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Defining Engineering: Usu Researcher Tackles A Profession’S Identity Crisis | College Of Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

Engineering education in the U.S. is not keeping up with the rapidly-evolving paradigm of today’s engineering profession, giving some students an incomplete perspective about what their future careers will actually be.

Solvation Enhances The Distinction Between Carboxylated Armchair And Zigzag Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes (Swnt-Cooh), Tapas Kar, Upendra Adhikari, Steve Scheiner, Ajit K. Roy, Renato L. T. Parreira, Pedro A. De S. Bergamo, Giovanni F. Caramori, Felipe S. S. Schneider

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

The effect of various solvents on the structures and properties of carboxylated SWNTs has been explored using the Same Level Different Basis Set approach (SLDB), where B3LYP functional of density functional theory (DFT) was applied. Armchair (4,4) and zigzag (8,0) and (9,0) tubes were considered as the test bed. In order to simulate varying concentration of –COOH groups, one to five acids groups were placed at one end of these tubes. These samples were placed in different solvents (namely, CS2, THF and water) with varying polarity and results were compared with gas-phase properties. Similar to the gas-phase, zigzag tubes also …

Cosmetic Surgery And Body Image Among Utah Women, Susan R. Madsen, Janika Dillon, Robbyn T. Scribner

Marketing and Strategy Faculty Publications

National media and scholars have puzzled over the high levels of plastic surgery among Utah women, and a national magazine even called Salt Lake City the “Vainest City in America.” Many wonder why Salt Lake City, capital of one of the most religious states in the nation, would employ more plastic surgeons per capita than Los Angeles. In fact, two-thirds of Utah Mormon women know someone who has undergone cosmetic plastic surgery. In a state known for its conservative and wholesome values, visitors are surprised at the large quantity of billboards lining Utah’s interstate freeway advertising plastic surgery and other …

The Utah Statesman, April 10, 2017, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

Weekly student newspaper of Utah State University in Logan.

Educational Policies Committee Program Proposal, Emma Eccles Jones College Of Education And Human Services, April 6, 2017, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

The Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation is proposing the development of a Certificate of Proficiency in Rehabilitation Counseling.

The Utah Statesman, April 3, 2017, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

Weekly student newspaper of Utah State University in Logan.

Accounting For Variability In Mother-Child Play, David F. Lancy

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

This paper highlights contrasting perspectives in the study of mother-child play. One contrast emerges as we look at the phenomenon using the lens offered by anthropology as opposed to the more commonly used lens of psychology. A second contrast is apparent from on-the-ground descriptions of childhood in the ethnographic record compared to observations of children in the upper strata of modern society. Psychologists and those public agents who adopt their perspective see mother-child play—from infancy—as both necessary for normal development and an unlimited good. Its self-evident value should be impressed upon those who are as yet, unenlightened. Anthropologists not only …

Marbles And Machiavelli: The Role Of Game Play In Children's Social Development, David F. Lancy, M. Annette Grove

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

The authors review several case studies of children engaged in rule-governed play and conclude that the process of learning rules—and of breaking them and making new ones—promotes what they call gamesmanship. They link the development of gamesmanship to the theory of Machiavellian intelligence, which considers social interaction primary in the evolution of human intelligence. They also question the benefits of adult-managed child play and assess the impact it may have on the ability of children to develop gamesmanship.

Hitched: The Utah Statesman Bridal Guide 2017, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

A Special Annual Supplement from Logan Area Businesses and The Utah Statesman.

Crowdfunding In Extension: Leveraging Relationships To Offset Declines In Traditional Funding, Paul Hill, Emy Swadley, Kaleb Esplin

4-H and Youth

Crowdfunding is a new tool available for Extension professionals and their clients to use to creatively offset the abatement of traditional funding sources. A fund-raising campaign can be set up in minutes, as demonstrated by the work of the 4-H members profiled in this article. Whether there is a need for new equipment or added help for a special event or some other financial requirement, crowdfunding can be a proactive way to ask people for financial assistance. Moreover, crowdfunding can provide validation for ideas; on the other hand, if funds fail to come in, it may be time to conclude …

Utah State Magazine, Spring 2017, Utah State University

Utah State Magazine

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

Getting Libguide Ux Just Right: Balancing Consistency, Nutrition, & Taste, Teagan Eastman, Alex J. Sundt

Library Faculty & Staff Presentations

No abstract provided.

Extension Education Symposium: Getting The Most Out Of Your Extension Appointment And Still Having A Life, W. Powers, Noelle E. Cockett, Gregory P. Lardy

Animal, Dairy, and Veterinary Science Faculty Publications

Managing the demands of an academic appointment in extension can be a challenging task. Demands from constituent groups, expectations of supervisors, and rigors of promotion and tenure processes can create pressures that young faculty did not expect. Throw in spousal and family duties and you have created a situation that many will find hard to navigate. However, there are ways to cope and, even better news, there are ways to excel in meeting the demands of an academic appointment and enjoying life. Because many new extension faculty members do not have prior experience in extension, best practices in documenting programs …

Electrospun Spiderskin Bandage For Epidermal Protection And Recovery, Michael David Paskett

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Spider silk is one of nature's most promising biomaterial s for a variety of applications, however, due to the inability to farm spiders, transgenic hosts are required for large-scale production. With the unique combination of strength, elasticity, and biocompatibility, spider silk has an incredible potential for use in the human body. This study was conducted to merge two major applications of spider silk for the creation of a novel bandaging product. Electrospinning technology was utilized to create a spider silk/polymer bandage matrix to be applied with an aqueous spider silk skin adhesive.

In designing the bandaging matrix , the mechanical …

The Role Of Anthropology In Promoting Diversity On A Public University Campus, Bonnie Glass-Coffin

Interfaith Initiative Research

We live in an era where xenophobia, Islamophobia, and dangerous “Othering” is gaining ground in our communities. If anthropology's purpose still is, as Ruth Benedict once said, “to make the world safe for human differences,” it is more important now than ever for colleges and universities to provide our students with the necessary tools to do so. This report documents how a new initiative is building capacity for positive interaction among all who orient around religion differently while building bridges of interfaith cooperation at Utah State University. After summarizing campus climate research that led to the initiative's emergence in 2014, …

Shrub Communities, Spatial Patterns, And Shrub-Mediated Tree Mortality Following Reintroduced Fire In Yosemite National Park, California, Usa, James A. Lutz, Tucker J. Furniss, Sara J. Germain, Kendall M. L. Becker, Erika M. Blomdahl, Sean M. A. Jeronimo, C. Alina Cansler, James A. Freund, Mark E. Swanson, Andrew J. Larson

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Shrubs contribute to the forest fuel load; their distribution is important to tree mortality and regeneration, and vertebrate occupancy. We used a method new to fire ecology—extensive continuous mapping of trees and shrub patches within a single large (25.6 ha) study site—to identify changes in shrub area, biomass, and spatial pattern due to fire reintroduction by a backfire following a century of fire exclusion in lower montane forests of the Sierra Nevada, California, USA. We examined whether trees in close proximity to shrubs prior to fire experienced higher mortality rates than trees in areas without shrubs. We calculated shrub biomass …

I Use The Student Recreation Center, But I Would Use It More If…: Understanding Male And Female Constraints To Student Recreation Center Use, Christopher L. Stankowski, Nate E. Trauntvein, Stacey L. Hall

Kinesiology and Health Science Faculty Publications

Studies have found that there is a positive relationship between the number of student visits to campus recreation and academic outcomes such as rates of graduation and grade point average (Huesman, Brown, Lee, Kellogg, & Radcliffe, 2009). Despite the strong correlation between use of fitness facilities and academic performance some students choose not to visit, while some who use the facilities may not be maximizing such use due to constraints (barriers). The purpose of this study was to understand the constraints to using the campus recreation facility at a midsized New England university. Moreover, this study sought to understand the …

Fear And Media: An Examination Of Serial Killers In 19th Century America, Tatyanna Johnson

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

This research is focused on two serial killers in the late 1800s and comparing the amount of media coverage for each case. They are H.H. Holmes who was killing in Chicago, Illinois and the Servant Girl Annihilator in Austin, Texas. Holmes was caught and convicted, while the Servant Girl Annihilator was not. This research shows that this was due, in majority, to the amount of media coverage for both cases. The Servant Girl Annihilator had minimal media coverage, mostly because of racial issues at the time, and he was never caught. In contrast, Holmes was convicted for insurance fraud and …

Effect Of Wood Chips And Rice Hulls On Water Holding Capacity Of A Peat­‐Based Substrate, Jakob Johnson, Will Wheeler, Mara Braddy, Bruce Bugbee

Plants, Soils, and Climate Faculty Publications

The study included 13 substrates with different ratios of four media components. Four species of plants were grown (Vinca, Verbena, Impatiens, and Petunia), each with two replicate plants of each of the 13 substrates.

Each 1 Liter container, with approximately 850 mL of media volume, was fully hydrated and weighed to determine a maximum mass. Plants were then grown for three days until they wilted. Wilting was visually quantified on each pot. When the plant wilted, the container was weighed again to determine the minimum mass. The container was then re-­‐hydrated to determine a second replicate maximum mass. The two …

Developing Web Archiving Metadata Best Practices To Meet User Needs, Jackie M. Dooley, Karen Stoll Farrell, Tammi Kim, Jessica Venlet

Journal of Western Archives

The OCLC Research Library Partnership Web Archiving Metadata Working Group was established to meet a widely recognized need for best practices for descriptive metadata for archived websites. The Working Group recognizes that development of successful best practices intended to ensure discoverability requires an understanding of user needs and behavior. We have therefore conducted an extensive literature review to build our knowledge and will issue a white paper summarizing what we have learned. We are also studying existing and emerging approaches to descriptive metadata in this realm and will publish a second report recommending best practices. We will seek broad community …

Collaboration Made It Happen! The Kansas Archive-It Consortium, Cliff Hight, Ashley Todd-Diaz, Rebecca Schulte, Michael Church

Journal of Western Archives

This case study explores the formation, current membership, and future goals of the Kansas Archive-It Consortium (KAIC), one of the larger consortia contracting with the Web archiving service Archive-It. KAIC, which is composed of the state historical society and five public universities, has its foundation in a statewide culture of collaboration, and participants have agreed on an informal governance structure with a strong commitment to broadening accessible web resources for researchers. After establishing consortial consistency during its first two years, members have shared documentation with partners and are beginning to do collaborative collecting. In the future, the consortium will seek …

Using Rss To Improve Web Harvest Results For News Web Sites, Gina M. Jones, Michael Neubert

Journal of Western Archives

In the last several years, the Library of Congress Web archiving program has grown to include large sites that publish news–over more than a year we learned they present serious challenges. After thinking through the use cases for archived online news sites, we realized that completeness of harvest was paramount. As we developed our understanding of deficiencies in the completeness of these kinds of sites we began to test use of RSS feeds to build customized seed lists for shallow crawls as the primary way these sites are crawled. Over time we discovered that while completeness of harvest was greatly …

Case Study: Washington And Lee's First Year Using Archive-It, Alston B. Cobourn

Journal of Western Archives

This case study reviews the planning, methodology, and lessons learned during the first year of Washington and Lee University Library's web archiving program.

Introduction To The Special Issue On Web Archiving, Nicholas Taylor

Journal of Western Archives

This article serves as an introduction to the Journal of Western Archives Special Issue on Web Archiving. It provides a snapshot of and reflections on the state of the field, as well as an overview of the works that constitute the issue.

Educational Policies Committee Program Proposal, College Of Agriculture And Applied Sciences, March 31, 2017 - Master Of Public Health, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

Utah State University requests approval to offer the following Master's degree(s): Master of Public Health effective Fall 2017.

Educational Policies Committee Program Proposal, College Of Science, March 31, 2017, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

Utah State University requests approval to offer the following Master's degree(s): Master of Public Health effective Fall 2017.

Educational Policies Committee Program Proposal, Emma Eccles Jones College Of Education And Human Services, March 31, 2017 – Master Of Public Health, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

Utah State University requests approval to offer the following Master's degree(s): Master of Public Health effective Fall 2017.

Learning Analytics: Shifting From Theory To Practice., Courtney Stewart

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

As online and blended learning continues to increase in higher education, so does the amount of data that is housed within Learning Management Systems that can be analyzed and processed within the framework of Learning Analytics. Learning Analytics is a new and developing field. As with many new fields of study, a gap between theory and practice is evident. Some attribute this gap to the lack of situating learning analytics within learning theory. In order for Learning Analytics to find interest and usability among educators, a shift is needed from the technical use to practical application. In this theoretical paper …

Understanding Generation Z Students To Promote A Contemporary Learning Environment, Kathleen A. J. Mohr, Eric S. Mohr

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

University faculty predominantly represent the Baby Boomer and Baby Buster (Gen X) Generations, but, university students are largely iYs Millenials and Generation Z Digital Natives. These groups have been characterized both positively and negatively in the popular press. A fresh understanding of the newer generations can help instructors better meet current students’ educational needs. This article shares brief generational profiles based on recent research and then presents questions and recommendations for improving course assignments and their effectiveness. Ways of communicating about assignments and their benefits are also shared. The goal is to equip college-level instructors with ways to relate to …

“The Room Where It Happens”: Teaching Diversity In The Classroom, Debra Jenson

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Universities across the nation have focused increasingly on promoting diversity, to the point of including this goal in their mission statements. Additionally, millennial students come to college anxious to learn about diversity. This paper presents a lesson plan built around the musical Hamilton. The activity teaches public relations students in a writing class persuasion and rhetoric skills. It has a dual purpose of introducing diversity, the topic of privilege and its role in American culture.