Digital Commons Network^™

Qualitative Analysis Of Microbial Dynamics During Anaerobic Digestion Of Microalgal Biomass In A Uasb Reactor, Anna Doloman, Yousef Soboh, Andrew J. Walters, Ronald C. Sims, Charles D. Miller

Biological Engineering Faculty Publications

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a microbiologically coordinated process with dynamic relationships between bacterial players. Current understanding of dynamic changes in the bacterial composition during the AD process is incomplete. The objective of this research was to assess changes in bacterial community composition that coordinates with anaerobic codigestion of microalgal biomass cultivated on municipal wastewater. An upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor was used to achieve high rates of microalgae decomposition and biogas production. Samples of the sludge were collected throughout AD and extracted DNA was subjected to next-generation sequencing using methanogen mcrA gene specific and universal bacterial primers. Analysis of the …

Amending Phb With Algal Biomass To Enhance Biodegradability, Amanda Stoudt, Celeste Hancock, Shawni Bastian, Charles Miller

Biological Engineering

Pollution of the world’s oceans has been taking place for over three centuries and is a growing problem all over the world. At least 60% of this pollution is made of petroleum-based plastic [1]. Plastic takes hundreds of years to degrade and, as a result, causes a number of environmental problems, including:

1. the death of marine mammals and sea birds

2. the release of toxic chemicals

3. disruption of the marine food web

To help reduce the amount of plastic that enters the oceans, scientists and engineers have started to develop biodegradable plastic alternatives. Many of these plastic alternatives …

Facilitation Of Microfluidic Channeling To Generate Concentration Gradients For Cellular Culture, Ryan Hatch, Tanner Hunt, Steven Rupp, Hyrum Wendel

Biological Engineering

This project aims to utilize the advantages of a microfluidic system to generate a testing apparatus that can be used in drug trials to observe the effects of different concentrations of nutrients or drugs on cell growth. With this proposed device drug research companies can save time, materials and money during the research and development phase. Critical aspects of the project include three areas: simulation, fabrication, and validation. This project is supported by GE Healthcare and is a continuation of a senior design project completed in the 2015 school year. By utilizing the COMSOL modeling software to simulate the microfluidic …

Measuring The Effects Of High-Altitude Flight And Upper Atmospheric Radiation On Muscle Cells, Lori M. Caldwell, Annelise Dykes, Katherine Glaittli, Charles Harding

Biological Engineering

As longer space missions become more desirable to public and private institutions, the physiological impact on astronauts must be considered. One of the primary concerns for those spending time in low-gravity environments is the eventual loss of muscle tissue due to atrophy, because a decreased force pulling on muscle fibers leads to marked atrophy in as little as nine days¹ (Fig. 1). This debilitating loss of muscle makes it difficult for homeward-bound astronauts, who are returning to full gravity, to regain their physical strength.

Non-Invasive, Inductive Electrodes For Application In Brain Computer Interfaces, Colin Ecsedy, Justin Marriott, Andrew Parker

Biological Engineering

Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) have proved to be a major factor in facilitating motor recovery, recovery of hearing and vision loss, and other debilitating conditions and diseases (Nicolas-Alonso, 2012). This is accomplished by measuring neurological signals and interpreting that information into a desired action. The most common method of sensing neurological activity for BCI is by either surface or implanted electrodes that are either prone to unreliability or are dangerously invasive (Alpert, 2008). Part of this unreliability is based on the low specificity of the electrode method, requiring many pairs of electrodes to accurately detect signals in a particular area. By …

Optimization Of (2s)-Naringenin Production In Escherichia Coli, Logan Sherman, Zach Thomas, Cameron Zabriskie

Biological Engineering

Flavonoids, which are naturally occurring in plants, are known for their many health-promoting properties¹. These compounds have many applications for treatment of various health complications, but current processing limits their availability². Research in synthetic biology and metabolic engineering has been combined to make flavonoids easier to obtain by growing them in microorganisms³. Naringenin has been of particular interest in production because it is a precursor to many other flavonoid compounds⁴. While much research has been done on ways to optimize the production of naringenin from the amino acid L-tyrosine, a pathway has …

Optimized Bioproduction Of Resveratrol Using Genetically Modified Escherichia Coli, Scott Draper, Daniel Erickson, Brian Hoffmann

Biological Engineering

Resveratrol is a phenylpropanoid with many promising health benefits as an antioxidant (1). It is produced naturally in various plant species such as grapes, peanuts, and some berries.

The production of resveratrol through plants can be a long and expensive process (2). Producing resveratrol via microorganisms could be a way to eliminate these problems and thereby lower the cost (3,4). E. coli can be used to produce this compound in several hours, compared to several months of growing plants.

This project includes the analysis of several major growth parameters in E. coli that were designed and tested to achieve the …

Oxygen-Controlled Growth Chamber For Hypoxic Study, Dallon Durfey, Jared Theurer, Justus Clark

Biological Engineering

The purpose is to design a product that will allow researchers to more effectively and efficiently research the effects of low oxygen conditions on cell growth. The effects of hypoxic conditions on cell growth are studied in the research of Dr. Elizabeth Vargis at Utah State University. The process for this type of research has been practical and non-quantitative. Hypoxic conditions were introduced by simply closing the flask tightly with the included lid. The effects of cell growth were noted when the cap was closed, however, there were no quantifiable data to demonstrate oxygen concentrations over time. With the introduction …

Pairing Of Anaerobic And Aerobic Treatment Of Petroleum Wastewater, Zachary Fica, Alan Hodges, Jessica Vandarlin, Jordan Wanlass

Biological Engineering

Develop a novel treatment strategy for petroleum wastewater that meets the following State of Utah effluent guidelines:

• 25 mg/L BOD (38 mg/L COD)

• 25 mg/L TSS

Secondary objectives would include, but are not limited to:

• Reduction of nitrogen to at or below 10 mg/L

• Reduction of phosphorus to at or below 1 mg/L

• Production of value-added products

Synthesizing Microcarriers As A Platform For The Pharmaceutical Delivery Of Quercetin For Antiviral Applications, Taylor Eggertsen, Arther Hart, William Johnson

Biological Engineering

This project aims to increase quercetin bioavailability and antiviral activity against cytomegalovirus (CMV). CMV is the leading viral cause of birth defects in the U.S. Ganciclovir, the current treatment for CMV infection, exhibits cytotoxicity in pregnant women and other immunocompromised populations. Quercetin is a naturally derived compound with antioxidant, anti-cancer, antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties and exhibits anti-CMV activity (Cotin, 2012). Low solubility and rapid metabolic breakdown result in low bioavailability, however (Thilakarathna, 2013). Pluronic-F127 capped poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA), and chitosan-capped alginate microbeads are investigated as microcarriers to provide time-release antiviral treatment for congenital CMV. Quercetin, PLGA, chitosan, alginate, and Pluronic …

Establishing Peach Trees For Organic Production In Utah And The Intermountain West, Jennifer R. Reeve, C. M. Culumber, Brent Black, Andrew Tebeau, Corey Ransom, Diane Alston, M. Rowley, Thor Lindstrom

Plants, Soils, and Climate Faculty Publications

Adequate weed control and nutrient supply are critical for successful establishment of fruit trees. This is of particular concern in organic orchard establishment. In order to determine the best approach for establishing peach trees (Prunus persica L.) organically in climates characterized by hot dry summers and cold winters such as the North American Intermountain West, seven organic and three integrated and conventional treatment combinations were established in two first leaf orchards at the USU Kaysville Research Farm, Utah, in 2008 and 2009. Treatments consisted of different tree-row and alleyway mulch and fertilizer combinations. Compost or conventional fertilizer (16-16-16 and …

Dynamic Acquisition And Loss Of Dual-Obligate Symbionts In The Plant-Sap-Feeding Adelgidae (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha: Aphidoidea), Carol D. Von Dohlen, Usha Spaulding, Kistie B. Patch, Ethan P. White, Robert G. Foottit, Nathan P. Havill, Gaelen R. Burke

Biology Faculty Publications

Sap-sucking insects typically engage in obligate relationships with symbiotic bacteria that play nutritional roles in synthesizing nutrients unavailable or in scarce supply from the plant-sap diets of their hosts. Adelgids are sap-sucking insects with complex life cycles that involve alternation between conifer tree species. While all adelgid species feed on spruce during the sexual phase of their life cycle, each adelgid species belongs to a major lineage that feeds on a distinct genus of conifers as their alternate host. Previous work on adelgid symbionts had discovered pairs of symbionts within each host species, and unusual diversity across the insect family, …

Gridded Snow Water Equivalent Reconstruction For Utah Using Forest Inventory And Analysis Tree-Ring Data, Daniel Barandiaran, Shih-Yu (Simon) Wang, R. Justin Derose

Plants, Soils, and Climate Faculty Publications

Snowpack observations in the Intermountain West are sparse and short, making them difficult for use in depicting past variability and extremes. This study presents a reconstruction of April 1 snow water equivalent (SWE) for the period of 1850–1989 using increment cores collected by the U.S. Forest Service, Interior West Forest Inventory and Analysis program (FIA). In the state of Utah, SWE was reconstructed for 38 snow course locations using a combination of standardized tree-ring indices derived from both FIA increment cores and publicly available tree-ring chronologies. These individual reconstructions were then interpolated to a 4-km grid using an objective analysis …

Assessment Of Usda-Nrcs Rangeland Conservation Programs: Recommendation For An Evidence-Based Conservation Platform, David D. Briske, Brandon T. Bestelmeyer, Joel R. Brown, Mark W. Brunson, Thomas L. Thurow, John Tanaka

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

The Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) was created in response to a request from the Office of Management and Budget that the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resource Conservation Service (USDA- NRCS) document the societal benefits anticipated to accrue from a major increase in conservation funding authorized by the 2002 Farm Bill. A comprehensive evaluation of the efficacy of rangeland conservation practices cost- shared with private landowners was unable to evaluate conservation benefits because outcomes were seldom documented. Four interrelated suppositions are presented to examine the causes underlying minimal documentation of conservations outcomes. These suppositions are (1) the benefits of …

Payments For Carbon Sequestration To Alleviate Development Pressure In A Rapidly Urbanizing Region, Jordan Smith, Monica A. Dorning, Douglas A. Shoemaker, Andréanne Méley, Lauren Nicole Dupéy, Ross K. Meentemeyer

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to determine individuals’ willingness to enroll in voluntary payments for carbon sequestration programs through the use of a discrete choice experiment delivered to forest owners living in the rapidly urbanizing region surrounding Charlotte, North Carolina. We examined forest owners’ willingness to enroll in payments for carbon sequestration policies under different levels of financial incentives (annual revenue), different contract lengths and different program administrators (e.g., private companies versus a state or federal agency). We also examined the influence forest owners’ sense of place had on their willingness to enroll in hypothetical programs. Our results showed …

Predator-Prey Coevolution Drives Productivity-Richness Relationships In Planktonic Systems, Zhichao Pu, Michael H. Cortez, Lin Jiang

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications

The relationship between environmental productivity and species richness often varies among empirical studies, and despite much research, simple explanations for this phenomenon remain elusive. We investigated how phytoplankton and zooplankton coevolution shapes productivity-richness relationships in both phytoplankton and zooplankton, using a simple nutrient-phytoplankton-zooplankton model that incorporates size-dependent metabolic rates summarized from empirical studies. The model allowed comparisons of evolved species richness across productivity levels and at different evolutionary times. Our results show that disruptive selection leads to evolutionary branching of phytoplankton and zooplankton. Both the time required for evolutionary branching and the number of evolved species in phytoplankton and zooplankton …

Why Are We Not Evaluating Multiple Competinghypotheses In Ecology And Evolution?, Gustavo S. Betini, Tal Avgar, John M. Fryxell

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

The use of multiple working hypotheses to gain strong inference is widely promoted as a means to enhance the effectiveness of scientific investigation. Only 21 of 100 randomly selected studies from the ecological and evolutionary literature tested more than one hypothesis and only eight tested more than two hypotheses. The surprising rarity of application of multiple working hypotheses suggests that this gap between theory and practice might reflect some fundamental issues. Here, we identify several intellectual and practical barriers that discourage us from using multiple hypotheses in our scientific investigation. While scientists have developed a number of ways to avoid …

Mannequin Challenge | Biological Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

Who says that learning about the various properties of Biomaterials is boring? Clearly, they haven't taken Dr. Yu Huang's BENG 2330 Properties of Biomaterials course. Not only do these students know how to distinguish the differences between natural and synthetic biomaterials.They know how to have a good time bringing the mannequin challenge into their lab clean up.

Equivalent Representations Of Non-Exponential Discounting Models, James A. Feigenbaum

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

I characterize the entire class of consumption rules for finite-horizon models in which consumption is proportional to lifetime wealth. Any such rule can be obtained from a preference model with CRRA period utility. In a steady state with constant interest rates, a proportional consumption rule can be derived from a model with time-consistent preferences or from a model with possibly time-inconsistent preferences in which a household continually reoptimizes future utility discounted relative to the present instant. These two preference models will only coincide for the special case when the discount function is exponential. More generally, there will be two distinct …

Diet And Lifetyle Factors Associated With Mirna Expression In Colorectal Tissue, Martha L. Slattery, Jennifer S. Herrick, Lila E. Mullany, John R. Stevens, Roger K. Wolff

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-protein-coding RNA molecules that regulate gene expression. Diet and lifestyle factors have been hypothesized to be involved in the regulation of miRNA expression. In this study it was hypothesized that diet and lifestyle factors are associated with miRNA expression. Data from 1,447 cases of colorectal cancer to evaluate 34 diet and lifestyle variables using miRNA expression in normal colorectal mucosa as well as for differential expression between paired carcinoma and normal tissue were used. miRNA data were obtained using an Agilent platform. Multiple comparisons were adjusted for using the false discovery rate q-value. There were 250 …

In-Class Versus At-Home Quizzes: Which Is Better? A Flipped Learning Study In A Two-Site Synchronously-Broadcast Organic Chemistry Course, Michael A. Christensen, Alyssia M. Lambert, Louis S. Nadelson, Kami M. Dupree, Trish A. Kingsford

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

We recently shared our design of a two-semester flipped organic chemistry course, in which we gave students in-class quizzes to incentivize attendance and watching the lecture videos in advance. With a second iteration, we planned to make the video-watching experience more engaging. We accordingly hypothesized that if students completed short at-home quizzes while watching the videos, then attentiveness, engagement, and learning would increase. We tested this with a later section of the course, dividing the material into 13 units. For units 1-6, we gave in-class quizzes; for 7-13, quizzes were at home. Although units 1-6 and 7-13 covered different material, …

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Agenda, December 12, 2016, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

• Council on Teacher Education Annual Report
• EPC Items (December)
• Scholarship Advisory Board Annual Report
• Discussion of a portion of the Annual Review Procedures
  
  
  

Influence Of Cattle On Browsing And Grazing Wildlife Varies With Rainfall And Presence Of Megaherbivores, Duncan M. Kimuyu, Kari E. Veblen, Corinna Riginos, Robert M. Chira, John M. Githaiga, Truman P. Young

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

In many savanna ecosystems worldwide, livestock share the landscape and its resources with wildlife. The nature of interactions between livestock and wildlife is a subject of considerable interest and speculation, yet little controlled experimental research has been carried out. Since 1995, we have been manipulating the presence and absence of cattle and large mammalian herbivore wildlife in a Kenyan savanna in order to better understand how different herbivore guilds influence habitat use by specific wildlife species. Using dung counts as a relative assay of herbivore use of the different experimental plots, we found that cattle had a range of effects, …

Faculty Senate Agenda, December 5, 2016, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

• Retention and Student Success
• EPC Items (November)
• USUSA Annual Report
• 402.12 Senate Standing Committees (Second Reading)

Interactions Among Climate, Topography And Herbivory Control Greenhouse Gas (Co2, Ch4 And N2o) Fluxes In A Subarctic Coastal Wetland, Kathy C. Kelsey, A. Joshua Leffler, Karen H. Beard, Joel A. Schmutz, Ryan T. Choi, J. M. Welker

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

High-latitude ecosystems are experiencing the most rapid climate changes globally, and in many areas these changes are concurrent with shifts in patterns of herbivory. Individually, climate and herbivory are known to influence biosphere-atmosphere greenhouse gas (GHG) exchange; however, the interactive effects of climate and herbivory in driving GHG fluxes have been poorly quantified, especially in coastal systems that support large populations of migratory waterfowl. We investigated the magnitude and the climatic and physical controls of GHG exchange within the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in western Alaska across four distinct vegetation communities formed by herbivory and local microtopography. Net CO2 flux was greatest …

Multitaxon Distribution Models Reveal Severe Alteration In The Regional Biodiversity Of Freshwater Invertebrates, Charles P. Hawkins, Lester L. Yuan

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

Knowledge of current and historical conditions is needed to guide conservation and restoration policies, but such information is lacking for most taxa. This problem is especially severe for small, inconspicuous taxa, such as the thousands of invertebrate species that inhabit stream and other freshwater ecosystems. We describe a novel application of River Invertebrate Prediction and Classification System (RIVPACS)-type multitaxon distribution models that, when applied to the biological survey data routinely collected in support of water-quality monitoring programs, can quantify the regional biodiversity status of hundreds of taxa. We used models developed for 2 stream data sets (North Carolina and the …

Scholarship On Robert Burton's The Anatomy Of Melancholy, Matthew Bishop

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

The history of scholarship on Robert Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy will be explored in this thesis, beginning with a biographical background of Robert Burton and a brief description of The Anatomy of Melancholy. The overall arc of scholarship on Burton’s text began with a wave of early popularity in the seventeenth century, followed by a period of critical neglect in the eighteenth century when no new editions of the book were published. A renewed interest in the Anatomy in the nineteenth century led to a flurry of Burton studies in the twentieth century. The major trend in Burton …

Curriculum Subcommittee Agenda, December 1, 2016, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

Program Proposals

• Offering a Sociology-Criminal Justice Major with emphases
• Changing the name from PhD in Sociology; doctoral specialization in States & Markets to PhD in Sociology; doctoral specialization in Social Inequality
• Offering a Master of Science in Data Science
• Offering a Computer Science Teaching Minor
• Offering a PhD in Landscape Architecture
• Offering a Bachelor of Science in Technology Systems

Semester Course Approval Reviews

Other

• Curriculog updates

Creating Tomorrow, Fall 2016, College Of Engineering

College of Engineering Magazines

Annual magazine for the College of Engineering at Utah State University.

Diet And Foraging Behaviors Of Timber Rattlesnakes, Crotalus Horridus, In Eastern Virginia, Scott M. Goetz, Christopher E. Petersen, Robert K. Rose, John D. Kleopfer, Alan H. Savitzky

Biology Faculty Publications

During a 17-yr telemetry study, we examined the diet and ambush behavior of a population of Crotalus horridus in southeastern Virginia. Forty dietary items were identified from 37 fecal samples. We documented 722 instances of snakes in an ambush posture, 61% of which were in a vertical-tree posture, as if hunting arboreal prey at the base of a tree. The most common prey items were Eastern Gray Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis), which accounted for 45% of all dietary items and represented an estimated 78% of total biomass consumed by C. horridus. Prey was not consumed in proportion to availability, based on …