Digital Commons Network^™

Exploring Resilience: Insights From The Western U.S. Drink Tourism Industry During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Camillo Salvi

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

COVID-19 harmed the resilience of the United States tourism industry, undermining its economic stability. Specifically, the drink tourism sector was negatively affected by the pandemic due to its heavy reliance on consumer demand. Enhancing the ability to withstand, recover, and adapt to changing conditions is fundamental to promoting financial development and economic growth. This study aims to explore the determinants of resilience within this industry, focusing on wineries, breweries, and distilleries in the western United States during 2020 and 2021. Through a survey-based analysis, we identified what factors impacted their resilience and how these influenced the drink tourism domain, thereby …

Systematic Review On The Use Of Self-Monitoring Interventions With Adhd/Asd Students In School Settings, Sari Christensen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This systematic literature review was done to determine characteristics and descriptive analysis of the use of self-monitoring behavior interventions (SMI) with students in the educational setting who are diagnosed with ASD/ADHD. The objective was to create resources for future practitioners and interventionists to direct future use of SMI in schools and identify areas of study needed. Behavior interventions are often used to support students with disabilities to access their education in a school setting. Individuals diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are included in this population. A type of behavior using the analysis of …

Immune Variation Across Different Contexts In Non-Model Systems, Kwanho Claudia Ki

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

The immune system is important to an animal’s survival against disease-causing agents and physical injuries. Accordingly, many resources are required to maintain and activate the immune system (such as energy). However, as these resources also need to be shared with other important systems of the body, the portion of resources that can be allotted to the immune system is variable. Thus, many different factors may alter how well the immune system operates. My dissertation sought to understand what sorts of factors can lead to changes in the immune system. Reptiles are known to have a very robust immune system. Therefore, …

From Pasture To Plate: Striking An Omega Balance Between Grass-Fed And Grain-Fed Beef Ribeyes - Fatty Acid Composition, Minerals, Soil, And Forage Analysis, Travis Earl Statham

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Most beef cattle in the US are feedlot-finished where intensive feeding of grains is used to increase weight and yield; however, a minority are raised in grass-fed operations that use exclusive pasture, rangeland, and hay for feeding, possibly leading to benefits for the land, soil, ecosystems, forages, and the meat itself. These operations use a variety of methods, and the goal of this was to recognize differences in the soil and forage metrics to help understand the resulting meat fatty acid composition and mineral content. We collected these samples from 78 sets of farmers while testing 25 sets of grain-fed …

Genomic Selection For Dwarf Bunt Resistance In Winter Wheat, William Krause

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Dwarf bunt (DB), caused by the pathogen Tilletia controversa J.G. Kühn [as 'contraversa'], is a fungal disease that poses yield and grain quality risks to winter wheat (Triticum aestivum) production in the Intermountain West and abroad. The infection replaces the grain with a collection of spores that are spread by wind during the following harvest. In addition to wheat, DB also infects other cereal grains and wild grasses. Genomic selection (GS) is a plant breeding method that can determine percent infection of related varieties by using phenotypic data and genetic data within a prediction model. A panel …

Designing Technology-Enriched Learning Environments: The Effects Of An Agent-Based Computer Model On Biology Students' Understanding Of The Covid-19 Pandemic And The Nature Of Models In Science, April Sullivan

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Science education researchers have called for increased attention to the science practice of modeling to engage students in authentic scientific inquiry. A major challenge to integrating the modeling practice into science instruction is that students tend to conceptualize models as static end-products of research rather than generative tools for theory-building. Engaging students in using computer models, specifically agent-based computer models (ABMs), to explain and predict scientific phenomena could improve students' understanding of models in science. In this design-based research project I investigate the effects of an ABM-supported learning environment on high-school biology students' understanding of the COVID-19 pandemic and the …

Assessing The Attitudes Of General Education Kindergarten Teachers Making Classroom And Teaching Adaptations For Students With Disabilities, Joseph Graul

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

The transition from preschool to kindergarten can be particularly challenging for children with disabilities in inclusive classrooms (general education classrooms where typically developing children and children with disabilities are taught together) as children face new academic, social, and behavioral expectations. Classroom and teaching adaptations can help these students succeed, making the transition to kindergarten and elementary education smooth and effective. This study looks at how general education kindergarten teachers feel about making various classroom adaptations for children with disabilities and compares current teachers’ views to those of a similar 1999 study conducted by Vaughn et al. which this study replicates. …

Physical Activity In Play Environments Inclusively Designed For Children With And Without Disabilities, Mckall E. Vigil

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This study examines physical activity within inclusively designed play environments for children with and without disabilities. The purpose of this study is to determine to what extent children in the third grade with and without disabilities differ in physical activity across various behavior settings of an inclusively designed play environment. Of the 50 third-grade students, 34 participated in eight weeks of observations conducted during lunch recess. Accelerometers and GPS units were utilized to collect data during the observations. The majority of settings on this playground were identified as inclusive. Children with disabilities didn’t engage in organized games as often as …

A Relaxable Vortex Wake Model For Modern Supersonic Panel Methods, Joshua J. Hurwitz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This thesis presents an improved vortex wake model for unstructured, supersonic panel methods. Panel methods are numerical methods that utilize inviscid flow assumptions and other simplifications to allow efficient computation of pressure distributions, velocity fields, and aerodynamic forces. They are commonly used for preliminary design, automatic design codes, and automatic optimization routines. Most existing supersonic panel methods do not include automatic wake generation and relaxation. This prevents the accurate analysis of many geometries, including those with conventional horizontal stabilizers or canards. This thesis first outlines the derivation of a relaxable generalized supersonic vortex filament equation. Next, it explores other necessary …

Insights From Diverse Environments: Investigating The Fate And Transport Of Semivolatile Organic Contaminants In Alpine, Arctic, And Arid Regions, Jeffrey Perala-Dewey

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This dissertation investigates the fate and transport of pollutants through four field-based studies in a diverse array of environments. These pollutants travel through the atmosphere and end up in places far from their original sources. In this work I explore how chemical properties of the pollutants and the environmental processes that are present change the way the pollutants travel through the environment. In the first study, pollutants from car engines were quantified in the vegetation along transects in three alpine valleys. Using these measurements, I investigated how the chemical properties of the pollutants impacted their interplay with wind systems in …

Assessing Canopy Features, Its Shading Factor, And Their Influence In The Estimation Of Evapotranspiration In Almond Orchards Using Uas Information And The Two-Source Energy Balance Model, Moises R. Duran-Gomez

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This study explored how canopy biomass and shadows affect evapotranspiration (ET) estimates, a crucial factor for irrigation management in almond orchards in California’s Central Valley. Data from 24 drone flights over three almond plots in 2021 and 2022 were analyzed using the Two-Source Energy Balance (TSEB) model, combined with meteorological data from EC-towers. The study found that filtering out shadows improved ET estimation, particularly in young orchards, and identified the importance of using new Leaf Area Index (LAI) models for better accuracy. This research is part of the T-REX initiative, which integrates drone and ground-based data to enhance water use …

Adolescent Mental Health And Social Media: The Roles Of Psychosocial Development And Online Interaction, Mark L. Ferguson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Social media has become an integral part of adolescent life, and its effects on adolescents’ mental health has been studied for over twenty years. However, the research approaches used to discover connections between adolescent social media use and their mental health have been diverse, and findings have varied over time. This study sought to explore the potential relationships between adolescent social media use and mental health by including several different variables that aren’t typically accounted for in the same study, such as attachment to parents and peers, internal psychological development, emotional intensity towards social media use, and how adolescents feel …

Mathematical And Statistical Methods To Harness Limited Data In Models For Ecological Space Use Under Global Change, Sarah C. Bogen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

The dynamics of how plants and animals use space in their habitats has important implications for the fields of ecology and conservation. However, understanding and responding to these spatial and temporal dynamics is often limited by data availability, financial resources and biases. As average global temperatures increase, suitable habitats shift poleward and require local populations to move with suitable habitat, adapt to the changing environment, or risk extinction. Capacity to persist without movement may be estimated by considering changes to a combination of habitat characteristics. Capacity to track suitable habitat may be modeled through synthesizing information on species demographic mechanisms …

Supervised Generative Adversarial Networks For Time Series Generation In Embedding Space, Mohammadreza Eskandarinasab

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Time series data, such as weather forecasts, stock market trends, or heart rate monitors, plays a vital role in many areas of our lives. However, creating realistic synthetic time series data for research and testing purposes has been a significant challenge due to limitations in existing methods, which often struggle with accuracy and consistency. In this study, we developed two new approaches to generate high-quality time series data more effectively. The first method introduces a dual-feedback system that helps the model learn and replicate real data patterns more accurately by providing guidance at different stages of the learning process. The …

Using Luminescence Dating To Investigate Geomorphic And Archaeologic Features At The Wiggins Fork Bison Jump Complex, Northwestern Wyoming, Emma T. Krolczyk

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

The Wiggins Fork Bison Jump Complex, located in northwestern Wyoming, is comprised of thousands of human-placed rock piles, known as cairns, that were placed within lines to form an extensive network of drivelines and funnels leading to cliffs or steep slopes. These archaeological features were used by Native Americans as a bison hunting method, where the animals were driven off cliffs for harvest. This research uses luminescence dating, which determines when sediment was last exposed to sunlight, to date the timing of driveline construction and the deposition ages of the underlying river deposits.

Research focused on Jump #4, which had …

Instrument Development For Determining High School Students’ Epistemological And Ontological Beliefs Regarding Photography, Earl Stanford Maeser Jr.

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Research in educational psychology has shown that students' beliefs about knowledge—known as personal epistemology—significantly impact their academic success. However, accurately measuring these beliefs has proven to be challenging due to the lack of reliable and valid tools. This study addresses this gap by developing and testing two tools aimed at assessing high school students' beliefs about knowledge and reality in the context of photography: the Photographic Knowledge Questionnaire (PKQ) and the Photographic Reality Questionnaire (PRQ).

Photography, with its strong ties to reality and representation, provides a unique way to explore personal beliefs about the nature of reality and how knowledge …

Reducing The Cost Of Implementing The F.I.T. Game Healthy Eating Program In Diverse Schools While Observing Effects On Food Waste, Robert Gifford

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

It is well known that children do not eat enough fruits and vegetables. The FIT Game Healthy Eating Program is an interactive, story-board type narrative that has increased fruit and vegetable consumption in elementary school children. While The FIT Game intervention has shown progress in the past, the schools studied had minimal diversity and the intervention was time intensive and costly.

This research utilized The FIT Game intervention in four Salt Lake City area, Title 1, schools with a large amount of student diversity. The first portion of research was conducted in two phases. The first phase compared an intervention …

Soil Organic Matter Processes From The Treetops To The Clay Particle: The Role Of Climate, Minerals, And Organic Matter Chemistry In Soil Carbon Accumulation And Stability, Jessica G. Murray

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Soils store more carbon than plants and the atmosphere, yet release ten times more carbon dioxide (CO₂) to the atmosphere than human activities each year. Small shifts in the balance of soil carbon storage and soil carbon emissions could make climate change less severe, by acting as a sink for the carbon plants pull from the atmosphere, or make climate change worse, by releasing even more planet-warming greenhouse gases. The processes governing whether soils store or release carbon depend on tiny soil microorganisms which convert plant carbon to soil organic matter, releasing CO₂ in the process. In …

Interpreting Neural Networks For Particle Tracing In Fluid Simulation Ensembles: An Interactive Visualization Framework, Maanav Choubey

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Understanding the internal mechanisms of neural networks, particularly Multi-Layer Perceptrons (MLP), is essential for their effective application in a variety of scientific domains. In particular, in the scientific visualization domain their adoption has recently shown to be a promising tool to predict particle trajectories in fluid dynamics simulation and aid the interactive visualization of flows. This research addresses the critical challenge of interpretability of such models.

While interpretability has been extensively explored in fields like computer vision and natural language processing, its application to time series data, particularly for particle tracing (or prediction of trajectories), has not garnered sufficient attention. …

Engineered Microalgae Cultivations Systems: Conversion Of Wastewater Nutrients Into Biofuels And Bioplastics, Jacob Watkins

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Dissolved Nitrogen and Phosphorus in wastewater can contribute to harmful algae blooms if released into the environment. One technology that can be used to recover dissolved nutrients from wastewater is the Rotating Algae Biofilm Reactor (RABR), which supports microalgae growth in an easily-harvested biofilm and produces nitrogenand phosphorus-rich biomass that can be used to produce slow-release fertilizers, biofuels, and compostable bioplastics. This thesis (1) examines the effects of several environmental factors on the biomass production rate and nutrient removal efficiency of RABRs treating municipal wastewater, (2) quantifies the composition and biofuel yields of microalgae biomass cultivated using a RABR at …

Is That Controversial Or Is It Just Me?, Joseph D. Cochran

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

The purposes of this study were to explore the decision-making process behind delineating issues as controversial or not, identify the risks considered by administrators when faced with potentially controversial issues, and provide recommendations for educators to consider in their own deliberations. I interviewed seven charter school principals and used thematic analysis to explore the influence of contained risk-taking on administrator decision-making concerning controversial issues. The findings of this study suggest that administrators generally consider the same risks their teacher counterparts do but often prioritize larger-scale solutions that ensure equity for the entire school. The products of this process emphasize a …

Finite-Time Control Strategies For Rendezvous And Proximity Operations, John Tamotsu Akagi

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

One common metric to use when designing a controller is the time that the system will take to reach the desired state. Unfortunately, many approaches to developing controllers only guarantee that the system will approach, but not exactly reach, the desired state. This can become a limitation in time-sensitive situations where rapid and complete convergence is necessary. One group of control methods, known as finite-time control, does guarantee both faster convergence and that the desired state will be reached, but often fails to define exactly what time that will occur, how much control will be used to get there, and …

Pavlovian Conditioned-Reinforcer Training As A Means Of Reducing Impulsive Choice, Emma Visser

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Impulsive choice is associated with a host of human maladaptive behaviors warranting investigations aimed at reducing impulsive choice. Pavlovian conditioning was explored in 22 male Wistar rats. The experimental group was exposed to a stimulus that signaled a large delay-reduction to an food, whereas the control group experienced a stimulus that was controlled by a random schedule that did not predict food. Subsequently, a test of conditioned reinforcement was conducted, indicating a difference in conditioning between groups. Finally, a test of impulsive choice failed to find effects of training on impulsive choice.

Analysis Of An Outdoor Pilot-Scale Rotating Algae Biofilm Reactor For Power Optimization, Ash-Enhanced Productivity, And Nutrient Uptake, Peter F. Jeppesen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Outdoor testing of a rotating algae biofilm reactor (RABR) was performed to see how well it could remove nutrients from water and produce algae. By adjusting the operation settings, we found the lowest power needed to remove nitrogen and phosphorus. The lowest power values needed were 1.36 kWh per kilogram of nitrogen and 20.1 kWh per kilogram of phosphorus. The algae production rate reached a maximum of 7.09 grams per square meter per day. Detailed analysis showed that the reactor worked like a continuous flow system, and the performance was influenced by factors including light and temperature. The results also …

Impact Of Snow Accumulation On Structural Integrity: Present And Future Perspectives, Kenneth K. Pomeyie

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

In the United States, accommodating the weight of accumulated snow on buildings is a crucial consideration in building design. Engineers are tasked with determining the design snow load, which is defined as the weight of accumulated snow that a structure should withstand to limit the risk of building collapse to an acceptably low level. Typically, this process involves analyzing historical data of the annual maximum snow accumulations for each snow season. However, accurately assessing these design snow loads entails navigating through a series of statistical challenges. This dissertation, composed of three papers, is dedicated to addressing these statistical hurdles in …

Optimizing Mobility On Demand Systems: Multiagent Reinforcement Learning Approaches To Order Assignment And Vehicle Guidance, Jiyao Li

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This dissertation explores ways to improve Mobility on Demand (MoD) systems, which are services like ride-sharing and autonomous taxi systems. The main goal is to make these services more efficient and reliable, benefiting both passengers and drivers by better matching the number of available vehicles with the number of people needing rides.

For ride-sharing services, a new method called T-Balance helps match riders with drivers and guides empty taxis to areas where more people need rides. This reduces wait times for passengers and increases earnings for drivers. Another method, called GRL-HM, looks at how riders and drivers behave to further …

Examining Support By Residents For Community Scale Wildfire Mitigation Strategies In The Wasatch Front, Conner R. Smith

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Current development trends along the Wasatch Front are causing a greater threat of wildfires to the Utahns who reside there. Research indicates that although studies meant to examine wildfire mitigation strategy preferences do exist, their findings are not applicable to the Wasatch Front. This thesis addresses the lack of applicable data and the resultant lack of understanding of the Wasatch Front residents' preferences. In my project specifically, I will be looking at what wildfire mitigation strategies, at the community scale, residents of the Wasatch Front prefer. Additionally, I will be comparing the preferences of residents living in areas with above …

Maternal Adverse Childhood Experiences And Non-Live Births, Mudasir Mustafa

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Around 62 percent of adults in the United States have endured at least one type of Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE), and 25 percent of women reported experiencing three or more ACEs in their lifetime. This study explored whether maternal exposure to ACEs was associated with pregnancy loss or abortion, utilizing the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (known as Add Health) to explore this association. I found that cumulative ACEs, assessed through either the conventional ACE scale (reflecting 10 types of ACEs) or the extended ACE scale (reflecting 14 types of ACEs), are associated with a higher likelihood …

Metabolic Capabilities Of Latilactobacillus Curvatus And The Potential Use As An Adjunct Culture For Food Safety And Quality Control In Yogurt, R. Chase Wahlstrom

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

In the quest for healthier and more natural food products, using beneficial lactic acid bacteria to preserve food, known as biopreservation, is becoming increasingly important. This research focused on a strain of beneficial bacteria called Latilactobacillus curvatus and its ability to inhibit fungal growth both in lab settings and in a yogurt system. This has the potential to enhance the safety and quality of dairy products.

We studied a specific strain of this bacteria, named WSU-1, found in dairy. Through detailed analysis, we discovered that this strain could produce substances that may help protect food from harmful microbes. In laboratory …

Development Of A Multidimensional Index Of Fall Risk For Older Adults: The Cache County Study, Alexandra G. Hammond

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

One out of four adults over the age of 65 are estimated to fall each year in the U.S. alone, with that number expected to rise to 52 million falls per year by the year 2030. Improving accuracy for identification of older adults at a higher risk of falling is increasingly important and may be integral in informing the distribution of limited resources and assist in preventing falls in older adults. This project examined the relationship between previously identified risk factors and fall risk to create multidimensional fall risk indexes for older adults, specific for each sex.

Factors best associated …