Digital Commons Network^™

Interview With Greg Dart, Utah State University Special Collections & Archives

Utah State University COVID-19 Oral History Collection

No abstract provided.

Interview With Valerie Crowley, Utah State University Special Collections & Archives

Utah State University COVID-19 Oral History Collection

No abstract provided.

Interview With Dave Cowley, Utah State University Special Collections & Archives

Utah State University COVID-19 Oral History Collection

No abstract provided.

Interview With Ken Buist, Utah State University Special Collections & Archives

Utah State University COVID-19 Oral History Collection

No abstract provided.

Interview With Jason Brown, Utah State University Special Collections & Archives

Utah State University COVID-19 Oral History Collection

No abstract provided.

Interview With Michelle Bogdan-Holt, Utah State University Special Collections & Archives

Utah State University COVID-19 Oral History Collection

No abstract provided.

Interview With Janis Boettinger, Utah State University Special Collections & Archives

Utah State University COVID-19 Oral History Collection

No abstract provided.

Sport Management Study Abroad And International Exchange Program Innovation For A Post Covid-19 Era, James T. Morton, Chris Hanna, Jeffrey F. Levine

Kinesiology and Health Science Faculty Publications

The globalization of the sport industry has required sport management programs to create strategies for internationalizing students. Study abroad programs are a prominent example of those strategies. The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on study abroad programs in Spring of 2020. Many students had their study abroad experiences either cut short or canceled all together. The purpose of this essay is to discuss how the student learning process can continue during an interruption or cancellation of study abroad and international exchange programs due to a pandemic or other global issues. Using an observational study, we asked the following research …

Approaches To Supplementing Silicon In Soilless Media And The Value Of Silicon In The Mitigation Of Drought Stress, Mackenzie Grace Dey

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Silicon (Si) is not considered an essential element for plants to complete their lifecycle, but is known to be beneficial for plants under environmental stress such as drought. Unlike natural soils, Si is minimally bioavailable in soilless media. With indoor agriculture and greenhouse production increasing, the benefits of Si have been seen and Si should be supplemented. This work aimed to characterize and quantify the dissolution of Si from media substrates and additives to achieve a steady-state release of Si in soilless media. Typical media components such as coconut coir, peat moss, perlite, rock wool, sand, and vermiculite minimally released …

Understanding The Barriers To Carbon Farming On Private Lands, Harrison Naftel

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

Climate change caused by manmade greenhouse gas emissions is one of the most important challenges facing society today. Through effective management for carbon sequestration private agricultural lands could become an important part of the solution to this problem. This paper explores the many different methods that farmers, ranchers, and landowners could use to implement sequestration on their land and examines the barriers to further participation in these projects by reviewing the challenges in the world’s current carbon offset markets and offering possible solutions.

The Monster Theory Of Relativity: Triggering Supernatural Monsters, Maggie Mercil

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

Current monster scholarship examines monstrous bodies, how they represent our cultural fears, anxieties, or forbidden desires, and how monsters can guard, break, or blur the boundaries between us and Other. While examining the monsters themselves can provide a better understanding of ourselves and our culture, it is just as important to consider the conditions in which these monsters were able to manifest in the first place. This paper argues that it is through our own actions, whether intentional or not, that we effectively “trigger” the monsters into our narratives. There are three categories of “triggers” that this paper will explore: …

Training Needs And Applications For Special Educators With Paraeducator Supervision Responsibilities, Joanna M. Cornejo

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

This project highlights the need for training for paraeducators working in Special Education settings. Duties performed by paraeducators often overlap with teacher duties and much of the direct instruction provided to students in self-contained classrooms is delivered by paraeducators. The tasks of training and supervising paraeducators often falls on the special education teacher, who may not have received training in supervision. The project includes a brief review of the literature on this topic and two project reports. I designed my project with the objective of improving the quality of instruction being delivered to students in my classroom through training of …

Diurnal Changes In Alfalfa Quality And The Effects On Revenue Maximization, Nelson Sip

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

Before alfalfa hay is sold to brokers or diaries, it is quality is evaluated to determine the price. These tests go into great detail about the micro and macro nutrients alfalfa contains or they could be a function of the fibers alfalfa contains to determine the digestibility. Studies show ways to increase alfalfa quality such as harvesting later in the day at peak photosynthesis. However, the financial benefits, or lack thereof, based on these changes to quality have no conclusion. Here we show that harvesting alfalfa later in the day increases the quality and has financial benefits. We found that …

Mountain States Oilseeds: Risk Management For Safflower Production In The Intermountain West, Jameson F. Packer

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

Safflower is an oilseed crop primarily produced in the western Great Plains because of its compatibility with cereal grain equipment. Varieties grown in that region are harvested predominantly for seeds high in safflower oil and oleic acid that are processed and used in cooking oil, human nutrition, and other health and beauty products. Safflower is also grown in Utah, Idaho, and California for birdseed mixes due to the region’s arid climate, which yields a crisp, white seed that is highly favorable in the birdseed market. Mountain States Oilseeds, headquartered in American Falls, Idaho, is one of the United States’ largest …

Responsive Technical Education Curriculum: An Exploratory Case Study Approach Toward Understanding Human Skills Alignment, Kari Lamoreaux

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Globalization and rapid changes in technology have led to a shift in the skills employers need. These changes have resulted in a gap between the skills people have and those required by industry. This exploratory case study sought to better understand the uniquely human skills employers desire and technical educators should teach in order to address this gap in a local context. The study was conducted in four phases. 1) Current literature was analyzed to identify commonly recurring human skills discussed in studies and reports. 2) These skills were then used as search terms in an analysis of occupational advisory …

Identifying Self-Regulation Strategies Students Use When Cognitive Load Occurs, Linyu Luo

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

When the amount of information to process exceeds students’ capacity to do so, that indicates a problem in the learning environment that will hinder students’ successful learning. This study found that students use a variety of strategies to help them manage their own learning when they felt overwhelmed by the amount of information they needed to process. Further, these strategies differed from those typically expected of students when they are not overwhelmed.

Low Resource Assay For Tracking Sars-Cov-2 In Wastewater, Julissa Van Renselaar

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Wastewater based epidemiology (WBE) allows for the tracking of nucleic acid of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater which gives the opportunity for the public and government officials to be informed about the infectivity of the virus in a community. Advances have been made in WBE that have allowed for higher performance, lower resource use, and faster turnaround time. An adapted concentration method of spin column direct extraction has yielded a proxy virus recovery of 83%, consumable cost of $2.01 per sample, and a turnaround time of 0.33 hour/sample. Other concentration methods have lower proxy virus recoveries, comparable cost, and comparable turnaround time. …

Statistical Challenges And Methods For Missing And Imbalanced Data, Rose Adjei

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Missing data remains a prevalent issue in every area of research. The impact of missing data, if not carefully handled, can be detrimental to any statistical analysis. Some statistical challenges associated with missing data include, loss of information, reduced statistical power and non-generalizability of findings in a study. It is therefore crucial that researchers pay close and particular attention when dealing with missing data. This multi-paper dissertation provides insight into missing data across different fields of study and addresses some of the above mentioned challenges of missing data through simulation studies and application to real datasets. The first paper of …

Bugs, Bullets And Birds: Factors Affecting The Health And Survival Of Ferruginous Hawk Nestlings In The Intermountain West, Ellis A. Juhlin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Ferruginous Hawks are a bird of prey species that nest in sagebrush steppe and grassland habitat. These birds are threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation from urbanization, rural development, oil and natural gas extraction, habitat treatment projects, and wildfires, and experiencing widespread population declines across their breeding range. Because of this, Ferruginous Hawks (FEHAs) have been deemed a Species of Greatest Conservation Need by state management agencies in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and Nevada. The health and survival of Ferruginous Hawk (FEHA) nestlings is crucial to long-term population viability. Understanding the threats these birds are facing as nestlings can provide valuable …

The Efficacy And Feasibility Of Web-Based Acceptance-Enhanced Behavioral Treatment For Trichotillomania In Adults: A Randomized Waitlist-Controlled Trial, Leila K. Capel

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Trichotillomania, or chronic hair pulling, impacts several aspects of a person’s everyday life and functioning including making it difficult to fully engage in school, work, romantic relationships, and other social relationships. There are several treatment options for trichotillomania and one that is particularly promising is acceptance and commitment therapy-enhanced behavioral therapy (AEBT). Several studies have been done in person and through telehealth and this treatment has helped participants.

Many people in the U.S. struggle with trichotillomania but many people are not able to access treatment for their hair pulling because clinicians are not available in their area, clinicians are not …

Effects Of Obesity On Knee Extensor Structure, Function, And Gait: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Michael N. Vakula

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Obesity is a common, costly, and critical disease that increases the risk of disability and premature death. Most commonly, obesity is caused by an increased consumption of energy dense foods and decreased time spent being physically active. The greater weight with obesity interrupts normal musculoskeletal function which can lead to physical adaptations such as decreased lower-extremity muscle strength and abnormal walking patterns, both of which are among top risk factors for falls in older individuals. However, the effects of obesity on walking and lower-extremity muscle strength have not previously been examined by incorporating the results of all existing studies in …

Storytelling To Promote Mental Health: A Conceptual Analysis And Application With Acceptance And Commitment Therapy For Depression, Carter H. Davis

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Mental health treatments can be delivered in many ways. One approach is to use storytelling to communicate healthy practices. While societies across the world have engaged in storytelling for thousands of years, these practices have been used less in the mental health field. The aim of this project was to study the overlap between the areas of mental health and storytelling. We also tested how a storytelling-based mental health treatment could help solve a particular clinical problem. In this case, the problem of people who receive inadequate help for managing depression through medication alone.

We examined one particular mental health …

Together, Our Voices Will Strengthen The Weaving: Using Autoethnography And Narrative Inquiry To Indigenize Sense Of Belonging In Higher Education, Devon S. Isaacs

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Native American students in higher education are often asked to find a sense of belonging in places and spaces that do not reflect their cultures or worldviews. This can lead to isolation and a feeling of having to choose between themselves and their identities as Indigenous peoples. This contributes to poorer mental health, loss of well-being, and decreased academic success. The purpose of this study was to ask seven Native American participants how they defined sense of belonging from their own worldviews. Participants were also asked about spaces and places in higher education that helped or did not help them …

The Role Of Dysfunctional Beliefs And Attitudes About Sleep (Dbas), Rumination, Psychological Inflexibility, And Insomnia Among College Students, Guadalupe G. San Miguel

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of the study was to understand additional variables that play a role between insomnia and the inability to stay present with internal feelings/emotions (i.e., psychological inflexibility) among college students. These variables that were predicted to help explain this relationship include dysfunctional sleep-related cognitions and insomnia rumination. To do this, college students were surveyed online at the start of the study and one month later. In addition, to be included in the study they must have been enrolled in a 2- or 4-year university, have access to the internet, and not diagnosed with another sleep disorder. Participants (n …

Quantifying Floral Resource Availability Using Unmanned Aerial Systems And Machine Learning Classifications To Predict Bee Community Structure, Jesse Anjin Tabor

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Bees are important for agricultural and non-agricultural ecosystems because they pollinate both wild plants and commercial crops. Flowers provide pollen and nectar resources that bees use to survive and reproduce. Measuring the relationship between the floral community and bee community may help apiarists and land managers to make informed decisions in managing wild and domesticated bee species. Manual methods to describe and count flowering vegetation is costly in time and personnel. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology may be an efficient way to describe and count flowering vegetation on a large scale. UAVs with classification analysis and ground transect surveys were …

Modeling And Control Of Battery Management Systems With High-Frequency Ac Link Coupled Multiport Series Resonant Converters For 2nd Life Battery Applications, Brooks Jace Maughan

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

While the use and production of Electric Vehicles becomes more prevalent, it is also important to make this economical and ensure the reduction of a carbon footprint. Second-life batteries can satisfy both problems as batteries can be used in a second-life application for lower power purposes such as supplementing the grid so the infrastructure needed to charge the expanding fleet of Electric Vehicles can be easily supplied. This thesis goes through the process of Active Cell Balancing which will produce equal capacities, or similar batteries, that can be more efficiently used in these and other types of second-life applications. The …

Development Of In Situ Second-Order Nonlinear Optical Scatterings For Molecular Behaviors At Aerosol Surfaces, Yuqin Qian

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Aerosol particles are one of the most important components of the atmosphere. During the growth of aerosol particles, they directly or indirectly affect air quality, human health, and environmental chemistry. Therefore, understanding the chemical and physical properties of such particles is an important scientific, engineering, and medical issue. The growth of aerosol particles in the atmosphere is closely related to the chemical structure at its surface, as well as the heterogeneous reactions which take place at and below the particle’s surface. However, there is a lack of suitable surface-specific analytical techniques which directly measure the chemical structure of aerosol particle …

Validation And Exploration Of The Multidimensional Psychological Flexibility Inventory With A Sample Of Adolescents, John Barr

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The current study attempted to further psychological flexibility literature by validating the Multidimensional Psychological Flexibility Inventory (MPFI) with a sample of adolescents (ages 16 and 17). This analysis also examined how the MPFI associates with other indicators of psychological flexibility, distress (depression, anxiety, somatic symptom severity and related distress, difficulties in emotion regulation) and well-being (subjective happiness, life satisfaction, self-compassion, emotional approach coping).

Results from this study suggested that psychological inflexibility as measured by the MPFI positively associated with a number of measures of distress, but generally did not inversely correlate with measures of well-being in a theoretically-consistent manner, which …

Dust Deposition Changes Production, Chlorophyll-A And Community Composition In Mountain Lakes, Jiahao Wen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Increasing quantities of dust emitted from semi-arid soils, agricultural soils, and urban regions are blown to remote mountain lakes in the American West. Remote mountain lakes lacking local nutrient inputs and presenting simple food webs that are easily affected by climate changes. Dust can carry nutrients (e.g., nitrogen and phosphorus) to mountain lakes and potentially enhance algae growth and change algal communities. However, experimental tests of this hypothesis are lacking. Using in situ experiments, we investigated the effects of dust enrichment on the production, biomass, and primary algal species in three mountain lakes in the American West. We found that …

Integrated Concept Mapping As A Method For Democratically Evaluating A Teacher Preparation Program In The Area Of Classroom Assessment Proficiency, Carrie Elizabeth Ashcraft

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This dissertation reviews current policies regarding Teacher Preparation Program (TPP) evaluation and addresses “accountability era” influences which often minimize factors related to equity and promote a limited view of teacher and school “effectiveness.” Integrated concept mapping is proposed as an alternative method of evaluation because of its democratic framework for accountability. Using this method, a TPP in the Mountain West was evaluated in the area of classroom assessment.