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Religious Liberty And Science Education, Rachel Robinson-Greene

Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

In November, the Ohio House of Representatives passed “The Ohio Student Religious Liberty Act of 2019.” The law quickly garnered media attention because it seems to allow students to get answers wrong without penalty if the reason they get those answers wrong is because of their religious beliefs. The language of the new law is the following: Sec. 3320.03. No school district board of education, governing authority of a community school […], or board of trustees of a college-preparatory boarding school […] shall prohibit a student from engaging in religious expression in the completion of homework, artwork, or other written …

Coordination Of Anions By Noncovalently Bonded Σ-Hole Ligands, Steve Scheiner, Mariusz Michalczyk, Wiktor Zierkiewicz

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Research on σ-hole interactions that include halogen, chalcogen, pnicogen, and tetrel bonding has been accelerating in recent years. These cousins of the H-bond have many similar properties, including geometric preferences and energetics. Most of the work to date has focused on neutral complexes, with less known about these bonds to anions. This review summarizes the current state of knowledge about the complexes of anions with ligands that engage in these sorts of noncovalent bonds. Of particular interest are comparisons with H-bonds, and how the geometry of the fully coordinated complex varies as the number of surrounding ligands increases. A specific …

Pictures Of Words: The Importance Of Visual Strategies In Tutoring Writing, Kylie Smith

Tutor's Column

An estimated 65% of people are visual learners. Additionally, research suggests that most people are more likely to remember learned concepts when those concepts are attached to visual aids. Unfortunately, Writing Center tutors often forget the importance of using visual strategies when tutoring writing concepts. The implementation of quick and simple visual strategies in tutoring sessions will help students retain information and help them become independent writers for life.

Playing The Public Lands Game- Honr 3020: Engaging Utah's Public Lands, Libbie Anderson, Zach Archibald, Tessa Burrows, Corinne Clarkson, Connor Coles, Colten Dougher, Taylor Edwards, Emily Hales, Emma Hallock, Ivy Hansen, Chase Harward, Michael Herron, Hayden Hoopes, Kollin Keller, Nicole King, Jordan Lapp, Sarah Lueckler, Clarissa Nelson, Eliza Owens, Kinzie Randall, Mariah Richards, Nicholas Rodgers, Emmalee Rolfe, Daniel Sykes, Justin Tirrell, Alicia Oliver

Honors Think Tank

How to get involved with public land issues and learn what's at stake.

Join us as students present a guide that teaches how to locate, navigate, and participate in the various government and public processes for engaging in public lands debates.

The Utah Statesman, December 3, 2019, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

Weekly student newspaper for Utah State University in Logan.

Teaching An Introduction To Archives Course To Undergraduates: A New Experience For The Archivist And The Students, Julia Stringfellow

Journal of Western Archives

This article explores a new Introduction to Archives class taught to undergraduates through a Library and Information Science Minor Program offered by the James E. Brooks Library at Central Washington University (CWU). The course is taught by the University Archivist. The challenges of recruiting students, promotion of the course, and teaching an upper level course to undergraduates from different disciplines is described, as well as the benefits of offering this type of course at the undergraduate level. A review of the literature on the benefits of educating undergraduates on archives and archival research is also included.

Usu Alumni Develop Industry-Changing Aviation Technology | College Of Engineering, Utah State University

College of Engineering News

A pair of Utah State University alumni helped develop a new technology that will forever change aviation safety.

Cultivate Winter 2019/2020, Utah State University

Cultivate Magazine

Bi-annual magazine for the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences.

Utah State Magazine, Winter 2020, Utah State University

Utah State Magazine

The quarterly magazine for friends and alumni of Utah State University.

Utah State Engineer, Fall 2019, College Of Engineering

College of Engineering Magazines

Annual magazine for the College of Engineering at Utah State University.

Parsing The Effects Of Demography, Climate And Management On Recurrent Brucellosis Outbreaks In Elk, Gavin C. Cotterill, Paul C. Cross, Jerod A. Merkle, Jared D. Rogerson, Brandon M. Scurlock, Johan T. Du Toit

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

1. Zoonotic pathogens can harm human health and well‐being directly or by impacting livestock. Pathogens that spillover from wildlife can also impair conservation efforts if humans perceive wildlife as pests. Brucellosis, caused by the bacterium Brucella abortus, circulates in elk and bison herds of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and poses a risk to cattle and humans. Our goal was to understand the relative effects of climatic drivers, host demography and management control programmes on disease dynamics.
2. Using >20 years of serologic, demographic and environmental data on brucellosis in elk, we built stochastic compartmental models to assess the influences of climate forcing, …

Sagestep News, Fall 2019, No. 35, Sagestep

Newsletters

Seasonal newsletter of SageSTEP.

Parsing The Effects Of Demography, Climate, And Management On Recurrent Brucellosis Outbreaks In Elk, Gavin C. Cotterill, Paul C. Cross, Jerod A. Merkle, Jared D. Rogerson, Brandon M. Scurlock, Johan T. Du Toit

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Zoonotic pathogens can harm human health and wellbeing directly or by impacting livestock. Pathogens that spillover from wildlife can also impair conservation efforts if humans perceive wildlife as pests. Brucellosis, caused by the bacterium Brucella abortus, circulates in elk and bison herds of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and poses a risk to cattle and humans. Our goal was to understand the relative effects of climatic drivers, host demography, and management control programs on disease dynamics.

Using > 20 years of serologic, demographic, and environmental data on brucellosis in elk, we built stochastic compartmental models to assess the influences of climate forcing, …

Preventing, Perceiving, And Post-Venting Suicide: A Guide For Teachers, For Their Students, Justin Vance

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

To aid teachers with intense time constraints, the following summary includes the bolded, most important points in the paper:

• Thank you for caring about your students; by doing more than just teaching your content, you will change lives ... and may save some.

• Teachers are not responsible for student suicide; we carry enough responsibility already.

• Genuine, assertive communication of confidence and support fosters the safe environment needed.

• Improvements to how we view and speak about suicide can help reshape how young people think about it.

• As young men lose what they care about in pursuit …

Modern Uses Of Assistance Animals In The Usa: Definitions, Access, And The Laws That Protect Them, Tina Reisner

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

One of the most arguable issues in our society, and within the field of modern disability policy and law is the epidemic surrounding the use of service animals. With several cases for and against the use of service animals in public entities, there is constant discussion of what is a legitimate service animal and who is able to utilize them. In this thesis, I establish the definition of disability and discuss the laws and policies that legitimized the use of service animals within the public sphere. Specifically, this work will draw upon genres such as policies and laws of disability, …

Advancing Cyberinfrastructure For Collaborative Data Sharing And Modeling In Hydrology, Tian Gan

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Hydrologic research is increasingly data and computationally intensive, and often involves hydrologic model simulation and collaboration among researchers. With the development of cyberinfrastructure, researchers are able to improve the efficiency, impact, and effectiveness of their research by utilizing online data sharing and hydrologic modeling functionality. However, further efforts are still in need to improve the capability of cyberinfrastructure to serve the hydrologic science community. This dissertation first presents the evaluation of a physically based snowmelt model as an alternative to a temperature index model to improve operational water supply forecasts in the Colorado River Basin. Then it presents the design …

Tacting Of Function In College Student Mental Health: An Online And App-Based Approach To Psychological Flexibility, Benjamin Pierce

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Mental and emotional health concerns among college students are prevalent and diverse in their symptom presentations. With increasing demands on counseling centers to provide efficient care and to address students with higher acuity or risk for harm, there has been an increased focus on identifying therapeutic targets that underlie a wide breadth of concerns to broaden the scope and impact of mental health services. Psychological inflexibility is one such target and refers to a combination of excessive avoidance of internal experiences coupled with a lack of actions that align with a person’s values. Interventions for psychological inflexibility aim to support …

Redefining Ceremony And The Sacred: Short Stories From The Dinétah, Stacie S. Denetsosie

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This is a creative thesis comprised of three short stories centered on the experiences of three Navajo protagonists living on the Navajo reservation. The short stories fit within the field of Native American Literature and highlight issues of mortality, sexuality, and ceremony. The stories illustrate the experiences of modern-day Navajo youth grappling to understand how to connect traditional knowledge with modernity. The three stories featured within this thesis are offered as a way to understand these challenges. Each protagonist is faced with an issue of morality, sexuality, or ceremony, and each reach differing conclusions about these topics within their lives. …

Developing, Adopting, And Executing 100% Net-Renewable Electricity Resolutions At The Local Level, Emily E. Skill

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In the absence of national leadership on climate policy, municipalities are adopting resolutions to reduce their carbon footprint and transition to clean energy. However, what leads to successful adoption of these resolutions and how to effectively implement climate goals at the community level needs further exploration. To investigate these questions, this thesis examines the resolutions adopted in Salt Lake City, Park City, and Moab, Utah to transition to 100% renewable electricity by 2032. Data was collected through documents, such as city reports and newspapers, and interviews with government officials, city staff, and community members involved with the resolution process. A …

The Determinants Of Municipal Minimum Wage Ordinances: An Analysis Of 100 Large Cities From 2012-2017, Nicholas S. Hilton

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The city of Seattle, Washington made headlines in 2014 when its city council enacted the highest minimum wage in the history of the United States. The ruling appeared to begin a trend as similar policies began diffusing in cities across the country. In reality, however, municipal minimum wage ordinances have existed since the early 1990’s. Yet, despite over two decade’s worth of data on the subject, little research has been conducted to understand the characteristics that influence cities to enact minimum wages in the first place. This study contributes to our understanding of the predictors of minimum wage ordinances by …

Evaluating Relationships Of Knowledge, Attitudes, And Perception Between Ranchers And Bureau Of Land Management Professionals, Calee L. Garn

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages approximately 245 million acres in the U.S., the majority of which are in the western half of the country. There have been several conflicts in Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Arizona, since 2010 that have resulted in a fatality, armed militias, several incarcerations, and lawsuits facing the federal government. Following a preliminary needs assessment conducted in Box Elder County, Utah, and a comprehensive review of the literature, further research was needed to understand BLM professional (BLM managers or BLM specialists) and rancher perceptions regarding BLM policies and procedures. The study specifically looked at attitudes, …

Technology In Parenting Programs: A Systematic Review And Pilot Study Of An App-Based Intervention For Latinx Families, Samantha M. Corralejo

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Technology and psychological treatments have increasingly been used together to increase the reach of psychotherapy and potentially reduce treatment costs. This research focused on how technology has been used to deliver or facilitate treatments focused on behavioral parent training. Behavioral parent training is a research-supported method of improving parenting skills and child behavior. We first reviewed any existing research on the topic, and found that treatments that used technology to teach parenting skills were generally successful at improving parent and child behavior. The review also identified many research questions that have yet to be answered about the cost of such …

Enteric Methane And Nitrogen Emissions In Beef Cattle Grazing A Tannin-Containing Legume Relative To Feedlot And Traditional Pasture-Based Production Systems, Raúl David Guevara Ballesteros

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Beef cattle production is highly criticized because of the high use of land and water resources, and by the pollution (e.g., the gas methane in a cow’s breath and nitrogen in urine) produced by cows fed in feedlots. In contrast to feedlots diets and grasses, some plants (e.g., legumes) contain bioactive compounds (condensed tannins) that reduce pollution and enhance animal nutrition. In my research, I observed that cows grazing a tannin-containing legume (birdsfoot trefoil; BFT) had methane emissions similar to cows fed a feedlot ration with comparable weight gains. Cows in the BFT treatment gained more weight than cows grazing …

Wildfire In The West: An Initial Analysis Of Wildfire Impacts On Hydrology And Riverbed Grain Size In Relation To Salmonid Habitat, Natalie J. Gillard

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Historically wildfires have been beneficial to forests, however, human developments have encroached on forests when wildfire was artificially suppressed by federal and state agencies. The area burned by wildfire each year has increased twenty-fold in the past three decades. Large, high severity fires pose increased threats to human and aquatic communities within and downstream of the burned area due to post-wildfire effects on flooding and sedimentation. We need to understand the impacts of wildfires to be able to mitigate their damages and to recognize their potential benefits. This research addresses the questions: 1) Do wildfires impact rural and urban economies …

The Farm As Place In A Changing Climate: Capturing Women Farmers' Experiences In Idaho, United States And Victoria, Australia, Tagen Towsley Baker

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In Australia and the US, women play a vital role in the agricultural sector. However, historically farmwomen’s contributions to agriculture as well as their individual knowledge and social resilience to stressors like climate and climate change have been unrecognized and rendered invisible. Drawing on interdisciplinary scholarship from geography and the humanities, this dissertation explores the farm as place in a changing climate, drawing on women farmers’ experiences, under three distinct themes: identity, place, and photography. The dissertation research includes three distinct parts. First, incorporating non-fiction writing and photography, I explore my agricultural and religious heritage, as well as familial connections …

Expression Systems For Synthetic Spider Silk Protein Production, Michaela R. Hugie

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Spider silk is a biodegradable and biocompatible natural material that is stronger than steel and more elastic than nylon. These properties make spider silk a desirable material for many commercial products, ranging from textiles to biomedical materials. Due to spiders’ cannibalistic and territorial nature it is impossible to farm them to produce spider silk at a high enough yield to meet product demands. Therefore, a bioengineered synthetic process is necessary to produce spider silk. Synthetic spider silk has been produced in bacteria, goats, yeast, plants, mammalian cells and silkworms, but none of these processes provided a commercially viable yield or …

Rewriting Eden With The Book Of Mormon: Joseph Smith And The Reception Of Genesis 1-6 In Early America, Colby Townsend

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The colonists living in the new United States after the American War for Independence were faced with the problem of forming new identities once they could no longer recognize themselves, collectively or individually, as subjects of Great Britain. After the French Revolution American politicians began to weed out the more radical political elements of the newly formed United States, particularly by painting one of the revolution’s biggest defenders, Thomas Paine, as unworthy of the attention he received during the American War for Independence, and fear ran throughout the states that an anarchic revolution like the French Revolution could bring the …

Dry Heat Among The Red Rocks: Risk Perceptions And Behavioral Responses To Extreme Heat Among Outdoor Recreationists In Southeastern Utah, Kirsten M. Goldstein

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Communicating the risks related to extreme heat is important and essential for saving lives. This study looks at how tourists think about extreme heat in a hot and dry environment. It looks at relationships between an individual’s local climate, their thoughts about the current weather conditions, and demographics. The results from this study are intended to help tourist agencies, emergency managers and emergency planners, and policymakers in creating and carrying out communication strategies for extreme heat.

Thoughts about and physical responses to weather are different for everyone and shaped by personal experiences. How one thinks and feels about the weather …

An Evaluation Of An Interactive Computerized Training To Teach Instructors How To Respond During An Active Shooter Situation, Lorraine A. Becerra

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Active shooter events in the U.S. are occurring more often in commercial environment and schools. In these emergency situations educators must quickly decide to complete actions that will protect themselves and their students. Typically, during these situations, the educator should complete in a run, hide, or fight sequence of behaviors. The educator must also consider challenges for their student’s particular disabilities during these situations. Interactive computerized training (ICT) may be one easy method to teach educators these procedures. The purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of interactive computerized training to help educators learn how to respond during …

Parent Knowledge Of Autism Spectrum Disorder, Kandice J. Benallie

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Parent knowledge of ASD may be relevant to early identification and intervention services for children with ASD. By understanding how knowledgeable parents of young children are about ASD, researchers and practitioners can intervene and educate this population. This study sought to determine the knowledge base of ASD among parents with children five years and younger and if developmental, behavioral, and autism-related concerns predict knowledge of ASD. The sample of parents consisted of 167 mothers and fathers. All participants completed a knowledge questionnaire (i.e., ASKSG) and reported their level of developmental, behavioral, and autism-related concerns of their oldest child between the …