Digital Commons Network^™

The Election Cycle, And The U.S. Withdrawal From Vietnam, Steven Thomas Stoddard

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Few events in American history have proved to be as divisive and controversial as U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Although U.S. policy in Indochina has its roots in the Truman Administration, the two presidents most closely associated with the conflict are Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard M. Nixon. These two are particularly important because they both occupied the White House during the highest levels of direct U.S. involvement in the war. In terms of troop deployments to Southeast Asia, the level and intensity of U.S. involvement peaked under the Johnson Administration and it was at this time that the …

Teaching Children About Social Justice Through Picture Books, Brooke C. Sorenson

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

"Boys can't play with dolls!" "A girl can't be a doctor!" "Those people look weird!" "He's to dumb to play with us!" "My mommy says I can't play with you!" Unfortunately, phrases like this can be heard on a typical elementary school playground. As teachers, we have the difficult task of teaching about social justice and working to uproot prejudice and discrimination.

Mathematical Functions: An Interactive Emodule, Sarah Jean Moody

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives (NLVM, http://nlvm.usu.edu/) is a widely used and highly praised teaching/learning resource for school mathematics. The NLVM is the result of a four-year USU project, funded primarily by the National Science Foundation, Award #9819107, to create a web-based, freely accessible, library of interactive virtual manipulatives to help students learn basic mathematics concepts. During a typical school day, the NLVM server receives more than 3 million hits.

Senior Violin Recital And Notes On The Works, Angela Carpenter

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

It all began with a string of music, a melody. It seemed fitting for strings and so it was decided to begin a work for strings. The first movement was intended to stand alone, but once the idea to complete a string quartet was born it progressed from there. It is easy to see a progression in the compositional style of Juan-Carlos Mackey from the beginning to the end, and it is somehow fitting for the piece as well.

Healthcare Resources For Older Adults In A Medium Sized Community, Ashley Nielson

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Healthcare has become a large concern for a number of older Americans. With increases in healthcare costs and complex programs such as, Medicare, Medicaid, Medigap insurance policies and community programs, many older Americans are left worrying where they will find the money and resources to provide for themselves and their healthcare needs. Medicare, Medicaid and community care resources help to offset individual healthcare costs, but they are often not enough. The programs are complex and confusing and are limited in the care they provide.

"Bariatic Surgery For Obese Adolescents", Hilary Brooke Spooner

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

With the rise of adolescent obesity, the need for treatment of this life-threatening disease is under consideration. There are several methods for the treatment of this disease, but a newer method is on the rise. Bariatric surgery for adolescents is a new technique that has been performed on adults for years, but the effects on the younger population are still unknown. There are certain criteria and guidelines for the patients undergoing this surgery, but the results seem to be promising. Nutritional and surgical complications are of great concern, but are the chronic disease health benefits brought on by weight loss …

Foundation Stones Of Prydain: A Web-Based Bridge Between Welsh Mythology And Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles, Benjamin Tyler Minson

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

My career at Utah State University and particularly in the Professional and Technical Writing emphasis in the English Department has shown me a vast spectrum of areas within the field of technical communication. Several of the various types of work within technical communication came together for my final Honors Thesis and Project, including Web design, information architecture, and usability testing. The planning, creation, testing, and analysis of the website Foundation Stones of Prydain (http://cc.usu.edu/~bminson/foundation) constitute the culmination of my work at Utah State University.

Martyr's Square & The Grand Axis Of Beirut, Greg Boudrero

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

From Beirut to Mostar, from London to the center of Berlin, from Warsaw to Jerusalem, from the cities in Europe to the cities of Africa, from Vietnam to Cambodia, everywhere, after the ravages of war comes the necessity for reconstruction. Such is the present case of Beirut, Lebanon. As the city recovers from years of civil war it strives to create a new identity, re-establishing the city's presence in the region.

Daybreak Development: The First Of Its Kind In Utah, Kaylen N. Nichols

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Utah is experiencing major population growth and all of the problems that come with it, such as sprawl, congested roads, loss of open space, and declining quality of life. Kennecott Utah Copper owns 93,000 acres along the Oquirrh Mountains, half of which is developable. Their landholdings equal half of the developable land left in the Salt Lake Valley. Kennecott Land was formed to oversee the development of this land. Daybreak, the first of Kennecott Land's Sunrise developments, is located on the south-west side of the Salt Lake Valley, and is part of the City of South Jordan. Kennecott Land offers …

The Evolution Of Congress: A Citizen's Ability To Influence Politics Today, Rebecca Ashley Nudd

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

-Constitution of the United States

Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus and spurred a year long political bus boycott that helped later change the U.S. Constitution. A mother with a cause rallied a million other moms to march onto Capital Hill and …

Investigation Of The Toxic Affect Of Manganese On Ruminal Microbial Digestion And Growth, Erin Dearing

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

This research investigated the toxic effect of manganese, in a reduced chemical state, on rumen microbial metabolism and growth. The reduced form of manganese is the soluble state found in subsurface waters and has a high red-ox potential. In the study, we investigated the effects of reduced manganese at varying concentrations, on rumen microbial ability to replicate and metabolize carbohydrates. The hypotheses that we tested were as follows: (1) reduced manganese decreases the rate of pH drop associated with rumen culture fermentation of a com based diet and (2) reduced manganese decreases the bacterial growth in rumen culture, as measured …

The Composition And Comparison Of Essential Oils And Their Nutritional Benefits To Enhance And Decrease Risk For Chronic Disease, Heather Wollschleger

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

This paper reviews the current status of our knowledge of essential oils and their nutritional contribution to our diet. The effects of dietary fats on our health differ markedly from the type and form of the fat. Special emphasis is placed on omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, and their dietary involvement. Specific oils increase our levels of vital vitamin E and the essential omega-3 and omega-6 fats humans need for mental and physical health. Chronic diseases remain a major cause of death and disability, and risk factors include diets high in saturated fatty acids and trans fatty acids. This risk …

The Macrobiotic Diet May Have Benefits In Cancer Prevention, Brittany Lewis

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Macrobiotics is one of the most popular alternative or complementary approaches to fighting cancer. The diet is primarily plant-based, is centered on the idea of an all encompassing "yin-yang" concept in life, mind, environment and food. The dietary components of the macrobiotic diet, along with the many lifestyle implications are shown to have beneficial effects in cancer prevention and therapy. The diet has many anti-carcinogenic compounds, as well as a decrease in foods thought to promote cancer. A cause for concern is the vitamin deficiencies that may ensue in following a strict macrobiotic diet, which typically results from an all …

Cardiovascular Medical Nutrition Therapy Looking At The Dash Trials, Rachel Anne Naegle

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

OBJECTIVE: To review the recent medical literature on the effects of the DASH diet principles of increased fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy, and decreased total and saturated fat; focusing on the intent to implement this dietary pattern to reduce hypertension, and thus to reduce cardiovascular disease.

FINDINGS: The combination diet reduced systolic by 5.5 mm Hg, and diastolic by 3.0 mm Hg as compared to the control diet (P<0.001 for each) (5, 7, 8). When comparing the two diet variables, the combination diet reduced systolic blood pressure 2.7 mm Hg, and diastolic 1.9 mm Hg more than the fruits-and-vegetables diet, (all with a P<0.001)! The results of the DASH-sodium (DASH II), proved also to substantially lower blood pressure when used with the combination diet.

CONCLUSION: Even though the DASH-sodium diet did decrease blood pressure, there is no scientific background to recommend this to all populations, and that instead of focusing attention on reducing sodium, efforts should …

Changes In The Intertemporal Relation Between The U.S. And Japanese Stock Markets, Rustin Paul Diehl

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

This paper finds a decreasing relationship between daytime trading in previous-day US equity markets and the Japanese market performance in the current period. On the other hand, the connection has increased between current US equity markets and current, after-hour Japanese markets. These changes have corrected a previous violation of the efficient market hypothesis, and suggest that as internet trading has increased volumes of off-hour trading, the Japanese equity markets have been better able to digest information from current US markets.

A Study Of Social Carrying Capacity In Motorized Recreation Settings, Rachel Lyn Turk

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

In the summer of 2004, I served as a recreation planning intern with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), at the Ely Nevada Field Office. I was responsible for the preparation of the "Recreation Project Plan for the Chief Mountain Motorized Trailheads" (Appendix 1), which was a tremendous learning opportunity for me, since I had little experience with planning and designing for motorized use. The project piqued my interest into learning more about motorized recreation on public lands, which in turn led to this thesis on social carrying capacity of motorized users. This is a new area of research that …

David Hume On Miracles, Kyle G. Sessions

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Albert Einstein once said, "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is." A quick study of David Hume's Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding reveals that he believed strongly in the first way. Why is this? First of all, it is in his definition of miracle. Hume defines a miracle as a violation of the laws of nature. This is a problematic definition to begin with, as it appears to preclude the possibility of there ever being a miracle. If a miracle is something that violates …

The Benefits Of Optimism In A Student-Instructor Relationship, Johnathan Kyle Nelson

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The positive psychology movement of the past decade has produced an impressive amount of psychological literature devoted to studying the best of human attributes such as resilience, commitment, and optimism. This dramatic increase in available literature on optimism highlights a heightened awareness and interest in human proficiency, when so much of psychology has been traditionally devoted to the study of human deficiency. This research has lead to an increased understanding of what characteristics of an individual lead to facilitate various activities such as problem solving, leadership ability, income, achievement, sales, and job satisfaction. This study explored the relationship between positive …

The Adverse Health Effects Of Trans Fatty Acids, And Implications For Public Policy, Jonathan D. Atkin

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Subject: Trans fatty acids (TFAs) are produced either by the process of bacterial hydrogenation in the stomachs of ruminant animals, or the commercial method called industrial hydrogenation. The latter began early in the 20^th century based on purported health benefits and lowered costs. Alarming results from scientific studies in the early 1990's began to raise questions about whether TFAs should be regulated in our food supply.

Findings/Statistics: Scientific research initially discovered that TFAs raise the LDL/HDL ratio, thereby increasing the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). Recent large, prospective, population-based studies have indicated a 25% increased risk of ischemic …

Cardiac Protein Rgs2: Structural And Functional Determinants, Stephanie Jan Chambers

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

In this study, I explored the structure-function relationships of a cardiac RGS (regulator of G-protein signaling) protein, RGS2.

Contractions of the heart are triggered by calcium ions (Ca) entering heart cells through L-type Ca channels (1a). The activity of L-type channels (and thereby Ca influx) is modulated by cell surface receptors that couple to intracellular G proteins. G proteins in turn, are regulated by a newly-discovered family of proteins called RGS. RGS proteins speed the hydrolysis of GTP by G proteins, and thereby control the strength and duration of G protein-mediated signals. Stimulation of G proteins, which are coupled to …

Modulation Of L-Type (Cav1.3) Calcium Channels, Brian Thomas

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

L-type Ca_V1.3 calcium channels perform critical functions in auditory hair cells, cardiac pacemaker cells, and pancreatic β-cells, but little is currently known about how these channels are modulated by cell signaling mechanisms. To begin to address this issue, we have tested the ability of various G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) to modulate Ca_V1.3 expressed in a mammalian cell line. Expression plasmids encoding Ca_V1.3 and auxiliary calcium channel subunits α2-δb and β3 were transiently coexpressed in HEK293 cells along with plasmids encoding a single type of GPCR. As a control for functional expression of the GPCR, …

United Methodist Church Campus Plan, Jason Val Betts

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The United Methodist Church Campus project site is located at 1200 E. South Weber Drive in Ogden Utah. The planning for this project started in 1998 and will continue for several years to come (Appendix A). I was asked as a student of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning at Utah State University to prepare an illustrative schematic master plan for the project site. The following document will provide my findings upon doing a site inventory and analysis as well as a master plan for the Community United Methodist Church (CUMC).

Emma Hale Smith Bidamon: A Study Of How The Enigma Was Forgotten, Christine Hegstrom Merrill

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

"Beyond history's garden gates, the thick jungle of the past remains, and memory's trails lead off into it" (Richard White). Historians throughout time have had to decipher and toil between memory and history as they have reconstructed the past-laboring with the similarities between the two, as well as major differences. With these historical studies have come theories about memory and history, with new divisions within each category, from private to public to historical memory and from autobiographical to biographical histories. This paper originated as a biographical study of Emma Hale Smith Bidamon, a leading figure in the early days of …

Identification Of Key Genes Required For Abiotic Stress Response In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Saori Endo

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

To identify key genes that are required for stress response, a reverse genetics approach was taken to manipulate expression of candidate genes in plants. In this project, two potential regulatory genes which were originally identified as stress-responsive genes from a microarray experiment in Arabidopsis were examined for their roles in stress tolerance. Over-expression of gene A, which was up-regulated under stress conditions based on the array data, caused earlier flowering and improved plant growth under salinity and dehydration stress conditions at the seedling stage. Over-expression of gene B, which was down-regulated under stress conditions based on the array data, resulted …

More Than Meets The Ear: The Culture Behind The Music, Anita Sant

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

More than Meets the Ear: The Culture behind the Music is a traveling exhibit that was designed and created over more than a year's time at Utah State University's museum of anthropology. As one member of a team of interns, I helped decide on an exhibit focus, its audience, content, and design. We started from the ground up as inexperienced undergraduates under the tutelage of the museum's curator, Lara Petersen, and the museum's director, Dr. Bonnie Pitblado.

As the project gradually progressed and was honed to the subject of ethnomusicology, I took on the responsibility of the educational aspect of …

Business Valuation Of Pass Through Entities, Mark Brough

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The majority in the business valuation profession believe that the proper way to value a "pass through" entity is to tax affect the earnings. This may be the traditional understanding, but recent court cases such as Estate of Walter L. Gross suggest that tax affecting may not be valid. The focus of this paper is to analyze the arguments presented by valuation experts in the Tax Court for and against tax affecting the earnings of a pass through entities.

Creating Identity Within A Residential Community Using Open Space, Jason W. Harr

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Popularity of suburban developments is not new to most communities of today. Many have come to the understanding that suburbia is the only way to go, and the only place to live and raise a family. What suburbanites don't understand and choose to avoid are the demanding requirements suburbia requires of our natural resources and open space.

In recent years, many have come to the understanding that our natural resources and open space are very valuable and must be preserved now and in the future. People have also noticed that implementation of basic design principles of residential communities are advantageous …

Community United Methodist Church: United Methodist Regional Ministry Campus Master Plan, Saori Endo

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The United Methodist Church has sought for the place that members can worship, learn, social and recreate. The purchase of 24 acres of land in South Weber, Utah made its opening to the place, and they are looking for their identity that they can be proud of ultimately. The intention of this project is generating ideas to help them to find out what they are looking for, yet guide the ideas properly.

Site Context And History Of The Orson B. Adams Homestead And Surrounding Area For The Historic American Landscapes Survey, Paul Drake

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

In 1862, Orson B. Adams settled in Harrisburg, Utah. He and his family were part of a movement by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, also known as the Mormons, to create a self-sufficient colony in the west. The Mormon settlers were "called" to establish agricultural towns throughout southern Utah and west to the Pacific and grow crops such as grapes and cotton.

Analysis Of Significance & Integrity Orson B. Adams Farmstead Historic American Landscape Survey, Ladd Schiess

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

In 1862, Orson B. Adams settled in Harrisburg, Utah, a small Mormon settlement in Southern Utah that had been started the previous year. Orson acquired land on the southwest side of town and began to cultivate it. Being on the edge of the Mojave Desert, irrigation was necessary. Orson diverted water from smaller Quail Creek rather than Leeds Creek, which the rest of the town used.