Digital Commons Network^™

A Cross-Sectional Study Of The Predictors Of Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy In Pakistan, Saeed Ahmad, Muhammad Rizwan Safdar, Mufti Nadimul Quamar Ahmed

Sociology and Anthropology Student Research

Vaccine hesitancy, where individuals are reluctant to get vaccinated, is a significant issue, especially in the event of a pandemic, and poses a major concern. We explore a few predictors of vaccine hesitancy in Pakistan using a cross-sectional study. For this purpose, 562 respondents registered their responses through an online questionnaire from March 31, 2021, to May 28, 2021, during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cronbach’s Alpha was used for Internal Consistency Reliability, while Factor Analysis was used for Construct Validity. We applied bivariate linear regression analysis for hypothesis testing. Fear of COVID-19 was higher among respondents as …

Creating A Sense Of Belonging Through University Archives, Kelly Rovegno, Katie Strand, Katie Luder

Library Faculty & Staff Presentations

Creating a Sense of Belonging

Can University Archives be used to create a sense of belonging on university campuses?

What avenues were/could be available to connect students to campus history and university archives?

How do you assess a sense of belonging and impact of university archives?

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Minutes August 25, 2025, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

• Call to Order
• Approval of Minutes - April 14, 2025
• University Business
• Faculty Senate Business
• Information
• EPC Report - April 3, 2025
• Report
• Empowering Teaching Excellence
• Center for Instructional Design and Innovation
• Old Business
• New Business
• Adjourn: 4:30 pm

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Agenda August 25, 2025, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

• 3:00 Call to Order
• Approval of Minutes - April 14, 2025
• 3:05 University Business
• 3:20 Faculty Senate Business
• 3:35 Information
• EPC Report - April 3, 2025
• Title IX
• 3:50 Reports
• Empowering Teaching Excellence
• Center for Instructional Design and Innovation
• 4:00 Old Business
• 4:05 New Business
• Adjourn: 4:30 pm

Epidemiological-Based Study Of Sars-Cov-2 In Faisalabad, Sana Ullah, Muhammad Waseem Khan, Qurat-Ul- Ain, Khushbu Farva, Niaz Muhammad Khan, Hayat Ullah

Biological Engineering Student Research

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) raced around the world across different populations; there needs to be a consolidated effort to understand the divergence of the epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2. Population-based epidemiological characteristics studies measure the extent of SARS-CoV-2 infection in a country. The current research study was designed to report epidemiological data from Pakistan. For this purpose, 246 SARS-CoV-2-infected patients were included in the study. For SARS-CoV-2 confirmation, viral samples were collected from all the study participants; SARS-CoV-2 infection was confirmed by viral nucleic acid detection using a nucleic acid detection kit. After SARS-CoV-2 confirmation, all the study participants …

Grain Size- And Temperature-Dependent Phonon-Mediated Heat Transport In The Solid Electrolyte Interphase: A First-Principles Study, Arjun S. Kulathuvayal, Yanqing Su

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Student Publications and Presentations

The solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) is a passive layer, typically a few hundred angstroms thick, that forms on the electrode surface in the first few battery cycles when the electrode is in contact with the electrolyte in lithium-metal batteries. Composed of a combination of lithium salts and organic compounds, the SEI plays a critical role in battery performance, serving as a channel for Li-ion shuttling. Its structure typically comprises an inorganic component-rich sublayer near the electrode and an outer organic component-rich sublayer. Understanding heat transport through the SEI is crucial for improving battery pack safety, particularly since the Li-ion diffusion …

Large-Scale Flood Detection And Mapping In The Yangtze River Basin (2016–2021) Using Convolutional Neural Networks With Sentinel-1 Sar Images, Xuan Wu, Zhijie Zhang, Wanchang Zhang, Bangsheng An, Zhenghao Li, Rui Li, Qunli Chen

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) technology offers unparalleled advantages by delivering high-quality images under all-weather conditions, enabling effective flood monitoring. This capability provides massive remote sensing data for flood mapping, while recent rapid advances in deep learning (DL) offer methodologies for large-scale flood mapping. However, the full potential of deep learning in large-scale flood monitoring utilizing remote sensing data remains largely untapped, necessitating further exploration of both data and methodologies. This paper presents an innovative approach that harnesses convolutional neural networks (CNNs) with Sentinel-1 SAR images for large-scale inundation detection and dynamic flood monitoring in the Yangtze River Basin (YRB). An …

Reducing Residential Landscape Water Use In Utah: Technologies And Strategies, Maya Cottam, Kendall Becker, Katlyn Stemmler, Shital Poudyal, Wesley Crump, Lewis Kogan, Scott Hotaling

All Current Publications

Water conservation is a critical issue in Utah, and several actions are already underway to help lower residential landscape water use. Strategies include smart irrigation controllers, efficient sprinkler bodies and nozzles, drip irrigation systems, soil amendments that increase water-holding capacity, and drought-tolerant grass cultivars for lawns. While additional conservation efforts will be necessary to reach sustainable water management, statewide adoption of current programs can help reduce water use and loss.

Investigating Extension's Scope And Role In Outdoor Recreation In The West: Attitudes, Challenges, And Opportunities, Jake Powell

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Universal Centralizers, Morita Abelianization, And Wonderful Models In Lie Theory, Peter Crooks

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Collaborative Proposal: Caig: Synthetic Data Generation For Solar Energetic Particle Events Via Multimodal Augmentation, Shah Muhammad Hamdi

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Too Hot To Handle: Assessing Practitioner Climate Service Needs To Advance Heat Resilience, K. M. Archie, D. Hirschfeld, S. Meerow, J. C. Arnott, L. Keith, J. A. Vano, E. Mateo

Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Faculty Publications

Extreme heat is deadly and it is disproportionately experienced by lower-income, minority, and marginalized community members. Heat practitioners are faced with the dual challenges of taking action to mitigate the level of heat experienced by local residents while preparing communities to manage unavoidable levels of elevated warming. In response to a lack of in-depth information about heat practitioner needs, this work aims to advance our understanding of how efforts to improve climate services may contribute to more effective extreme heat planning and decision-making in the United States. Through a two-round, mixed-methods approach that employed group interviews and a survey, we …

Designing Writers: A Self-Regulated Approach To Multimodal Composition In Teacher Preparation And Early Grades, Qi Si, Tracey S. Hodges, Vahid Mousavi

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

Reading and writing in the 21st century have evolved from traditional text-based formats to multimodal literacy, integrating linguistic, visual, auditory, and spatial modes to enhance communication and comprehension. While multimodal reading has been widely studied, multimodal writing remains underexplored, despite its growing importance in K–12 education across disciplines. Multimodal composing demands advanced self-regulation as students navigate multiple digital tools and platforms. Self-regulated learning strategies, particularly the self-regulated strategy developmental model, offer a promising approach to support students in planning, monitoring, and revising multimodal compositions. However, a comprehensive framework linking self-regulation and multimodal composition is lacking. This article addresses this gap …

Collaborative Research: Bocp-Implementation: Us-China: Multi-Scale, Multi- Proxy, Integrative Investigation Of Functional Biodiversity On A Changing Proterozoic Planet, Carol Dehler

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Promising Practices To Address Healthcare Needs Voiced By Local Native Americans, Noelle Taylor, Mykin R. Higbee, Raiden Gaul

Transforming Communities

Purpose

To examine barriers and facilitators to nursing education among Native Americans and identify evidence-based strategies to increase the number of Native American nurses working in their local communities to address health disparities.

Background

Native Americans experience significantly higher rates of chronic illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease, and lower life expectancies. Only 4% of registered nurses identify as Native American, with no growth despite increased funding for diversity in nursing education. This underrepresentation contributes to culturally insensitive care and persistent healthcare inequities stemming from historical marginalization and trauma.

Methods

A comprehensive literature review was conducted using CINAHL, PubMed, …

Understanding Salt Stress In Watermelon: Impacts On Plant Performance, Adaptive Solutions, And Future Prospects, Sukhmanjot Kaur, Milena Maria Tomaz De Oliveira, Amita Kaundal

Plants, Soils and Climate Student Research

Soil salinity stress, intensified by extreme weather patterns, significantly threatens global watermelon [Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum & Nakai] production. Watermelon, a moderately salt-sensitive crop, exhibits reduced germination, stunted growth, and impaired fruit yield and quality under saline conditions. As freshwater resources decline and agriculture’s dependency on irrigation leads to soil salinization, we need sustainable mitigation strategies for food security. Recent advances highlight the potential of using salt-tolerant rootstocks and breeding salt-resistant watermelon varieties as long-term genetic solutions for salinity. Conversely, agronomic interventions such as drip irrigation and soil amendments provide practical, short-term strategies to mitigate the impact of salt …

Time-Evolved Constant Voltage Conductivity Measurements Of Common Spaceborne Polymeric Materials, Brian Wood, David King, Jr Dennison

Journal Articles

Long-duration current measurements were made for low-density polyethylene (LDPE), polyimide (PI), polyether ether ketone (PEEK), and biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) to determine their bulk conductivity near room temperature as a function of time. These common thin-film spacecraft material samples were vacuum baked to remove moisture and volatile contaminants to better simulate space conditions. The constant voltage conductivity (CVC) method used a very stable, low-noise dc voltage source and measured the resulting current in a parallel plate geometry. Due to the extremely low conductivity of these four polymeric materials, extended experiments of up to ten days were necessary to establish equilibrium …

Career: Flavones As Safe, Sustainable Additives To Tune Biodegradable Plastic Stability, Kyle Moor

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Rapid: Data Collection On Roadway Vehicle Abandonment In The Fast-Moving Los Angeles Wildfire Evacuations, Sarah Grajdura

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Career: Algebra And Representation Theory For Non-Semisimple Topological Field Theory, Matthew Young

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Stari: Starlight Acquisition And Reflection Toward Interferometry, John D. Monnier, James Cutler, Michael Meyer, Caden Burkhardt, Akshat Dubey, Jacob Klingler, Raven St. Clair, Shivani Sunil, Daniil Voloshin, Leonid Pogorelyuk, Melissa Flores, Albert Ostoja-Starzewski, Simone D'Amico, Ethan Foss, Prachet Jain, Antonio Rizza, E. Glenn Lightsey, Althea Noonan, Kerri Cahoy, Gautam Vasisht

Small Satellite Conference

We introduce the NASA-funded mission STARI (STarlight Acquisition and Reflection toward Interferometry). We plan to demonstrate the first transfer of starlight between two separate spacecraft, a key technology step towards long-baseline interferometry. Consisting of two propulsive 6U CubeSats flying in Low Earth Orbit separated by ∼100 meters, STARI will reflect a small beam of starlight from the Chief spacecraft toward the Deputy spacecraft, where the light will be collected by an off-axis parabola and focused into a single-mode fiber. With the use of differential Global Positioning System (GPS), visual LED beacons and fast-steering-mirrors (FSMs), we aim for continuous high-throughput fiber …

Spacecraft-Initiated Scheduling Of Ground Stations: On-Orbit Results From Techedsat-11, Adam Gannon, Timothy Recker, Lucas Shalkhauser, Rachel Dudukovich, Janette Briones, Alejandro Salas, Malachi Mooney-Rivkin, Marcus Murbach

Small Satellite Conference

The commonplace practice of manually scheduling communications is challenged by complex and often unpredictable data needs of modern spacecraft. Automation has clear benefits to improve timeliness and efficiency of space communications. In this work we describe and experimentally demonstrate a suite of software which automates the process of scheduling contacts for satellite communications. Service is scheduled based on a spacecraft’s needs and contacts execute automatically without a human in the loop. Requests for service originate onboard the spacecraft, traverse a low-rate control channel to reach a terrestrial server, and are fulfilled by ground station assets. This work describes an experiment …

A Torrent-Inspired Large File Transfer System For Small Satellite Swarms, Caleb Adams, Michael Iatauro, Brian Kempa, Sergei Gridnev, Pavlo Vlastos, Caroline Lassiter

Small Satellite Conference

The increasing complexity and coordination requirements of multi-spacecraft missions, distributed space systems, and small satellite swarms necessitate efficient and scalable data transfer mechanisms. Inspired by peer-to-peer file sharing protocols, we present a novel large file transfer (LFT) system designed for NASA’s Core Flight Software (cFS) framework. The LFT system was tested on NASA’s Starling mission, a multi-cubesat swarm with S-Band cross-link capabilities and a mesh network topology. Our system leverages the Better Approach to Mobile Ad-hoc Networking (BATMAN) routing protocol and the Data Distribution Service (DDS) standard to enable seamless communication among swarm members. The LFT system features two primary …

Towards Realizing The Promise Of Lower-Cost Near-Term Mars Science And Exploration, Steven Matousek, Ryan Woolley, Michelle Viotti, Charles Edwards, Kristina Hogstrom, Marguerite Syvertson, Nathan Barba, Richard Davis, Lane Painter

Small Satellite Conference

The Mars Exploration Program (MEP) 2024-2044 Plan [1] charts a new path for the next two decades of science-driven missions. An underpinning of the MEP 2024-2044 Plan is the ability to have a high cadence of missions leveraging frequent, low-cost access and at-Mars infrastructure. Current rapid maturation of affordable Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and lunar industry capabilities point towards near-term Mars adaptation. Towards understanding Mars adaptations, cost, and needed government investment, MEP competitively solicited and conducted 12 studies across four major classes of potential missions with 9 companies in 2024. Additionally, MEP sought to understand if there is sufficient maturity …

Rideshare On Nasa Missions, Alicia Mendoza-Hill, William Atkinson, Shaun Daly, Katherine Nelson

Small Satellite Conference

Small spacecraft technology advancements have transformed the way NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) strategically executes science investigations. In support of this new approach, SMD established the Rideshare Office in 2020 to implement and define the SMD-wide rideshare strategy. The objective of the office is to maximize science, exploration, and technology return on investment by enabling rideshare or accommodation opportunities for small spacecraft on SMD primary mission launches, and VADR launch procurements which are managed by the NASA Launch Services Program (LSP). The SRO also enables opportunities for NASA small sats on other government agency and international space agency partner launches. …

A Proposed Process To Define And Collect Project Information For Cost Estimation Of Cubesat Platforms, Ana Carolina Di Iorio Jeronymo, Lidia Hissae Shibuya Sato, Renan Guilherme Soares Menezes, Felipe Oliveira Tavares, Maria Eduarda Mora Camino-Priante, Luís Eduardo Vergueiro Loures Da Costa

Small Satellite Conference

Cost estimation is a key element in the planning and execution of CubeSat mission, as it helps ensure that resources are used efficiently and that mission objectives remain aligned with technical and operational constraints. A solid technical baseline - one that clearly describes the system’s characteristics - is essential for developing reliable cost estimates and for establishing a shared understanding of the project among stakeholders. This paper presents the cost estimation process used at the ITA Space Center for CubeSat platforms. The method follows a structured, eight-step approach adapted from NASA and ESA standards. The steps begin with receiving the …

Next-Generation Medium Lift, Nicole Jordan, Aaron Prescott

Small Satellite Conference

Northrop Grumman and Firefly Aerospace are moving rapidly to mitigate a bottleneck in launch capacity in the medium lift segment and increase launch site diversification for government and commercial satellite customers. With existing heavy-lift vehicles often booked to capacity and small-lift vehicles limited by their mass to orbit, medium-lift vehicles provide an ideal solution for affordably delivering medium payloads to LEO and beyond.

Positioned between small-lift and heavy-lift rockets, the new Eclipse™ Medium Launch Vehicle (MLV) (Figure 1) will add significant payload mass to orbit and volume beyond the capacity of the existing Northrop Grumman Antares 230+ launch vehicle. The …

A Proposed Process To Define And Collect Project Information For Cost Estimation Of Cubesat Platforms, Ana Carolina Di Iorio Jeronymo, Lidia Hissae Shibuya Sato, Renan Guilherme Soares Menezes, Felipe Oliveira Tavares, Maria Eduarda Mora Camino-Priante, Luís Eduardo Vergueiro Loures Da Costa

Small Satellite Conference

Cost estimation is a key element in the planning and execution of CubeSat mission, as it helps ensure that resources are used efficiently and that mission objectives remain aligned with technical and operational constraints. A solid technical baseline - one that clearly describes the system’s characteristics - is essential for developing reliable cost estimates and for establishing a shared understanding of the project among stakeholders. This paper presents the cost estimation process used at the ITA Space Center for CubeSat platforms. The method follows a structured, eight-step approach adapted from NASA and ESA standards. The steps begin with receiving the …

Deploying Post Quantum Cryptography On Newspace Satellites, Erik Lewerenz

Small Satellite Conference

We describe and implement a new key exchange protocol combining both Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC) and Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC). The protocol is designed to allow for authenticated key exchanges with a single satellite. The Triple Key Encapsulation Mechanism (KEM) protocol is designed to be secure against both classical and quantum attackers and retains its full security even if one of the two cryptographic schemes is broken. The protocol was implemented on two generations of Berlin Space Technology (BST) On Board Computers (OBC) and tested on the AFR small satellite in low earth orbit using an In Orbit Demonstrator (IOD) …

Development And Test Of Deep Learning Techniques For Stereo-Based Pose Estimation Of Small Satellites, Tim Heydrich, Becca Bonham-Carter, Apeksha Budhkar, Hugo Burd, Galen O'Shea, Luis Chavier, Adam Deslauriers, Alan Higginson, Sharanjit Virdi, Andrew Macdonald, Kaizad Raimalwala, Michele Faragalli

Small Satellite Conference

For in-orbit servicing, spacecraft must conduct a variety of tasks known as Rendezvous & Proximity Operations, Docking (RPOD). The ability to accurately and reliably estimate a target object’s pose is required to perform these tasks. In computer vision, deep learning techniques been shown to significantly outperform classical techniques. However, there are several barriers to adoption of such technologies in spaceflight, related to development and verification/validation processes, and constraints of the target flight hardware.

In this paper, we outline our approach and limited results from a recently completed project on the development and test of a neural network designed to allow …