Digital Commons Network^™

The Effectiveness Of Education Aid In Kenya: Using Women's Access To Education As An Indicator Of Welfare, Dawn Dimick

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The Global Journal reported an estimated 10 million NGOs worldwide and in Kenya alone, the number rose to 11,262 by June 2019 (Non-Governmental Organizations Co-ordination Board, 2019). Though committed to alleviating the same issues, the existence of so many organizations breeds vast differences in approaches. Are the issues simply too complex for a handful of organizations to fix or are the organizations themselves becoming an integral part of the problem? Most organizations fall short in evaluating their effectiveness, partly because there is no standard model by which to measure success. While it would be nearly impossible to design a perfect …

Get Out, Hiroki Tanaka: Asian-American Characters In Black Films And Black Activism, Naomi Yoko Ward

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship Asian-Americans have with black Americans in order to determine how Asian Americans navigate their role in American racial discourse. Additionally, this study considers the causes and effects of Asian-American participation in movements like Black Lives Matter (BLM). This topic is explored through the analysis of Asian-American characters in black stories told through four films: Fruitvale Station, Get Out, The Hate U Give, and Sorry to Bother You. To narrow the scope of this research, I placed focus on characters in works that have been published since 2013, when the …

'Queertility', Daniel Thomas Bixby Sykes

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Daniel Sykes, an Anthropology student at Utah State University used his Honors Capstone opportunity to understand the evolution of reproduction over the course of two semesters. During Fall of 2019, he focused on overviewing what Biological Archaeologists, Biologists, and Chemists understand of the evolution of various forms of reproduction from the distant past. During the Spring, he focused on the cutting edge allopathic research in fertility treatments and some of the social implications. Sykes posits that human society has the opportunity to treat infertility in the queer (lgbtqia+) community, given these up-and-coming treatments, even those forms of infertility that arise …

Intra- And Interspecific Secondary Metabolite Variation Between Fruit And Leaf Tissues In The Hyperdiverse Psychotria Genus, Cole A. Carlson

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Secondary metabolites are chemical compounds that are considered to mediate a variety of plant interactions with their environment and are not involved in basic metabolism. Recently, there has been an interest in understanding the function and allocation of these metabolites in fruit tissues. In contrast to leaves, the chemistry in fruit tissue mediates exclusive interactions with seed dispersers that directly affect plant fitness and are under different evolutionary selective pressures. Only a few studies outline the patterns of chemistry between fruit and leaf tissues. This study aims to understand how secondary metabolites in two species of the hyperdiverse congeneric genus …

Autism & Autoimmunity, Clarissa Nelson

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

My research was for the Honors Capstone, and consisted of familiarizing myself with the vast amount of research in the fields of autism and autoimmunity and how the two may be connected, then going on to design a new project to help acquire more information where these two fields overlap. The official abstract I have written for this new project goes as follows: Our proposed research project is focused primarily in the fields of autism and autoimmunity, and hopes to uncover more evidence that these two fields are related. We believe that autism is an autoimmune disease, and our project …

Biological Sex As A Moderator Of The Association Of Military Sexual Trauma And Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Total And Symptom Cluster Severity, Hallie S. Tannahill

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a multifaceted disorder comprised of distinct symptom clusters and is commonly diagnosed in military service members/veterans (SM/Vs), particularly in those with history of military sexual trauma (MST). Evidence and theory suggest that females and males may have different traumatic responses following MST, though research investigating this association has limitations, such as modeling the sexes separately or not covarying for MST severity. The current study examined the moderating role of sex on the association of MST severity and PTSD total and symptom cluster severity. Participants were 1,161 SM/Vs (female: n = 782, 67.36%) who completed online …

Parenting Styles And Child Outcomes In Puerto Rican Families: A Comparison Of Individual And Dyadic Coding, Jeisianne Rosario Colón

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Parenting styles are comprised from three dimensions: warmth, autonomy granting, and demandingness. These dimensions combined form four parenting styles: authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and neglectful. Forty-nine Puerto Rican families with children 6-11 years participated. Families engaged in several tasks that were coded using the Parenting Style Observation Rating Scale and child outcomes were measured using the Child Behavior Checklist. Overall, parents received high ratings in warmth, autonomy granting, and supportive demandingness, and low scores in nonsupportive demandingness. There were some differences between parents, with mothers exhibiting higher levels of warmth with girls than boys, and higher levels of autonomy granting and …

Modern Yoga In America, Emily Parkinson Perry

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Yoga’s immense growth and popularity during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, along with its proliferation into countless varieties and styles, presents teachers, students, and scholars with the question: “What is yoga?” Answering this question requires the investigation of a number of cultural, historical and philosophical tensions at play in modern expressions of this ancient tradition: (1) Is modern postural yoga (MPY)—the yoga widely practiced in studios across the country today—an authentic expression of yoga or is it simply another form of physical fitness? (2) Does the modern focus on the physical dimension of yoga forsake its original purpose of …

Usu Equine-Assisted Activities And Therapies Facilities Designed Master Plan, Lindsie C. Smith

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Equine-Assisted Activities and Therapies (EAAT) is recognized as a therapeutic approach for persons with disabilities. The USU Animal, Dairy, and Veterinary Sciences Department provides EAAT instruction and services; however, they do not have the appropriate facilities to model best-practices in the delivery of these services. This design research entailed the development of a phased masterplan to support the instruction and delivery of equine-assisted activities and therapies in an innovative and accessible environment that supports animal-assisted intervention and natural equine behaviors.

The methodology used to approach the master plan design was derived from Norman K. Booth’s (1990) design process, as described …

Journeying Into A New World: Constructing A New Identity Through Language Acquisition, Hyrum Hansen

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The following portfolio represents the author’s experiences and studies while he has participated in the Master of Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program. It is the result of the author’s teaching experiences abroad and at Utah State University, his teaching observations of peers and colleagues, and insights from his studies in the MSLT program.

The portfolio is divided into three major sections, namely: teaching perspectives; research perspectives; and an annotated bibliography. The teaching perspectives demonstrate the author’s beliefs in regard to communicative language teaching and identity construction and their importance in the language acquisition process. The research perspectives further deal with …

Growing Food In Space: A Comparison Of Led And Solar-Fiber-Optic Technologies, Paul Kusuma, J. Matthew Hardy

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Growing food on Mars for long-term space exploration has many benefits including reduced fuel and cost requirements for lift-off, improved nutrition and psychological benefits for astronauts, air purification, and oxygen and water regeneration. However, complications are caused by the thin atmosphere on Mars, which would force production underground or into a heavily armored shelter. Providing the massive number of photons necessary to grow food is expensive and careful consideration must be made regarding the most promising technologies. The two most promising options are a combination of either concentrating mirrors coupled to solar-fiber-optics (SFO), or photovoltaics (PV) coupled to light-emitting diodes …

From Anecdotes To Data: Leveraging Our Assessment Toolkit To Determine How A New Curriculum Measures Up, Rachel Wishkoski, Alex J. Sundt, Katie Strand, Deanna Allred

Library Faculty & Staff Presentations

This presentation shared the design and results of a mixed-methods assessment of a new library curriculum for ENGL 2010, the required English Composition course at Utah State University. Piloted with two sections of the course in fall semester 2019, this new three-session curriculum was grounded in case-based problem-based learning (CBPBL), a specific type of problem-based learning (PBL) in which students work together to solve real life scenarios and immediately apply their skills to a relevant and complex problem. Student teams used case studies to practice source evaluation, topic development, and synthesis of research in writing. Multiple assessment methods afforded us …

A Reinforcement Learning Based Control Approach For Propofol-Induced Burst Suppression, Jason C. Huang, Scott C. Tadler, Brian J. Mickey, Keith Jones

Utah Space Grant Consortium

High-dose propofol is being investigated for its potential antidepressant effect. Propofol is titrated to induce burst suppression, a specific EEG pattern. However, propofol is difficult to dose due to uncertainty in each patient’s pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD), and the lack of a commercially available monitor of propofol concentration. Clinicians currently infer the proper drug dose after observing the EEG response to the given dose. In this report we share our development of an automated controller to optimally administer propofol-induced burst suppression. We designed a deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG) algorithm, which includes two deep neural networks and relates a …

Eclipsed By Culture, Andrea Diamond

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The purpose of this thesis is to explore through poetry my conflicted relationship with an abusive, narcissistic father, a father who passed down to me the after-effects of generations of inherited trauma and traditions of patriarchy. In a narrative arc unfolding through domestic scenes and deepened with metaphor, I offer readers the story of my struggle to accept the personal and psychological damage I experienced as a child, to forgive, and to achieve a measure of healing so that my experience might benefit others. Using poetry enabled me to distill elements of my circumstances that, in my lived experience, were …

Using Motivation To Teach Portuguese As A New Global Language, Aline Allen

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio is written to show how Portuguese was a global language in the past, as a result of Portuguese exploration, settlement, and colonization, and is once again a world language that is becoming increasingly important on a global scale, especially as a result of the economic and political emergence of Brazil on the international scene. This portfolio also covers the important topic of motivation and its key role in learning Portuguese or any second or foreign language. Music is also addressed as an invaluable medium that plays an integral role in teaching a second or foreign language, Portuguese in …

Convergent Validity Of Automated Language Sample Analysis With Systematic Analysis Of Language Transcripts (Salt), Madeline Peterson

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The purpose of the study was to assess the convergent validity of Coh-Metrix, an automated text analysis tool, with Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT; Miller & Iglesias, 2017), a computer-assisted language analysis software, on measures of syntactic complexity and language productivity. An additional goal of this study was to determine whether indices of syntactic complexity and language productivity calculated in Coh-Metrix were sensitive to developmental changes in oral narratives. SALT and Coh-Metrix variables were calculated on 220 oral narratives obtained from children ages 5-9. Coh-Metrix indices were correlated with comparative SALT measures of syntactic complexity (MLUm, MLUw, and VPU) …

The Future Of Narrative Discourse Analysis: First Steps Toward Automated Scoring, Ryan Sainsbury

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The purpose of this study examined the extent to which measures calculated using an automated, online discourse analysis program demonstrated predictive variance of a hand-scored metric of oral narrative proficiency with regards to macrostructure elements. An additional goal of this study was to explore the potential clinical utility of these automated measures by examining the extent to which they correlated with a hand-scored metric of macrostructure proficiency.

Pearson product correlation and multiple regression analyses were utilized to examine 240 oral narratives of children ages 6-9 that were analyzed using both an automated discourse analysis program and a hand-scored metric of …

Examining The Use Of A Gamified Transcription Task To Support Perceptual Learning Of Dysarthric Speech, Samantha Budge

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Purpose: The primary aim of the current study investigated whether a lexical transcription task during perceptual training with dysarthric speech improves listener perception of the degraded speech signal. A secondary aim investigated whether adding a gamified component to the training task would further increase intelligibility gains.

Method: Following an intelligibility pretest using stimuli provided by a speaker with ataxic dysarthria, 59 participants completed a perceptual training phase dependent on their assigned condition (lexical transcription of healthy speech & feedback [control], lexical transcription of dysarthric speech & feedback [LT], or lexical transcription of dysarthric speech & gamified feedback [LTG]). Participants then …

Harmonizing Music And Language Acquisition: Learning Language With The Arts, Samantha Ontiveros

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio consists of select work the author completed during the Master of Second Language Teaching program at Utah State University. Throughout the portfolio, the author shares her personal ideas, opinions, teaching observations, and personal teaching examples utilizing song; all these were found to support the research presented in this portfolio.

This portfolio contains three main sections: (1) teaching perspectives, (2) research perspectives, and (3) an annotated bibliography. The focus of this portfolio is to find new ways to teach language using artistic and creative outlets, such as multimodality, technology, and most importantly, music. The portfolio contains effective ways to …

Harvest: Poems, Brittney Allen

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Louise Glück wrote, “the actual making of art is a revenge on circumstance.” The risk, she goes on, is in the possibility of shame. Writing poetry then becomes an act of courage, purchased with sacrifice or loss. “Courage, in this usage, alludes to a capacity for facing down the dark forces.”

In Harvest, a poetry chapbook, the speaker takes revenge on the circumstances of her life by being blunt, bare, and brave on the page. She contends with a male-dominated society and abusive childhood as she moves into adulthood and the supposed saving grace of a marriage. The speaker confesses …

A Temporal Information-Theoretic Model Of Suboptimal Choice, Paul J. Cunningham

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Humans and animals often make decisions not in their long-term best interest. In one example, called suboptimal choice, pigeons sacrifice food for food-predictive stimuli. The study of suboptimal choice can reveal insights into the role of reward-predictive stimuli in maladaptive decision-making that characterizes numerous behavioral disorders. However, there is currently little evidence that rats engage in suboptimal choice, thereby raising questions about the species-generality of suboptimal choice. According to the temporal information-theoretic model, developed in Chapter 2, suboptimal choice emerges when pigeons pay more attention to the bits of temporal information conveyed by food-predictive stimuli than the rate of food …

Development And Validation Of A Synchronous Model To Simulate Skeletal Muscle Damage Due To Spaceflight Ionizing Radiation And Microgravity, Lori M. Caldwell

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Astronauts traveling or researching in space are subject to a harsh environment that includes high levels of ionizing radiation and microgravity. Ionizing radiation is dangerous to overall health because it causes double-stranded DNA breaks, increases the production of free radicals or reactive oxygen species, and leads to an enhanced risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer over a person’s lifetime. Similarly, microgravity is hazardous to astronaut health because humans require gravity to maintain a healthy heart and muscular and vascular systems.

Both ionizing radiation and microgravity have been studied individually in previous research, but there is a lack of information on …

Relationship Quality Before, During, And After Stepfamily Education: A Latent Trajectory Analysis, Bryan K. Spuhler

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to explore the trajectories of relationship quality for a sample of 777 adult participants attending the Smart Steps: Embrace the Journey stepfamily relationship education course. Rather than assume that all program participants had similar relationship quality trajectories by averaging their scores together in a growth curve analysis, growth mixture modeling was used to allow for a variety of sub-groups (classes), each with a unique trajectory. A prevention science approach was then taken to address possible predictors of each trajectory class in order to identify the risk and protective factors that influence participants’ trajectories.

It …

Improving Identification Of Pediatric Feeding Dysfunction Among Registered Dietitian Nutritionists, April Litchford

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

All Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDN) undergo extensive training to develop the ability to improve dietary intake among individuals of all ages. Treating children (0-18 years of age) is often challenging and requires specialized training. One area that is particularly challenging is identifying children that may not be able to eat appropriately to sustain rapid growth and development. An online survey of RDNs that work specifically with children was conducted to better understand how RDNs are identifying and treating children with feeding problems. From the survey we learned that the methods and procedures used by RDNs for identifying and treating children …

Persistence Impacts On Student Subgroups That Participate In The High Impact Practice Of Service Learning, John Louviere

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The university focuses on student-centered learning experiences and encourages student success through engagement and discovery. Departments and programs within universities are organized to support this mission. A major part of encouraging engagement is retaining students and helping them persist towards earning their academic degrees. Likewise, campus initiatives, resources, and activities are intended to support these same goals.

This research investigated the impacts of service learning courses on student persistence to the next term. The research methods used for this study were intended to provide leaders of higher education with valid and reliable information about activities that contribute to or inhibit …

Perceptions And Behavioral Intentions Of Utah 4-H Equine Program Leaders In Teaching Equine Safety To Youth, Katelyn M. Huffman

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

There is an inherent risk associated with working with youth and large equine. The Utah 4-H Equine program is a volunteer-based program that seeks to properly educate youth on equine husbandry, this includes the topic of safe equine handling practices. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions and behavioral intentions of Utah 4-H Equine Program leaders about teaching equine safety, including attitudes, perceived behavioral controls and subjective norms. The survey instrument consisted of multiple choice, fill in the blank, and six-point Likert scale questions regarding personal demographics, experience teaching equine safety, attitudes towards safety, perceived behavioral controls, …

Club Athletes: Dietary Supplement Use And How The Registered Dietitian Can Better Serve This Population, Rachel E. Robbins

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Dietary supplements are a booming business in the United States. Currently over half of Americans have taken a dietary supplement in the last year. Collegiate and professional athletes are even more likely to take a dietary supplement to get a competitive edge over their opponents. The objective of this study was to assess dietary supplement use in club athletes at Utah State University. Club athletes are non-scholarship athletes associated with a university. They often do not the same level of funding or resources that NCAA or scholarship athletes have. A survey was sent to all 401 club athletes at Utah …

Applying Sexual Script Theory To Hooking Up: A Latent Profile Analysis Of Predictors And Outcomes Of Class Membership, Mitchell R. Rhodes

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to explore relationship between individuals’ characteristics, experiences, personality traits, and thought processes in the contexts of casual sexual behaviors. According the principles of Sexual Script Theory, personality traits and personal thought are creations of cultural beliefs and individual experiences. A sample of 1,142 emerging adults between the ages of 18-24 who had a hooking up experience (i.e., sexual activity outside of romantic relationships).

It was found that the emerging adults in this study could be grouped into three (3) distinct groups based upon their personality traits and their motivations for hooking up. The first …

“What Makes ‘Em Tick?” The Impact Of Parenting Style And Parent-Initiated Motivational Climate On Student Athletes’ Motivation Orientation In The Context Of Intercollegiate Athletics, Logan Kateryna Lyons

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Motivation has become a widely studied construct in intercollegiate athletics, as coaches and administrators have sought to maximize the socioemotional and performance aspects of athletic competition. While researchers acknowledge parents as having an important role in the socialization of motivation, research in this area has largely focused on sport-specific parenting practices, failing to account for the broader components of global parenting style that may influence parent-initiated motivational climates, and subsequently the motivational profiles exhibited by developing student athletes. The present study was designed to investigate the relationship among global parenting style, parent-created motivational climate, and student-athlete motivation within the context …

Teacher Questions In The Classroom: The Effects Of Using A Low- To High-Level Questioning Sequence On The Text-Based Reading Comprehension Outcomes Of Low-Performing Students, Shannon Harris Brown

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Teacher questioning may be an effective instructional procedure for building students’ reading comprehension. Strategically asking questions at two different levels, low-level (text explicit) and high-level (text implicit), may be needed to assist students to engage in higher order thinking skills.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a low- to high-level questioning sequence without or with linking prompts on the text-based reading comprehension outcomes of fifth-grade students who evidenced poor reading comprehension. A secondary analysis was used to determine whether the questioning sequence was effective regardless of students’ interest in the narrative …