Digital Commons Network^™

Utah State University Commencement, 2023 – Main Campus, Utah State University

Commencement Programs

2023 Commencement Ceremony for the main campus of Utah State University.

Radon In Utah Homes, Madison Mackay

Physics Capstone Projects

Radon gas can be found nearly everywhere. It is formed by the decay of radium, which is found in rocks, soil, plants, and animals. Radon gas can become trapped in buildings and is dangerous at high levels. It is particularly known to be high in many areas of the state of Utah. It is important for the average citizen in Utah to understand more about radon and what levels they may be exposed to. An experiment was done to try an alternate, faster method of testing for radon gas. This experiment was performed in several different locations in Utah. While …

Artificial Intelligence In Landscape Architecture: A Literature Review, Phillip Fernberg, Brent Chamberlain

Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Faculty Publications

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly common in landscape architecture. New methods and applications are proliferating yearly and are being touted as viable tools for research and practice. While researchers have conducted assessments of the state of AI-driven research and practice in allied disciplines, there is a knowledge gap for the same in landscape architecture. This literature review addresses this gap by searching and evaluating studies specifically focused on AI and disciplinary umbrella terms (landscape architecture, landscape planning, and landscape design). It includes searches of academic databases and industry publications that combine these umbrella terms with the …

The Utah Statesman, May 1, 2023, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

Weekly student newspaper of Utah State University in Logan.

Examining Political Discourse On Online 8kun And Reddit Forums, Braden Mindrum

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A recent example of political violence in the United States was that of the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack in connection with the certification of Joseph R. Biden’s victory over Donald J. Trump in the 2020 US presidential election. This thesis analyzes the events of January 6, 2021, through the lens of social media discourse. This thesis presents a workflow that acquired over 5 million 8kun and Reddit posts from various apolitical and political forums in the three months preceding and following the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021. Techniques from text analysis are then used to group forums according …

Cross-Boundary Stewardship In Protected Area Centered Ecosystems: Perceptions Of Success And Characteristics Of Cooperative Engagement, Ryan D. Tarver

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The legal boundaries of protected areas, such as national parks are established and enforced by humans. Therefore, jurisdictional boundaries are ultimately have human meaning but not necessarily ecological relevance as natural phenomena such as watersheds and wildlife habitat often extend beyond a jurisdictional boundary. When considering the extent of natural system, we find that protected areas only make up part of a given ecosystem. The result is a large expanse of lands that fall under a various ownership types that include both publicly and privately designated tracts of land. This presents a management challenge when attempting to manage at the …

Effect Of Increasing Levels Of Gossypol And Fatty Acids Coming From Whole Cottonseed On Rumen Fermentation, Nutrient Digestibility And Microbial Community Composition In Continuous Culture Fermenters, Camila Castro Veloz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In this study we determined the impact of increasing dietary whole cottonseed (WCS) on rumen fermentation, nutrient digestibility, and microbial community composition. This study contributes novel information to the dairy community deepening the understanding of how including different levels of WCS can affect the rumen environment. This research was conducted in continuous culture fermenters. Treatments included a control diet without WCS, or the control diet plus 5, 10, or 15% (dry matter) WCS. The control diet was a 50:50 orchardgrass hay:concentrate mixture fed twice daily. In the second experiment, soybean meal and cottonseed meal (CSM) were included, and rations were …

Characterization Of Neutrophil Extracellular Traps In Naked Mole-Rats: A Step Towards Cancer Resistance, Thomas Abraham Smith

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, exceeded only by heart disease. One of every five deaths in the United States is due to cancer. A growing area of research involves the analysis of cancer resistant traits in other species to understand their biological mechanisms and eventually make translations to human cancer research and clinical treatment. Because of their remarkable cancer resistance, the naked mole-rat (NMR) is a prime subject for this research, and various studies have already suggested that the immune mechanisms of the NMR might be harnessed for human cancer therapies^1-4,7. …

Reason And Rationality In The Post-Pandemic Era, Jordan David Schwanke

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

This paper investigates human reason’s proper function and role in the post-pandemic era. Sections 1 and 2 analyze recent literature on Kahneman’s dual processing theory and Hugo Mercier’s and Dan Sperber’s (M&S) interactionalist approach toward human reason. Kahneman’s theory cannot explain how System 2 is still prone to make serious mistakes, and M&S provide a more plausible alternative: reasoning is all intuitive. Humans can intuit reasons for their beliefs and intuitions. But more importantly, reason is the metarepresentational ability to evaluate the strengths or weaknesses of reasons and arguments. Reason, through the process of evolution, is fundamentally used for justification …

Light Scattering From Periodic, Conducting Nanostructures, Wesley Kenneth Mills

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

A material with broadband light absorbing capabilities has the potential for much usefulness in devices such as photovoltaics and thermoelectrics. By energy conservation, a non-transparent material with low reflectance will be highly absorbing. Thus, much research has been devoted to understanding what makes material having low reflectance across a wide wavelength spectrum.

The importance of a material’s electronic structure in determining reflectance is well-established. Current research is revealing the additional importance of surface architecture in the reflective properties of a material. A metasurface is a two-dimentional material with physical features at or smaller than the wavelength of light considered. These …

Protein Nutrition And Immunity In Male Bumblebees (Bombus Impatiens), Carson Stoker

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Male bumble bees play a vital but understudied role in their colonies. They are essential to colony reproduction and success, despite not emerging until the end of the colony's life cycle. Even so, the biology of male bumble bees is not well understood, which leaves our understanding of colony health incomplete. This knowledge gap is important because bumblebee populations are declining, which threatens the ecosystems and industries which rely on them for pollination. This study aimed to understand how two understudied factors of bumble bee health—diet and immunity—are related in males. Pollen, a bee’s main source of protein, has been …

Working Like A Dog: Literary Analysis Of Multifactorial Service Dog Outcomes., Sarah Brinck

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

What makes a service dog successful? Whether it is genetics or the environment they are raised in, the definition of a successful service dog is complicated. Organizations that set out to train service dogs depend on successful outcomes to continue operating. That makes it particularly important to determine and understand the primary factors that impact the success or failure of dogs bred and/or trained for service dog programs. Given the complexity of the requirements for effective service dogs, it can be costly for an individual or an organization to neglect any factors that contribute to success. Individual components of what …

Digital Collaborative Language Learning And Augmented Reality, Matthew Taylor

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

This portfolio is a collection of works written by the author as he was studying in the Masters of Second Language Teaching program at Utah State University. The focus of these works is on technology and its impact on language learning. The first few sections consist of an introduction to the portfolio, a few pages dedicated to the author’s philosophy on second language teaching, and details and insights from an observation of a teacher in practice while in the program. The following section comprises the bulk of the portfolio and includes a paper devoted to augmented reality’s place in digital …

Exploring Multiliteracies And Other Approaches To Second Language Teaching, Saralee Dunster

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

This teaching portfolio offers a selection from the author’s graduate coursework, teaching experience, and research undertaken while enrolled in the Utah State University Master of Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program. The documents included are a reflection of her pedagogical approach and teaching practice, developed through varying contexts of professional experiences, including teaching English and French as a second language. This portfolio includes: reflections on the author’s teaching environment, a teaching philosophy statement, a professional development peer observation, a reflection paper that demonstrates the author’s experiences teaching with stories within the context of the multiliteracies framework, specifically multimodal fairy tales with …

Development Of Secondary Special Education Science Assessments And Curriculum Map, Heather Thompson

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

This project explores and develops science curriculum for secondary students with severe special needs. It identifies why science is important for this demographic as well as what students and teachers need to improve science instruction within that setting. The project provides a curriculum map with leveled access to each of the Essential Elements detailed by the state throughout an academic year. It also provides leveled common assessments to us in conjunction with that map in order to facilitate a continued share from success growth mentality.

Falling Into The Rhetorical Black Hole: Navigating Language, Terms, And Rhetoricity In Madness And Disability, Taylor Wyatt

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

Language enables communities to develop meaning and interpretations of words. Language practices and meanings can change through and with discourse among communities. This rhetorical thesis expands on Catherine Prendergast’s theory of the rhetorical black hole — a phenomenon where folks can find themselves without the means to operate rhetorically, as some audiences are unwilling to engage. I argue the rhetorical black hole is not a binary, and I call for further considerations of intersectionality in understanding the impacts of the rhetorical black hole. James A. Berlin’s New Rhetoric is used to demonstrate the meaning making power of terms and language …

Teaching Reflection On Collaborative Writing In The Spanish Second And Third-Grade Dli Classroom, Lucía Martín García

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

This portfolio was written and compiled by the author while completing the Utah State University Masters in Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program. The documents included are: a discussion of the author’s teaching environment and experience, a teaching philosophy statement of the approaches that inform the author’s teaching practice, a required professional development peer observation of another instructor, a main paper that investigates benefits of and strategies for collaborative writing in the L2 classroom, and a statement of personal goals for the future. In the main paper, the author offers a concise literature review and a reflection on collaborative writing strategies …

An Integrated Experimental And Modeling Approach To Design Rotating Algae Biofilm Reactors (Rabrs) Via Optimizing Algae Biofilm Productivity, Nutrient Recovery, And Energy Efficiency, Gerald Benjamin Jones

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

Microalgae biofilms have been demonstrated to recover nutrients from wastewater and serve as biomass feedstock for bioproducts. However, there is a need to develop a platform to quantitatively describe microalgae biofilm production, which can provide guidance and insights for improving biomass areal productivity and nutrient uptake efficiency. This paper proposes a unified experimental and theoretical framework to investigate algae biofilm growth on a rotating algae biofilm reactor (RABR). The experimental laboratory setups are used to conduct controlled experiments on testing environmental and operational factors for RABRs. We propose a differential-integral equation-based mathematical model for microalgae biofilm cultivation guided by laboratory …

"The Observation Of Trifles": Culinary Knowledge In Detective Fiction, Emily Powell

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

Food in detective fiction functions in multiple ways. It can heighten realism, enhance the setting, and even act as a murder weapon. While there are books and published articles dedicated to analyzing food as a literary device in detective fiction, this essay investigates how the culinary knowledge of a detective can signify larger ideological meanings regarding gender, class, and identity. For example, a dinner of curried mutton acts as a clue to the mystery for Sherlock Holmes in “Silver Blaze,” but for readers the meal can illustrate Holmes’s relationship with Victorian masculinity and imperialism. This essay builds on the work …

Guiding The Future Of The Cache County Fairgrounds, Logan Hall

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

The County fairgrounds have been a fixture in Cache Valley, Utah for over 100 years. They provide a valuable resource to the community. Effective planning can ensure the appropriate use of this public asset and prevent underutilization. Modern design guidelines have been developed for other fairgrounds in the Intermountain West, but not the Cache County fairgrounds. This research is focused on developing a contemporary visioning plan to guide the growth and future of the County fairgrounds, create design guidelines for future development, and maximize the fairground’s economic potential. The methodology used to develop this plan involved an extensive review of …

Becoming “Living Matter”: Alive Things In Octavia Butler’S Xenogenesis Series, Zackary Gregory

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

This project seeks to explore the ways Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis trilogy complicates humans' understandings of subjectivity and human exceptionalism by challenging the concept of Otherness. Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis series focuses on adaptability and acceptance of the nonhuman Other by depicting a forced encounter between humans and an alien species called the Oankali. Characters within the series grapple with a dynamic understanding of themselves, having to renegotiate the concept of the Other as they deal with intelligent nonhuman Beings and animate objects. Further, characters in the series are coerced into accepting the transformation of humanity into something other than human as …

Trial Spacing And The Conditioned Motivational Effects Of A Food-Predictive Cue, Gabrielle M. Sutton

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Stimuli in the environment can come to influence motivation and behavior through a process known as Pavlovian conditioning. During Pavlovian conditioning, stimuli in the environment come to predict the availability of a reward. Two different procedures are used to investigate how stimuli can modify ongoing behavior and reward consumption, known as Pavlovian-instrumental transfer and potentiated feeding, respectively. In other procedures that investigate how stimuli modify behavior, certain time intervals during Pavlovian training can influence how much a stimulus can modify behavior. One of those intervals is the time between the presentation of a stimulus and the associated reward. This interval …

Local And Regional Landscape Characteristics Driving Habitat Selection By Greater Sage-Grouse Along A Fragmented Range Margin, Aidan T. Beers

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In response to ongoing landscape change, wildlife species are likely to respond in varied ways. By studying habitat specialists, we are able to better understand the most likely ways in which the denizens of threatened ecosystems will react to those changes. Among the most threatened ecosystem types in North America are sagebrush ecosystems of the Intermountain West, where one of its most well-known residents, greater sage grouse (hereafter, “sage-grouse), have lost more than 50% of their habitat due to fire, invasive species, climate change, encroachment by coniferous forests and avian predators using it, and human-caused landscape conversion. Sage-grouse rely on …

An Evaluation Of U.S. Horseback Riding Instruction Certifications: Availability, Acquisition, Barriers, And Industry Need, Makenna L. Osborne

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this mixed-methods study is to analyze the U.S. equine industry’s availability of riding instruction certification options, describe the relationship between professional certification and the self-efficacy of horseback riding instructors in the U.S., and explore the expectations that consumers have of instructors and instructor selection criteria. Two surveys were developed and sent out to instructors and consumers aligned with the research objectives designed to collect information on instructors’ self- perception of self-efficacy after certifying their perceived barriers to receiving certification, and consumers’ selection criteria for instructors. The average certified instructor was extremely satisfied with their decision to pursue …

Establishment Of A Transgenic Human Angiotensin Converting Enzyme-2 Hamster Infection Model For The Evaluation Of Therapeutics Against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2, Scott A. Gibson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The virus SARS-CoV-2 emerged in late 2019 and has gone on to spread throughout the global population. The virus is still the cause of a healthcare crisis two years after being identified. Viral infection in humans leads to the development of the disease COVID-19. A complex disease that can result in a wide variety of outcomes for infected individuals. In the majority of individuals, COVID-19 will manifest as either an asymptomatic disease state or a mild to moderate disease state that is resolved in approximately one week. In some infected patients COVID-19 will manifest with the rapid onset of severe …

We Travel Together: Examining The Drivers And Functions Of Animal Movement In Biotic Seed Dispersal, Binod Borah

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Plants and frugivorous animals exist in mutually beneficial relations, as these animals feed on fruits, ingest the seeds, and carry them away from the parent trees. Such dispersion of seeds over space helps them colonize new habitats, escape high mortality rates near their parent trees, and avoid competition with conspecifics. Therefore, seed dispersing animal movement can be critical for the persistence of plant populations. Yet what drives such seed disperser movement is often less understood and how it affects seed dispersal is little explored. In my dissertation, I investigate multiple drivers of seed disperser movement, link movement to potential seed …

Thermal Tolerance, Physiology, And Microhabitat Use Of Eleutherodactylus Coqui Across An Elevational Gradient In Hawai‘I, Jack Marchetti

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The coqui frog (Eleutherodactylus coqui) is an invasive species in Hawai‘i, and has spread across much of the island. While elevational temperature differences are thought to restrict the coqui’s spread, it is unclear if they have resulted in changes to the coqui’s physiology and microhabitat use as it has expanded into higher elevations.

We first sought to determine if the coqui’s substrate use and baseline physiology differs between elevations. We found that frogs at high elevation were found closer to the forest floor and used different substrates than frogs from low and mid-elevations. This change in microhabitat use …

The Effects Of Recent Climate Change On Spring Phenology, With A Special Focus On Patterns Of Bee Foraging, Michael Stemkovski

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The date on which plants flower and on which bees begin to pollinate varies year-to-year depending on differences in weather. This seasonal timing is known as phenology, and it is already clear that climate change has pushed the spring phenology of many species earlier by increasing temperatures. This is particularly clear in flowering plants, but studying how and why the phenology of pollinators is shifting is more difficult. Most flowering plants rely on pollinators such as bees for their reproduction, and most bees rely on flowers for their sustenance, so bee and flower phenology has to overlap for the crucial …

The Barriers To Movement: The Effects Of Anthropogenic Linear Features On The Space-Use Behaviors Of Mule Deer And Pronghorn In Utah, Ronan B. Hart

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Human development of structures like roads, fences, and other linear features can make it difficult for animals to move around their environment, affecting their ability to find food and avoid danger. Animal movement and the way they use space comes about from their responses to their surroundings and their choices to balance risk and reward. Because of this, we can understand how roads and fences affect wildlife by studying the way they move around their habitats. In this thesis, I focused on two large herbivores, mule deer and pronghorn, and studied how they use the space within Utah, United States …

Student Perceptions Of Male And Female Instructors In A Post-Secondary Welding Course, S. Kjersti R. Decker

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Agricultural mechanics and welding have traditionally been perceived to be careers reserved for males, yet more females have entered professions using welding such as agricultural education. This research was developed because of the lack of gender research in welding. The purpose of this study was to examine students’ perceptions of learning from a male instructor versus a female instructor in a post-secondary welding course. We examined associations and differences between students’ preference of a male and a female welding instructor as well as individual self-efficacy and perceptions towards using welding technology. The population for this study was undergraduate students and …