Digital Commons Network^™

Rural Teachers' Cultural And Epistemic Shifts In Stem Teaching And Learning, Colby Tofel-Grehl, Kristin A. Searle, Andrea Hawkman, Beth L. Macdonald, Mario I. Suárez

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

This article focuses on the ways in which integrated curriculum can improve STEM teaching and learning within rural spaces. Using a design-based research approach, this study focuses on rural teachers' experiences of professional learning and development training as they learn to engage computing and maker technologies in their elementary classrooms as tools for teaching students about difficult histories of immigration, migration, and forced relocation across the United States.

Sampling Bias Exaggerates A Textbook Example Of A Trophic Cascade, Elaine M. Brice, Eric J. Larsen, Daniel R. Macnulty

Aspen Bibliography

Understanding trophic cascades in terrestrial wildlife communities is a major challenge because these systems are difficult to sample properly. We show how a tradition of non-random sampling has confounded this understanding in a textbook system (Yellowstone National Park) where carnivore [Canis lupus (wolf)] recovery is associated with a trophic cascade involving changes in herbivore [Cervus canadensis (elk)] behaviour and density that promote plant regeneration. Long-term data indicate a practice of sampling only the tallest young plants overestimated regeneration of overstory aspen (Populus tremuloides) by a factor of 4–7 compared to random sampling because it favoured plants taller than the preferred …

Tremblings, November 2021, Western Aspen Alliance

Tremblings

Lindroth + Aspen: A Legacy of Good Chemistry

Ken Keefover-Ring

The license plates on Professor Rick Lindroth’s vehicle read “Q ASPEN,” referring to quaking aspen. This gives you a hint of the extent of his obsession; one he will surely carry into his upcoming retirement. Rick has co-authored almost 220 peer-reviewed articles and 15 book chapters over his academic career and more than 70% of them involve aspen (Populus tremuloides) in some way. In fact, many issues of Tremblings have listed one or more of his papers. This research has largely been focused on aspen chemical ecology and …

The Missing Course: An Introduction To College Teaching For Graduate Instructors, Jocelyn M. Cuthbert, Aubrey Rogowski, Michael N. Vakula, Juliana Aguilar, Kenna Kesler

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

A book review of David Gooblar’s book, The Missing Course: Everything they Never Taught You About College Teaching.

A Marvelous Work: Reading Mormonism In West Africa, Laurie F. Maffly-Kipp

Arrington Annual Lecture

Two decades before the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began official missionary work in West Africa, pamphlets, books, and other church materials had been circulating among Christians in Nigeria and Ghana. Brought by seekers who had studied abroad or encountered church members from other countries, those texts formed the basis for a Mormon community outside the bounds of U.S. institutional authority or oversight.

What did this "native" Mormonism look like, and how did believers craft churches out of the bare materials of tracts and inspirational volumes? This talk explores the circulation and interpretation of this homegrown Mormon faith …

Climate Change And Utah Ski Resorts: Impacts, Perceptions, And Adaptation Strategies, Emily J. Wilkins, Hadia Akbar, Tara C. Saley, Rachel Hager, Colten M. Elkin, Patrick Belmont, Courtney G. Flint, Jordan W. Smith

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

Climate change is a threat to ski resorts, the ski industry, and mountain communities that rely on ski tourism. Ski resorts may be able to mitigate some of the social and economic impacts caused by climate change with proactive adaptation strategies. Using historical weather data, future climate projections, and interviews with ski resort managers in Utah (United States), this research investigates the effects of climate change on ski resorts across the state. We examine temperature change at all resorts within the state from 1980–2018 and climate projections from 2021–2100 under different climate change scenarios (RCPs 2.6, 4.5, and 8.5). We …

Growth–Defense Trade-Offs Shape Population Genetic Composition In An Iconic Forest Tree Species, Olivia L. Cope, Ken Keefover-Ring, Eric L. Kruger, Richard L. Lindroth

Aspen Bibliography

All organisms experience fundamental conflicts between divergent metabolic processes. In plants, a pivotal conflict occurs between allocation to growth, which accelerates resource acquisition, and to defense, which protects existing tissue against herbivory. Trade-offs between growth and defense traits are not universally observed, and a central prediction of plant evolutionary ecology is that context-dependence of these trade-offs contributes to the maintenance of intraspecific variation in defense [Züst and Agrawal, Annu. Rev. Plant Biol., 68, 513–534 (2017)]. This prediction has rarely been tested, however, and the evolutionary consequences of growth–defense trade-offs in different environments are poorly understood, especially in long-lived species …

The Impact Of Covid-19 On Utah Women And Work: Resilient Mindset And Wellbeing, Jared Hansen, Chris Hartwell, Susan R. Madsen

Marketing and Strategy Faculty Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020–2021 continues to impact all Utahns’ daily lives. Nationally, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Pew Research Center, the Federal Reserve Bank, and sources such as the Wall Street Journal continue to report that women’s employment and careers have been disproportionately impacted during this time. Utah has seen similar negative impacts on working women. For example, the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah reported that from 2019 to 2020, jobs held by women declined at a rate more than double that of men, and unemployment rose more for females than males.

The Intersection Of Cultural Context And Research Encounter: Focus On Interviewing In Qualitative Research, Rebecca Yvonne Bayeck

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

This article discusses the influence of the cultural context on the interview process. With literature demonstrating the role of spatial context on interviews, the article contends that similar consideration should be given to cultural contexts of research studies. Focusing on the cultural context where the interview takes place and the interactions during the interview can help researchers understand and analyze interview material. Interview forms such as conversation/interview bombing emerged from the interaction of cultural context with the interview process. This points to the need for qualitative researchers to explore how the cultural context shapes their research encounter. Such focus will …

Life Paths To Leading Systems-Level Change: Higher Education’S Pitfalls And Potential, Roslynn Brain Mccann, Kaitlyn Spangler, Andrew Millison

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

Global protests calling for accelerated climate change action, social justice, and racial equity have been shifting long- standing conversations and policies from local to national scales. Yet many activists can become psychologically drained by the frustration and loss of hope in fighting against structural oppression. This study was comprised of semi-structured qualitative interviews spanning across the United States with 25 leaders and practitioners in permaculture design, a solutions-based ecological design framework to enact positive, systems-level environmental and social change. The objective was to better understand their life paths toward such work. The research showed that higher education is not adequately …

New Forces Influencing Savanna Conservation: Increasing Land Prices Driven By Gentrification And Speculation At The Landscape Scale, Peter Tyrrell, Robin Naidoo, David W. Macdonald, Johan T. Du Toit

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Land transformation reduces biodiversity and regional sustainability, with land price being an indicator of the opportunity cost to a landowner of resisting land conversion. However, reliable spatially explicit databases of current land prices are generally lacking in developing countries. We used tools from data science to scrape 1,487 georeferenced land prices in southern Kenya from the internet. Prices were higher for land near cities and in areas of high agricultural productivity, but also around the Maasai Mara National Reserve. Predicted land prices ranged from US$662 to US$4,618,805 per acre. Land speculation associated with expanding urbanization increases the opportunity and acquisition …

Pickleball For Inactive Mid-Life And Older Adults In Rural Utah: A Feasibility Study, Paige Wray, Callahan K. Ward, Cindy Nelson, Sandra H. Sulzer, Christopher J. Dakin, Brennan J. Thompson, Matthew Vierimaa, Debasree Das Gupta, David A. E. Bolton

Extension Research

Many diseases, disabilities, and mental health conditions associated with aging can be delayed or prevented through regular exercise. Several barriers to exercise, many of which are exacerbated in rural communities, prevent mid-life and older adults from accessing its benefits. However, recently, a racquet sport named pickleball has become popular among older adults, and it appears to overcome some of these barriers. We conducted a feasibility study to evaluate the impact of a six-week pickleball intervention on measures of muscle function, cognitive function, perceived pain, and cardio-metabolic risk, as well as several psychosocial factors contributing to adherence in sedentary rural participants. …

Development Of An Operating Strategy For On-Demand Earth Observation Missions Of The Diwata-2 Microsatellite, Edgar Paolo Violan, Yuji Sato, Yuji Sakamoto, Shinya Fujita, Julie Ann Boanatao, Toshinori Kuwahara, Kazuya Yoshida

Small Satellite Conference

Diwata-2 is the Philippines’ 2nd microsatellite developed by Tohoku University, Hokkaido University, University of the Philippines, and the Philippine Department of Science and Technology. Its primary purpose is gathering remote sensing data through imaging areas of interest for the Philippines. This paper presents the study of Diwata-2’s initial Earth observation pointing performance, investigation of its Attitude Determination and Control System, the tuning of its Star Tracker sensor parameters, the in-flight target pointing calibration, and the sequential scheduling of its components forming an operation strategy for an effective on-demand earth observation mission. This operation strategy has managed to improve the satellite’s …

Smartsat Constellation - A Deep Reinforcement Learning Approach For Decentralized Coordination, Rajesh Aggarwal, Junghwan Kim, Deepanshu Agarwal, Ayushi Tiwari, James Baldo

Small Satellite Conference

With rapid advancements in satellite technology, the amount of low earth orbit satellites has grown significantly which are primarily deployed for weather monitoring, earth observation or military purposes. Due to this reason, there has been an increased interest in enhancing the level of autonomy and cognition, onboard satellites to achieve optimal data collection. Optimal data is said to be collected when the satellites in a small sat constellation work together to collect information. This means that even if one of the satellites has missed out on some important information, the others can still collect them. A satellite constellation can be …

International Collaboration Towards Cambodia’S First Small Satellite Education Program: Lessons Learnt, Maximilien Berthet, Morokot Sakal, Penghuy Srean, Sotheara Oum, Polimey Im, Sokserey Srey, Ryohei Takahashi, Jorge Garcia, Nobuhiro Funabiki, Yoichi Suenaga, Rattana Chhin

Small Satellite Conference

Since 2019, students from the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) and the Institute of Technology of Cambodia (ITC) have collaborated to set up Cambodia’s first small satellite education program. Around 30 students from both institutions have organized and taken part in joint educational activities, articulated around the development of a 1U CubeSat, which is planned to become Cambodia’s first satellite. This paper presents lessons learnt so far during the cooperative education program. We first explain how students have led the collaboration between a mentor (UTokyo) and mentee (ITC) institution in different countries, mostly online due to the pandemic. We then provide …

United States Military Academy (Usma) Space Engineering And Applied Research (Spear): A Cadet's Idea Becomes Reality, Chalie L. Galliand

Small Satellite Conference

Last year, the United States Military Academy (USMA) graduated its first cohort of fully qualified Space Professionals. The Class of 2020 included the first graduates of USMA’s Space and Missile Defense Program. The program was born out of a capability deficit identified by COL Thomas Pugsley, the founder of the Small Satellites Research Group at West Point, over 12 years ago. This was detailed in his paper, Army Space Education: Closing the Gap with Operational Space, presented at the 23rd Annual AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites. This new program has ignited inspiration among the Corps of Cadets. A couple of …

Attribution Of Responsibility After Failures Within Platform Ecosystems, Brian Dunn, Matthew L. Jensen, Ryan Ralston

Data Analytics & Information Systems Faculty Publications

Increasingly, new hardware and software are embedded within ecosystems that include a platform and modules. Ideally these ecosystems perform reliably. However, if an ambiguously sourced failure occurs within one of these ecosystems, users are left to distribute blame across the various components of the ecosystem. The actual distribution of this blame, however, can be difficult to predict. This study investigates attribution of blame and discontinuance recommendations for ecosystem components after an ambiguously sourced failure. To extend platform ecosystems and attribution theory, we conducted a scenario-based experiment investigating the negative consequences of failure for platform and module components and the contingent …

Considering The Wide World Of Wild Pig Management, John M. Tomeček

Human–Wildlife Interactions

This is the letter from John M. Tomeček, associate editor for the special issue on wild pigs in Human–Wildlife Interactions.

Human Appropriation Of Net Primary Production: From A Planet To A Pixel, Suman Paudel, Gustavo A. Ovando-Montejo, Christopher L. Lant

UAES Publications

Human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) is a substantial improvement upon 20th century attempts at developing an ecological footprint indicator because of its measurability in relation to net primary production, its close relationship to other key footprint measures, such as carbon and water, and its spatial specificity. This paper explores HANPP across four geographical scales: through literature review, the planet; through reanalysis of existing data, variations among the world’s countries; and through novel analyses, U.S. counties and the 30 m pixel scale for one U.S. county. Results show that HANPP informs different sustainability narratives at different scales. At the …

Human-Bear Conflict And Community Perceptions Of Risk In The Zanskar Region, Northern India, Kirti Chavan, Sophie M. Watts, Tsewang Namgail

Human–Wildlife Interactions

The Himalayan brown bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus) is an endangered subspecies of brown bear (U. a. spp.) and is found throughout the Himalayan region of south and central Asia. We describe the type of and the current level of human–bear conflict (HBC) with Himalayan brown bears in the Zanskar region of northern India and suggest potential mitigation methods. Between July and September 2018, we interviewed 218 households across the Zanskar region, all of whom had experienced HBC. Participants reported increasing numbers of HBC events in the last 4 years. The most common form of HBC was damage …

Cross-Boundary Weed Management In Protected Area-Centered Ecosystems: How Can It Work And What Makes It Harder To Achieve?, Natalie Otto, Mark W. Brunson

Environment and Society Student Research

Invasive species management in natural landscapes is generally executed at the scale of independent jurisdictions, yet the ecological processes and biodiversity to be protected from invasion occur over large spatial scales and across multiple jurisdictions. Jurisdictional land boundaries can influence the flows and dynamics of ecological systems, as well as the social systems that exist in these complex landscapes. Land management entities in large, protected area-centered ecosystems may use different approaches to address cross-boundary management challenges. To understand these differing strategies and their effects on cooperative invasive plant management, we interviewed employees with federal, county and state agencies, research organizations, …

The Impact Of A Spill Or Pollution Accident On Firm Environmental Activity: An Empirical Investigation, Rick Hardcopf, Rachna Shah, Suvrat Dhanorkar

Management Faculty Publications

Spill and pollution (SP) accidents cause significant damage to the natural environment. They also result in financial costs and reputational losses for the offending firm. As such, understanding how firms respond to such crises is of significant interest to firm stakeholders, such as investors, customers, regulators, NGOs, employees, and local communities. In this study, we examine whether publicly disclosed SP accidents cause firms to alter their approach to environmental management, as expressed by the adoption of environmental management practices (EMPs). Using a unique panel data from 2002 to 2013, representing over 400 publicly-traded US manufacturing firms, we find that in …

Balancing The Double-Edged Sword Of Implementation: An Eclectic Approach, Spencer R. K. Chun

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

This portfolio is a compilation which expresses the author’s perspective on necessary considerations for teachers when implementing ideas in the classroom. The thoughts and perspectives showed in this portfolio have been shaped by the author’s previous formal and informal teaching experiences and the opportunities to further his understanding of teaching and research during his time in the Master of Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program at Utah State University (USU).

This portfolio is comprised of two sections: The first section consists of Teaching perspectives, which include the author’s desired professional environment, his teaching philosophy statement, and observations obtained through observing other …

Spatial Behavior Of Backcountry Anglers And Hikers In Rocky Mountain National Park, Robin Graham, Noah Creany, Christopher Monz

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

In Rocky Mountain National Park, managers are concerned about informal trails resulting from off-trail travel in popular backcountry areas. The distribution of informal trails near water bodies raised questions for park managers about the potential impacts of different visitor activities, specifically hiking and angling use. This report examined the spatial behavior of hikers and anglers using GPS tracking and explored hiker experience preferences in relation to their spatial behavior. Anglers on average traveled farther and spent more time during their trip than hikers. Across all study locations, there was no difference in the amount of off-trail travel between hikers and …

Understanding Climate Change Impacts And Adaptation Potentials At Utah Ski Resorts, Rachel Hager

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

Increasing temperature and shifting precipitation regimes due to climate change are a significant threat to winter recreation. Some businesses such as high-elevation ski resorts are especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. However, ski resorts may be able mitigate the impacts of climate change by proactively implementing adaptation strategies. The overall goal of this study was to investigate the impact of climate change on Utah ski resorts, and to understand adaptation perception, barriers, and strategies for different resorts across the state.

To meet that goal, we used a mixed-methods approach including examining temperature shifts at all Utah ski resorts …

Characterization And Immobilization Of Thermophilic Lipases For The Interesterification Of Soybean Oil, Teif A. Najm

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Lipases are currently used in food technology for the modification of fats and oils. Lipase can synthesize, hydrolyze, and rearrange fatty acids, thus, resulting in their extensive use in industrial applications. The thermal stability of lipase is an essential characteristic for this application. Thermophilic bacteria are an important source for producing thermostable lipases because of their tolerance to high heat. Lipolytic enzymes can be purified using several purification methods, but these purification processes are often expensive and complex. Results from this study showed that lipases can be extract from thermophilic bacteria (Geobacillius stearothermophilus (GS) and Anoxybacillus flavithermus (AF)). Molecular …

Deaths Of Despair In The United States, Amin Etemadifar

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Life expectancy is one of the most important indicators of public health and is an indication of overall health status in a population. Thanks to public health and medical advancements over recent decades, the life expectancy of all nations has significantly increased, and that is more true for developed nations like the United States. However, the most recent data shows the longevity of Americans has become stagnant since 2010. So the first question that comes to mind is why that is happening, and the main goal of this dissertation is to answer that question.

In order to address that question, …

Telling Her People's Story: Mae Timbimboo Parry, Matriarch Of The Northwestern Band Of The Shoshone Nation, 1919-2007, Dean Mcguire

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Mae Timbimboo Parry played a significant role in changing the public’s narrative about the Bear River Massacre and shaping the current knowledge about Northwestern Shoshone history. According to Mae Parry, Northwestern Shoshones were not desperate victims of violence but rather Native Americans who adapted from a great tragedy and survived on their own terms. This thesis explores the meaning of her work for Northwestern Shoshones today.

Measuring, Mapping, And Managing Outdoor Recreation On Public Lands In Utah With Social Media Data, Hongchao Zhang

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Social media platforms allow people to post photos, text, and video clips that include embedded information about the geographic location, time, and date that of the posts. Recently, researchers have utilized these data to study outdoor recreation management. In particular, geotagged social media posts can be used to understand outdoor recreation behavior and visitation patterns on public lands. Consequently, it can be used to inform the decisions of agencies and organizations that manage recreational uses of public land. I conducted three studies to explore the ways social media information can help provide recreation managers with a better understanding of visitor …

Comparison Of Microbial Diversity Of Fifteen Aged Cheddar Cheeses From Different Regions Using Next Generation Sequencing, Sophie L. Overbeck

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This project was funded by BUILD Dairy to test the efficacy of using next generation sequencing to study Cheddar cheese microbiomes. The 15 different cheese samples used in this study were purchased in the retail market from various manufacturers and different origins of manufacture. Sequencing was done by the Center for Integrated Biosystems at Utah State University using Illumina MiSeq.

The aim of this project is to provide further understanding of how using next generation sequencing can benefit the study of bacterial communities and their influence during the aging process of Cheddar cheese and the possibility of identifying defect causing …