Digital Commons Network^™

Adaptive Active Snore Noise Control Using Microphone And Loudspeaker Arrays, Nathan Walker

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Snoring can wreck a good night’s sleep, not just for the snorer but for their partner, and over time it can strain relationships. Common fixes like CPAP machines, nasal strips, and earplugs either have to be worn or don’t do much against the deep, low-pitched rumble that makes snoring so hard to ignore.

This research explores a different approach, a device that doesn’t need to be worn at all. It uses a small set of microphones to listen to the snoring and a set of speakers to play back carefully timed anti-snore noise, which is sound designed to cancel out …

Wildfire And Fuel Treatments In Utah: A Practical Guide And Outcomes From An Oak-Maple Ecosystem, Annie E. Prescott

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Wildfire is a natural part of Utah’s landscapes, but as wildfires become more extreme and communities continue to expand into wildland areas, it is increasingly important to understand how wildfires behave and how their negative effects can be mitigated. One way to reduce wildfire risks and protect life, property, and ecosystem services is through fuel treatments — actions that reduce the amount and arrangement of flammable vegetation through mechanical removal, wildland fire, or other methods.

Information on wildfire behavior and fuel treatments is abundant but often scattered, ecosystem-specific and difficult to access. In addition, most research in the Western U.S. …

Quasi-Poisson Analogs Of Regular Poisson Varieties, Casen Thompson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Let G be a complex semisimple linear algebraic group with 𝐶 a conjugacy class of parabolic subgroups of G. In previous work, Dr. Crooks defines 𝑢_𝐶→ B_𝐶 , a universal flat family of a fine Hamiltonian Lagrangian G-bundles over 𝐶, and shows that 𝑢_𝐶 is a family of regular Poisson varieties. This manuscript introduces a natural candidate for a quasi-Poisson analog of Dr. Crooks’s construction, 𝑢_𝐶, using the framework of quasi-Poisson geometry established by Alekseev, Kosmann-Scwarzbach, and Meinrenken. It will be shown that this proposed quasi-Poisson analog indeed has a valid quasi-Poisson structure and …

Toward Optimizing Fruit Production In Utah Soils: Apple Salt Tolerance Screening And Tart Cherry Fertility Management, Kaitlin Dabbs

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Fruit production in Utah can be challenging due to local climate and soil conditions. Tart cherries and apples are major fruit crops in Utah, and improvements to these cropping systems would be beneficial for farmers and local consumers. Two experiments were conducted to evaluate desired improvements for these crops. The first study looked for salt tolerance in ten new apple rootstocks. Salty soils can be found throughout the state limiting the land suitable for apple production. When grown in salty soils apple trees often have reduced growth and production potential. A specialized drip irrigation system was constructed in a greenhouse …

Cascaded Pid Control Of A Passive Bio-Inspired Rotating Empennage Aircraft, Zachary T. Jenkins

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This thesis presents an autopilot for a Bio-Inspired Rotating Empennage (BIRE) aircraft. Most airplanes control yaw using a vertical stabilizer and a moving rudder, a design that has stayed essentially unchanged for nearly a century but adds weight, drag, and surface area to the aircraft. The BIRE removes the vertical tail entirely and instead allows the horizontal tail to rotate about the body x-axis of the airplane; tilting the horizontal tail produces a yaw force, doing the job of a rudder. This thesis first develops a controller for the BIRE where the empennage angle is commanded directly, then extends …

International Aid And Post-Conflict Recovery In The Western Balkans, R. Mary Wall

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

After violent conflicts end, communities often receive international support to help rebuild their governments and economies. This study asks whether aid targeted toward physical reconstruction and institutional reform produces measurable outcomes in those areas. 

Examining five Western Balkans countries between 2000 and 2021, the study finds that infrastructure aid is associated with improved access to clean water and reductions in displaced populations, while aid directed toward strengthening government institutions shows no measurable association with improvements in government effectiveness within the same period. These findings suggest that in the years immediately following conflict, physical reconstruction produces more observable improvements than institutional …

Efficacy And Engagement In Digital Acceptance And Commitment Therapy: A Meta-Analysis And Investigation Of Mechanisms, Korena S. Klimczak

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Digital mental health interventions offer a more accessible, affordable, and flexible option for mental health support. These apps and websites draw from the same therapeutic models as face-to-face therapy, but are available on demand at a fraction of the cost. In exchange, digital formats give up the personal relationship, accountability, and scheduled structure that keep people connected to treatment. This places a greater burden on users to stay involved on their own, and as a result, engagement is widely believed to be the main bottleneck limiting the impact of digital mental health care.

This dissertation examined engagement in digital programs …

The Willing And The Compelled: How Power And Place Shape Human-Bison Coexistence In Poland And The United States, Patrick Orville Kelly

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Wildlife recovery programs depend not just on animals, but on how people feel about living with them. The degree to which people accept the disruptions wildlife brings to their lives, known as social tolerance, can determine whether a recovery program succeeds or fails, yet it remains understudied and underapplied in management plans. This dissertation studies how people in Poland and the western United States feel about living with the two living species of bison, the largest land animals in Europe and North America. In Poland, we surveyed 242 residents living at different distances from European bison habitat. Surprisingly, the most …

Scalable Quality Assessment Of Ground Motion Records Via Interpretable Deep Learning Architectures, Ali Montazeri Namin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Earthquake engineers rely on accurate recordings of ground shaking to design safe and resilient buildings. However, sorting through thousands of these recordings to find the reliable ones and throwing out those ruined by sensor errors or background noise is traditionally done by hand. Because modern seismic networks collect massive amounts of earthquake data every day, this manual checking process is much too slow. To fix this, researchers are turning to artificial intelligence to automatically check the quality of these recordings.

While artificial intelligence offers a fast solution, there are limitations. These computer models can become massive and expensive to run, …

Physics-Data-Hybrid Modeling And Control For Vtol Aircraft, Samantha Dawn Burton

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft are hybrid aircraft having both a helicopter flight mode and a fixed-wing plane flight mode. The objective of this dissertation is to examine and evaluate a new approach, physics-data-hybrid (PDH), for VTOL aircraft modeling and control. The PDH approach combines traditional, physics-based methods (Newtonian mechanics) with data driven methods (a machine learning technique called a Koopman operator model) to create an efficient and accurate modeling and control framework—mitigating the disadvantages of the purely physics-based and purely data-driven methods. The PDH approach is used to model scenarios when the VTOL aircraft transitions between helicopter mode …

Training General Educators To Collect Antecedent-Behavior-Consequence Data Using Behavioral Skills Training, Mckenna Larsen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Many schools use a three-tiered system to meet the needs of individual students. General education teachers are often not given the training to provide the supports they are expected to provide. Evidence shows that when interventions meet the need the student is trying to communicate, these interventions are more effective. This research looked at the effects of training that involved modeling, practice, and feedback, also known as Behavior Skills Training (BST), on general education teachers’ ability to collect data on students’ behavior. It also looked at how teaching educators to collect data influenced their belief in their ability to handle …

Psychometric Evaluation And Cognitive Correlates Of The Tactile Mental Cutting Test: Investigating Reliability, Validity, Gender Differences In Spatial Ability, Executive Function And Social Emotional Competence Among Native American Elementary Students, Sujata Basnet

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Spatial ability-the ability to understand, visualize, and mentally manipulate shapes and objects-is important for learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). However, many traditional spatial ability tests rely heavily on drawings and other visual representations and have often been developed and evaluated with populations that do not adequately represent culturally diverse students. As a result, there is a need for assessment approaches that are developmentally appropriate, engaging, and potentially more inclusive for young learners. The Tactile Mental Cutting Test (TMCT) provides one such approach by allowing students to explore three-dimensional objects through touch and physical manipulation while solving spatial …

Closing The Interactivity Gap: Towards Efficient In Situ Analysis, Bidirectional Steering, And Gaussian-Based Visualization For Large-Scale Scientific Computing, Andres Sewell

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Scientists use supercomputers to simulate weather, blood flow, plasma, and other systems. The largest machines produce more data than can be saved to disk, so scientists are only able to analyze a fraction of what gets generated. Visualizing the data during the run slows the simulation, because the rendering shares the simulation’s graphics processing units (GPUs). Most simulation codes offer no way to interact with a run in progress. The results are often too large to visualize on a local workstation, and exploring them on the supercomputer means waiting in the queue and spending allocation time. We call these three …

Prioritizing Fuel Treatments To Reduce Post-Fire Debris Flow Risk In Utah, Kipling B. Klimas

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Wildfire is a natural part of many forest ecosystems, but in the western United States, wildfires have become larger, more frequent, and more severe in recent decades. There are serious problems after severe wildfire, including erosion, flooding, and debris flows that threaten water quality, roads, and communities. Because of this, land managers need better ways to decide where fuel treatments, such as prescribed burning or thinning, can most effectively reduce wildfire damage and post-fire risks.

In this dissertation, I studied how fuel treatments might reduce wildfire severity and lower the risk of post-fire debris flows in Utah. First, I built …

The Effects Of Pediatric Asthma On Daily Activities And Family Life In Cache Valley, Utah: Exploring Parental Perceptions Of Air Quality, Saeed Ahmad, Mehmet Soyer, Landon Lloyd, Mayu Mecham

Transforming Communities

Asthma is one of the main chronic health conditions affecting children living in Cache Valley, Utah particularly due to poor air quality during the winter season. It is very important to understand how families manage asthma both within and outside the household. Therefore, this research brief highlights how parents are managing pediatric asthma, and how asthma influences daily activities and family life. It is based on a qualitative study that extracted the data from 20 in-depth interviews with parents of asthmatic children. Participants were recruited through purposive snowball sampling. Data were collected through an interview guide that included some basic …

Summit County, Utah: Changes To Climate, Snowpack, And Wildfire (1979-2025), Scott Hotaling, Gordon O. Gianniny, Joseph D. Birch, Elizabeth Cohen, Kendall Becker

All Current Publications

Summit County is climatically unique from the rest of Utah due to its high mean elevation. It’s also economically unique, with world-class ski resorts near working agricultural lands. In this fact sheet, we synthesize how Summit County’s environment is changing, with an emphasis on the last 50 years. We focus on changes in temperature, precipitation, and snowpack; growing season length; and wildfire because of their impacts on the economy, natural resources, and local communities' well-being. Our goal is to support the region's future planning efforts. To that end, we highlight risks to Summit County’s future and opportunities that may arise …

Enhancing Inclusion For Youth With Disabilities, Allison Marquina, Jared Hawkins, Anna Gilliam

All Current Publications

This fact sheet aims to empower adults who work with youth with tips for promoting inclusion for youth with disabilities.

Nutrition During Adolescent Growth Spurts: What Changes And What To Expect, Georgia Wilde, Stacy Bevan, Mateja R. Savoie-Roskos

All Current Publications

This fact sheet explains the nutritional changes that occur during adolescent growth spurts and provides practical, evidence-based guidance to caregivers on supporting healthy growth and development.

Agrivoltaics: Combining Food And Solar Power On Agricultural Lands, Dharla Soteros, Kendall Becker, Spencer J. Good, Ngoni Mufute, Matt Yost, Logan Mitchell, Scott Hotaling

All Current Publications

Utah’s ranchers and farmers face pressure to sell land to developers, conserve water, and manage increasing production costs (Li et al., 2019). One way producers can keep growing food while diversifying and increasing revenue is by integrating agriculture and solar electricity generation on the same land, a practice known as agrivoltaics. In this fact sheet, the authors describe agrivoltaic setup options, summarize agrivoltaics' impacts on livestock and crop production, and discuss implementation economics.

Wilson's Phalarope, A Migratory Bird, Depends On The Declining Great Salt Lake, William Christenson, Kendall Becker, Spencer J. Good, T.J. Clark-Wolf, Scott Hotaling

All Current Publications

This fact sheet describes how declining water levels and increasing salinity degrade habitat for brine flies and other prey Wilson’s phalaropes rely on. Because human use drives low water levels, changes to water management could reverse the lake’s decline and improve habitat quality for Wilson’s phalaropes and other species that depend on the Great Salt Lake.

Hagfish Intermediate Filament Proteins: From A Natural Protein System To Functional Biomaterials, Oran Wasserman, Kristin K. Durrant, Katee Stromberg, Brianne E. Bell, Paula E. Oliveira, Justin A. Jones

Biology Student Research

Sourcing protein-based biomaterials directly from nature presents persistent challenges in scalability, processing, and batch-to-batch variability. Recombinant engineering has focused largely on spider silks, and hagfish intermediate filament (HIF) proteins remain a comparatively unexplored alternative, with small non-repetitive subunits that have been produced full-length at high yield. This review examines the biology of naturally produced HIF protein threads from the Pacific hagfish, Eptatretus stoutii, advances in recombinant expression and purification, and their translation into functional biomaterials. We first describe the tripartite domain architecture and biochemical classification of the threonine-rich α- and γ-keratin-like subunits, and then the defensive biomechanics of HIF …

Do Soil Amendments Improve Crop Production And Poor Water Infiltration?, Matt Yost, Megan Baker, Tejinder Singh, Grant Cardon

All Current Publications

Soil amendments are widely promoted as tools to improve aggregation, porosity, water holding capacity, nutrient availability, and water infiltration of soils. These benefits are possible, but they depend on the specific soil problem being treated, amendment type and rate, soil chemistry, soil texture and structure, and the time since application. Studies at Utah State University provide a useful short-term test of what growers can reasonably expect from a single surface application of these amendments.

Latino Perceptions Of Nature, Recreation, And Community Engagement In Wasatch And Summit Counties, Utah, Elsa Perez, Jessica Ulrich-Schad, Lewis Kogan, Isaac Helton

All Current Publications

This fact sheet presents results from a Utah State University study on Latino perceptions of nature, recreation, and community engagement in Utah's Wasatch and Summit counties and barriers to accessing programming. It also includes tips for increasing Latino participation in nature programs.

How Water Banking Can Help Refill The Great Salt Lake, Avery Truman, Kendall Becker, Matthew Behrens, Sarah Null, Matt Yost, Scott Hotaling

All Current Publications

Concern about low water levels in the Great Salt Lake has contributed to the development of water markets in Utah. Water markets enable the voluntary transfer of water or water rights from right holders to other people or entities in exchange for compensation. In general, these transfers are more likely to occur if a water rights holder can make more money by selling their water (or water rights) to another user rather than using it themselves. Willingness to engage in water transfers also depends on the ease of transactions, confidence in the water market, and confidence in the ability to …

Ai Tutor, Online Course, Or Both? A Randomized Experimental Pilot Study For Evaluation Capacity Building, Lendel Kade Narine, John M. Diaz

Extension Research

Extension lacks literature comparing standalone generative artificial intelligence (AI) with structured professional development for capacity building. Guided by Social Cognitive Theory and Cognitive Load Theory, this study evaluated the effects of an asynchronous online course and a custom AI tutor on evaluation knowledge and self-efficacy among Cooperative Extension professionals. We conducted a randomized 2 × 2 factorial pilot study crossing access to an evaluation certificate course with access to a custom Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT). Of 144 registrants, 78 provided matched pre- and post-test data, with attrition differing across conditions. Data were analyzed using a three-way mixed factorial ANOVA. Course …

Appraising The Monetary Value Of Trees, Miles Becker, Mark Malmstrom

All Current Publications

Trees have economic value like other property items. Permanently rooted in the ground, trees are considered real property, just as a house on a fixed foundation is real property. Damage or loss of a tree incurs a loss in value to its owner, who may be legally entitled to monetary compensation. This fact sheet discusses tree appraisals by a qualified professional to determine the cost to repair or replace a tree.

Wrf Cold-Pool Sensitivities Relevant To Winter Ozone Modelling In The Uinta Basin, John Lawson, Michael J. Davies, Loknath Dhar, Seth N. Lyman

Bingham Research Center

Cold-pool structure controls the confinement of wintertime ozone and its precursors in Utah’s Uinta Basin. Previous studies have documented difficulty capturing stable cold pools in meteorological models, complicating air quality simulations when pollutants disperse too readily. Herein, we evaluate the meteorology behind one such high-ozone event on 2 February 2013 with Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) simulations; the chemistry is not simulated. We test the sensitivity to Global Forecast System (GFS) or North American Mesoscale (NAM) forcing, domain feedback, boundary-layer and surface-layer schemes, slope-aware radiation, and terrain datasets (fine versus coarse). Across five hourly samples, GFS-driven runs were warmer at …

Resources Shaping Science Teachers' Design And Implementation Of Scientific Argumentation Instruction: A Systematic Review, Nannan Fan, Eric A. Kirk, Minghui Zhu, Troy D. Sadler

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Scientific argumentation is a core scientific practice recognized by multiple national science standards, yet many science teachers experience challenges integrating it into their classrooms. This systematic review examined the resources identified by research as shaping teachers’ argumentation instruction and how these resources were reported to support teachers’ classroom practice. Guided by an adapted version of the Pedagogical Design Capacity Framework, we analyzed 79 empirical studies published between 1983 and 2025. Resources were categorized as personal, instructional, or contextual, and their specific supportive aspects were grouped according to their reported contributions. Personal resources included teachers’ beliefs, knowledge of argumentation, and pedagogical …

Creating Sustainable School And Home Gardens: Gardening Indoors, Rita Hagevik, Kathy Cabe Trundle

All Current Publications

Extending your growing season is a great way to produce more food earlier in spring, later in fall, or even during winter. One of the best ways to do this is to use indoor gardening and greenhouse systems, which let you grow plants beyond what is possible outdoors or alongside outdoor growing. This guide focuses on soil-based indoor gardening.

Data From: Physics-Data-Hybrid Modeling And Control For Vtol Aircraft, Samantha Dawn Burton

Browse all Datasets

The skeleton code corresponding to many of the results from the dissertation "Physics-Data-Hybrid Modeling and Control for VTOL Aircraft" By Samantha Dawn Burton.