Digital Commons Network^™

Nature Writing And Healing: Recovering The Wild Soul, Denice H. Turner

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In this study, I explored how nature writing could be seen as healing text. I described some common problems associated with the construction of trauma and grief narratives and examined how nature writers dealt with them. The study began with my frustration at being unable to write a healing narrative for myself and progressed as I integrated research that informed my own writing.

The literature I read included a variety of perspectives, from Jungian and traditional psychotherapy to current writing theory. I used the theory to comment on the nature writing texts as I discovered them. Using the words and …

What We Really Value: Beyond Rubrics In Teaching And Assessing Writing, Bob Broad

All USU Press Publications

The result of a long-term study of one university's introductory composition program, Broad's approach to mapping the values that inform writing evaluation is empirically grounded, painstakingly analyzed, yet flexible, human, and pedagogically wise. Not simple, but surely practical, his method yields a more satisfactory process of exploration and a more useful representation of the values by which compositionists actually evaluate their students. With this important study, Broad moves the field far beyond rubrics in teaching and assessing writing. What We Really Value traces the origins of traditional rubrics within the theoretical and historical circumstances out of which they emerged, then …

Partial Transport In A Natural Gravel-Bed Channel, J. K. Haschenburger, Peter Wilcock

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

Partial transport is documented in the gravel bed channel of Carnation Creek using magnetically tagged stones. For four flood peaks the active proportion of surface grains was used to map streambed areas into distinct units of three different levels of grain entrainment. In partially mobile regions of the bed, the active proportion of surface grains declines with grain size. As flow increases, areas of partial transport grow at the expense of inactive areas and fully active areas replace areas with partial mobility. Approximately 25–50% of the bed remained in a state of partial mobility during a flood with a 2-year …

Pedro Pino, E. Richard Hart

All USU Press Publications

Pedro Pino, or Lai-iu-ah-tsai-lu (his Zuni name) was for many years the most important Zuni political leader. He served during a period of tremendous change and challenges for his people. Born in 1788, captured by Navajos in his teens, he was sold into a New Mexican household, where he obtained his Spanish name. When he returned to Zuni, he spoke three languages and brought with him a wealth of knowledge regarding the world outside the pueblo. For decades he ably conducted Zuni foreign relations, defending the pueblo's sovereignty and lands, establishing trade relationships, interacting with foreigners-from prominent military and scientific …

Landscape Of Desire: Identity And Nature In Utah's Canyon Country, Greg Gordon

All USU Press Publications

Landscape of Desire powerfully documents and celebrates a place and the evolutions that occur when human beings are intimately connected to their surroundings. Greg Gordon accomplishes this with a tapestry of writing that interweaves land use history, natural history, experiential education, and personal reflection. He tracks the geomorphology of southern Utah as well as the creatures and plants his student group encounters, the history lessons (planned and unplanned), the trials and joys of gathering so many individuals into a cohesive will, and his own personal epiphanies, restraints, insights, and disillusionments.

The Heritage Arts Imperative, Barre Toelken

English Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Canyonlands National Park, Robert J. Johnson, R. Douglas Ramsey

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Satellite image map of Canyonlands National Park, Utah

Late Miocene-Pliocene Detachment Faulting And Pliocene-Recent Basin-And-Range Extension Inferred From Dismembered Rift Basins Of The Salt Lake Formation, Se Idaho, Susanne U. Janecke, S. M. Carney, M. E. Perkins, J. C. Evans, P. K. Link, R. Q. Oaks Jr., B. P. Nash

Geosciences Faculty Publications

Geologic mapping, basin analysis, and tephra correlations in the Clifton and Malad City East 7.5-minute quadrangles in southeastern Idaho indicate that the modern Basin-and-Range topography is only a few million years old and was superimposed on unrelated rift basins associated with the ~12 to < 4 Ma Bannock detachment system. The Miocene-Pliocene Salt Lake Formation in the greater Cache Valley area was deposited during three sub-episodes of west-southwest extension on the Bannock detachment system.

Depositional systems within the Salt Lake Formation (>10.27 ± 0.07 Ma to < 5.1-4.4 Ma) evolved in response to the changing structural configuration of rift basins in the hanging wall of the Bannock detachment system. Early alluvial fans derived from the underlying Paleozoic rocks were replaced by broad, saline/alkaline lakes during the translation phase on the detachment fault. Later, as the hanging wall broke up internally, freshwater lakes and deltas occupied newly created NE-tilted half graben, and eventually filled them with braided streams. The Bannock detachment system collapsed the Cache-Pocatello Culmination of the dormant Sevier fold-and-thrust belt, much like the Sevier Desert Detachment collapsed the Sevier Culmination and the Wasatch Fault collapsed the Wasatch Culmination.

Deposition and tilting of the Salt Lake Formation ceased in the middle to late Pliocene (< 2 >Ma?) before uplift of the Clifton Horst along a new system of Basin-and-Range normal faults. This later episode of normal faulting uplifted and exposed metamorphic rocks in …

Maintain Hydraulic Control Using Deep Rooted Tree Systems, A. Ferro, M. Gefell, Roger Kjelgren, D. S. Lipson, N. Zollinger, S. Jackson

Plants, Soils, and Climate Faculty Publications

Groundwater phytotechnology systems are currently being used to control the migration of contaminant plumes and remove groundwater that flows into containment areas. Trees in such systems function by reducing recharge and using groundwater via transpiration. A stand of deep-rooted trees can act as a biological "pump", removing a substantial amount of water from the saturated zone. Depth to groundwater compared to rooting depth is an important consideration Many useful tree species are not naturally deep-rooted, but various cultural practices can produce trees with roots that are deep enough to tap into the water table. Hydraulic control can be calculated or …

Selection And Culture Of Landscape Plants In Utah: A Guide For High Mountain Valleys, Larry Rupp, William A. Varga, Teresa A. Cerny, Chad R. Reid, Michael R. Kuhns

CWEL Extension Fact Sheets

No abstract provided.

Influence Of Terrain On Scaling Laws For River Networks, D. A. Vasquez, D. H. Smith, Boyd F. Edwards

All Physics Faculty Publications

The upper Cheat River network departs from scaling laws describing a large number of river networks in North America. This departure is traced to its corrugated terrain. The more typical random terrain of the lower Cheat River network obeys the standard scaling laws. We modify the random network model of Scheidegger to include the effects of topography, reproducing the behavior observed in the Cheat River basin.

Effect Of Processing Conditions On Microstructure Of Milk Fat Fraction/Sunflower Oil Blends., Silvana Martini, M. L. Herrera, R. W. Hartel

Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Sciences Faculty Publications

The effect of processing conditions on the crystallization of blends of a high-melting milk fat fraction and sunflower oil was investigated. Two cooling rates were selected for all studies: 0.1°C/min (slow rate) and 5.5°C/min (fast rate). Blends were crystallized in two conditions: (i) with agitation in an 80-mL crystallizer (dynamic), and (ii) on a microscope slide without agitation (static). The selected crystallization temperatures were 25, 30, and 35°C for both cooling rates. Photographs of the development of crystals with time were taken in both static and dynamic conditions, and the crystal size distribution was determined at the moment that the …

Encountering Mormon Country: John Wesley Powell, John Muir, And The Nature Of Utah, Donald Worster

Arrington Annual Lecture

No abstract provided.

The Language Of Horticulture, Larry A. Sagers

All Archived Publications

No abstract provided.

Patterns And Processes Of Population Differentiation In The Chuckwalla (Sauromalus Obesus) In Southern Nevada, Paul C. Ustach

Biology

I examined both present-day and historical patterns in the herbivorous desert lizard, Sauromalus obesus (chuckwalla), within the Mojave Desert ecoregion in Nevada. My goal was to determine the process or processes that led to their present-day distribution. I expected to recover distinct haplotypes unique to each mountain range. These unique haplotypes were expected to reveal a pattern of geographic partitioning with sequence divergence among populations increasing as a function of distance. I characterized the distribution of chuckwallas in Nevada by means of a simple model using a geographic information system (GIS). This simple model was used to enhance sampling efficiency …

Chinese Culture And Postmodern Diplomacy, Jeremy C. Wooden

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The United States presently finds itself standing at a remarkable historical juncture. As the world's only "remaining superpower," it enjoys the benefit of military superiority, economic prosperity, and vast cultural influence. Yet despite its seeming superiority to other nations -or, perhaps, in spite of it- the future is not necessarily secured for the United States. While Americans may be able to take American power for granted, there is a general sense that the United States is either at or near the apex of its influence; that, as Samuel Huntington has argued, while the U.S. will remain strong, its strength …

Andrew Spurlock: Curious Landscapes. An Essay On The Career, Creative Thinking And Artistic Collaboration Of Andrew Spurlock, Landscape Architect., Joshua Thomas Hellewell

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Landscape architecture was not even a comprehension in Andrew Spurlock's mind when he was considering potential careers. Growing up in Bousarus, a small town sixty miles north of Columbus, Ohio, he had never heard of the field. Spurlock came across the profession indirectly while in college. His undergraduate degree is a Bachelor of Arts and he had assumed that he would enter into a career related to art or something related to English, since he thoroughly enjoyed writing, painting and drawing. The problem was that he could not think of a career related to English that he would be interested …

The Wetland Wonders Education Program: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Kristen Gilbert

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

Wetland Wonders Field Experience Program (WWFEP) at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge connects U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conservation and education goals with an educational need (understanding wetlands) in the Great Salt Lake Ecosystem by using innovative education and volunteer initiatives. The WWFEP has two principal components, the Education Program Module (EPM) and the Volunteer Instructor Module (VIM).

The EPM provides a well rounded environmental educational experience to third, fourth and fifth grade students based on constructivism, inquiry-based learning, subject integration and theoretical model of environmental education. Third graders study Wetland Creatures (adaptations and habitats), fourth graders study the …

A Macroterrain Landtype Association Classification Model For The Great Basin, Frank L. Dougher

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Three Macroterrain Landtype Association classification models were developed to stratify and categorize Utah's West Desert. These models approached terrain segmentation using an energy-flow paradigm from erosional to transitional to depositional landscape. One model was developed as a slope-backed deterministic model that used slope-threshold limits to discriminate between Landtype Associations. A second model was developed as a stochastic, training-data driven supervised classification, using comparative t-values to classify the landscape to the most similar landtype class. The third model was a probabilistic algorithm, which classified the landscape to the most probable class based on multiple iterations of the stochastic model. These …

Application Of Biophysical Data To An Unsupervised Classification To Map Ecoregional Boundaries In The Desert Southwest, Paxton R. Mcclurg

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

An unsupervised classification was applied to continuous biophysical variables in an attempt to delineate ecoregional boundaries in the desert southwest. Output was then compared with ecoregions delineated by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Forest Service at the national level. An attempt was made to use the same biophysical variables for input into the unsupervised classification as was emphasized by the various agencies with their ecoregional classifications at the desert level. Major constraints included data availability at such a large study area, data resolution, and data that were continuous. This eliminated categorical data …

Statmod: A Tool For Interfacing Arcview® Gis With Statistical Software To Facilitate Predictive Ecological Modeling, Christine M. Garrard

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

As geographical information systems and spatial data become more accessible, predictive spatial modeling in ecology is becoming more common. Unfortunately, not all ecologists possess the necessary skills to successfully combine statistical models and geographical information systems. In response to this problem, I wrote an extension for ArcView^® GIS called StatMod. This extension interfaces ArcView GIS with SAS^® and S-PLUS^® statistical software and walks the user through creating and mapping logistic regression and classification and regression tree models.

StatMod was then used to run a series of analyses that would have been difficult without such a tool. A …

Patterns And Processes Of Population Differentiation In The Chuckwalla (Sauromalus Obesus) In Southern Nevada, Paul C. Ustach

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

I examined both present-day and historical patterns in the herbivorous desert lizard, Sauromalus obesus (chuckwalla), within the Mojave Desert ecoregion in Nevada. My goal was to determine the process or processes that led to their present-day distribution. I expected to recover distinct haplotypes unique to each mountain range. These unique haplotypes were expected to reveal a pattern of geographic partitioning with sequence divergence among populations increasing as a function of distance. I characterized the distribution of chuckwallas in Nevada by means of a simple model using a geographic information system (GIS). This simple model was used to enhance sampling efficiency …

Practical Considerations In Nucleation Studies, Silvana Martini, M. L. Herrera

Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A History And Cultural Resource Site Recordation Of Ogden Center And The Home Of Truth Cooperative Settlement, Heather M. Weymouth

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

The purpose of this project was to complete an intensive level cultural resource inventory of the historic property known as Ogden Center and the Home of Truth Cooperative Settlement (Home of Truth). The goal of an intensive level inventory is to identify, record, and determine the extent and significance of a particular historic property. In order to meet these criteria, the site and associated individual features must be thoroughly documented through description, mapping, and photography. In addition to working with the on the ground, physical characteristics of the site, documentary research must be conducted in order to provide a historic …

X-Ray Diffraction And Crystal Size, Silvana Martini, M. L. Herrera

Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Sciences Faculty Publications

X-ray diffraction technique is one of the best methods to study polymorphism of fats systems. The only information authors usually report is the interplanar distances calculated from the angles at which diffraction lines appear; these clearly determine the polymorphic form. However, in many other fields using crystallography, X-ray patterns are also used to determine crystal size from the broadening of the diffraction line at half the line of maximum intensity. To investigate the meaning of the diffraction line width in fat systems and the relationship with other techniques widely used to determine crystal size, we crystallized a blend of 30–70% …

Selection And Culture Of Landscape Plants In Utah - A Guide For High Mountain Valleys, Larry A. Rupp, William A. Varga, Teresa A. Cerny, Chad R. Reid, Michael R. Kuhns

All Archived Publications

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Membership Characteristics On Cooperative Pricing Policies And Success, Lynn Hunnicutt

Economic Research Institute Study Papers

Cooperatives are unique among agribusiness firms because their owners are also their customers. This dual nature of patrons means that maximizing profit is one of several optimal strategies the cooperative may pursue. Using a survey of marketing cooperative managers, we examine how membership characteristics and cooperative structure influence cooperative policies. We also study the relationship between member characteristics, cooperative policies and cooperative success. Longer member planning horizons and independent management make profit or price maximization more likely. Cooperative success does not appear systematically related to membership characteristics or cooperative structure. Evidently, cooperative success is not easily measured or explained.

Selection And Culture Of Landscape Plants In Utah - A Guide For Southwestern And Central Utah, Teresa A. Cerny, Larry A. Rupp, Chad R. Reid, Michael R. Kuhns

All Archived Publications

No abstract provided.

A Two-Fraction Model For The Transport Of Sand/Gravel Mixtures, Peter Wilcock, S. T. Kenworthy

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

A mixed-size sediment transport model using only two fractions, sand and gravel, offers practical advantages in terms of the required input and conceptual advantages by readily incorporating the nonlinear effects of sand content on transport rate. A two-fraction model is developed from flume and field transport observations. Sand and gravel transport rates are collapsed to a single transport function using a scaling parameter representing incipient motion for each fraction. The incipient motion function is consistent with established values in the limit of pure sand and gravel beds and shows a sharp change with increasing sand content over the transition from …

Integrated Resource Management Courses : Lessons Learned After Six Years, Hugh O. Canham

Natural Resources and Environmental Issues

Integrated management courses, or capstone courses, have been inserted into many forestry and natural resource college curricula. The general intent is to have the students bring together the knowledge they have gained in other courses and synthesize an holistic solution to some set of issues. At Syracuse such a course was made a required part of the senior year in the Forest Resources Management program starting in the fall of 1996. The author has taught the course almost every semester, sometimes in conjunction with others. Over the years various procedures were tried, different cases utilized, and different requirements placed on …