Digital Commons Network^™

Heron: Demonstrating A Novel Biological Platform For Small Satellite Missions, Dylan Vogel, Avinash Mukkala, Kimberly Ren, Lorna Lan, Yong Da Li, Eric Van Velzen, Bruno Almeida, Cassandra Chanen, Adyn Miles, Ali Haydaroglu, Abdullah Gulab, Addy Bhatia, Alejandro Duque, Alireza Nickooie, Ambrose Man, Americo Barros, Amna Zulfiqar, Amy Shi, Ana Quilumbango, Andrew Uderian, Andy Xie, Arash Nourimand, Arfa Saif, Atharva Datar, Atharva Dighe, Aurora Nowicki, Avelyn Wong, Ben Kwashigah, Ben Makarchuk, Benjamin Nero, Et Al.

Small Satellite Conference

Long-duration deep space missions pose a significant health risk for both humans and their resident microorganisms. The GeneSat, PharmaSat and O/OREOS missions have previously explored biological questions regarding the effects of spaceflight on S. cerevisiase, B. subtilis, and E. coli. However, there currently exists both a knowledge and an accessibility gap in small satellite biological experiments. These payloads require precise instrumentation and complex platforms that are usually reserved for large research organizations. This makes it difficult for smaller organizations to perform biological research in low Earth orbit (LEO). To address these challenges, the University of Toronto Aerospace Team …

Lessons Learned From The Development And Flight Of The First Miniature Tethered Electrodynamics Experiment (Mitee-1), George Li, Liam Spence, Mitchel Miller, Maya Pandya, Nick Stankey, Allison Hancock, Raymond Lu, Christopher Park, Anish Rajesh, Alex Beloiu, Brian Gilchrist

Small Satellite Conference

The Miniature Tether Electrodynamics Experiment (MiTEE) CubeSat team is a technological advancement project intended to evaluate technology for Electrodynamic Tether (EDT) propulsion on very small pico- and femto-satellite platforms. MiTEE is demonstrating this through a series of missions starting with MiTEE-1, a 3U CubeSat designed to characterize the electron current collection behavior of a biased, simulated picosat mounted at the end of a 1-meter deployable boom. In addition, a miniaturized Langmuir probe electronics board was flown to characterize the ambient plasma environment. MiTEE-1 was launched successfully with Virgin Orbit’s Launch Demo 2 flight on NASA’s 20th Educational Launch of Nanosatellites …

The Active Cryocubesat Project: System Modeling And Control Design, Bruno Mattos, Lucas Anderson, Randy Christensen, Charles Swenson

Small Satellite Conference

Utah State University together with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory have been developing new cooling technology for high power CubeSats. This effort has been funded by the NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate in an effort to enable CubeSats with extraordinary thermal control needs for subsystems such as computing, telemetry, or cryogenics and where passive techniques are insufficient. The approach is to use a pumped fluid loop to remove heat from an internal heat exchanger and transport it to an external radiator on the CubeSat. Recently, Utah State has thermal vacuum-tested prototype systems collecting significant amounts of data on the thermodynamics …

Total Ionizing Dose Tolerance Of Micro-Sd Cards For Small Satellite Missions, Achal Duhoon, J. R. Dennison, Jordan Lee, Satoshi Takemori, Takahiro Yatabe

Small Satellite Conference

Tests have determined damage thresholds and failure rates as a function of total ionizing dose (TID) of beta radiation for various types of COTS micro-SD cards commonly used for memory storage in space applications. Radiation tolerance of high-density electronics are common critical failure modes for satellites, particularly for small satellites that often use lower shielding and less radiation-hardened COTS components. The tests evaluated SD-card formatting and read/write speeds at nine radiation intervals for up to ~ 1000 Gy TID, equivalent to ~15 times TID typically experienced annually on the unshielded exterior of satellites in Low Earth Orbit. A limited number …

A Modular Hardware And Software Architecture For A Student-Designed Biocubesat Prototype Using Autonomous Operations, Mateusz Zalasiewicz, Aqeel Shamsul, Giovanni Sinclair, David Cullen, Adrien Bolliand, Amin Chabi, Miguel Martinez De Bujo, Romain Giraud, Hector Lleo, Tommaso Tonina, Nikita Shetti, Raj Panchal, Sathesh Raj, Thomas Retraint, Michael Cooke, Timothy Etheridge

Small Satellite Conference

BAMMsat-on-BEXUS is a student-led project aiming to design, manufacture, and fly a CubeSat-compatible payload on a stratospheric balloon. The payload – BAMMsat (Biology, Astrobiology, Medicine, and Materials Science on satellite) – is a modular CubeSat-format laboratory termed a bioCubeSat. The mission is realized under the bilateral REXUS/BEXUS programme run by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the Swedish National Space Agency (SNSA), with the Swedish payload share available to students through a European Space Agency (ESA) collaboration. The core objective of the prototype payload is to perform a technology demonstration of the core bioCubeSat technology, demonstrating its capability to support …

Mata-Cloud: A Cloud Detection And Dynamic Attitude Correction Evaluation Software, Vanessa Tan, Julie Ann Banatao, John Leur Labrador, Lia Cristina Mabaquiao, Floyd Ferrant Fortes, Marc Caesar Talampas

Small Satellite Conference

With the increasing demand for high-resolution images from earth observation satellites, there is a need to optimize the usability of the images being downloaded in the ground stations. Most captured satellite images are not usable for certain applications due to high cloud cover percentage. To address this problem, this research demonstrates a cloud detection and dynamic attitude correction evaluation software. This software explores two key experiments. First is evaluating different image processing and machine learning-based approaches to detect cloud cover. The cloud detection algorithms were evaluated based on their accuracy, latency, and memory consumption. The second is exploring dynamic attitude …

Utah Girls, Young Women, And Physical Activity, Kim Buesser, Rachel Myrer, Susan R. Madsen

Marketing and Strategy Faculty Publications

The benefits of physical activity are well documented and improve all aspects of health and overall wellbeing. Globally, on average, 37.1% of women are insufficiently physically active while only 23.4% of men are; this trend is also found in Utah, where 19.4% of women are insufficiently physically active while only 17.6% of men are. While women often live longer than men, they are frequently in worse health. Physical inactivity contributes to the development and severity of chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and hypertension. In addition to affecting physical health, physical inactivity is also associated with poor mental health. Physical …

Human Appropriation Of Net Primary Production: From A Planet To A Pixel, Suman Paudel, Gustavo A. Ovando-Montejo, Christopher L. Lant

UAES Publications

Human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) is a substantial improvement upon 20th century attempts at developing an ecological footprint indicator because of its measurability in relation to net primary production, its close relationship to other key footprint measures, such as carbon and water, and its spatial specificity. This paper explores HANPP across four geographical scales: through literature review, the planet; through reanalysis of existing data, variations among the world’s countries; and through novel analyses, U.S. counties and the 30 m pixel scale for one U.S. county. Results show that HANPP informs different sustainability narratives at different scales. At the …

The Utah Statesman, August 2, 2021, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

Weekly student newspaper of Utah State University in Logan.

A Profile Of Wild Pig Hunters In Texas, Usa, Rachael L. Connally, Maureen G. Frank, Gary E. Briers, Nova J. Silvy, Keith M. Carlisle, John M. Tomeček

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Wild pigs (Sus scrofa) are a widespread exotic, invasive species that poses ecological, agricultural, and human health risks in invaded areas. Wildlife managers often manage wild pig abundance and expansion to mitigate these risks. The diversity of stakeholders involved in the issue of wild pig management complicates efforts to manage the species, and, to be successful, wildlife professionals should consider the human dimensions associated with wild pig management. The prevalence of privately owned lands in Texas, USA necessitates cooperation to enact effective management policies. In this study, we investigate the factors that affect a hunter’s likelihood to participate …

Hunter Motivations And Use Of Wild Pigs In Texas, Usa, Rachael L. Connally, Maureen G. Frank, Gary E. Briers, Nova J. Silvy, Keith M. Carlisle, John M. Tomeček

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Wild pigs (Sus scrofa) are a widespread exotic, invasive species that pose ecological, agricultural, and human health risks in their invaded range. Wildlife managers must manage wild pig abundance and range expansion to mitigate these risks. The diversity of stakeholders involved in the issue of wild pig management complicates efforts to manage the species, and, to be successful, wildlife professionals must consider the human dimensions associated with wild pig management. The prevalence of privately owned lands in Texas, USA necessitates cooperation to enact effective management policies. In this study, we investigate the impact of hunter motivations on wild …

Informational Signage Increases Awareness Of A Rattlesnake In A Canadian Urban Park System, Jonathan D. Choquette, Alexis V. Hand

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Human–snake conflict results in negative outcomes for people and snakes, and if left unmanaged, could undermine conservation efforts. One approach to managing conflict between people and snakes is to use signage to inform members of the public on the presence of venomous snakes and measures to prevent snakebites. To be an effective tool, however, signs must first be noticed, then read and understood by the target audience. As part of conservation efforts targeting eastern massasauga rattlesnakes (Sistrurus catenatus) in southwestern Ontario, Canada, we tested the effectiveness of signage at increasing awareness of its presence, status and threats, and …

Bioavailable Silicon: Release Rate From Additives & Substrates, Mackenzie G. Dey, Jennifer Boldt, Bruce Bugbee

Hydroponics/Soilless Media

Liquid fertilization is often used to supply silicon (Si) (Boldt & Altland, 2021), but Si is minimally soluble. Media components that provide a steady release of Si are valuable.

There are many options for Si media amendments, but Si release rate is not well characterized.

Our objective was to quantify Si release from media components to achieve a steady-state Si release as mono-silicic acid (H₄SiO₄) over time.

The Impact Of A Spill Or Pollution Accident On Firm Environmental Activity: An Empirical Investigation, Rick Hardcopf, Rachna Shah, Suvrat Dhanorkar

Management Faculty Publications

Spill and pollution (SP) accidents cause significant damage to the natural environment. They also result in financial costs and reputational losses for the offending firm. As such, understanding how firms respond to such crises is of significant interest to firm stakeholders, such as investors, customers, regulators, NGOs, employees, and local communities. In this study, we examine whether publicly disclosed SP accidents cause firms to alter their approach to environmental management, as expressed by the adoption of environmental management practices (EMPs). Using a unique panel data from 2002 to 2013, representing over 400 publicly-traded US manufacturing firms, we find that in …

Tremblings, August 2021, Western Aspen Alliance

Tremblings

Knowing the WAA Through Connection

Paul C. Rogers

The Western Aspen Alliance (WAA) was founded in 2008 with a three-year start-up fund from Utah State University’s Quinney Foundation. Envisioned as a partnership between USU and the U.S. Forest Service’s research branch, the organization quickly attracted multiple partners in the form of state and federal agencies. Thus, a virtual organization was born with the primary function of bringing current aspen science to field practitioners. A secondary mission, to support active aspen research, involved facilitating interdisciplinary teams to address key issues. This basic structure, with science outreach overseen by a Steering Committee …

When Healthy Turns Harmful: Increasing Understanding Of Potential Risk Factors And Approaches To Decreasing Orthorexic Behaviors, Elizabeth King

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Orthorexia Nervosa (ON) is a relatively new term used to describe individuals who place an excessive value on consuming a “pure” or healthful diet, so much so that their psychological, and potentially physical, health is negatively affected. ON is driven by a focus of consuming high-quality foods rather than limiting the quantity of food. This has sometimes been referred to as “clean eating”, or only consuming “clean” foods. A commonality between ON and other eating disorders (EDs) is that the behaviors are rooted in restriction, where an individual with ON would focus on restricting specific foods, or even entire food …

Iluqata: All Of Us, Cana Uluak Itchuaqiyaq

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The field of technical and professional communication (TPC) is solidly within the social justice turn that encourages TPC practitioners and scholars to consider how their work, if left unchecked, could perpetuate oppressive societal norms, such as racism. Increasing awareness of how technical communicators can combat oppression through coalitional action and through centering multiply marginalized and underrepresented (MMU) voices and experiences through inclusive research methodologies are important components towards equity in TPC. This dissertation presents five accepted publications that demonstrate how narrative methodologies and coalitional work function to enhance scholarly activism and work towards equity. These five publications are thoroughly introduced …

The Relationship Of Adaptive Clothing On The Social Participation And Self-Esteem Of Adolescents With Disabilities, Emalee Brown

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Adaptive clothing allows people with disabilities to dress in current fashion trends that accommodate their physical disabilities or impairments. Current research shows an increase in the production and availability of adaptive clothing. Additionally, the research on the consumers of adatpive clothing focuses on adults and their relationship with the clothing. More research was needed to understand the relationship that adolescents with disabilities had with clothing, and more specifically, adaptive clothing.

The researcher developed a survey using two previous studies to identify awareness and use of adaptive clothing by adolescents with disabilities. The study also evaluated the relationship between clothing and …

Saudadades Da Minha Terra Amada: Brazilian Immigrants In Utah, Corinne Clarkson-Heaps

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

“We are all strangers in a strange land, longing for home, but not quite knowing what or where home is,” author Madeleine L’engle once wrote (L’engle 1993). The Portuguese language has a word for this feeling - saudade. Saudade is hard to describe in English, but it is often described as a feeling of longing, or nostalgia that is supposedly characteristic of the Brazilian temperament. Brazilian immigrants are familiar with this feeling. Though generally grateful for new opportunities, they often describe the saudades that they have for their terra amada, or “beloved homeland,” after coming to America. Saudades …

Understanding Climate Change Impacts And Adaptation Potentials At Utah Ski Resorts, Rachel Hager

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

Increasing temperature and shifting precipitation regimes due to climate change are a significant threat to winter recreation. Some businesses such as high-elevation ski resorts are especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. However, ski resorts may be able mitigate the impacts of climate change by proactively implementing adaptation strategies. The overall goal of this study was to investigate the impact of climate change on Utah ski resorts, and to understand adaptation perception, barriers, and strategies for different resorts across the state.

To meet that goal, we used a mixed-methods approach including examining temperature shifts at all Utah ski resorts …

Wildland Fire Risk Perceptions And Mitigation Actions In The Western United States: A Systematic Literature Review And Two Empirical Case Studies, Lauren Nicole-Dupéy Larsen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Individuals are continuing to move into previously uninhabited, wildlands in the Western United States where fire danger is often high. This continued movement of people is a two-fold problem. First, individuals are moving into areas that have dense forestland and other flammable vegetation types where wildfires can easily ignite and spread. Second, individuals are starting more wildfires in these previously uninhabited areas (over 90% of wildfires across the country are caused by humans). Although wildfire is a complex topic, one thing is simple: As individuals continue to move into these wild, forested, and often mountainous areas, the risk of these …

The Role Of Social Movements In Female Candidacy Decisions, Meg Elizabeth Rasmussen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The study of the impact of the 2017 Women’s March and women’s feelings towards President Donald Trump on female candidacy in the 2018 midterm elections was conducted to observe the emergence of new pathways to candidacy and further understanding political ambition in women. This closely follows social movement literature on political opportunities and changes in mobilizing structures as well as literature on nascent political ambition. Understanding the things that encourage more women to run for office can help increase descriptive representation in the United States and create a more representative democracy.

The methods of observing the phenomenon of the 2018 …

Effects Of Military And Economic Aid On Terrorism: A Long- And Short-Term Analysis, Haley Parker

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This paper asks whether U.S. aid reduces terrorism. Foreign assistance may be of two types: socio-economic aid (aims to address the root causes of terrorism by improving health care, education, justice systems, infrastructure, etc. in the recipient country) and military aid (designed to fight terrorism with force and manifests as military operations in a recipient country). Most countries receive both military aid and socio-economic US aid for long spells of time. This is why this research asks: 1) how economic and military types of aid influence terrorism over time, and 2) whether and how economic aid and military types of …

Parents' Perceptions Of Life Skill Development And Satisfaction With Utah 4-H, Oakley G. Perry

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The 4-H program is the nation’s largest youth development program with near six million members nationwide. Utah 4-H provides this program to the residents of Utah through Utah State University’s Extension Service. The program focuses on teaching life skills to youth to prepare them for their future using hands on educational programs tied to project areas, or particular topics like equine science or fine arts. Utah 4-H has many different stakeholders, one of which being the parents of its members. For youth programs to continue to be successful, these programs must show stakeholders their significance and ensure that its audience …

Understanding Teacher Sense-Making Discourse During Collaborative Professional Development Of An Expansively-Framed Computer Science Curriculum, Courtney Stephens

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Elementary school teachers are being increasingly asked to teach computer science—something that most teacher certification programs do not prepare them for. In an attempt to study how elementary teachers learn to teach computer science, I analyzed the ways that teachers behaved during a professional development accompanying the implementation of a fifth-grade computer science curriculum. My findings suggest that teachers benefit from professional development that encourages collaboration and active participation in teachers through discussion and modeling. Furthermore, my findings suggest that teachers benefit from using curriculum that deliberately connects new concepts to content that they are already familiar and comfortable with—a …

The Rhetoric Of The Double-Voiced: Strategic Ambiguity In The Silent Protest Parade, Shelby R. Crow

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Examinations of historical social movements offer great insight into contemporary social justice activism. In this thesis, I analyzed the Silent Protest Parade of 1917. The Silent Protest Parade consisted of approximately 10,000 African American men, women, and children who marched in complete silence to illuminate racial violence and the lynchings of African Americans. I argued that through the concept of strategic ambiguity, protesters were able to communicate between African American and powerful White audiences, many of whom held racist beliefs and attitudes.

Methods Development, Design Analysis, And Testing Of Novel Centrifugal Devices For Mammalian Cell Culture Harvest, W. Aaron Dryden

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Thermo Fisher Scientific is developing a centrifugal device to be used in the biopharmaceutical industry. The novel technology was used to remove cells from cell cultures, which produce drugs and medical treatments. The harvest process of removing cells is the first step towards product purification and is an important unit operation for ensuring high product yield. Since the device is a novel technology, methods to test and evaluate the performance of the centrifuge needed to be developed.

Successful testing methods were developed in this work and were implemented on over 30 different centrifuge designs. Amongst these many designs, different operating …

Examining The Use Of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy In Undergraduate Mathematics Learning Modules With Students Of Color, Thomas A. Mgonja

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In mathematics, Students of Color have persistently performed lower than their White counterparts, thus creating a need to explore instructional methods that could reduce performance disparities. This study investigated culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) to understand how it might support students’ mathematics learning in undergraduate mathematics learning modules. The overarching research question focused on how CRP in undergraduate mathematics Learning Modules supported students’ mathematics learning. There were also two main questions that focused on participants’ evaluations of the CRP modules and how those evaluations were reported based on subgroups (Students of Color and White). The researcher employed a sequential explanatory mixed-methods …

Synergistic Effect Of High Intensity Ultrasound, Antimicrobial Compounds, And Uv-A Light On Microbial Quality Of Dairy Products, Bryce Rodney Hales

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Food spoilage and contamination remains a common problem within the food industry. Furthermore, the continued change of consumer demand and perspective on food quality and products has led the food industry and researchers to find new methods of food preservation. Many of these new methods hope to use non-thermal processes since thermal processes tend to decrease the overall quality of the final product. Some new non-thermal methods that have been looked at are the use of high intensity ultrasound (HIU), ultraviolet light, and the use of natural antimicrobials. In this study, UHT milk inoculated with either E. coli K12 or …

The Moderating Effect Of Intraoffice Group Dynamics On The Ambulation Of Sms-Prompted Utah Tech Professionals, David Collins Moore

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This research examined the extent to which group membership affects the impact of text message activity prompts on daily step count. Two 17-member convenience samples were recruited from various software companies in Utah. The participants in the cohesive group unit sample worked in close proximity to one another in a single office, while the lone participants were recruited from and worked in separate offices. Participants’ daily step count baselines were established during the initial 2 weeks of the experiment, after which they were sent text message activity prompts twice per workweek day for the remaining 4 weeks. Step count data …