Digital Commons Network^™

Motivations To Choose English Teaching At Utah State University, Aaron Piscione

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

One of the most important careers is that of teaching—but why do students at Utah State choose the English Teaching major? Understanding the answer to this question will help prospective English teaching majors to know if the major is right for them, advising and advising services at USU to direct students to the major if it is correct for them, and the English department at USU to understand why it is that those students have chosen to be there. The methods used to obtain the results of this study are simple—a combination of surveys and interviews given to current students …

Power And Pain: Dickinson's Approach To The Sublime, Isabelle Quigley, Westin Smith, Sariah Dutkiewicz

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

Dickinson's poetry remains an enigma for contemporary readers and scholars because she maintained such a reclusive life as a poet. The ambiguity of her personal and professional life reflects the uncertainty in her poetry, and her refusal to publish much of her work in her lifetime further obscures concrete readings of her poems. However, she did prepare her poetry in the form of manuscript books for future readers. Unlike other authors, Dickinson offered no guidelines on how to approach her work. This lack of guidance has created a constant struggle of interpreting Dickinson's poetry, and to try a resolve this …

"They Need To Grow Up": Variations Among Legal Definitions Of Minors, Yocheved Ramirez

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

Legally defining adulthood seems straightforward: individuals reach the age of majority at 18 and are granted key privileges based on age. But, that definition is actually pretty vague. We see evidence for that vagueness when we look at legal culpability—policies around waiving minors into adult court vary by state which means that there is no national consensus on how age affects understanding the consequences of one's actions.Some of the justifications against minor criminal culpability include undeveloped cognition (cognitive development theory) and a lack of moral maturity. This research poster seeks to investigate how the legal system differentiates minors from adults …

What Are The Consequences Of (De)Criminalization?, Isaac Rhea

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

The US has the highest incarceration rate of any developed country (1.46M in 2018) and this large population of inmates creates a significant cost for taxpayers and governments. Further, the traditional prison system may not be the most effective way to reduce crime and rehabilitate offenders. Extensive researchhas been conducted to study decriminalization as a solution to these problems, and promising results have been found indicating a path forward to reduce inmate populations and government expenditures, improve offender outcomes, and maintain public safety.

Drought Tolerant Plants For The Western United States In Response To Climate Change, Emily Rice

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

The Southwest United States has been severely impacted by climate change. Already the driest region of the US, temperatures in the area have risen approximately 2 degrees Fahrenheit in the previous century ("Climate Impacts in the Southwest", 2017). Those temperatures are expected to rise by 3.5 to 9.5 degrees before the end of the current century ("Climate Impacts in the Southwest", 2017). In a region already considered to have many drought areas, this temperature increase will stress water sources, making the competition between farmers, urban areas, and native groups to become more intense. The same temperature increases that cause severe …

How Can Companies "Go Green" With Their Software?, Meredith Richards

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

An increasing number of companies are setting stricter and more defined guidelines on their relationship between software and energy consumption in order to take greater responsibility for their impact on the environment. However, "going Green" can be easier said than done, and most certainly does not happen overnight. So, how can companies go Green with their software? What does that process look like, how much does it cost, and how long does it take? A three-part process articulated by a group of researchers suggest deploying the following actions is the best approach to "Going Green": 1. Review and refine the …

War And Death In The Works Of Emily Dickinson, Alexis Roberts, Kenley Kofford, Lexi Melmoth

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

In analyzing Emily Dickinson's work within Fascicle 23, her relationship with death and dying is highlighted through her ways of writing about it in peaceful, hopeful, and solemn ways. Death, through Dickinson, is not a macabre subject, or one of disturbing lonely fascination. Though one of Dickinson's most renown reputations is for being a gothic and dark writer, her poems about death represent emotions that were not usually felt when writing about death. These poems were not meant to scare her readers, but to provide hope, and mystery around the ambiguity of death. "Because I could not stop for Death …

Synthesizing Octahedral Polyomavirus Capsids For Cryogenic Electron Microscopy, Miles Robertson

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

Polyomavirus capsids are polymorphic under different chemical conditions. These capsids have been synthesized artificially using purified VP1, the primary building block of the capsid. Five VP1 proteins come together and form a highly stable structure called a pentamer, and these pentamers can form capsids (Figure 1). Depending on chemical conditions, the capsids can form three distinct sizes: T=7, octahedral and icosahedral (Figure 2). Only one form is found in infectious virions, and its structure has been well studied. However, no high-resolution structure of the octahedral capsid currently exists. The goal of this research is to solve the structure of the …

There All Along: Emily Dickinson's Nimble Belief In The Face Of Religious And Societal Convention, Anne Schill, Addy Kirkham, Miranda Cundick, Callie Griffeth

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

At a time when religious fervor seemingly provided all answers for human life, Emily Dickinson entertains "nimble belief": the idea that never settling for one answer makes life more compelling. Our central question is the following: How does Dickinson's religious and societal nimble belief manifest in specific hand-bound manuscript booklets (fascicles) of her poetry? This research is important because its answer gives insight into societal norms during the Second Great Awakening by both establishing boundaries of acceptability and illuminating what an affected individual thinks of such boundaries. Dickinson's position as a woman brings significance to her work because women of …

How Pop-Culture Shaped Momiji Inubashiri, Tanner Schulz

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

This presentation will talk about the effect of memes on the character Momiji Inubashiri. Momiji is a character from the video game Touhou 10: Mountain of Faith. She's the stage 4 mid boss and has minimal dialog throughout the series. The character has been mostly given life through memes. I thought that was absolutely fascinating, so I did a deep dive on the subject.

Emily Dickinson As A Spiritual Guide, Gabbi Shumway, Emma Carlsen, Connor Coles

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

Emily Dickinson is known for her willingness to speak out about her beliefs even when they went against the social norm. In this presentation we will look at the poem "This World Is Not Conclusion" and the collection of poems surrounding it. The question that we will address with these poems is how does Emily Dickinson invite her audience to follow a religious journey? Dickinson's faith continually evolves undulating back and forth between faith and skepticism. In This World Is Not Conclusion, Dickinson shows what the religious pathway looks like, as the poem speaks of a desire for faith and …

Cynophobia In Film, Taylor Smith

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

My research covered fear of dogs and how it's represented in film. What I found was that hostile, cinematic depictions of human-dog interactions were oftentimes a result of the dog's status as a carrier of disease (rabies), something that lead to cultural stigmas against dogs as well as symbolization of the spread of other diseases like AIDS and the flu. Films simply used this as a way to pander to the hysteria of a certain country or time period plagued by a disease outbreak.

The Worth Of Citizenship, Rachel Sneddon

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

Currently there are roughly 9.2 million immigrants in the United States who have held lawful permanent residence long enough to gain U.S citizenship. Yet many do not pursue naturalization to become citizens. On average since the year 2000 about 700,000 residents naturalized per year. Some nonprofits or local governments run citizenship drives to encourage more people to become citizens. The purpose of this paper is (1) to review the research on what the relationship between naturalization and immigrants' economic outcomes is, (2) to evaluate if citizenship drives assisting immigrants in the naturalization process would be beneficial for the country as …

The Impacts Of Sars-Cov-2 On Student Mental Health And Academic Outcomes, Janice Snow

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

In the spring 2020 semester, colleges and universities throughout the country made sudden shifts to online instruction due to SARS-CoV-2. Many institutions had as little as 1 weeks' notice and 64% of instructors reported having no online teaching experience (Johnson, Veletsianos, & Seaman, 2020). These educational adjustments are not the only added stressors for students and instructors. Additional stressors during the pandemic included health concerns for self and family members, childcare responsibilities increasing for individuals with families, financial instability, and finding accommodations for persons with disabilities. We conducted two separate but related surveys of undergraduate students during the end of …

What's The Difference Between Undergraduate Online Students And Face-To-Face Students?, Janice Snow

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

Online education has been growing at increasing rates. Online higher education students increased from 21.4% of students taking at least one online class in 2007, to 32.5% of students in 2012 (Kentnor, 2015). To date, there is no available research regarding differential resources relating to distance and traditional students in traditional university settings, however, logic dictates that online students may not receive the same resources as traditional students (e.g., in-person computer labs, counseling services, additional student support offices). Meaningful interactions with faculty and peers, honors societies, clubs, research and service-learning opportunities, academic and logistical support are not commonly available to …

Why Are We Holding Immigrants Back?, Jaslyn Stevens

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

Why are we holding immigrants back? Occupational licensing laws are most often enacted to create standards that ensure public health and safety. These standards might require additional fees, education, hours in practice, or competency tests. There are nearly two million educated immigrants that are underutilized within the United States. For some of these immigrants, they have already worked to meet licensure requirements in their native country and in many cases they have already been practicing for years. For other immigrants, they may have come to the United States, received an education, and been prevented from obtaining licensure. This research analyzes …

Dogs In The Home Improve The Quality Of Life Of The People Living Inside, Tanner Stevenson

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

This poster explores how dogs improve the quality of life of the people they interact with. Regardless of underlying issues that the human faces, every dog helps to improve the situation of that human. From service animals helping to improve the quality of life of their owners in other ways than what meets the eye, to dogs improving the chance of allergy immunity for children, dogs impact the lives of humans for good. This project explores the way that studies have proven the worth of the dog in the home.

The Dog As A Trend In Art, Whitney Stewart

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

I have always believed that art is one of the biggest forms of communication and signs of cultural assimilation and it has been throughout history. I choose to explore the role that dogs play in this theme. From changes in the symbolism of the dog and the ethics of breeding, art reveals a lot about our furry friends. While I learn much about dogs by themselves, the way we represent them also says a lot about our society. Do we see animals as more than us in some way and less in others? Is a dog painting really about the …

Formalized Curiosity: Outcomes Of An Empirically-Based Research Methods Course For English Majors, Samantha Stringham

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

What are the outcomes of a course designed for English majors that teaches empirical research methods and uses quantitative and qualitative data collection? This question is of particular importance as students majoring in English typically do not engage in empirical research but are accustomed to humanistic inquiry or creative activity. Although there has been considerable research on assessment of outcomes of undergraduate research on STEM students (Lopatto; Seymour, et al), to date, no assessment of outcomes has been done on this population. We--all enrolled in just such a course--approached this research question through mixed methods:

• Content analysis of the syllabus; …

Characters And Dogs: Relationships Between Dogs And Humans In Fictional Literature, Emily Van Wagoner

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

Works of fiction provide a new outlook on life without the constraints of society's expectations. Fiction provides the opportunity to explore relationship boundaries in a safe way that society might deem as improper or wrong. One way that fiction shows us this is the symbolism between the relation of humans and dogs, especially the similarities and how they can reflect one another. Using this as a basis, reflection upon real-life relationships can happen as well as viewing how they are discussed through fictional means.

Relationships are not simply how two beings interact with one another, rather it is also about …

Effects Of Social Media On Young Adults: Self Efficacy, Body Image And Connection With Others, Sabrina Trimble

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

The current study tested the associations between self-efficacy, lack of connection to others, body image issues, and social media use. In previous studies, participants estimate social media use through self-evaluation likert scales (Salomon, Brown, 2019). In order to use a more accurate measure of time on social media, participants accessed time on social media from their personal cell phones.

Participants were 213 college students ages 18-49 (M = 20.47 years). They were approximately 63% women, 32% men, 1% other gender, and 93% White/non-hispanic/Latinx.

Perception of time on social media.

Neither self-efficacy (Œ≤ = .01, ns) nor lack of connection (.14, …

Enabling Mars Farms Through Microbial Remediation Of Wastewater, Tyler Wallentine

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

This research evaluates the capacity of photoheterotrophic purple non-sulfur bacteria to utilize wastewater organics to grow and produce nitrogen-rich biomass. Inhibitory components of wastewater are determined. A scaled up production system is designed and utilized to culture bacteria in wastewater. The application of this technology in the production of agriculturally viable amounts of nitrogen-rich biomass is evaluated in the context of a Mars mission and enabling agriculture in a barren environment.

Belief, Virtue, And Illness In Late-Nineteenth Century Domestic Manuals, Anneka Walton

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

The belief that one's health is a result of their behavior has persisted throughout much of history. At times, these beliefs were so direct as to blame any and all illness on the "sins" of the victim. In some ways, we still see these beliefs persist today. While we now understand many of the true causes of illness, we continue to believe that poor behaviors can result in poor health outcomes, and often treat people suffering from conditions they "brought on themselves" accordingly. The object of this research is to better understand how American societal beliefs of the causes of …

Isolation And Purification Of Bacterial Species From Rhizosphere Of Native Plant Ceanothus Velutinus (Snowbrush), Katherine Webb, Hayden Johns

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

Due to the ever-changing climate, plants face stressors that limit their growth. Therefore it is vital to find new ways to protect plants from biotic and abiotic stressors such as pathogen infection, drought, heavy metal poisoning, and salinity. With an increasing population, limiting the effects of stress on plant growth and development for agriculture is vital. One approach to this is focusing on beneficial plant-microbe interaction, such as plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR). These bacteria are found in the rhizosphere- the soil that is attached to the roots of a plant. Various PGPRs share a symbiotic relationship with plants and help …

Non Compete Agreements And Low Wage Workers, Ellie Willard

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

In the wake of the COVID-19 spurred pandemic and the resulting recession, finding a job can be difficult in the current economic environment. As a result, law-makers are debating the efficacy and legality of non-compete clauses in employee contracts. Non-compete agreements typically require an employee to agree not to work for a competitor for some amount of time after they end their current employment. Non-compete clauses are not a new idea and have been used internationally as a way to lower risks of hiring new employees for centuries. Recently, the scope of non compete agreements has extended past hiring and …

The Body And The City: Re-Envisioning Hong Kong Through Protest Poetry, Kimberlie Young

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

In a time of civil unrest in Hong Kong starting summer of 2019, Hong Kong citizens have navigated a shift in identity and their political social climate. Beginning in early summer of 2019, protests broke out around Hong Kong in response to the Hong Kong government's proposal of an Extradition Bill, which ultimately would allow Hong Kong legal power to "extradite fugitives to territories where it doesn't have formal extradition deals, including mainland China, Taiwan and Macau" (Hollingsworth, 2019). The poems examined in this essay convey what it means to be a citizen of Hong Kong during a time of …

2020 Great Lakes College & Career Pathways Partnership: By The Numbers, Education Systems Center

Reports, Analyses, and other Publications

No abstract provided.

Smokejumper Obituary: Beals, David Ellis (Mccall 1945), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.

Elephants Are People Too., Rachel Robinson-Greene

Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

37 years ago, the daughter of a Pakistani dictator was gifted a 1-year-old Asian Elephant calf named Kaavan. Kaavan ended up in Marghazar Zoo, a run-down facility in Islamabad. He had one elephant companion; a female named Saheli. When Saheli died in 2012, Kavaan spent days in his enclosure with her dead body before she was finally removed. Elephants are known to experience grief in response to the death of their companions. Since then, Kaavan has spent all of his time apart from other elephants, earning him the nickname “the loneliest elephant.” He has spent much of his existence in …

Adaptive Randomised Controlled Non-Inferiority Multicentre Trial (The Ketodex Trial) On Intranasal Dexmedetomidine Plus Ketamine For Procedural Sedation In Children: Study Protocol, Naveen Poonai, Kamary Coriolano, Terry Klassen, Anna Heath, Maryna Yaskina, Darcy Beer, Scott Sawyer, Maala Bhatt, April Kam, Quynh Doan, Vikram Sabhaney, Martin Offringa, Petros Pechlivanoglou, Serena Hickes, Samina Ali

Paediatrics Publications

Introduction Up to 40% of orthopaedic injuries in children require a closed reduction, almost always necessitating procedural sedation. Intravenous ketamine is the most commonly used sedative agent. However, intravenous insertion is painful and can be technically difficult in children. We hypothesise that a combination of intranasal dexmedetomidine plus intranasal ketamine (Ketodex) will be non-inferior to intravenous ketamine for effective sedation in children undergoing a closed reduction. Methods and analysis This is a six-centre, four-arm, adaptive, randomised, blinded, controlled, non-inferiority trial. We will include children 4-17 years with a simple upper limb fracture or dislocation that requires sedation for a closed …