Digital Commons Network^™

Understanding Brain Fog During Menopause, Cris Meier, Moth Huenemann, Ashley Yaugher, Cara Murray

All Current Publications

Brain fog is an inability to concentrate or think clearly and is a common symptom of perimenopause and early in the menopause phase. While not everyone who goes through menopause will have brain fog, it is a common symptom, and it can be helpful to understand why brain fog occurs. This fact sheet provides helpful information to understand brain fog and ideas you can use to manage it.

Creating Sustainable School And Home Gardens: Creating An Outreach Booth, Aurora Hughes Villa, Tyelar Haines, Rita Hagevik, Kathy Cabe Trundle, Michelle Parslow

All Current Publications

An outreach booth is a physical presentation that allows your audience to learn more about a subject and how they can participate. It provides information on a topic (e.g., an environmental issue or a community project) through direct interaction with experts in the field. Through this approach, people become engaged, and discussions emerge that foster a sense of community around the topic. Interested in creating one for yourself? Follow the steps outlined in this fact sheet.

Data Repository For "The Influence Of Hydrologic And Salinity Conditions On Drought-Tolerant Great Salt Lake Wetland Plant Species" By Samantha Kurkowski And Karin Kettenring, Samantha Kurkowski

Browse all Datasets

This greenhouse experiment investigated the effects of salinity (3 levels) and hydrologic condition (5 levels),  on the cover and biomass of a single mix of 11 native drought- and salt-tolerant species.

Ground To Roof Snow Load Ratio (Gr) Data Release, Brennan Bean, Cooper Nelson, Jesse Wheeler, Scout Jarman, Salam Adil Al-Rubaye, Marc Maguire

Browse all Datasets

This data release provides historical ground-to-roof snow load ratio (GR) datasets used for snow load research and model development. The release includes original referenced datasets, cleaned country specific datasets, and a master dataset that combines Canadian and United States datasets into a standardized format for research and engineering applications.

Economic Efficiency Of End-Guns On Center Pivot Irrigation Systems For Utah Alfalfa Production, Sophia Moss

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

This study looks at whether using an end-gun on a center pivot irrigation system is financially worthwhile for Utah alfalfa producers. End-guns are used to water extra acreage beyond the end of a pivot, they can also apply water less evenly, which may reduce production on those outer acres. To examine this tradeoff, the study compares farm returns with and without an end-gun using historical Utah alfalfa price and yield data along with estimates of irrigation cost, added acreage, and possible yield loss. The results suggest that end-guns can improve profitability in many cases, mainly because they bring more acres …

Student Study Teams For Child Find: Identifying Barriers In A Rural School District, Malynda Ivory

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

This project explores the challenges associated with the teacher referral process for students at risk of academic and behavior difficulties in a rural school. The Student Study Team (SST) plays an important role in identifying and supporting students; yet, teacher engagement with the referral process is inconsistent in my K-4 school. Teacher participation in our school is low.  Referrals mostly occur after parent-teacher conferences, and teacher participation in the lower grades (K-2) is noticeably lower than referrals from our 3^rd and 4^th grade teachers. Many factors, including limited understanding of the SST’s purpose, time constraints, and perceived effectiveness …

Evaluating The Discus Throw As An Ancient Greek Combat Training Tool Through Modern Performance Metrics, Daniel R. Porter

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

This study’s purpose was to explore the correlations between peak velocity in a rotational throw with a medicine ball, peak force (PF) and rate of force development (RFD) in an isometric mid-thigh pull, time to failure in a plank test, and peak velocity in a sword thrust task, which was also tested for reliability. Twenty-seven recreationally trained male participants between the ages of 18-35 completed the study. The sword thrust task was significantly correlated with the medicine ball throw (p = 0.012, r = 0.475, r² = 0.226, 95% CI [0.724, 0.116]) and PF (p = 0.045, r …

A Focus On Student Needs In German Instruction, Elisa E. Remund

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

This portfolio serves as documentation of the author’s professional progress throughout the Master of Science of Second Language Teaching (MSSLT) program at Utah State University, shown through teaching philosophy, hands-on teaching experience and practice, and demonstrates the author’s use of pedagogical strategies and theory, including but not exclusive to comprehensible input, the sociocultural method, dynamic assessment, and the output hypothesis. It details the usage of current research-based strategies to increase classroom engagement and student proficiency, such as the IMAGE Model for teaching culture and language, collaborative learning, and dynamic assessment strategies. Furthermore, the portfolio includes a reflection on the benefits …

Effective Locations And Landscape Design For Ev Charging Sites In The Intermountain West, Eli Woodward

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

The rapid growth of electric vehicle (EV) adoption in the United States, particularly in the Intermountain West, has created an increasing demand for accessible and well-distributed charging infrastructure, yet limited attention has been given to how site selection and landscape design influence the effectiveness and user experience of these locations. This thesis explores how EV charging stations can be strategically located and designed to improve usability, encourage engagement, and support local economic development through a multi-criteria site selection process that considers major transportation corridors, regional demographics, Opportunity Zones, and proximity to recreational and public lands. Using geographic information systems (GIS), …

Tales, Traditions, And Tides: The Little Logan River And Its Role In Cache Valley's History, Culture, And Conservation, Emily A. Kovacic

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

The Little Logan River (LLR) plays a vital role in the cultural, historical, and ecological landscape of Cache Valley, Utah. Amid growing concerns raised by the Logan River Watershed Project (LRWP), which threatens to alter the river’s environment, this project seeks to understand the significance of the LLR as a cultural and recreational asset through collected oral histories. Building on folkloric perspectives of place-based storytelling, this thesis introduces the idea of vivus locum, or “that place which is alive,” through the example of the LLR to the study of folkloristics. The concept of vivus locum emphasizes the importance of …

Park Visitor Education And Landscape Conservation: Evaluating Education-Based Strategies To Mitigate Visitor-Caused Damage In Goblin Valley State Park, Jason Beukers

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Goblin Valley State Park contains rare and highly fragile geological formations that are increasingly impacted through visitor-caused damage. While the park’s open-range management approach enhances recreational freedom and the visitor experience, it also leaves vulnerable hoodoo formations susceptible to vandalism and damage by visitor behavior and exploration. Balancing public access with landscape preservation remains a persistent challenge, particularly in large, protected areas where staffing, enforcement, and management resources are limited. This thesis reviews the effectiveness of management strategies, particularly education-based strategies such as signage and visitor messaging, in reducing depreciative visitor behaviors in national and state parks and other protected …

Effective Science Instruction For Elementary Aged Students With Significant Cognitive And Adaptive Delays, Rabecca L. Juarez

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

In Utah, students begin participating in statewide end-of-year assessments in third grade, with science added in fourth grade. Students with the most significant cognitive and adaptive disabilities participate in the Dynamic Learning Maps® (DLM®) alternate assessment, which measures student performance in English language arts, mathematics, and science aligned to Essential Elements (EE). Despite participation in statewide accountability systems, students with significant cognitive disabilities in a Southwest Utah School District have consistently demonstrated low science performance on the DLM assessment.

The aim of this project was to collaboratively create science lessons for students who participate in the alternate assessment. This project …

Using A Social-Ecological-Technological Systems Approach For Assessing Vulnerabilities Downstream Of Dams, Michael J. Englert

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Dam failure is rare, but when it occurs the consequences can extend far beyond the structure of the dam itself. This project assessed vulnerabilities downstream of Utah’s 189 state-regulated, high-hazard dams using a Social-Ecological-Technological Systems (SETS) approach. The purpose of the project was to look beyond engineering and structural risk alone and identify the people, protected ecosystems, critical infrastructure, and land cover types located within mapped dam inundation zones.

Potential inundation zone maps were obtained from the Utah Division of Water Rights Dam Safety Section. They were processed using ArcGIS Pro and integrated with publicly available nationwide geospatial datasets to …

The Legend Of The Bear Lake Monster, Melissa Anderson Asay

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

The Bear Lake Monster is a legend that has persisted for centuries. This monster is rooted in Shoshone oral traditions and hold the potential to be based off of fossils found in the Shoshone territory. This living legend was later amplified by Mormon settlers. One settler in particular, Joseph C. Rich, played a significant role in shaping its narrative. Though he eventually admitted to fabricating sightings to encourage settlement, belief in the creature remains alive today. The serpent’s presence in local lore has undeniably influenced the Bear Lake region, shaping both its identity and tourism industry. This legend serves as …

Historical Inquiry-Based Lessons In World History Classrooms: Creating Opportunities For Historical Thinking, Melinda Thatcher Lofland

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

This Plan B project creates inquiry-based lessons that help students investigate the global tapestry of World History with its vast threads of transregional connections and diverse cultures that color our contemporary world and help prepare them to participate as global citizens. This project uses primary and secondary sources to create evidence-based lesson plans that will help history teachers provide opportunities for students to practice historical inquiry skills in Utah’s world history classrooms. These plans employ current scholarship and best teaching practices while following national and state standards for World History. In addition, these lessons were developed using inquiry-based historical thinking …

The Development Of A Plant Database For Waterwise Plants Along The Intermountain West, Tyler G. Peterson

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

This thesis presents the rationale behind the importance of accurate 3D plant models. The research conducted provides logical explanations for why we should accurately represent plants in our 3D models, not only as landscape architects but as designers in general. In addition to this research, a database of waterwise plants was produced to provide designers with a resource to better represent landscapes. During the creation of this database, detailed process records were maintained to enable others to continue to add to and build on the work done within this thesis. It is hoped that this database, begun in this thesis, …

Water Use And Yield Of Subsurface Drip-Irrigated Forage Crops In Northern Utah, Nishchal Tamang

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Growing water scarcity in the Intermountain West has increased interest in improving water use efficiency. Subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) has the potential to reduce evapotranspiration (ET), evaporative losses, surface runoff, and deep percolation. SDI adoption in Utah forage crops is limited, and region-specific information on forage crop water use under SDI is lacking. This study compared ET, yield, and productivity of forage crops between SDI and conventional irrigation methods in northern Utah.

The study was conducted on production fields. Applied irrigation, precipitation, and crop yield were directly measured, while deep percolation was estimated using numerical unsaturated flow modeling. Surface runoff …

Accelerating Rans Cfd Convergence For Bluff Body Flows Using Surface-Vorticity Panel Solver Initialization, Trisha Babu

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Reynolds-Averaged Navier--Stokes (RANS) simulations are widely used for predicting aerodynamic performance in engineering applications but often require substantial computational time to achieve convergence, particularly for bluff-body flows characterized by large-scale separation and wake formation. Improving the initialization of CFD simulations offers a practical approach for reducing computational cost without modifying the underlying numerical algorithms. This study investigates the use of a surface-vorticity panel solver (FlightStream) to generate physically informed velocity fields for initializing steady RANS simulations in STAR-CCM+.

Two canonical bluff-body geometries are considered: a sphere at a Reynolds number of 5 X 10⁵ and an isolated cube at …

Graph-Based Machine Learning For Multivariate Time Series Prediction In Scientific Domains: Streamflow Forecasting And Solar Flare Prediction, Kishore Ragul Alagarsamy

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Machine learning methods applied to multivariate time series data have emerged as powerful tools across a range of scientific domains. This report examines two distinct application areas in which such methods yield actionable predictive insights: hydrological streamflow forecasting and solar flare prediction in space weather.

In the domain of streamflow forecasting, a Two-Graph Spatio-Temporal Graph Neural Network (Two-Graph STGNN) was developed to predict river discharge across a 20-station network in the Upper Colorado River Basin. The architecture separates hydrological and meteorological feature streams into two complementary graph representations and fuses them through a learned attention mechanism. Systematic evaluation across 23 …

Flexible Grazing: Evaluating Stocker Cattle As A Drought Management Tool For Utah Livestock Producers?, Ross Israelsen

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Drought is a persistent concern in the western United States, often leading to reduced forage production, overgrazing, and economic challenges for livestock producers. This study evaluates the economic feasibility of incorporating stocker cattle as a flexible drought management strategy under varying forage conditions across four Utah grazing locations: Park Valley, Nephi, Vernal, and Beaver. The Rangeland Analysis Platform (RAP) was used to estimate annual forage production and stocking rates from 2001 through 2025. Four stocking-rate scenarios (100%, 75%, 60%, and 50% cow–calf stocking rates) were evaluated using a Net Present Value (NPV) framework to compare the economic performance of traditional …

Retrofitting Chapel Lawns: Shifting The Landscaping Paradigm In Utah, Jessica Snider

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Utah is facing a water crisis. The state’s aggressive rate of population growth combined with its dry climate makes it difficult to meet water demands and has pushed the Great Salt Lake to the verge of collapse. Utah residents can save water by installing waterwise landscapes instead of lawns. As one of Utah's most prominent organizations and a strong advocate for earth stewardship, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is well positioned to lead a cultural shift toward more sustainable landscaping practices by showcasing well-designed, well-maintained waterwise landscapes at its chapels. The purpose of this project is to …

A Design Guide For Extreme Heat In Play Environments: Exploring Landscape Architecture Strategies, Amy Elise Guenther

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Urban heat is a rising concern and is affecting vulnerable populations such as our youth. A particular concern is exposure to extremely high temperatures on playgrounds – an environment that is meant to be safe for children even in extreme weather conditions. There has been an increase in many impervious surfaces such as concrete and asphalt in urban areas. These surfaces absorb solar radiation, which contributes to the heat island effect. These same surfaces are in and around playground areas, which are contributing to the extreme heat felt within these play environments. Therefore, requiring intervention to help mitigate the effects …

Reintegrating Contaminated Sites Into The Urban Fabric: Redevelopment In Pocatello, Idaho, Hadley Ocheltree

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Brownfield sites represent some of the most environmentally compromised landscapes in the United States and are frequently concentrated within economically disadvantaged communities, raising important environmental justice concerns. Redeveloping these sites requires integrated approaches that address contamination, urban form, ecological restoration, and long term community needs. This thesis examines the 143 acre former Union Pacific Railroad site in Pocatello, Idaho and proposes a comprehensive redevelopment framework that reconnects a historically significant industrial landscape to the surrounding city.

The project draws from an analysis of eight precedent brownfield redevelopment projects and applies key planning and landscape architecture principles, including New Urbanism, pedestrian …

Dbssnet: Dual-Branch Spectral-Spatial Network With Data-Driven And Knowledge-Guided Band Selection For Uav Hyperspectral Wheat Rust Detection, Subin Kim

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Wheat rust is a serious plant disease that can reduce crop yield and quality. In practice, the disease is often noticed only after visible symptoms appear, when some damage may already be difficult to reverse. This thesis studies whether drone-based imaging can help detect wheat rust earlier and more reliably in field environments. 

Unlike an ordinary color photograph, a hyperspectral image records reflected light at many narrow wavelengths. These measurements can reveal useful information about plant condition, but they are also high dimensional, noisy, and difficult to analyze when only a limited number of labeled field samples are available. To …

Mining Time Series Shapelets And Association Rules For Solar Flare Prediction, Drew Watson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Solar flares are the largest explosions in the solar system; they are caused by changes in the Sun’s magnetic field. Strong solar flares can disrupt power systems, damage satellites, and interfere with radio communication, so improving flare prediction is important. This thesis develops a way to predict severe solar flares while also helping researchers understand why those predictions are made. The approach looks for short patterns in solar magnetic field data that are linked to future flare activity. It then studies how these patterns appear together and in what order they happen over time. By doing this, the research not …

A Multi-Label Computer Vision-Based Approach For Condition Assessment Of Traffic Signs: Database Compilation, Model Training, And Evaluation, Shailaja Ratna Pandey

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Traffic signs help drivers and pedestrians to understand roadway rules, warnings, and directions, which determine how road users should behave. When signs fade or delaminate, they become harder to read and interpret, which creates increased safety hazards. Transportation agencies usually deploy engineers to the field to inspect signs because they need to evaluate and document the sign’s condition based on established standards and engineering judgment. This process requires substantial time and cost and becomes challenging to apply across large highway networks.

This study evaluated two computer vision (CV) models for automated traffic sign condition assessment using highway images collected across …

From Evidence To Impact: Supporting Sensemaking And Instructional Revision In Stem Classrooms, Bonni Jones

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Science and math literacy is crucial for informed citizenship and economic competitiveness, yet many students leave school without developing the critical thinking skills needed to understand and solve complex issues or pursue STEM careers. This disconnect often stems from traditional teaching methods that emphasize memorization and following steps over authentic reasoning and problem solving. This dissertation addresses this challenge by identifying how teachers in research studies have taught STEM in ways that develop students' ability to think, reason, and problem-solve like real scientists.

By analyzing research on instruction that incorporates modeling, inquiry, and sensemaking, and working directly with teachers, this …

Youth Agricultural Engagement And Its Association With Dietary Diversity, Household Food Insecurity, And Nutritional Status In Southwest Nigeria, Sherif Olasoji

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Youth remain underserved in nutrition research, policy, and programming despite being an integral part of the food systems. While the nutrition-sensitive agriculture framework has been established, there is limited evidence demonstrating how youth engagement in agriculture can serve as a pathway to improve nutritional outcomes. The study assessed youth agricultural engagement and its association with household dietary diversity, household food insecurity, and nutritional status in southwest Nigeria.

Using a cross-sectional design, data on socio-demographic characteristics, agricultural engagement, dietary diversity, household food insecurity, body mass index, and skin carotenoids were collected from 143 youth aged 15 to 35 from Ekiti, Osun, …

The Role Of Public Spaces In Facilitating Social Interactions On Summer Weekends, Sierra R. Murray

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Public spaces such as parks, plazas, and pedestrian areas are important places where people meet, relax, and interact with others. While these spaces are intended to bring communities together, their design does not always support social interaction. This study explored how everyday design features influence how people use public spaces and engage with one another. Features such as seating, trees and plants, shade, water elements, and the way spaces are shaped were examined. The goal was to better understand how design choices affect social life in shared outdoor environments. 

The research involved observing how people naturally behaved in different public …

Modular Verification For Network-On-Chip Designs Using Probabilistic Verification And Assume-Guarantee Reasoning, Nicholas Waddoups

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

To satisfy increasing demands for computer chip performance in personal computing, mobile devices, and commercial server computing, a modern computer chip is constructed with tens (or hundreds) of small individual computing modules. Each of these modules must communicate with one other to share information about the running state of a computer. Historically, when chips were a few modules a simple communication method sufficied. However, as the number of modules in a chip grew, a more effecient method was needed in order to maintain performance across the system as a whole. A Network-on-Chip (NoC) design is the de-facto communication method for …