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Faculty Senate Executive Committee Minutes, January 20, 2009, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

• Bookstore Report
• PRPC, Grievance Policies and Procedures Policy 407.1.2(calendar change – for second reading)
• PRPC, Grievance Policies and Procedures – Policy 407.1.2 (Language about availability of committee) [first reading]
• EPC Items

Educational Policies Committee Minutes, January 8, 2009, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

• Subcommittee Reports
• Curriculum Subcommittee
• Academic Standards Subcommittee
• General Education Subcommittee

Educational Policies Committee Agenda, January 8, 2009, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

• Subcommittee Reports
• Curriculum Subcommittee
• Course Approvals
• Requests from Departments
• Academic Standards Subcommittee
• General Education Subcommittee

Curriculum Subcommittee Minutes, January 8, 2009, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

Department of Agricultural Systems Technology and Education

• Prerequisite Change, Course Description Change

Department of Plants, Soils and Climate

• Credit Hour Change
• Prerequisite Change
• Delete Course

Huntsman School of Business

• Grading Mode Change

Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation

• Prerequisite Change

Department of Psychology

• Title Change, Course Description Change, Flexible Title for Sections

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

• New Course

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

• Prerequisite Change

Department of Military Science

• Add University Studies Designation

Department of Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology

• New Course
• Dual List Change, Prerequisite Change
• Credit Hour Change, Dual List Change

Other

• Creating a …

Organic Writing Assessment: Dynamic Criteria Mapping In Action, Bob Broad, Linda Adler-Kassner, Barry Alford, Jane Detweiler

All USU Press Publications

Educators appropriately strive to create "assessment cultures" (Huot 2002) in which they integrate evaluation into teaching and learning and match assessment methods with best instructional practice. But how do teachers and administrators establish the values that underlie their evaluations? Bob Broad's 2003 volume, What We Really Value, introduced dynamic criteria mapping (DCM) as a method for eliciting locally-informed, context-sensitive criteria for writing assessments. The impact of DCM on writing assessment practice is just beginning to emerge as more and more writing departments and programs adopt, adapt, or experiment with DCM approaches. For the authors of Organic Writing Assessment, the DCM …

2008 Annual Report, Various Authors

Annual Reports

No abstract provided.

Effect Of Oil Content And Processing Conditions On The Thermal Behavior And Physicochemical Stability Of Oil-In-Water Emulsions, Megan Tippetts, Silvana Martini

Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Sciences Faculty Publications

The destabilisation mechanism of oil-in-water (o/w) emulsions was studied as a function of oil content (20% and 40% o/w), homogenisation conditions and crystallisation temperatures (10, 5, 0, −5 and −10 °C). A mixture of anhydrous milk fat and soya bean oil was used as the lipid phase and whey protein isolate (2 wt%) as emulsifier. Crystallisation and melting behaviours were analysed using differential scanning calorimetry. Physicochemical stability was measured with a vertical scan macroscopic analyser. Emulsions with 20% oil were found to be less stable than those with 40% oil. For 20% o/w emulsions, the crystallisation was delayed and inhibited …

General Catalog 2009-2010, Utah State University

University Catalogs

Contains course descriptions, University college calendar, and college administration

A Procedure To Correct Proxy-Reported Weight In The National Health Interview Survey, 1976-2002, Eric N. Reither, Rebecca L. Utz

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Background

Data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) show a larger-than-expected increase in mean BMI between 1996 and 1997. Proxy-reports of height and weight were discontinued as part of the 1997 NHIS redesign, suggesting that the sharp increase between 1996 and 1997 may be artifactual.

Methods

We merged NHIS data from 1976–2002 into a single database consisting of approximately 1.7 million adults aged 18 and over. The analysis consisted of two parts: First, we estimated the magnitude of BMI differences by reporting status (i.e., self-reported versus proxy-reported height and weight). Second, we developed a procedure to correct biases in …

Digital Commons Annual Report: Year One 2008-2009, Heather M. Leary

Digital Commons Reports

This report shows the progress for Utah State University's Digital Commons repository during it's first year, from October 27, 2008 through October 31, 2009.

Voices: On Stage And In Print, 2009, Utah State University Department Of English

Voices of USU

This collection of student writing represents the voices of over 2,000 students who enroll each academic year in Utah State University’s second-year composition course, Intermediate Writing: Research Writing in a Persuasive Mode. Voices of USU celebrates excellence in writing by providing undergraduate students of diverse backgrounds and disciplines the opportunity to have their work published.

Saline Lakes Around The World : Unique Systems With Unique Values, 10th Isslr Conference And 2008 Friends Of Great Salt Lake Forum, May 11-16, 2008, University Of Utah, Salt Lake City, Aharon Oren, David L. Naftz, Patsy Palacios, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh

Natural Resources and Environmental Issues

No abstract provided.

Microbial Biodiversity Of Great Salt Lake, Utah, Bart C. Weimer, Giovanni Rompato, Jacob Parnell, Reed Gann, Balasubramanian Ganesan, Cristian Navas, Martin Gonzalez, Mario Clavel, Steven Albee-Scott

Natural Resources and Environmental Issues

Microbial biodiversity is difficult to measure in extreme environments due to the inability to culture many of the species, especially from hypersaline environments. Great Salt Lake (GSL), Utah, USA offers a unique ecology to study microbial diversity across a salt gradient. GSL has increasing salt from South to North that varies from marine salt concentrations to saturation, respectively. We used three methods to examine the biodiversity of the GSL-traditional cultivation on solid media, 16s rRNA gene sequencing, multiplexed 16s rRNA gene hybridization to the phylochip, and DNA hybridization to the Geochip for metabolic diversity estimates. Over 40 isolates from the …

Biostromes, Brine Flies, Birds And The Bioaccumulation Of Selenium In Great Salt Lake, ,Utah, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh

Natural Resources and Environmental Issues

Benthic organisms and substrates in Great Salt Lake, Utah, were sampled to measure selenium concentrations of prey organisms of the birds that utilize the lake for nesting and during migrations. The sampling was focused on stromatolite biostromes, as these solid reef-like structures cover approximately 23% of the oxic benthic area of the lake and are the principal habitat for brine fly (Ephydra cinerea) larvae and pupae. Samples were taken at depths of 1-5 m along two transects in Gilbert Bay were salinities ranged from 116-126 g 1-1...

Mercury Inputs To Great Salt Lake, Utah: Reconnaissance-Phase Results, David Naftz, Christopher Fuller, Jay Cederberg, David Krabbenhoft, John Whitehead, Jodi Garberg, Kimberly Beisner

Natural Resources and Environmental Issues

In response to increasing public concern regarding mercury (Hg) cycling in Great Salt Lake (GSL) ecosystem, a series of studies were initiated to differentiate between the mass of Hg from riverine versus atmospheric sources to GSL. Cumulative riverine Hg load to GSL during a 1 year time period (April 1, 2007 to March 31, 2008) was 6 kg, with almost 50% of the cumulative Hg load contributed by outflow from Farmington Bay. Comparison of cumulative annual atmospheric Hg deposition (32 kg) to annual riverine deposition (6 kg) indicates that atmospheric deposition is the dominant input source to GSL. A sediment …

Aral Sea: Water Level, Salinity And Long-Term Changes In Biological Communities Of An Endangered Ecosystem-Past, Present And Future, Nickolay V. Aladin, Igor S. Plotnikov, Philip Micklin, Thomas Ballatore

Natural Resources and Environmental Issues

The Aral Sea, which before 1960 was the fourth largest lake in the world, has now split into four separate water bodies. This break-up and desiccation mainly resulted from upstream irrigation withdrawals from the two main influent rivers, the Syr Darya and and Amu Darya. The negative effects on the lake ecosystem due to declining water level and increasing salinity, as well as the profound socioeconomic and human impacts to the riparian populations, have been well documented. This paper focuses on the conservation and rehabilitation efforts for four remaining key water bodies of the Aral Sea: the Northern (Small) Aral …

Oxygen Production And Use In Benthic Mats Of Solar Salt Ponds, Mark U. Coleman

Natural Resources and Environmental Issues

The benthic mat in the ponds of solar salt producers is important because as a beneficial effect, the mat reduces loss of brine from the field but it unfortunately also supports species which can have a serious detrimental effect on the halite crystallization process. Anaerobic and aerobic activity of the mat which is thought to be a significant factor in the management of the salt field is not quantified by traditional monitoring methods. A method of measuring the generation of oxygen from benthic algal mats, tested in the north west of Western Australia at three solar salt fields has been …

Microbial Communities In Salt Lakes: Phylogenetic Diversity, Metabolic Diversity, And In Situ Activities, Aharon Oren, Bonnie K. Baxter, Bart C. Weimer

Natural Resources and Environmental Issues

A roundtable discussion was held on Monday, 12 May 2008, following the sessions on 'Microorganisms in Hypersaline Environments' at the 10th Conference on Salt Lake Research & 2008 FRIENDS of Great Salt Lake Issues Forum, University of Utah, Salt Lake City. Among the aspects discussed were: 1. The gap between our knowledge of the microorganisms isolated in culture and the true microbial diversity as apparent when using culture-independent techniques, in most cases based on the characterization of small subunit ribosomal RNA genes; 2. The metabolic diversity of the microorganisms inhabiting saline and hypersaline lakes and the lack of information to …

Suckering Response Of Aspen To Traffic-Induced-Root Wounding And The Barrier-Effect Of Log Storage, Kevin N. Renkema, Simon M. Landhausser, Victor J. Lieffers

Aspen Bibliography

In a growth chamber, we tested how the seasonal timing of placing a physical barrier (simulating a possible effect of log storage) and inflicting root damage impacted aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) root systems and their suckering capability. Roots from 4-year-old saplings were used, and one half of these root systems had the above-ground portion cut in the winter (dormant) while the other half was cut during the growing season in the summer. Damage was inflicted to the roots by driving a large farm tractor over them, and a covering treatment was applied using a polystyrene board to prevent suckers from …

Regeneration Of Aspen Following Partial And Strip Understory Protection Harvest In Boreal Mixedwood Forests, Alison D. Lennie, Simon M. Landsausser, Victor J. Lieffers, Derek Sidders

Aspen Bibliography

Trembling aspen regeneration was studied in 2 types of partial harvest systems designed to harvest mature aspen but pro- tect immature spruce and encourage natural aspen regeneration. Two partial harvest systems, where the residual aspen was either left in strips or was dispersed uniformly, were compared to traditional clearcuts. After the first and second year since harvest, aspen sucker density and growth was similar between the 2 partial harvests, but was much lower than in the clearcuts. However, in the partial cuts the regeneration density was very much dependent on the location relative to residual trees. The density of regeneration …

A Connective Ethnography Of Peer Knowledge Sharing And Diffusion In A Tween Virtual World, Deborah A. Fields, Y. B. Kafai

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Prior studies have shown how knowledge diffusion occurs in classrooms and structured small groups around assigned tasks yet have not begun to account for widespread knowledge sharing in more native, unstructured group settings found in online games and virtual worlds. In this paper, we describe and analyze how an insider gaming practice spread across a group of tween players ages 9–12 years in an after-school gaming club that simultaneously participated in a virtual world called Whyville.net. In order to understand how this practice proliferated, we followed the club members as they interacted with each other and members of the virtual …

Encyclopedic History Of Utah State University, Robert Parson

Library Faculty & Staff Publications

From "A-day" to "Women's Athletics", this encyclopedic history of Utah State University by USU University Archivist Robert Parson covers people, buildings, programs, events, organizations, songs, school colors, traditions, and more.

House Cats As Predators In The Australian Environment: Impacts And Management, Christopher R. Dickman

Human–Wildlife Interactions

This paper provides an overview of the predatory activities of the house cat (Felis catus) in Australia, focusing principally on the interactions of domestic and stray cats with native species of prey. Like their free-living, or feral, counterparts, domestic cats take a broad range of prey, with small mammals, birds, and human-derived foods forming the bulk of the diet. Domestic and stray cats have contributed to declines of suburban populations of eastern barred bandicoots (Perameles gunnii) and superb lyrebirds (Menura novaehollandiae) in Victoria, Australia. The effects of cats on prey communities remain speculative. In …

Survival And Productivity Of A Low-Density Black Bear Population In Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, Roger A. Baldwin, Louis C. Bender

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Historically, Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) has supported a small black bear (Ursus americanus) population of low productivity. Increased visitor use of the park and development around its periphery could lead to a reduction in population viability of RMNP’s bear population or could increase the potential for human–bear conflict. Therefore, we investigated contemporary survival and productivity parameters for RMNP’s black bear population from 2003 to 2006 and compared these values to historic levels (1984–1991) and population means throughout the western United States to clarify the current status of RMNP’s bear population. The contemporary black bear population showed signs …

Comparison Of The Complete Genome Sequencesof Bifidobacterium Animalis Subsp. Lactis Dsm 10140 And Bl-04, R. Barrangou, E. P. Briczinski, L. L. Traeger, J. R. Loquasto, M. Richards, P. Horvath, A. C. Coute-Monvoisin, G. Leyer, S. Rendulic, J. L. Steele, Jeff Broadbent, T. Oberg, E. G. Dudley, S. Schuster, D. A. Romero, R. F. Roberts

Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Sciences Faculty Publications

Bifidobacteria are important members of the human gut flora, especially in infants. Comparative genomic analysis of two Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis strains revealed evolution by internal deletion of consecutive spacer-repeat units within a novel clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat locus, which represented the largest differential content between the two genomes. Additionally, 47 single nucleotide polymorphisms were identified, consisting primarily of nonsynonymous mutations, indicating positive selection and/or recent divergence. A particular nonsynonymous mutation in a putative glucose transporter was linked to a negative phenotypic effect on the ability of the variant to catabolize glucose, consistent with a modification in the …

Selective Herbivory By The Woodrat (Neotoma Lepida) On Joshua Trees (Yucca Brevifolia), M P. Stanford, Nancy J. Huntly

Biology Faculty Publications

We studied herbivory by the desert woodrat (Neotoma lepida) on Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia) in the Mojave Desert to determine whether N. lepida fed selectively based on leaf nitrogen content. We measured leaf nitrogen content and the location and amount of herbivory by woodrats on Y. brevifolia trees in southwestern Utah, USA. Neotoma lepida removed the outer tips of leaves (1/3 to 2/3 of total leaf length) but left leaf bases, which had lower nitrogen content, uneaten. Herbivory by N. lepida also was concentrated on rosettes that were oriented south, and these had significantly higher nitrogen content than rosettes that …

Molting And Determining Production Of Laying Hens, David D. Frame

All Current Publications

Genetically predisposed yellow-skinned chicken breeds (e.g., Mediterranean and Continental) fed a diet containing xanthophyll will exhibit a yellow color to fat, skin, beak, legs, and feet.

Spa And Healthy Lifestyles: 4-H Afterschool, Naomi Weeks

All Current Publications

This publication is an introduction and includes ordering information for Spa and Healthy Lifestyles 4-H curriculum.

Curriculum Subcommittee Minutes, December 4, 2008, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

Department of Applied Economics

• New Courses
• Course Prefix Change
• Course Prefix Change, Prerequisite Change
• Course Prefix Change, Add Multiple List
• Course Prefix Change, Add Multiple List, Prerequisite Change
• Course Prefix Change, Title Change, Prerequisite Change, Course Description Change
• Delete Course

Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences

• Prerequisite Change

School of Accountancy

• Course Prefix Change

Department of Economics and Finance

• New Course
• Course Prefix Change
• Course Prefix Change, Course Number Change
• Course Prefix Change, Course Number Change, Prerequisite Change
• Course Prefix Change, Add Multiple List, Prerequisite Change
• Course Prefix Change, Prerequisite Change
• Course Prefix Change, Title Change, Prerequisite Change, Course Description …

Insights, Fall, 2008, Utah State University

Discovery Magazine

Bi-annual alumni newsletter for the College of Science of Utah State University in Logan.