Digital Commons Network^™

Options Pricing Through Computational Methods, Robert Petty

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The purpose of this paper is to show the practical application of computational methods to price options. Emphasis is especially given to the use of the Longstaff-Schwartz method for pricing American and exotic options. An implementation of these pricing methods in a computer program are demonstrated. The advantages of using object-oriented programming design patterns to make pricing programs more flexible and useful is also discussed.

Scholarship On Robert Burton's The Anatomy Of Melancholy, Matthew Bishop

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The history of scholarship on Robert Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy will be explored in this thesis, beginning with a biographical background of Robert Burton and a brief description of The Anatomy of Melancholy. The overall arc of scholarship on Burton’s text began with a wave of early popularity in the seventeenth century, followed by a period of critical neglect in the eighteenth century when no new editions of the book were published. A renewed interest in the Anatomy in the nineteenth century led to a flurry of Burton studies in the twentieth century. The major trend in Burton …

Econometric Modeling Of The Public Grazing Fee's Impact On The U.S. Sheep Industry, Ryan C. Feuz

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The U.S. sheep and wool industry is one of the oldest agricultural industries within the country. Since the mid 1940’s the industry has witnessed dramatic annual declines in sheep inventories. Many factors have contributed to the decline of the sheep industry including declining consumption of lamb and mutton, the growth in man-made fiber use, scarcity of labor, and predator losses. The U.S. congress has attempted to slow this decline throughout the years with various policy including the use of wool marketing loan programs. Such programs are intended to help bring stability as well as to mitigate price risk within the …

Evaluation Of The Shelf-Stability Of A High-Carotenoid Breakfast Food And Its Impact On Skin Carotenoid Levels, Dawn L. Reed

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Carotenoids are pigments found throughout nature in a large variety of plants including fruits and vegetables (F/V). Carotenoids provide much of the color we see in nature but are perhaps most noticeable in plants with yellow, orange, or red flesh. Carotenoids are antioxidants that serve as a protection against harmful ultraviolet radiation and other free radical producing processes in the body and in plant tissues. Once consumed, carotenoids are deposited in the skin, particularly in fatty tissue. Raman resonance spectroscopy (RRS) can be used to quantify skin carotenoid levels and has been proven a good indicator of F/V consumption. A …

Oocyte Quality: Molecular Constituents Altered In The Oocyte Due To Various Environmental Factors, Lindsay Cox

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

An estimated 1.6 million American couples struggle with infertility. Some causes for poor fertility can be clearly defined but in many instances, subfertility is unexplained. Poor oocyte quality is now considered to be a main contributing factor for many causes of infertility. Good oocyte quality is crucial for many processes including embryo development and maintaining pregnancy. There is a possibility that any alterations to the oocyte can have long lasting effects on embryo development and the health of the offspring. The oocyte is very sensitive to any perturbations to its surrounding environment. Transcripts for apoptosis inhibitors and epigenetic modifiers were …

Managing The Spread Of Alfalfa Stem Nematodes (Ditylenchus Dipsaci): The Relationship Between Crop Rotation Periods And Pest Re-Emergence, S. Jordan, Claudia Nischwitz, R. Ramirez, Luis F. Gordillo

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications

Alfalfa is a critical cash/rotation crop in the western region of the United States, where it is common to find crops affected by the alfalfa stem nematode (Ditylenchus dipsaci). Understanding the spread dynamics associated with this pest would allow growers to design better management programs and farming practices. This understanding is of particular importance given that there are no nematicides available against alfalfa stem nematodes and control strategies largely rely on crop rotation to non-host crops or by planting resistant varieties of alfalfa. In this paper we present a basic host-parasite model that describes the spread of the …

Engaging Educational Professionals Towards Training The Next Generation Within The Food, Agricultural, And Natural Resources Career Areas, Tyson Sorensen

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Northern Utah Grass-Fed Beef Production Costs And Returns, 2016, Kynda Curtis, Trevor Knudsen

All Current Publications

This fact sheet is intended to be a guide used to make production decisions, determine potential returns, and prepare business and marketing plans.

Southern Utah Grass-Fed Beef Production Costs And Returns, 2016, Kynda Curtis, Trevor Knudsen

All Current Publications

This fact sheet is intended to be a guide used to make production decisions, determine potential returns, and prepare business and marketing pans.

The Regeneration Of Aspen Stands In Southern Utah, Justin Britton, Justin Derose, Karen Mock, Darren Mcavoy

All Current Publications

This fact sheet describes research conducted at Utah State University that identified factors to improve the success of regenerating aspen in southern Utah. Evaluating past silvicultural regeneration treatments indicated that the presence of pre-harvest advance reproduction, site preparation by broadcast burning, and decreasing browsing pressure could increase the quantity of aspen regeneration. The outcomes are generalized into an easy-to-use model, the Aspen Pyramid, to facilitate decision-making regarding regenerating aspen.

Recreational Harvest And Incident-Response Protocols Reduce Human-Carnivore Conflicts In An Anthropogenic Landscape, Jarod D. Raithel, Melissa J. Reynolds-Hogland, David N. Koons, Patrick C. Carr, Lise M. Aubry

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Conserving viable large carnivore populations requires managing their interactions with humans in increasingly anthropogenic landscapes. Faced with declining budgets and escalating wildlife conflicts, agencies in North America continue to grapple with uncertainty surrounding the efficacy of socially divisive management actions such as harvest to reduce conflict. We used multistate capture–reencounter methods to estimate cause-specific mortality for a large sample (>3500) of American black bears Ursus americanus in north-western New Jersey, USA over a 33-year period. Specifically, we focused on factors that might influence the probability of bears being harvested, lethally managed, or dying from other causes. We further analysed …

Animating And Exploring Phylogenies With Fibre Plots, William D. Pearse

Biology Faculty Publications

Despite the progress that has been made in many other aspects of data visualisation, phylogenies are still represented in much the same way as they first were by Darwin. In this brief essay, I give a short review of what I consider to be some recent major advances, and outline a new kind of phylogenetic visualisation. This new graphic, the fibre plot, uses the metaphor of sections through a tree to describe change in a phylogeny. I suggest it is a useful tool in gaining an rapid overview of the timing and scale of diversification in large phylogenies.

Do We Need Demographic Data To Forecast Plant Population Dynamics?, Andrew T. Tredennick

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

1. Rapid environmental change has generated growing interest in forecasts of future population trajectories. Traditional population models built with detailed demographic observations from one study site can address the impacts of environmental change at particular locations, but are difficult to scale up to the landscape and regional scales relevant to management decisions. An alternative is to build models using population-level data that are much easier to collect over broad spatial scales than individual-level data. However, it is unknown whether models built using population-level data adequately capture the effects of density-dependence and environmental forcing that are necessary to generate skillful forecasts.
2. Here, …

Effects Of Road And Land Use On Frog Distributions Across Spatial Scales And Regions In The Eastern And Central United States, David M. Marsh, Bradley J. Cosentino, Kara S. Jones, Joseph J. Apodaca, Karen H. Beard, Jane Margaret Bell, Christine Bozarth, Derrick Carper, Julie F. Charbonnier, Andreia Dantas, Elizabeth A. Forys, Miran Foster, Jaquelyn General, Kristen S. Genet, Macie Hanneken, Kyle R. Hess, Shane A. Hill, Faisal Iqbal, Nancy E. Karraker, Eran S. Kilpatrick, Tom A. Langen, James Langford, Kathryn Lauer, Alison J. Mccarthy, Joseph Neale, Saumya Patel, Austin Patton, Cherie Southwick, Nathaniel Stearrett, Nicholas Steijn, Mohammed Tasleem, Jospeh M. Taylor, James R. Vonesh

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Understanding the scales over which land use affects animal populations is critical for conservation planning, and it can provide information about the mechanisms that underlie correlations between species distributions and land use. We used a citizen science database of anuran surveys to examine the relationship between road density, land use and the distribution of frogs and toads across spatial scales and regions of the United States.

Importance Of Heat And Pressure For Solubilization Of Recombinant Spider Silk Proteins In Aqueous Solution, Justin A. Jones, Thomas I. Harris, Paula F. Oliveira, Brianne E. Bell, Abdulrahman Alhabib, Randolph V. Lewis

Biology Faculty Publications

The production of recombinant spider silk proteins continues to be a key area of interest for a number of research groups. Several key obstacles exist in their production as well as in their formulation into useable products. The original reported method to solubilize recombinant spider silk proteins (rSSp) in an aqueous solution involved using microwaves to quickly generate heat and pressure inside of a sealed vial containing rSSp and water. Fibers produced from this system are remarkable in their mechanical ability and demonstrate the ability to be stretched and recover 100 times. The microwave method dissolves the rSSPs with dissolution …

The Challenge Of Climate Change Adaptation For Agriculture: An Economically Oriented Review, Bruce A. Mccarl, Anastasia W. Thayer, Jason P. H. Jones

Applied Economics Faculty Publications

Climate change is occurring. Deviations from historic temperatures and precipitation plus increased frequency of extreme events are modifying agriculture systems globally. Adapting agricultural management practices offers a way to lessen the effects or exploit opportunities. Herein many aspects of the adaptation issue are discussed, including needs, strategies, observed actions, benefits, economic analysis approaches, role of public/private actors, limits, and project evaluation. We comment on the benefits and shortcomings of analytical methods and suggested economic efforts. Economists need to play a role in such diverse matters as projecting adaptation needs, designing adaptation incentives, and evaluating projects to ensure efficiency and effectiveness.

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Agenda, November 21, 2016, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

• Retention and Student Success
• EPC Items (November)
• USUSA Annual Report
• 402.12 Senate Standing Committees (Second Reading)

Cache Symphony Orchestra, Cache Symphony Orchestra, Mark Emile, Karla Axtell, Kathleen Lloyd

All Music Department Programs

The Caine College of Arts Department of Music presents a musical concert by the Cache Symphony Orchestra. Featuring pianists Karla Axtell and Kathleen Lloyd.

Bahuchara Mata, Kunal Kanodia

Intermountain West Journal of Religious Studies

No abstract provided.

Gender And Power Dynamics, William Brown

Intermountain West Journal of Religious Studies

No abstract provided.

Imw Journal Of Religious Studies Volume 7 Number 1

Intermountain West Journal of Religious Studies

No abstract provided.

Different Prey Resources Suggest Little Competition Between Non-Native Frogs And Insectivorous Birds Despite Isotopic Niche Overlap, Robyn L. Smith, Karen H. Beard, Aaron B. Shiels

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Non-native amphibians often compete with native amphibians in their introduced range, but their competitive effects on other vertebrates are less well known. The Puerto Rican coqui frog (Eleutherodactylus coqui) has colonized the island of Hawaii, and has been hypothesized to compete with insectivorous birds and bats. To address if the coqui could compete with these vertebrates, we used stable isotope analyses to compare the trophic position and isotopic niche overlap between the coqui, three insectivorous bird species, and the Hawaiian hoary bat. Coquis shared similar trophic position to Hawaii amakihi, Japanese white-eye, and red-billed leiothrix. Coquis were about 3 ‰ …

Hydrodeoxygenation Of Pinyon Juniper Catalytic Pyrolysis Oil To Hydrocarbon Fuels, Hossein Jahromi, Foster Agblevor

Biological Engineering Faculty Publications

As a renewable source, biomass is an essential option for diminishing dependence on conventional fossil fuel energy sources. Pyrolysis is a promising technology for the conversion of biomass into liquid fuels. However, several challenges associated with using pyrolysis oils such as their high acidity and low energy content inhibit their direct use as transportation fuels. We conducted a batch hydrodeoxygenation of pinyon juniper catalytic pyrolysis oil using Ni/SiO2-Al2O3 catalyst to improve the following properties of the oil: heating value, acidity, oxygen content, water content, and viscosity. During the hydrogenation process, the influence of four experimental factors; temperature, catalyst loading, residence …

Fry Street Quartet And Friends, Fry Street Quartet, Brant Bayless, Kathryn Eberle, Jason Hardink

All Music Department Programs

The Fry Street Quartet perform with guest artists Brant Bayless on the viola, Kathryn Eberle on the violin, and Jason Hardink on the piano.

Automated Calibration Of Atmospheric Oxidized Mercury Measurements, Seth Lyman, Colleen Jones, Trevor O'Neil, Tanner Allen, Matthieu Miller, Mae Sexauer Gustin, Ashley M. Pierce, Winston Luke, Xinrong Ren, Paul Kelley

USU Uintah Basin Faculty Publications

The atmosphere is an important reservoir for mercury pollution, and understanding of oxidation processes is essential to elucidating the fate of atmospheric mercury. Several recent studies have shown that a low bias exists in a widely applied method for atmospheric oxidized mercury measurements. We developed an automated, permeation tube-based calibrator for elemental and oxidized mercury, and we integrated this calibrator with atmospheric mercury instrumentation (Tekran 2537/1130/1135 speciation systems) in Reno, Nevada and at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii, U.S.A. While the calibrator has limitations, it was able to routinely inject stable amounts of HgCl2 and HgBr2 into atmospheric mercury measurement systems …

The Utah Statesman, November 7, 2016, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

Weekly student newspaper of Utah State University in Logan.

In The Hands Of The Few: The At&T-Time Warner Merger, Rachel Robinson-Greene

Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

On October 22nd, telecommunication company AT&T and media conglomerate Time Warner, parent company of major networks like CNN and HBO, announced that they were merging. AT&T acquired Time Warner in an 85.4 billion dollar deal. Deals such as these may well be the wave of the future. Companies like Time Warner produce the content that viewers watch, and AT&T distributes it. The marriage of the two companies allows production and distribution to take place in innovative new ways. As the trend toward streaming entertainment continues, AT&T can find new ways to provide customers with convenient options to access Time Warner’s …

Educational Policies Committee Agenda, November 3, 2016, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

• Subcommittee Reports
• Curriculum Subcommittee
• Course Approvals
• Program Proposals
• Academic Standards Subcommittee
• General Education Subcommittee

Curriculum Subcommittee Agenda, November 3, 2016, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

Program Proposals

• Creating a Climate Adaptation Science specialization within eleven Master of Science and nine PhD degrees
• Offering a Master of Public Health
• Offering a Bachelor of Science in Nursing
• Changing the name of the PhD in Theory and Practice of Professional Communication to Technical Communication and Rhetoric
• Making changes in the Geography Bachelor of Science program

Semester Course Approval Reviews

Educational Policies Committee Minutes, November 3, 2016, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

• Subcommittee Reports
• Curriculum Subcommittee
• Course Approvals
• Program Proposals
• Academic Standards Subcommittee
• General Education Subcommittee