Digital Commons Network^™

Aflatoxin B1 Metabolism In Mammalian Pulmonary Tissue, J. Michael Eichelberger

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Aflatoxin B₁ (AFB₁) is a potent dietary hepatocarcinogen and may be a lung carcinogen when inhaled. To study the relative ability of lung and liver to metabolize AFB₁, a susceptible (Swiss-Webster rat) and resistant species (Syrian golden hamster) were pretreated with inducing agents in order to identify specific AFB₁ metabolizing enzymes in each tissue.

Analysis of AFB₁-exo-epoxide (AFBO) formation, O-dealkynation assays, and protein immunoblots demonstrated that cytochrome P450 (CYP) 1A proteins were overexpressed in both the lung and liver of hamsters pretreated with 3-methylchyolanthrene (3-MC). Only CYP1A1 was expressed in the lung …

Preventive Predation Management: An Evaluation Using Winter Aerial Coyote Hunting In Utah And Idaho, Kimberly Kessler Wagner

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

To evaluate preventive aerial coyote hunting as a depredation management technique, I compared sheep losses to coyote (Canis latrans) predation and the hours of corrective predation management required on summer grazing areas with and without hunting the prior winter from helicopters. Correlations were used to test for relationships between the extent, intensity, and timing of aerial hunting and lamb losses to coyote predation. Data on the age, sex, and reproductive status of coyotes killed using aerial hunting on coyote populations.

Winter aerial hunting reduced confirmed and estimated lamb losses to coyote predation and the hours of effort required …

Wetland Delineation Of Camp Ripley In Minnesota, Richard A. Spencer

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Department of Defense (DoD) maintains approximately 25 million acres of land that is used for military training in the continental United States. Currently, federal and state laws and regulations require that the DoD land be managed so that any activity, including training, will have a minimal effect on the natural environment.

An Investigation Of Social Skills And Antisocial Behaviors Of At-Risk Youth: Construct Validation Of The Home And Community Social Behavior Scales, Paul Caldarella

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The major purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the construct validity of a new parent rating scale, the Home and Community Social Behavior Scales (HCSBS), that was used to measure the social skills and antisocial behaviors of at-risk youth in Northern Utah. The results indicate that the HCSBS possesses strong internal consistency with high alphas. Convergent validity with both teacher ratings and student self-ratings of social competence and antisocial behavior appeared slight. Discriminant validity was indicated by the near zero correlations between the HCSBS and the KTEA. The instrument appeared able to detect group differences as indicated by the …

The Efficacy Of Guided Imagery For Recovery From Anterior Cruciate Ligament (Acl) Replacement, Deborah D. Durso-Cupal

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

As an exploratory, developmental injury intervention study, this research investigated the efficacy of providing psychological intervention in the form of relaxation and guided imagery to a group of orthopedic patients recovering from major knee surgery. Utilizing a prospective, experimental research design with 30 subjects randomly assigned to either an intervention, placebo, or control group, this study employed physiological as well as psychological outcome measures. Intervention consisted of 10 individual mental practice sessions for intervention group members as an adjunct to physical therapy. Content of these sessions was intentionally designed to facilitate physiotherapy goals. Imagery protocols with which to deliver these …

The Interactive And Combined Effects Of Domain-Specific Knowledge And Strategic Knowledge On Reading Comprehension, Eric J. Gee

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The literature in reading comprehension has demonstrated that both domain-specific knowledge and strategic knowledge are vital to good comprehension. However, few studies have actually compared the effects of the two types of knowledge on reading comprehension. Fewer studies have examined the effects of combining the two strategies even though cognitive theories indicate that true comprehension occurs when certain procedures act upon knowledge constructed from the text being read and "link" that knowledge with knowledge in the long-term memory.

This study compared subjects receiving strategic knowledge and content knowledge to subjects receiving strategic knowledge only, subjects receiving content-knowledge only, and a …

An Investigation Of The Psychometric Properties And Factor Structure Of The Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms Rating Scale For Children And Adolescents, Melissa Lea Holland

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most frequent problems for which children are referred to mental health clinics in the United States, affecting approximately 3-5% of the childhood population. Although adequate assessment and identification of this disorder is imperative, most of the currently existing rating scales available to assess for ADHD in the childhood population are inadequate. The present research study involved the investigation of the factor structure and psychometric properties of a new behavior rating scale, the ADHD Symptoms Rating Scale (ADHD-SRS), developed for the assessment of ADHD in the school-age (K-12) population.

The participants in this …

Preliminary Development And Content Validation Of A Rating Scale For Assessing Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder In Children, Melissa Lea Holland

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is currently one of the most frequent problems for which children are referred to mental health clinics in this country, affecting approximately 3-5% of the childhood population. Although adequate assessment and identification of this disorder is imperative, most of the currently existing measures to assess for ADHD in children are inadequate . The present research study involved the development and content validation of a new behavior rating scale prototype for assessing ADHD in the school-age (K-12) population.

This research was conducted in five distinct steps: (a) item development; (b) development of the prototype; (c) content validation …

An Examination Of Cognitive And Behavioral Characteristics Of Kainaiwa Children Diagnosed With Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Deborah Faith Pace

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The present study examined the scores of 450 Kainaiwa children from Kindergarten to grade 3 on social, behavioral, cognitive and cultural measures. The subjects consisted of children in three different classification groups: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), Special Education, and Regular Education. The purpose of the study was to examine group membership to determine whether or not children who were diagnosed as FAS presented unique intellectual, behavioral, social and cultural characteristics from those of their regular and special education peers.

These results support the conclusion of previous research that FAS children differ significantly from their special and regular education peers. No …

The Relationship Between Graduate Students' Education In Research Ethics And Their Attitudes Toward Research Misconduct, Perry Sailor

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A mail survey of a nationwide sample of department heads in university departments of mechanical engineering, physiology, and psychology was conducted, in order to determine what these departments were doing to educate their Ph.D. students in research ethics. Department heads were also asked to supply names of the Ph.D. students in their departments. Based on the survey responses, departments within each discipline were then divided into those placing a relatively high versus low emphasis on teaching research ethics. Random samples of students in each emphasis category for each discipline were then surveyed and asked to rate the seriousness of 44 …

Differences In Creative Thinking Between American And Japanese College Students In Education, Noriko Saeki

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Fifty-one American and 54 Japanese college students in education were tested to investigate whether there were any cross-cultural differences in creative thinking. No gender differences were found in both cultures, but the American college students had higher scores on the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) figural test than the Japanese college students. The difference was statistically significant and the effect size was large. Very low correlations were found between the TTCT and the American 111 College Testing (ACT) for the American college students and between the TTCT and the Center Test for the Japanese college students.

The Relationship Between Guilt- And Shame-Proneness And Rorschach Indices Of Psychological Functioning, Julie Bingham Shiffler

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the degrees of proneness to the self-conscious emotions of nonruminative guilt, ruminative guilt, and shame and several indices of psychological functioning, including depression, narcissism, anger, dysphoric affect, cooperation, need for affection, and self-inspection, in a college population. Gender differences were also examined.

A measure of psychological functioning (the Rorschach) and a measure of guilt- and shame-proneness (the Test of Self-Conscious Affect--Modified) were administered to 91 college students (43 males and 48 females). Females reported higher levels of all three self-conscious emotions. The only gender difference found among the psychological …

An Investigation Of Internalizing Social-Emotional Characteristics In A Sample Of Lakota Sioux Children, Michael Shawn Williams

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

It has only been recently that research in childhood psychopathology has focused on a group of disorders referred to as internalizing disorders. Internalizing disorders can include such problems as depression. anxiety, social withdrawal, and somatic complaints.

Even though research has begun to focus on internalizing disorders with majority children. there has been very little research conducted on ethnic minority children, Native American children in particular. The present study involved obtaining a Native American sample and determining their internalizing symptomology utilizing the Internalizing Symptom Scale for Children (ISSC), the Reynolds Child Depression Scale (RCDS), and the State Trait Anxiety Inventory for …

Geochemical, Petrologic, And Structural Characterization At Multiple Scales Of Deformation Associated With The Punchbowl Fault, Southern California, Steven E. Schulz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Three traverses across the exhumed trace of the Punchbowl fault zone in the Pelona Schist, southern California, were examined at the millimeter to kilometer scales to determine the morphology, deformation mechanisms, and geochemistry of the fault zone in schistose rocks. The Pelona Schist is predominantly a quartz-albite-muscovite-actinolite schist with associated minor metabasalts. The Punchbowl fault zone, which is exhumed 2-4 km, has 44 km of right lateral slip, and is composed of a fault core enveloped by a damaged zone.

The fault core is a region of extreme slip localization that records most fault displacement. Deformation in the fault core …

A Study Of The Interactions Between Milk Proteins And Soy Proteins, Venkatachalam Narayanaswamy

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This research investigates the protein interactions that occur when soy protein is added to milk and subjected to renneting or heating. Milk was fortified with 20% soy protein and enzymic coagulation studied at 35°C at various pH's and CaCl₂ levels. The first part deals with the interaction between milk and soy proteins during rennet-induced milk coagulation. The first goal was to determine how soy proteins affected milk coagulation. The effects of native versus heat-denatured soy proteins on rennet coagulation time and curd firmness were compared. lmmunogold labeling along with transmission electron microscopy was used to identify and localfze soy …

Evaluation Of Methods Used In Meat Iron Analyses And Iron Content Of Raw, Cooked, And Cured Meats, Eldred Merlyn Clark

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This research project was divided into three parts. In the first part, heme, nonheme, and total iron methodologies for meats were evaluated. The accuracy, precision, and specificity of each method were determined by spike recoveries of heme and nonheme iron, and by analysis of National Institute of Science and Technology standard reference materials. The most reliable and practical methods were then used to determine the total, nonheme, and heme iron contents of various meats before and after cooking. The meats analyzed were beef, pork, lamb, chicken, and turkey. The wet-ashing technique was a novel procedure in which nitric acid was …

Quantitation Of Bovine Serum Albumin In Cow's-Milk-Based Infant Formulas And Removal Of Bovine Serum Albumin From Cow's Milk And Whey Protein Isolates, Patricia Z. Marincic

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Early introduction of cow's-milk-based infant formulas, in particular the ABBOS epitope of bovine serum albumin (BSA), has been implicated as an autoimmune trigger in the pathogenesis of insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). A direct enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA), using polyclonal anti-BSA antibodies, was developed to determine the BSA content of cow's milk and 15 infant formulas. Powdered high-whey (60%) formulas averaged 41 mg BSA/100 ml; 2% milk contained 52 mg BSA/100 ml; and the high-casein formulas averaged 13 mg/100 ml. BSA content of powdered polymeric formulas and cow's milk varied directly with the whey protein concentration (correlation coefficient = 0.8445, …

Development Of Super-Dwarf Wheat Under Stress Conditions Simulating Those On The Space Station Mir, Liming Jiang

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Super-Dwarf wheat plants were grown in simulation growth chambers under 12 treatments with three photoperiods (18 h, 21 h, 24 h) and four carbon-dioxide levels (360, 1200, 3000, and 7000 μmol/mol). Carbon-dioxide concentrations affected flower initiation rates of Super-Dwarf wheat. The optimum CO₂ level for flower initiation and development was 1200 μmol•mol^-1. Super-optimum CO₂ levels delayed flower initiation, but did not decrease final flower bud number per head. Longer photoperiods not only accelerated flower initiation rates, but also decreased deleterious effects of super-optimum C0². Flower bud size and head length at the same developmental …

Evaluation Of Physical And Behavioral Traits Of Llamas (Lama Glama) Associated With Aggressiveness Toward Sheep-Threatening Canids, Sandra M. C. Cavalcanti

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Canid predation poses a serious threat to the sheep industry in the United States. Llamas are becoming popular among livestock producers as part of their predation management programs but there is little information on the factors associated with llama guarding behavior. This study examined several physical and behavioral attributes of individual llamas to assess whether they might predict the aggressiveness llamas display coward canids. The study was conducted in three phases. The first involved determining some physical and behavioral traits of individual llamas. Twenty individuals were randomly assigned to one of four groups (n = 5/group) and frequencies with which …

Identification Of Belowground Woody Structures Using Molecular Biomarkers, Benny R. Bobowski

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Within the last two decades substantial progress has been made in understanding seed bank dynamics and the contribution of the soil seed bank to a post-disturbance plant community. There has been relatively little progress, however, in understanding perennial bud bank dynamics and the contribution of the soil bud bank to secondary succession. This lack of information is due primarily to the inability to reliably identify roots, rhizomes, and lignotubers that lie dormant beneath the soil surface. This scientific investigation, therefore, addressed the issue of identification of belowground woody structures.

The first objective was to develop a methodology that utilizes molecular …

Effects Of Flow Augmentation On Channel Morphology And Riparian Vegetation In The Upper Arkansas River Basin, Colorado, Dewitt S. Dominick

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study examined historic change of riparian plant communities and fluvial geomorphic response of gravel-bedded streams and their floodplains to over 50 years of hydrologic disturbance. Four tributary basins of the Arkansas River were analyzed. Lake Creek, Clear Creek, and Cottonwood Creek are drainages similar in area, physiography, and vegetation composition. However, Lake Creek may receive an instantaneous discharge of approximately 28 m3sec^-1 from the Twin Lakes tunnel, over three times the normal flow of the stream during spring runoff. By contrast, Clear Creek and Cottonwood Creek, nonaugmented streams, were used as controls to compare the historic and present …

Modelling Vegetation Cover Types Using Multiseasonal Remotely Sensed Data To Compare Ecotones At Multiple Spatial And Spectral Resolutions, Kimberly Patraw

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Army National Guard Bureau has implemented a cooperative project with Utah State University to help with the use, display, and evaluation of environmental data for maintaining land condition. Camp Grayling, Michigan, is comprised of deciduous and evergreen forest types. Use of remote sensing for classification has been limited in this region due to the difficulty of species-level classification using single-date remote-sensing techniques. Also, remote sensing has traditionally focused on mapping homogenous zones rather than vegetation boundaries, while one of the concerns for land managers is the nature of vegetation edges (ecotones).

This study analyzed each season and band from …

The Economic Role Of Range Livestock Production In Kasungu Agricultural Development Division (Kadd), Malawi, Phillip H. W. Phiri

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study was conducted to determine the effects of season and auction and produce marketing systems on prices received by farmers for livestock sales and the effect of price on cattle numbers sold in KADD. Livestock population, carrying capacity, and stocking rate were estimated. Data were analyzed using pie charts, regression methods, and analysis of variance.

There was no significant difference (P=.06) between cattle prices per kilogram during the wet season and after harvest. During the wet season, significantly more cattle were sold than after harvest (P< .001) to purchase food and farm inputs, and pay school fees and medical bills. Market price was only a secondary factor.

Carrying capacity and stocking rate were estimated at 15.00 kg …

Delineation Of Ecological Units For The Ashley National Forest, At The Landscape Level, Using Classification Tree Modeling, Teresa H. Swiatek

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study integrated remotely sensed data, geographic information system (GIS), and classification tree-based modeling to delineate ecological units for the Ashley National Forest. Data points, provided by the Ashley National Forest, with a known location and dominant vegetation type, were related to data layers that were determined to be helpful in a landtype classification. These layers included elevation, slope, aspect, potential solar irradiation, precipitation, geology, basins, Landsat thematic mapper (TM) bands 3, 4, 5, and 6, and basic land cover. These points, with their related information, were then used to train the tree-based model for landtype classification. This resulted in …

Merits Of Using Tranquilizer Trap Devices On Leg-Hold Traps Used To Capture Gray Wolves (Canis Lupus), Duane P. Sahr

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Gray wolves (Canis lupus) are frequently captured with leg-hold traps for reintroduction, relocation to reduce depredations on livestock, or as subjects for research projects. Wolves captured with leg-hold traps often sustain injuries to their feet, legs, and teeth during struggles to escape. Other studies have shown that the use of tranquilizer devices on leg-hold traps reduces such injuries to coyotes. This study (1) assessed whether use of tranquilizer trap devices (TTDs) on leg-hold traps reduced the severity of injuries sustained by captured wolves, and (2) examined the effects TTDs have on nontarget species caught during wolf capture operations. Data were …

Effectiveness Of Grid Systems For Pheromone-Trapping Sparse Gypsy Moth Populations In Mountainous Terrain In The Intermountain West, Colleen Keyes

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Two field experiments determined an effective intertrap distance (ITD) for early detection and delimitation sparse gypsy moth (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae, Lymantria dispar L.) populations in mountainous terrain. This study found that current Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service trapping guidelines are not sufficient for early detection of small gypsy moth populations in mountainous terrain. Detection trapping in mountainous terrain should have an ITD of not more than 804 m. Delimiting trapping should use a grid design with an ITD of 152 m.

A related study determined natural adult male mortality in the climate of the intermountain West, which includes Utah, Nevada, …

Bark Beetle Activity In Douglas-Fir, Pseudotsuga Menziesii Var. Glauca Mirb. (Franco), Following The 1994 Beaver Mountain Fire, Catherine A. Cunningham

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The 1994 Beaver Mountain fire ignited the canopies of subalpine fir, Abies lasiocarpa, and spread ground fire into adjacent Douglas-fir forests, Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca. Despite shorter flight seasons due to lower annual temperatures and persistent snow, the Douglas-fir bark beetle, Dendroctonus pseudotsugae Hopkins, attacked a range of moderately fire-injured host conifers. Logistic regression models illustrated that in 1995 associated bark beetles selected large diameter Douglas-fir with 60-80% bole char, 60-80% crown volume scorch, and 50-70% probability of mortality due to fire. In 1996 beetle preference shifted to smaller diameter trees with lighter fire injury. Tree size was …

Evolutionary Genetics Of Canyon Treefrogs (Hyla Arenicolor), Roy A. Murray

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Population genetics is the study of the mechanisms that cause genetic change in populations over time. Genetic changes may lead to both adaptive evolution and speciation. While the former process is fairly well understood, many questions remain unanswered with regard to the process of speciation. How important is population isolation in the process of speciation? How long must populations be isolated before speciation is complete? Are the genetic changes that take place during speciation caused mainly by natural selection or does genetic drift play a substantial role? Can genetic drift alone lead to reproductive isolation? These types of questions have …

Journals Under Attack: Faculty And Researchers' Creative Solutions To Access Problems (Or, Theft Is The Answer. What Was The Question?), Judith R.J. Johnson, Betty Rozum

Library Faculty & Staff Publications

Escalating journal subscription costs and concurrent library and institutional budget cuts have precipitated the cancellation of journal subscriptions by many research and academic libraries. How does the faculty and research community obtain the information no longer provided for them by their university libraries? Resource sharing among libraries has been a traditional solution to this dilemma, but is not the only solution employed by researchers and faculty. Part of a study conducted at Utah State University (USU) examines the methods faculty and researchers use to obtain access to materials not held by the University Libraries, focusing on identifying unique or unconventional …

Utah Science Vol. 58 No. 1, Spring 1997

Utah Science

2 UTAH’S PRIVATE FORESTS IN DANGER

6 DON’T BLAME SYNTHETIC CHEMICALS FOR CANCER

10 GETTING TO THE ROOT OF FOREST DISEASE

12 MANAGING THE LAND FOR THE PEOPLE … AN D WITH THE PEOPLE

16 SMOKEY BEAR … THE REST OF THE STORY