Digital Commons Network^™

Application Of A Self-Disinfecting Surface For Hemodialysis, Katie Christensen, Sierra Flores, Ivy Hansen, Cody Paraso, Andrea Peterson

Biological Engineering

The Biological Engineering Department at Utah State University (USU) is collaborating with Fresenius Medical Care (FMC) to develop a novel method of bacterial reduction for hemodialysis systems.

In the United States, approximately 34% of reported hemodialysis hospitalizations have been due to infections [1]. The water inlet line was identified as an area with potential to introduce bacteria into the system.

Nutrient Management: Heterotrophic Nitrification, Zac Mcclellan, Jaden Storrer, Anna Scribner, Jayce Bradley

Biological Engineering

The removal of nitrogen in the form of ammonia from wastewater is an important yet expensive step in treatment often done in two stages, typically by different autotrophic nitrifiers:

- Nitrification: Ammonia is converted to Nitrite and Nitrate.

- Denitrification: Nitrate is converted to nitrogen gas (N2)

Heterotrophic nitrifiers like Alcaligenes faecalis are able to perform both processes and reduce the two step treatment process to one.

Previously, experiments were performed on Alcaligenes faecalis in a synthetic wastewater environment to determine the kinetic constants for a substrate-dependent ammonia removal rate (Michaelis Mentin Kinetics).

Bare: Zero Waste Grocery Store, Kelcie Buchanan

Student Research Symposium

Waste from food and its packaging is increasing worldwide at an unmanageable rate. In the United States, packaging from food makes up nearly a quarter of landfill waste. Additionally, in the U.S. every year over 60 million metric tons of food a year is wasted and 32 million metric tons of it end up dumped in landfills. Almost half of the food purchased by people ends up in the trash because it goes bad too fast. That equates to $162 billion of food that goes to the landfill and adds to the methane issue in our atmosphere. Bare zero waste …

Does Maternal Psychological Risk Affect Responsive Parenting Practices And Infant Emotion Regulation?, Haylie Demercy

Student Research Symposium

Poor parental mental health outcomes can have negative effects on infant attachment and emotion regulation (Swain et al., 2007). Maternal depression (Paulson et al., 2006) and parenting stress (Coyl et al., 2002) have been correlated with reduced maternal responsiveness and negative infant social-emotional outcomes (El-Sheikh et al., 2009). Neuroimaging techniques have shown that attachment and responsive parenting practices lead to increased emotion regulation and secure attachment throughout childhood (Miller and Commons, 2010). The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of maternal psychological risk on responsive parenting practices during parent-infant play interactions and infant emotion regulation in a …

Small-Amplitude Oscillations That Pass Through The North Pole, Cade Pankey

Student Research Symposium

As seen by an earthbound observer that rotates with the earth, objects that move without friction on its ellipsoidal surface are subject to the Coriolis force, which produces oscillatory motions called inertial oscillations. This project analyzes inertial oscillations that pass through the North Pole using a perturbation expansion in the velocity amplitude. The frequency of small-amplitude oscillations is found to be twice the frequency of the Earth’s rotation. Presentation Time: Wednesday, 2-3 p.m.Zoom link: https://usu-edu.zoom.us/j/87892002075?pwd=Ym1Tcy9NOVhaaGZWczZWY1JCL3owUT09

Development And Validation Of A Basic Ground Skills Assessment (Bgsa) For Equine-Assisted Services, Sarah Andersen

Student Research Symposium

Equine-assisted services incorporate the interaction of humans who face mental, physical, emotional, and/or social challenges and equines for therapeutic purposes. Recreational, physical, mental, social, and/or emotional goals are met through various equine-assisted services such as therapies, learning, and horsemanship. As recommended by those in the equine industry seeking to reduce equine-related human injuries, equines should be evaluated prior to participation in equine-assisted services. The Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International recommends the use of an unbiased equine assessment tool to conduct this evaluation; unfortunately, there are no validated methods that exist to meet this criterion. Therefore, our group has developed …

Utah Majesties: A Sustainable Rug Collection, Emeryann Hare

Student Research Symposium

“Art will never be able to exist without nature” - Pierre Bonnard Utah’s outdoor escapes are as diverse as they are spectacular. From the Wasatch Mountain Range all the way down to the red rocks of Lake Powell, Utah is filled with nature’s most extraordinary artwork. Inspired by four contrasting environments, the Wasatch Mountain Range, Bonneville Salt Flats, Little Sahara, and Arches National Park, this project seeks to feature abstractions for a sustainable rug collection. Featuring the diversity of these four landscapes, each rug design was conducted thoughtfully through the study of science, understanding of history, and personal involvement. This …

The Impact Of St. Bridget On Margery Kempe, Xiomara Castro

Student Research Symposium

In Medieval Europe, the Roman Catholic Church began to shift into an established institution, which led to an increase of people becoming saints. For Roman Catholics, saints are an important part of the faith. In the medieval period, many revelations and visions of Christ became well-known amongst people throughout Europe. One famous saint, St. Bridget of Sweden, became canonized and achieve sainthood rather quickly because she had support from her community and was born into nobility, unlike the famous pilgrim Margery Kempe. Kempe is known for being the first woman to write an autobiography in the English language. Kempe did …

Identification, Isolation And Characterization Of A Novel Glucosyltransferase From Beauveria Bassiana, Jie Ren

Student Research Symposium

Quercetin is a naturally occurring phenolic compound that is commonly used due to its various biological activities, but its low aqueous solubility and poor bioavailability hinder further clinical applications. For assessing the effect of the glycosylation of quercetin on its aqueous solubility, one glucosyltransferase gene (BbGT) was cloned from the genome of the strain Beauveria bassiana ATCC 7159 and heterologously expressed in different microorganism host cells, namely Escherichia coli, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Pseudomonas putida, and Pichia pastoris. Then, the glycosyltransferase was purified, and its glycosylation capacity toward quercetin was verified. The result showed that the purified BbGT (50.4 kDa) could convert …

Optimal Control Of Algae Biofilm Growth In Wastewater Treatment Using Computational Mathematical Models, Gerald Jones

Student Research Symposium

Microalgal biofilms are comprised of a syntrophic consortium of microalgae and other microorganisms embedded within an extracellular matrix. Despite significant processes in the application of microalgal biofilms in wastewater treatment, mechanistic understanding and optimization of microalgal biomass yield and productivity under environmental constraints is still lacking. This paper identifies theoretical insights on this challenging biological problem by leveraging novel mathematical and computational tools. In particular, this is a systematic parameter study in utilizing a computational mathematical model to advance the understanding of microalgal biofilm growth kinetics under environmental constraints. Moreover, the design of algae biofilm reactors for optimal biomass yield …

Establishment Of A Coyote Brain Atlas: Counterstaining Techniques In A Canid Brain, Auria Staheli, Nate Johnson

Student Research Symposium

Oxytocin is commonly known as “the love hormone,” as it is the neurotransmitter responsible for pair bonding in many mammalian species, including humans. However, it and its related hormone vasopressin also have other very important and wide ranging functions for physical, emotional, and social well-being. The Freeman neurobiology lab is working to map the location of oxytocin and vasopressin receptors within brains of the common coyote (Canis latrans). This work will permit comparisons with the brains of other pair-bond-forming mammals and will further our understanding of how these transmitters and their receptors affect behavior. However, inferring the locations of these …

Why Is The Art Deco Style So Infuential Today?, Madeleine Schappert

Student Research Symposium

The Age of Chic, Jazz Age, Flapper Decade, and lastly the Roaring Twenties, were all appealing names to describe the period of time between World War I and World War II. How the 1920s became such a grand inspiration from then until now is striking. Art Deco, one of the most famous styles of furniture and architecture in history, came out of this period. Even now, a century later, Art Deco is drawn upon for inspiration from artists, designers, and architects around the world. The age of the 20s was a new time for the world to get a better …

An Exploration Into Polynomial Functional Graph Mapping Problems, Braysen Goodwin

Student Research Symposium

This study focuses on sets which contain compositions of functions controlled by a network. This research restricts to finding when a composition which maps a given real x to a given real y exists in the set when all functions are polynomials. To find if these mappings exist, a set of equations are constructed which represents the mappings of all compositions in the set. This exploration intersects with research about recurrence relations and can result in quadratic maps and linear diophantine equations.Presentation Time: Wednesday, 1-2 p.m.

Reducing Anger Race Bias Through Emotion Recognition Training: A Proposal, Marisa Davis, Joana Rousseau

Student Research Symposium

Since January 1st, 2015, 119 unarmed Black males have been shot and killed by police (Washington Post, 2020). Anger race bias is the tendency to misidentify expressions of emotion, specifically anger, in Black or racially ambiguous faces (Hutchings & Haddock, 2008). Anger race bias and misidentification of expressions of emotion contribute to police perceiving Black suspects to be more hostile and dangerous than White suspects, and unarmed minorities are twice as likely as their white counterparts to be shot by police (Nix et al., 2017). Hutchings & Haddock (2008) found that Black faces are more likely to be perceived as …

Is Mitigation Of Drought Stress By Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Driven By A Nano-Specific Mechanism Or Mitigation Of Micronutrient Deficiency?, Justin Deakin

Student Research Symposium

It has been reported that zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (NPs) can promote drought tolerance in crops when used as soil amendments. However, many of these experiments were conducted in Zn-deficient growth media with no comparison to currently available Zn fertilization methods, making it unclear if the benefits from adding ZnO NPs were caused by a nano-specifc mechanism or simply by the mitigation of a micronutrient deficiency. A review of the literature shows that of 12 published experiments considering the effects of ZnO NPs on plant health, 5 out of 6 studies that did not include a comparison to currently available …

Resurgence And Repeated Within-Session Progressive-Internal Thinning Of Alternative Reinforcement, Tony Nist

Student Research Symposium

Resurgence of a previously suppressed target behavior is common when reinforcement for a more recently reinforced alternative behavior is thinned. To better characterize such resurgence, these experiments examined repeated within-session alternative reinforcement thinning using a progressive-interval (PI) schedule with rats. In Experiment 1, a transition from a high rate of alternative reinforcement to a within-session PI schedule generated robust resurgence, but subsequent complete removal of alternative reinforcement produced no additional resurgence. Experiment 2 replicated these findings and showed similar effects with a fixed-interval (FI) schedule arranging similarly reduced session-wide rates of alternative reinforcement. Thus, the lack of additional resurgence following …

Margery Kempe As The Medieval Magdalene In The Book Of Margery Kempe, Shelby Hanks

Student Research Symposium

This project examines the influence of Mary Magdalene on Margery Kempe in the fifteenth-century autobiography The Book of Margery Kempe. First, I explore the evolution of the Mary Magdalene story from antiquity to the Middle Ages, tracking her appearances in the New Testament Gospels and looking at her entry in Jacobus de Voragine’s thirteenth-century anthology of saints’ lives, The Golden Legend. After establishing what the Mary Magdalene story looked like by the Late Middle Ages, I compare Magdalene’s story with Kempe’s experiences in her Book. Most significantly, Kempe positions herself as a penitent sinner, redeemed from her lust, much in …

3d-Printed Morphing Wings For Controlling Yaw On Flying-Wing Aircraft, Benjamin Moulton

Student Research Symposium

The flaps on an airplane wing are used to control the aircraft during flight. These flaps traditionally have at most three articulation or hinge points. Recent studies have shown improved flap efficiency using a conformal flap which deforms following a curved shape. Much of aircraft improvement comes through increasing its efficiency during flight. This efficiency is generally improved by decreasing the drag force on the aircraft. A potential solution to decrease drag is to remove additional lifting surfaces, such as the horizontal and vertical stabilizer ubiquitous on general aviation aircraft. These additional lifting surfaces are used to trim and control …

Comparing Secondary Metabolite Content Of Fruits And Leaves In A Tropical Forest, Lyndey Higham

Student Research Symposium

In this project, we evaluated the similarity of secondary metabolite composition in the leaves vs reproductive tissues of sympatric species in the genus Psychotria. The process for this involved collecting samples of plant tissue from Barro Colorado Island, Panama and analyzing the chemical composition of those samples. Secondary metabolites were extracted using solvents and the dry weight was measured to find their mass. Statistical tests were used to determine the significance of the relationship of masses amongst species as well as tissue types. The most interesting finding was that amongst all species studied the ratio of secondary metabolites between mature …

Comparison Of Onion Irrigation Methods: Furrow Versus Drip, Chad Withers

Student Research Symposium

The State of Utah is funding agricultural water optimization studies to determine how agricultural water depletion can be decreased while maintaining or improving yields. Conversion from surface irrigation to drip irrigation is being investigated as a method to decrease consumptive use. Some Utah onion producers are converting from furrow irrigation to drip irrigation to decrease water and fertilizer use and improve profits. This study will compare the consumptive use and yield of three drip irrigated onion fields to three furrow irrigated onion fields. To conduct the study arrays of soil moisture sensors at various depths were placed in drip and …

Evaluating Anemone And Ranunculus Production Strategies In Utah, Shannon Rauter

Student Research Symposium

As the number of cut flower growers in the Intermountain West increases, there is a demand for regional information about optimal planting dates, season extension, and locally adapted cultivars to improve yield and harvest timing for anemone (Anemone coronaria) and ranunculus (Ranunculus asiaticus) cut flowers. Existing grower recommendations can be problematic because the combination of late spring freezes and hot, bright summer days can delay harvests and lower flower quality. Therefore, the objectives of this research are to evaluate 1) fall and spring planting dates, 2) the use of high tunnels and insulated field production systems, 3) tuber preparation methods, …

To Love In The Swenson Way, Tegan Durfee

Student Research Symposium

Poet and lesbian poet May Swenson should be revered as a pioneer lesbian poet in the literary world and as someone who has paved the way for future LGBTQ+ artists who find representation through her work. Swenson's work evolved and became more explicitly homosexual through the years as time evolved and this presentation presents the evolution and why this makes her a pioneer in the community. Presentation Time: Wednesday, 12-1 p.m. Zoom link: https://usu-edu.zoom.us/j/83570709111?pwd=dGpYQzZvT3dqdHdGNjMzaVZ3QnFLUT09

Vaughan Williams's The Lark Ascending As An Elegy For Environmental Loss, Kirsten Barker

Student Research Symposium

The idea that music embodies meaning is largely accepted and uncontroversial. However, how this relationship is articulated is complicated and contributes to music’s ability to project different meanings, especially according to time and place. Such is the case with the British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams’s romance for violin and orchestra, The Lark Ascending (1920). This work contains both musical and extra musical traits that can be interpreted as pastoral and nostalgic. Understanding how these meanings interact through time provides the opportunity for reinterpretation the work in the present through an environmentally-oriented framework. Previous research regarding The Lark has specifically focused …

Pathogen Survey Of Natural Osmia Lignaria Say (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) Nests Collected From Utah, Mary-Kate Williams

Student Research Symposium

Understanding pathogen presence in Osmia lignaria populations is critical. Suppose we do not understand pathogen distributions, let alone their presence. In that case, we may be spreading pathogens to environments without localized infections and other bee species, including other bee species used in orchard pollination. To better comprehend pathogens, we utilized molecular techniques to identify some of the pathogens present in natural populations, seldom done throughout the United States. Presentation Time: Wednesday, 1-2 p.m. Zoom link: https://usu-edu.zoom.us/j/87892002075?pwd=Ym1Tcy9NOVhaaGZWczZWY1JCL3owUT09

Comparing L-368,899 And Als-Iii-61 As Human-Selective Oxytocin Receptor Antagonists, Blake Nielson, Matthew Webb

Student Research Symposium

Oxytocin is a neuropeptide that influences social behavior in animals and humans. One way to test the effects of oxytocin on social behavior is by blocking oxytocin receptors (OXTR) with an antagonist. The commercially-available OXTR antagonist L-368,899 (the “Merck compound”) is commonly used for such studies despite inadequate evidence of its affinity and selectivity for OXTR in the brain. The Freeman Lab has used the custom-synthesized antagonist ALS-III-61 (the “Smith compound”), which has high specificity and affinity for OXTR in the brain but is not commercially available. Due to our diminishing supply of the Smith compound, we sought evidence that …

Eye Tracking Patterns And Processing Times Of Children With And Without Language Disorder During Sentence Processing, Lexie Scott

Student Research Symposium

This study examined the online processing of sentence comprehension in two groups of children ages 9-14: children who are typically developing (TD) and children with development language disorder (DLD). The literature shows that children with DLD have difficulty with complex sentence comprehension compared to their TD peers based on studies of offline processing. Few studies demonstrate how children process sentences using online processing measures. We used behavioral and eye tracking measures of online processing to answer: How does sentence processing of canonical and non-canonical sentences in children in the TD and DLD groups differ?Eye movements were recorded while participants listened …

Sensitivity And Specificity Of Sex For Detecting Differences In The Kinetics Of Depth Jumps Performed By Ncaa Athletes, Alex Woster

Student Research Symposium

It is well established that female athletes have a greater incidence of lower extremity injuries when compared to males of the same sport. There is interest in using the depth jump as a practical screen for lower extremity injury risk, however, prior research is inconclusive. There is evidence that males and females tend to adopt distinct motor strategies when anticipating and reacting to the landing impact phase of depth jumping. From this, it is reasonable to expect that depth jump kinetics are influenced by sex, yet there is a need for comprehensive analysis. Gaining a better understanding of which kinetic …

Role Of Novel Receptor Gpr171 In Chemotherapy-Induced Neuropathic Pain, Taylor Edwards

Student Research Symposium

First-line chemotherapies against solid tumors are highly efficacious in reducing the tumor burden, but have many adverse side-effects including nerve damage, leading to chronic pain. Non-addictive, efficacious pain relievers are an area of active interest, and we propose a novel target to address this pressing issue. GPR171 is a G-Protein Coupled Receptor that was recently deorphanized and was identified to be expressed in the brain in regions that regulate reward, anxiety, and pain. Within the pain circuit, it was shown previously that systemic administration of the GPR171 agonist enhances morphine antinociception in acute pain tests. Preliminary data from our lab …

"Let Thy Conscience Act Her Part": Republican Motherhood In Civil War Popular Song, Gianna Patchett

Student Research Symposium

In the American Civil War, described by Christian McWhirter as a war fought to music, popular song played a significant role in the expression and processing of wartime emotions and ideologies. Civil War songs with lyrics written by women show feminine strength in tragedy, challenges due to societal expectations, and the day to day difficulties of wartime on the homefront. One concept that unites these themes is that of Republican Motherhood, an ideology developed in the Revolutionary War, but which continued to be prevalent throughout the 19th Century. This paradigm places female experience in the context of duty, patriotism, and …

The Childhood Hearing Loss Question Prompt List: Parent Perceptions Of Patient-Centered Care, Shannon Edelman

Student Research Symposium

When children are identified with hearing loss, parents are often unsure about what they need to know. A Childhood Hearing Loss Question Prompt List for Parents (CHLQPL) was recently developed to help parents and providers address questions. This study explored if parents who used the CHLQPL in their audiology appointment perceived their appointment as more person-centered than parents who received treatment as usual. Parent perceptions regarding the use of the CHLQPL during the audiology appointment were also sought. Presentation Time: Thursday, 12-1 p.m.