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A Case Study Of The Implementation Of An Engineering Program Into A High School Technology Education Classroom, Steven Shumway, Geoff Wright

Reports of Center Studies

Using a case study format, our objective was to collect data related to the following research questions:

- What criteria do teachers and districts use when selecting engineering design experiences for infusion into high school classes and which of these criteria are most effective?

- What issues, opportunities, and constraints do teachers confront as they infuse engineering concepts into technology education?

Piñon And Juniper Field Guide: Asking The Right Questions To Select Appropriate Management Actions, Robin J. Tausch, R. F. Miller, B. A. Roundy, J. C. Chambers

Reports

Piñon-juniper woodlands are an important vegetation type in the Great Basin. Old-growth and open shrub savanna woodlands have been present over much of the last several hundred years. Strong evidence indicates these woodlands have experienced significant tree infilling and major expansion in their distribution since the late 1800s by encroaching into surrounding landscapes once dominated by shrubs and herbaceous vegetation. Both infilling and expansion affects soil resources, plant community structure and composition, water and nutrient cycles, forage production, wildlife habitat, biodiversity, and fire patterns across the landscape. Another impact is the shift from historic fire regimes to larger and more …

Guide For Quantifying Fuels In The Sagebrush Steppe And Juniper Woodlands Of The Great Basin, Andrea Stebleton, Stephen Bunting

Reports

Prescribed fire is increasingly used for fuels management and ecosystem restoration. Managers and fuels specialists of the Great Basin are often required to estimate fuel loadings to predict fire behavior, recommend fuel treatments, or restore an area to its natural fire regime. Because of invasive species and woodland encroachment, there have been extensive changes in the fire regimes of sagebrush steppe over the past 150 years. After two years of pre-treatment sampling across six states of the Great Basin, the Sagebrush Steppe Treatment and Evaluation Project (SageSTEP) measured many variables including vegetation, soils, hydrology, wildlife, and fuels. These data will …

Who Owns This Text?: Plagiarism, Authorship, And Disciplinary Cultures, Carol Petersen Haviland, Joan A. Mullin

All USU Press Publications

Carol Haviland, Joan Mullin, and their collaborators report on a three-year interdisciplinary interview project on the subject of plagiarism, authorship, and "property," and how these are conceived across different fields. The study investigated seven different academic fields to discover disciplinary conceptions of what types of scholarly production count as "owned." Less a research report than a conversation, the book offers a wide range of ideas, and the chapters here will provoke discussion on scholarly practice relating to intellectual property, plagiarism, and authorship---and to how these matters are conveyed to students. Although these authors find a good deal of consensus in …

Wild Horse Gathering For The Red Desert Complex Wild Horse Herd Management Areas (Lost Creek, Stewart Creek, Green Mountain, Crooks Mountain, Antelope Hills), United States Department Of The Interior, Bureau Of Land Management

Environmental Assessments (WY)

This Environmental Assessment (EA) has been prepared to disclose and analyze the environmental consequences of gathering excess wild horses in the Red Desert Wild Horse Herd Management Area (HMA) Complex. The HMAs included in this complex are Lost Creek, Stewart Creek, Green Mountain, Crooks Mountain and Antelope Hills. The EA is a site-specific analysis of potential impacts that could result with the implementation of a proposed action or alternatives to the proposed action. The EA assists the BLM in project planning and ensuring compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and in making a determination as to whether any …

Synthesis Of 12-Hete Using Asymmetric Phase-Transfer Catalysis, Michael A. Christiansen, M. B. Andrus

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Presentations

A new method of asymmetric phase-transfer-catalyzed alkylation is described. The synthetic utility of this method is demonstrated with the total syntheses of kurasoin A, kurasoin B, and S-naproxenTM, with current work toward S-equol. This methodology is currently being applied to an improved asymmetric total synthesis of the natural compound 12-S-HETE.

Effects Of Professional Development On Infusing Engineering Design Into High School Science, Technology, Engineering And Math (Stem) Curricula, Zanj Kano Avery

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of professional development (PD) on the infusion of engineering design into high school curricula. Four inservice teachers with backgrounds in physics, chemistry, industrial education, math, and electrical engineering participated in the 2006 National Center of Engineering and Technology Education (NCETE)-sponsored PD workshops at California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA) and provided three sources of data that were used to answer the research question, “What are the effects of PD on infusing engineering design into high school science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) curricula”? Three major themes emerged from the data. …

Relevance Of Ground-Based Electron-Induced Electrostatic Discharge Measurements To Space Plasma Environments, Jennifer A. Roth, Ryan Hoffmann, John R. Dennison, Jonathon R. Tippetts

All Physics Faculty Publications

Electron-induced electrostatic discharge (ESD) can lead to severe spacecraft anomalies. It is crucial to the success of space missions that the likelihood of ESD occurrence is understood and mitigated. To aid in predicting ESD occurrence, a model for electric fields above and below the charge layer inside an electronirradiated dielectric material was developed. An instrumentation system was also designed to induce and detect ESD events. Because ESD events with a wide range of maximum current values can occur over a range of time intervals, multiple simultaneous detection methods were employed as charge was accumulated on a sample surface; these included …

Heraclio Bernal: Bandit Citizen, Amy Robinson

Decimonónica

Shortly after Heraclio Bernal’s much awaited defeat to federal forces in 1888, the Governor of Sinaloa, Francisco Cañedo, referred to the state’s famous outlaw as “el bandido ciudadano” (El Nacional, 10 Jan. 1888).¹ The Mexico City newspaper El Nacional promptly registered their disapproval:

Saline Lakes Around The World : Unique Systems With Unique Values, 10th Isslr Conference And 2008 Friends Of Great Salt Lake Forum, May 11-16, 2008, University Of Utah, Salt Lake City, Aharon Oren, David L. Naftz, Patsy Palacios, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh

Natural Resources and Environmental Issues

No abstract provided.

Microbial Biodiversity Of Great Salt Lake, Utah, Bart C. Weimer, Giovanni Rompato, Jacob Parnell, Reed Gann, Balasubramanian Ganesan, Cristian Navas, Martin Gonzalez, Mario Clavel, Steven Albee-Scott

Natural Resources and Environmental Issues

Microbial biodiversity is difficult to measure in extreme environments due to the inability to culture many of the species, especially from hypersaline environments. Great Salt Lake (GSL), Utah, USA offers a unique ecology to study microbial diversity across a salt gradient. GSL has increasing salt from South to North that varies from marine salt concentrations to saturation, respectively. We used three methods to examine the biodiversity of the GSL-traditional cultivation on solid media, 16s rRNA gene sequencing, multiplexed 16s rRNA gene hybridization to the phylochip, and DNA hybridization to the Geochip for metabolic diversity estimates. Over 40 isolates from the …

Biostromes, Brine Flies, Birds And The Bioaccumulation Of Selenium In Great Salt Lake, ,Utah, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh

Natural Resources and Environmental Issues

Benthic organisms and substrates in Great Salt Lake, Utah, were sampled to measure selenium concentrations of prey organisms of the birds that utilize the lake for nesting and during migrations. The sampling was focused on stromatolite biostromes, as these solid reef-like structures cover approximately 23% of the oxic benthic area of the lake and are the principal habitat for brine fly (Ephydra cinerea) larvae and pupae. Samples were taken at depths of 1-5 m along two transects in Gilbert Bay were salinities ranged from 116-126 g 1-1...

Mercury Inputs To Great Salt Lake, Utah: Reconnaissance-Phase Results, David Naftz, Christopher Fuller, Jay Cederberg, David Krabbenhoft, John Whitehead, Jodi Garberg, Kimberly Beisner

Natural Resources and Environmental Issues

In response to increasing public concern regarding mercury (Hg) cycling in Great Salt Lake (GSL) ecosystem, a series of studies were initiated to differentiate between the mass of Hg from riverine versus atmospheric sources to GSL. Cumulative riverine Hg load to GSL during a 1 year time period (April 1, 2007 to March 31, 2008) was 6 kg, with almost 50% of the cumulative Hg load contributed by outflow from Farmington Bay. Comparison of cumulative annual atmospheric Hg deposition (32 kg) to annual riverine deposition (6 kg) indicates that atmospheric deposition is the dominant input source to GSL. A sediment …

Farmington Bay Wetlands Of Great Salt Lake: Nutrient Criteria, Macroinvertebrate Studies And Beneficial Uses, Theron G. Miller, Heidi M. Hoven, John F. Cavitt

Natural Resources and Environmental Issues

No abstract provided.

Developing Vegetation Metrics For The Assessment Of Beneficial Uses Of Impounded Wetlands Surrounding Great Salt Lake, Utah, Usa, Heidi M. Hoven, Theron G. Miller

Natural Resources and Environmental Issues

Many wetlands around Farmington Bay of Great Salt Lake are managed waterfowl habitat by means of impounding the flow at the terminus of the Jordan River. The majority of the Jordan River flow is comprised of the secondary-treated effluent of several municipal waste water treatment plants (WWTP), resulting in elevated phosphorus concentrations. This study was initiated to determine whether the assimilative capacity for phosphorus of the impounded wetlands had been exceeded, resulting in a negative impact to the submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) in the wetlands. The majority of the SAV is sago pondweed and western fineleaf pondweed (Stuckenia pectinata and …

Avian Response To Early Tidal Salt Marsh Restoration At Former Commercial Salt Evaporation Ponds In San Francisco Bay, California, Usa, Nicole D. Athearn, John Y. Takekawa, Joel M. Shinn

Natural Resources and Environmental Issues

Restoration of former commercial salt evaporation ponds in the San Francisco Bay estuary is intended to reverse a severe decline (>79%) in tidal salt marshes. San Francisco Bay is a critical migratory stopover site and wintering area for shorebirds and waterfowl, and salt ponds are important high tide roosting and foraging areas. Conservation of past bird abundance is a stated goal of area restoration projects, and early adaptive management will be critical for achieving this objective. However, initial avian response at sites restored to tidal flow may not be indicative of long-term results. For example, winter shorebirds at a …

Planktonic Bloom-Forming Nodularia In The Saline Lake Alchichica, Mexico, Maria Guadalupe Oliva, Alfonso Lugo, Javier Alcocer, Laura Peralata, Luis Alberto Oseguera

Natural Resources and Environmental Issues

Lake Alchichica displays a characteristic cyanobacterial bloom associated with the onset of the stratification period. It mostly consists of the nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium Nodularia spumigena. Filaments of Nodularia were straight, usually with an evident colorless, transparent sheath, with gas vesicles and without akinetes. The bloom developed in waters with a conductivity of 13.47 to 14.14 mS/cm. Water column temperature was between 14.1 and 21.2 C, the pH fluctuated between 8.8 and 10.0 and dissolved oxygen between 0 and 9.3 mg/l. The annual mean concentration of N-NO3 was highest in 2001 and lowest in 2000. For P-PO4 the highest mean value was …

Algal And Cyanobacterial Saline Biofilms Of The Grande Coastal Lagoon, Lima, Peru, Haydee Montoya

Natural Resources and Environmental Issues

Tropical coastal wetland ecosystems are widely distributed in arid regions. The Grande coastal lagoon in Peru's central plain is shallow, eutrophic and alkaline, exposed to the annual hydrological regime with flooding and desiccation periods, when a salt crust is formed. The brackish to hypersaline habitats showed salinity gradients from 2-90 ppt (NaCl) to saturation, pH values from 7.0 to 10.5, temperatures from 18 to 31 C, phosphate concentrations from 0.5 to 50 mg 1-1. Dominance of halophilic biofilms of benthic cyanobacteria followed by diatoms and the submerged macrohpytes Chara hornemannii and Ruppia maritima during the clear water state supported the …

Archaeal Diversity In The Dead Sea: Microbial Survival Under Increasingly Harsh Conditions, Idan Bodaker, Oded Beja, Itai Sharon, Roi Feingersch, Mira Rosenberg, Aharon Oren, Muna Y. Hindiyeh, Hanan I. Malkawi

Natural Resources and Environmental Issues

The Dead Sea is rapidly drying out. The lake is supersaturated with NaCl, and precipitated of halite from the water column has led to a decrease in sodium content, while concentrations of magnesium and calcium greatly increased, making the lake an ever more extreme environment for microbial life. In the past decades, blooms of algae (Dunaliella) and halophilic Archaea were twice observed in the lake (1980-1982 and 1992-1995), triggered by massive inflow of freshwater floods, but no conditions suitable for renewed microbial growth have occurred since. To examine whether the Death Sea in its current state (density 1.24 g ml-1, …

Diel Variability And Community Metabolism In African Soda Lakes, John M. Melack

Natural Resources and Environmental Issues

Information theory based indices of predictability were used to quantify seasonal differences in diel variability of dissolved oxygen and temperature in Lakes Elmenteita and Sonachi. Predictability of patterns in diel variability was high in both lakes for water temperatures and dissolved oxygen. Community metabolism was measured in Lake Elmenteita, a shallow, Kenyan soda lake based on a series of vertical profiles of dissolved oxygen and temperature measured about monthly over several days for 13 periods from February 1973 to May 1974. Variations in areal oxygen content at successive intervals throughout each day and night were corrected for air-water oxygen exchange …

Long-Term Mesocosm Simulation Of Algal And Archaeal Blooms In The Dead Sea Following Dilution With Red Sea Water, Aharon Oren, Jonha Gavrieli, Marco Kohen, Joseph Lati, Mordehay Aharoni, Ittai Gavrieli

Natural Resources and Environmental Issues

To understand the factors that determine the extent of blooms of the unicellular green alga Dunaliella and halophilic Archaea in the Dead Sea, and to predict the possible effects of the planned conveyance of Red Sea water to the Dead Sea, we performed simulation experiments in the 0.9 m3 outdoor mesocosms on the grounds of the Dead Sea Works Ltd. at Sedom, as well as in the laboratory. The laboratory simulations showed that development of the Dunaliella was possible only when Dead Sea water (340 g 1-1 total dissolved salts) was diluted with minimally 10% (by volume) of Red Sea …

Biodiversity Of Inland Saltscapes Of The Iberian Peninsula, Katia Hueso Kortekaas, Jesus-F. Carrasco Vaya

Natural Resources and Environmental Issues

The Iberian Peninsula hosts a wide variety of inland saltscapes, from man-made solar evaporation salterns to hyper-saline lakes and salt rivers, most of them unknown to other European countries. The present contribution deals with this diversity of saltscapes, briefly introduces their main features and locations, and presents a general overview of their conservation status. Some of their natural values are not even well understood by the scientists themselves, and therefore they are very rare and fragile and in need of protection. However, many of these natural saltscapes have been and are currently under threat, having been desiccated, used as waste …

Role Of Phytoplankton In Sediment Formation In Lakes With Pelogenous Potential, Liana Gheorghievici

Natural Resources and Environmental Issues

No abstract provided.

Aral Sea: Water Level, Salinity And Long-Term Changes In Biological Communities Of An Endangered Ecosystem-Past, Present And Future, Nickolay V. Aladin, Igor S. Plotnikov, Philip Micklin, Thomas Ballatore

Natural Resources and Environmental Issues

The Aral Sea, which before 1960 was the fourth largest lake in the world, has now split into four separate water bodies. This break-up and desiccation mainly resulted from upstream irrigation withdrawals from the two main influent rivers, the Syr Darya and and Amu Darya. The negative effects on the lake ecosystem due to declining water level and increasing salinity, as well as the profound socioeconomic and human impacts to the riparian populations, have been well documented. This paper focuses on the conservation and rehabilitation efforts for four remaining key water bodies of the Aral Sea: the Northern (Small) Aral …

Characterization Of A Eukaryotic Picoplankton Alga, Strain Dgn-Z1, Isolated From A Soda Lake In Inner Mongolia, China, Kong Fanjing, Jia Qinxian, Er Jia, Zheng Mianping

Natural Resources and Environmental Issues

Dagenoer Soda Lake is located on the Xilinhaote plateau in Inner Mongolia at an elevation of 1289 m. Blooms of one predominant kind of picoplankton algae were found in the lake throughout the year. A strain of this picoplankton alga, designated DGN-Z1, was isolated in axenic culture. Its cells are spherical or oval, 2-3 in diameter; it grows optimally at 0.5-1 M NaCl, and tolerates pH values from 7 to 12. Phylogenetic analysis based on sequence similarity of the 18S rRNA gene suggested that it belongs to the green algal species Picocystis salinarum.

Effects Of Mining On A Salt Lake In The Western Australia Goldfields, Bindy M. Datson

Natural Resources and Environmental Issues

No abstract provided.

Study Of The Saline Lakes Of The Esperance Hinterland, Western Australia, With Special Reference To The Roles Of Acidity And Episodicity, Brian V. Timms

Natural Resources and Environmental Issues

Most saline lakes are alkaline, but acid ground waters in some southern areas in Western Australia cause some to have pHs as low as 3. Their fauna is severely restricted to an endemic brine shrimp (Paratemia sp.), a copepod Calamoecia trilobata, and two species of ostracods, including Australocypris bennetti. Nearby alkaline salt lakes show an attenuating fauna with increasing salinity with dominance by various crustaceans particularly Paratemia spp., various ostracods, copepods, Daphnia (Daphniopsis) truncata, Haloniscus searlei and snails including Coxiella glauerti, as is typical in salinas in southern Australia. When both types of lakes fill with episodic rain, their salinity …

Waterbirds Of The Saline Lakes Of The Paroo, Arid-Zone Australia: A Review With Special Reference To Diversity And Conservation, Brian V. Timms

Natural Resources and Environmental Issues

About sixty species of waterbird live in the Paroo area of Australia and most of these have been recorded on its 150+ saline lakes of various salinities and sizes. Unlike water plants, invertebrates and fish, avian species richness is hardly influenced by salinity in the Paroo, although the data suggest that richness might be lower in hypersaline lakes. Common species at salinities , 30 g/l include Eurasian coot, Black swan, Pink-eared duck, Grey teal, and Australian pelican while at salinities > 100 g/l Red-necked avocets and stilts are common. Because saline lakes generally have more abundant food than freshwater lakes, waterbirds …

Effect Of Salt On Germination Of Samphire Species, Jacqueline E. Purvis, Bindy Datson, Kathy Meney, Jen Mccomb, Mark Coleman

Natural Resources and Environmental Issues

Nine Halosarcia plant species from Lake Carey, Western Australia, were tested to determine the effect of salt on seed germination. These species were Halosarcia 'Angel Fish Island' (B. Davey 4) Halosarcia calyptrata Paul G. Wilson, Halosarcia halocnemoides (Nees) Paul G. Wilson, Halosarcia peltata Paul G. Wilson, Halosarcia pergranulata (J. M. Black) Paul G. Wilson, Halosarcia undulata Paul G. Wilson. All species were subjected to salt concentrations of 0, 10, 20 and 30 g/l NaCl both in the laboratory in Petri dishes and under outdoor conditions, wither buried or on the surface of soil from the lake margin. The nine species …

Oxygen Production And Use In Benthic Mats Of Solar Salt Ponds, Mark U. Coleman

Natural Resources and Environmental Issues

The benthic mat in the ponds of solar salt producers is important because as a beneficial effect, the mat reduces loss of brine from the field but it unfortunately also supports species which can have a serious detrimental effect on the halite crystallization process. Anaerobic and aerobic activity of the mat which is thought to be a significant factor in the management of the salt field is not quantified by traditional monitoring methods. A method of measuring the generation of oxygen from benthic algal mats, tested in the north west of Western Australia at three solar salt fields has been …