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Faculty Senate Executive Committee Agenda March 18, 2024, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

• 3:30 Call to Order
• 3:35 University Business
• 3:55 Faculty Senate Business
• 4:10 Information
• Education Policies Committee
• Presidential Investiture
• Limited English Proficiency (LEP)
• 4:20 Reports
• 4:20 Old Business
• 4:25 New Business
• Administrator Evaluation Discussion
• Faculty Code 409 & 410
• Faculty Senate President Elect
• Adjourn: 5:00 pm

Understanding Lightning Damage Formation In A Carbon-Epoxy Pultruded Rod Stitched Efficient Unitized Structure (Prseus) Composite, Dounia Boushab, Aniket Mote, Khari Harrison, Juhyeong Lee, Charles U. Pittman Jr., Thomas E. Lacy Jr.

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

Lightning damage to composite aircraft structures results from a concurrent and sequential interaction between arc discharge multi-physics and the anisotropic electrical and thermal composite properties. In this study, the impact of nominal 50 and 125 kA lightning strikes on damage formation in a carbon-epoxy Pultruded Rod Stitched Efficient Unitized Structure (PRSEUS) was investigated. A combination of visual inspection, ultrasonic phased array testing, destructive sectioning, and various microscopy techniques was employed to characterize the damage. Localized damage, including severe matrix decomposition, melting of polyester warp-knitting yarns, fiber splitting, and large-scale delamination, was confined to the immediate vicinity of the lightning attachment …

Curriculum Subcommittee Minutes March 7, 2024, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

• Approval of Minutes – February 1, 2024
• Program Proposals

• Semester Course Approval Reviews: https://usu.curriculog.com/

• Other Business

• Course Requests (Deadline) – Toni Gibbons

• Adjourn: 2:50 pm

Educational Policies Committee Minutes March 7, 2024, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

• Approval of Minutes – February 1, 2024
• Subcommittee Reports
• Curriculum Subcommittee (Chad Simon)
• Program Proposals
• Academic Standards Subcommittee (Renee Galliher)
• General Education Subcommittee (Matt Sanders)
• Other Business
• Course Requests (Deadline) – Toni Gibbons
• Adjourn: 4:00 pm

“It Is Luring You To Click On The Link With False Advertising” - Mental Models Of Clickbait And Its Impact On User’S Perceptions And Behavior Towards Clickbait Warnings, Ankit Shrestha, Arezou Behfar, Mahdi Nasrullah Al-Ameen

Computer Science Student Research

Clickbait, a social engineering attack performed through social media, tricks users through sensationalized or misleading posts into clicking on links that direct them to malicious websites. With the recent boom in social media, clickbait has become a substantial security concern, necessitating efforts from platforms and academia to control it. Despite these attempts, clickbait is effective due to the lack of users’ knowledge. Therefore, we explore user mental models (thought processes about how something works) about clickbait to analyze their deficiencies and their influences on users’ behavior towards clickbait warnings. To this end, we conducted an online study with 770 participants …

Satellite Cluster Flight Using Guidance Trajectory And Model Predictive Control, Tyson K. Smith, John Akagi, Greg Droge

Space Dynamics Laboratory Publications

This paper presents a model predictive control based framework that is used in conjunction with a polytope boundary constraint and the Hill- Clohessy-wiltshire equations to maintain a desired formation of a cluster of spacecraft while also allowing freedom to maneuver within the allowable bounds. A fuel optimal guidance trajectory is generated and the model predictive control framework controls to this desired trajectory. The operational polytope boundaries enable the predictive framework of the model predictive control to be used to make small maneuvers to correct perturbations from its desired trajectory. The boundaries are designed such that no two agents have overlapping …

The Utah Statesman, March 4, 2024, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

Weekly student newspaper of Utah State University in Logan.

Towards The Design And Evaluation Of Clickbait Education Content: Leveraging User Mental Models And Learning Science Principles, A. Shrestha, A. Flood, B. Hackler, Arezou Behfar, M. N. Al-Ameen

Computer Science Student Research

Clickbait refers to sensationalized or misleading post on social networking sites (e.g., Facebook) that can trick users into clicking on malicious links. Clickbait is often used in cyberattacks, especially to conduct 'social engineering attacks' that direct users to malicious websites, resulting in disclosure of users' personal information or installing malicious software (i.e., malware). Thus, clickbait has become a major security concern with the recent boom in social media use. Therefore, security education has become necessary more than ever for the safe and secure use of social media, where there is dearth in security education literature to explore how we could …

Faculty Senate Agenda March 4, 2024, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

• 3:00 Call to Order
• 3:05 University Business
• 3:25 Faculty Senate Business .
• 3:35 Information
• 3:40 Reports
• 3:55 Old Business
• 4:05 New Business
• Adjourn: 4:30 pm

Educational Policies Committee Agenda March 7, 2024, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

• Approval of Minutes – February 1, 2024
• Subcommittee Reports
• Curriculum Subcommittee (Chad Simon)
• Program Proposals
• Academic Standards Subcommittee (Renee Galliher)
• General Education Subcommittee (Matt Sanders)
• Other Business
• Adjourn: 4:00 pm

Curriculum Subcommittee Agenda March 7, 2024, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

• Approval of Minutes – February 1, 2024
• Program Proposals

• Semester Course Approval Reviews: https://usu.curriculog.com/

• Other Business

• Adjourn: 3:00 pm

Investigating An Acceptance And Commitment Therapy-Based Exposure Therapy Intervention In Treatment-Refractory Ocd And Related Disorders: Changes In Psychological Flexibility, Treatment Engagement, And Treatment Perceptions, Nate G. Gruner, Jenifer M. Cullen, Jesse M. Crosby, Stephanie N. Decross, Brittany Mathes, Lauryn Garner, Christina Gironda, Yuanjun Hu, Jason W. Krompinger, Jason A. Elias, Michael P. Twohig

Psychology Faculty Publications

While exposure therapy is the most effective psychological treatment for obsessive-compulsive, anxiety, and traumatic stress-related disorders, it is not universally effective, indicating a need for further treatment optimization. This study investigated a shift in approach to exposure therapy with 29 treatment-refractory adults in an OCD clinic not responding to standard treatment, comprising habituation-based exposure therapy. Participants completed a standard exposure as continuation of standard clinic treatment, followed by an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) consultation session to assess psychological inflexibility processes interfering with treatment progress, and then an ACT-based exposure targeting behavior change through increasing psychological flexibility. After each exposure, …

An Examination Of Psychological Flexibility As A Mediator Between Mental Health Concerns And Satisfaction With Life Among Autistic Adults, Ty B. Aller, Heather H. Kelley, Tyson S. Barrett, Benjamin Covington, Michael E. Levin, Maryellen Brunson Mcclain

Psychology Faculty Publications

Background: Experiencing mental health concerns (e.g., depression, anxiety, stress) can have negative effects on satisfaction with life (SWL) for autistic adults. Current mental health supports that may promote SWL do not effectively meet the needs of autistic adults, often due to deficits-based approaches. Methods: To begin addressing the gap in research surrounding mental health supports among autistic adults, we designed a preregistered longitudinal study that used structural equation modeling to assess 289 autistic adults from the Simons Powering Autism Research (SPARK) program to determine if progress toward ones values, a strengths-based component of psychological flexibility, is a potential …

Anomaly Detection On Small Wind Turbine Blades Using Deep Learning Algorithms, Bridger Altice, Edwin Nazario, Mason Davis, Mohammad Shekaramiz, Todd K. Moon, Mohammad A. S. Masoum

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Wind turbine blade maintenance is expensive, dangerous, time-consuming, and prone to misdiagnosis. A potential solution to aid preventative maintenance is using deep learning and drones for inspection and early fault detection. In this research, five base deep learning architectures are investigated for anomaly detection on wind turbine blades, including Xception, Resnet-50, AlexNet, and VGG-19, along with a custom convolutional neural network. For further analysis, transfer learning approaches were also proposed and developed, utilizing these architectures as the feature extraction layers. In order to investigate model performance, a new dataset containing 6000 RGB images was created, making use of indoor and …

The Utah Statesman, February 19, 2024, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

Weekly student newspaper of Utah State University in Logan.

A Relational-Cultural Approach To Examining Concealment Among Latter-Day Saint Sexual Minorities, Samuel Skidmore, Sydney A. Sorrell, Kyrstin Lake

Psychology Student Research

Sexual minorities often conceal their sexual identity from others to avoid distal stressors. Such concealment efforts occur more frequently among sexual minorities in religious settings where rejection and discrimination are more likely. Using a sample of 392 Latter-day Saint (“Mormon”) sexual minorities, we assess (a) the effect of religious affiliation on concealment efforts, (b) the relationship between social support, authenticity, and religious commitment on concealment, and (c) the moderating effect of authenticity on religious commitment and concealment. Multi-level model analyses revealed that religious affiliation alone accounted for over half (51.7%) of the variation in concealment efforts for Latter-day Saint sexual …

The Domestication Of Machismo In Brazil: Motivations, Reflexivity, And Consonance Of Religious Male Gender Roles, H. J. François Dengah Ii, William W. Dressler, Ana Falcão

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

The relationship between culture and the individual is a central focus of social scientific research. This paper examines motivations that mediate between shared culture norms and individual actions. Inspired by the works of Leon Festinger and Melford Spiro, we posit that social network conformation (the perceived adherence of one’s social network with norms) and internalization of cultural norms (incorporation of cultural models with the self-schema) will differentially shape behavior (cultural consonance) depending on the domain and individual characteristics. For the domain of gender roles among Brazilian men, religious affiliation results in different configurations of the individual and culture. Our findings …

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Agenda February 20, 2024, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

• Call to Order
• Approval of Minutes - January 22, 2024
• University Business
• Faculty Senate Business
• Information
• Education Policies Committee - December 7, 2023 | January 4, 2024
• New Limited English Proficiency (LEP) Policy
• Reports
• Faculty Diversity, Development, & Equity Annual Report
• Parking and Transportation Committee Annual Report
• Sustainability Council Annual Report
• Old Business
• Update on IRB Ad Hoc Committee
• Update on Faculty Code 405
• New Business
• 
  Faculty Code 407 Redline - Clean | 408 Redline - Clean
• Adjourn: 5:00 pm

Creation Of A Southwestern Authors Archive: Revisiting The Laverne Harrell Clark Collection Ten Years Later, Erin R. Wahl, Pamela Pierce, Wendy Burk, Julie Swarstad Johnson, Sarah Kortemeier

Journal of Western Archives

This article details the processing of the LaVerne Harrell Clark Photographic Collection by University of Arizona Poetry Center librarians, archivists, and interns, and the current status and next steps of the collection. The LaVerne Harrell Clark Photographic Collection, which contains thousands of portraits and candids of poets taken circa 1960-2000 by LaVerne Harrell Clark, the Poetry Center’s first director, is deeply entwined with the Poetry Center’s institutional identity. In addition, the authors explored ways in which the collection and the institution as a whole are positioned as uniquely Western and also of national significance. Those processing the collection became interested …

Can The Impact Of Gravel Roads On Organic Layer Thickness Explain The Distribution Of Populus Tremuloides Along Road Networks In The Boreal Forest Of Eastern Canada?, Mathilde Marchais, Dominique Arseneault, Yves Bergeron

Aspen Bibliography

Roads are known to alter environmental conditions and the composition of road edge plant communities, particularly when exogenous materials are used as road surfacing. In this study, we evaluate the impact of gravel roads on the organic layer thickness (OLT) and aspen distribution in a boreal forest landscape of Eastern Canada. The OLT and aspen distribution were compared at different distances from the roads (0 m, 10 m, and >10 m) to determine whether a reduction in the OLT along the roads could explain the distribution of aspen along the road network, and in particular the role of the roads …

Generalized Linear Targeting For Cislunar Flight, David Geller, Brayden Barton, David Woffinden

Space Dynamics Laboratory Publications

An important element of Artemis and NASA’s campaign to explore the Moon is the autonomous onboard two-level targeter (TLT) used during all cislunar flight phases. The function of the TLT is to autonomously recompute the burn targets for the upcoming burn (or multiple burns) in response to navigation and vehicle dispersion providing a solution that meets all trajectory constraints. Although the TLT has been utilized previously as a ground-based planning tool, and flown onboard during the Artemis I mission, it’s complexity and iterative nature make is difficult to incorporate into and support rapid analyses such as robust optimal trajectory design …

Educational Policies Committee Minutes February 1, 2024, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

• Subcommittee Reports
• Curriculum Subcommittee (Mateja Savoie-Roskos)
• Academic Standards Subcommittee Report (Renee Galliher)
• General Education Subcommittee Report (Matt Sanders)
• Other Business

Safety And Health Management Planning For Veterinarians, Jessie Salter, Michael Pate, Kerry A. Rood

All Current Publications

Veterinary staff health and safety are of primary importance to the profession. Although this is inherently understood, oftentimes, staff safety is not given the time and resources needed to promote a safe work environment free from unnecessary risks or exposures. This handbook educates clinic leaders on valuing and creating a safety culture in practice as well as implementing appropriate safety policies and procedures. Veterinary personnel are more likely to experience a work-related injury than policemen, firefighters, and construction workers. These statistics illustrate the need for a stronger safety culture in veterinary medicine. This handbook provides an outline on how to …

Smart And Efficient Power Converters Are Required For Today’S Electricity Needs, Luke Andersen

Research on Capitol Hill

The electric grid grows in complexity as it integrates various electrical systems:  

• Renewable energy sources 
• Heavy and light-duty electric vehicles (EVs) 
• EV charging systems 
• Data centers  
• Battery systems 

The Utah Statesman, January 15, 2024, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

Weekly student newspaper of Utah State University in Logan.

Implications And Hydrographs For Two Pre-Bonneville Pluvial Lakes And Double Geosols From 14 Osl-Irsl Ages In Cache Valley, Ne Bonneville Basin, Robert Q. Oaks Jr., Susanne Jänecke, Tammy Rittenour, Thad Erickson, Michelle Nelson

Geosciences Faculty Publications

In the northeastern Great Basin, USA, thirteen new optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages and one infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) age show that two deep pluvial lakes preceded the Bonneville lake cycle in Cache Valley during marine oxygen-isotope stages (MIS) 6 (213-191 ka) and 4 (56-71 ka), respectively. Our new data define quantitative hydrographs of the Little Valley and Cutler Dam lake cycles in both Cache Valley and the main Bonneville basin. In western Cache Valley, excavation of a faulted, east-plunging spit has sequentially exposed these deposits and overlying MIS 3 Fielding humid-over-arid double geosols that end westward at a strand …

Evaluation Of First-Order Actuator Dynamics And Linear Controller For A Bio-Inspired Rotating Empennage Fighter Aircraft, Benjamin C. Moulton, Matthew W. Harris, Douglas F. Hunsaker, James J. Joo

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Student Publications and Presentations

This paper considers the problem of stabilizing a bio-inspired fighter aircraft variant at its Air Combat Maneuver Condition. The aircraft equations of motion are linearized, and an infinite-horizon linear quadratic regulator design is conducted for this aircraft. Included in the dynamics are first-order actuator models, which have the effect of slowing actuator responses. This is particularly important for the bio-inspired variant because it requires rotation of the empennage, which has relatively large inertia. The bio-inspired variant open-loop system is unstable in the short period and Dutch roll modes, which is mitigated in the closed-loop system. Monte Carlo simulation responses to …

Cambrian Trilobites From The Nounan Dolomite And Lower St. Charles Formation (Upper Marjuman To Lower Sunwaptan; Miaolingian To Furongian Series), Smithfield Canyon, Northern Utah, Frederick A. Sundberg, Hannah R. Cothren, Carol M. Dehler

Geosciences Faculty Publications

The trilobite faunas that occur with the Steptoean Positive Isotope Carbon Excursion (SPICE) at Smithfield Canyon, Utah, have been reported, but not illustrated. Given the importance of the SPICE at this section for international correlations, the trilobites from new collections from the upper Nounan Dolomite to lower St. Charles Formation at Smithfield Canyon are reported herein and integrated with the previously reported taxa. Trilobite assemblages indicate that the upper Cedaria to the Ellipsocephaloides biozones (Miaolingian Series, Guzhangian Stage to Furongian Series, Jiangshanian Stage) are present stratigraphically below or above the SPICE.

Some of the taxa reported herein may represent new …

Understanding Timing Error Characteristics From Overclocked Systolic Multiply–Accumulate Arrays In Fpgas, Andrew Chamberlin, Andrew Gerber, Mason Palmer, Tim Goodale, Noel Daniel Gundi, Koushik Chakraborty, Sanghamitra Roy

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Artificial Intelligence (AI) hardware accelerators have seen tremendous developments in recent years due to the rapid growth of AI in multiple fields. Many such accelerators comprise a Systolic Multiply–Accumulate Array (SMA) as its computational brain. In this paper, we investigate the faulty output characterization of an SMA in a real silicon FPGA board. Experiments were run on a single Zybo Z7-20 board to control for process variation at nominal voltage and in small batches to control for temperature. The FPGA is rated up to 800 MHz in the data sheet due to the max frequency of the PLL, but the …

Examining Factors Associated With The Use Of Community Food Resources: An Application Of The Andersen Model To Inform Future Interventions, Abiodun T. Atoloye, Oluyemisi Akinsola, Melissa Murillo

Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Sciences Faculty Publications

The role of the food environment in shaping nutrition and health has gained substantial attention from policymakers, public health researchers, and advocacy groups. To promote equities in food access and nutrition outcomes, understanding factors linked with the utilization of local community food resources is crucial. Using Andersen’s service utilization model, we explained how adults use their neighborhood food resources. In a cross-sectional study design, an online survey was conducted in REDCap Version 13.4.0 via the Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) involving 1830 adults with a mean age of 37.9 ± 12.1 years. Participants answered questions on predisposing, enabling, and need factors …