Digital Commons Network^™

Cultural And Economic Factors That Influence Brazilian Public Opinion On Climate Change, Jenna Williams

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

Climate change is a commons problem of global proportions. The effects of climate change threaten not only the natural world, but also the human systems that we have established (IPCC 2014, 4). The devastating effects of climate change will not be confined to those regions of the world that have contributed the most to this problem. Already, every continent and ocean has been touched by climate change (IPCC 2014, 4).

An Instructional Module On Permaculture Design Theory For Landscape Architecture Students, Keni Althouse

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

Permaculture guides designers to mimic patterns and relationships found in nature. It is a design theory that tailors toward many people’s desire for more sustainable living. This theory offers a unique set of design principles that are very implementable into the design process and could be of great interest to landscape architects.

The purpose of this study was to develop and implement an instructional module for landscape architecture students at Utah State University for two consecutive years. Project-based learning was implemented in order to help students better understand permaculture design theory. Effectiveness of the module was measured through an evaluation …

A Roof Overhead: Creating A Conceptual Long Term Day Facility For Street Children And Orphans In Tehran, Iran, Marjan Safdari

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

With approximately 1.5 million orphans, over 200,000 street children, and 2,500 cases of child violence each year, Iran is not an ideal place for children. Although government groups and non-governmental organizations (NGO) have tried to provide facilities and institutional care centers, there are still many shortages that need to be addressed. Facilities that provide something more than the basic needs of these children are necessary. Orphans and street children face many difficulties during different stages of their lives that cause psychological and social problems for them. In addition, health problems and lack of education are other issues that they face. …

The Role Of Man's Best Friend: Assessing The Cultural Liminality Of The Canis Lupus Familiars And Its Influence On Human Societies, Julianne L. D'Amico

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

This project combines history and folklore to illuminate the concept of liminality and the human-dog relationship as it has evolved since the species domestication. The lore highlights the permanent liminality of the dog, the use of the species as remedies in Folk Medicine, and the dog's shift from secondary participant to active agent in contemporary medical fields. The informant data and the context of the lore provide the basis for a historical analysis on how the human-dog relationship has evolved, from the past to the present, and inform how this relationship will progress into the future. Furthermore, the lore supports …

A Sustainability Assessment Of Utah's 29 Counties: Testing A Multivariate Graphical Method Of Sustainability Assessment, Thomas Cluff

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

Sustainability provides a framework to help guide future planning, policy, investment, and development actions toward achieving multidimensional development goals. The goals of planning for sustainable development aim at a future with high quality of life in a healthy and protected environment.

This paper adopts, reviews, critically examines, and tests a previously-developed methodology for sustainability assessment. The tested approach applies an interactive evaluation model to combine existing data to explain sustainable development possibilities for each evaluated locale. The model's results, presented through a graphic interface, can build knowledge to improve planning decisions and implementation actions for sustainability. The assessment can help …

Amateur Paleontological Societies And Fossil Clubs, Interactions With Professional Paleontologists, And Social Paleontology In The United States, Bruce J. Macfadden, Lisa Lundgren, Kent J. Crippen, Betty A. Dunckel, Shari Ellis

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Considerable interest exists among lifelong learners in the USA about fossils and the science of paleontology. Unlike some other science-related groups, e.g., astronomy and ornithology, interest in fossils among amateur paleontologists is primarily focused within local clubs and societies with little national coordination. This paper presents the results of formative evaluation of the FOSSIL project, conducted after the project “Kickoff” meeting held at the NAPC (North American Paleontological Convention) in 2014. FOSSIL is developing a national networked community of practice that includes amateur and professional paleontologists. Our research indicates that more than 60 amateur fossil clubs and societies exist in …

Geologists And The British Raj, 1870-1910, Aja B. Tolman

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The British Raj (1858-1947) hired geologists from both India and Great Britain to find valuable resources in India, such as coal. The geologists worked to convince the government to enact policy changes regarding museum ownership, conservation, railway construction, education, and industrialization. But the geologists had different goals based on whether they were Indian or European. The Indian geologists wanted India’s independence from Britain, so their education and industrial policy proposals were geared towards making India self-sufficient and globally competitive. The British geologists’ goal was to enrich the empire. The British were able to convince the government to accept most of …

A Spatiotemporal Mountain Pine Beetle Outbreak Model Predicting Severity, Cycle Period, And Invasion Speed, Jacob P. Duncan

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The mountain pine beetle (MPB, Dendroctonus ponderosae), a tree-killing bark beetle, has historically been part of the normal disturbance regime in lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) forests. In recent years, warm winters and summers have allowed MPB populations to achieve synchronous emergence and successful attacks, resulting in widespread population outbreaks and resultant tree mortality across western North America. We develop an age-structured forest demographic model that incorporates temperature-dependent MPB infestations: the Susceptible-Infested-Juvenile (SIJ) model. Stability of equilibria is analyzed as a function of population growth rates, and indicates the existence of periodic outbreaks that intensify as growth rates …

How Good Intentions Backfire: Failures And Negative Consequences Of Federal Environmental Policies, Jordan K. Lofthouse

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis is meant to dispel the myths that surround federal environmental policies. The research object of this project is to show that the formation of environmental policies is not altruistic, and the outcomes of these policies often have negative side effects that policymakers and the general public should recognize.

During my time as an undergraduate, I studied environmental geography, which also included environmental policies. We would research environmental problems, but the solution to these problems always seemed to be another government policy. I began to wonder why environmental problems never seemed to actually get better. Once I began my …

Biodiversity, Community Dynamics, And Novel Foraging Behaviors Of A Rich Native Bee Fauna Across Habitats At Pinnacles National Park, California, Joan M. Meiners

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Global concern about honeybee declines has spurred feverish research about the status and protection of this single species, yet our understanding of the ecology and issues impacting thousands of species of native bees lags behind. Pinnacles National Park, America's newest, near Salinas, California, is currently the most densely biodiverse area for native bees known on the planet. Recent work by researchers at Utah State University and the USDA-ARS has documented 479 species of native bees in only 42 square miles of this park. During two years of field studies and 308 collector days, we assembled data on 52,853 bee specimens …

“Touched By Time”: Geopolitical Themes Of Estonian National Identity Through Folklore And Song Festivals, Mandy L. Hoggard

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Estonian national identity—how Estonians imagine their values, history, and place in the world—is defined by their centuries-long struggle for independence and autonomy. This thesis examines the struggle and resulting identity through the lens of the laulupidu, or song festival, and its employment as a vehicle of political mobilization and re-constructor of Estonian history. Regarding folklore, in this case festivals and folk songs, as containers of the soul of the nation, I show how Estonians have produced and reproduced their national identity through the practice which they hold sacred: choral singing. I implemented a critical geopolitical approach, which emphasizes the …

From Teachlive™ To The Classroom: Building Preservice Special Educators’ Proficiency With Essential Teaching Skills, Melanie Rees Dawson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Preservice special education teachers need to develop essential teaching skills to competently address student academics and behavior in the classroom. TeachLivE^TM is a sophisticated virtual simulation that has recently emerged in teacher preparation programs to supplement traditional didactic instruction and field experiences. Teacher educators can engineer scenarios in TeachLivE^TM to cumulatively build in complexity, allowing preservice teachers to incrementally interleave target skills in increasingly difficult situations.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of TeachLivE^TM on preservice special education teachers’ delivery of error correction, specific praise, and praise around in the virtual environment and …

The Utah Statesman, April 25, 2016, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

Weekly student newspaper of Utah State University in Logan.

“One Health” Or Three? Publication Silos Among The One Health Disciplines, Kezia R. Manlove, Josephine G. Walker, Meggan E. Craft, Kathryn P. Huyvaert, Maxwell B. Joseph, Ryan S. Miller, Pauline Nol, Kelly A. Patyk, Daniel O'Brien, Daniel P. Walsh, Paul C. Cross

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

The One Health initiative is a global effort fostering interdisciplinary collaborations to address challenges in human, animal, and environmental health. While One Health has received considerable press, its benefits remain unclear because its effects have not been quantitatively described. We systematically surveyed the published literature and used social network analysis to measure interdisciplinarity in One Health studies constructing dynamic pathogen transmission models. The number of publications fulfilling our search criteria increased by 14.6% per year, which is faster than growth rates for life sciences as a whole and for most biology subdisciplines. Surveyed publications clustered into three communities: one used …

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Agenda, April 11, 2016, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

• Calendar Committee
• EPC Items for April 2016
• Committee on Committees
• Code search & replace to remove “and Distance Education”
• 402.12.7(1) Name change Undergraduate Faculty Advisor of the Year(Second Reading)
• Faculty Senate President & President-Elect coverage for 2016-2017
• FS needs to caucus for Executive Committee Member election
• Sustainability Council proposal
• Interstate Passport changes

Liberalis, Spring 2016, Utah State University

Liberalis

Freedom to Think, Discover, and Create. The alumni magazine for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Utah State University.

Educational Policies Committee Program Proposal, College Of Natural Resources, April 1, 2016 - B.S. In Geography Teaching, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

Request that the B.S. in Geography Teaching be discontinued.

Microhabitat Conditions In Wyoming’S Sage-Grouse Core Areas: Effects On Nest Site Selection And Success, Jonathan B. Dinkins, Kurt T. Smith, Jeffrey L. Beck, Christopher P. Kirol, Aaron C. Pratt, Michael R. Conover

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

The purpose of our study was to identify microhabitat characteristics of greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) nest site selection and survival to determine the quality of sage-grouse habitat in 5 regions of central and southwest Wyoming associated with Wyoming’s Core Area Policy. Wyoming’s Core Area Policy was enacted in 2008 to reduce human disturbance near the greatest densities of sage-grouse. Our analyses aimed to assess sage-grouse nest selection and success at multiple micro-spatial scales. We obtained microhabitat data from 928 sage-grouse nest locations and 819 random microhabitat locations from 2008–2014. Nest success was estimated from 924 nests with survival data. Sage-grouse …

An Overview Of Current Applications, Challenges, And Future Trends In Distributed Process-Based Models In Hydrology, Simone Fatichi, Enrique R. Vivoni, Fred L. Ogden, Valeriy Y. Ivanov, Benjamin Mirus, David Gochis, Charles W. Downer, Matteo Camporese, Jason H. Davison, Brian Ebel, Norm Jones, Jongho Kim, Giuseppe Mascaro, Richard Niswonger, Pedro Restrepo, Riccardo Rigon, Chaopeng Shen, Mauro Sulis, David G. Tarboton

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Process-based hydrological models have a long history dating back to the 1960s. Criticized by some as over-parameterized, overly complex, and difficult to use, a more nuanced view is that these tools are necessary in many situations and, in a certain class of problems, they are the most appropriate type of hydrological model. This is especially the case in situations where knowledge of flow paths or distributed state variables and/or preservation of physical constraints is important. Examples of this include: spatiotemporal variability of soil moisture, groundwater flow and runoff generation, sediment and contaminant transport, or when feedbacks among various Earth’s system …

The Utah Statesman, February 29, 2016, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

Weekly student newspaper of Utah State University in Logan.

What, If Anything, Are Hybrids: Enduring Truths And Challenges Associated With Population Structure And Gene Flow, Zachariah Gompert, C. Alex Buerkle

Biology Faculty Publications

Hybridization is a potent evolutionary process that can affect the origin, maintenance, and loss of biodiversity. Because of its ecological and evolutionary consequences, an understanding of hybridization is important for basic and applied sciences, including conservation biology and agriculture. Herein, we review and discuss ideas that are relevant to the recognition of hybrids and hybridization. We supplement this discussion with simulations. The ideas we present have a long history, particularly in botany, and clarifying them should have practical consequences for managing hybridization and gene flow in plants. One of our primary goals is to illustrate what we can and cannot …

Wic Participation As A Risk Factor For Loss To Follow-Up In The Wisconsin Ehdi System, Elizabeth L. Seeliger, Rebecca A. Martin, Andrea N. Gromoske, Anne B. Harris

Journal of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention

In 2011, Wisconsin’s Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) program, Wisconsin Sound Beginnings (WSB), developed multiple strategies to reduce loss to follow-up (LTFU) for babies who did not pass their newborn hearing screening: Medical Outreach, Family Outreach, Regional Outreach and WIC Alert. WSB evaluated the outcomes of babies identified as at-risk for LTFU to determine whether WIC participation was an indicator of their risk for LTFU. Additionally, WSB evaluated whether babies who were identified as at-risk for LTFU and receiving WIC services in two WIC projects serving areas and populations with known health disparities, were at even greater risk for …

Opinion: Why Protect Nature? Rethinking Values And The Environment, Kai M. A. Chan, Patricia Balvanera, Karina Benessaiah, Mollie Chapman, Sandra Díaz, Erik Gómez-Baggethun, Rachelle Gould, Neil Hannahs, Kurt Jax, Sarah Klain, Gary W. Luck, Berta Martin-Lopez, Barbara Muraca, Bryan Norton, Konrad Ott, Et Al.

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

A cornerstone of environmental policy is the debate over protecting nature for humans’ sake (instrumental values) or for nature’s (intrinsic values) (1). We propose that focusing only on instrumental or intrinsic values may fail to resonate with views on personal and collective well-being, or “what is right,” with regard to nature and the environment. Without complementary attention to other ways that value is expressed and realized by people, such a focus may inadvertently promote worldviews at odds with fair and desirable futures. It is time to engage seriously with a third class of values, one with diverse roots and current …

Ungulate Reproductive Parameters Track Satellite Observations Of Plant Phenology Across Latitude And Climatological Regimes, David C. Stoner, Joseph O. Sexton, Jyoteshwar Nagol, Heather H. Bernales, Thomas C. Edwards Jr.

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

The effect of climatically-driven plant phenology on mammalian reproduction is one key to predicting species-specific demographic responses to climate change. Large ungulates face their greatest energetic demands from the later stages of pregnancy through weaning, and so in seasonal environments parturition dates should match periods of high primary productivity. Interannual variation in weather influences the quality and timing of forage availability, which can influence neonatal survival. Here, we evaluated macro-scale patterns in reproductive performance of a widely distributed ungulate (mule deer, Odocoileus hemionus) across contrasting climatological regimes using satellite-derived indices of primary productivity and plant phenology over eight degrees of …

Curriculum Subcommittee Agenda, February 4, 2016, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

Semester Course Approval Reviews

Program Proposals

• Transferring the minor in Business from the dean’s office to the Management Department

Other

• Curriculog discussions

Educational Policies Committee Minutes, February 4, 2016, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

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

Curriculum Subcommittee Minutes, February 4, 2016, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

Semester Course Approval Reviews

Program Proposals

• Transferring the minor in Business from the dean’s office to the Management Department

Other

• Curriculog discussions

Educational Policies Committee Agenda, February 4, 2016, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

• Subcommittee Reports
• Curriculum Subcommittee
• Course Approvals
• Program Proposals
• Request from the Department of Management
• Academic Standards Subcommittee
• General Education Subcommittee

Faculty Senate Agenda, February 1, 2016, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

• EPC Items for January 2016
• Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee Annual Report
• 405.12.1 Annual Review of Faculty (Second Reading)
• 405.12.3 CFAC Policy (First Reading)

The Urban Prison: Socioeconomic Vortexes In Latino Neighborhoods, Armando Porras, Aaron Wyatt

Research on Capitol Hill

This research shows how metropolitan cities throughout the United States are continuously impacting the lives of ethnic minorities.

In the United States, Latina/o individuals have been born into socioeconomic vortexes. In other words, they have grown up in areas where secure jobs have disappeared and a variety of other factors force them to live in damaged communities that do not foster economic and social progression.

By analyzing several works of literature written by Latina/o authors who lived in barrios that faced these challenges, as well as research addressing crime and the lack of law enforcement in marginalized neighborhoods, we have …