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Flood Conveyance And Restoration Upper Reach Of The Logan River, Dani Delahoz, Briana Kistler, Dallen Webster, D. Willey

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Generations of residents in Logan, Utah have sought riverside property along the Logan River, leading to crowded development within the river’s natural floodplains. This is especially true in the Upper Reach, a 1.3-mile section between First Dam and Crockett Diversion (Figure 1).

Housing and yard development at the edge of the river has confined the water to a narrow, steeply-banked channel, increasing velocity, sediment scour, and degradation of river and riparian habitat. During extreme flow events, like the 100-year 24-hour flood, the river overtops its banks and flows into adjacent properties. Dam-induced sediment deficiencies and high velocities have led to …

Exploring The Impact Of Positive Peer Views Of Girls On School Engagement In Middle School Girls, Christine E. Hansen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study focused on the types of messages female middle school students receive about their gender from their peers. Specifically, it looked at microaggressions, which are sexist messages from peers, and microaffirmations, which are positive and affirming messages from peers. There were four goals of this study. First, to check if the Students Affirming Girls in Middle School scale (SAG-MS), a scale created for this study, could consistently measure microaggressions and microaffirmations. Second, to look at the relationship between when girls experience puberty and microaggressions and microaffirmations. Third, to measure any differences in the number of microaggressions and microaffirmations girls …

Male Reproductive Infection And Sexual Transmission Of Zika Virus In An Immunocompromised Mouse Model, Chad S. Clancy

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a sexually transmitted viral infection most frequently transmitted by mosquitoes. The source of infectious virions in the male reproductive tract has yet to be elucidated. The goals of the studies included developing and characterizing two mouse models for reproductive transmission studies and demonstration of sexual transmission of virus via artificial insemination. The mouse strains used in the study lacked receptors to interferon molecules, key signaling proteins of the host immune response. Inflammation severity was assessed during acute disease, 5-11 days after infection using a novel histopathology grading system. ZIKV proteins and genome were initially detected in …

Impacts Of Cattle Grazing As A Tool To Control Phragmites Australis In Wetlands On Nitrogen, Phosphorus, And Carbon, Brittany L. Duncan

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Phragmites australis is a plant that is causing problems in wetlands by outcompeting native plants that provide food and shelter for millions of migratory birds. Currently, managers try to control Phragmites australis by spraying herbicide, burning, and mowing, but these methods are costly, time consuming, and have low levels of success. Adding grazing as a tool to control Phragmites australis provides a cheap and low labor alternative. However, there are many concerns regarding if grazing will cause nutrient loading in our wetlands that will decrease water quality and alter beneficial functions of wetlands.

To better understand the effects of grazing …

Hydrodeoxygenation Of Pinyon-Juniper Catalytic Pyrolysis Oil, Hossein Jahromi

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Catalytic hydrodeoxygenation (HDO), is an effective process to convert oxygenated compounds to hydrocarbons. This process is widely used for improving the negative properties of biomass-derived pyrolysis oils (bio-oils) such as high acidity, poor stability, and low heating value. During this process oxygen is removed from the bio-oil in the form of water, thus the liquid product of HDO process consists of aqueous phase and hydrocarbon phase that can be easily separated. Synthesis of efficient HDO catalyst has been a major challenge in the field of bio-oil upgrading. Red mud, which is an alkaline waste from alumina industry was used to …

Adult Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd): Relationship Between Parental Symptomatology, Child Behaviors, And Parenting Behaviors, Robyn Jeppson-Frandsen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) experience impairment in cognitive, scholastic/vocational and interpersonal domains. The goal of this study was to gain more information how adult ADHD symptomatology impacts parenting behaviors, specifically, overreactivity and laxness. This study found that parental ADHD symptoms were associated with greater overreactive parenting behavior. Differences between mothers and fathers were assessed and no significant difference in ADHD symptomatology or parenting behaviors were found. The combination of adult ADHD symptoms and child behavior, above and beyond parental depression, was found to be a statistically significant predictor of parental overreactive behavior, while this was not the case for …

Empathy In The Middle-School History Classroom: The Effects Of Reading Different Historical Texts On Theory Of Mind, Empathic Concern, And Historical Perspective-Taking, Jared P. Collette

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Theoretical and empirical evidence indicate a possibility that reading certain types of historical texts could improve different constructs of empathy that include theory of mind (ToM), empathic concern (EC), and historical perspective-taking (HPT).The objective of this study was to compare the effect of reading a collection of primary documents in comparison to a historical narrative on ToM, HPT, and EC for adolescents in an eighth-grade history class. Students were randomly assigned to read either a historical narrative or a collection of adapted historical documents with approximately the same length, and reading level. This researcher controlled for student comprehension scores, ToM …

In Vitro Simulation Of Microgravity Induced Muscle Loss Successfully Increases Expression Of Key In Vivo Atrophy Markers, Charles P. Harding

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Muscle loss from lack of activity is a serious issue for immobilized patients on Earth and in human spaceflight, where the low gravity environment prevents normal muscle activity. Simulating muscle loss in cultured cells is an important step in understanding how this condition occurs. This work evaluates different means of simulating muscle loss and selects the one that most closely mimics the cellular responses seen in animals and humans.

To simulate the microgravity environment of spaceflight, mouse skeletal muscle cells were grown in a rotary cell culture system (RCCS). Growing the cells within a natural gelled substrate was compared against …

Measuring Nitrogen Transformation In Wastewater Impacted Streams Using In-Situ Benthic Chambers, Makenzi Beltran

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Acrylic chambers and metal frames were installed at the sediment-water interface of streams impacted by the effluent from wastewater reclamation facilities in order to determine nitrogen rates for nitrification, denitrification, assimilation, ANAMMOX, and DNRA. Each chamber was dosed with an isotopic form of nitrate (¹⁵NO₃^-), and both isotopic (¹⁵N) and non-isotopic (¹⁴N) samples were collected. The project locations included East Canyon Creek near the East Canyon Wastewater Reclamation Facility in Park City, Utah and Box Elder Creek near the Brigham City Wastewater Treatment Plant in Brigham City, Utah. Separate chamber measurements …

Landscape Of Stress: Does Drought Prevail Over Anthropogenic Activity In Influencing Cortisol Levels And Fitness In The Pacific Fisher?, Jennifer R. Kordosky

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Fishers (Pekania pennanti) are a species of concern in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. Cortisol is a glucocorticoid hormone released to mobilize energy in response to stress and has been used as an indication of an individual’s physiological response to its environment. By collecting samples of fisher hair and measuring an individual’s cortisol, we examined the physiological stress response of the animals to human disturbances (housing density, road density, habitat type, and silvicultural treatements) and drought (tree mortality) in their home ranges. Using AICc model selection, we found that levels of tree mortality within a fisher’s home …

The Spatial Ecology Of Predator-Prey Interactions: A Case Study Of Yellowstone Elk, Wolves, And Cougars, Michel T. Kohl

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The loss of large apex predators, and their subsequent reintroduction, has been identified as a substantial driver on the structure and function of ecological communities through behavioral mediated trophic cascades (BMTCs). The reintroduction of wolves (Canis lupus) to Yellowstone National Park (YNP) has served as foundational case study of BMTCs. In our system, it has been suggested that wolves have established a ‘landscape of fear’ in which the primary prey, elk (Cervus elaphus), now avoid risky places, which ultimately led to the recovery of the vegetation community. Although this case is frequently cited as a well-understood …

Understanding Security Threats Of Emerging Computing Architectures And Mitigating Performance Bottlenecks Of On-Chip Interconnects In Manycore Ntc System, Chidhambaranathan Rajamanikkam

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Emerging computing architectures such as, neuromorphic computing and third party intellectual property (3PIP) cores, have attracted significant attention in the recent past. Neuromorphic Computing introduces an unorthodox non-von neumann architecture that mimics the abstract behavior of neuron activity of the human brain. They can execute more complex applications, such as image processing, object recognition, more efficiently in terms of performance and energy than the traditional microprocessors. However, focus on the hardware security aspects of the neuromorphic computing at its nascent stage. 3PIP core, on the other hand, have covertly inserted malicious functional behavior that can inflict range of harms at …

Effect Of Physical Stimuli On Angiogenic Factor Expression In Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells, Farhad Farjood

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a major cause of blindness in adults. Abnormal growth of blood vessels in the eye during the course of AMD causes damage to the retina, resulting in irreversible blindness. The goal of this research was to determine whether physical pressure on retinal cells can contribute to the increased blood vessel formation. To replicate the tears in the cell layers, a micropatterning method was used as a means of detaching cells from each other. Two new devices were also developed to mimic slow and fast increases in mechanical pressure on cell layers of the eye. After …

Optimal Foraging And Population Dynamics: An Archaeological Investigation At The Birch Creek Rockshelters, Idaho, Samuel H. M. Yeates

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis aims to integrate the study of population change with the expectations of foraging models, and to test whether expectations resulting from integrating these two bodies of theory have greater predictive power than foraging models alone. To compare these models, I monitored prey age, butchery practice, and prey desirability in five prehistoric occupations of the Birch Creek rockshelters of Idaho. I modeled hunting pressure with a human population density estimate based on radiocarbon dates from Idaho archaeological sites, and modeled prey abundance with a model of historic effective moisture. Both models predicted younger prey, lower average prey desirability, and …

The Impact Of Wood Biochar On The Plant Uptake Of Pharmaceuticals And Personal Care Products From Reclaimed Wastewater, Jeffrey Flashinski

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Reclaimed water (treated water discharged from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs)) is increasingly used in drier regions for irrigation purposes. This effectively increases the water supply and reduces the amount of WWTP discharge into surface waters but it creates the potential for contaminants in the reclaimed water, such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), to accumulate in exposed crops. The US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) considers PPCPs contaminants of emerging concern due to their near universal presence in the environment and their potential for endocrine disruption. Biochar is gaining attention as a soil amendment and could potentially be used …

Ediacaran Depositional Age And Subsequent Fluid-Rock Interactions In The Mutual And Browns Hole Formations Of Northern Utah, Ashley W. Provow

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Constraining the depositional age of Neoproterozoic stratigraphy in western North America has implications for correlating global glaciation and tectonic events. The depositional ages of the Neoproterozoic Mutual and Browns Hole formations of northern Utah are controlled by two conflicting datapoints. However, new U-Pb geochronological data from 95 detrital apatite grains refines the maximum depositional age of the volcanic member of the Browns Hole Formation to 613 ± 12 Ma (2σ). This places new restrictions on the time available for the deposition of underlying units. Due to debate regarding the age models for underlying stratigraphy, two scenarios for sediment accumulation rates …

Religiosity, Perfectionism, And Parenting Practices In A Latter-Day Saint (Lds) Sample, Trisha Chase

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Parenting practices greatly influence child behavior. It is important to study the relationship between parenting practices and child behavior in specific religious contexts. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) have not been extensively studied in the psychological literature despite there being a relatively large number of LDS individuals in the U.S. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of religiosity on parenting practices and child behavior outcomes in an LDS sample. The influence of perfectionism on religiosity and parenting practices was also studied. The relationship between parents’ interpretation of the bible and …

Three Essays On Land Property Rights, Water Trade, And Regional Development, Muyang Ge

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This dissertation explores how property rights to a natural resource affect economic decisions for investment or sale, and how these decisions may in turn impact other areas of the economy. The first essay focuses on how incomplete land ownership on Indian Reservations in the United States affects landowner incentives to engage in agricultural production. The second essay explores how the transfer of water in arid regions via water right sales affects local labor markets and environmental outcomes. The third essay seeks to understand how shale-gas drilling has affected organic food production. This dissertation provides several policy implications. First, the findings …

Fire - Herbivory Interactions In An East African Savanna: Effects On Acacia Drepanolobium Trees, Eric M. Lamalfa

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Globally, changes in plant community structure have occurred in ecosystems where humans have altered natural disturbance regimes. Many plants have adaptive life histories and morphological traits that have coevolved with fire and herbivory, which allows them to thrive despite repeated tissue losses. Therefore, altering the type, frequency, or severity of disturbance affects individual plant growth and competition among species. When these changes benefit or disadvantage different plant functional groups (i.e., grasses, shrubs, trees) it alters ecosystem structure and function. Understanding and predicting these vegetation changes, is critical for conservation and management of biodiversity, wildlife habitat, livestock forage, and water.

Savannas …

Visible Light-Triggered Carbon Monoxide-Releasing Molecules, Marina Popova

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Carbon monoxide (CO) is now well established as one of the signaling molecules in higher organisms, including humans. Due to its physiological roles, CO is now accepted as a potential therapeutic agent. The use of CO gas has been studied in multiple clinical trials. Vasodilation, anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic, anti-proliferative and cytoprotective effects are just a few of the pharmacological actions attributed to CO gas in various models of diseases. Use of inhaled CO gas as a therapeutic has many limitations which necessitate the development of a new approach for CO delivery. In order to handle CO safely, compounds that release CO …

Defense Against Drought, Matt Yost, Bryce Sorensen, Earl Creech, Niel Allen, Ryan Larsen, Ricardo Ramirez, Corey Ransom, Chad Reid, Jody Gale, Boyd Kitchen

All Current Publications

This fact sheet outlines six tools that can be used to help alleviate some of the negative impacts of drought and help improve returns to crop production.

Untangling The Economic And Social Impediments To Producer Adoption Of Organic Wheat, Donya L. Ralph-Quarnstrom

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Consumer demand for organic products has shown double-digit growth in recent years encouraging the development of a wider range of goods (Greene, 2017). Americans with an annual household income under $30,000 actively purchase organic foods at nearly the same rate as households with over $75,000 in annual incomes, 42% versus 49% (Greene et al., 2017). Previous research observed the adoption of organic farming practices on a combination of different grains, fruits and vegetables, meat, and dairy products from across the globe. However, this is the first study to examine the adoption of organic wheat in the Western U.S. By addressing …

Latino Stepcouples’ Experiences Two Years After Stepfamily Education And A Narrative Study Regarding Changes In A Latino Stepfamily Two Years After Stepfamily Education, Sheryl Ann Goodey

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

There are two studies in this dissertation. Both are about couples in a stepfamily who attended stepfamily education called, Smart Steps: Embrace the Journey. The first study explored how 13 Latino stepcouples felt the concepts they learned in stepfamily education influenced their couple relationship, parenting, and their family. Participants ranged in age from 25 to 43. They were interviewed two years after participating in the course. They talked about positive changes that happened in their couple relationship, parenting relationship, and their family as a result of participating in stepfamily education. It was also found that the course helped them …

River Hydrology, Morphology, And Dynamics In An Intensively Managed, Transient Landscape, Sara Ann Kelly

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Rivers create beautiful patterns and provide drinking water to millions. However an alarming number of rivers in the US and globally are threatened by excess sediment and nutrients. Agricultural rivers draining erodible soils are particularly vulnerable. Rivers of southern Minnesota provide a unique opportunity to study water and sediment dynamics in a naturally vulnerable system. Sediment reduction strategies are needed to ensure biological integrity and adequate water quality. Here, I address the questions: 1) have climate, land use practices, or both affected streamflows in Midwest agricultural rivers?, 2) which streamflows set the rate of river bluff erosion?, and 3) how …

Monitoring Desert Ungulates Via Fecal Dna-Based Capture Recapture, Stephen S. Pfeiler

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Estimates of population abundance and survival are critical for effective wildlife management. Obtaining estimates of these kind using traditional wildlife monitoring techniques (i.e. ground and aerial surveys) has proven to be difficult, especially for species that are wide ranging and exist in small, patchily distributed populations.

My objective was to implement fecal DNA-based capture-recapture surveys to estimate abundance and survival of two different ungulate populations that inhabit the deserts of southeastern California. I also compared fecal DNA-based capture-recapture techniques to traditional methods by evaluating the costs and precision associated with both methods. Using artificial water sources as focal sampling sites, …

Influence Of Monomer Deformation On The Competition Between Two Types Of Σ-Holes In Tetrel Bonds, Rafal Wysokiński, Mariusz Michalczyk, Wiktor Zierkiewicz, Steve Scheiner

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

One of several tetrel (T) atoms was covalently attached to three F atoms and a substituted phenyl ring. A NH3 base can form a tetrel bond with TF3C6H2R3(T = Si, Ge, Sn, Pb; R = H, F, CH3) in a position opposite either an F atom or the ring. The σ-hole opposite the highly electron-withdrawing F (T-F) is more intense than that opposite the ring (T-C). However, when the Lewis base deforms from a tetrahedral to a trigonal bipyramidal shape so as to accommodate the base, it is the T-C σ-hole that is more intense. Accordingly, it is the T-C …

What Does The Snake Eat? Breadth, Overlap, And Non-Native Prey In The Diet Of Three Sympatric Natricine Snakes, Emily E. Virgin, Richard B. King

Biology Faculty Publications

We investigated diet breadth and diet overlap in three sympatric snakes of similar body size: Dekay’s Brownsnakes (Storeria dekayi), Red-bellied Snakes (S. occipitomaculata), and sub-adult Common Gartersnakes (Thamnophis sirtalis), by examining recently consumed prey (n = 388) collected from wild-caught snakes (n = 263) in northern Illinois. Storeria occipitomaculata were dietary specialists, feeding nearly exclusively on slugs. Storeria dekayi fed predominately on slugs but also consumed snails and earthworms. Sub-adult T. sirtalis fed predominately on earthworms but also consumed frogs and small mammals. Diet overlap was extensive between Storeria species but relatively low between …

Multiple Local Σ-Aromaticity Of Nonagermanide Clusters, Nikolay V. Tkachenko, Alexander I. Boldyrev

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Nonagermanide clusters are widely used in inorganic synthesis and are actively studied by experimentalists and theoreticians. However, chemical bonding of such versatile species is still not completely understood. In our work we deciphered a bonding pattern for various experimentally obtained nonagermanide species. We localized the electron density via the AdNDP algorithm for the model structures ([Ge₉]⁴⁻, [Ge₉{P(NH₂)₂}₃]⁻, Cu[Ge₉{P(NH₂)₂}₃] and Cu(NHC)[Ge₉{P(NH₂)₂}₃]) and obtained a simple and chemically intuitive bonding pattern which …

Comparing The Accuracy Of Modis Data Products For Vegetation Detection Between Two Environmentally Dissimilar Ecoregions: The Chocó-Darien Of South America And The Great Basin Of North America, J. Camillo Fagua, R. Douglas Ramsey

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

The daily images produced by the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) sensor aboard the Terra and Aqua satellites have been widely used to monitor global vegetation. Using these data, the Earth Observing System operated by US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has developed a variety of MODIS products focused on the monitoring and evaluation of vegetation condition. These products have three possible sources of variation that can affect the sensitivity of vegetation detection: 1) orbital and mechanical differences between MODIS sensors aboard Aqua or Terra, 2) the preprocessing algorithms used to generate multitemporal cloud-free mosaics (MAIAC or original MODIS …

Altered Gene Response To Aflatoxin B1 In The Spleens Of Susceptible And Resistant Turkeys, Kent M. Reed, Kristelle M. Mendoza, Roger A. Coulombe Jr.

Animal, Dairy, and Veterinary Science Faculty Publications

Susceptibility and/or resistance to aflatoxin B₁ (AFB₁) is a threshold trait governed principally by glutathione S transferase (GST)-mediated detoxification. In poultry, domesticated turkeys are highly sensitive to AFB₁, most likely due to dysfunction in hepatic GSTs. In contrast, wild turkeys are comparatively resistant to aflatoxicosis due to the presence of functional hepatic GSTAs and other possible physiological and immunological interactions. The underlying genetic basis for the disparate GST function in turkeys is unknown as are the broader molecular interactions that control the systemic response. This study quantifies the effects of dietary AFB₁ on gene …