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What’S Next After Industry Disruption By Cubesats? – Industry Disruption By Open Source, Anita Bernie, John Paffett Aug 2020

What’S Next After Industry Disruption By Cubesats? – Industry Disruption By Open Source, Anita Bernie, John Paffett

Small Satellite Conference

A decade ago, CubeSats featured almost exclusively in the academic domain only. The same can be said today for Open Source satellites.

In the same way that CubeSats and the associated development mindset started in the academic community and are now embraced by commercial, civil and defence communities, the goal of the Open Source Satellite Programme is to initiate a similar outcome for open source satellite mission architectures by developing a design that is freely available for all to use.

KISPE’s goal is to build a community of open-source contributors, collaborators and beneficiaries, including those from CubeSat and SmallSat teams …


Caspr: Autonomous Sensor Processing Experiment For Stp-H7, Seth Roffe, Theodore Schwarz, Thomas Cook, Noah Perryman, Justin Goodwill, Evan Gretok, Aidan Phillips, Mitchell Moran, Tyler Garrett, Alan George Aug 2020

Caspr: Autonomous Sensor Processing Experiment For Stp-H7, Seth Roffe, Theodore Schwarz, Thomas Cook, Noah Perryman, Justin Goodwill, Evan Gretok, Aidan Phillips, Mitchell Moran, Tyler Garrett, Alan George

Small Satellite Conference

As computing technologies improve, spacecraft sensors continue to increase in fidelity and resolution, their dataset sizes and data rates increasing concurrently. This increase in data saturates the capabilities of spacecraft-to-ground communications and necessitates the use of powerful onboard computers to process data as it is collected. The pursuit of onboard, autonomous sensor processing while remaining within the power and memory restrictions of embedded computing becomes vital to prevent the saturation of data downlink capabilities. This paper presents a new ISS research experiment to study and evaluate novel technologies in sensors, computers, and intelligent applications for SmallSat-based sensing with autonomous data …


General Catalog 2020-2021, Utah State University Aug 2020

General Catalog 2020-2021, Utah State University

University Catalogs

This catalog contains information on the Academic Departments and Programs as well as Course Descriptions for the above school year at Utah State University. To avoid large file downloads, the Academic Departments and Programs information is located in this file. The Course Description information is located in the secondary file.


Hyti: High Spectral And Spatial Resolution Thermal Imaging From A 6u Cubesat, Robert Wright, Paul Lucey, Luke Flynn, Chiara Ferrari-Wong, Andrea Gabrieli, Miguel Nunes, Sarath Gunapala, David Ting, Sir Rafol, Alexander Soibel, Thomas George Aug 2020

Hyti: High Spectral And Spatial Resolution Thermal Imaging From A 6u Cubesat, Robert Wright, Paul Lucey, Luke Flynn, Chiara Ferrari-Wong, Andrea Gabrieli, Miguel Nunes, Sarath Gunapala, David Ting, Sir Rafol, Alexander Soibel, Thomas George

Small Satellite Conference

The HyTI (Hyperspectral Thermal Imager) mission, funded by NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office InVEST (In-Space Validation of Earth Science Technologies) program, will demonstrate how high spectral and spatial long-wave infrared image data can be acquired from a 6U CubeSat platform. The mission will use a spatially modulated interferometric imaging technique to produce spectro-radiometrically calibrated image cubes, with 25 channels between 8-10.7 ųm, at 13 cm-1 resolution), at a ground sample distance of ~60 m. The HyTI performance model indicates narrow band NE△Ts of < 0.3 K. The small form factor of HyTI is made possible via the use of a no-moving-parts Fabry-Perot interferometer, and JPL’s cryogenically-cooled HOT-BIRD FPA technology. Launch is scheduled for no earlier than Fall 2021. The value of HyTI to Earth scientists will be demonstrated via on-board processing of the raw instrument data to generate L1 and L2 products, with a focus on rapid delivery of data regarding volcanic degassing, land surface temperature, and precision agriculture metrics.

In this presentation we will provide an overview of the HyTI measurement approach, the onboard data …


New Zealand's First Science Satellite Mission, Guglielmo Aglietti, Andrew Austin, Reuben Brown, John Cater, Richard Easter, Jim Hefkey, Aryan Lobie, Brody Radford, Nicholas Rattenbury, N. Smith, Harith Wannigama, Apss-I Team Aug 2020

New Zealand's First Science Satellite Mission, Guglielmo Aglietti, Andrew Austin, Reuben Brown, John Cater, Richard Easter, Jim Hefkey, Aryan Lobie, Brody Radford, Nicholas Rattenbury, N. Smith, Harith Wannigama, Apss-I Team

Small Satellite Conference

New Zealand has been a space-faring nation since 2017. Rocket Lab USA provides access to orbit for its clients, launching from the east coast of the North island. Joining the select club of nations that can reach space has spurred significant interest in New Zealand’s economic, research and cultural spheres.

As university educators we seek to provide our students with the opportunity to develop the skills necessary to contribute to local and international space economy. We present here an introduction to New Zealand’s first science satellite, APSS-I, and Te Pūnaha Ātea Auckland Space Institute.


The Nasa Cubesat Missions Flying On Artemis-1, Dawn M. Mcintosh, John D. Baker, Joseph A. Matus Aug 2020

The Nasa Cubesat Missions Flying On Artemis-1, Dawn M. Mcintosh, John D. Baker, Joseph A. Matus

Small Satellite Conference

In 2021, the Space Launch Services (SLS) Artemis-1 mission will carry thirteen 6U CubeSats into deep space. Three of those payloads are NASA missions performing a variety of unique deep-space science experiments. The three NASA CubeSat missions are BioSentinel, Lunar Flashlight and NEAScout. The BioSentinel mission will measure deep-space radiation effects on DNA using yeast organisms. It is a six-month mission in a heliocentric orbit. BioSentinel was designed, built, tested and operated out of NASA Ames Research Center. Lunar Flashlight’s mission is to look for surface water ice in the permanently shadowed regions near the south pole of the Moon …


Vt Thicksat: A Scalable Chassis In The Thinsat Program, Derick Whited, Minzhen Du, Robert Engebretson, Gustavo Gargioni, Kevin Shinpaugh, Jonathan Black Aug 2020

Vt Thicksat: A Scalable Chassis In The Thinsat Program, Derick Whited, Minzhen Du, Robert Engebretson, Gustavo Gargioni, Kevin Shinpaugh, Jonathan Black

Small Satellite Conference

This paper presents a scalable design of a small satellite chassis for the ThinSat Program. This versatile chassis will fly on Virginia Tech’s ThinSat mission in 2020, VT ThickSat. By incrementing the volume of the satellite chassis, students from Virginia Tech introduce a unique capability that combines the ThinSat’s rapid deployment with upscaled payload sizes. The scalable solution reflects an expansion of the original ThinSat 1T chassis up to nearly that of a1U CubeSat. Enabling the accommodation of larger educational and research payloads using the same proven flight hardware as the 1T option, a family of alternative vehicles for institutions …


Bammsat-On-Bexus: A Technology And Operation Demonstration Of A Biocubesat Platform On A Stratospheric Balloon Flight Educational Program, Aqeel Shamsul, Giovanni Sinclair, Adrien Bolliand, Amin Chabi, Miguel Martinez De Bujo, Mateusz Zalasiewicz, David C. Cullen, Mike Cooke, T. Etheridge Aug 2020

Bammsat-On-Bexus: A Technology And Operation Demonstration Of A Biocubesat Platform On A Stratospheric Balloon Flight Educational Program, Aqeel Shamsul, Giovanni Sinclair, Adrien Bolliand, Amin Chabi, Miguel Martinez De Bujo, Mateusz Zalasiewicz, David C. Cullen, Mike Cooke, T. Etheridge

Small Satellite Conference

This paper reports the current use of the REXUS/BEXUS educational program. The program allows university students across Europe to carry out scientific and technology experiments on research sounding rockets and balloons. BAMMsat-on-BEXUS (BoB) is an experiment from Cranfield University and University of Exeter performing a technology and operation demonstration of a bioCubeSat on a stratospheric balloon at an altitude of ~30km above the ground. BEXUS stands for Balloon Experiments for University Students and is realized under an agreement between the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), Swedish National Space Agency (SNSA), European Space Agency (ESA), and EuroLaunch. The term bioCubeSat could be …


Beavercube: Coastal Imaging With Vis/Lwir Cubesats, Paula Do Vale Pereira, Madeline Garcia, Madeleine Schroeder, Humberto Caldelas, Charles Lindsay, Alex Choi, Kaila Pfrang, Amelia Gagnon, Alex Meredith, Patrick Mckeen, Jim Clark, Thomas J. Murphy, Sheila Baber, Sabrina Khan, Alex Miller, Gustavo Velez, Matthew Campbell, Jacob Coray, Jim Koldada, Tina Tran, Sam Austin, Alison Louthain, Tesla Wells, Mohammad Kabir, Ethan Sit, Christian Haughwout, Kerri Cahoy Aug 2020

Beavercube: Coastal Imaging With Vis/Lwir Cubesats, Paula Do Vale Pereira, Madeline Garcia, Madeleine Schroeder, Humberto Caldelas, Charles Lindsay, Alex Choi, Kaila Pfrang, Amelia Gagnon, Alex Meredith, Patrick Mckeen, Jim Clark, Thomas J. Murphy, Sheila Baber, Sabrina Khan, Alex Miller, Gustavo Velez, Matthew Campbell, Jacob Coray, Jim Koldada, Tina Tran, Sam Austin, Alison Louthain, Tesla Wells, Mohammad Kabir, Ethan Sit, Christian Haughwout, Kerri Cahoy

Small Satellite Conference

BeaverCube is a student-built 3U CubeSat that has two main objectives: one science objective and one technology objective. The science goal of BeaverCube is to demonstrate that it is possible to develop and apply platforms that can leverage statistical relationships between temperature and co-varying bio-optical properties, such as light absorption by colored dissolved organic matter. The technology goal of BeaverCube is to demonstrate electrospray propulsion for CubeSats, enabling more coordinated and targeted science missions among multiple spacecraft.

The science objective for BeaverCube involves measuring temperature and color, which are key oceanographic properties, through a low-cost platform. Temperature and salinity are …


Characterization Of Chinese Hamster Ovary Cell Performance With Pentanoic Acid And N-Acetyl Cysteine Treatment, Joseph Camire Aug 2020

Characterization Of Chinese Hamster Ovary Cell Performance With Pentanoic Acid And N-Acetyl Cysteine Treatment, Joseph Camire

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

To improve the cost of producing protein therapeutics manufacturers can attempt to increase the amount of protein produced per unit volume. Some small fatty-acids have shown the ability to increase protein concentrations in some manufacturing systems. An example system is in the industrially important cell line derived from a Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO). A drawback of adding these fatty-acids is they can increase the rate of cell death.

A potential way to minimize the cell death rate, caused by adding fatty-acids, is to also add additional anti-oxidants. Through a series of studies, we demonstrate production with different fatty-acids, butanoic acid …


Evaluation Of Enrichment And Identification Media For Isolation Of Common Bovine Salmonella Serotypes, Katie Irene Swanson Aug 2020

Evaluation Of Enrichment And Identification Media For Isolation Of Common Bovine Salmonella Serotypes, Katie Irene Swanson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Salmonellosis is an important cause of diarrhea in humans and animals, which can lead to death in severe cases. Rapid and efficient detection of Salmonella spp. is essential to limit the spread of disease. Many enrichment procedures have been described for the isolation of Salmonella, and often include variations on Rappaport-Vassiliadis medium, which is recommended by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The current procedures vary in incubation temperature, incubation time, and type of media used for identification of Salmonella. This project compared four procedures for enrichment and identification of common bovine Salmonella serotypes. We determined the best …


The Effects Of Gene Therapy In An Ovine Osteoarthritis Model, Crystal Collier Aug 2020

The Effects Of Gene Therapy In An Ovine Osteoarthritis Model, Crystal Collier

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Humans rely on the health of their joints for stability and mobility in daily life. In a normal, healthy functioning joint, complex processes maintain joint tissues, including remodeling, lubrication, and immune function among many other tasks. Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common joint disorder in the U.S. It becomes most prevalent in adults 60+ years of age and causes decreased mobility, discomfort, and in some cases, excruciating pain. In the biological processes of osteoarthritis, the metalloproteinase enzymes responsible for the degeneration of cartilage are upregulated. The inhibitors of metalloproteinase activity are known as Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinases (TIMPs), which keep …


Ecoacoustic Methods For Multi-Taxa Animal Surveys In The Amazon, Leandro A. Do Nascimento Aug 2020

Ecoacoustic Methods For Multi-Taxa Animal Surveys In The Amazon, Leandro A. Do Nascimento

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Tropical regions host most of the biodiversity found on Earth, but these species-rich areas are constantly threatened by human development and other disturbances that put this diversity of life forms at risk. To avoid extirpations of animal and plant species, scientists and managers rely on accurate monitoring techniques to retrieve information about population trends. This task is not easy, especially in the tropics, where there is often a lack of personnel to conduct surveys, a lack of funding, and the areas are so extensive that many countries need to be involved in monitoring (e.g., Amazon biome). For this reason, scientists …


Trisiloxane Surfactant Adjuvants In Pollen, Autumn Slade Aug 2020

Trisiloxane Surfactant Adjuvants In Pollen, Autumn Slade

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Chemicals are often added to agricultural pesticide mixes to help increase the efficiency of the field spray solution, and one of the main groups of chemicals used for this purpose are trisiloxane surfactants (TSSs). Normally TSSs are considered non-toxic, but recent studies have shown TSSs to have negative impacts on organisms like honey bees. Though TSSs have recently been found in environmental sources like water, pollen, and beeswax, little is known about how TSSs behave in the environment or affects active ingredients, like pesticides.

To help determine the environmental prevalence and fate of TSSs, several studies were performed. Pollen was …


A Brief Online Acceptance And Commitment Training For Enhancing Outcomes Of A Cultural Competence Intervention, Elizabeth Tish Hicks Aug 2020

A Brief Online Acceptance And Commitment Training For Enhancing Outcomes Of A Cultural Competence Intervention, Elizabeth Tish Hicks

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In an increasingly diverse and multicultural society, there is a pressing and practical need for interventions to help professionals improve their cultural competence. Cultural competence trainings that target psychological flexibility in addition to knowledge, awareness, and skills may produce more efficacious results. The current study will examined the utility of targeting psychological flexibility (the ability to maintain contact the present moment and current internal experiences and to choose contextually appropriate, values-consistent behaviors, regardless of what one’s internal experiences are) as a process to enhance the impact of a cultural competence intervention with an Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT)-enhanced cultural competence …


Boron In The Pariette Wetlands, Uinta Basin, Ut, Palak Vasudeva Aug 2020

Boron In The Pariette Wetlands, Uinta Basin, Ut, Palak Vasudeva

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Boron is a naturally occurring mineral in shale and coal beds formed in marine environments, as found in the Uinta Basin. Mining activity and the application of excess irrigation water on agricultural lands in the Pariette watershed lead to mobilization of B via surface run off. Water quality monitoring records from 2006- 2009 reported violations of Utah B standard for irrigation water 43-100% of the time, for water flowing through the Pariette Wetlands. This study aims to determine B distribution in abiotic (water, sediments) and biotic samples (macroinvertebrates, aquatic vegetation, fish, bird eggs), and to establish correlations between B concentrations …


Effect Of Plant Derived Tannins On Nitrogen And Carbon Cycling In Pasture Soils, Kathryn A. Slebodnik Aug 2020

Effect Of Plant Derived Tannins On Nitrogen And Carbon Cycling In Pasture Soils, Kathryn A. Slebodnik

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Pasture-finished beef has become increasingly popular, but nitrogen losses from these pastures are of concern. Legumes containing condensed tannins such as birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) and sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia) may serve as environmentally and economically viable alternative forages in pasture finishing systems while reducing soil nitrogen loss. The goal of this project was to understand how tannin type and concentration affects soil nitrogen cycling both in the lab and the field. This thesis: 1) compared the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of soil samples obtained from grazed grass and tannin and non-tannin containing legume pastures, 2) …


Novel Three-Dimensional Scaffold For Skeletal Muscle Tissue, Matthew H. Clegg Aug 2020

Novel Three-Dimensional Scaffold For Skeletal Muscle Tissue, Matthew H. Clegg

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Cells are traditionally grown on a flat, plastic surface that has been optimized for cell attachment. While this is appropriate for growing and maintaining cells, this two-dimensional cell culture model is not an adequate representation of a three-dimensional body. Creating three-dimensional lab models is an important step to model diseases and damage to the skeletal muscle system.

To create this three-dimensional environment, a plastic frame was designed to support silkworm fibers. Skeletal muscle cells were then grown along the silkworm fibers and the growth of these cells in a three-dimensional environment was compared to cells grown on a flat, two-dimensional …


Reusable Light-Activated Antimicrobial Materials Prepared With Food Ingredients, Andrew T. Gagon Aug 2020

Reusable Light-Activated Antimicrobial Materials Prepared With Food Ingredients, Andrew T. Gagon

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Microbial contamination and proliferation in food processing, distribution and storage continues to be a real risk in spite the wide variety of food processing and preservation techniques available. Some of these techniques (such as heat treatments and the use of chemical preservatives) may require substantial amounts of energy and their effects in the general population and the environment may be harmful. This has generated an interest over alternative methods of food preservation. The use of reusable light-activated materials may represent an effective approach. In this study, a polypropylene plastic was modified with either zein, which is found in corn, or …


Cross-Boundary Stewardship For Wetland Integrity And Resilience In The Greater Rocky Mountain National Park Ecosystem, Meghan K. Tait Aug 2020

Cross-Boundary Stewardship For Wetland Integrity And Resilience In The Greater Rocky Mountain National Park Ecosystem, Meghan K. Tait

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Approximately half of the wetlands in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) are degraded due to human disturbances that often occur beyond park boundaries. Like most protected areas, RMNP is part of a larger ecosystem with critical connections to surrounding lands. Therefore, more effective stewardship of wetlands within RMNP is likely to be achieved through cross-boundary cooperative efforts. Through interviews with wetland stewardship agencies and organizations and an analysis of their wetland plans and policies, barriers and opportunities for cross-boundary stewardship were identified, as well as common structures used to facilitate work across boundaries. Wetlands outside of RMNP are experiencing similar …


Influence Of Forage Diversity And Condensed Tannins On Livestock Foraging Behavior, Production And Environmental Impact, Sebastian P. Lagrange Aug 2020

Influence Of Forage Diversity And Condensed Tannins On Livestock Foraging Behavior, Production And Environmental Impact, Sebastian P. Lagrange

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Eating a combination of forages with different chemistries (i.e., nutrients, beneficial compounds such as tannins) may enhance ruminant nutrition and reduce environmental impacts relative to eating single forages. I explored the influence of offering sheep and cattle all possible combinations of tanniferous (i.e., plants with tannins; birdsfoot trefoil, sainfoin) and non-tanniferous legumes (i.e., plants without tannins; alfalfa) or their monocultures on animal performance, behavior, and methane and nitrogen (N) emissions. Offering choices among these legumes to penned sheep improved intake and diet digestibility relative to feeding monocultures. Mixtures selected by sheep were better digested than mixtures containing equal parts of …


Soil Health Assessment On Arid Rangeland Soils Impacted By Oil And Gas Exploration, Development, And Extraction, Justin Allred Aug 2020

Soil Health Assessment On Arid Rangeland Soils Impacted By Oil And Gas Exploration, Development, And Extraction, Justin Allred

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Oil and gas well pad reclamation in arid environments such as in the Uinta Basin of Utah, presents unique challenges, including remote locations, limited water, and elevated soil salinity and sodicity. Successfully reclaimed Plugged and Abandoned (P&A) well pads should resemble the surrounding rangeland once fully reclaimed. Revegetation of native species is the primary indicator of successful reclamation, but the lack of water makes it challenging to re-seed native plants, while trying to prevent the encroachment of invasive plant species such as Bromus tectorum (cheatgrass), Salsola tragus (Russian thistle), and Halogeton glomeratus (halogeton). Could successful reclamation be reflective of good …


Visual Saliency Estimation And Its Applications, Fei Xu Aug 2020

Visual Saliency Estimation And Its Applications, Fei Xu

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The human visual system can automatically emphasize some parts of the image and ignore the other parts when seeing an image or a scene. Visual Saliency Estimation (VSE) aims to imitate this functionality of the human visual system to estimate the degree of human attention attracted by different image regions and locate the salient object. The study of VSE will help us explore the way human visual systems extract objects from an image. It has wide applications, such as robot navigation, video surveillance, object tracking, self-driving, etc.

The current VSE approaches on natural images models generic visual stimuli based on …


Improving Our Ability To Estimate Vital Rates Of Endangered Fishes On The San Juan River Using Novel Applications Of Pit-Tag Technology, J. Benjamin Stout Aug 2020

Improving Our Ability To Estimate Vital Rates Of Endangered Fishes On The San Juan River Using Novel Applications Of Pit-Tag Technology, J. Benjamin Stout

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Estimating demographic parameters, such as survival and abundance, with accuracy and precision is vital for detecting trends in populations and assessing the effectiveness of management actions. In most cases, a lack of capture data make estimating parameters very challenging. The use of new technologies to increase the amount of remotely collected data is increasing, but brings new limitations and analytical issues to be resolved. One of those new technologies is the use of a mobile floating PIT-tag antenna to detect PIT-tagged fish. The issue that arises with this technology is determination of the status of detected tags (i.e., live fish …


Comparative Analysis Of Small Non-Coding Rna And Messenger Rna Expression In Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer And In Vitro-Fertilized Bovine Embryos During Early Development Through The Maternal-To-Embryonic Transition, Jocelyn Marie Cuthbert Aug 2020

Comparative Analysis Of Small Non-Coding Rna And Messenger Rna Expression In Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer And In Vitro-Fertilized Bovine Embryos During Early Development Through The Maternal-To-Embryonic Transition, Jocelyn Marie Cuthbert

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Cloning animals using somatic cell nuclear transfer (scNT) was first successfully demonstrated with the birth of Dolly the sheep, but the process of cloning remains highly inefficient. By improving our understanding of the errors that may occur during cloned cattle embryo development, we could obtain a greater understanding of how specific molecular events contribute to successful development. The central dogma of biology refers to the process of DNA being transcribed into messenger RNA (mRNA) and the translation of mRNA into proteins, which ultimately carry out the functions encoded by genes. The epigenetic code is defined as the array of chemical …


Enhancing The Production And Sustainability Of Pasture-Fed Beef Using Non-Traditional Legume Forages, Andrea I. Bolletta Aug 2020

Enhancing The Production And Sustainability Of Pasture-Fed Beef Using Non-Traditional Legume Forages, Andrea I. Bolletta

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Despite the increasing worldwide demand for beef as a protein source, consumers are concerned about the sustainability of ruminant production systems. Their main concerns are animal welfare for feedlot-fed animals, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, global warming and worker safety. Traditional feedlot-based beef production systems have been associated with locally greater levels of soil, water and air contamination, as well as the overuse of antibiotics and growth hormones. The use of legume pastures such as cicer milkvetch (CMV) and birdsfoot trefoil (BFT), which fix their own nitrogen (N) and often contain beneficial secondary compounds such as tannins and provide for rapid …


Investigating Nest Box Utilization By Bumble Bees And Reproductive Development Of Male Bumble Bees, James Daniel Herndon Aug 2020

Investigating Nest Box Utilization By Bumble Bees And Reproductive Development Of Male Bumble Bees, James Daniel Herndon

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Bumble bees (Bombus Latrielle) are a wide-spread group of pollinating insects that are important species to conserve across many environments to ensure both ecological and economic resiliency because they pollinate important agricultural, horticultural, and wild flora. Surprisingly, fundamental questions still remain about this important charismatic group of pollinators. The investigations in this thesis are but two of many topics that require further research. The topics investigated are understanding bumble bee nest site preferences and reproductive development of both sexes of bumble bees. The first experiment (Chapter 2) investigates whether nest boxes elevated off of the ground and attached to …


Rumination And Quality Of Life Among Northern Plains Indians, Devon S. Isaacs Aug 2020

Rumination And Quality Of Life Among Northern Plains Indians, Devon S. Isaacs

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Native Americans (NAs) share unique risk factors for poor mental health. In response, mental health providers must address barriers to treatment while making the most of low resource situations. One way to increase usefulness of treatment is to address the mechanisms underlying multiple mental health disorders. Rumination is a style of thinking marked by repeated thoughts about distress and is well-recognized as a diagnostic factor for underlying disorders in the general population. Secondary data from the Mood Disorder Assessment Validation with Northern Plains Indians (NPI) pilot study was used to examine the relationship between rumination and anxiety, depression, and substance …


Interactions Between Water-Stress And Maize Resistance To Spider Mites With Varied Host Specialization, Gunbharpur S. Gill Aug 2020

Interactions Between Water-Stress And Maize Resistance To Spider Mites With Varied Host Specialization, Gunbharpur S. Gill

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Spider mites are well-documented pests of many agricultural crops including cereals such as maize. In hot and dry conditions, when crop plants are under water-stress, spider mite populations can rapidly increase within weeks and can cause severe yield losses. One approach to manage pests, such as spider mites, is through the development and selection of plants that can resist pests. Screening of maize lines has provided evidence of spider mite resistance; however, it is unclear how plant water-stress may affect the ability of maize to sustain spider mite resistance. In addition, it is important to understand how plants respond to …


A Data-Driven Regional Model Of Stomatal Conductance For Kruger National Park, Rebecca L. Tobin Aug 2020

A Data-Driven Regional Model Of Stomatal Conductance For Kruger National Park, Rebecca L. Tobin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Stomata are the gateway between the lithosphere, the biosphere, and the atmosphere. Because of photosynthesis, plants inevitably lose water through their stomata. The rate at which water moves through stomata is stomatal conductance. As stomatal conductance increases, the rate of CO2 assimilation increases, therefore, plants must reach a balance between acquiring CO2 and losing H2O. Plants achieve this balance by adjusting stomatal aperture. Therefore, modeling stomatal conductance is important to global circulation models and land surface models, as well as for predicting how changing climate conditions affect water use efficiency and plant productivity, and has implications …