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Modeling The Midlatitude Ionosphere Storm-Enhanced Density Distribution With A Data Assimilation Model, Larry Gardner, Robert W. Schunk, Ludger Scherliess, Vincent Eccles, Susanto Basu, Cesar E. Valladares

All Physics Faculty Publications

The Utah State University Global Assimilation of Ionospheric Measurements‐Gauss Markov model has been used to investigate the distribution of ionospheric plasma during storm times over the continental United States. Storm periods dramatically increase the effects of space weather on the ionosphere and upper atmosphere, leading to impacts on over‐the‐horizon radars, Global Positioning System location determination, spacecraft charging, power grid overloads, and disruption of the Federal Aviation Administration Wide Area Augmentation System to name a few. Four storm periods were investigated where strong storm‐enhanced densities (SEDs) were present: two strong, October 2003 and November 2003, and two moderate, August 2010 and …

Sustaining Wetlands To Mitigate Disasters And Protect People, Joanna Endter-Wada, Karin M. Kettenring, Ariana E. Sutton-Grier

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

Hurricanes, flooding, droughts. Weather‐related disasters are dominating news cycles and causing widespread destruction, most recently with Typhoon Mangkhut and Hurricane Florence. The US had the most catastrophic hurricane season on record in 2017, with hundreds of billions of dollars in estimated damages. California is experiencing unprecedented tragedies from widespread wildfires and increased vulnerability to storms. Disasters that were once uncommon appear to be the new norm globally, and evidence suggests the frequency and impacts of extreme events will increase further with climate change.

Long-Term Stability Of Ion-Beam Treated Space Polymers In Geo-Simulated Environment, J Kleiman, Z Iskanderova, C Best, Jr Dennison, Brian Wood

Presentations

It is a real challenge to reproduce various space environment conditions in ground-based facilities for testing of external space system materials and elements. This is due to the variety and complexity of the space environment conditions and their effects on materials and structures. The reliability of test results depends on accurate simulation of the critical factors and effects of the space environment for a particular mission. The main objectives of the simulation testing are to get the test results that are adequate to the material durability and functional behavior in a space environment.

As part of a large, multi-year program, …

Faculty Senate Minutes, October 1, 2018, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

• EPC Monthly Report – September 6, 2018
• EPC Annual Report
• Honors Annual Report
• Faculty Senate Meeting Time Change – Kimberly Lott
• Code 403.3.1 Standards of Conduct-Faculty Responsibilities to Student - Kimberly Lott
• Code 403.3.2 Standards of Conduct-Professional Obligations - Kimberly Lott
• Code 407.1.1 Non-punitive Measures - Kimberly Lott
• Code 407.11.2 Inquiry into Allegations of Violation Policies 407.8 and/or 407.9 - Kimberly Lott
• Code 407.11.3 Protection of Complainant and Others - Kimberly Lott
• Nominating Committee Code

2018 Football Preview, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

Annual football preview.

Faculty Senate Agenda, October 1, 2018, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

• EPC Monthly Report - September 6, 2018
• EPC Annual Report
• Honors Annual Report
• Faculty Senate Meeting Time Change
• Code 403.3.1 Standards of Conduct-Faculty Responsibilities to Student
• Code 403.3.2 Standards of Conduct-Professional Obligations
• Code 407.1.1 Non-punitive Measures
• Code 407.11.2 Inquiry into Allegations of Violation Policies 407.8 and/or 407.9
• Code 407.11.3 Protection of Complainant and Others
• Nominating Committee Code

How Design Features In Digital Math Games Support Learning And Mathematics Connections, Patricia S. Moyer-Packenham, Christina W. Lommatsch, Kristy Litster, Jill Ashby, Emma P. Bullock, Allison L. Roxburgh, Jessica F. Shumway, Emily Speed, Benjamin Covington, Christine Hartmann, Jody Clarke-Midura, Joel Skaria, Arla Westenskow, Beth L. Macdonald, Jurgen Symanzik, Kerry Jordan

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

Current research shows that digital games can significantly enhance children’s learning. The purpose of this study was to examine how design features in 12 digital math games influenced children’s learning. The participants in this study were 193 children in Grades 2 through 6 (ages 8-12). During clinical interviews, children in the study completed pre-tests, interacted with digital math games, responded to questions about the digital math games, and completed post-tests. We recorded the interactions using two video perspectives that recorded children’s gameplay and responses to interviewers. We employed mixed methods to analyze the data and identify salient patterns in children’s …

Map Based Discovery Of Hydrologic Data In The Hydroshare Collaboration Environment, Zhaokun Xue, Alva Couch, David G. Tarboton

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Data discovery refers to the process of locating pre-existing data for use in new research. In the HydroShare collaboration environment for water science, there are more than twenty kinds of data that can be discovered, including data from specific sites on the globe, data corresponding to regions on the globe, and data with no geospatial meaning, such as laboratory experiment results. This paper discusses lessons learned in building a data discovery system for HydroShare. This was a surprisingly difficult problem; default behaviors of software components were unacceptable, use cases suggested conflicting approaches, and crafting a geographic view of a large …

Critical Theoretical Frameworks In Engineering Education: An Anti-Deficit And Liberative Approach, Joel A. Mejia, Renata A. Revelo, Idalis Villanueva, Janice Mejia

Engineering Education Faculty Publications

The field of engineering education has adapted different theoretical frameworks from a wide range of disciplines to explore issues of education, diversity, and inclusion among others. The number of theoretical frameworks that explore these issues using a critical perspective has been increasing in the past few years. In this review of the literature, we present an analysis that draws from Freire’s principles of critical andragogy and pedagogy. Using a set of inclusion criteria, we selected 33 research articles that used critical theoretical frameworks as part of our systematic review of the literature. We argue that critical theoretical frameworks are necessary …

“There Is Never A Break”: The Hidden Curriculum Of Professionalization For Engineering Faculty, Idalis Villanueva, Taya Carothers, Marialuisa Di Stefano, Md. Tarique Hasan Kahan

Engineering Education Faculty Publications

The purpose of this exploratory special issue study was to understand the hidden curriculum (HC), or the unwritten, unofficial, or unintended lessons, around the professionalization of engineering faculty across institutions of higher education. Additionally, how engineering faculty connected the role of HC awareness, emotions, self-efficacy, and self-advocacy concepts was studied. A mixed-method survey was disseminated to 55 engineering faculties across 54 institutions of higher education in the United States. Quantitative questions, which centered around the influences that gender, race, faculty rank, and institutional type played in participants’ responses was analyzed using a combination of decision tree analysis with chi-square and …

An Updated Description Of The Hydrogen Bond And Related Noncovalent Bonds, Steve Scheiner

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

The hydrogen bond is typically introduced briefly in General Chemistry as a simple electrostatic phenomenon involving a small and select group of atoms, a definition which is typically unchanged through higher levels in the curriculum. But this definition has undergone dramatic modernization of which students should be made aware. The original formulation in terms of only F, O, and N atoms has broadened very considerably, encompassing C as well as atoms from lower rows in the periodic table. The influence of hybridization, substituents, and overall charge cannot be overlooked. In addition to the Coulombic attraction, there are other “covalent” contributors …

Incorporating Social System Dynamics In The Columbia River Basin: Food-Energy-Water Resilience And Sustainability Modeling In The Yakima River Basin, Jennifer E. Givens, Julie Padowski, Christian D. Guzman, Keyvan Malek, Rebecca Witinok-Huber, Barbara Cosens, Michael Briscoe, Jan Boll, Jennifer Adam

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

In the face of climate change, achieving resilience of desirable aspects of food-energy-water (FEW) systems already strained by competing multi-scalar social objectives requires interdisciplinary approaches. This study is part of a larger effort exploring “Innovations in the Food-Energy-Water Nexus (INFEWS)” in the Columbia River Basin (CRB) through coordinated modeling and simulated management scenarios. Here, we focus on a case study and conceptual mapping of the Yakima River Basin (YRB), a sub-basin of the CRB. Previous research on FEW system management and resilience includes some attention to social dynamics (e.g., economic and governance systems); however, more attention to social drivers and …

Cubesat Active Thermal Management In Support Of Cooled Electro-Optical Instrumentation For Advanced Atmospheric Observing Missions, Lucas Anderson, Charles Swenson, Ryan Davidson, Arthur J. Mastropietro, Elham Maghsoudi, S. Luong, Stefano Cappucci, I. Mckinley

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The need for advanced cooled electro-optical instrumentation in remote observations of the atmosphere is well known and demonstrated by SABER on the TIMED mission. The relatively new use of small satellites in remote earth observing missions as, well as the challenges, are epitomized by the upcoming NOAA EON-IR 12U CubeSat missions. These advanced CubeSat missions, which hope to accomplish scientific objectives on the same scale as larger more traditional satellites, require advanced miniaturized cryocoolers and active methods for thermal management and power control. The active CryoCubeSat project (ACCS) is a demonstration of such a technology. Utilizing Ultrasonic Additive Manufacturing (UAM) …

Uwrl Welcomes Two New Faculty, Utah Water Research Laboratory

News

The Utah Water Research Lab is excited to welcome two new faculty members, Assistant Professor Brian Crookston and Assistant Research Professor Zac Sharp. These two new faculty members bring in a great wealth of professional experience and knowledge to the UWRL and it's staff and students.

Nasa Awards Prestigious Fellowship To Usu Engineering Graduate Student | College Of Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

Utah State University’s Jeff Taylor is one of five students nationwide to receive a fellowship from NASA’s top aeronautics research division.

General Education Subcommittee Minutes, September 18, 2018, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

Business

• NWCCU Accreditation Review and General Education
• Depth Courses and Categorization of Majors
• Current Articulation of Credit by Examination of AP, CLEP, DANTES, and IBO by Breadth Area

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Agenda, September 17, 2018, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

• EPC Monthly Report - September 6, 2018
• EPC Annual Report
• Honors Annual Report
• Faculty Senate Meeting Time Change
• Code 403.3.1 Standards of Conduct-Faculty Responsibilities to Student
• Code 403.3.2 Standards of Conduct-Professional Obligations
• Code 407.1.1 Non-punitive Measures
• Code 407.11.2 Inquiry into Allegations of Violation Policies 407.8 and/or 407.9
• Code 407.11.3 Protection of Complainant and Others

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Minutes, September 17, 2018, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

• EPC Monthly Report – September 6, 2018 - Ed Reeve
• EPC Annual Report - Ed Reeve
• Honors Annual Report - Kris Miller
• Faculty Senate Meeting Time Change - Becki Lawver
• Nominating Committee Code
• Code 403.3.2 Standards of Conduct-Professional Obligations
• Code 407.1.1 Non-punitive Measures
• Code 407.11.2 Inquiry into Allegations of Violation Policies 407.8 and/or 407.9
• Code 407.11.3 Protection of Complainant and Others

Triel-Bonded Complexes Between Trr3 (Tr = B, Al, Ga; R = H, F, Cl, Br, Ch3) And Pyrazine, Mariusz Michalczyk, Wiktor Zierkiewicz, Steve Scheiner

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Complexes between TrR3 (Tr = B, Al, Ga; R= H, F, Cl, Br, CH3)molecules and pyrazine have been characterized at the MP2 and CCSD(T) levels of theory. The adducts can be grouped according to the type of molecular arrangement. The first situation places the Tr atom in the plane of the pyrazine ring and contains a triel bond to the N lone pair. For the boron complexes the orbital interaction energy is almost equal to the electrostatic component, while the former is only half the latter for Tr= Al and Ga. The two monomers are stacked above one another in …

Analytical Representations For Characterizing The Global Aviation Radiation Environment Based On Model And Measurement Databases, W. Kent Tobiska, Leonid Didkovsky, Kevin Judge, Seth Weiman, Dave Bouwer, Justin Bailey, Bill Atwell, Molly Maskrey, Chris Mertens, Yihua Zheng, Margaret Shea, Don Smart, Brad Gersey, Richard Wilkins, Duane Bell, Larry Gardner, Robert Fuschino

All Physics Faculty Publications

The Nowcast of Atmospheric Ionizing Radiation for Aviation Safety climatological model and the Automated Radiation Measurements for Aerospace Safety (ARMAS) statistical database are presented as polynomial fit equations. Using equations based on altitude, L shell, and geomagnetic conditions an effective dose rate for any location from a galactic cosmic ray (GCR) environment can be calculated. A subset of the ARMAS database is represented by a second polynomial fit equation for the GCR plus probable relativistic energetic particle (REP; Van Allen belt REP) effective dose rates within a narrow band of L shells with altitudinal and geomagnetic dependency. Solar energetic particle …

Efficiency Improvement Of Up-Conversion Process Of Plasmonic-Enhanced Er-Doped-Nayf4 Nanoparticles Under Ir Excitation, Sara Elrafei, Ishac Kandas, Nader Shehata, Effat Samir

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The up-conversion process is extensively studied because of its wide variety of applications such as bioimaging, energy harvesting, and optical sensors. However, the optical conversion efficiency is still relatively low and needs to be improved. Therefore, this paper introduces a detailed study of improving the up-conversion emission efficiency through adding plasmonic metallic nanostructures to the up-conversion optical centers. Our idea is to couple the optical plasmonic resonance with the visible emission of the optical centers under IR excitation. The optical centers are erbium ions hosted by fluoride low-phonon environment. Our calculations consider most possible transitions that can occur between the …

Evaluation Of Tseb Turbulent Fluxes Using Different Methods For The Retrieval Of Soil And Canopy Component Temperatures From Uav Thermal And Multispectral Imagery, Héctor Nieto, William P. Kustas, Alfonso F. Torres-Rúa, Joseph G. Alfieri, Feng Gao, Martha C. Anderson, W. Alex White, Lisheng Song, María Del Mar Alsina, John H. Prueger, Mac Mckee, Manal Elarab, Lynn G. Mckee

AggieAir Publications

The thermal-based Two-Source Energy Balance (TSEB) model partitions the evapotranspiration (ET) and energy fluxes from vegetation and soil components providing the capability for estimating soil evaporation (E) and canopy transpiration (T). However, it is crucial for ET partitioning to retrieve reliable estimates of canopy and soil temperatures and net radiation, as the latter determines the available energy for water and heat exchange from soil and canopy sources. These two factors become especially relevant in row crops with wide spacing and strongly clumped vegetation such as vineyards and orchards. To better understand these effects, very high spatial resolution remote-sensing data from …

Ability Of Ir And Nmr Spectral Data To Distinguish Between A Tetrel Bond And A Hydrogen Bond, Steve Scheiner

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

The placement of a nucleophile X along the R-CH3 axis of a methyl group can be described as either a trifurcated H-bond or as a tetrel bond between C and X. Quantum calculation of the vibrational and NMR spectral features of a number of systems are used to provide a framework by which to distinguish between the presence of a tetrel or H-bond. Both cationic and neutral methyl-containing Lewis acids (SMe3+, NMe4+, SMe2) are paired with both neutral and anionic Lewis bases (NH3, OH2, OCHNH2, OCH3-, OH-, HCOO-). As the base is moved away from the R-CH3 axis of the …

Environment And Past Land Use Together Predict Functional Diversity In A Temperate Forest, Meghna Krishnadas, Noelle G. Beckman, Jaun Carlos Peñagos Zuluaga, Yan Zhu, James Whitacre, John W. Wenzel, Simon A. Queenborough, Lize S. Comita

Biology Faculty Publications

Environment and human land use both shape forest composition. Abiotic conditions sift tree species from a regional pool via functional traits that influence species’ suitability to the local environment. In addition, human land use can modify species distributions and change functional diversity of forests. However, it is unclear how environment and land use simultaneously shape functional diversity of tree communities. Land-use legacies are especially prominent in temperate forest landscapes that have been extensively modified by humans in the last few centuries. Across a 900-ha temperate deciduous forest in the northeastern United States, comprising a mosaic of different-aged stands due to …

Waterfall Formation At A Desert River-Reservoir Delta Isolates Endangered Fishes, Charles N. Cathcart, Casey A. Pennock, Christopher A. Cheek, Mark C. Mckinstry, Peter D. Mackinnon, Mary M. Conner, Keith B. Gido

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Unforeseen interactions of dams and declining water availability have formed new obstacles to recovering endemic and endangered big-river fishes. During a recent trend of drying climate and declining reservoir water levels in the southwestern United States, a large waterfall has formed on two separate occasions (1989-1995 & 2001-present) in the transition zone between the San Juan River and Lake Powell reservoir because of deposited sediments. Because recovery plans for two large-bodied endangered fish species, razorback sucker (Xyrauchen texanus) and Colorado pikeminnow (Ptychocheilus lucius), include annual stockings in the San Juan River, this waterfall potentially blocks upstream …

Curriculum Subcommittee Agenda, September 6, 2018, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

Program Proposal

• Offering an Applied Mathematics Emphasis
• Establishing a Latinx Cultural Center
• Establishing a Center for Student Analytics

Semester Course Approval Reviews

Other

• Curriculog Updates
• R401 Process in Curriculog
• Prerequisites
• Cross-listed Courses

Curriculum Subcommittee Minutes, September 6, 2018, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

Program Proposal

• Offering an Applied Mathematics Emphasis
• Establishing a Latinx Cultural Center
• Establishing a Center for Student Analytics

Semester Course Approval Reviews

Other

• Curriculog Updates
• R401 Process in Curriculog
• Prerequisites
• Cross-listed Courses
• Huntsman School of Business department split

Toward Audio Beehive Monitoring: Deep Learning Vs. Standard Machine Learning In Classifying Beehive Audio Samples, Vladmir Kulyukin, Sarbajit Mukherjee, Prakhar Amlathe

Computer Science Faculty and Staff Publications

Electronic beehive monitoring extracts critical information on colony behavior and phenology without invasive beehive inspections and transportation costs. As an integral component of electronic beehive monitoring, audio beehive monitoring has the potential to automate the identification of various stressors for honeybee colonies from beehive audio samples. In this investigation, we designed several convolutional neural networks and compared their performance with four standard machine learning methods (logistic regression, k-nearest neighbors, support vector machines, and random forests) in classifying audio samples from microphones deployed above landing pads of Langstroth beehives. On a dataset of 10,260 audio samples where the training and testing …

Educational Policies Committee Agenda, September 6, 2018, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

• Curriculum Subcommittee
• Academic Standards Subcommittee
• General Education Subcommittee

Educational Policies Committee Minutes, September 6, 2018, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

• Curriculum Subcommittee report
• Academic Standards Subcommittee report
• General Education Subcommittee report
• Curriculog updates