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The Effects Of Explicitly Teaching Summarization Skills On The Reading Comprehension Of Students With Specific Learning Disabilities, Sally A. Brown

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Secondary students who struggle with reading often have deficits in the area of reading comprehension. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of explicit main idea and summarization instruction on reading comprehension of expository text for alternative high school students. The lead researcher explicitly taught participants how to summarize expository passages. Participants were taught to generate a big idea topic of a passage, identify key words and phrases, locate or generate main ideas, and generate an oral summary. The three participants increased their performance on the researcher-developed oral summary measure and the summarization guide after receiving the …

Brun's 1920 Theorem On Goldbach's Conjecture, James A. Farrugia

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

One form of Goldbach’s Conjecture asserts that every even integer greater than 4is the sum of two odd primes. In 1920 Viggo Brun proved that every sufficiently large even number can be written as the sum of two numbers, each having at most nine prime factors. This thesis explains the overarching principles governing the intricate arguments Brun used to prove his result.

Though there do exist accounts of Brun’s methods, those accounts seem to miss the forest for the trees. In contrast, this thesis explains the relatively simple structure underlying Brun’s arguments, deliberately avoiding most of his elaborate machinery and …

Split Latency Allocator: Process Variation-Aware Register Access Latency Boost In A Near-Threshold Graphics Processing Unit, Asmita Pal

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Over the last decade, Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) have been used extensively in gaming consoles, mobile phones, workstations and data centers, as they have exhibited immense performance improvement over CPUs, in graphics intensive applications. Due to their highly parallel architecture, general purpose GPUs (GPGPUs) have gained the foreground in applications where large data blocks can be processed in parallel. However, the performance improvement is constrained by a large power consumption. Likewise, Near Threshold Computing (NTC) has emerged as an energy-efficient design paradigm. Hence, operating GPUs at NTC seems like a plausible solution to counteract the high energy consumption. This work …

Conformal Inkjet Printed Antennas For Small Spacecraft, Muhammadeziz Tursunniyaz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Although small spacecraft are small in size and light in weight compared to the conventional satellites, they can offer lots of possibilities for space exploration, scientific observation, data collection and telecommunication. Also, they cost a lot less money than the conventional satellites, and the scientific missions can be planned in a relatively short period of time by using the COTS (Commercial Off-The-Shelf) materials. However, there is a big challenge for the small spacecraft that is the limited surface area of the small spacecraft and the outnumbered components to be mounted on the surface of the small spacecraft. The most obvious …

Gene-Environment Interaction: Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (Bdnf) As A Moderating Factor For The Effects Of Exercise And Diet On Cognitive And Mental Health: The Cache County Study On Memory In Aging, Chelsea L. Sanders

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Cache County Study on Memory in Aging, funded by the National Institute on Aging, studied longitudinal changes in memory and aging over 12 years’ follow-up in a population-based sample of 5,092 older adults in semirural Cache County, UT. Among the extensive interview procedures, researchers collected information regarding the participants’ demographics, health, genetic factors, diet, physical activity, and cognitive abilities. This study has allowed researchers to investigate how genetic and modifiable lifestyle factors interact to predict health, cognitive function, and psychological wellbeing in older adults.

Diet and exercise are important lifestyle factors in maintaining cognitive health and psychological wellbeing throughout …

Why Do They Do That? Understanding Factors Influencing Visitor Spatial Behavior In Parks And Protected Areas, Abigail M. Sisneros-Kidd

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Visitors to parks and protected areas within the United States and worldwide often visit these areas with a particular destination in mind, such as seeing Old Faithful erupt in Yellowstone National Park or standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon in Grand Canyon National Park. These visitor use destinations, and the pathways leading to them, such as trails and roadways, see high levels of use, and as a result, impacts to soil, vegetation, air, water, soundscapes, and night skies that result from this use. The field of recreation ecology studies these impacts to park and protected area resources resulting …

Planning For Active Transportation In The Western United States: An Alternative Future For Cache Valley, Utah, Stephanie A. Tomlin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Mobility in the western U.S. is defined primarily by the private automobile. Since the conclusion of WWII, the private automobile has become readily available to the public, and as a result, has heavily influenced the design of our modern cities in the west. In recent years the connections between high motor vehicle use and rising obesity rates, crumbling road infrastructure, and deteriorating air quality have caused city officials to reexamine the transportation systems of the west. One solution advocates, city officials, and planning professionals have begun examining is active transportation (walking, cycling, and public transit). Research suggests that a robust …

Why Do You Go To University? Outcomes Associated With Student Beliefs About The Purposes Of A University Education, Mitchell C. Colver

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Students enter the realm of higher education with a wide variety of beliefs about the purposes of attending university, which often relate to or reveal their various motivations for pursuing a post-secondary education. Research demonstrates that some student motivations align more fully with intrinsic factors, such as the love of learning or quest for excellence, while other student motivations align with extrinsic factors, such as vocational preparedness and monetary incentives (Vallerand et al., 1989). Using a Bourdieusienne lens, this study sought to place these student motivations in the larger sociocultural context and argue for greater opportunities for democratic equity in …

Engelmann Spruce Survival And Regeneration After An Epidemic Spruce Beetle Outbreak On The Markagunt Plateau In Southern Utah, Jessika M. Pettit

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Bark beetle outbreaks are becoming more intense and severe when coupled with the effects of climate change. Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii) is one such species facing large-scale, epidemic spruce beetle outbreaks. Large-scale disturbances, such as beetle outbreaks, have major consequences for the future success of the ecosystem, thus highlighting the importance of understanding what promotes amplified outbreaks as well as their effects on future seedling establishment. Our research focused on two parts of a large-scale beetle outbreak: the mortality of spruce trees and the subsequent regeneration of seedlings. Our first study examined the timing of spruce mortality during …

Personal Growth Following The Challenge Of Becoming A New Parent While Working As A Mental Health Clinician: A Narrative Study, Amie L. Smith

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Becoming a new parent can cause both immense joy and immense stress that leads to increases and decreases in a new parent’s feeling of life satisfaction. In addition, working as a mental health clinician is a frequently challenging career. Given that many clinicians also become parents while working during the course of their careers, it is surprising that there is not more research on the experience of clinicians who become new parents. More research is needed to find out how people balance the stresses of new parenthood and their emotionally challenging jobs. There is some research on “stress-related growth” that …

Incentivizing Fruit, Vegetable, And Physical Activity Level Change: Expansion And Evaluation Of The Fit Game Program For Healthy Behavior Change In Elementary Schools, Damon L. Joyner

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Researchers in the Nutrition, Dietetics and Food Science department and Psychology department sought to improve healthy behaviors in elementary schools such as fruit and vegetable consumption (FV) and daily physical activity (PA). We chose to use a healthy behavior program called the “FIT Game” that has successfully increased FV consumption among elementary-aged children over short periods of time. Our aim was to improve the program by lowering operating costs, adjusting its materials to target PA and see if it could maintain healthy eating improvements over a longer period of time. Our series of research shows encouraging results: short term improvements …

Biological Condition And Stressors Of Blm Wadeable Streams In Northeastern California And Northwestern Nevada, Nicole Cappuccio

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Taxpayer dollars can be used more efficiently by land management agencies to monitor streams if agency-wide monitoring protocols are adopted. To address this issue, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) developed the National Aquatic Monitoring Framework (NAMF) to implement standardized assessments of stream condition and trend in the Western United States. As one of the first applications of the NAMF I sought to develop and apply an analytical framework to determine the biological condition of streams, extent of instream stressors and their impact on biological condition, and anthropogenic sources of stressors in Northeast California and Northwest Nevada over three years …

U.S. Consumers’ Perception, Intention, And Purchase Behavior Of Grass-Fed Beef, Elizabeth K. Crandall

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this research study was to compile regional profiles of the consumers who intend to consume grass-fed beef in the U.S. and to create marketing strategies that would assist producers in marketing their product to consumers. The researcher sent an online survey to a panel of 484 consumers across the U.S. to learn about their perceptions of and intention to purchase grass-fed beef.

Respondents had a weak, positive attitude toward purchasing grass-fed beef but had low knowledge of production practices. These consumers had a desire to eat healthier; however, they wanted meat that was priced right and had …

The Effects Of Enhanced Flows On Community Structure And Ecosystem Functioning In A Montane Utah River System, Joshua A. Epperly

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Due to growing human demands for freshwater within the last century, manmade flow alterations are now a common characteristic of rivers worldwide. Alterations to the volume and timing of flows in rivers are known to negatively impact aquatic biodiversity, biological productivity and ecosystem functions such as nutrient cycling. While previous research has focused on the effects of flow reductions and spates, there is a lack of knowledge on how high flows across longer timespans (i.e. ‘enhanced flows’) impact the structure of river communities and the integrity of ecosystem functions.

The Utah Reclamation, Mitigation and Conservation Commission has expressed interest in …

Quantifying Dominant Heat Fluxes In An Arctic Alaskan River With Mechanistic River Temperature Modeling, Tyler V. King

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Temperatures strongly affect physical, chemical, and biological processes in rivers and streams. The processes that influence river temperatures are known across most geographic regions, but the relative importance varies significantly. Little is known about what controls water temperature Arctic rivers, limiting our ability to understand the impacts of climate change. This dissertation addresses this knowledge gap by incorporating field measurements with river temperature modeling to estimate the relative importance of key factors that affect Arctic river temperatures. Results indicate that shortwave radiation (e.g., sunlight) and net longwave radiation are significant throughout an Arctic watershed in all flow conditions. In areas …

Investigations Into Factors Affecting The Wpd-Loop In The Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases Yoph And Ptp1b, Gwendolyn Moise

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The research in this dissertation documents connections between the primary amino acid sequence of proteins, the dynamics of proteins, and their catalytic function. This research project studied two proteins called protein-tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs): the human enzyme PTP1B, and the bacterial enzyme YopH. PTP1B is a human enzyme that down regulates the insulin receptor on the outer cellular membrane, and causes the insulin receptor to be less responsive to insulin. A deeper knowledge of how PTP1B is different from other human PTPs might be useful in designing drugs to increase insulin sensitivity in diabetics. Yersinia Pestis is the bacteria that caused …

Putting Weight In Context: Acceptance And Commitment Therapy (Act) Guided Self-Help For Weight Self-Stigma, Sarah A. Potts

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Obesity is a serious public health issue within the U.S. and minimal long-term success is found with standard behavioral weight-loss treatments. Typical weight-loss interventions do not acknowledge psychological factors, such as weight-related stigma, which may play a role in the development and maintenance of poor coping behaviors, such as unhealthy eating patterns. Individuals who are obese may often experience weight-related stigma present in society and are ultimately at risk for weight self-stigma, which is related to poor health behaviors and increased psychological distress. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), can be effective for treating numerous mental health presentations, might also be …

Canonical Coordinates On Lie Groups And The Baker Campbell Hausdorff Formula, Nicholas Graner

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Lie Groups occur in math and physics as representations of continuous symmetries and are often described in terms of their Lie Algebra. This thesis is concerned with finding a concrete description of a Lie group given its associated Lie algebra. Several calculations toward this end are developed and then implemented in the Maple Differential Geometry package. Examples of the calculations are given.

Design Scaffolding For Computational Making In The Visual Programming Tool Aris, Whitney E. Lewis

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In this thesis, I explore how design scaffolds, or (i.e., intellectual supports) can assist learners engaging with computational making processes. Computational making combines programming with artifact production. Due to the complexity of tasks involved in computational making, there is an increasing need to explore and develop support systems for learners engaging with computational making.

With $3,000 funding from Utah State University’s College of Education and Human Services, an undergraduate researcher and I, who both have experience with youth and computational making research, explored how design scaffolds impact youth engaging with computational making processes. To do so, we held a workshop …

Novel Methods To Produce Large Recombinant Spider Silk Proteins Via Polymerization, Nathan L. Hebert

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Spider silk has long been a subject of scientific research due to its remarkable mechanical properties. Until recently, there has been no way to effectively obtain spider silk except by harvesting it from individual spiders. With advances in technology, the genes that code for the individual spider silk proteins have been isolated and genetically engineered into other hosts to produce recombinant spider silk proteins (rSSp) of varying sizes, Larger rSSp have correspondingly greater mechanical properties in any resulting materials. Using current production methods, larger rSSp cannot be produced in commercially viable quantities while simultaneously being economically viable. The current production …

Advancing Methods To Quantify Actual Evapotranspiration In Stony Soil Ecosystems, Kshitij Parajuli

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Water is undeniably among the most important natural resources and the most critical in semi-arid regions like the Intermountain West of the United States. Such regions are characterized by low precipitation, the majority of which is transferred to the atmosphere from the soil and vegetation as evapotranspiration (ET). Quantification of ET is thus crucial for understanding the balance of water within the region, which is important for efficiently planning the available water resources. This study was motivated towards advancing the estimation of actual ET (ET_A) in mountain ecosystems, where the variation in different types of vegetation and non-uniformity …

Weaving A Religious Community: Monasticism, Authority, And Theology In Gujarat, 1830-1905, Kirtan Patel

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis demonstrates the intersection of caste, doctrine, religious authority and monasticism in the Swaminarayan sampradāy, a Hindu devotional tradition founded by Sahajānand Svāmī. Religious traditions affected indirectly or minimally by colonialism or the nationalist struggle have seldom been rigorously studied. This thesis brings attention to the Swaminarayan sampradāy to highlight how pervasive societal discourses like that of caste and internal doctrinal developments, impacted religious developments concerning authority, hierarchy, and power. The reification of a doctrine and the creation of a theological office, coupled with the deification of a monk, Guṇātītānand Svāmī, and his low-caste disciple Prāgjī manifested a …

Development And Fitness Consequences Of Onshore Behavior Among Polar Bears In The Southern Beaufort Sea Subpopulation, Kate M. Lillie

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are experiencing rapid and substantial changes to their environment due to global climate change. Polar bears of the southern Beaufort Sea (SB) have historically spent most of the year on the sea ice. However, recent reports from Alaska indicate that the proportion of the SB subpopulation observed onshore during late summer and early fall has increased considerably. Previous research suggests that the number of polar bears onshore is linked to sea ice conditions and the availability of subsistence-harvested whale carcasses, which are referred to as bone piles. My objectives were to determine the development …

Nonstandard Employment And The Risk Of Divorce In South Korea, Donghyun Kim

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Despite a persistent increase in South Korea’s divorce rate, our understanding of the economic determinants of divorce in South Korea is very limited. In particular, the relationship between nonstandard employment and divorce has received little attention, even though the number of nonstandard employees has rapidly increased in recent years. This paper examines the extent to which one’s employment type is associated with marital dissolution in South Korea, using nationally representative longitudinal data (the Korea Welfare Panel Study from 2007 to 2013). Results from discrete-time hazard models show that for men, the odds of divorce of nonstandard workers are estimated to …

Development And Characterization Of Aqueous-Based Recombinant Spider Silk Protein Biomaterials With Investigations Into Potential Applications, Thomas I. Harris

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Spider silks are incredible natural materials that possess desirable combinations of strength, elasticity, weight, and robustness. Other properties such as biocompatibility and biodegradability further increase the worth of these materials. The possibility of farming spiders is impractical due to spiders’ natural behaviors. Modern biotechnologies have allowed for recombinant spider silk proteins (rSSps) to be produced without the use of spiders. However, the features responsible for spider silks impressive properties can cause difficulties with producing silk materials. A recently developed water-based and biomimetic solvation method has provided a solution to such difficulties and has also led to novel silk biomaterials. Most …

Towards The Prediction Of Climate Extremes With Attribution Analysis Through Climate Diagnostics And Modeling: Cases From Asia To North America, Boniface Opoku Fosu

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This project summarizes the findings of research organized in two parts. The first involved the characterization of changes in the variability of climate that lead to extreme events. The second focused on the predictability of extreme climate on time-scales ranging from short forecast lead-times to long-lead climate predictions exceeding a year.

Initial studies focused on three interrelated, yet regionally unique extreme climate phenomena. First, the relationship between increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and particulate matter (PM) concentration in basin terrain was investigated. Next, we evaluated changes in large-scale atmospheric circulation associated with two climate phenomena at either extreme side of …

Uncertainty Quantification And Sensitivity Analysis Of Multiphysics Environments For Application In Pressurized Water Reactor Design, Cole David Blakely

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The most common design among U.S. nuclear power plants is the pressurized water reactor (PWR). The three primary design disciplines of these plants are system analysis (which includes thermal hydraulics), neutronics, and fuel performance. The nuclear industry has developed a variety of codes over the course of forty years, each with an emphasis within a specific discipline. Perhaps the greatest difficulty in mathematically modeling a nuclear reactor, is choosing which specific phenomena need to be modeled, and to what detail.

A multiphysics computational environment provides a means of advancing simulations of nuclear plants. Put simply, users are able to combine …

Enhancing Spider-Silk Protein Materials Through Continuous Electrospinning And Photo-Initiated Cross-Linking, Dan Gil

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Spider-silk is known as one of the stronger natural materials, unfortunately it is impossible to farm spiders due to their territorial and cannibalistic nature. To address this issue, researchers have studied spider-silk to discover how it is produced in nature. From their results, spider-silk is composed of large sized proteins produced in two different cell types. Using this knowledge, researchers created transgenic organisms capable of producing spider-silk proteins in large quantities. Using these proteins, several groups have created fibers, films, hydrogels, and adhesives with robust and versatile properties.

Wet-spinning is a technique commonly used to create fibers from spider-silk proteins. …

Attracting Secondary Students To Stem Using A Summer Engineering Camp, Murad Mahmoud

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this research was to study the benefits of having middle school students attend a summer camp focused on the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). A lot of research funding is being used in such camps to help get more students into STEM fields as there is a lack of graduates in those fields. Therefore, it is important to understand the benefits and effectiveness of such camps.

Students, teachers and parents were involved in this research. Students and teachers attended a one-week engineering camp at Utah State University while parents were involved via a blog …

Three Essays On The Economics Of Controlling Mobile-Source Episodic Air Pollution, Ramjee Acharya

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Cache County and the Wasatch Front, Utah have persistently experienced some of the nation’s worst air quality over the past decade. Elevated PM2.5 concentrations during wintertime “red air day” episodes frequently exceed the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). We investigate the possible effects of two different economic policies in controlling these regional problems. Adapting a model originally developed to calculate the social investment necessary to control nationwide disease outbreaks, we estimate an optimal preventative capital stock (for example, investment in public transportation) of between $4.1 million and $14.1 million to control red air day episodes in Cache County, and …