Digital Commons Network^™

On Fractional Realizations Of Tournament Score Sequences, Kaitlin S. Murphy

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Contrary to popular belief, we can’t all be winners.

Suppose 6 people compete in a chess tournament in which all pairs of players compete directly and no ties are allowed; i.e., 6 people compete in a ‘round robin tournament’. Each player is assigned a ‘score’, namely the number of games they won, and the ‘score sequence’ of the tournament is a list of the players’ scores. Determining whether a given potential score sequence actually is a score sequence proves to be difficult. For instance, (0, 0, 3, 3, 3, 6) is not feasible because two players cannot both have …

Angles-Only Ekf Navigation For Hyperbolic Flybys, Iggy Matheson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Space travelers in science fiction can drop out of hyperspace and make a pinpoint landing on any strange new world without stopping to get their bearings, but real-life space navigation is an art characterized by limited information and complex mathematics that yield no easy answers. This study investigates, for the first time ever, what position and velocity estimation errors can be expected by a starship arriving at a distant star - specifically, a miniature probe like those proposed by the Breakthrough Starshot initiative arriving at Proxima Centauri. Such a probe consists of nothing but a small optical camera and a …

Women In Agriculture: Living In A "Man's World", Ennea A. Fairchild

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Despite women’s involvement in agriculture, their contributions have been overlooked in society. Women make up at least a third of those involved in agriculture as farmers, landowners, and in agricultural faculty positions. These numbers do not appear to be decreasing. Although there are several agricultural roles, this study focuses primarily on those women who own agricultural land, but do not farm the land themselves. Rather, these women rent it out to a farmer who operates the land for them (women nonoperating landowners or WNOLs, in short). Previous research suggests these women may be facing considerable barriers as an agricultural landowner …

The Factors Affecting Wind Erosion In Southern Utah, Mehmet Ozturk

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Wind erosion is a global issue and affecting millions of people in drylands by causing environmental issues (acceleration of snow melting), public health concerns (respiratory diseases), and socioeconomic problems (costs of damages and cleaning public properties after dust storms). Disturbances in drylands can be irreversible, thus leading to natural disasters such as the 1930s Dust Bowl. With increasing attention on aeolian studies, many studies have been conducted using ground-based measurements or wind tunnel studies. Ground-based measurements are important for validating model predictions and testing the effect and interactions of different factors known to affect wind erosion. Here, a machine-learning model …

Towards Conjunctive Management Of Surface Water And Groundwater In The Mediterranean, Matthew Lagod

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

One of the fundamental principles of integrated water resources management is the interconnected nature of water in the hydrological cycle, including the interactions between surface water and groundwater. Although scientists have long recognized these interactions, in many cases they are not reflected in natural resources policies and management practices. As a result, the allocation of water resources by public authorities may not be optimal, and may furthermore lead to long-term degradation of water resources and the ecosystems they sustain. In response to this and to growing pressure on water resources from increasing human populations, water experts have developed a body …

An Examination Of Co-Teacher's Instructional Practices And Social Validity Following Participation In Professional Development, Jessica Sitton

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

Because co-teaching teams often lack the support to continue to implement the evidence-based strategy of co-teaching beyond initial training and coaching sessions, this project studies the affect of training and coaching on teacher implementation and social validity following participation in co-teaching professional development. The Utah State Board of Education – Special Education (USBE-SES), from years 2012-2019, along with the Utah Professional Development Network (UPDN), from years 2014-2019 provided training, support and coaching to secondary co-teaching teams tied to the content areas of secondary mathematics and secondary English language arts (ELA). This project studied the continued use of instructional components specific …

Consecutive Extreme Flooding And Heat Wave In Japan: Are They Becoming A Norm?, Shih-Yu Simon Wang, Hyungjun Kim, Dim Coumou, Jin-Ho Yoon, Lin Zhao, Robert R. Gillies

Plants, Soils, and Climate Faculty Publications

In July 2018, Japan experienced two contrasting, yet consecutive, extreme events: a devastating flood in early July followed by unprecedented heat waves a week later. Death tolls from these two extreme events combined exceeded 300, accompanying tremendous economic losses (BBC: July 24, 2018; AP: July 30, 2018). Meteorological analysis on these 2018 events quickly emerged (JMA-TCC, 2018; Kotsuki et al., 2019; Tsuguti et al., 2019), highlighting several compound factors: a strengthened subtropical anticyclone, a deepened synoptic trough, and Typhoon Prapiroon that collectively enhanced the Baiu rainband (the Japanese summer monsoon), fostering heavy precipitation. The comprehensive study of these events, conducted …

Highly Active Nanostructured Cos2/Cos Heterojunction Electrocatalysts For Aqueous Polysulfide/Iodide Redox Flow Batteries, Dui Ma, Bo Hu, Wenda Wu, Xi Liu, Jiantao Zai, Chen Shu, Tsegaye Tadesse Tsega, Liwei Chen, Xuefeng Qian, T. Leo Liu

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Aqueous polysulfide/iodide redox flow batteries are attractive for scalable energy storage due to their high energy density and low cost. However, their energy efficiency and power density are usually limited by poor electrochemical kinetics of the redox reactions of polysulfide/iodide ions on graphite electrodes, which has become the main obstacle for their practical applications. Here, CoS₂/CoS heterojunction nanoparticles with uneven charge distribution, which are synthesized in situ on graphite felt by a one-step solvothermal process, can significantly boost electrocatalytic activities of I⁻/I₃⁻ and S²⁻/S_x²⁻redox reactions by improving absorptivity of …

Hydrolearn: Facilitating The Development, Adaptation And Sharing Of Active-Learning Resources In Hydrology Education, Emad Habib, Melissa Gallagher, Jenny Byrd, Olivia Lahaye, Cary Rivet, Micah Lacombe, David Tarboton, Scott Black, Dan Ames

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Presentations

Lightning presentation and workshop presented at CUAHSI HydroInformatics Conference, 2019. https://www.cuahsi.org/community/cuahsi-science-meetings/. This workshop is offered for hydrology faculty interested in implementing or adapting active-learning, data-driven resources to their educational settings. The workshop aspires to create faculty networking and development opportunities with the overall goal of promoting and reducing barriers against adoption of active-learning resources in hydrology. The workshop will use the recently developed NSF-sponsored HydroLearn platform, along with resources from CUAHSI, HydroShare and other community platforms, to enable participating faculty to develop and share educational resources. The workshop will showcase existing seed modules and will cover best practices in …

Current-Use Pesticides In New Zealand Streams: Comparing Results From Grab Samples And Three Types Of Passive Samplers, Kimberly J. Hageman, Christopher H.F. Aebig, Kim Hoang Luong, Sarit L. Kaserzon, Charles S. Wong, Tim Reeks, Michelle Greenwood, Samuel Macaulay, Christoph D. Matthaei

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

New Zealand uses more than a ton of pesticides each year; many of these are mobile, relatively persistent, and can make their way into waterways. While considerable effort goes into monitoring nutrients in agricultural streams and programs exist to monitor pesticides in groundwater, very little is known about pesticide detection frequencies, concentrations, or their potential impacts in New Zealand streams. We used the ‘Polar Organic Chemical Integrative Sampler’ (POCIS) approach and grab water sampling to survey pesticide concentrations in 36 agricultural streams in Waikato, Canterbury, Otago and Southland during a period of stable stream flows in Austral summer 2017/18. We …

Optical Gas Imaging Survey Of Oil And Gas Wells In The Uinta Basin, Utah, Seth Lyman, Trang Tran, Marc L. Mansfield

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This is a dataset of oil and gas well pads which were surveyed for hydrocarbon emissions with an optical gas imaging camera deployed from the ground at pad edges. The data are described thoroughly in a peer-reviewed paper: Lyman S., Tran, T., Mansfield, M. Ravikumar, A., 2019. Aerial and Ground-Based Optical Gas Imaging Survey of Uinta Basin Oil and Gas Wells.

These are example videos collected during a hydrocarbon emissions survey of oil and gas well pads in Utah.

ExampleGroundVideo.mp4 is a video created with an optical gas imaging camera of an emission plume from well pad equipment. The video …

Using A Noticing Framework In A Mathematics Methods Course, Diana Moss, Lisa Poling

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

A noticing framework was introduced to prospective teachers (PTs) as a tool to use for analyzing student work. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of PTs’ use of a noticing framework for: 1) interpreting students’ mathematical thinking; and 2) reflecting on and discussing future implications for teaching. The study also sought to determine where PTs needed, if any, further support in engaging in the process of noticing. Using a coding schema that reflected three levels of understanding (periphery, transitional, and accomplished), a frequency table was constructed that allowed PTs’ use and understanding of a noticing framework …

Teachers’ Stories About Teaching: Collaborative Dialogues As Open Educational Resources, Ekaterina Arshavskaya

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

This paper examines the nature of teacher learning through a social-constructivist perspective and describes instructional strategies utilized with teachers during an international teaching assistants’ (ITAs’) training workshop offered at the Utah State University (USU). The strategy used involved eliciting and structuring exemplary teachers’ stories about teaching to serve as a basis for class discussions and other assignments. These teachers’ stories, recorded on video, were then shared online through the university website and YouTube. In this way, new teachers gained access to co-constructed and pedagogically appropriate teacher knowledge represented by authentic teachers’ voices.

About This Issue, Kim Hales

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

The Spring 2019 issue of the Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence features articles that emphasize the use of meta-analysis to improve teaching in higher education.

Full Issue: Journal On Empowering Teaching Excellence, Volume 3, Issue 1, Kim Hales

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

The full Spring 2019 issue (Volume 3, Issue 1) of the Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence, Spring 2019

Educational Policies Committee Program Proposal, College Of Science, July 17 , 2019 - Climate Adaptation Science, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

Utah State University requests approval to restructure Climate Adaptation Science (CAS) effective Fall 2019.

Solar Response And Long‐Term Trend Of Midlatitude Mesopause Region Temperature Based On 28 Years (1990–2017) Of Na Lidar Observations, Chiao-Yao She, Uwe Berger, Zhao-Ai Yan, Tao Yuan, F.-J. Lübken, David A. Krueger, Xiong Hu

All Physics Faculty Publications

We present midlatitude solar response and linear trend from Colorado State University/Utah State University Na lidar nocturnal temperature observations between 1990 and 2017. Along with the nightly mean temperatures (_Ngt), we also use the corresponding 2‐hr means centered at midnight (_2MN), resulting in vertical trend profiles similar in shapes as those previously published. The 28‐year trend from _Ngt (_2MN) data set starts from a small warming at 85 km, to cooling at 87 (88) km, reaching a maximum of 1.85 ± 0.53 (1.09 ± 0.74) at 92 (93) km and turns positive again at 102 (100) km. The 6‐month winter …

Regional Distribution Of Mesospheric Small‐Scale Gravity Waves During Deepwave, Pierre-Dominique Pautet, Michael J. Taylor, S. D. Eckermann, Neal R. Criddle

Publications

The Deep Propagating Gravity Wave Experiment project took place in June and July 2014 in New Zealand. Its overarching goal was to study gravity waves (GWs) as they propagate from the ground up to ~100 km, with a large number of ground‐based, airborne, and satellite instruments, combined with numerical forecast models. A suite of three mesospheric airglow imagers operated onboard the NSF Gulfstream V (GV) aircraft during 25 nighttime flights, recording the GW activity at OH altitude over a large region (>7,000,000 km²). Analysis of this data set reveals the distribution of the small‐scale GW mean power …

Thermotectonic History Of The Kluane Ranges And Evolution Of The Eastern Denali Fault Zone In Southwestern Yukon, Canada, Robert G. Mcdermott, Alexis K. Ault, Jonathan Saul Caine, Stuart N. Thomson

Geosciences Faculty Publications

Exhumation and landscape evolution along strike‐slip fault systems reflect tectonic processes that accommodate and partition deformation in orogenic settings. We present 17 new apatite (U‐Th)/He (He), zircon He, apatite fission‐track (FT), and zircon FT dates from the eastern Denali fault zone (EDFZ) that bounds the Kluane Ranges in Yukon, Canada. The dates elucidate patterns of deformation along the EDFZ. Mean apatite He, apatite FT, zircon He, and zircon FT sample dates range within ~26–4, ~110–12, ~94–28, and ~137–83 Ma, respectively. A new zircon U‐Pb date of 113.9 ± 1.7 Ma (2σ) complements existing geochronology and aids in interpretation …

Comparing Design Ground Snow Load Prediction In Utah And Idaho, Brennan L. Bean, Marc Maguire, Yan Sun

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications

Snow loads in the western United States are largely undefined due to complex geography and climates, leaving the individual states to publish detailed studies for their region, usually through the local Structural Engineers Association (SEAs). These associations are typically made up of engineers not formally trained to develop or evaluate spatial statistical methods for their regions and there is little guidance from ASCE 7. Furthermore, little has been written to compare the independently developed design ground snow load prediction methods used by various western states. This paper addresses this topic by comparing the accuracy of a variety of spatial methods …

Open/Closed Boundary And Energy Cutoff Latitude Data For Papers 1 And 2, David Alan Smith

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Abstract for Paper 1: The open-closed boundary (OCB) defines a region of significant transformation in Earth's protective magnetic shield. Principle among these changes is the transition of magnetic field lines from having two foot points, one in each hemisphere, to one foot point at Earth, the other mapping to the solar wind (SW). Charged particles in the SW are able to follow these open field lines into Earth's upper atmosphere. The OCB also defines the polar cap boundary (PCB). Being able to identify and track the OCB allows study of several components of the geomagnetic system. Among them are the …

Comparison Of Halogen With Proton Transfer. Symmetric And Asymmetric Systems, Jia Lu, Steve Scheiner

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

The transfer of the halogen atom X within (A⸳⸳X⸳⸳A)+ systems was calculated for A = NH3, OH2, and CH3, and where X=Cl, Br, and I. These potentials are similar to those computed for equivalent proton transfers. Each contains a single symmetric well for short R(A⸳⸳A) distances. As R is stretched a second minimum appears, separated from the first by a transfer barrier E† which climbs quickly as R is elongated. The central X prefers association with the N in asymmetric systems (H3NX⸳⸳OH2)+, but a second (H3N⸳⸳XOH2)+ minimum, albeit less stable than the first, can appear if R(N⸳⸳O) is stretched.

How Vision Governs The Collective Behaviour Of Dense Cycling Pelotons, J. Belden, Mohammad M. Mansoor, A. Hellum, S. R. Rahman, A. Meyer, C. Pease, J. Pacheco, S. Koziol, Tadd T. Truscott

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

In densely packed groups demonstrating collective behaviour, such as bird flocks, fish schools or packs of bicycle racers (cycling pelotons), information propagates over a network, with individuals sensing and reacting to stimuli over relatively short space and time scales. What remains elusive is a robust, mechanistic understanding of how sensory system properties affect interactions, information propagation and emergent behaviour. Here, we show through direct observation how the spatio-temporal limits of the human visual sensory system govern local interactions and set the network structure in large, dense collections of cyclists. We found that cyclists align in patterns within a ± 30° …

Collaborative Research: Tespresso, Tectonic Encoding, Shredding, And Propagation Of Environmental Signals As Surficial Observables, Tammy M. Rittenour

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Energetic Neutral Particles Raining Down On The Thermosphere Due To Charge Exchange Reactions In The Upper Ionosphere And Polar Wind, Larry Gardner

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

The Ability Of A Tetrel Bond To Transition A Neutral Amino Acid Into A Zwitterion, Mingchang Hou, Qing-Zhong Li, Steve Scheiner

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

The interaction between glycine and F2CO/F2SiO occurs through the formation of a π-tetrel bond between the C/Si atom and a carboxyl O atom. The interaction energy is some 20 kJ/mol for the C···O tetrel bond, but exceeds 300 kJ/mol for Si···O. As part of the latter complexation process, the proton engaged in the intramolecular OH··N H-bond is transferred across to the N, forming a zwitterion. This Si···O tetrel bond is more effective at inducing this proton transfer than is placement of the glycine in an aqueous medium, complexation with an anionic BH4-, or adding an electron to the glycine.

Twenty-Three Unsolved Problems In Hydrology (Uph) – A Community Perspective, Günter Blöschl, Marc F.P. Bierkens, Antonio Chambel, Christophe Cudennec, Georgia Destouni, Aldo Fiori, James W. Kirchner, Jeffrey J. Mcdonnell, Hubert H.G. Savenije, Murugesu Sivapalan, Christine Stumpp, Elena Toth, Elena Volpi, Gemma Carr, David G. Tarboton, Et. Al

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper is the outcome of a community initiative to identify major unsolved scientific problems in hydrology motivated by a need for stronger harmonisation of research efforts. The procedure involved a public consultation through online media, followed by two workshops through which a large number of potential science questions were collated, prioritised, and synthesised. In spite of the diversity of the participants (230 scientists in total), the process revealed much about community priorities and the state of our science: a preference for continuity in research questions rather than radical departures or redirections from past and current work. Questions remain focused …

Determining The Sensitivity Of Grassland Area Burned To Climate Variation In Xilingol, China, With An Autoregressive Distributed Lag Approach, Ali Hassan Shabbir, Jiquan Zhang, Xingpeng Liu, James A. Lutz, Carlos Valencia, James D. Johnston

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

We examined the relationship between climate variables and grassland area burned in Xilingol, China, from 2001 to 2014 using an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model, and describe the application of this econometric method to studies of climate influences on wildland fire. We show that there is a stationary linear combination of non-stationary climate time series (cointegration) that can be used to reliably estimate the influence of different climate signals on area burned. Our model shows a strong relationship between maximum temperature and grassland area burned. Mean monthly wind speed and monthly hours of sunlight were also strongly associated with area …

Mac Mckee Retires As The Uwrl's Longest Serving Director, Utah Water Research Laboratory

News

After just over 16 years at the helm of the Utah Water Research Laboratory at Utah State University, Dr. Mac McKee will retire effective June 30, 2019. His tenure as Director of the UWRL began in April 2003, and since that time, he has worn the hats of administrator, professor, and researcher.

A Mixed-Methods Approach To Evaluating The Internal Validity Of The Reactive Strength Index, Talin Louder, Brennan J. Thompson, Nile Banks, Eadric Bressel

Kinesiology and Health Science Faculty Publications

The reactive capacity of the muscle-tendon complex is commonly assessed using the reactive strength index (RSI). Conventionally, the RSI is a ratio of rebound jump height to ground contact time in depth jumping. Several assumptions regarding the linear mechanics acting through the whole-body center of gravity may threaten the internal validity of computation and interpretation of RSI scores. First, it is common for rebound jump height to be predicted from rebound jump flight time. This assumes that the angular positioning of body segments is equivalent at the time instances of rebound jump take-off and landing. Prior literature supports a mixed-methods …