Digital Commons Network^™

Sustainably Providing Accurate Local River Discharge Data With Global Hydrologic Modeling And Bias Corrections, Riley Chad Hales

Theses and Dissertations

The Global Water Sustainability Initiative of the Group of Earth Observations (GEOGloWS) supported an initiative to develop a global hydrologic model. The purpose of the modeling initiative is to build a high-quality model using the best available datasets and modeling methods with the primary emphasis on accessibility of the model. The goal is to make the model a sustainable source of river discharge information to supplement the capacity of those countries without the local capacity to maintain sufficient gauge networks and local modeling capabilities and cyberinfrastructure. Past research developed a modeling approach and piloted implementations and data and visualization services …

Limits Of Extramobile And Intramobile Motion Of Cylindrical Developable Mechanisms, Jared Butler, Larry L. Howell, Spencer P. Magleby, Jacob Greenwood

Faculty Publications

Mechanisms that can both deploy and provide motions to perform desired tasks offer a multifunctional advantage over traditional mechanisms. Developable mechanisms (DMs) are devices capable of conforming to a predetermined developable surface and deploying from that surface to achieve specific motions. This paper builds on the previously identified behaviors of extramobility and intramobility by introducing the terminology of extramobile and intramobile motion, which define the motion of developable mechanisms while interior and exterior to a developable surface. The limits of motion are identified using defined conditions. It is shown that the more difficult of these conditions to kinematically predict may …

Analysis Of The Rigid Motion Of A Conical Developable Mechanism, Mckell Woodland, Michelle Hsiung, Erin L. Matheson, C Alex Safsten, Jacob Greenwood, Denise M. Halverson, Larry L. Howell

Faculty Publications

We demonstrate analytically that it is possible to construct a developable mechanism on a cone that has rigid motion. We solve for the paths of rigid motion and analyze the properties of this motion. In particular, we provide an analytical method for predicting the behavior of the mechanism with respect to the conical surface. Moreover, we observe that the conical developable mechanisms specified in this paper have motion paths that necessarily contain bifurcation points which lead to an unbounded array of motion paths in the parameterization plane.

Staphylococcus Aureus Readily Shares Antibiotic Resistance Genes Via Transformation In Co Cultured Biofilms, Brooklyn Jones, Ashley Ball, Emillee Augenstein, Thompson Jared, Austin Wright, Brad Berges

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2023

Staphylococcus aureus (SA) is a pathogenic bacterium which affects both humans and livestock, primarily affecting the blood, lungs, and soft tissues The CDC estimates 700 000 current deaths per year in the USA that are associated with antibiotic resistance (AR) infections, rising to 10 million/year by 2050 if no action is taken. SA can gain AR by obtaining a resistance gene from another organism, however, the process of such is not well understood The purpose of this project is to elucidate the process of gaining AR genes in SA strains SA strains can form biofilms an exterior, structural film, which …

Indoor/Outdoor Ozone In Evaporative Cooler Vs Central Air Homes In Utah County, Braedon Tarone, Seth Van Roosendaal, Darrell Sonntag Phd, James D. Johnston

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2023

Research Question How do indoor and outdoor concentrations of ozone compare between homes which use central air conditioning and homes which use evaporative coolers?

Zero Torque Compliant Mechanisms Employing Pre-Buckled Beams, Pietro Bilancia, Samuel Porter Smith, Giovanni Berselli, Spencer P. Magleby, Larry L. Howell

Faculty Publications

The concept of a statically balanced mechanism with a single rotational degree of freedom is presented. The proposed device achieves static balancing by combining positive stiff- ness elements and negative stiffness elements within a nuclear domain. Two designs are discussed. The first is composed of an Archimedean spiral and two pinned-pinned pre-buckled beams. The overall mechanism is modeled via an analytical approach and the element dimensions are optimized. The optimal configuration is then tested through finite element analysis (FEA). A second approach replaces the spiral beam with elastic custom-shaped spline beams. An FEA optimization is performed to determine the shape …

Applied Machine Learning In Development Of Geospatial Information Tools For Sustainable Groundwater Management, Saul Gallegos Ramirez

Theses and Dissertations

Groundwater plays an important role in sustainable water resource management. Globally, the development of groundwater resources for irrigation provides a stable water source and enhances food security. However, developing groundwater resources is difficult, requiring the collection, synthesis, analysis, and dissemination of information about groundwater in an accessible, effective manner so decision makers have the knowledge and tools to implement sustainable management strategies. In this dissertation, I present solutions to assist with the paucity of groundwater data. The first problem I explore is extending the Palmer Drought Severity Index to near present day. This dataset is crucial to current groundwater imputation …

Religious Discrimination Against Muslims In France, Jackson Dille

Ballard Brief

Due in large part to its colonial past, France is home to one of Europe's largest Muslim populations-comprising nearly 9% of the country's population. Relations have not always been easy between France's Muslim and non-Muslim populations, and 42% of French Muslims reported feeling discriminated against in a 2019 study. The discrimination felt by French Muslims stems in large part from France's unique approach to secularism, called Laicite, blowback from recent terrorist attacks, and the stereotyping of Muslims in public discourse. Due to this discrimination, France's Muslim population faces increased economic disadvantages and a lack of representation across multiple levels of …

Front Matter

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Family Therapy And Civilization And Its Discontents, Bonnie K. Lee

Comparative Civilizations Review

Myth or history, the origin of civilization was ascribed in the Hebrew scriptures to the first couple, Adam and Eve, and to the intergenerational saga of their descendants. Civilization has been a concern of psychoanalysts since the time of Freud and Jung, the fathers of depth psychology. In their mature years, they applied their theories and observations of human nature to the tumultuous events of the First and Second World Wars.

Taking their cues, the author utilizes key concepts and insights from family therapy on couple conflict as a lens for analyzing international relations, with the goal for finding their …

Full Issue

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Alegaatr The Bandit, Ethan Pedersen

Theses and Dissertations

One design strategy for developing intelligent agents is to create N distinct behaviors. At each time step during task execution, the agent, or bandit, chooses which of the N behaviors to use. Traditional bandit algorithms often (1) assume the environment is stationary, (2) focus on asymptotic performance, and (3) do not incorporate external information available to them. Each of these simplifications limits these algorithms such that they often cannot be used successfully in practice. In this paper, we propose a new algorithm, called AlegAATr, as a step toward overcoming these deficiencies. AlegAATr utilizes a technique called Assumption-Alignment Tracking (AAT), proposed …

The Rise Of Antisemitism In Germany, Susan M. Watts

Ballard Brief

Antisemitism has been rising in Germany since the country's reunification in the 1990s. In the modern day, antisemitism takes many forms, including hate speech, violent attacks, and anti-Jewish conspiracy theories. Although antisemitism has been rising in many parts of the world, Germany's history during the Holocaust causes its rise to be especially alarming to the Jewish community. The rise in antisemitism has been caused by the internet, current events like the pandemic and the Israel-Palestine conflict, and rightwing political extremism. Due to the rise in antisemitism, the fear of harassment and violence among Jews in Germany has risen, along with …

Tracing East Asian Librarianship In Correspondence: A Data Analysis Of Eastlib Messages From 1995 To 2020, Tang Li, Junjiro Nakatomi, Xiang Li

Journal of East Asian Libraries

The Eastlib listserv, established by the Council on East Asian Libraries (CEAL) as its official mailing list in the early 1990s and hosted at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill until the end of May 2022, has been the primary communication channel for East Asian librarians in North America for nearly 30 years. In 1999, Eastlib’s functionality was enhanced to allow its subscribers and the general public to browse and search through email discussions online. However, due to unanticipated system setting changes, it was discovered in March 2020 that access to the online Eastlib archive was limited to postings …

Lists Of Selected Full-Text Databases By Subscription In East Asian Studies, Dongyun Ni, Michiko Ito, Ellie Kim, Anlin Yang

Journal of East Asian Libraries

No abstract provided.

Book Review: The Theory And Practice Of The East Asian Library: A Marginal Science, Susan Xue

Journal of East Asian Libraries

Dr. Hong Cheng, a librarian and a historian at the University of California, Los Angeles, presents a groundbreaking and thought-provoking research on East Asian libraries outside of East Asia. The most important contributions he made to the field, through this Karl Lo Award-winning book, are his exploration of a theoretical model of Glocalism for East Asian libraries and defining East Asian libraries as a marginal science.

Deeptype: A Deep Neural Network Approach To Keyboard-Free Typing, Joshua V. Broekhuijsen

Theses and Dissertations

Textual data entry is an increasingly-important part of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), but there is room for improvement in this domain. First, the keyboard -- a foundational text-entry device -- presents ergonomic challenges in terms of comfort and accuracy for even well-trained typists. Second, touch-screen smartphones -- some of the most ubiquitous mobile devices -- lack the physical space required to implement a full-size physical keyboard, and settle for a reduced input that can be slow and inaccurate. This thesis proposes and examines "DeepType" to begin addressing both of these problems in the form of a fully-virtual keyboard, realized through a …

County-Level Social Determinants Of Health And Covid-19 Health Outcomes, Bret R. Lyman

Theses and Dissertations

Social determinants of health are associated with a variety of negative health outcomes, including COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. However, most research evaluating this relationship have been case studies, retrospective cohort studies, and case series studies and/or have used use analytic techniques, such as linear regression, that can struggle to adequately model the social determinants' complex nature. This study used United States county-level social determinants of health data and March 2020-December 2020 COVID-19 morbidity and mortality data. Structural equation modeling was used to develop a latent measurement model for the social determinants of health. Substantial cross-loadings among the social determinants of …

Developing Methods For Measuring In Vivo Lipid Metabolism, Russell L. Denton

Theses and Dissertations

Lipid metabolism is critically important to the normal function of individual cells and for signaling between tissues of the human body. There is a great need to quantify changes in lipid metabolism because of its implications in both normal healthy conditions and during disease development. In our first study, we developed a liquid chromatography mass spectrometry based workflow to assess in vivo metabolism of murine brain lipids. This involved sample preparation, data acquisition, and analysis software development and improvements. Regarding sample preparation, we maintained the mice at 5% body water for the duration of the experiment. As mouse metabolism proceeds, …

Characterization Of Telsam Chaperone Linker To Improve Crystallization Resolution And Structural Elucidation Of The Hydrogenase Maturase Complex, Parag Laljibhai Gajjar

Theses and Dissertations

TELSAM crystallization can be a revolutionary tool for the facile crystallization of proteins. TELSAM can increase the rate of crystallization and form crystals at low protein concentrations without direct contact between TELSAM polymers and, in some cases, with very minimal crystal contacts overall. To further understand and characterize TELSAM crystallization, we sought to understand the requirements for the composition of the linker confirmation between TELSAM and the fused target protein. We evaluated four linkers, AlaAla, AlaVal, ThrVal, and ThrThr, between 1TEL and the human CMG2 vWa domain. We compared the number of successful crystallization conditions, the number of crystals, the …

Development Of The Tlvmie Force Field And A Standardized Methodology For Improved Pure-Component And Mixture Liquid Viscosity Predictions, Daniel J. Carlson

Theses and Dissertations

Existing viscosity prediction methods and relevant literature are reviewed. An exhaustive review of group contribution, corresponding states, and interpolative prediction methods finds that even the best of these models produces large prediction errors and often require significant experimental data. Molecular dynamics simulation techniques for viscosity prediction are evaluated and compared to one another to determine the best choice for this work. A thorough investigation finds that Equilibrium Molecular Dynamics (EMD) simulations are the best option for reproducible and reliable liquid viscosity predictions. The many tuning parameters available in molecular dynamics simulations are investigated for their effects on prediction uncertainty and …

Effect Of Carpobrotus Edulis Invasion History On Plant Communities, Claire Savage, Kelly Savage, Kane R. Keller

Western North American Naturalist

Invasive species can cause drastic changes to plant communities. In many cases, removal of invasive species fails to reverse these changes, perhaps due to side effects of removal strategies, changes that co-occurred with invasion, or legacy effects. Carpobrotus edulis is a notorious invasive species in Mediterranean-type climates around the world that alters plant communities and may generate legacy effects. We investigate the impact of C. edulis invasion, removal, and potential legacy effects on coastal plant communities. We assessed community composition, species richness, diversity, and native and exotic species cover at 5 sites differing in C. edulis invasion and removal history. …

Hard To Be Won: A Theatrical Interpretation Of Elizabeth Keckly’S “Behind The Scenes, Or Thirty Years A Slave And Four Years In The White House”, Selah Degering

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Hard to Be Won is a musical adaptation of a memoir by Elizabeth Keckly, a black woman of considerable success who earned the confidence of Abraham Lincoln and his wife, Mary, in war-torn 1860s America. My adaptation of this story showcases a new perspective: that of Elizabeth herself. Despite her memoir narrating these events in her own voice, Elizabeth as an individual has been largely ignored or misrepresented in modern, idealistic, and racially ignorant retellings and criticism. Elizabeth as a token black person in the narrative of the Lincoln household cannot stand as representation of this woman’s legacy when she …

Stockholm Headline: The Jussi Björling Museum Will Be Closed Down: “It’S Sad That There Is So Little Pride In Father There.”, Carl-Henric Malmgren

Journal of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

After 26 years the Jussi Björling museum in Borlänge will be closed down for good. Diminishing visit figures and a strained economy are the given reasons, but the handling by the local authority is questioned. “This is what always happens to culture, when the bureaucrats have free hands”, says the opera singer Marcus Jupiter.

Full Issue

Journal of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

No abstract provided.

Nonprofit Spotlight 1: The Hydrous

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

The mission of the Hydrous is to create “open access oceans” so that all people may explore, understand, and engage with marine environments, which are severely threatened by climate change and human impacts.

The Effect Of Alcohol On Lipid Membrane-Membrane Fusion And Snare Proteins, Robert E. Coffman

Theses and Dissertations

Currently the treatment of alcohol use disorder is very difficult and often requires the combination of therapy and medications, with many who undertake treatment experiencing relapse over time. There is also no treatment in use to prevent the development of alcohol use disorder. It is the aim of this work to provide information that may be useful for the development of a preventative treatment for developing alcohol use disorder by elucidating more of the acute effects of alcohol use. It is known that these effects originate in the brain. Within the brain are circuits made up of neurons that communicate …

Language Maintenance And Proficiency Of World Language Teachers, Anna E. Robison

Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this study was to examine the current proficiency strengths and weaknesses of practicing K-12 non-native WL teachers in the states of Utah and Oklahoma. Data were gathered through a survey and the OPIc diagnostic grid. The results revealed what features of Function, Accuracy, Content, and Text Type were strengths and weaknesses for OPIc ratings Intermediate High, Advanced Low, Advanced Mid, and Advanced High. The self-reported OPI scores compared to the OPIc scores found an encouraging rate of TL maintenance and improvement. The language maintenance activities reported by the participants revealed the frequency with which they engage in …

Community Detection Via Persistent Homology Surfaces, Abigail Jenkins

Theses and Dissertations

Network science continues to be an area of growing interest. In this thesis we introduce new methods of analyzing the structure of networks through the use of persistent homology. We propose the notion of a network's persistent surface, which allows us to visualize a vertex's relation to the whole network from a purely homological point of view. We further introduce a method of persistent surface community detection that finds vertices that play the same structural role in the network. We describe how these concepts provide the basis for an equivalence class among the vertices of a network, and provide many …

A Networked Radar System For Tracking Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Douglas Graff

Theses and Dissertations

Tracking small unmanned aircraft systems (SUAS) becomes increasingly important with their increased use in populated areas. We propose an effective tracking solution for SUAS using a networked system of one-dimensional scanning radars. Tracking SUAS with a network of radar systems requires extrinsic calibration of each radar to a common frame. We provide a calibration solution using an orthogonal Procrustes formulation that associates radar measurements from the ground-mounted radar to real-time-kinematic Global Positioning System (RTK-GPS) data. Two variations of the calibration are presented, an online and batch processing method. Outdoor hardware experiments validate the capabilities of the radar network in tracking …