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Performance And Contributions Of The Green Industry To Utah's Economy, Lara Gale May 2021

Performance And Contributions Of The Green Industry To Utah's Economy, Lara Gale

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

Landscaping and nursery enterprises, commonly known as green industry enterprises, can be found everywhere in Utah, and are necessary to create both aesthetic appeal and human well-being in the built environment. In order to understand the impact that events such as economic shocks or policy changes may have on the green industry, the baseline performance and contribution of the industry must be specified for comparison following these shocks. This study provides a summary and evaluation of the current performance of the green industry in Utah, and estimates the industry’s contributions to Utah’s economy in terms of transactions between industries, employee …

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Utah State University Commencement, 2021 – Brigham City Campus, Utah State University Apr 2021

Utah State University Commencement, 2021 – Brigham City Campus, Utah State University

Commencement Programs

2021 Commencement Ceremony for the Brigham City Campus of Utah State University.

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Low-Fidelity Method For Rapid Aerostructural Optimisation And Design-Space Exploration Of Planar Wings, Jeffrey D. Taylor, Doug F. Hunsaker Apr 2021

Low-Fidelity Method For Rapid Aerostructural Optimisation And Design-Space Exploration Of Planar Wings, Jeffrey D. Taylor, Doug F. Hunsaker

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Student Publications and Presentations

During early phases of wing design, analytic and low-fidelity methods are often used to identify promising design concepts. In many cases, solutions obtained using these methods provide intuition about the design space that is not easily obtained using higher-fidelity methods. This is especially true for aerostructural design. However, many analytic and low-fidelity aerostructural solutions are limited in application to wings with specific planforms and weight distributions. Here, a numerical method for minimising induced drag with structural constraints is presented that uses approximations that apply to unswept planar wings with arbitrary planforms and weight distributions. The method is applied to the …

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The Utah Statesman, April 26th, 2021, Utah State University Apr 2021

The Utah Statesman, April 26th, 2021, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

Weekly student newspaper of Utah State University in Logan.

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Improving Skills In Computer Methods: Introductory Toolkit To Python For Undergraduate Physics Majors, Erin O'Donnell, Melissa Rasmussen Apr 2021

Improving Skills In Computer Methods: Introductory Toolkit To Python For Undergraduate Physics Majors, Erin O'Donnell, Melissa Rasmussen

Physics Capstone Projects

The computer-based curriculum for undergraduate physics students before 2019 struggled to stay current and applicable. When the course was created in the early 2000s, MathCad was used daily by many physicists. As computer’s and their computational abilities have grown exponentially, so have programming languages and applications. Now in the late 2010s/early 2020s, Excel, Python, and Mathematica are some of the most common computer appliques. To address this, we created toolkits to give undergraduate physicists the experience for future classes, careers, and graduate school. This paper focuses on the process for creating the Python toolkit and overall class setup. Run on …

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Data On The Effects Of Persuasive Message Content On Retweet Counts During Natural Hazard Events, Yajie Li, Amanda L. Hughes, Peter D. Howe Apr 2021

Data On The Effects Of Persuasive Message Content On Retweet Counts During Natural Hazard Events, Yajie Li, Amanda L. Hughes, Peter D. Howe

Browse all Datasets

This dataset contains Twitter messages about heat hazards posted by U.S. National Weather Service accounts in 2016. The dataset also contains the retweet counts of the heat-related tweets and whether several types of persuasive message content were included in each tweet. The population and temperature for the forecast area of each sending National Weather Service account are also included.

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Ion Beam-Treated Space Polymers: Long-Term Stability In Geo-Simulated Environments, Jacob Kleiman, Zelina Iskanderova, Leonid Krishtein, J. R. Dennison, Brian Wood, Anatoly Grigorievsky, Carl Best Apr 2021

Ion Beam-Treated Space Polymers: Long-Term Stability In Geo-Simulated Environments, Jacob Kleiman, Zelina Iskanderova, Leonid Krishtein, J. R. Dennison, Brian Wood, Anatoly Grigorievsky, Carl Best

Journal Articles

As part of a large program conducted between years 2010 and 2018, a number of ion beam surface treatments and proprietary coatings formed on advanced space polymers by direct ion beam deposition were developed at Integrity Testing Laboratory (ITL) Inc, in Canada. Thistechnology allowed producing surfaces with controlled surface resistivity in a wide range of charge dissipation values, with negligibly low additional RF losses and other important functional properties, that allowed using such treated materials and products in modern space antennae, solar arrays and other external applications on spacecrafts in GEO environment. This paper will present an overview of results …

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In Silico Screeing Of Natural Compounds As Novel Drug Targets For Treatment Of Multiple Myeloma, Rousselene Larson Apr 2021

In Silico Screeing Of Natural Compounds As Novel Drug Targets For Treatment Of Multiple Myeloma, Rousselene Larson

Student Research Symposium

In Silico Screening of Natural Compounds as Novel Drug Targets for The Treatment of Multiple MyelomaRousselene Larson1 2, Naveen Duhan1, and Rakesh Kaundal1 2 *1Department of Plants, Soils, and Climate, College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences; 2Bioinformatics Facility, Center for Integrated BioSystems; Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322 USA* corresponding author (e-mail: [email protected])Telephone: +1 (435) 797-4117Fax: +1 (435) 797-2766Abstract: Multiple Myeloma (MM) is an incurable hematological malignancy cancer characterized by excessive clonal plasma cell proliferation in the bone marrow. In the United States, MM is the second most prevalent type of cancer that affects about 4 in 100,000 Americans. Toxicity …

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Possible Mechanisms Behind Impaired Glucose Metabolism In Niacin-Deficient Mice, Sierra Lopez Apr 2021

Possible Mechanisms Behind Impaired Glucose Metabolism In Niacin-Deficient Mice, Sierra Lopez

Student Research Symposium

Niacin, a component of vitamin B3, is necessary for the synthesis of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD). NAD is an essential coenzyme in many biologic functions, including a number of metabolic processes that regulate glucose and fat homeostasis. Humans obtain niacin in its dietary form, common in meats, nuts, legumes and some leafy vegetables. While severe niacin deficiency, or pellagra, has been drastically reduced in the United States, some populations remain vulnerable to deficiency, particularly pregnant women, cancer patients, the elderly and alcoholics. Age-related NAD deficiency is emerging as being positively correlated with cognitive decline and impaired dermal repair.. At the …

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The Utah Statesman, April 12th, 2021, Utah State University Apr 2021

The Utah Statesman, April 12th, 2021, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

Weekly student newspaper of Utah State University in Logan.

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How Preservice Teachers' Awareness Of Design Features And Academic Language Features Relates To Choosing And Evaluating Digital Math Games For English Language Learners, Allison Roxburgh Apr 2021

How Preservice Teachers' Awareness Of Design Features And Academic Language Features Relates To Choosing And Evaluating Digital Math Games For English Language Learners, Allison Roxburgh

Student Research Symposium

This is a proposed study that will examine how preservice teachers develop awareness of design features and academic language features when choosing and evaluating digital math games for English language learners (ELLs). Thirty elementary preservice teachers will choose three digital math games for ELLs and evaluate them based on awareness of design features and academic language features. Participants will complete a pre- and post- belief survey, a pre- and post-evaluation rubric and participate in semi-structured interviews. The setting of this study is online and participants will use their personal devices to access content. This study will employ a convergent mixed …

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Day Versus Night Irrigation Loss From Sprinkler Irrigation Of Urban Crops, Samikshya Pyakurel Apr 2021

Day Versus Night Irrigation Loss From Sprinkler Irrigation Of Urban Crops, Samikshya Pyakurel

Student Research Symposium

Nighttime irrigation is a widespread strategy to conserve water, as it reduces wind drift and evaporation loss (WDEL). However, daytime sprinkler irrigation may also conserve water by lowering the temperature and increasing the humidity of crop microclimates, thereby reducing evapotranspiration (ET). Therefore, the objectives of this study include: 1) quantify whether a water savings exists between day and night irrigation with a water balance approach, 2) analyze the microclimate effects by irrigation timing to determine any changes to WDEL and evaporative demand, and 3) assess the quality and yield response of two urban crops. In 2019-21, we established 12 field …

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Genomic Prediction Of Salinity Stress Tolerance In Maize (Zea Mays L.), Vishal Singh Apr 2021

Genomic Prediction Of Salinity Stress Tolerance In Maize (Zea Mays L.), Vishal Singh

Student Research Symposium

Maize is the largest crop in the world in terms of production. Utah, maize is a potential fodder crop. With increasing climate change, soil salinity is also increasing worldwide. Soil salinity is very detrimental to plants' growth and development and crop production. For a fodder crop, plant biomass is an important trait, and maize biomass is adversely affected by salinity stress, especially at the seedling stage. A Selection of salt-tolerant breeding material is a time-consuming process and its complexity is further increased by significant heterogeneity in soil salinity under field based evaluation. Genomic prediction is an emerging tool that can …

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Transgenic Expression Of Prunus Persica Salt Overly Sensitive 2 (Ppsos2) In Atsos2 Mutant Imparts Salt Tolerance In Arabidopsis, Vishal Singh Apr 2021

Transgenic Expression Of Prunus Persica Salt Overly Sensitive 2 (Ppsos2) In Atsos2 Mutant Imparts Salt Tolerance In Arabidopsis, Vishal Singh

Student Research Symposium

Salinity is one of the major environmental stresses that affect crop growth and productivity. Almond crop has a great potential for Utah as a cash crop and salinity is one of the stresses affecting its growth and yield. Although almond trees are sensitive to salt stress, salinity-tolerant rootstocks can play a significant role in sustaining crop production in semiarid areas. Salinity tolerance has a complex mechanism with many genes acting in different pathways. Understanding the role of potential candidate genes is an important aspect of genomics assisted improvement of stress tolerance. In this study, functional complementation of the Prunus persica …

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Indoor Vertical Farming Potential Solution To Long-Term Global Food Security Issues, Natalie Rigby Apr 2021

Indoor Vertical Farming Potential Solution To Long-Term Global Food Security Issues, Natalie Rigby

Student Research Symposium

Indoor vertical farming may be a solution for global food security issues, especially those driven by climate change, supply chain disruptions, environmental decline, and urban sprawl. This method of cultivation has numerous benefits and drawbacks dependent on the different options used. This presentation will use resilience frameworks developed by USU's Center for Anticipatory Intelligence to help identify these threats facing global food systems and how they may be mitigated by indoor vertical farms. In the coming years, rapid climate change issues are predicted to play an important role in agriculture around the world. The world currently faces a number of …

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Comparative Study Of The Microbiome Of The Native Plant Ceanothus Velutinus (Snowbrush) From Different Locations And Greenhouse Studies, Jyothsna Ganesh Apr 2021

Comparative Study Of The Microbiome Of The Native Plant Ceanothus Velutinus (Snowbrush) From Different Locations And Greenhouse Studies, Jyothsna Ganesh

Student Research Symposium

Climatic change is one of the biggest threats to the ecosystem and biodiversity by enhancing environmental stresses. Environmental stresses such as biotic and abiotic stresses affect plant health and reduce crop production. The rhizosphere microbiome of a plant plays a significant role in a plant's defense against various biotic and abiotic stresses. In this study, we are investigating the microbiome diversity of bulk soil, rhizosphere, and endosphere of Ceanothus velutinus, snowbrush. Ceanothus is an evergreen native plant that is usually found in dry areas and thrives well in harsh conditions. The snowbrush samples were collected from different locations 1920m, 1950m, …

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Numerical Approximations Of Phase Field Models Using A General Class Of Linear Time-Integration Schemes, Zengyan Zhang Apr 2021

Numerical Approximations Of Phase Field Models Using A General Class Of Linear Time-Integration Schemes, Zengyan Zhang

Student Research Symposium

As a basic thermodynamic model, the essence of the phase field model is describing non-conservative field variables in the phase separation process, such as liquid-solid interface, dendritic flow, microstructure evolution in solids, etc. Due to its extensive applications in the literature, there are many approaches to develop numerical approximations for the phase field PDE models. However, most numerical schemes are designed specifically for a particular model, making their applications restricted. I will introduce a new family of linear and unconditionally energy stable schemes for phase field models and apply them to several typical examples to demonstrate the generality, accuracy, and …

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Microbial Community Of The Rhizosphere Of Ceanothus Velutinus Improves The Plant's Growth And Development Under Greenhouse Conditions, Jyothsna Ganesh Apr 2021

Microbial Community Of The Rhizosphere Of Ceanothus Velutinus Improves The Plant's Growth And Development Under Greenhouse Conditions, Jyothsna Ganesh

Student Research Symposium

Climatic change-induced environmental stresses affect crop production. Drought is such a stress which affect crop production and landscaping adversely. Native plants are great for low water use landscaping and can adapt to the natural environment. USU Center for Water-Efficient Landscaping has released a list of native plants that can be used for this purpose. This study focuses on a native plant Ceanothus velutinus (snowbrush) which is an evergreen plant native to western North America. It thrives well in harsh conditions and can act as ornamental plant in low water use landscaping but is difficult to propagate under landscape conditions. Here, …

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Random Forest-Based Diffusion Information Geometry For Supervised Visualization And Data Exploration, Jake Rhodes Apr 2021

Random Forest-Based Diffusion Information Geometry For Supervised Visualization And Data Exploration, Jake Rhodes

Student Research Symposium

Most dimensionality reduction techniques to date are unsupervised; they do not take class labels into account (e.g., PCA, MDS, t-SNE, Isomap). Such methods require large amounts of data and are often sensitive to noise that may obfuscate important patterns in the data. Various attempts at supervised dimensionality reduction methods that take into account auxiliary annotations (e.g., class labels) have been successfully implemented with goals of increased classification accuracy or improved data visualization. In this paper, we describe a novel supervised visualization technique based on random forest proximities and a diffusion-based information geometry. We show, both qualitatively and quantitatively, the advantages …

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Illegal Wildlife Trade Increases Probability Of Zoonotic Disease Spread In The United States, Ryan Bushman Apr 2021

Illegal Wildlife Trade Increases Probability Of Zoonotic Disease Spread In The United States, Ryan Bushman

Student Research Symposium

Illegal wildlife trade is a major contributor to the spread of zoonotic disease in the United States and may potentially lead to further public health emergencies, a significant loss of life, and can cost billions of dollars. The trade of bushmeat and exotic pets are examples of illegal wildlife trade that can result in the spread of zoonotic diseases. These illegal activities are driven by deep-rooted cultural beliefs, financial necessity, and luxurious lifestyles. An analysis of the existing literature on these subjects through the lens of anticipatory intelligence reveals certain areas of the current systems that combat illegal wildlife trade …

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Deepnec: A Novel Alignment-Free Tool For The Characterization Of Nitrification-Related Enzymes Using Deep Learning, A Step Towards Comprehensive Understanding Of The Nitrogen Cycle, Naveen Duhan Apr 2021

Deepnec: A Novel Alignment-Free Tool For The Characterization Of Nitrification-Related Enzymes Using Deep Learning, A Step Towards Comprehensive Understanding Of The Nitrogen Cycle, Naveen Duhan

Student Research Symposium

Abstract: Nitrification is an important microbial two-step transformation in the global nitrogen cycle, as it is the only natural process that produces nitrate within a system. The functional annotation of nitrification-related enzymes has a broad range of applications in metagenomics, agriculture, industrial biotechnology, etc. The time and resources needed for determining the function of enzymes experimentally are restrictively costly. Therefore, an accurate genome-scale computational prediction of the nitrification-related enzymes has become much more important.In this study, we developed an alignment-free computational approach to determine the nitrification-related enzymes from the sequence itself. We propose deepNEC, a novel end-to-end feature selection and …

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Pyseqrna: An Automated Python Package For Advanced Rna Sequencing Data Analysis And Annotation, Naveen Duhan Apr 2021

Pyseqrna: An Automated Python Package For Advanced Rna Sequencing Data Analysis And Annotation, Naveen Duhan

Student Research Symposium

Abstract: With the advent of Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies, numerous data is being generated every day, however, streamlined analysis remains a big hurdle to efficiently use the technology. A large number of algorithms, statistical methods, and software tools have been developed in recent years to perform the individual analysis steps of various NGS applications. Some NGS applications data analysis procedures are therefore very complex, requiring several program tools to be downloaded for their various processing steps. There is a significant room for the development of scalable computing environments that link the individual software components to automated workflows to efficiently and …

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Translating -Omics Big Data: Comprehensive Understanding Of Host-Pathogen Interactions To Control Bacterial Blight In Alfalfa Using Computational Approaches, Raghav Kataria Apr 2021

Translating -Omics Big Data: Comprehensive Understanding Of Host-Pathogen Interactions To Control Bacterial Blight In Alfalfa Using Computational Approaches, Raghav Kataria

Student Research Symposium

Plant infectious diseases are a major threat to the crops, owing to economic losses to the agriculture industry worldwide. Molecular interactions between the host and pathogen play a critical role in understanding the basis of pathogenesis. Majority of the Pseudomonas syringae strains are known to cause frost injury in plants, amongst which, P. syringae pv. syringae ALF3 is asserted to be a causal organism of bacterial stem blight in Medicago sativa (alfalfa). We elucidated the genome-scale host-pathogen interactions (HPIs) between alfalfa and P. syringae using two intense computational approaches: interolog (homology-based) and the domain-based method (based on 3D structure of …

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Examining Urban Soil Quality And Contamination Along The Wasatch Front, Frank Oliver Apr 2021

Examining Urban Soil Quality And Contamination Along The Wasatch Front, Frank Oliver

Student Research Symposium

Urban soil contamination has become an increasingly prevalent concern within residential developments and the expansion of urban agriculture. The purpose of this study was to establish an urban soil survey along the Wasatch Front to examine the concentrations of common contaminants and general soil quality in urban farms and community gardens during 2020-2021. Areas of concern include 1) heavy metals: lead, arsenic, cadmium, and chromium, 2) organic contaminants- petroleum hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and volatile organic carbon, 3) pH, 4) soil salinity, and 5) elevated macronutrient levels. Measured contaminant concentrations will be compared to EPA regional screening levels (RSL) along …

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Revegetation Of Native Plant Communities In Great Salt Lake Wetlands: The Effects Of Native Seed Mix Composition And Sowing Density, Laura Beck Apr 2021

Revegetation Of Native Plant Communities In Great Salt Lake Wetlands: The Effects Of Native Seed Mix Composition And Sowing Density, Laura Beck

Student Research Symposium

One of the threats currently facing Great Salt Lake wetlands is Phragmites australis. Its rapid expansion since 1987 has displaced native vegetation and changed the composition of plant communities. Removal is very costly and takes multiple years of different treatments like herbicide, mowing, and flooding. To ensure Phragmites australis does not return, native seeds will need to be sown. This experiment is to determine the best seed composition and sowing density. In the USU greenhouse, I will sow four different native seed mixes: 100% desirable perennial natives, 75% perennial natives and 25% fast growing natives, 50% perennial natives and 50% …

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Ensemble Kernel Density Estimators, Ethan Ancell Apr 2021

Ensemble Kernel Density Estimators, Ethan Ancell

Student Research Symposium

Kernel density estimators are nonparametric techniques used to estimate probability density functions of random variables. Recent work has shown that optimally weighted ensembles of nonparametric estimators can be used to achieve a parametric rate of convergence in various problems, including the problem of estimating information divergence functionals. However, this theory has not yet been adapted to kernel density estimators and is currently being explored. The differences between the information divergence problem and the kernel density estimation case are discussed, as well as various unproven theoretical properties that would imply the existence of a weighted ensemble of kernel density estimators that …

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Extendable And Invertible Manifold Learning With Geometry Regularized Autoencoders, Andres Duque Apr 2021

Extendable And Invertible Manifold Learning With Geometry Regularized Autoencoders, Andres Duque

Student Research Symposium

A fundamental task in data exploration is to extract simplified low dimensional representations that capture intrinsic geometry in data, especially for faithfully visualizing data in two or three dimensions. Common approaches to this task use kernel methods for manifold learning. However, these methods typically only provide an embedding of fixed input data and cannot extend to new data points. Autoencoders have also recently become popular for representation learning. But while they naturally compute feature extractors that are both extendable to new data and invertible (i.e., reconstructing original features from latent representation), they have limited capabilities to follow global intrinsic geometry …

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Optimal Control Of Algae Biofilm Growth In Wastewater Treatment Using Computational Mathematical Models, Gerald Jones Apr 2021

Optimal Control Of Algae Biofilm Growth In Wastewater Treatment Using Computational Mathematical Models, Gerald Jones

Student Research Symposium

Microalgal biofilms are comprised of a syntrophic consortium of microalgae and other microorganisms embedded within an extracellular matrix. Despite significant processes in the application of microalgal biofilms in wastewater treatment, mechanistic understanding and optimization of microalgal biomass yield and productivity under environmental constraints is still lacking. This paper identifies theoretical insights on this challenging biological problem by leveraging novel mathematical and computational tools. In particular, this is a systematic parameter study in utilizing a computational mathematical model to advance the understanding of microalgal biofilm growth kinetics under environmental constraints. Moreover, the design of algae biofilm reactors for optimal biomass yield …

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Is Mitigation Of Drought Stress By Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Driven By A Nano-Specific Mechanism Or Mitigation Of Micronutrient Deficiency?, Justin Deakin Apr 2021

Is Mitigation Of Drought Stress By Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Driven By A Nano-Specific Mechanism Or Mitigation Of Micronutrient Deficiency?, Justin Deakin

Student Research Symposium

It has been reported that zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (NPs) can promote drought tolerance in crops when used as soil amendments. However, many of these experiments were conducted in Zn-deficient growth media with no comparison to currently available Zn fertilization methods, making it unclear if the benefits from adding ZnO NPs were caused by a nano-specifc mechanism or simply by the mitigation of a micronutrient deficiency. A review of the literature shows that of 12 published experiments considering the effects of ZnO NPs on plant health, 5 out of 6 studies that did not include a comparison to currently available …

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What Can I Do About It? Teaching Behaviors That Strengthen Students' Mathematical Identities, Sandra Miles Apr 2021

What Can I Do About It? Teaching Behaviors That Strengthen Students' Mathematical Identities, Sandra Miles

Student Research Symposium

As test scores place US teenagers lower down on the list of developed countries in mathematics achievement, scholars seek to understand what is keeping students from engaging more deeply and successfully in mathematics. Though many affective and motivational factors contribute to future mathematics engagement, mathematics self-concept has been shown to be a consistent predictor of long-term outcomes (Marsh et al., 2019), especially when affective or emotional outcomes are considered (Huang, 2012). This paper examines the construct of mathematical self-concept through analysis of the mathematical identity variable in the High School Longitudinal Survey (2009), and investigates whether teacher behaviors, such as …

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