may be prone to vandalism and theft, especially in the urban space. Here, we empirically applied a theory derived from the field of criminology, specifically the Routine Activity Theory (RAT) framework, to predict disappearance rates of scientific equipment in an ongoing urban ecology research project. First, we tested a routinely applied method of equipment protection – labelling – and investigated whether equipment disappearance varied with label information content and message tone. Second, we examined whether equipment attributes (price, …

Mixed-Methods Assessment Of Farmworkers’ Perceptions Of Workplace Compliance With Worker Protection Standards And Implications For Risk Perceptions And Protective Behaviors, Carly Hyland, Lisa Meierotto, Rebecca L. Som Castellano, Cynthia L. Curl

Public Health and Population Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Introduction: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Worker Protection Standards is the primary set of legislation aimed at protecting farmworkers from occupational pesticide exposure in the United States. Previous studies suggest that worker adoption of Pesticide Protective Behaviors (PPBs) promoted by WPS is associated with lower urinary pesticide concentrations. However, adoption of PPBs is often outside of the control of individual farmworkers and dependent on workplace factors such as employer provisioning of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and access to trainings/resources.

Methods: We conducted a mixed-method study including urinary pesticide biomonitoring, surveys, and interviews with 62 Latinx farmworkers in southwestern Idaho from …

Comparison Of Pm-Hip To Forged Sa508 Pressure Vessel Steel Under High-Dose Neutron Irradiation, Wen Jiang, Yangyang Zhao, Yu Lu, Yaqiao Wu, David Frazer, Donna P. Guillen, David W. Gandy, Janelle P. Wharry

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Powder metallurgy with hot isostatic pressing (PM-HIP) is an advanced manufacturing process that is envisioned to replace forging for heavy nuclear components, including the reactor pressure vessel (RPV). But PM-HIP products must at least demonstrate comparable irradiation tolerance than forgings in order to be qualified for nuclear applications. The objective of this study is to directly compare PM-HIP to forged SA508 Grade 3 Class 1 low-alloy RPV steel at two neutron irradiation conditions: ∼0.5–1.0 displacements per atom (dpa) at ∼270 °C and ∼370 °C. PM-HIP SA508 experiences greater irradiation hardening and embrittlement (total elongation) than forged SA508. However, uniform elongation …

Structural Heterogeneity Predicts Ecological Resistance And Resilience To Wildfire In Arid Shrublands, Andrii Zaiats, Megan E. Cattau, David S. Pilliod, Rongsong Liu, Patricia Kaye T. Dumandan, Ahmad Hojatimalekshah, Donna M. Delparte, T. Trevor Caughlin

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Context Dynamic feedbacks between physical structure and ecological function drive ecosystem productivity, resilience, and biodiversity maintenance. Detailed maps of canopy structure enable comprehensive evaluations of structure–function relationships. However, these relationships are scale-dependent, and identifying relevant spatial scales to link structure to function remains challenging.

Objectives We identified optimal scales to relate structure heterogeneity to ecological resistance, measured as the impacts of wildfire on canopy structure, and ecological resilience, measured as native shrub recruitment. We further investigated whether structural heterogeneity can aid spatial predictions of shrub recruitment.

Methods Using high-resolution imagery from unoccupied aerial systems (UAS), we mapped structural heterogeneity across …

Physical Activity In Underserved Preadolescents: Characterization Of Accumulation And Patterns, Alma I. Behar, Matthew T. Mahar, Gregory Norman, John P. Elder, Michael Pratt, Patricia Dionicio, Noe C. Crespo

International Journal of Physical Activity and Health

Objectives: The increasing rates of physical inactivity and sedentary behaviors among youth are a significant public health concern. The greatest disparities in physical activity (PA) are experienced by underserved (racial/ethnic minority, low-income) youth. This study aimed to characterize accelerometer-measured PA behaviors in a sample of low-income, predominantly Latino, preadolescents. Methods: Participants wore wrist worn GENEActiv accelerometers for 7 days. PA levels were classified as sedentary (< 50 mg), light (50-150 mg), moderate (> 150-500 mg), vigorous (> 500 mg), and MVPA (≥ 150 mg). Time spent in PA levels and sedentary time (ST), prevalence of meeting MVPA guidelines, and PA volume were estimated from accelerometer data. Three-way …

Data-Driven And Cell-Specific Determination Of Nuclei-Associated Actin Structure, Nina Nikitina, Nurbanu Bursa, Matthew Goelzer, Madison Goldfeldt, Chase Crandall, Sean Howard, Janet Rubin, Anamaria Zavala, Aykut Satici, Gunes Uzer

Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Quantitative volumetric assessment of filamentous actin (F-actin) fibers remains challenging due to their interconnected nature, leading researchers to utilize threshold-based or qualitative measurement methods with poor reproducibility. Herein, a novel machine learning-based methodology is introduced for accurate quantification and reconstruction of nuclei-associated F-actin. Utilizing a convolutional neural network (CNN), actin filaments and nuclei from 3D confocal microscopy images are segmented and then each fiber is reconstructed by connecting intersecting contours on cross-sectional slices. This allows measurement of the total number of actin filaments and individual actin filament length and volume in a reproducible fashion. Focusing on the role of F-actin …

A Laser Ultrasound System To Non-Invasively Measure Compression Waves In Granular Ice Mixes, J. Chris Mccaslin, T. Dylan Mikesell, Hans-Peter Marshall

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Accurate knowledge of snow mechanical properties, including Young's modulus, shear modulus, Poisson's ratio, and density, is critical to many areas of snow science and to snow-related engineering problems. To facilitate the assessment of these properties, an innovative non-contacting laser ultrasound system (LUS) has been developed. This system acquires ultrasound waveform data at frequencies ranging from tens to hundreds of kHz in a controlled cold-lab environment. Two different LUS devices were compared in this study to determine which recorded more robust ultrasound in granular ice mix samples. We validated the ultrasound observations with poro-elastic traveltime modeling based on physical and empirical …

Demography With Drones: Detecting Growth And Survival Of Shrubs With Unoccupied Aerial Systems, Peter J. Olsoy, Andrii Zaiats, Donna M. Delparte, Matthew J. Germino, Bryce A. Richardson, Anna V. Roser, Jennifer S. Forbey, Megan E. Cattau, T. Trevor Caughlin

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Large-scale disturbances, such as megafires, motivate restoration at equally large extents. Measuring the survival and growth of individual plants plays a key role in current efforts to monitor restoration success. However, the scale of modern restoration (e.g., >10,000 ha) challenges measurements of demographic rates with field data. In this study, we demonstrate how unoccupied aerial system (UAS) flights can provide an efficient solution to the tradeoff of precision and spatial extent in detecting demographic rates from the air. We flew two, sequential UAS flights at two sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) common gardens to measure the survival and growth of …

Impact Of Property Covariance On Cluster Weak Lensing Scaling Relations, Zhuowen Zhang, Arya Farahi, Daisuke Nagai, Erwin T. Lau, Joshua Frieman, Marina Ricci, Anja Von Der Linden, Hao-Yi Wu, Lsst Dark Energy Science Collaboration

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

We present an investigation into a hitherto unexplored systematic that affects the accuracy of galaxy cluster mass estimates with weak gravitational lensing. Specifically, we study the covariance between the weak lensing signal, ΔΣ, and the ‘true’ cluster galaxy number count, N_gal, as measured within a spherical volume that is void of projection effects. By quantifying the impact of this covariance on mass calibration, this work reveals a significant source of systematic uncertainty. Using the MDPL2 simulation with galaxies traced by the SAGE semi-analytic model, we measure the intrinsic property covariance between these observables within the three-dimensional vicinity of …

Exposure Of Future Nuclear Energy Infrastructure To Climate Change Hazards: A Review Assessment, Joana Portugal-Pereira, Miguel Esteban, Kathleen Araújo

Public Policy and Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

This review discusses climate hazards and specific risks associated with existing and new nuclear power plants under global warming level futures, with an emphasis on water-based risks for plants that rely on traditional water-cooling processes. Projected hazards, including extreme heatwaves, sea-level rise, and altered precipitation patterns pose significant challenges to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear plants. Additional risks include reduced water-cooling system efficiency, clogging due to biological contamination of water streams, water access issues in reactors during droughts, disruptions from extreme storms, and coastal sea level rise. These findings emphasise the importance of formulating appropriate adaptation strategies that …

Pre-Plinian Perplexity: Identifying And Constraining An Anomalous Pdc During The Initial Stages Of The May 18, 1980 Mt. St. Helens Eruption, Justin Crevier

Geosciences Undergraduate Theses

The Mount St. Helens (MSH) 18 May 1980 eruption was a formative event for a generation of volcanologists. With so much data available from detailed studies of the Blast and Plinian phases, MSH could aptly be called one of volcanology's greatest teachers—and the volcano may yet have more to teach us. The transition period, which occurred between the end of the Blast phase (0830) and the beginning of the Plinian phase (0920) on the morning of May 18, 1980, has not yet benefited from the same degree of comprehensive review as either of those phases. The conditions which caused the …

The Threshold Of Rural Placement Frequency And Duration: A Repeated Cross-Sectional Study Examining Rural Career Aspirations Among Student Nurses, Daniel Terry, Blake Peck, Jessica Elliott, Leah East, Liz Ryan, Ed Baker, David Schmitz

Public Health and Population Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Aim: This study aimed to explore what changes rural placement had on the perceptions of nursing students and the impact of placement frequency and duration on student considerations for rural practice.

Background: A strong rural healthcare workforce is a global concern and has led countries to look for creative ways to address this challenge. One approach is to train more health professionals, however, nursing students who grew up or lived in metropolitan or urbanised areas are suggested to be less inclined to pursue a rural career. As such it is posited that recurrent exposure to rural settings may exert a …

Season Of Grazing Interacts With Soil Texture, Selecting For Associations Of Biocrust Morphogroups, Lea A. Condon, Roger Rosentreter, Kari E. Veblen, Peter S. Coates

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Livestock grazing, a widespread land use in semi-arid systems, is often placed in opposition to the perpetuation of biological soil crusts (“biocrusts”: lichens, mosses, and algal crusts including cyanobacteria) that live on the soil surface and provide ecosystem functions. The composition of biocrusts and vascular plants varies with climate, soils, and disturbance. In general, ruderal mosses and light algal crusts make up greater proportions of biocrusts in the presence of disturbance, although morphogroups of biocrusts respond differently to various disturbances. It is unknown if there are scenarios under which grazing can occur and ruderal components of biocrust could be maintained. …

High Temperature Validation Of A Line Heat Source Technique For In-Pile Thermal Conductivity Determination, Katelyn Wada, Allyssa Bateman, Tony Valayil Varghese, Austin Fleming, Brian J. Jaques, David Estrada

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

In-pile instrumentation is critical for advancing operations and materials discovery in the nuclear industry. Ensuring optimal performance of sensors in high temperatures is the first step in demonstrating their viability in the harsh in-pile environment. This work demonstrates the high temperature capabilities of a line heat source and measurement technique previously shown to extract thermal conductivity of nuclear fuel sized samples within a laboratory environment at room temperature. This method uses a hybrid AC/DC measurement technique to obtain rapid measurements of the temperature dependent voltage change of a heater wire, which also acts as a resistance thermometer. Once the temperature …

A Cold Laboratory Hyperspectral Imaging System To Map Grain Size And Ice Layer Distributions In Firn Cores, Ian E. Mcdowell, Kaitlin M. Keegan, S. Mckenzie Skiles, Christopher P. Donahue, Erich C. Osterberg, Robert L. Hawley, Hans-Peter Marshall

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are covered in a layer of porous firn. Knowledge of firn structure improves our understanding of ice sheet mass balance, supra- and englacial hydrology, and ice core paleoclimate records. While macroscale firn properties, such as firn density, are relatively easy to measure in the field or lab, more intensive measurements of microstructural properties are necessary to reduce uncertainty in remote sensing observations of mass balance, model meltwater infiltration, and constrain ice age – gas age differences in ice cores. Additionally, as the duration and extent of surface melting increases, refreezing meltwater will greatly alter …

Attitude And Attitudinal Structures Toward Physical Education And Their Influences On Physical Activity Behavior, Yubing Wang, Yaogang Han, Pan Li, Binn Zhang

International Journal of Physical Activity and Health

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine middle and high school students’ cognitive and affective attitude and their cognitive-affective attitudinal structures toward physical education (PE). The effects of cognitive and affective attitude and attitudinal structures on physical activity (PA) in PE and outside of school were also examined. Methods: 1773 Chinese middle and high-school students participated in this study. SEM, Chi-square test, ANOVAs, and Contingency tables were adopted to address the research questions. Results: The results showed that most students (>90%) were holding positive cognitive and affective attitude toward PE. Students’ affective attitude significantly influences their PA …

Is Campus Involvement A Possible Cure For Student's Mental Health Challenges?, Calvin Doerr, Eric M. Martin, Kelly Rossetto

2024 Undergraduate Research Showcase

College is a period of change for students. With the increasing level of difficulty, the challenge of fitting into a new environment, and finding healthy relationships, it can be very challenging for students to feel like they belong. Without creating valuable connections on campus, students can develop feelings of loneliness. The group membership, or lack thereof, also contributes to student’s success in academics. In addition to these feelings, many students also suffer from perfectionism. Maladaptive traits of perfectionism are detrimental to student health, and students with these traits experience fewer connection difficulties when they are socially connected on campus (Rice, …

Microbial Supplements For Dairy Cows To Reduce Enteric Methane Emissions, Phaedra Roby, Jared L. Talley

2024 Undergraduate Research Showcase

This project uses the biotechnology of rumen-native Microbial Feed Supplements (M.F.S.) to decrease enteric methane emissions (E.M.E.) and analyze the use of this Climate Safe Agriculture (C.S.A.) tool. We aim to look at the impacts of usage on an environmental, economic, and social level. Dairy cattle contribute significantly to the amount of methane released into the atmosphere and current tactics to work on the effects are not long-term nor cost efficient solutions. This climate-smart solution aims to mitigate E.M.E. and develop an understanding for dairy industries and how they operate. This M.F.S. will be implemented and analyzed to determine its …

Is Manual Lateralization Associated With Manual Performance?, Kylie Llamas, Iryna Babik

2024 Undergraduate Research Showcase

Manual lateralization, or hand preference, emerges in infancy and gets manifested in object acquisition and manipulation. The magnitude of manual lateralization refers to the strength of hand preference, irrespective of its direction (right vs. left). Manual lateralization has evolved as a useful adaptation, but does it improve manual performance? Previous research showed inconsistent results on the relation between manual lateralization and manual performance. This may have been due to differences in measures of hand preference, with some research looking at the direction rather than magnitude of manual lateralization. The aim of this research was to determine whether the magnitude of …

Improving Prediction Of Solar Material Properties Through Software Engineering, Ryn Y. Oliphant, Eric Jankowski

2024 Undergraduate Research Showcase

It is possible to inexpensively generate electrical power from the sun with panels made from carbon-based molecules. The challenge is in finding the organic molecules that are both easy to make and efficient at catching light and converting it into power. It is therefore important to understand how charges move through these molecular systems, and we use kinetic Monte Carlo simulations to investigate these processes. Because the scientific software for performing kinetic Monte Carlo simulations of charge transport in organic materials is relatively new, there are open challenges with improving software performance, correctness, and generalizability. In this work, we focus …

Superbowl Advertising Story/Non-Story Influencing People Liking Of The Ads, Kaushik Gadekari, Anne Hamby

2024 Undergraduate Research Showcase

Super Bowl advertising is one of the biggest events of the year and many people like the ads more than the games themselves. Past research shows that advertisements adopting a story format are more persuasive. Separately, past research also shows that products can vary in the extent to which they are central (peripheral) to the advertisement. The present research examines if the format of the ad (narrative or non-narrative) and the nature of product placement (central or peripheral to the message) influences audience liking of the advertisement using a panel of USA TODAY ad meter responses. Our results suggest that …

Clothing On Fire: Health Risk Assessment, Nikki Falcon

2024 Undergraduate Research Showcase

Clothing fires are a significant public health challenge globally. Thousands of deaths and injuries occur each year from the ignition of flames in clothing. Approximately two million persons suffer burn injuries each year and over 100,000 require hospitalization. Young children and older persons are at greatest risk. Healthcare providers are frequently asked to provide recommendations for reducing such risks. However, information about the flammability properties of commonly used fabrics is generally not available. The objective of this study was to develop a simplified method for quantifying and ranking the flammability characteristics of various fabrics.

Importance Of Experiential Education Opportunities For Adult Learners, Jamie Hudson

2024 Undergraduate Research Showcase

Many adults are returning to higher education to “skill up” and need support in the classroom to succeed in their writing and communication goals. Two approaches, flexibility and experiential learning, would allow adult learners to leverage the experience they bring to the classroom. Supporting adult students who desire experiential learning opportunities in writing helps them gain specific expertise, strengthens critical communications skills, and prepares them to advance in their career goals. However, many adult learners are unable to access experiential learning. If universities prioritized making experiential learning opportunities truly available to all students and supported faculty in every department to …

Effect Of Terrain Resolution On Rockfall Dispersion, Lucas Arsenith, Nick Hudyma

2024 Undergraduate Research Showcase

Rockfall events are a geohazard that can pose a significant threat to infrastructure and life in mountainous areas. The trigger mechanism for these events varies but is usually due to undercutting of an existing slope, physical weathering including freeze/thaw cycles, anthropogenic factors such as excavation, environmental factors, and seismic events. Corrective measures are expensive and involve using nets, anchor bolts, or removing hazardous rock masses. Historically, two-dimensional modeling techniques have been used for sites where rockfall is a risk but these are limited in their functionality and accuracy. Three-dimensional modeling techniques are currently evolving and being used to accurately predict …

Macro For Underwater Data Centers, Alex Anta, Tyler Baker, Marina Durfey, Daniel Strilets

2024 Undergraduate Research Showcase

Over the years, technology has skyrocketed and the need for space to store data has increased drastically. Data centers require energy to keep the system at a certain temperature to prevent overheating. By deploying the data center underwater, we can utilize the water's cool temperature to keep the computer and electrical components cool without using nonrenewable resources to power and cool the data center. Nonconventional materials, like fluoroelastomers and argon within the data center, can be used to help with the electrical, thermal, and cooling properties of the system. By using different materials for electrical component casing and as seals, …

Sniffing Out Alzheimer's, Natalia Allen, Avery Hann, Nick Kohl, Skylar Moody, Sianne Urlacher

2024 Undergraduate Research Showcase

Our team aims to create a device that can be used with commercially available virtual reality (VR) headsets to detect Alzheimer’s earlier than any other available tests. We are researching our VR device to explore how it can be useful in a clinical context. The Medical Ambassadors team is currently working on two goals for our project. The first is finding scents that are suitable for large demographics and that are distinguishable from one another. The second goal is reaching out to medical professionals to gain insight into the future of our device and gather feedback from practitioners who understand …

Gendered Privilege In The Idahoan Lgbtq+ Community, Niamh May Winters

2024 Undergraduate Research Showcase

There is a well known divide between Lesbians and Gays in the LGBTQ+ community. For decades, gay men have typically taken leadership of the LGBTQ+ movement and prioritized their own identities and experiences as gay men as representative of all of LGBTQ+ persons. Lesbians have often felt their struggles as gay women have been overlooked or minimized in comparison to their gay male allies. Because of this, I will be researching gender privileges in the LGBTQ+ community in Idaho, focusing on issues such as language, representation, communication, and leadership. This will be explored by digging through Boise States archives, as …

Exploring Nuclear Dynamics: Comparative Analysis Of United States And China Energy Strategies, Jake West, Joseph Mondragon, Emily Grabow

2024 Undergraduate Research Showcase

Nuclear energy and technology have seen tremendous improvements in recent years by allowing more relaxed regulations on nuclear energy. The purpose of this research is to explore different nuclear technologies, policies, and waste management practices and how they differ between China and the United States. By seeing these differences, conclusions can be drawn about the relationship between government policy and nuclear energy advancement. Methods used for this research are from secondary sources such as scientific articles and primary sources in government institutions regarding nuclear energy and waste management policies, as well as new and developing technologies in both the United …

Coevolution Of Acoustical Physics And Compositional Practice, Aviana R. Smith

2024 Undergraduate Research Showcase

The mathematical and physical properties that exist within music have been a topic of interest for cultural and scientific development for centuries. Composers have sought to use cutting-edge technological advances in their works to better suit the moods of their audiences, and the development of acoustical physics has similarly impacted the use of sound within performance. In the decades preceding the world wars, there were significant improvements in acoustical physics that allowed recital halls to filter outside noise and allow for internal propagation. This progress, made possible through the discoveries of Wallace Sabine, revolutionized compositional practices, including those of avant-garde …