Digital Commons Network^™

The Long-Term Effects Of Grazing On Desert Soils In The Great Basin, Alexander Olson, Neil Hansen, Loreen Allphin, Sam Spackman

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2023

The Desert Experimental Range in the Great Basin region of southwestern Utah was created by President Hoover in 1933 to study cold-desert rangeland ecology and observe the effects of cattle and sheep grazing on the arid ecosystem. This 225 square kilometer area was initially set up with a series of paddocks and exclosures. Various grazing intensities throughout multiple seasons were permitted within the paddocks since its origin. For the purposes of this research, samples were taken within a given exclosure and the greater paddock to monitor the long term effects of grazing and its permanent or semi-permanent impacts. Samples were …

Detecting Multiple Paternity In Mule Deer: Variations Among Populations And The Ecological Significance, Madeline K. Martin, Sydney Lamb, Anna K. Monson, Paul B. Frandsen, Brock R. Mcmillan

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2023

We are interested in detecting the absence or rate of multiple paternity within mule deer populations (Odocoileus hemionus) due to 1) their unique breeding system where males mate-guard females from other males[2], and 2) the highly skewed male-biased sex ratios in populations as a result of harvest management. Comparing the rate of multiple paternity to sex ratio will suggest if harvest management is influencing long-term population genetics.

The Effects Of Initiating A 24 Hour Fast With A Low Versus A High Carbohydrate Shake On Pancreatic Hormones In The Elderly: A Randomized Crossover Study, Mckay Knowlton, Bruce Bailey, Landon S. Deru, Benjamin T. Bikman, James Lecheminant

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2023

The aim of this study is to understand how the macronutrient composition of the fast initiating meal influences glucose glucose regulating hormones during and 24 hours after a 24 hour fast in older, sedentary, and abdominally obese adults. Understanding these outcomes will inform fasting protocols such as time restricted eating and alternate day fasting, which offer potential long term health benefits.

Employing Echogenicity As A Tool To Predict Injury To Achilles Tendon, Evan Armknecht, Joshua K. Sponbeck, Steven Allen, Shayla Bott, Chris Dillon, Camille Nguyen, Annie Allen, A. Wayne Johnson

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2023

Dance is a common activity that many young women participate in around the world. While there are many beneficial aspects of participating in dance, physical activity in certain genres of dance experience high Achilles tendon loading force, which impact the risk of Achilles tendon injury.

Understanding early biomechanical predictors of tendon injury may prevent debilitating tendon injuries.

Ultrasound imaging allows for detailed analysis of tendon structure, including tendon density and water content (echogenicity).

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of pain due to Achilles tendon injury and one biomechanical property of a tendon, echogenicity.

Plantar Taping: Starting Off On The Right Foot, Tanner Krupp, Davis Waid, Jessica Stringer, Cody Messick, Dustin A. Bruening

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2023

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the mechanical effects of different taping methods on foot mechanics during gait.

Hypothesis: We hypothesized that material compliance would influence effectiveness, with longitudinal rigidity reducing arch motion.

Impact: Mechanical control of the arch may help recovery from plantar fasciitis.

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?

Urban Ecology Of Birds In Mexico City, E. Elias Johnson, Byron J. Adams, Jerald B. Johnson, J. Jaime Zuniga-Vega

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2023

How organisms persist under extreme conditions has received a lot attention in ecology. Some extreme environments are natural and pristine (e.g., Antarctica or the Atacama Desert), while others are highly impacted by humans (e.g., large cities). Unfortunately, we know little about the ecology of species that live in urban environments relative to those in pristine environments.

Physician's Perceptions On The Role Of The Family In Alleviating The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Ella Cook, Melissa Hewitt, M. Lelinneth B. Novilla

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2023

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have relied on measures such as masking, social distancing, or hand hygiene to stop the COVID-19 viral spread. While these things are important, the preventative role of the family in healthcare has untapped positive potential. Research suggests that when the family is involved in the treatment process, (Tayo et al., 2022) it becomes a medical and social tool in the effort to ensure safe prevention of disease and accurate public health education to prevent unnecessary damage and death. (Prime et al., 2020)

The Making Of A Dichotomous Key: Challenges And Opportunities, Anna Pugmire, Raechel Hunsaker, Ashlyn Baker, April Hulet

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2023

Dichotomous keys are tools that use paired statements to identify organisms. Botanical Dichotomous Keys focus on botanical structures within the paired statements and enable a user to identify a variety of plant species. Within the range management community, dichotomous keys are often used to identify plants while in the field. Identifying unknown plant species in the field is important for assessing potential fire fuel, and creating habitat or livestock management plans. In a survey of wildlife and wildland conservation students at BYU, students were asked to describe their opinion of dichotomous keys in 3-4 words. The most common responses were: …

Detecting And Characterizing Multisensory Integrating Optic Tectum Neurons In Zebrafish, Adeline Hamilton, Karianne Jex, Erika C. Marks., Suehelen A. Garcia, Jordan T. Yorgason, Tracianne B. Neilsen, Arminda Suli

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2023

The superior colliculus (SC) is a mammalian midbrain structure involved in multimodal sensory integration and is implicated to have a role in neurodevelopmental disorders. Although the presence of multisensory integrating neurons (MINs) in the SC has been well documented by electrophysiology techniques, little is known about their morphological or molecular characterization. To identify and study MINs, we utilized SC’s non-mammalian homologous structure–the optic tectum (OT)–in the genetically tractable model organism zebrafish. In this process, we generated transgenic lines that allowed for fluorescent detection of neuronal activity by expressing the genetically engineered calcium indicators: cytoRGECO and H2B-jRGECO1a, respectively in mechanosensory hair …

Is God A Magician Or Scientist?, Sarah Palmer, Josh Oliver, Jessica Abele, Jamie Jensen Ph.D

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2023

There is a body of evidence in biology education indicating that most American undergraduate students believe evolution acceptance to be an aesthetic position (1). Introductory biology professors at Brigham Young University have gathered essays written by students entering the class on their experiences with evolution since about 1980. Because BYU is a religious college, most of these students wrote about how their understanding of God impacts their acceptance of evolution. To learn whether student perceptions of God have changed in the past 30 years, we qualitatively analyzed these essays from a cohort of students in 1992 and another cohort of …

Heart Breaking: Rapid Discovery Of Novel Heart Development Genes In Zebrafish, Bryce Johnson, Andrew Jenkins, Ryan Halls, Cayden Bro, Jonathon T. Hill

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2023

Congenital heart defects (CHD) impact approximately 1% with BioRender.com of the U.S. population. Identifying the genes and pathways involved in embryonic heart development is essential to better diagnose and treat CHD. Previous genetic screens were nonspecific and inefficient at finding novel genes To find genes associated with CHD, we ran a novel rapid genetic screening method on zebrafish, an established model for studying human heart development.

Dyslexia Is Caused By Visual Problems That Extend Beyond Language, Adriana A. Gutierrez Rubio, Celeste Trolley, Cole Smith, Olivia Ford, Toni Brown, Steven Luke

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2023

Dyslexia is the most common learning disorder.

There are several competing theories about the root cause of dyslexia →

Each theory makes different predictions about dyslexic performance in visual search, a non-language task.

The Effect Of Menstruation Duration On The Achilles Tendon Cross-Sectional Area In Female Ballet Dancers, Li Kaitong, Aaron W. Johnson, Steven Allen, Shayla Bott, Chris Dillon, Joshua K. Sponbeck, Camille Nguyen Jones, Annie Allen

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2023

Females are more likely to suffer Achilles tendon injury that consequently leads to more complications including pain or tendon rupture, and experiencing fewer benefits from therapeutic interventions. There is a lack of knowledge on how estrogen, which may limit collagen synthesis, can affect tendon health and growth. The duration and cross-sectional area (CSA) of the Acobjective of this study is to examine the relationship between menstruation hilles tendon over a 5-month period of intensive dance training.

Mystifying Mimics: The Influence Of Distribution On Mimicry, Taylor Probst, Dallin Kohler, Alison Whiting, Jacob Searcy

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2023

Many animals display bright colors or patterns to advertise or warn predators that they are dangerous. Coral snakes effectively use bright red and yellow bands to warn of their venom. There are also many harmless snakes which try to copy or mimic the color patterns of the coral snakes to gain that same protection from predators without the venom. This is known as Batesian mimicry. It has long been thought that for mimicry to be effective, both the dangerous animals and their mimics need to be found in the same geographic area. This study focuses on two species of kingsnake, …

Covid-19 Multicultural Family Resilience, Annabeth Mathews, Oluwadamilola Obalana,, Tyler Leffler, Ella Gaskin, Cole Hansen, Gavin Speakman

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2023

The COVID-19 pandemic led to significant hardship for many people living in the United States, with economic and public health effects that continue to adversely impact many To gain a better understanding of the disruptions that resulted from the pandemic, our team sought out to discover the impact of COVID- 19 on Parenting, Family Routines, Cohesion, and Resilience in Multicultural, Interracial, Ethnic, Diverse, Immigrant, or Multigenerational Families/Households.

Thc On The Brain: Adult Vs. Adolescent Changes, Addison Smartt, Jeffrey Edwards Phd

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2023

Δ9 -tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) has been demonstrated to cause elimination of cannabinoid 1 receptor (CB1) mediated long term depression (LTD) of GABA neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) of the brain. Through electrophysiology and quantitative PCR experiments, this study reveals that LTD elimination is more pronounced in adolescents than adults, giving an explanation for the increased risk of THC dependency in adolescence. However, after a seven day withdrawal period, these effects were reversed. The data also supports the hypothesis that removal or desensitization of CB1 receptors from the synapse is an important mechanism of THC-induced neural and cognitive changes.

Custom Compression Algorithm Shows Potential To Reduce Tabular Data By A Magnitude Of 17 Using Huffman Coding And N-Grams, Maren Callaway, Stephen R. Piccolo

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2023

Read file and rearrange its contents to a json file that sorts data by column.

Implement Huffman coding using the bitarray package’s canonical Huffman function.

Use the Huffman dictionaries for each column to encode all values.

Compress each line individually using zstandard

A Transcriptomic Analysis Of Triple Negative Breast Cancer Revealing Alternative Drug Therapeutics, Mauri Dobbs Spendlove, Jenna Birchall Poulsen, Naomi Rapier-Sharman, Brett Pickett

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2023

Breast cancer is the most common tumor type in men and women combined this year the National Cancer Institute estimates there will be 290 560 new cases in the United States and 43 780 deaths 1 Triple Negative Breast Cancer ( lacks three typical surface markers of breast cancer estrogen receptor ( progesterone receptor ( and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER 2 which are common targets for endocrine or drug therapy, severely limiting TNBC treatment options 40 of TNBC patients will die within five years of diagnosis 2 Additionally, it has heightened risk for metastasis after neoadjuvant chemotherapy …

Has Coral Abundance In Hawaii Changed Since 2007?, Natalie Wride, Richard Gill Ph.D

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2023

2nd place poster design

Hypothesis: Molokai, Hawaii’s southern fringing reef has experienced a decrease in coral abundance from 2007 to 2022.

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 …

Conceptualizing Stable States In Origami-Based Devices Using An Energy Visualization Approach, Jacob Greenwood, Larry L. Howell, Alex Avila, Spencer P. Magleby

Faculty Publications

In many origami-based applications, a device needs to be maintained in one or more fold states. The origami stability integration method (OSIM) presented in this paper pro- vides an approach for graphically combining various techniques to achieve stability. Existing stability techniques are also categorized into four groups based on whether they are intrinsic or extrinsic to the origami pattern and whether they exhibit gradual or non-gradual energy storage behaviors. These categorizations can help designers select appropriate techniques for their applications. The paper also contains de- sign considerations and resources for achieving stability. Finally, two case studies are presented that use …

Designing A Makerspace, Mackenzie Dinsmoor

Instructional Psychology and Technology Graduate Student Projects

The purpose of this project was to design a makerspace in the McKay School of Education here at Brigham Young University. This project is for pre-service teachers and faculty in the Teacher Education Department primarily in the Elementary Education program.

The purpose of a makerspace is to provide students with the materials and experiences to iteratively design and create. It’s a place for hands-on learning with all the tools for creativity. Makerspaces provide creative ways to encourage students to design, experiment, build and invent as they deeply engage in science, engineering and tinkering. A makerspace is not solely a science …

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 …

Child Abuse In Residential Homes Of Ghana, Alyssa Minor

Ballard Brief

Children placed in residential homes in Ghana suffer from physical violence and physical neglect more often than children in family-based homes. In overcrowded residential homes, many basic needs are often not being met, and the use of physical violence is common due to inadequate funding, lack of training, lack of clear policies, and years of normalizing violent disciplinary actions. This problem of child abuse within residential homes of Ghana creates financial burdens on the country and negative psychosocial effects for children suffering from neglect or physical violence, hindering their ability to reach their full earnings potential. Very few interventions have …

The Role Of A Mutated Receptor, Ccrl2 And Its Correlation With A Risk Factor For Alzheimer’S Disease, Colby J. Hendrix, Christopher J. Haynie, Hunter G. Lindsay, Josue D. Gonzalez, Scott Weber

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2023

Alzheimer’s Disease ( is the most common cause of dementia, which is the 5 th leading cause of death While the exact cause of AD is unknown, many suggest that inflammation could be a culprit 1 Inflammation is driven by our immune system A key component of inflammation is chemokine signaling These signaling molecules help guide immune cells to areas of infection and damage Cells use chemokine receptors to interact with secreted chemokines (Fig 1 Left) Some chemokine receptors are identified as atypical chemokine receptors ( because they have different functions than conventional chemokine receptors in the immune system (Fig …

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 …

Rates Of Injury According To A Single Or Comorbid Mental Illness Identified In A Large Employee Database, Mckay A. Ashton, Ray M. Merrill

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2023

In 2022, almost 20% of adults in the U.S. experienced a mental illness. Some of these illnesses include anxiety, depression, ADHD, bipolar disorder, OCD, autism, and schizophrenia.

It has been found that those with a mental illness are 60% more likely to sustain an acute injury compared to those without a mental illness.

It is well known that mental illnesses are associated with injuries and that the causal direction is bidirectional.

It is not uncommon for individuals to be diagnosed with two or more (comorbid) mental illnesses at the same time, and data shows that comorbid mental illness ranges from …

Is There A Link Between Male Gonopodium Size And Mating Strategies Amongst Fish In The Family Poeciliidae?, Ryen Hunsaker, Jerald B. Johnson

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2023

Have different male mating strategies led to evolutionary changes in male gonopodium size?

Natural selection should act strongly on any traits that affect successful reproduction. Fish species in the family Poeciliidae (livebearers) have a unique form of reproduction.

Recreation Or Regression: Assessing The Effect Of Human Activities On Desert Carbon Sequestration In Bears Ears National Monument, Jansen Nipko, Elisabeth Currit, Tessa Cantrell, Shannon Lambson, Alex Long, Heather Phipps, Nathan Thompson, Ben Abbot

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2023

Map recreation activity both spatially and temporally, using recreation data from the BLM and publicly available sources.

Collect in situ data at 120 randomly selected sites using the Assessment, Monitoring, and Inventory Strategy.

Validate Landsat NDVI and SAVI imagery with in situ data

Utilize field data and NDVI & SAVI GIS analysis to compare vegetation and soil degradation in disturbed and undisturbed areas.

Extract 10cm soil core samples and run soil carbon analyses to measure carbon sequestration at each site.