Digital Commons Network^™

Study Of The Small: Potential For Operational Military Use Of Cubesats , Chalie Galliand

Small Satellite Conference

The DoD is known for looking to innovative thinking to provide answers to it warfighter’s needs. This holds very true in the realm of space based capabilities. Recently, the sizes of assets in space have been shrinking in size. However, their capabilities have been growing at an accelerated rate. CubeSats are quickly becoming an area of interest because of their growing potential to fulfill operational military missions.

Tremblings, August 2010, Western Aspen Alliance

Tremblings

Tracking contemporary aspen sciences: a critical endeavor for land managers

Ron Ryel

"We know everything there is to know about aspen" has been a long-held and common opinion in the western aspen world. However, we are rapidly learning this is not true, and that management based on some of these opinions may not be appropriate or helpful in restoring or maintaining aspen. New knowledge and perspectives on aspen ecology and management may have profound effects on the future of aspen on western landscapes.

The Temple Recommend: A Solution To The Free-Rider Problem, Austin Bowles

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Temple worship and geographical boundaries are unique features of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Our research uses economic theory to understand how the organizational benefits of the temple recommend system and the geographical ward boundaries may solve the market failures associated with religious organizations. These features of the LDS Church will be used to create a framework for understanding how the church limits free-riding and sub-optimal participation, which would result in increased efficiency and production of large religious benefits. Because the market failures faced by the church are the same as those faced by other …

Properties Of Microbes In Natural Fire Burn Soils, Holly Anderson

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Soil underlying a natural fire develops a hydrophobic soil sub-layer. This hydrophobicity decreases with time although the mechanisms are unresolved, but are thought to be biotic and abiotic. Some of the compounds accounting for hydrophobicity are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) of which pyrene is an example.

Bacteria that grew on pyrene were isolated from burned soils at two sites in Utah in order to analyze the biotic microbial degradation of the hydrophobic soil sub-layer. The two sites were Wood Camp (Logan, UT) and Milford Flats (Central UT). Identifications of the genera of nine isolated bacteria were made through l6S rRNA …

Book Reviews, Eric Bottelberghe, Cara Burnidge, Rachel Ozanne

Intermountain West Journal of Religious Studies

No abstract provided.

El Niño-Southern Oscillation Effect On A Fire Regime In Northeastern Mexico Has Changed Over Time, Larissa L. Yocom Kent, Peter Z. Fule, Peter M. Brown, Julian Cerano, Jose Villanueva-Diaz, Donald A. Falk, Eladio Cornejo-Oviedo

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a climate-forcing mechanism that has been shown to affect precipitation and the occurrence of wildfires in many parts of the world. In the southern United States and northern Mexico, warm events (El Niño) are associated with moist winter conditions and fewer fires, while cool events (La Niña) tend to favor dry winters and more fires. We tested this relationship in a region of northeastern Mexico by characterizing the historical fire regime and climatic influences. Fire regimes were reconstructed from fire-scar samples collected from 100 trees in three high-elevation sites on Peña Nevada in …

Cover Crops For Utah Gardens, Michael Johnson, Maggie Wolf, Rich Keonig

All Current Publications

No abstract provided.

A Comparison Of Probe-Level And Probeset Models For Small-Sample Gene Expression Data, John R. Stevens, Jason L. Bell, Kenneth I. Aston, Kenneth L. White

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications

Background: Statistical methods to tentatively identify differentially expressed genes in microarray studies typically assume larger sample sizes than are practical or even possible in some settings.

Results: The performance of several probe-level and probeset models was assessed graphically and numerically using three spike-in datasets. Based on the Affymetrix GeneChip, a novel nested factorial model was developed and found to perform competitively on small-sample spike-in experiments.

Conclusions: Statistical methods with test statistics related to the estimated log fold change tend to be more consistent in their performance on small-sample gene expression data. For such small-sample experiments, the nested factorial model can …

A Prototype Miniaturized Metabolic Gas Analysis Sensor, Tammy Anderson, Joseph Orr

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Microgravity adversely affects several physiological systems. As space exploration moves to extended flights, understanding which mechanisms microgravity influences may contribute to the health and safety of astronauts aboard. Maximum oxygen consumption (VO₂ max) testing is used to monitor changes to cardiorespiratory function. Currently the equipment used to such testing aboard the International Space Station (ISS) is large and requires a significant amount of power. We propose the use of a modified metabolic management system, currently approved for clinical use, for exercise stress testing.

High-Speed, Three-Dimensional Quantification Of Ladybug Flapping Wing Kinematics During Takeoff, Ryan B. George, Scott L. Thomson

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Ladybug wing and body kinematics during takeoff is explored using high-speed stereoscopic images acquired at a rate of 3000 frames per second. A direct linear transformation algorithm is used to quantify positions of selected locations on the body, forewings (elytra), and hindwings. Design and setup of instrumentation and analysis procedures are explained. Flapping frequency is reported. Significant motion of the forewing and other findings are presented and their applications are discussed.

Planar Electrode Quadrupole Ion Traps, Brett J. Hansen, Hannah Quist, Ying Peng, Zhiping Zhang, Junting Wang, Aaron R. Hawkins, Daniel E. Austin

Utah Space Grant Consortium

A simple method has been proposed to study the effects of multipole components on the performance of a radiofrequency quadrupole ion-trap mass analyzer, named the planar Paul trap. The device consists of two parallel ceramic plates, the opposing surfaces of which are lithographically imprinted with 24 metal rings. This suggested method combines the unique properties of this type of trap: the multiple-circular-ring structure, and ease of changing the electric field through differing capacitor configurations on printed circuit boards. Using this approach, the magnitude and sign of different multipole components, including octopole and dodecapole, can easily be adjusted through altering the …

Terrestrial Ecosystem Classification In The Rocky Mountains, Northern Utah, Antonin Kusbach

T.W. "Doc" Daniel Experimental Forest

No abstract provided.

Sagestep News, Spring 2010, No. 12, Sagestep

Newsletters

Seasonal newsletter of SageSTEP.

Utah State University Commencement, 2010 – Main Campus, Utah State University

Commencement Programs

123^rd Annual Commencement of Utah State University.

Cougar Resource Selection In Two Mountain Ranges In Utah: A Study On Scale And Behavior, Wendy R. Rieth

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

An understanding of habitat relationships is essential for managing hunted species, such as cougar, that are difficult to census. In the first phase of this study, I used aerial telemetry data to examine diurnal cougar resource selection at 2 scales, and compared results between 2 study sites, the Oquirrh Mountains and Monroe Mountain, Utah. In the second phase of this study, I used conditional logistic regression models and GPS collar data from the Oquirrh Mountains to determine whether cougar resource selection varied over 3 behaviors (prey caching, resting at a daybed site, and nocturnal activities) and 2 scales.

Results from …

Comparative Performance Of Fluorometry And High Performance Liquid Chromatography In The Detection Of Aflatoxin M1 In Two Commercial Cheeses, Gustavo Peña

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Aflatoxin M1 (AFM₁) is frequently found in milk and dairy products. It is a metabolite formed in cows from aflatoxin B1 (AFB₁), contained in animal feeds. In cheese production AFM₁ distributes between curds and whey. In this study, cows were fed 64 µg/AFB₁/d for the high treatment, and 5 µg/AFB₁/d for the low treatment, to obtain milk contaminated with AFM1 over the 0.5 µg/L and under 0.05 µg/L restrictions, respectively. Cheese was manufactured with milk contaminated with AFM₁ at 0.8 and 0.03 ìg/kg by the higher and lower …

Bio-Inspired Distributed Constrained Optimization Technique And Its Application In Dynamic Thermal Management, Saranya Chandrasekaran

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The stomatal network in plants is a well-characterized biological system that hypothetically solves the constrained optimization problem of maximizing CO₂ uptake from the air while constraining evaporative water loss during the process of photosynthesis. There are numerous such constrained optimization problems present in the real world as well as in computer science. This thesis work attempts to solve one such constrained optimization problem in a distributed manner by taking a cue from the dynamics of stomatal networks. The problem considered here is Dynamic Thermal Management (DTM) in a multi-processing element system in computing. There have been several approaches in …

Comparative Studies On Oxygen Mass Transfer For The Design And Development Of A Single-Use Fermentor, Kristan L. Sorenson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Accurate experimental oxygen mass transfer coefficient, a measure of how quickly oxygen travels from a gas bubble to the bulk liquid, is important for comparing performance and for evaluating the oxygen transfer capability of a fermentor. Delays in probe response and changing gas volumes upon start-up of gassing affect the accuracy of oxygen transfer measurements. To mitigate these inaccuracies, a standard correction procedure for oxygen mass transfer data was established for highly oxygenated, well-mixed fermentation systems. Probe response time correction was generated by applying a second-order response model to dissolved oxygen probes and shown to be effective within 4%. By …

Seed Pool Dynamics Of A Great Basin Sagebrush Community In The Context Of Restoration, Kristen M. Pekas

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Restoration of Great Basin sagebrush communities is often attempted without understanding the potential impacts of either restoration treatments on the seed pool or the seed pool on restoration efforts. In addition, few studies have examined seed pools of the Great Basin and the role of vegetation in structuring seed pool communities. I evaluated soil seed pool dynamics of a Great Basin sagebrush community in a restoration context.

In Chapter 1, I determined the relationship between the compositions of the seed pool and aboveground vegetation and the effect of shrubs (microhabitat effects) and perennial bunchgrass cover (community phase effects) on the …

Connection, Technology, Positionality: An Inside Look At Women Faculty's Positionality Toward "Connection" And "Technology", Wei Zhai

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Women faculty members have been reported rating their level of knowledge and experience in using technologies lower than male faculty members. A closer examination revealed that women faculty members were likely to use technologies that fit into their pedagogy, met students' learning styles and needs, and facilitated their interactions with colleagues and students. So women faculty's choices of particular technologies can be assumed to reflect their particular instructional beliefs and perspectives, represented as a connected approach to learning and teaching. Gender alone is inadequate to explain women faculty's use of technology.

The purpose of this study was to explore women …

Examination Of The Relationship Between Perfectionism And Religiosity As Mediated By Psychological Inflexibility, Jesse M. Crosby

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The relationship between perfectionism and religiosity is clarified when the adaptive and maladaptive dimensions of both constructs are compared. Literature in both areas implicates the idea of a rigid and inflexible personality style as a possible mediator in the relationship. This investigation examined the relationship of perfectionism and religiosity, using adaptive and maladaptive dimensions, as mediated by psychological inflexibility.

Measures of perfectionism, religiosity, and psychological inflexibility were given to 376 undergraduate college students in an anonymous online survey. Adaptive perfectionism was found to be significantly correlated with adaptive religiosity. Maladaptive perfectionism was found to be significantly correlated with maladaptive religiosity. …

A Spatio-Temporal Analysis Of Landscape Change Within The Eastern Terai, India: Linking Grassland And Forest Loss To Change In River Course And Land Use, Tanushree Biswas

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Land degradation is one of the most important drivers of landscape change around the globe. This dissertation examines land use-land cover change within a mosaic landscape in Eastern Terai, India, and shows evidence of anthropogenic factors contributing to landscape change. Land use and land cover change were examined within the Alipurduar Subdivision, a representative of the Eastern Terai landscape and the Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary, a protected area nested within Alipurduar through the use of multi-temporal satellite data over the past 28 years (1978 – 2006).

This study establishes the potential of remote sensing technology to identify the drivers of landscape …

Weight Discrimination: Why Current Perceptions Need To Change, Kelsey Rae Eller

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Discrimination based on weight has been labeled the last form of socially acceptable prejudice. Weight discrimination is becoming more and more prevalent in schools, the workplace, social settings, the media, and even in healthcare. Overweight and obese individuals are often stereotyped as lazy, addicted to food, and lacking self-discipline and initiative, and as a result may struggle with decreased employment opportunities, fear and shame in public, attempting dangerous weight loss methods, or even eating disorders.

This project seeks to identify and examine research that has been done on this subject in order to increase awareness of weight bias and to …

Lifespan Of Prokaryote Model Organism Escherichia Coli K-12, Hyrum Gillespie

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Bacteria are amazingly resilient organisms, in that they have evolved and adapted to the many extreme environments of Earth (from salt, to pH, to temperature extremes etc.). The bacterial lifespan and death rates are as important as its growth rates in these extreme environments. Bacteria would be useful to determine the effects of age on single cells, but because bacteria reproduce asexually by binary cell fission (clonal replication), calculating the lifespan has proven elusive. Without the determination of a lifespan, age studies using bacteria have limited application. Further, it has been proposed that organisms whose somatic cell line is not …

Metastasis Suppression In Carcinoma And Melanoma Cells, Sherry Marie Baker

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Acyl Homoserine Lactone Signaling In Pseudomonas Chlororaphis 06, Anna Hegsted

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Pseudomonas chlororaphis (PcO6), a rhizosphere bacterium, is important to agriculture because of its use as a biological control against fungus and other pests. This biological control correlates with production of phenazines; a process regulated by acyl homoserine lactones (AHSLs). Long chain AHSLs might also have an affect on the production of phenazines. My research showed that PcO6 produced long chain AHSLs and that production is affected by nutrition with more long chain AHSLs produced in rich medium than minimal medium. The nutritional studies and findings with different mutants of PcO6 altered in phenazine production suggest that control of these antifungal …

Significant Interactions With The Most Commonly Used Herbal And Nonherbal Supplements Impact Warfarin Safety And Efficacy, Brittany Jean Sagers

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Background: Nearly 20% of adult Americans used herbal therapies in 2007, but greater than two-thirds failed to report such use to their medical provider. Significant patient harm may occur when herbal supplements are taken in conjunction with warfarin; however, patients and medical providers may not be aware of these interactions and this may place patients at risk for life-threatening bleeds or thrombotic complications.

Methods: The authors determined the top 25 herbal and 25 nonherbal supplements used by Americans using sales data from 2008, and each product was reviewed for its potential to interact with warfarin. Electronic searches were conducted using …

Diffusion Monte Carlo Studies Of Quantum Solvation: Finding Nodal Functions Of Wavefunctions Using A Genetic Algorithm, Christina Hansen Howell

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Solvation is important in many chemical reactions since most reactions occur in solution. Recently, progress has been made using helium-4 nanodroplets as the solvent at temperatures close to absolute zero. Because helium-4 is a superfluid it solvates dissolved molecules much differently that does a conventional solvent. This opens up the possibility of performing new types of chemistry in the superfluid environment. However, the nature of the interaction of the dissolved species with the solvent remains poorly understood. The basic question to be answered in this project is: how does the quantum solvent perturb the rotational dynamics of the solute particles? …

Genetic And Biochemical Studies Of Plasmid Pir52-1 In Lactobacillus Helveticus, Cody Alexander Tramp

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Lactobacillus helveticus is a species of lactic acid bacteria. These bacteria, which produce lactic acid as a major product of carbohydrate metabolism, are used industrially to produce cheese and other fermented dairy products (Ebringer et al., 2008). Many species of lactic acid bacteria also possess probiotic characteristics and when ingested potentially confer increased immune function, regulate gut microbiota, and improve digestion in the host (Reid, 2008). Genetic studies of these probiotic effects and other characteristics of L. helveticus and related species have been hindered by the lack of stably replicating plasmid vectors. Plasmid vectors for several Lactobacillus species have been …

The Male Gender Role And Depression, Tom Liljegren

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

Although depression is a common mental health disorder, less research has been devoted to men's experience with depression compared to women's experiences. Although men may exhibit similar patterns of depression as women, men often have unique pattern of exhibiting depression characterized by substance abuse, irritability, aggression, and interpersonal conflict. The paper presents a review of the relevant literature on male depression and, in particular, how it is potentially affected by male gender role factors. Biological, psychological, social, and artifact theories have been proposed to explain gender differences in how depression is expressed. It is hypothesized that the male gender role …