Digital Commons Network^™

Train–Elephant Collisions In A Biodiversity-Rich Landscape: A Case Study From Rajaji National Park, North India, Ritesh Joshi, Kanchan Puri

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Linear developments like railways and highways have a negative impact on ecological processes of wildlife species at a landscape level. The impacts in terms of wildlife mortality and threat to surviving populations of species have been well-studied; however, less work has been done to understand the potential causes of train–wildlife collisions, particularly large mega-fauna such as Asian elephants (Elephas maximus; elephant). In this case study, we review train–elephant collisions (TECs) that occurred in Rajaji National Park (RNP) and discuss some potential causes of TECs along with mitigation measures. The RNP, located in the upper Gangetic plains of northern …

Book Review: Ecology And Management Of Terrestrial Vertebrate Invasive Species In The United States, Lucian R. Mcdonald

Human–Wildlife Interactions

This is a book review of Ecology and Management of Terrestrial Vertebrate Invasive Species in the United States.

Busy To Burnout: Finding Life Balance In The Human–Wildlife Interactions Profession, Rosanna M. Vail

Human–Wildlife Interactions

This is the article for The Back Page section.

Harnessing Population Genetics For Pest Management: Theory And Application For Urban Rats, Matthew Combs, Kaylee Byers, Chelsea Himsworth, Jason Munshi-South

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Effective management of rodent pests requires an ecological understanding of how they move through their environment and how those movements influence the invasion, persistence, or reinvasion of problematic colonies. Traditional methodologies used to describe rodent movement patterns, such as mark-recapture, are hindered by their time-consuming nature and limited geographic scope. As such, our understanding of how rodents interact with urban environments remains limited. Population genetic principles and tools have the capacity to greatly increase our understanding of rodent population dynamics, ecological relationships, and movements across space, but this field is often unapproachable to non-scientist pest management professionals (PMPs). In this …

Extension-Based Community Engagement Project Contributions To Landscape Architecture Core Competencies And Professional Values, Ole Sleipness, Jake Powell, David Anderson, David Evans, Roslynn Mccann, Shuolei Chen

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

This study evaluates the contribution of Extension-based community engagement design projects to the development of core technical competencies and professional values in the landscape architecture program at Utah State University. Many university design programs--including landscape architecture--employ community engagement to address local and regional design dilemmas. Programs within traditional agriculture schools often frame these activities as contributory to their institutions' land-grant missions. Engaged scholarship is well enumerated within the literature of landscape architecture. However, little has been published on how Extension facilitates these engagements or its contribution to the development of core competencies and professional values. Utah State University's (USU) landscape …

Utah State University Faculty Survey: Report Of Findings, Merrill-Cazier Library, Ithaka S+R Survey

Library Faculty & Staff Publications

The Utah State University implementation of the Ithaka S+R Faculty Survey was launched on April 8^th, 2019, and was closed to new responses on May 15^th, 2019, with a total of 291 complete responses. The questionnaire covers topics in several key areas, including: how faculty members discover and access materials for research; faculty members’ usage of scholarly communication services; faculty members’ research practices, including data preservation and management behaviors and needs; faculty members’ perceptions of students’ research skills; the role of the library in supporting faculty members’ needs; faculty member’s instructional practices, including OER and learning …

Animated Encounters: Transnational Movements Of Chinese Animation, 1940s-1970s By Daisy Yan Du (Review), Li Guo

World Languages and Cultures Faculty Publications

In her groundbreaking monograph, Daisy Yan Du offers a rigorous discussion of Chinese animation by highlighting the historical course of Chinese animation and how animated filmmaking contests the notion of nationhood and opens up a spatialized conception of intercultural encounters and collaboration. The book contains a theoretical introduction essay, four substantial chapters, a concise epilogue, and three appendices on animated films by Mochinaga Tadahito, on leaders of Shanghai Animation Film Studio, and on major publications on Chinese animation. It contributes valuable discussions on the “disjuncture between politics and aesthetics in the sense that politics cannot fully control arts” (Du 2020, …

Next Steps For Training And Education In Professional Psychology: Advancing The Science And Expanding Our Reach, Debora J. Bell, Jennifer L. Callahan, Georita M. Frierson, Theodore R. Burnes, Susan Lynn Crowley, Stephen R. Mccutcheon

Psychology Faculty Publications

As TEPP’s new editorial team begins their term, the authors discuss their vision for the journal as a forum for thoughtful conceptual examination and sound empirical investigation of current issues in health service psychology (HSP) education and training. The editorial team articulates three primary goals for the journal, including (1) engaging the broad training community in sharing its best conceptual and empirical work relevant to the varied levels, settings, and areas of education and training in HSP; (2) advancing the science of education and training through strong empirical research; and (3) expanding our emphasis on the sociocultural context in which …

Evaluating The Open And Engaged Components Of Acceptance And Commitment Therapy In An Online Self-Guided Website: Results From A Pilot Trial, Julie M. Petersen, Jennifer Krafft, Michael P. Twohig, Michael E. Levin

Psychology Faculty Publications

Online acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is promising for treating a range of psychological problems. Component research can further clarify which components are needed for optimal outcomes in what contexts. Online platforms provide a highly controlled format for such research. In this pilot trial, 55 adults were randomized to: ACT-Open (i.e., acceptance, defusion components), ACT-Engaged (i.e., values, committed action), or ACT-Combined (i.e., acceptance, defusion, values, committed action). Each condition was 12 sessions over six weeks, with assessments at baseline, posttreatment, and four-week follow-up. ACT-Open, ACT-Engaged, and ACT-Combined all significantly improved from pre- to post-treatment on mental health, psychosocial functioning, and …

Learning And The Practice Of Social Media In Informal Science Education Centers, Lisa Lundgren, Kent J. Crippen

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Both social media and informal learning spaces have the potential to foment knowledge-building. This article aims to bridge theory and practice with an analysis of the social media practices across informal science learning centers through the lens of the Contextual Model of Learning. We evaluate strategies through directed content analysis of phone interviews, online surveys, and researcher field notes. Our findings reveal that informal science learning centers create marketing-related social media strategies as opposed to ones which align with contemporary learning in informal settings. Implications for researchers who seek to use social media in an educative manner are discussed.

Rethinking Behavior - Winter 2019, Midwest Symposium For Leadership In Behavior Disorders

ReThinking Behavior Magazine

A magazine for professionals serving children and youth with behavioral needs.

Winter 2019, Volume 2, Issue 2

Parent And Household Influences On Calcium Intake Among Early Adolescents, Jinan Banna, Jessica O'Driscoll, Carol J. Boushey, Garry Auld, Beth Olson, Mary Cluskey, Miriam Edlefsen Ballejos, Christine Bruhn, Scottie Misner, Marla Reicks, Siew Sun Wong, Sahar Zaghloul

Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Sciences Faculty Publications

Background: Calcium intake during early adolescence falls short of requirements for maximum bone accretion. Parents and the home food environment potentially influence children’s calcium intakes. This study aimed to quantify parental psychosocial factors (PSF) predicting calcium intakes of Asian, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic white (NHW) early adolescent children from a parental perspective.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study involving the administration of a validated calcium-specific food frequency questionnaire to a convenience sample of children aged 10–13 years and the primary individual responsible for food acquisition in the child’s household. Based on Social Cognitive Theory, parental factors potentially associated with children’s calcium …

The Relative Influence Of Instructor Training On Student Perceptions Of Online Courses And Instruction, Mary Bowne, Melissa Wuellner, Lisa Madsen, Jessica R. Meendering, John Howard

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Online learning opportunities have greatly increased in past years. Various studies have examined online courses and instructor practices but have not examined students’ perceptions of their online courses and online instructors who were offered a voluntary online certification program. Students who took online courses at a Midwestern university completed a survey related to their perceptions of their individual online course and instructor. Results showed that instructors who were certified received higher, positive ratings than instructors who were not certified. The certification program utilizes a “faculty as student’ model, where faculty take courses from a student learner perspective, to provide experiential …

Empowering Faculty Using Distance Learning Mentoring Programs, Nicole Luongo, Sara T. O'Brien

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

This article discusses the value of developing mentoring programs for the empowerment of distance learning faculty. The paper describes various ways mentoring relationships enhance the development and teaching of distance learning courses. Distance learning faculty mentoring programs consist of a process where a more experienced faculty member assists a newer faculty member in developing a distance learning course. By creating and supporting distance learning faculty mentoring programs, higher education institutions can provide an efficient and valuable way for new distance learning faculty to gain empowerment as well as the skills and knowledge they need to teach online. This article asserts …

Spatial And Temporal Analysis Of Precipitation And Effective Rainfall Using Gauge Observations, Satellite, And Gridded Climate Data For Agricultural Water Management In The Upper Colorado River Basin, Mahyar Aboutalebi, Alfonso F. Torres-Rua, L. Niel Allen

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Accurate spatial and temporal precipitation estimates are important for hydrological studies of irrigation depletion, net irrigation requirement, natural recharge, and hydrological water balances in defined areas. This analysis supports the verification of water savings (reduced depletion)from deficit irrigation of pastures in the Upper Colorado River Basin. The study area has diverse topography with scattered fields and few precipitation gauges that are not representative of the basin.Gridded precipitation products from TRMM-3B42, PRISM, Daymet, and gauge observations were evaluated on two case studies located in Colorado and Wyoming during the 2014–2016 irrigation seasons. First, the resolution at the farm level is discussed. …

Examing Patterns Of Intended Response To Tornado Warnings Among Residents Of Tennessee, United States, Through A Latent Class Analysis Approach, Jayme E. Walters, Lisa Reyes Mason, Kelsey N. Ellis

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

In the past five years, the southern region of the United States has had a large number of fatal tornadoes. Previous research indicates that residents of this area may not be taking appropriate shelter. The present study uses a random sample of Tennessee residents (N = 1126) and the latent class analysis (LCA) technique to explore discrete types of responders according to their pattern of intended behaviors when presented with a tornado warning scenario in the daytime or nighttime. LCA revealed three distinct groups in the day subsample – Tech Users, Typical Actors, and Passive Reactors – and three in …

Communicating Information On Nature-Related Topics: Preferred Information Channels And Trust In Sources, Emily J. Wilkins, Holly M. Miller, Elizabeth Tilak, Rudy M. Schuster

Environment and Society Student Research

How information is communicated influences the public’s environmental perceptions and behaviors. Information channels and sources both play an important role in the dissemination of information. Trust in a source is often used as a proxy for whether a particular piece of information is credible. To determine preferences for information channels and trust in various sources for information on nature-related topics, a mail-out survey was sent to randomly selected U.S. addresses (n = 1,030). Diverse groups of people may have differing communication preferences. Therefore, we explored differences in channel preferences and trust by demographics using regression models. Overall, the most preferred …

Cell Culture Media Optimization, Chase Gabbitas, Chase Paterson, Austin Simmons

Biological Engineering

Cell culture is a booming industry, producing high demand products such as therapeutic drugs, vaccines, and stem cells¹. As a leader in the cell culturing industry, GE frequently runs trials to develop the best feeding conditions for various lines of cells. Historically this has been a long and tedious process. In this project we sought to test and refine a faster process of media feed optimization by using 96 deep well plates and automated equipment. A line of immunoglobulin G (IgG) producing Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells were used for this trial.

Stirred, Not Shaken—Considerations For Improved Mammalian Cell Culture Scale-Up, Joshua Daniel, Zachary Ellsworth, Makali Lunt

Biological Engineering

GE Healthcare specializes in providing optimized medium for companies culturing cells in bioreactors for pharmaceutical purposes. Small scale testing, typically in shaker flasks, is a crucial part of this process, but scaling between these and larger impeller driven reactors has proven difficult in the past.

This study sought to develop a relationship between shaker flask bioreactors and a micro-bioreactor setup called the ambr® system. Important scale-up parameters such as oxygen transfer rate, 𝑘_L𝑎, and energy dissipation rate, 𝜀_𝑎, were calculated and used to compare the two systems. The following equations were taken from literature [2],[3]:

Tertiary Ammonia Treatment Of Lagoon Effluent Using Microvi MneTm Technology, Bryan Burbank, Sydney Burtenshaw, Nathan Guymon, Mike Langston, Luke Lemmon

Biological Engineering

Nutrient pollution is a growing problem threatening many waterways. High levels of nitrogen and phosphorus in water can cause algae to grow rapidly. This growth decreases water quality, kills aquatic life, and elevates toxin levels creating health hazards for people. Due to increases in nitrogen and phosphorus pollution, the Logan City regional wastewater treatment plant is currently updating from a lagoon system to a mechanical plant to meet future discharge limits imposed by federal, state, and local governments. The intent of our design is to add a tertiary nitrification system using Microvi MicroNiche Engineering^TM (MNE^TM) technology.

Tertiary Wastewater Treatment Through Mbbr Technology, Ethan Ackerman, Grant Harris, Gregory Jensen, Christopher Ruben, Stephen Sadler

Biological Engineering

Wastewater treatment is an essential component to public health as it removes harmful compounds and allows for water reuse and recycle. Biological nutrient removal has entered into the public spotlight as effluent flows with high nitrogen concentrations have detrimental effects on water discharge bodies. Traditional suspended growth biological treatment methods are expensive and produce excess biomass that can reduce the efficiency of nutrient removal if not maintained. Research on the benefits of attached growth processes, namely moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) technology, presents an exciting innovation in wastewater treatment that can increase nutrient removal efficiency and reduce overall cost.

As …

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Agenda, December 10, 2018, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

• EPC Monthly Report - December 6, 2018
• USUSA Annual Report
• Professional Responsibilities and Procedures Committee Annual Report
• Council on Teacher Education Annual Report
• Scholarship Advisory Board Annual Report
• USUSA Recommendations (ASR 2018-2019-03 | ECR 2019-02)
• 405.8.2 Code – Faculty with Tenure below the Rank of Professor

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Minutes December 10, 2018, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

• EPC Monthly Report – December 6, 2018
• USUSA Annual Report
• Professional Responsibilities and Procedures Committee Annual Report
• Council on Teacher Education Annual Report
• Scholarship Advisory Board Annual Report
• USUSA Recommendations (ASR 2018-2019-03 | ECR 2019-02) - Sierra Wise | Sam Jackson
• ASR 2018 – Sierra Wise
• 405.8.2 Code – Faculty with Tenure below the Rank of Professor

Feminism In Fracking: An Analyzation Of Women's Activism Regarding Hydraulic Fracturing, Taya Godfrey

Fall Student Research Symposium 2018

Purpose: To discover what motivates women to be involved in anti-fracking activism as to encourage further female activism.

How Do We Treat Eating Disorder?, Jasmine Guanzon

Fall Student Research Symposium 2018

Eating Disorder is a mental health disability that affects an individual’s physical and mental health. There are different types of eating disorder: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder, pica, rumination, orthorexia and etc. The earliest documentation of an eating disorder diagnosis occurred between 12th and 13th century, since then, the number of cases for this illness continues to grow (Deans, 2011). A common misconception about eating disorder is that only women suffer from this illness, however, there were documented cases of men suffering from this disorder since 1888 (Strother, 2012). There are multiple treatments offered in order to reduce and …

Kids Killing Kids: A Look Into Mental Illness, Adolescence, And Mass Murder, Levi Cragun

Fall Student Research Symposium 2018

Violence in America has been on a decline since the 1990’s. Active shooters have seemed to be on the rise and ever present in the media (See Figure 1).

Society searches for the cause of these acts of violence. Typical answers to violence may not be sufficient to answering for violence on this scale. One hypothesis is mental illness.

Mental illness is not normally linked to violent behavior (Stuart, 2003). However, with differences in brain development and lack of literature, mentally ill adolescents may be an exception.

With this in mind, researchers ask the following questions; Are rates of mental …

Internet Use And The Transgender Experience: Does Social Media Have A Positive Effect On The Lives Of Transgender, Nonbinary, And Gender-Nonconforming People?, Llewynn Roberts

Fall Student Research Symposium 2018

How does social media, along with other internet sites, effect the lives of transgender people?

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

Educational Policies Committee

Program Proposals

• Adding an Associate of Science Degree in Veterinary Technology
• Offering a Certificate of Completion in Ranch Horse Science at the Blanding Regional Campus
• Changing the name from Master of Science International Food and Agribusiness to MS Agribusiness
• Offering a BA/BS Degree in Business Administration with Emphases
• Renaming the BA/BS Degree in Business Administration to Management
• Adding a Social Media Emphasis
• Changing the department name from Geology to Earth Sciences

Semester Course Approval Reviews

Other

• Zero Credit Course Discussion
• Changing January’s meeting date
• Future Discussion Items
• Introduction of the new catalog editor

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

Educational Policies Committee

• Curriculum Subcommittee report
• Academic Standards Subcommittee report
• General Education Subcommittee report
• Zero Credit Course Discussion

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

Educational Policies Committee

Program Proposals

• Adding an Associate of Science Degree in Veterinary Technology
• Offering a Certificate of Completion in Ranch Horse Science at the Blanding Regional Campus
• Changing the name from Master of Science International Food and Agribusiness to MS Agribusiness
• Offering a BA/BS Degree in Business Administration with Emphases
• Renaming the BA/BS Degree in Business Administration to Management
• Adding a Social Media Emphasis
• Changing the department name from Geology to Earth Sciences

Semester Course Approval Reviews

Other

• Zero Credit Course Discussion
• Changing January’s meeting date
• Future Discussion Items