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Design Of Logan City's Storm Water Conveyance System, Megan Gordon

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

This report summarizes 10th West Engineers’ (10WE) storm water conveyance design for Logan City. The implementation of the design mitigates flood risk due to storm water discharge, helps improve local water quality, and uses infrastructure that would otherwise be abandoned. The system collects storm water discharged along 1000 West and transports the water to the holding pond located at approximately 2400 West 2200 North, Logan, Utah (see Figure 1).

Logan City is located in northern Utah’s Cache County. As development and redevelopment occur, storm water runoff quantities will decrease due to new regulations. However, Logan City’s storm water system does …

Training Parents In Descriptive Assessment And Function Identification, Makenzie Sip

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

It is often difficult for parents to address their child’s problem behavior. Children with special needs can display more frequent and intense problem behavior. Therefore, professionals need to help parents of children with special needs identify how to decrease their child’s problem behavior. Professionals help to decrease problem behavior by performing assessments called descriptive assessments to identify why the problem behavior is happening, and then using these assessments to create an appropriate plan of how to prevent and respond to the problem behavior. We examined if parents could be taught the skills necessary to perform descriptive assessments and then use …

Great Basin Bristlecone Pine Resistance To Mountain Pine Beetle: An Evaluation Of Dendroctonus Ponderosae Host Selection Behavior And Reproductive Success In Pinus Longaeva, Erika L. Eidson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) is a native bark beetle that attacks and kills most species of pines (Pinus) throughout its range in western North America. Due to the strong relationship between thermal conditions and mountain pine beetle population success, climate change-induced changes in mountain pine beetle outbreaks are a major concern for land managers. Over the past several decades, warmer than average temperatures allowed mountain pine beetle populations to reach epidemic levels across much of the western U.S. and Canada, including high elevations where outbreaks were previously limited by cool temperatures. Many high-elevation pine …

Impact Of Antidementia Medications On Neuropsychiatric Symptoms And Informal Costs Of Caregiving In Dementia, Stephanie Behrens

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Dementia-related diseases are progressive neurological disorders that can affect a person’s cognition and functional abilities, and also result in mental health symptoms commonly called neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS). To date, the most common pharmacological treatments for dementia, “antidementia” medications, delay the progression of the cognitive and functional symptoms of the condition. Studies of the effects of antidementia medications on NPS show varying results. Presence of NPS can also affect the amount of time caregivers provide care with persons with dementia, which can affect informal costs of the condition. This project used extant data from the longitudinal, population-based Cache County Study on …

Short And Long-Term Structural Health Monitoring Of Highway Bridges, Navid Zolghadri

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is a promising tool for condition assessment of bridge structures. SHM of bridges can be performed for different purposes in long or short-term. A few aspects of short- and long-term monitoring of highway bridges are addressed in this research.

Without quantifying environmental effects, applying vibration-based damage detection techniques may result in false damage identification. As part of a long-term monitoring project, the effect of temperature on vibrational characteristics of two continuously monitored bridges are studied. Natural frequencies of the structures are identified from ambient vibration data using the Natural Excitation Technique (NExT) along with the Eigen …

Intentional Mentoring Through 4-H: The Role Of 4-H In A Successful Mentoring Program Between Youth And Adults, Emily Ann Shepperd

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

4-H Youth and Families with Promise (4-H YFP) is a one to one youth mentoring program that aims to help youth obtain skills that will help them to be successful. The purpose of this research was to determine if any positive outcomes were shown of youth participating in 4-H YFP. Positive outcomes were identified as peer social competence, greater ability to make positive choices, the development of effective communication skills, building connections, and contributing to the community. Results show that these outcomes positively increased among youth participants in the 4-H YFP program- but the changes were too small to be …

A Dynamic Measure Of Morphological Awareness In Young Children, Frances Elizabeth Gibson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Although sound awareness has been proven critical for skilled literacy development, further investigation is needed to examine additional factors that could also be critical. Awareness of meaning or morphological awareness is an additional factor that could impact literacy development. Although morphological awareness is mastered early in spoken language, little is known in regard to this skill in other language and literacy contexts. This study investigated the validity of a dynamic measure of morphological awareness (DMMA) in young children. Seventy-eight first-grade children completed a language and literacy battery. Morphological awareness was assessed using both a standardized and an experimental measure comprised …

Murder Becomes Her: Media Representations Of Murderous Women In America From 1890-1920, Emily M. Crumpton

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis explores the relationship between the media, murderous women, and the concept of separate spheres. Murderous women challenged established gender norms. They did not conform to the societal expectations of their gender, therefore, they were not considered “normal.” As such, women like Alice Mitchell, Jane Toppan, and Amy Archer Gilligan became objects of media, medical, and public curiosity. As defined by medical science and society, newspapers policed the boundaries of “normality” by sensationalizing the lives, actions, and trials of deadly damsels. Newspaper coverage of murderous women reminded the public of the consequences of “abnormality” and non-conformity. This thesis argues …

Examining The Effects Of A Strength-Based Therapeutic Assessment Process On Students’ Perceptions Of Teacher-Student Relationship, Hope, And Academic Competence, Teresa A. Duszlak

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

One major purpose of school-based assessment approaches is to identify ways to intervene to promote positive school academic, social and well-being outcomes for all students. Although schools traditionally use assessment tools to identify students’ weaknesses and needs, they can also use strength-based assessment tools to guide intervention planning and to validate students’ and teachers’ positive views of student skills and characteristics. Sharing these strengths and how to use them may enhance a student’s perception of the teacher-student relationship, hope and academic competence. Likewise, a second approach to assessment, called Therapeutic Assessment (TA), has yielded similar child outcomes for youth in …

Reliability Of The Wingate Anaerobic Test With Ice Hockey Players On The Velotron Cycle Ergometer, Ryan F. Bringhurst, Dale R. Wagner, Sarah Schwartz

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

Purpose: This study evaluated the test-retest reliability of the Wingate Anaerobic Test (WAnT) performed on a Velotron electromagnetically-braked cycle ergometer (EE) for power-trained athletes and assessed whether a familiarization trial was necessary to achieve high test-retest reliability. Methods: Twenty-one male ice hockey players (age 23.5 ± 4.7 yrs, mass 86.3 ± 16.6 kg, height 180.9 ± 7.4 cm) from a collegiate club team (Club = 10) and a recreational league (Rec = 11) performed three, 30-sec WAnTs within 2 weeks, and with at least 24 hours between visits. Mean power, anaerobic capacity, peak power, anaerobic power, maximum RPM, …

Sclerocactus Wetlandicus: Habitat Characterization, Seed Germination And Mycorrhizal Analysis, Kourtney T. Harding

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Uinta Basin hookless cactus (Sclerocactus wetlandicus) is a threatened species native to Eastern Utah. The cactus is found in a landscape highly disturbed by non-renewable energy production. To understand the environmental conditions that support natural growth of this cactus, we asked what types of plants were present in the same areas as the cactus, and if the types of plants were different in environments that were disturbed. From our assessment, we determined that the types of plants present in disturbed areas were drastically different from those present in undisturbed locations. Areas previously used for energy production are …

The Inevitable Fusion: A Mixed-Methods Sociological Approach To Comprehensive Kodiak Bear Viewing Management, Jacqueline M. Keating

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge is home to one of the highest concentrations of brown bears in Alaska. As the public demand for bear viewing opportunities continues to increase, managers are faced with the challenge of accommodating this new kind of visitor use on a refuge that was traditionally managed for the sustainable hunting of bears. To inform the public use management planning process, the Kodiak Refuge allocated funding to support social science research that objectively assessed the current nature of bear viewing opportunities and the factors that influence the quality of those opportunities. Ecologist Aldo Leopold claimed that the …

Effect Of Foliage And Root Carbon Quantity, Quality, And Fluxes On Soil Organic Carbon Stabilization In Montane Aspen And Conifer Stands In Utah, Antra Boča

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Soil organic carbon (SOC) positively affects many soil properties (e.g., fertility and water holding capacity), and the amount of carbon (C) in soil exceeds the amount in the atmosphere by about three times. Forest soils store as much C as is found in trees. Tree species differ in their effect on SOC pools. Quaking aspen forests in the Western US often store more stable SOC in the mineral soil than nearby conifers. During the last decades a decline in aspen cover, often followed by conifer encroachment, has been documented. A shift from aspen to conifer overstories may negatively affect the …

Object Recognition In Videos Utilizing Hierarchical And Temporal Objectness With Deep Neural Networks, Liang Peng

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

As the growth of mobile devices and social networks has been faster than ever, online image and video content has become truly ubiquitous today. Understanding of these images and videos, called vision, is one of the most primary ways for human being to perceive the world. Computer vision, which refers to the study of enabling machines to see and understand the visual world, is fundamental in advancing Artificial Intelligence.

Object recognition, which is defined as the task of locating and recognizing object categories in images and videos, is a major research field in computer vision. Recent research in object recognition …

Understanding The Mechanisms Of Insecticide Resistance In Phlebotomus Papatasi And Lutzoymia Longipalpis Sand Flies (Diptera: Psychodidae: Phlebotominae), David Denlinger

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Sand flies, like mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, and lice, transmit pathogens that cause disease in humans. Leishmaniasis, caused by pathogens transmitted by sand flies, kills tens of thousands of people every year. Insecticides have been used to control sand flies, but there is evidence of insecticide resistance in populations of sand flies around the world. The goal of this dissertation was to develop tools to maintain sand flies in the laboratory, develop the ability to identify insecticide-resistant populations of sand flies, and to investigate the genetic mechanisms of how sand flies become resistant to insecticides. I began by comparing live animal …

The Effects Of Previous Concussions On The Physiological Complexity Of Motor Output During A Continuous Isometric Visual-Motor Tracking Task, Adam C. Raikes

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The long-term ramifications of single and multiple concussions are unclear, though they exist in the forefront of present social and scientific inquiry. While suicides linked to concussion histories by prominent current and former athletes sensationalize the issue, questions abound as to the safe and timely return to work, sport, and active military duty following a concussive event in addition to the link between concussion history and neurological disorders. As such, identifying lingering or persistent alterations in function following concussion is essential.

Nonlinear characteristics of visual-motor task performance, including the complexity of the performance, provide an avenue for quantifying visual processing, …

A Comparison Of Park Access With Park Need For Children: Case Study In Cache County, Utah, Shuolei Chen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Childhood obesity is one of the nation’s most serious health problems. There are growing efforts to prevent childhood obesity by improving opportunities for physical activity in their communities. The outdoor settings of the built environment, such as parks and open spaces, can offer children opportunities for physical activities, experience with nature, and social interaction, which contribute to children’s physical and psychological health. However, children’s physical access to parks is often inequitable. Simultaneously, the quality of parks also varies. These disparities caused the inequitable distribution of health-promoting features of built environment among disadvantaged groups who may not have access to other …

Perceived Entitlement Among Amillenials Versus Baby Boomers: A Cross-Generational Examination, Eliza Comer

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

As the Millennial workforce grows, understanding how Millennials are viewed- specifically in terms of entitlement-is an issue that merits attention, since perceived entitlement could negatively impact the extent to which an individual's contributions are valued in the workplace. While prior research suggests that Millennials are entitled (Allen 2015; Fisk 2010; Myers 2010), it neglects how perceptions of entitlement may differ across generations. We aim to address this gap by examining whether Baby Boomers and Millennials differ in their perceptions of what constitutes entitled behavior. Specifically, we test whether an individual's age, together with situational factors, may influence the extent to …

Effects Of Gestational Dietary Intake On Calf Growth And Early Feedlot Performance Of Offspring, Jose M. Gardner

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Fetal programming is a relatively new and quickly growing field of research in the livestock industry. The concept of fetal programming is simply defined as the effects a change in maternal nutritional intake has on offspring, whether it be a genetic or physical change. The intention of this study was to specifically look at the effects of nutrient restriction of cows during the second trimester of gestation on the growth and performance of the resulting calves.

In this study, thirty-two cows of predominantly angus influence from the Utah state university herd were chosen, naturally bred to a pure bred angus …

Faculty Senate Agenda, May 1, 2017, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

• Calendar Committee
• Faculty Diversity, Development Equity
• Committee on Committees
• EPC April Report
• Faculty Senate President & President-Elect Coverage

Inventory, Assessment And Preliminary Management Planning For Utah's Sovereign Land Along The Bear River, Matthew Coombs

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

ABSTRACT

Inventory, Assessment and Preliminary Management Planning for

Utah’s Sovereign Land along the Bear River

by

Matthew S. Coombs

Master of Science in Bioregional Planning

Utah State University, 2017

Major Professor: Richard E. Toth

Department: Environment and Society

The Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands (FFSL) is responsible for the management of state-owned sovereign land in Utah, which includes the bed and banks of the Bear River in Cache and Box Elder Counties. The purpose of this project is to provide relevant background information and data to support the future development of a comprehensive management plan for the …

Effects Of Alternate Sustainable Soil Amendments On Organic Dryland Wheat Systems, Crista Sorenson

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

Organic winter wheat production in northern Utah is faced with several limitations, such as water and available soil nutrients. This study explored the possibility of adding a cover crop in the rotation to improve grain yield. There was also a replication of a large on-farm compost treatment of 18 Mg/ha (dry) for comparison.

Cover crops were selected based on a fall-planted study. Treatments included birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.) with inoculants planted at 20 kg/ha, Austrian winter peas (Pisum sativum subsp. arvense) with inoculants planted at 36 kg/ha, hairy vetch (Vicia villosa) with inoculants planted at …

Design Of Logan City's Stormwater Conveyance System, Kade Jacob Beck

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

This report summarizes 10th West Engineers' (10WE) storm water conveyance design for Logan City. The implementation of the design mitigates flood risk due to storm water discharge , helps improve local water quality, and uses infrastructure that would otherwise be abandoned. The system collects storm water discharged along 1000 West and transports the water to the holding pond located at approximately 2400 West 2200 North, Logan, Utah (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Aerial Photo of the Area of Interest Current Conditions

Logan City is located in northern Utah's Cache County. As development and redevelopment occur, storm water runoff quantities will …

Examining Effects Of Technology Level And Reinforcer Arrangements On Preference And Efficacy, Audrey N. Hoffman

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Applied behavior analysts use reinforcement to enact socially meaningful outcomes with the individuals that they work with. Identifying the ways in which reinforcers function optimally is an important consideration for behavioral research. Preference for reinforcers, and how effective reinforcers are, may change depending upon several factors. Two important factors to consider are how reinforcers are arranged and the technology level of the reinforcers used. Reinforcers can be delivered following every response in a distributed manner or they can be delivered following several responses in an accumulated manner. Additionally, leisure items used as reinforcers can be classified according to technology level, …

The Role Of The Fatty Acid Signaling Pathway In Dietary-Induced Obesity, Melissa N. Nelson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In recent years, dietary fat has been shown to be capable of activing taste receptor cells in the tongue. Fatty acids (FAs), which act as the chemical cue and are found in dietary fat, activate a cellular signaling pathway that results in a unique signal being sent to the brain that is then interpreted as the taste of fat. One important element in this pathway is the ion channel TrpM5. It is responsible for depolarizing the taste cells that are activated by fatty acids; depolarization is an essential step in cellular response, making TrpM5 essential in the functioning of the …

Misconduct-Related Discharge From Active Duty Military Service: An Examination Of Precipitating Factors And Post-Deployment Health Outcomes, Emily Brignone

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

U.S. military service members who are discharged from service for misconduct are at high risk for mental health and substance use disorders, homelessness, mortality, and incarceration. The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the pre- and post-discharge experiences and characteristics of this highly vulnerable population in order to inform improved prevention and intervention strategies.

Administrative data from the Department of Defense and Veterans Health Administration for veterans of recent conflicts were used to conduct 3 related retrospective cohort studies. These included (1) an evaluation of the demographic and military service characteristics and service-connected disabilities associated with discharge for misconduct; …

The Influence Of Aspen Chemistry And The Nutritional Context On Aspen Herbivory, Kristen Y. Heroy

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Consumption of aspen by herbivores is one major force causing aspen decline in North America. In this Dissertation, I aimed to determine why herbivores prefer browsing on certain aspen stands over others, and why they prefer consuming aspen that contains chemical defenses over understory forages like grasses, forbs, and shrubs. I explored the influence of nutrients and chemical defenses within aspen on aspen intake and preference by lambs in pen experiments. I also explored drivers of aspen preference on the landscape by looking at relationships between aspen herbivory, indicators of aspen health, amount of nutrients available in the understory, and …

Strategies For Increased Lactic Acid Production From Algal Cake Fermentations At Low Ph By Lactobacillus Casei, Tom J. Overbeck

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

We explored using de-oiled algal biomass (algal cake) as a low-value substrate for production of lactic acid in fermentations with Lactobacillus casei, and strategies for increasing lactic acid production at low pH. L. casei 12A algal cake (AC) fermentations showed carbohydrate and amino acid availability limit growth and lactic acid production. These nutritional requirements were effectively addressed with enzymatic hydrolysis of the AC using α-amylase, cellulase, and pepsin. Producing 0.075 g lactic acid per g AC from AC digested with all three enzymes. We explored heterologous expression of the cellulase gene (celE) from Clostridium thermocellum and the …

Mechanical Performance Of Natural / Natural Fiber Reinforced Hybrid Composite Materials Using Finite Element Method Based Micromechanics And Experiments, Muhammad Ziaur Rahman

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A micromechanical analysis of the representative volume element (RVE) of a unidirectional flax/jute fiber reinforced epoxy composite is performed using finite element analysis (FEA). To do so, first effective mechanical properties of flax fiber and jute fiber are evaluated numerically and then used in evaluating the effective properties of flax/jute/epoxy hybrid composite. Mechanics of Structure Genome (MSG), a new homogenization tool developed in Purdue University, is used to calculate the homogenized effective properties. Numerical results are compared with analytical solution based on rule of mixture, Halpin-Tsai as well as Tsai-Hahn equations. The effect of the volume fraction of the two …

Power Analysis Of Continuous Data Capture In Beepi, A Solar- Powered Multi-Sensor Electronic Beehive Monitoring System For Langstroth Beehives, Keval Shah

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Honey bee (Apis mellifera) is one of the most important pollinating species in agriculture. The decline in the bee population worldwide is a sign of something going amiss in the environment. This decrease in the population is attributed to the Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). In this thesis, a power analysis is presented of a solar-powered, multi-sensor electronic beehive monitoring (EBM) system. EBM may contribute to our understanding of the major factors affecting the health of honeybee colonies without disturbing the colonies' daily behavioral patterns or putting extra burdens on beekeepers. The EBM system analyzed in this thesis runs …