Digital Commons Network^™

Exploring The Stories Of Parents' Experiences With Infant Hearing-Loss Screening And Diagnosis In The United States, Tanner Robinson

Student Research Symposium

In this study we aimed to explore the types of stories parents tell about their experiences with the early screening and diagnosis of hearing loss in their children in the United States. In order to do so, we have collect narratives from parents whose children were diagnosed with hearing loss before reaching 1 year of age. Specifically, we prompted them to share their experience with hearing loss screening, diagnosis, interactions with healthcare professionals and others. This study is still on-going and preliminary data is available to present and share. We will then use thematic narrative analysis (TNA; Braun & Clarke, …

Pediatric Rehabilitation Outpatient Clinic: Design Focus On Invisible Disabilities With Sensory Sensitivity, Shelbi Boehme

Student Research Symposium

The focus of this research presentation is to design a Pediatric Rehabilitation Outpatient Clinic in Logan, Utah providing diverse therapy spaces for children diagnosed with a range of disabilities. The American Disabilities Act (ADA) implemented some good generic standards for accessibility for persons with physical disabilities, but what about universal design for all disabilities? Designing spaces for a Pediatric Rehabilitation Outpatient Clinic involves researching many different types of disabilities that would be treated at the facility. Particularly invisible disabilities such as Autism, Multiple Sclerosis, Asperger Syndrome, and Traumatic Brain Injuries. These types of disabilities are often left out when designing …

Usu Rotc Cadet Focus Group Perspectives On Nutrition And Dietary Intake, Karli Mcrae, Hailee Pulli, Lexie Jex, Natalie Steiner

Student Research Symposium

Nutrition plays a significant role in supporting the physical performance of USU ROTC Cadets. The purpose of this research was to learn more about ROTC cadets' dietary habits, the reasons for their dietary choices, and gain feedback on what they think could improve their dietary intake. Two, 1-hour focus groups were conducted with 8 participants total. During each focus group, participants completed a brief survey about their dietary habits and discussed factors that influenced their food choices.The discussion included information on frequency of meals and snacks, impact of food on performance and lifestyle, ROTC culture surrounding nutrition, and potential helpful …

May Swenson's Exploration Of Existence And Purpose Through Poetry, Lauren Cunningham

Student Research Symposium

May Swenson explores the idea of belonging, purpose and life by exemplifying that these topics are affected by nature, upbringing, and the environment surrounding an individual, as well as exploring if we experience life or if we are life. Through her writing, Swenson argues that all life is equally valuable, and a being’s purpose is dependent upon belief and circumstance. Presentation Time: Wednesday, 9-10 a.m. Zoom link: https://usu-edu.zoom.us/j/81298203941?pwd=WXZkRjhqdlZNTVlidXk3UnB1K2VtUT09

Common Presenting Problems Among Youth Exposed To Substance Abuse In Their Household, Amalia Gamboa

Evidence-Based Social Work Practice Guide Series

This is an Evidence-Based guide for practitioners who are looking for ways to understand common presenting problems among youth exposed to substance abuse in their household

Mindfulness: Solution For Stumbling Students, Kylee Zimmerman

Tutor's Column

Students who come to the Writing Center are often stressed, anxious, and very concerned about their essay’s health, even those who procrastinate. Learning to understand procrastination as a sign of stress rather than laziness betters us as tutors; this is done through developing mindfulness. Mindfulness can be applied to those struggling with procrastination by accepting the student’s stress and setting small goals. Mindfulness is defined as being aware of emotions without judgment. Procrastination is defined as submitting work inconsistently, ignoring homework, and denying feelings of stress.

Improving Global Flow With The Known-New Contract, Ben Ladner

Tutor's Column

Large-scale flow of ideas is the key to effective scientific and argumentative writing. This tutor’s column discusses the Known-New Contract as a teaching tool for global flow. It also discusses the outlining and discussion techniques that can be practically used in appointments with students who struggle with the structure of their papers.

Substrate Purity And Its Effect On Prmt1 Activity, Tate Shepherd

Student Research Symposium

Protein arginine methyltransferase 1 (PRMT1) catalyzes the transfer of a methyl group from S-adenosyl-L-methionine (AdoMet) to specific arginine residues of a target protein. This type of reaction can impact the activity of the target protein and is an important regulatory process in human cells. Dysregulation of PRMT1 has been associated with severe disease in humans, including cancer. Accurate data concerning PRMT1 activity is important to the characterization of the enzyme. The activity of PRMT1 is studied by combining the enzyme with AdoMet and a target protein for methylation and measuring the amount of methylation that occurs over time. AdoMet that …

Widespread Mortality Of Trembling Aspen (Populus Tremuloides) Throughout Interior Alaskan Boreal Forests Resulting From A Novel Canker Disease, Roger W. Ruess, Loretta M. Winton, Gerard C. Adams

Aspen Bibliography

Over the past several decades, growth declines and mortality of trembling aspen throughout western Canada and the United States have been linked to drought, often interacting with outbreaks of insects and fungal pathogens, resulting in a “sudden aspen decline” throughout much of aspen’s range. In 2015, we noticed an aggressive fungal canker causing widespread mortality of aspen throughout interior Alaska and initiated a study to quantify potential drivers for the incidence, virulence, and distribution of the disease. Stand-level infection rates among 88 study sites distributed across 6 Alaska ecoregions ranged from < 1 to 69%, with the proportion of trees with canker that were dead averaging 70% across all sites. The disease is most prevalent north of the Alaska Range within the Tanana Kuskokwim ecoregion. Modeling canker probability as a function of ecoregion, stand structure, landscape position, and climate revealed that smaller-diameter trees in older stands with greater aspen basal area have the highest canker incidence and mortality, while younger trees in younger stands appear virtually immune to the disease. Sites with higher summer vapor pressure deficits had significantly higher levels of canker infection and mortality. We believe the combined effects of this novel fungal canker pathogen, drought, and the persistent aspen leaf miner outbreak are triggering feedbacks between carbon starvation and hydraulic failure that are ultimately driving widespread mortality. Warmer early-season temperatures and prolonged late summer drought are leading to larger and more severe wildfires throughout interior Alaska that are favoring a shift from black spruce to forests dominated by Alaska paper birch and aspen. Widespread aspen mortality fostered by this rapidly spreading pathogen has significant implications for successional dynamics, ecosystem function, and feedbacks to disturbance regimes, particularly on sites too dry for Alaska paper birch.

Historic Declines In Growth Portend Trembling Aspen Death During A Contemporary Leaf Miner Outbreak In Alaska, Melissa A. Boyd, Logan T. Berner, Adrianna C. Foster, Scott J. Goetz, Brendan M. Rogers, Xanthe J. Walker, Michelle C. Mack

Aspen Bibliography

Climate change-driven droughts and insect outbreaks are becoming more frequent and widespread, increasing forest vulnerability to mortality. By addressing the impacts of climate and insects on tree growth preceding death, we can better understand tree mortality risk under a changing climate. Here, we used tree stature and interannual growth (basal area increment; BAI) to assess processes leading to trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) survival or mortality during an unprecedented leaf miner (Phyllocnistis populiella) outbreak in boreal North America. We identified eight sites (22 plots) in the longest running forest monitoring network in Alaska, spanning ~350 km of …

High Tunnel Pest Management - Aphids, Nick Volesky, Zachery R. Schrumm

All Current Publications

Aphids are a common pest found on high tunnel crops such as fruits, vegetables, ornamentals, grasses, and weeds. Four aphid species commonly found in Utah in high tunnels are green peach aphid (Myzus persicae), melon aphid (Aphis gossypii), potato aphid (Macrosiphum euphorbiae), and cabbage aphid (Brevicoryne brassicae). This fact sheet describes different aphids and reviews the aphid life cycle. It also addresses how to monitor for damage caused by aphids and cultural, biological, and chemical controls.

What Can I Do About It? Teaching Behaviors That Strengthen Students' Mathematical Identities, Sandra Miles

Student Research Symposium

As test scores place US teenagers lower down on the list of developed countries in mathematics achievement, scholars seek to understand what is keeping students from engaging more deeply and successfully in mathematics. Though many affective and motivational factors contribute to future mathematics engagement, mathematics self-concept has been shown to be a consistent predictor of long-term outcomes (Marsh et al., 2019), especially when affective or emotional outcomes are considered (Huang, 2012). This paper examines the construct of mathematical self-concept through analysis of the mathematical identity variable in the High School Longitudinal Survey (2009), and investigates whether teacher behaviors, such as …

Electromagnetic Scattering From Periodic Conducting Arrays, Christian Lange

Student Research Symposium

It is known that carbon-nanotube forests, nanopillar arrays, and other high aspect-ratio conducting and semi-conducting nanostructures can have extremely low reflectance in a wide range of wavelengths, and that reflectance begins to rise at an onset wavelength. The mechanism for this behavior is poorly understood. In a previous work, we modeled conducting nanorod arrays as arrays of light sources using the Huygens-Fresnel principle and found that similar reflectance spectra could be generated. However, this simplified scalar wave model did not consider scattering effects. In this work, we improve on our previous model by calculating the scattered electromagnetic wave from a …

An Evaluation Of Expedited Transcription Methods For School-Age Children’S Narrative Language: Automated Speech Recognition & Real-Time Transcription, Carly Fox

Student Research Symposium

In this study the clinical utility of several expedited transcription methods were evaluated for narrative language samples elicited from school-age children (7;5-11;10) with developmental language disorder (DLD). Transcription methods included real-time transcription (RTT) from both school-based speech language pathologists (SLPs) and trained transcribers (TTs), and automatic speech recognition (ASR). Each method transcribed the same 42 language samples, which were compared to a reference corpus produced using traditional transcription. The accuracy of each method was evaluated using a cross-sectional multilevel model. Results indicated that ASR was significantly more accurate than RTT from both SLPs and TTs. The reliability of scores produced …

Addressing Orphanage Design, Megan Orme

Student Research Symposium

The body of society is the people in its communities. There are girls without parents or a home that lack the development to contribute to such. These girls need refuge. Creating an orphanage that modernizes the care of these girls is dire. This facility will help mend the societal processes for facilitating children without permanent homes and families. By creating rooms and freedom within a secure facility, girls will grow and develop prepared to contribute to society as they feel loved and built up in a difficult position in their lives. The purpose of this study is to address the …

Mechanisms Of Water-Wise Ornamental Plant To Tolerate Water Stress, Ji-Jhong Chen

Student Research Symposium

Water-wise plants are essential for appealing landscapes in water-scare regions. Buffaloberry (Shepherdia ×utahensis ‘Torrey’) is an ornamental plant developed for water-wise landscaping. This plant shows outstanding performance with minimum water requirements. However, no research has been conducted to investigate its drought tolerance mechanisms. Plants were grown using an automated irrigation system, and the substrate water contents (SWCs) were controlled at 0.05 to 0.40 m3/m3 using soil moisture sensors for 50 days. The results showed that total irrigation volume, substrate permittivity (soil moisture level), and plant transpiration rate decreased, while plant turgor pressure increased with decreasing SWCs. Also, plant growth of …

Teaching Social-Emotional Skills Through Storytelling: Development Of A Mobile App For Children, Sally Devitry

Student Research Symposium

Children today are born into a world where technology is deeply integrated into daily life. A study completed in 2016 found that 85% of children ages 5-10 participate in some form of screen time (e.g., television, tablet, or smart phone) daily. More than 75% of these children do so for more than two hours a day on average. The increasing use of technology, specifically tablet and smartphone use, will fundamentally redefine childhood experiences. In a child’s formative years, learning social-emotional skills such as empathy, communication, resilience, etc. is vital. Obviously, human interaction cannot be replaced in teaching these social-emotional skills, …

The Effects Of Interface Views On Performing Aerial Telemanipulation Tasks Using Small Uavs, Sierra N. Young, Ryan J. Lanciloti, Joshua M. Peschel

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper presents a human-robot interaction (HRI) study of a dedicated Mission Specialist interface for performing telemanipulation tasks using a small unoccupied aerial vehicle (UAV). Current literature suggests that the successful completion of aerial manipulation tasks in real-world environments requires human input due to challenges in autonomous perception and control. Visual information of the remote environment in a telemanipulation interface can significantly affect performance under direct control; however, the effects of interface visualizations on task performance have not been studied for UAV telemanipulation. This work evaluated the effects of interface viewpoint on aerial manipulation task performance. The interfaces evaluated in …

Nitrogen Use Efficiency And Soil Bioavailable Nitrogen In Corn Silage Production In A Semi-Arid Environment, Phearen Miller

Student Research Symposium

As agriculture intensifies, the world faces a dual challenge of increasing food production while reducing impacts of excess reactive nitrogen (N) in the environment. A field study examining different N sources in corn silage under semi-arid conditions was conducted at the Greenville farm in northern Utah (41°45’ N, 1111°48’52 W) since 2012. The experimental design is a randomized complete block design with four blocks and four treatments: control (no nitrogen), low ammonium sulfate (AS 112 kg N/ha), high ammonium sulfate (AS 224 kg N/ha), and steer manure compost (224 kg total N/ha). We examined yield, nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), and …

Borderline Personality Disorder: Interventions For Adolescents And Caregivers, Addison Odum

Evidence-Based Social Work Practice Guide Series

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) encompasses a wide range of symptoms characterized by emotional dysregulation, including challenging interpersonal relationships, impulsivity, disturbances in cognition and identity, and is often accompanied by intentional self-injury and suicidal behaviors. In this guide, emphasis is placed on three aspects of intervention: (1) clinical interventions for adolescents who meet the criteria for BPD; (2) interventions clinicians can teach to parents/caretakers so they can better work with their child’s diagnosis; and (3) due to the negative impact this can have on adolescents, clinical interventions for parents/caregivers diagnosed with or exhibiting common symptoms of BPD is also provided.

The Ethics Of Dark Tourism., Rachel Robinson-Greene

Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

In February 2020, Netflix released a four-part docuseries called Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel. The series focuses on the death of Elisa Lam, but along the way it tells the story of the building. It was built in the 1920s with all of the glamour that is often associated with hotels of that age in that area. The hotel struggled during the Great Depression. It is located on skid row, and eventually it became a common resting point for the city’s poor. The Cecil is infamous for the deaths that have taken place there and for the …

Color Blindness In The Built Enviornment, Candice Buttars

Student Research Symposium

Color blindness is very common in our society, affecting approximately 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women. Although, not technically considered a disability according to the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), there are many challenges related to color blindness. ADA aims to remove barriers by creating accessibility, largely impacting our built environments. Color blindness can impair some very basic life activities, so why does it seem to be overlooked in the built environment? Web and graphic designers have already begun working towards designing in a way that is accessible to all users. Using an existing building, plans were …

Designing For Developmental Education, Michela Staker

Student Research Symposium

Designing in a universal context allows for an environment to be accessible, innovative, and conducive to the success of the user regardless of physical, emotional, or mental capabilities. This project integrates evidence-based design in order to convey a meaningful and uniquely curated environment for children with developmental disorders and/or sensory impairments to thrive in the context of developmental education.This research and design project focuses on the challenge of creating a space where children on the autism spectrum with learning disorders and/or sensory sensitivities feel educationally productive and comfortable with the stimuli around them at any given time. This project delves …

Is Anybody Listening? How Leader Humility Promotes Employee Voice, Jake Harrison

Student Research Symposium

Learning from employees on the front lines is critical for organizations’ ability to adapt, change, and learn. Leaders can play a crucial role in enabling and encouraging employees to express their ideas about how their organization can grow and improve. However, not all leaders seem to be successful at promoting employees’ desire to offer their ideas. We present a research study in this paper that demonstrates how leaders who are humble effectively promote voice. Furthermore, we show that when employees express voice, the contribution they make is recognized by their supervisors and they are more likely to be seen as …

The Presence Of Spirituality In May Swenson's Poetry, Karcin Harris

Student Research Symposium

May Swenson was raised in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and because of that influence on her childhood the religion became a part of her identity and work. After leaving home, Swenson began to explore ways of life contrary to Latter-day Saint beliefs. She stopped attending church, took up smoking, had relationships, and tried new things. However, even after she stopped actively participating in the church, Swenson still had an interest in spirituality and religion, and wrote about those topics in her poems. Many of her poems feature thought-provoking descriptions of higher beings, man’s relationship to the …

Anion–Anion Interactions In Aerogen-Bonded Complexes. Influence Of Solvent Environment, Anna Grabarz, Mariusz Michalczyk, Wiktor Zierkiewicz, Steve Scheiner

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Ab initio calculations are applied to the question as to whether a AeX₅− anion (Ae = Kr, Xe) can engage in a stable complex with another anion: F−, Cl−, or CN−. The latter approaches the central Ae atom from above the molecular plane, along its C₅ axis. While the electrostatic repulsion between the two anions prevents their association in the gas phase, immersion of the system in a polar medium allows dimerization to proceed. The aerogen bond is a weak one, with binding energies less than 2 kcal/mol, even in highly polar aqueous solvent. The complexes are …

The Impact Of Covid-19 On Utah Women And Work: Changes, Burnout, & Hope, Jared Hansen, Chris Hartwell, Susan R. Madsen

Marketing and Strategy Faculty Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020–2021 has impacted all Utahns in profound ways. Yet, a host of national and global reports have argued that women’s employment and careers have been disproportionately impacted during this time. For example, a McKinsey & Company and Lean In report stated that women are more likely to have been laid off or furloughed, leading to greater financial instability and stalled careers. The Institute for Women’s Policy Research reported that women, and particularly women of color, have unduly experienced job losses and have had greater struggles with managing paid work, caregiving responsibilities, and other types of unpaid …

Psychosocial Experiences Of Parents Of Young Children Who Use Hearing Devices: A Scoping Review, Karen F. Munoz, Natalie Nichols, Sydnee Hill

Journal of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention

Objective: The purpose of this scoping review was to provide information about the research base related to psychosocial experiences of parents of young children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) and use hearing devices. A scoping review identifies trends and gaps in available evidence and this information can be used to inform practice and identify areas in need of further research.

Design: A scoping review was conducted in June 2020 to identify English-language peer-reviewed journal articles published through May 31, 2020.

Study sample: Nine articles were found that investigated psychosocial factors of parents of children birth through five …

Canadian Families’ Decisions Of Communication Options* For Children Who Are Deaf Or Hard Of Hearing: An Initial Exploration, Holly F. Pedersen, Suzanne Nichol, Nicole Swartwout, Daniel R. Conn

Journal of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention

Communication is an essential aspect of human interaction and helps connect us to the people around us. The majority of children who are deaf or hard of hearing are born to hearing parents who are likely unfamiliar with hearing loss. These parents are then asked to make critical decisions about communication options for their children. It can be a challenging process but one that needs to be done quickly in order to capture the critical language development period. Little research has explored the factors associated with parents’ decisions about communication options for their children who are deaf or hard of …

Visual Reinforcers Designed For Children With Developmental Disabilities, Angela Yarnell Bonino, Amanda Hemann, Deborah Mood, Emily Kay, Elizabeth S. Pancoast, Kristin K. Sommerfeldt

Journal of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention

A library of visual reinforcers has been created to facilitate visual reinforcement audiometry (VRA) testing in children with developmental disabilities. The library includes 45 reinforcer sets – photos or videos grouped by a common theme – that were created based on commonly reported interests of children with developmental disabilities. Each reinforcer set contains a minimum of 20 unique photo or video files that can be download in two formats: one for commercially available VRA reinforcement systems and another for a custom setup. The library is freely available for download online under a Creative Commons License (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International …