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College Of Engineering Welcomes New Academic Advisor | College Of Engineering, Utah State University

College of Engineering News

USU’s College of Engineering welcomes new academic advisor Valerie Daines. She will provide advising services to mechanical engineering students with last names A through J.

Of Writing, Teaching, And Tutoring: Banishing The Presence Of The Inner Critic In The Writing Center, Andrew Romriell

Writing Center Analysis Papers

The inner critic is the internal voice inside all of us that impedes us with negative messages about ourselves and our own capabilities (Elliot 111). In this essay, I illustrate the impact an inner critic can have in Writing Centers for both students and tutors alike and structure strategies to silence that critic. Three specific strategies are provided: (1) to name the inner critic in order to grant control over it, (2) to practice freewriting and understanding poor first drafts, and (3) to assist the student in understanding the allowance for imperfection within writing. By implementing these strategies alongside awareness …

Early Adolescent Substance Use In A National Sample Of Mexican Youths: Demographic Characteristics That Predict Use Of Alcohol, Tobacco, And Others Drugs, Alejandro L. Vázquez, Melanie M. Domenech Rodríguez, Sarah E. Schwartz, Nancy G. Amador Buenabad, Marycarmen N. Bustos Gamiño, María De Lourdes Gutierrez López, Jorge A. Villatoro Velázquez

Psychology Faculty Publications

The United States and Mexico have seen significant increases in the prevalence of substance use among Latinx adolescents in the last 20 years. Research is needed to address rising national rates of substances use to inform the development of policies and intervention programs targeting Latinx youth. Our primary aim was to identify demographic factors associated with substance initiation and use among elementary age Latinx youth. Data for the present study include 52,171 elementary students in 5th and 6th grades, who participated in the National Survey of Drug Use Among Students (ENCODE) in Mexico. Youths reported demographic information, rates of substance …

Strategies That Male Allies Use To Advance Women In The Workplace, Susan R. Madsen, April Townsend, Robbyn T. Scribner

Marketing and Strategy Faculty Publications

The purpose of this research study was to identify and examine, from both men’s and women’s perspectives, the specific behaviors and strategies male allies use to successfully support the advancement of women in workplace settings. From a survey of 243 men and women, the team gathered qualitative survey data that were analyzed to identify the strategies and behaviors used by male allies. Top responses included developmental relationships, human resource (HR) processes, leadership development, recognition (both public and private), treating women as equals, and challenging sexist behavior. Some differences existed between perceptions of men and women in terms of the most …

An Exploration Of Automated Narrative Analysis Via Machine Learning, Sharad Jones, Carly Fox, Sandra Laing Gillam, Ronald B. Gillam

Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education Faculty Publications

The accuracy of four machine learning methods in predicting narrative macrostructure scores was compared to scores obtained by human raters utilizing a criterion-referenced progress monitoring rubric. The machine learning methods that were explored covered methods that utilized hand-engineered features, as well as those that learn directly from the raw text. The predictive models were trained on a corpus of 414 narratives from a normative sample of school-aged children (5;0-9;11) who were given a standardized measure of narrative proficiency. Performance was measured using Quadratic Weighted Kappa, a metric of inter-rater reliability. The results indicated that one model, BERT, not only achieved …

Racial Stratification In Self-Rated Health Among Black Mexicans And White Mexicans, Guadalupe Marquez-Velarde, Nicole E. Jones, Verna M. Keith

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

How do Mexicans of distinct racial backgrounds fit into the recognized patterns of racial health disparities? We conduct regression analyses using data from the 2000-2017 National Health Interview Survey to determine if Mexicans who self-identify as White or Black have a relative advantage or disadvantage in self-rated health in relation to Non-Hispanic (NH) Whites and Blacks in the U.S. Our results indicate that both Black Mexicans and White Mexicans have a significant disadvantage in relation to NH-Whites while White Mexicans have a slight advantage in relation to both NH-Blacks and Black Mexicans. Overall, our results suggest that studying health outcomes …

More Than Writing: The Application Of The Writing Process, Logan Kelley

Tutor's Column

Beginning writers often struggle to apply the writing process. In order to help them understand this concept, it is helpful for tutors to draw connections with outside disciplines that the student is already familiar with. Most problem-solving approaches contain parallels with the writing process. Educational research shows that meaningful connections will help students apply difficult concepts. Tutors will best support beginning writers by helping them develop a consistent application of the writing process.

A Comparison Of The Storage-Only Deficit And Joint Mechanism Deficit Hypotheses Of The Verbal Working Memory Storage Capacity Limitation Of Children With Developmental Language Disorder, James W. Montgomery, Ronald B. Gillam, Julia L. Evans, Sarah Schwartz, Jamison D. Fargo

Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education Faculty Publications

Purpose: The storage-only deficit and joint mechanism deficit hypotheses are two possible explanations of the verbal working memory (vWM) storage capacity limitation of school-age children with developmental language disorder (DLD). We assessed the merits of each hypothesis in a large group of children with DLD and a group of same-age typically developing (TD) children.

Method: Participants were 117 children with DLD and 117 propensity-matched TD children 7-11 years of age. Children completed tasks indexing vWM capacity, verbal short-term storage, sustained attention, attention switching, and lexical long-term memory (LTM).

Results: For the DLD group, all of the mechanisms jointly explained 26.5% …

The Utah Statesman, October 22, 2019, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

Weekly student newspaper of Utah State University in Logan.

The Utah Statesman, October 15, 2019, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

Weekly student newspaper of Utah State University in Logan.

Standing With Our American Indian And Alaska Native Women, Girls, And Two-Spirit People: Exploring The Impact Of And Resources For Survivors Of Human Trafficking, Glenna P. Stumblingbear-Riddle Ph.D., Ann K. Burlew Ph.D., Daniel Gaztambide Psy.D., Michelle R. Madore Ph.D., Helen Neville Ph.D., Gillian Joseph

Journal of Indigenous Research

Despite the violence against Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people occurring at epidemic levels there is little national visibility and data pertaining to the lived experiences of American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) individuals and communities. The purpose of this manuscript is to specifically focus on violence regarding the missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people with a concentration on human trafficking. AI/AN leaders have identified human trafficking as a major contributor to the disappearance of AI/AN women, girls, and two-spirit people (Department of Justice, 2018). In a trauma-informed intersectional approach we review available data discussing the negative impacts on …

Older Adolescents’ Understanding Of Participant Rights In The Blackberry Project, A Longitudinal Ambulatory Assessment Study, Diana J. Meter, Samuel E. Ehrenreich, Christopher Carker, Elinor Flynn, Marion K. Underwood

Human Development and Family Studies Faculty Publications

For a long‐term, longitudinal study that used BlackBerry smartphones for passive ambulatory assessment among older adolescents, this study focused on three areas of ethical concern: (1) adolescents’ competence to give assent; (2) understanding of confidentiality, the protection of information, and project goals; and (3) awareness of procedures and benefits, and comfort with the research design. One hundred and seventy‐eight participants were 17 and 18 years old (84 girls). Results suggested that participants freely gave consent and understood most, but not all of the informed consent information. Participants reported a high level of satisfaction. Participants showed less understanding of when their …

Housing & Residence Life Impact Report: Fall 2017 To Spring 2018, Hayden Hoopes, Alan Andersen, Kirk Bird, John Bostock, Whit Milligan, Amanda M. Hagman

Publications

Introduction: Living on campus is considered a high impact practice for student success. Student success is believed to emerge from “the amount of physical and psychological energy that the student devotes to the academic experience” (Astin, 1984), housing and residence life programming facilitates this type of devotion. However, creating this type of living experience requires administrators understand the complexities of how housing can affect specific student groups and their decision to either persist at or leave an institution. This report explores the impact of housing and residence life at Utah State University on students living on campus. It disaggregates results …

Postdocs’ Lab Engagement Predicts Trajectories Of Phd Students’ Skill Development, David F. Feldon, Kaylee Litson, Soojeong Jeong, Jennifer M. Blaney, Jina Kang, Candace Miller, Kimberley Griffin, Josipa Roksa

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

The doctoral advisor—typically the principal investigator (PI)—is often characterized as a singular or primary mentor who guides students using a cognitive apprenticeship model. Alternatively, the “cascading mentorship” model describes the members of laboratories or research groups receiving mentorship from more senior laboratory members and providing it to more junior members (i.e., PIs mentor postdocs, postdocs mentor senior graduate students, senior students mentor junior students, etc.). Here we show that PIs’ laboratory and mentoring activities do not significantly predict students’ skill development trajectories, but the engagement of postdocs and senior graduate students in laboratory interactions do. We found that the cascading …

A Typology Of Ancient Purépecha (Tarascan) Architecture From Angamuco, Michoacán, Mexico, Christopher T. Fisher, Anna S. Cohen, Rodrigo Solinis-Casparius, Florencia L. Pezzutti, Jason Bush, Marion Forest, Andrea Torvinen

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

The morphological study of architectural features, the building arrangement within urban spaces, and multiscalar variation are critical for understanding urbanism as a process. Building types and architectural typologies form the foundational blocks of urban morphology and are essential for identifying architectural patterning. We use a process-typological approach to present an architectural typology from the ancient Purépecha (Tarascan) city of Angamuco, located in the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin, Michoacán, Mexico. Using archaeological survey, lidar analysis, and excavation, we analyze building foundations from houses and public structures; storage facilities; monumental architecture such as pyramids, altars, and public buildings; and landscape features such as …

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Minutes, September 23, 2019, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

• Human Resource Policy Changes - Doug Bullock
• EPC Monthly Report – September 5, 2019 - Frank Galey
• 321 Respectful Workplace-Employee Rights - Patrick Belmont
• USUSA-Student Rep on Faculty Search Committees - Dexton Lake
• Educational Policies Committee Annual Report - Frank Galey
• Honors Program Annual Report - Kristine Miller
• Faculty Forum update - Patrick Belmont
• 403.3.1 Standards of Conduct-Faculty Responsibilities to Students (2nd reading) - Patrick Belmont
• 403.3.2 Standards of Conduct-Professional Obligations (2nd reading) - Patrick Belmont
• College Level Faculty Forums - Patrick Belmont
• Empowering Teaching Excellence - Neal Legler | Travis Thurston

A Case For Eustress In Grazing Animals, Juan J. Villalba, Xavier Manteca

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Herbivores grazing in extensive systems are exposed to a series of challenges, rooted in the inherent spatial and temporal variability of their environment that potentially constrain their health, nutrition, and welfare. Nevertheless, in this review, we argue that challenges induced by some biotic (e.g., vegetation) and abiotic (e.g., terrain) factors may also be viewed as “positive” sources of stress or eustress, since they present complex problems, that when solved successfully elicit a greater degree of behavioral plasticity and adaptability in grazing animals. Chemically and structurally diverse landscapes require animals to display complex behaviors and exhibit adaptive capabilities, like building a …

Drones As A Tool To Monitor Human Impacts And Vegetation Changes In Parks And Protected Areas, Francisco Javier Ancin-Murguzur, Lorena Munoz, Christopher Monz, Vera H. Hausner

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

Increased visitation to protected areas could have adverse impacts on the conservation values in the protected areas, and therefore effective visitor monitoring methods are needed to meet the complex management challenges that arise. Collecting data on human impacts is highly time consuming, thus requiring more effective tools that allow for high-quality and long-term measurements. In this study, we show how unmanned aerial vehicles (i.e. UAV or drones) could be used to monitor tourism impacts in protected areas. Tourism has boomed in national parks in Norway in recent years, such as in Jotunheimen National Park for which this study applies. We …

An Fmri Exploration Of Information Processing In Electronic Networks Of Practice, Thomas O. Meservy, Kelly Fadel, C. Brock Kirwan, Rayman D. Meservy

Data Analytics & Information Systems Faculty Publications

Online forums sponsored by electronic networks of practice have become an important source of information for individuals seeking solutions to problems online. However, not all information available in a forum is helpful or accurate, requiring knowledge seekers to evaluate and filter the solutions they encounter. Most forums offer contextual cues to help knowledge seekers make evaluation decisions, yet little is understood about the cognitive processes and neural mechanisms that underlie how information on these forums is filtered and evaluated. This paper draws on literature in cognitive neuroscience and NeuroIS to develop exploratory research questions about the role of both content …

Comparison Of Skin Biomechanics And Skin Color In Puerto Rican And Non-Puerto Rican Women, Yadira Regueira, Jamison D. Fargo, Deborah Tiller, Kathleen Brown, Carla Clements, Barbara Beacham, Emily Brignone, Marilyn S. Sommers

Psychology Faculty Publications

Objective: Skin biomechanics are physical properties that protect the body from injury. Little is known about differences in skin biomechanics in racial/ethnic groups and the role of skin color in these differences. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between skin biomechanics (viscoelasticity, hydration) and skin color, when controlling for demographic and health-related variables in a sample of Puerto Rican and non-Puerto Rican women.

Methods: We performed a secondary analysis of data from 545 women in a longitudinal, observational study of skin injury in Puerto Rico and the United States. Data included measures of skin viscoelasticity, skin …

Why Weightlifters Grunt: A Classroom Exercise That Introduces Students To Evolution, H. Charles Romesburg

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

A classroom exercise is described in which college students take part in creating and supporting an evolutionary hypothesis that explains effort grunting. The exercise holds their interest throughout and readies them to understand hypotheses of animal and plant evolution. It informs them about the dependence of cultural evolution upon biological evolution, and it connects widely to curricula.

On-The-Road Testing Of The Effects Of Driver’S Experience, Gender, Speed, And Road Grade On Car Emissions, Abdelhaleem I. Khader, Randy S. Martin

Publications

On-road vehicles have become a dominant source of air pollution and energy consumption in many parts of the world. As a result, estimating the amount of pollution from these vehicles and analyzing the factors affecting their emission is necessary to understand and manage ambient air quality. Traditionally, automobile emissions have been measured with dynamometer tests using representative driving cycles. A review of the related literature shows that there is a lack of real life, on-the-road testing of automobile emissions. Moreover, a few previous studies have directly discussed the impact of driver variability on emissions from the vehicles. This research analyzes …

Work Experiences Of Rural Social Workers In The United States, Jayme E. Walters, Aubrey E. Jones, Aaron R. Brown

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Rural social workers face unique challenges and opportunities as they seek to address the needs of rural Americans. Using social media, rural social workers in the U.S. were recruited to describe their characteristics and explore factors related to their job satisfaction, burnout, and organizational commitment. Analyses included univariate descriptive statistics, bivariate correlations, and multiple regression. The sample (N = 192) represented 146 counties in 36 states. Participants tended to be White, female, MSW-degreed direct-service providers. Participants were moderately satisfied with their organizational environments and workloads. Age, being Black, and working in settings other than child welfare were most strongly related …

2019 Utah State University Orientation Guide, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

A special supplemental magazine provided by The Utah Statesman to take a closer look at some of the services and departments available at Utah State University.

Secondary Electron Yield Measurements Of Carbon Nanotube Forests: Dependence On Morphology And Substrate, Brian Wood, Jordan Lee, Gregory Wilson, T. -C. Shen, Jr Dennison

Journal Articles

Total, secondary, and backscatter electron yield data were taken with beam energies between 15 eV and 30 keV, in conjunction with energy emission data, to determine the extent of suppression of yield caused by carbon nanotube (CNT) forest coatings on substrates. CNT forests can potentially lower substrate yield due to both its inherently low-yield, low-atomic number (Z) carbon composition, and its bundled, high-aspect ratio structure. Rough surfaces, and in particular, surfaces with deep high-aspect-ratio voids, can suppress yields, as the electrons emitted from lower lying surfaces are recaptured by surface protrusions rather than escaping the near-surface region. Yields of multilayered …

How Virtual Reality Impacts The Landscape Architecture Design Process At Various Scales, Drew M. Hill

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In the field of landscape architecture, the use of virtual reality (VR) is increasing as a tool for visualization and presentation in the late stages of the design process. Many of the benefits that make VR valuable in the later stages of the design process suggest that VR may also be valuable when used in earlier stages such as analysis and concept development. However, existing research does not provide a detailed study of design within VR during those early stages. Recent advancements in technology allow the potential to bring significant changes in the way that design-related professionals collaborate and design. …

Couple Recovery From Problematic Pornography Use: A Phenomenological Study Of Change Moments And Common Factors, Travis J. Spencer

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Pornography use has been reported to have harmful effects on relationships and individuals. However, research on effective treatment for problematic pornography use (PPU) is limited. This manuscript reviews the previous treatment literature for PPU and highlights the gaps that need further study. Then, I discuss how I performed a qualitative study of 11 couples who had successfully been treated for PPU in order to analyze the key mechanisms of change that were employed in their recovery process and address the missing gaps in this field of research. The five major emerging themes from this study are Catalysts for Recovery, Foundation …

Resurgence Of Cocaine-Seeking In Rats Following Long Access And Punishment, Rusty W. Nall

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Strategies that provide access to alternative non-drug rewards are among the most effective at reducing substance use in individuals with substance use disorders, but relapse often occurs when alternative rewards are removed. Relapse induced by the loss of alternative rewards is called resurgence, and represents a challenge to otherwise effective strategies for reducing drug use. An animal model has been useful for studying resurgence, but the extant model has two limitations. First, humans usually refer to the negative consequences of drug use as the reason they stop taking drugs, but the extant model uses drug unavailability to reduce drug seeking. …

The Impact Of Collaborative Behavioral Health On Treatment Outcomes Of Diabetes, Adam M. Johnson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A current body of research is finding significant connection between biological, psychological, social, and spiritual factors in health and wellbeing. Some studies have found significant improvements in treatment outcomes for patients who received medical treatment in collaboration with psychosocial therapeutic treatment. In this study, I sought to observe the impact collaborative treatment had on patients with diabetes who were treated at a community health center. I compared the treatment outcomes of a group of patients who received a collaborative treatment, looking to see if their overall health (measured by A1c, a diabetes severity marker) and medical utilization (or their number …

The Effect Of Joint Training On Knowledge And Attitudes Of Career And Technical Education And Special Education Professionals, Crystal Emery

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Career and technical education (CTE) is a set of career-focused courses and pathways that provide students with technical skills and knowledge which can lead to future employment and postsecondary education. Concentration in a career and technical education pathway while still in high school supports job exploration for school-age youth and is correlated with higher levels of full-time employment after high school. This is especially true for students with disabilities. Special Education (SPED) is the educational support system for students with disabilities. CTE and SPED professionals have struggled to effectively collaborate to serve students with disabilities. Infrequent and inconsistent communication between …