Life Sciences Commons^™

Preliminary Maple Sap Data For Boxelder And Norway Maples, Jesse Mathews

Student Research Symposium

Maple sap is a popular agricultural product mainly produced in Quebec, Canada, and the Northeastern United States (U.S.).Almost the entire worldwide production of maple syrup exists in this area. Sugar maples (Acer saccharum) are the most popular tree to tap due to its higher sugar content. This species of maple doesn’t grow well in Utah’s soils, which might be a contributing factor to the lack of maple syrup production Utah. There exist about 211,714 boxelder (Acer negundo) trees that could be tapped in Utah. Estimates aren’t available for Norway maple (Acer platanoides) populations, but they exist in almost every park …

Effects Of Folding On Laminated Dough, Shelby Thorpe, Sarah Moore, Heather Burr, Colton Coombs

Student Research Symposium

The purpose of this experiment is to determine the effect on volume, flakiness, and air cell size and amount in basic croissants when the dough is folded less than and more than what’s currently considered standard. The process of dough lamination, or the creation of alternating layers of dough and fat, is a technique used in various pastries. The layer of fat, often butter or margarine, creates an impenetrable barrier to the steam, or water vapor, produced by surrounding dough layers. This facilitates lift within the pastry and while many types don’t contain yeast, lamination becomes crucial to the finalized …

How Does Protein Content Of Flour Affect Sourdough Bread?, Julie Eggett, Callie Goble, Whitney Nelson

Student Research Symposium

The goal of this experiment was to evaluate if the micro-differences in protein content of bread flour made a difference in volume, air cell size, appearance, texture and flavor of sourdough bread. The flour used in this experiment included Bob’s Red Mill Artisan Bread Flour, Big J Mill Golden Loaf Bread Flour, Gold Medal Bread Flour. The protein contents were 13%, 12.7%, and 10.5%, respectively. The bread was baked using a standard recipe with only the brand of bread flour varying from sample to sample. The samples were then objectively and subjectively measured. Volume of bread samples of equal weight …

The Effect Of Different Juicing Methods On Fiber Content , Hannah Eddy, Kaylee West, Mj Wayment, Meg Chronister

Student Research Symposium

Dietary fiber is an important component in the world of nutrition. Whole fruits and vegetables are great sources that can be added to add more fiber to one's diet. Many consumers prefer to drink juice rather than add whole fruits and vegetables to their diets. However, fiber is often lost during the juicing process. The purpose of this experiment was to find the best method of juicing for a good balance of dietary fiber and flavor for each fruit or vegetable. The first independent variable was the types of fruits and vegetables being juiced: apple, pomegranate, orange, and carrot. The …

All Purpose Flour Alternatives In Brownies, Georgia Johnson, Mckayl Black, Jouri Lacome

Student Research Symposium

Brownies are a very popular dessert. Many people are not able to tolerate the gluten in their diets, while some people may just want to add different flours. You can get other nutritional benefits from switching the flour from the all purpose flour. The alternatives in our experiment, or independent variables, were oat flour, rice flour, and banana flour. Each flour was used to bake a batch of brownies. After the brownies were finished, twelve people participated in a blind taste test. These participants subjectively tested the appearance, texture, and taste. Overall, all-purpose flour was the most desirable among participants. …

Assessing How Various Cooking Methods Influence Several Physical Qualities Of Chicken Breasts, Matthew Hulse, Jinjer Smith, Sami Allen, Melody Loutzenhiser

Student Research Symposium

Juiciness and tenderness are two of the characteristics which define meat quality and acceptability for a consumer. The purpose of this experiment is to determine the effect on moisture loss, tenderness, chewability, taste, aroma, color, and texture on chicken breast when cooked using different methods such as: sous-vide (water bath), baking, air-frying, and pan-frying. Killing harmful organisms by cooking is necessary for meat, and these different methods result in different moisture retention and texture of the product. The intention of this experiment is to equip consumers with the information they need to choose which cooking method best aligns with their …

Natural Product Biosynthesis Through Biotechnological And Fermentation Approaches, Hassan Sher

Student Research Symposium

Natural products as a source of medicine have long been attractive due to the huge structural diversity and promising biological activities such as antimicrobial, anticancer, antitumor, antifungal, antiviral, antiparasitic as well as antioxidant properties. Discovery of novel and modified natural products is the need of this modern era. To expand the chemical diversity in natural products and to increase the production titers of natural products, researchers have come up with various solutions: heterologous expression, cocultivation, fermentation engineering, isolation of new species, and strain engineering/improvement. o-Coumaric acid and p-coumaric acid are phenolic antioxidants found in various plant sources. These also serve …

Nitrogen Use Efficiency And Soil Health Indicators In Corn Silage Production In A Semi-Arid Environment, Phearen Miller

Student Research Symposium

The world faces the challenge of increasing food production while reducing the impact of excess reactive nitrogen (N) in the environment. A field study was conducted at USU Greenville farm in northern Utah since 2012 to examine the effects of different N sources in corn silage under semi-arid conditions. The study used a randomized complete block design with four blocks and four treatments: control (no nitrogen) (denoted as Control), low ammonium sulfate (AS 112 kg N/ha) (denoted as AS100), high ammonium sulfate (AS 224 kg N/ha) (denoted as AS200), and steer manure compost (224 kg total N/ha) (denoted as Compost). …

Glycosylation Of Anti-Tb Agent Chlorflavonin For Combating Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, Jie Ren

Student Research Symposium

More than two billion people were infected by the bacterial pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) in 2020. However, during the past 50 years, the first-line (isoniazid, delamanid, and rifampicin) and second-line (capreomycin, streptomycin, and cycloserine) therapies have remained unchanged with disadvantages such as long treatment periods and severe side effects. The slow development of anti-TB drugs cannot combat the fast development of drug resistant M. tuberculosis strains from multidrug-resistant (MDR) into extensively drug resistant (XDR), which further hinders the World Health Organization’s goal to end the global TB pandemic by the year 2035. Flavonoids are a type of natural product with …

Does Diet Effect The Brain?, Janna Hart

Student Research Symposium

Short-chain fatty acids are biomolecules produced from bacterial fermentation of dietary fiber in the gut. Short-chain fatty acids are used in the gut to supply energy and reduce inflammation but are also believed to have effects on the brain. While we do not know how short-chain fatty acids affect the brain and behavior, recent research has led to the idea of using dietary changes as a treatment for mental health disorders. In my research, we aimed to visualize where short-chain fatty acids act in the brain with a particular focus on neural immune cells called microglia and the neurons that …

Model Averaging In Agriculture And Natural Resources: What Is It? When Is It Useful? When Is It A Distraction?, Philip M. Dixon

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture and Natural Resources

I use two examples to illustrate three methods for model averaging: using AIC weights, using BIC weights, and fully Bayesian analyses. The first example is a capture-recapture study that estimates the population size by averaging over 4 models for capture probabilities. The second is an analysis of a study of logging impacts on Curculionid weevils using a before-after-control-impact (BACI) study design. The estimated impact is averaged over 4 ecologically relevant models.

Both examples demonstrate the sensitivity of model weights, or posterior model probabilities, to the choice of prior model probabilities and prior distributions for parameters. The model averaged estimates and …

A Robust Clustering Method Using Compositional Data Restrictions: Studying Wood Properties In The Reforestation Of Portugal, Pamela M. Chiroque-Solano, Guido A. Moreira

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture and Natural Resources

Classification of multivariate observations while preserving the data’s natural restriction is a challenge. Special properties such as identifiability, interpretability, and others need to be cared for to build a new approach. To avoid these complications, many transformation algorithms have been developed to use traditional models.In this context, the aim of this work is to propose a robust probabilistic distance algorithm to classify compositional data. Based on the probabilistic distance (PD) clustering approach, the proposal identifies clusters minimizing a joint distance function, JDF, which is part of a dissimilarity measure. This measure combines the PD clustering approach with the density of …

Random Regression For Modeling Semen Fertility In Hf Purebred And Crossbred Bulls Using A Bayesian Framework, Vrinda Ambike, R. Venkataramanan, S. M. K. Karthickeyan, K. G. Tirumurugaan, Kaustubh Bhave, M. Swaminathan

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture and Natural Resources

Data on insemination records of Holstein Friesian (HF) purebred (n=45,497) and crossbred (n=58,497) collected from the BAIF Research Foundation were utilized. The conception rate was modeled as a binary trait, using linear repeatability models. Random regression models (RRM) were used to obtain the trajectory of variance components across age of the bulls. Legendre Polynomials up to order of fit of 4 were used for the random effects of additive genetic and permanent environmental effects. 200,000 Gibbs samples were generated with a burn-in of 20,000 and thinning interval of 50 using the THRGIBBS1F90 program. Heritability estimates were very low (0.1) in …

Principal Response Curve Analysis Of Arthropod Community Abundance Data With Sparse Subsets, Changjian Jiang, C. R. Brown, P. Asiimwe, Chen Meng, Adam W. Schapaugh

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture and Natural Resources

Principal response curve (PRC) analysis was applied to an assessment of the ecological impact of the genetically-modified (GM), insect-resistant, cotton MON 88702 on predatory Hemiptera communities in the field. The field community was represented by ten taxa collected ten times across the season at six sites, in which individual taxa were not observed in at least 25% of the time (unique site x collection combinations). These complete absences and those nearly so, called sparse subsets of the data in this investigation, were the result of geoclimatic and seasonal variations, which are both independent of the treatment effect for which the …

Handling Non-Detects With Imputation In A Nested Design: A Simulation Study, Rose Adjei, John R. Stevens

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture and Natural Resources

In this paper, a simulation study was conducted to assess whether it is ideal to address the issue of non-detects in data using a traditional substitution approach for non-detects, imputation, or a non-imputation based approach. Simulated data used were simple nested designs motivated by a real-life data in a study of bumble bee activity in a commercial cherry orchard by Kuivila et al. (2021). The simulated data were generated at different thresholds or censoring levels and at different effect sizes. For each simulated data, seven popular existing techniques to handle non-detects were applied: (i) Zero substitution, (ii) Substitution with half …

Overview Of Optimal Experimental Design And A Survey Of Its Expanse In Application To Agricultural Studies, Stephen J. Walsh

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture and Natural Resources

Optimal Design of Experiments is currently recognized as the modern dominant approach to planning experiments in industrial engineering and manufacturing applications. This approach to design has gained traction among practitioners in the last two decades on two-fronts: 1) optimal designs are the result of a complicated optimization calculation and recent advances in both computing efficiency and algorithms have enabled this approach in real time for practitioners, and 2) such designs are now popular because they allow the researcher to ‘design for the experiment’ by working constraints, cost, number of experiments, and the model of the intended post-hoc data analysis into …

Quantifying Impacts Of Grazing And Poor Land Management Strategies On Erosion Through A Semi-Automated Change Detection Workflow In Ka’Amola, Molokai, L. Kalai Ellis, Richard A. Gill

Utah Space Grant Consortium

A challenge faced by those working in a system plagued by non-native vegetation invasion and disturbance from ungulates is the ability to collect landscape-level information about land cover change and the mass movement of soils associated pulsed rainfall events. Our goal was to conduct high-precision change detection of land cover and surface features during a two-year period that included several mass sediment flux events associated with tropical storms. We present here preliminary results of the development and testing of a rule set based classification algorithm used to classify imagery from 2019 and 2021 of a single watershed in Molokai to …

Biophysical Factors Control Invasive Grass Hot Spots In The Mojave Desert, Tanner C. Smith, Tara B. B. Bishop, Michael C. Duniway, Ryan R. Jensen, Richard A. Gill

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Invasive annual grasses are a nuisance in the American Southwest through promotion of the grass-fire cycle. Annual grasses such as Bromus rubens, Bromus tectorum, Schismus barbatus, and Schismus arabicus have invaded the Mojave Desert and increased fire occurrence, thus it is important to identify and characterize the areas where persistent invasion has occurred and subsequently fire risk is increased by understanding the distribution of these invasive grasses. Here we use a remote sensing framework to map persistent and productive populations of invasive annual grass, called hot spots, in the entire Mojave Desert ecoregion over 12 years, identify …

Progress Report: Covid-19 Hotspot Detection In University Campus Settings, Garrett Duncan, William F. Christensen, Camilla Handley

Utah Space Grant Consortium

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a lot of disruption in the academic world. Many schools and universities shut down entirely and transitioned to online learning. As BYU made the transition back to in-person learning, the administration needed to know if there was in-class transmission happening on campus in order to regulate restrictions and keep students and faculty safe. Using demographic information about the students, we built an XGBoost model that produces an estimated probability of testing positive for each student. We incorporated engineered variables from the demographic information as well. We evaluated model fit using metrics such as AUC. Using a …

Exploration Of An Electrochemical Sensor For Continuous Monitoring Of Estradiol In Application To Fertility Tracking, Julia S. Dominesey, Shad J. Roundy

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Estradiol is one of three estrogens, the primary female sex hormone; it fluctuates diurnally, and monthly, dictating the menstrual cycle. We developed a bench-top electrochemical sensor to detect estradiol with the intention of future realization into an implantable, continuously sampling sensor to be used as an aid for fertility health. The electrochemical sensor is comprised of a three electrode system which utilizes a gold working electrode, platinum counter electrode, and Ag/AgCl reference electrode to perform cyclic voltammetry. A monolayer of estradiol aptamers and mercaptohexanethiol coat the working electrode surface. The monolayer was exposed to 10ng/mL, 100n/mL and 1,000ng/mL of estradiol. …

Thermoregulation In Deer, Elk, And Pronghorn Antelope: The Structure Of Hollow Hair And How It Helps In Winter Conditions, Taylor Millett, Wendy Schatzberg, Samuel Tobler

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Thermoregulation in animals is an adaptation made to live through hot summers and cold winters. Big game animals such as: deer, elk, and pronghorn antelope have the adaptation more commonly known as a summer coat and a winter coat. We measured and compared an animal's winter coat and summer coat using a scanning electron microscope to show why an animal can survive outdoor temperatures. We used a scanning electron microscope to identify the different topography of the individual hair and focused on the thermodynamics of each individual hair.

Microbial Diversity At Rozel Point Tar Seeps, Great Salt Lake, Utah, Cayla Martin, Jaimi Butler, Bonnie K. Baxter

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Naturally occurring tar seeps, located at Rozel Point at the north arm of Great Salt Lake, provide an opportunity to study a petroleum-rich environment adjacent to this unique hypersaline ecosystem. These seeps result from high molecular weight hydrocarbons migrating through cracks and fissures along fault lines. During high lake levels, the seeping petroleum directly enters the salty brine, but during low lake levels, it spreads along the surface of the dry lakebed forming tar seeps that are numerous and vary in size. Bacteria have been cultured previously from oil reservoirs, yet little is known about microorganisms that live in natural …

Life Will Find A Way: Investigating Entombed Microorganisms In Gypsum At Great Salt Lake As A Model For Studies Of Gypsum On Mars, Paulina Martinez-Koury, Bonnie K. Baxter

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Great Salt Lake (GSL) is the second saltiest lake in the world, whose hypersaline geochemistry, high UV irradiation and volatile climate coalesce into a fascinating and extreme environment. The genetic diversity of the microbial community of GSL is primarily comprised of “salt-loving” halophiles ranging from archaea, bacteria and fungi. These organisms have the ability to live in high osmolarity brines, survive the high UV radiation and high salinity. Halophiles have “superpowers” including lifestyle flexibility that allows a state of dormancy when trapped within tiny inclusions such as small pockets of fluid or clay, in gypsum or halite minerals. The entombment …

Spatial Exploration Of Microbial Biodiversity Of Great Salt Lake, Alvin Sihapanya, Paulina Martinez-Koury, Bonnie K. Baxter

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Our research focused on the collection of water, microbialites, gypsum, and halite samples to analyze and compare the biodiversity found in each arm of the lake. Each was analyzed using various microscopy and cultivation techniques, and molecular methods to assess genetic diversity. This survey serves the purpose of seeking combinatorial methods to elucidate microbial diversity. Future work will further examine gaps in data, especially searching for overlooked fungi, protists, and cyanobacteria. How does the population of microorganisms vary among the distinct micro-environments at Great Salt Lake?

After The Fire And Flood: Tracking Wood Recruitment In The Strawberry River Watershed After The Dollar Ridge Fire, Ray Poe

Student Research Symposium

Wildfire can cause a temporary surge in wood recruitment to valley bottoms through an increase in availability and transport mechanisms. Large wood debris in stream channels and floodplains has a profound effect on riparian habitat, generally increasing geomorphic diversity and otherwise increasing ecosystem diversity and riparian heterogeneity (Gurnell, 2013, Manners et al, 2007). Floods laden with large woody-debris also pose a significant risk to property and infrastructure (Rigon et al, 2012). Such processes and hazards are exemplified by the 2018 Dollar Ridge Fire in the Strawberry River watershed in Duchesne County, UT. Shortly after the fire, a 50-year recurrence interval …

Novel Nano-Sized, Chitosan-Coated, Meta-Vivianite And Its Solubility In An Electrolyte Solution And A Soil Saturated Paste Extract, Li-Ting Yen

Student Research Symposium

Iron (Fe) plays a vital role in plant growth as an essential micronutrient. However, Fe deficiency is common in plants cultivated in calcareous soils due to the formation of insoluble Fe oxides at high pH. Phosphorus deficiency (P) is also common in calcareous soils due to precipitation with calcium and or sorption to mineral surfaces. Metavivianite (metaVT) is a hydrated iron phosphate mineral containing both ferrous and ferric iron (Fe3-x2+Fex3+(PO4)2(OH)x∙(8-x)H2O). Chitosan (CTS), the N-deacetylated derivative of chitin, has antifungal and antibacterial properties in various applications, and it has been reported that chitosan improves plants’ defenses against a wide range of …

The Affect That Injuries Can Have On Collegiate Athletes Mental Health, Emily Dority

Student Research Symposium

This presentation provides research that answers the question of whether injuries affect collegiate athletes mentally. College athletes have a lot of mental challenges that they deal with behind the scenes. If an injury were to occur, the amount of stress and anxiety that the athlete feels would significantly increase. This research aims to determine if universities and colleges are providing the proper mental health resources to their student-athletes who have been affected by an injury. This research was conducted by reviewing both primary and secondary sources that provided first-hand accounts from collegiate athletes who struggled with their mental health after …

Synthetic Hagfish Slime: Mechanical Characterization, Hayden Johns, Spencer Walker

Student Research Symposium

Hagfish are ancient animals that eject a strong slime when attacked by predators. The slime that the hagfish emit is composed of protein strands that cause it to have incredible strength. To defend against foes, the Navy launches plastic ropes into the propellers of enemy warships in order to decrease the thrust of the motors. In a push to find a more biodegradable solution, the utilization of hagfish slime has shown greatpromise in stopping propellers.We hope to understand how this remarkable biomaterial withstands the impact of a sharp and quickly rotating propeller, while simultaneously reducing the thrust of the propeller. …

Utah Tick Surveillance, Keith Wilson

Student Research Symposium

As vectors of numerous dangerous pathogens, ticks are a public health concern around the world. In Utah, investigations are currently underway to determine the abundance of ticks in publicly accessible wilderness, as well as their capacity to be reservoirs for B. burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease. Current investigations are follow-up to prior surveillance in Utah and will help illuminate changes in tick distributions over time. The findings of these investigations will be of great value not only to researchers but also to the public as they recreate in tick habitat. This project presents one way to condense and …

What Makes For A Good Silk?, Elijah Moss

Student Research Symposium

In Dr. Justin Jones' research lab, research is being conducted on different silks. The quality of the silk must be evaluated, and so I have identified three paragons that each silk strain is compared to: commercial viability, the efficacy of transgenic antimicrobial peptides, and tensile strength.