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General Catalog 2022-2023, Utah State University

University Catalogs

This catalog contains information on the Academic Departments and Programs as well as Course Descriptions for the above school year at Utah State University. To avoid large file downloads, the Academic Departments and Programs information is located in this file. The Course Description information is located in the secondary file.

Intra-Operative Language Assessment For Adult Brain Tumor Survivors: A Systematic Review, Carissa Jolley

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Awake craniotomy and language assessment procedures for brain tumor survivors can drastically affect patient outcomes and quality of life. The goal of intra-operative language mapping is to help preserve vital communicative functions. However, there is currently no standardized set of measures for intra-operative language assessment. This systematic review identified behavioral language measures used during intra-operative procedures and the resulting outcomes for adult brain tumor patients, with the aim of helping clinicians and researchers select intra-operative language assessments supported by the highest levels of evidence.

PRISMA guidelines were used to systematically identify articles. Patient demographic and medical information, neuroimaging data, intra-operative …

Investigating Cause-Specific Mortality Of Sheep To Determine The Impacts Of Carnivores On Domestic Livestock, Nathan Jacob Floyd

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Livestock and carnivores interact in ways that are considered conflict throughout the world. In the western United States, livestock are often grazed on public lands in close proximity to predators in their natural habitat, and can be killed as prey. Livestock losses to predators can threaten rancher’s livelihoods. Sheep and lambs are especially vulnerable to predators due to their small size and lack of defensive abilities. To reduce the impacts that predators have on livestock, it is important for ranchers and wildlife biologists to have an accurate understanding of how many livestock die and are killed by predators when grazing …

The Personal Is Still Political: An Analysis Of Jessica Valenti's Contemporary Feminine Style, Michala M. Zilkey

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In 2016, Jessica Valenti’s memoir, Sex Object, was published. Sex Object describes Valenti’s experiences of sexualization and objectification in a personal and anecdotal format. The feminine style, a rhetorical style that bridges the divide between norms of femininity and expectations of public oration, has been heralded as essential for advancing the feminist movement. This thesis asks the question, to what extent does contemporary feminists’ rhetoric mirror and diverge from earlier iterations of the feminine style? I argue that Valenti’s employs a feminine style that utilizes relational norms and self-disclosure to illustrate the personal as political and the political as …

Syntax Exercises And Their Effect On Computational Thinking, Marina Johnson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Abstract—Job opportunities and the need for programmers are increasing. Companies are looking for new hires who have the ability to learn how to learn, who have computational thinking skills. Student dropout rate in computer science is the highest among college majors. Educators are striving to find a way to teach efficiently and effectively the technical and the problem solving skills students need. In this paper we will be studying the effects of syntax exercises on a subject’s ability to think computationally and precisely. We tested our process on professionals and students. Half of the professionals were in the computer science …

High School Biology Teachers' Integration Of Argumention In The Context Of Disciplinary Literacy Coaching, Ashley Strong

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Scientific argumentation is a core scientific practice. Although scientific argumentation has been linked to increased learning of scientific content, improved reading, writing, and critical thinking, traditional science classrooms have not included scientific argumentation. Teachers often have little experience learning or teaching science through argumentation and need support to integrate this complex practice of science into their classrooms. This study compared four high school biology teachers’ instruction of scientific argumentation as they worked with a literacy coach. Data were collected through interviews, audio recordings of classroom instruction and literacy coaching sessions, and artifacts. After analyzing the data, several key findings stood …

Cultural, Contextual, And Individual Determinants Of Mental Health Service Utilization Among Latinx Emerging Adults, Kenia Carrera Diaz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Despite being at an increased risk of experiencing mental health problems, Latinx emerging adults underutilize professional psychological services compared to other ethnic/racial groups. It is important for researchers to understand this mental health disparity to improve Latinx emerging adults’ use of quality mental health services (MHS). The current project investigated factors that might influence Latinx emerging adult’s use of MHS through two separate studies. In the first study, I systematically reviewed research published in the past decade that examined predictors of MHS use among Latinx emerging adults. A total of 9 studies were found and included in this review. This …

Control Mapping Methodology For Tailless Morphing-Wing Aircraft, Zachary S. Montgomery

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Advanced aircraft designs tend to have several control surfaces or devices that affect the flight of the aircraft. It is difficult or even impossible for a pilot to directly control each of these devices and fly the aircraft well. Therefore, a control mapping logic is needed to take typical pilot commands and map them to what the control devices should do to achieve the pilot’s commands. This work presents a methodology for determining this control mapping logic using two different approaches. The first uses a theoretical approach based on lifting-line theory, while the second leverages computational methods. The methodology consists …

Evaluating The Benefit Of The Islamic Banking System In Uae (United Arab Emirates), Hadjer Abir Bensaha

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

A ubiquitous number of articles have examined the finance and banking systems used throughout the world (conventional). This paper aims to provide some evidence of the value of the Islamic banking system and why the current non-Islamic systems should implement certain aspects of the Islamic finance system. To make this claim, I rely on secondary research data to support my arguments. Islamic banking has experienced rapid global growth. This paper uses the United Arab of Emirates as the scope of this research because both banking systems have operated in the UAE for several years. Therefore, existing data and statistics from …

An Investigation Of Active Learning On Students' Understanding Of Infinite Series Convergence, Zachary Coverstone

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Many students encounter infinite series for the first time as part of their single-variable calculus coursework. As part of this initial engagement with infinite series convergence, students grapple with infinity in ways that they haven't had to before. For instance, the fact that summing infinitely many terms sometimes yields a finite value, but at other times diverges, poses significant conceptual challenges.

I recently designed and implemented a curriculum for second-semester calculus centered in doing problems to help students develop ideas surrounding infinite series convergence, rather than using direct instruction. The unit design was patterned after a workshop at the Park …

Effects Of Imu Sensor Location And Number On The Validity Of Vertical Acceleration Time-Series Data In Countermovement Jumping, Dianne Althouse

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Many devices are available for measuring the height of a CMJ. An inertial measurement unit (IMU) measures linear acceleration, orientation, and angular velocity. As an alternative to using IMU estimates of flight time, CMJ height could be estimated by integrating the IMU time-series signal for vertical acceleration to derive CMJ take-off velocity in order to track whole-body center of mass (WBCoM) movement, yet this approach would require valid IMU acceleration data. Thus, the purpose of this study was to quantify the effects of IMU sensor location and number on the validity of vertical acceleration estimation in CMJ. Thirty young adults …

Association Between Visuomotor Skills And The Effects Of Stroboscopic Vision On Depth Jump Performance, Riley Welch

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The reactive strength index (RSI) is a popularized method of evaluating depth jump performance. Performance in anticipation of ground impact is influenced by the proprioceptive, vestibular, and visuomotor systems through multisensory integration. The contribution of vision to depth jump performance has been studied through use of stroboscopic goggles, but no study has evaluated which visuomotor skills may be a predictor for DJ performance. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the association between visuomotor skills and the effects of stroboscopic vision on DJ performance. Participants consisted of 9 female and 13 male college aged adults. DJ performance was evaluated …

Power And Communication: A Literature Review And Course Proposal, Cody Clayton

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This paper overviews my final master’s degree project. In this project, I researched the intersection of power and communication. Using academic articles, I reviewed best practices regarding power in the classroom. In addition, I found articles that discussed power and communication within organizations. Using these two bodies of research, I wrote a literature review focused on power bases and power distances. These two specific forms of power were chosen because they each have a different focus, but they can both be applied to teaching practices and organizations. I was then able to design a course to teach these concepts by …

Predicting Order Status Using Xgboost, Kegan J. Penovich

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Invista, a Koch subsidiary, is a multinational producer of fibers, resins, and intermediaries, particularly nylon. To keep the company operating required them to take over 1.5 million orders over the course of - years, less than a third of which arrived on-time. Orders arriving other than when expected can cause many problems for any company. While arriving late is a clear problem, it also troublesome for them to arrive early. In the face of this, it becomes important to be able to tell a-priori if an order will arrive on-time or not.

To address this problem, we made use of …

Organizational Culture And Communication Competence Workshop: Masters Plan B, Travis Bergon

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This project began as an attempt to understand how events, such as the “Great Resignation” (i.e., an unprecedented mass exit of employees from the U.S. workforce), have impacted the way in which organizations are attempting to mitigate employee turnover. In addition, this project examined what role managers might play in promoting a positive organizational culture. A review of literature identified Schein’s (1990) model of organizational culture and Spitzberg and Cupach’s (1984) conceptualization of communication competence as useful frameworks for helping managers understand and promote positive organizational culture and employee mental health and well-being. In addition, the review of literature pointed …

The Santaquin Greenway System: Preserving The Future Of Santaquin Trails And Open Space, Ian Kola

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Santaquin residents value their open spaces, trails and gathering spaces. Greenways are a space-efficient form of open space that can ensure a community has access to these amenities.

This greenway master plan is a cumulative result of work compiled and completed by students from Utah State University’s Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning department, Santaquin residents, and city government. Extensive community engagement occurred through USU’s senior capstone and Charrette projects, and this master plan coincides with the planning conclusions made in these projects.

This plan represents a conceptual layout and design of a greenway system in Santaquin, UT. These plans are …

Contributions Of Vision To The Neuromotor Control And Biomechanics Of Depth Jumping, Kenneth Harrison

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

PURPOSE: To investigate the role of vision during depth jump movements and further explore effects of stroboscopic goggles on the motor control of landing. METHODS: Ground reaction force (GRF), rate of force development (RFD), and lower limb surface electromyography measurements were collected on 20 participants (11 male 9 female) across 6 trials of depth jumping (0.51 m) in each of two visual conditions (full vision vs stroboscopic vision). Root-mean-square was estimated from EMG signals that were reduced to specific time-bins (150ms pre touchdown, 30-60ms, 60-85 ms, and 85-120 ms post touchdown). Main effects of and interactions between visual condition and …

North Logan Active Transportation Plan, Lloyd Sutton

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The North Logan Active Transportation Plan provides a small, Utah community with background information, data, public involvement summaries, and recommendations regarding active transportation planning. The plan focuses on providing transportation infrastructure recommendations for use by bicycles, pedestrians, and other forms of active, non-motorized transport.

Medicaid Expansion: Changes In Individual Health Outcomes, Julie Norman

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The Affordable Care Act is one of the biggest changes in the American healthcare system in the 21st century. One element of the ACA is medicaid expansion, which opened up federal funding for states to cover any individual earning below 138% of the federal poverty line. 21 states expanded medicaid in 2014 while 12 haven’t expanded. This paper utilizes the disparity for a natural experiment to determine the efficacy of the program. Outcome variables of interest include measurements of individual health, health access and utilization, and premature death rates. The results indicate positive, but small improvements due to the policy, …

Do Rational Agents Steal, Randy Hill

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Do Rational Agents Steal?

Modern economists from Adam Smith to the present have broadly assumed that rational agents respect property rights. This respect for property rights has been a feature of nearly all economic models from the beginning. This paper examines a simple two person, production and trade model where the agents are allowed to choose to steal. Even within this simple model, there are a broad range of parameters that affect the agents' choices. In most parameter sets, the agents choose to steal as the reward for conflict outweighs the opportunity cost of not engaging in conflict. The parameter …

A Bayesian Hierarchical Approach For Modeling Virtual Species With Realistic Functional Trait Relationships, Sarah Bogen

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Understanding the spatial and temporal dynamics of plant populations has important implications for the fields of ecology and conservation. A rich body of mathematical modeling approaches, including reaction-diffusion equations and integrodifference equations, have been developed to mechanistically model population spread based on species demography and seed dispersal characteristics. However, with over 390,000 plant species on Earth, it is not feasible to collect complete information on all species for the purpose of drawing generalized conclusions. One means of overcoming such a problem is through trait-based modeling, which seeks to represent realistic combinations of organismal traits rather than focusing on individual species. …

Pocatello Downtown Development Plan: A Vision For The Twenty-First Century, James L. Anglesey

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Downtown Pocatello is the beating heart of the city and serves as the community's epicenter of civic and cultural life. It encompasses Pocatello's unique heritage and will play a vital role in Pocatello's success in the future. Downtown's physical location between world-class recreational opportunities and a research-based university provides key metrics for creating a successful downtown. This thesis establishes the foundational premise for downtown success and sets forth a vision for Pocatello to reinforce, connect, and intensify its greatest community assets through a series of urban design and redevelopment solutions and recommendations. A literature review focused on the theoretical underpinnings …

An Examination Of The Golden Ratio In General Education Classrooms, Carrie Mclaughlin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A large body of research indicates use of praise as a response to appropriate behavior is an effective classroom management strategy to increase appropriate behavior and decrease problem behavior. Since prior research also suggested that teachers tend to have more negative interactions with students than positive ones, use of a specific praise to reprimand ratio is commonly recommended in teacher preparation programs and professional development. However, recommendations regarding the optimal ratio vary and there is limited evidence to support use of any specific ratio. There have also been relatively few studies examining naturally occurring rates of teacher praise, reprimands, and …

Management Of Garlic Mustard (Alliaria Petiolata), Sahara Mustard (Brassica Tournefortii), And Elongated Mustard (Brassica Elongata) In Utah, Natalie Layne Fronk

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The invasive mustard species Sahara mustard (Brassica tournefortii), garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) and elongated mustard (Brassica elongata) negatively impact a variety of ecological systems across the state of Utah. The distribution of these species in Utah is relatively limited at the current time. If prompt action is taken, it may be possible to contain and manage these species before irreparable ecological and agricultural damage occurs. For this reason, all three mustards are listed by the State of Utah as weeds of high priority for management.

This project tested multiple strategies to determine effective species-specific …

The Association Of Military Sexual Harassment/Assault With Suicidal Ideation, Plans, Attempts, And Mortality Among Service Members And Veterans: A Meta-Analysis And Research Study, Whitney S. Livingston

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Rates of death by suicide and sexual harassment/assault that occurs during military service (MSH/A) are higher among service members/veterans than rates of suicide and sexual violence among civilians. Suicide risk includes thoughts and attempts, and research examining the strength of the relationship between suicide risk and sexual violence across past studies that examined this association are limited to civilians. Moreover, current theories hypothesizing which factors are related to suicide risk do not adequately predict suicide among service members and veterans, and do not account for factors such as MSH/A. This two-study dissertation first calculated the magnitude of the relationship between …

Novel Patterning Techniques To Improve Digital Image Correlation In Challenging Environments, Weston Craig

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A camera-based measurement technique called digital image correlation (DIC) is beneficial to measure displacement and strain in challenging environments (such as post-irradiation evaluation and high temperature environments) due to its non-contacting nature and ability to obtain measurements over multiple length scales. This technique requires a surface pattern which influences the measurement resolution and accuracy of the measurements. This thesis explores two novel patterning techniques to allow the use of DIC in more challenging environments:

The first is to determine if a pattern created from printed text can be used as a pattern in DIC. Native patterns are patterns already present …

Quantification Of Hydrologic Response To Forest Disturbance In Western U.S. Watersheds, Sara A. Goeking

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Forested watersheds produce more than half of the water supply in the United States. Forests affect how precipitation is partitioned into available water versus evapotranspiration. This dissertation investigated how water yield and snowpack responded to forest disturbance following recent disturbances in western U.S. forests during the period 2000-2019.

Chapter 2 systematically reviewed 78 recent studies that examined how water yield or snowpack changed after forest disturbances. Water yield and snowpack often increased after disturbance, but decreased in some circumstances. Decreased water yield was most likely to occur following disturbances that did not remove the entire forest canopy. It was also …

Dairy Breed, Grass-Birdsfoot Trefoil Mixture, And Pasture Nutrition Effects On Intake, Feed Efficiency, And Grazing Adaptation, Michael Greenland

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Dairy cattle have lower dry matter intake (DMI) on pastures thus leading to less weight gain and milk production than feedlot cows. This study was conducted to determine whether different dairy breeds are better adapted to lower or higher quality pastures as measured in DMI and feed efficiency. The eight treatments consisted of Jersey, Holstein, Holstein-Jersey crossbreds, and 3-breed crossbreds (Montbéliarde-Swedish Red-Holstein) heifers on grass monocultures and grass-BFT mixtures. We observed greater DMI on grass-BFT mixtures. Among breeds, Holstein had the greatest DMI, then the two crossbreds, and Jersey had the least. Feed efficiency was most favorable for Jersey, less …

Syntactic Complexity In Reading Comprehension: An Eye-Tracking Study Of Text Processing Among Bilinguals And Monolinguals, Guoqin Ding

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

For Chinese students, studying in a country with different cultural components and language structures is challenging. Compared to English, the Chinese prefers shorter and simple sentence structure and allows for two sentences to be stated side by side. Different sentence structures in Chinese may influence native-Chinese readers’ understanding of English sentences and even a whole text. This exploratory study examined whether there were any differences between English monolingual and Chinese-English children while reading varied English texts with simple or complex structures at different reading difficulty levels. This study explored the differences across texts and readers, as well as the possible …

Who Is More Likely To Be Delinquent In Their Mortgage Payments Among Homeowners? The Role Of Financial Literacy, Ellie Donne Hansen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Homeownership is a way for families to build wealth and marks status attainment. Despite the many benefits of homeownership, homeowners who are delinquent on their mortgages lose the effective means of wealth accumulation and may trigger the beginning of the foreclosure process. There is evidence that homeowners with appropriate levels of financial literacy have a lower likelihood of mortgage delinquency.

Using data from the 2018 National Financial Capability Study (NFCS), the main purpose of this study was to examine what factors are associated with mortgage delinquency among homeowners. This study also examined to what extent financial literacy plays a role …