Digital Commons Network^™

Enhancing Engineering Students’ Communication Skills Through A Team-Based Graphics Course Project, Leroy L. Long Iii, Kari Jordan

ASEE EDGD Midyear Conference

Although communication skills are highly valued by engineering associations and companies, instructors may find it difficult to incorporate them into specific engineering courses. Some attention has been given to research on undergraduate students’ communication skills. However, additional research and training is needed to help instructors develop curricula -- the type that can enhance students’ communication skills -- in technical subjects like engineering graphics. Such work can help engineering programs offer increased opportunities for students to continually develop desirable professional traits throughout their collegiate experience. This paper will explore the implementation of a team-based graphics course project -- one that focused …

Spatial Skills And Success In Engineering Education: A Case For Investigating Etiological Underpinnings, Tom Delahunty, Sheryl Sorby, Niall Seery, Lance Pérez

ASEE EDGD Midyear Conference

One of the most consistent findings within engineering education research is the relationship between spatial skills achievement and success within STEM disciplines. A critical dearth in this research area surrounds the question of causality within this known relationship. Investigating the etiological underpinnings of the association of spatial skills development to success in engineering education is a contemporary research agenda and possesses significant implications for future practice. This paper presents a starting point through a review of some of the pertinent literature to consider this current agenda.

Psychometric Properties Of The Psvt:R Outcome Measure: A Preliminary Study Of Introductory Engineering Design Graphics, Jeremy V. Ernst, Thomas O. Williams, Aaron C. Clark, Daniel P. Kelly

ASEE EDGD Midyear Conference

The Purdue Spatial Visualization Tests: Visualization of Rotations (PVST:R)is among the most commonly used measurement instruments to assess spatial ability. This paper presents the preliminary findings of a factor analysis of the PSVT:R given to 335 introductory engineering design graphics students. Psychometric analysis of the student sample data indicated alternate loading patterns, divergent from a single factor solution.

Models For Hsv Shedding Must Account For Two Levels Of Overdispersion, Amalia Magaret

UW Biostatistics Working Paper Series

We have frequently implemented crossover studies to evaluate new therapeutic interventions for genital herpes simplex virus infection. The outcome measured to assess the efficacy of interventions on herpes disease severity is the viral shedding rate, defined as the frequency of detection of HSV on the genital skin and mucosa. We performed a simulation study to ascertain whether our standard model, which we have used previously, was appropriately considering all the necessary features of the shedding data to provide correct inference. We simulated shedding data under our standard, validated assumptions and assessed the ability of 5 different models to reproduce the …

In Re: Thomas C. Wettach

2016 Decisions

USDC for the Western District of Pennsylvania

Science Café | Spread Of Contagions Diseases Rumors And Mathematical Models, Jan 20, Ohio University College Of Arts & Sciences

All Forum Articles

No abstract provided.

Girl’S Cybersecurity Camp, Sarah Cunha, Dale Rowe

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In 2015, the BYU Cybersecurity Research Lab (CSRL) held its first annual summer camp for Girls aged 14-18. A total of 38 girls attended the week’s activities and workshops. While over 75% of girls indicated they had taken a computing-related class, only 40% reported any significant interest in cybersecurity prior to the summercamp with 10% believing they had some experience in the field. At the conclusion of the camp, 80% of attendees reported a significant interest in the field with 100% of attendees interested in attending a similar event again.

Hyperfine Rather Than Spin Splittings Dominate The Fine Structure Of The B 4Σ-–X 4Σ- Bands Of Aic, Dennis J. Clouthier, Aimable Kalume

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Laser-induced fluorescence and wavelength resolved emission spectra of the B ⁴Σ⁻–X ⁴Σ⁻ band system of the gas phase cold aluminum carbide free radical have been obtained using the pulsed discharge jet technique. The radical was produced by electron bombardment of a precursor mixture of trimethylaluminum in high pressure argon. High resolution spectra show that each rotational line of the 0-0 and 1-1 bands of AlC is split into at least three components, with very similar splittings and intensities in both the P- and R-branches. The observed structure was reproduced by assuming b …

Volume 113, Number 14 – Wednesday, January 20, 2016, Saint Mary's College Of California

The Collegian

No abstract provided.

Streamlining The 3d Animation Process, Dylan Hoffman, Kelly Loosli

Journal of Undergraduate Research

I knew from the beginning that this project – centered around improving the collaborative process of making a 3D animated film across several “stages” and made by several artists of different specialties, temperaments, and backgrounds – would be two-fold. The first phase was learning more about the process itself, and how each phase related to another. The second, zoning in on an area that has been a weakness for BYU Animated Films in the past – character effects and cloth simulation. The project evolved much over the course of the year, with far more time and value being placed in …

Understanding The Interaction Between Ulk1 And Atg9 And Autophagy, Ryan Hyatt, Joshua L. Andersen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Autophagy is an adaptive catabolic process of self-digestion, a process by which the cell recycles aged organelles and other structures. Interestingly, changes in the regulation of autophagy have been linked to infections, cancers, neurodegeneration, aging, and heart disease (Arroyo, Daniela S. et al. 2014). Understanding the mechanisms which control autophagy will aid in better treatment of those diseases, specifically in the development of effective pharmaceuticals.

Cannibalism, Kuru, And Mad Cows: Prion Disease As A "Choose-Your-Own-Experiment" Case Study To Simulate Scientific Inquiry In Large Lectures., Antonio Serrano, Jeffrey Liebner, Justin K Hines

Department of Medicine Faculty Papers

Despite significant efforts to reform undergraduate science education, students often perform worse on assessments of perceptions of science after introductory courses, demonstrating a need for new educational interventions to reverse this trend. To address this need, we created An Inexplicable Disease, an engaging, active-learning case study that is unusual because it aims to simulate scientific inquiry by allowing students to iteratively investigate the Kuru epidemic of 1957 in a choose-your-own-experiment format in large lectures. The case emphasizes the importance of specialization and communication in science and is broadly applicable to courses of any size and sub-discipline of the life sciences.

On The Equivalence Of Probability Spaces, Daniel Alpay, Palle Jorgensen, David Levanony

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

For a general class of Gaussian processes W, indexed by a sigma-algebra F of a

general measure space (M,F, _), we give necessary and sufficient conditions for the validity

of a quadratic variation representation for such Gaussian processes, thus recovering _(A),

for A 2 F, as a quadratic variation of W over A. We further provide a harmonic analysis

representation for this general class of processes. We apply these two results to: (i) a computation

of generalized Ito-integrals; and (ii) a proof of an explicit, and measure-theoretic

equivalence formula, realizing an equivalence between the two approaches to Gaussian processes,

one …

An Examination Of The Effects Of School Choice On The Financial Integrity And Demographic Mix Of Traditional Public Schools, Jacqueline Abbey Johnston

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to study how the controversial yet expanding use of school choice affects traditional public schools' finances and socioeconomic and racial/ethnic student demographics. This mixed-methods study analyzed traditional public school districts in two Michigan counties in 2009/10 and 2013/14, answering three research questions: 1) Are the finances in districts with greater concentrations of student poverty and diversity more affected by choice than districts with lesser concentrations of student poverty and diversity? 2) Is there a relationship between choice impact and the socioeconomic and racial/ethnic concentration of student populations? and 3) What are superintendents' perceptions of …

U.S. Drought Monitor, January 19, 2016, Mark D. Svoboda

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for January 19, 2016 (1/19/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Closing The Water Balance With Cosmic-Ray Soil Moisture Measurements And Assessing Their Relation To Evapotranspiration In Two Semiarid Watersheds, A. P. Schreiner-Mcgraw, E. R. Vivoni, G. Mascaro, Trenton E. Franz

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Soil moisture dynamics reflect the complex interactions of meteorological conditions with soil, vegetation and terrain properties. In this study, intermediate-scale soil moisture estimates from the cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) method are evaluated for two semiarid ecosystems in the southwestern United States: a mesquite savanna at the Santa Rita Experimental Range (SRER) and a mixed shrubland at the Jornada Experimental Range (JER). Evaluations of the CRNS method are performed for small watersheds instrumented with a distributed sensor network consisting of soil moisture sensor profiles, an eddy covariance tower, and runoff flumes used to close the water balance. We found a very …

Dual Species Calcium And Ytterbium Magneto Optical Trap, Alexander Erickson, Scott Bergeson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

One area of particular interest in modern physics research is creating a viable fusion system for sustainable energy. Fusion occurs when a high energy plasma is manipulated in such a way that small atoms collide together, combining to create larger atoms and releasing tremendous amounts of harvestable energy. However, there are many theoretical, mathematical, and practical roadblocks to creating a stable fusion experiment. One practical limitation and one mathematical limitation are as follows: practically, much of the energy used to create a fusion-grade plasma ends up in the kinetic energy of the electrons and is lost to the experiment; mathematically, …

Sediment Supply Versus Local Hydraulic Controls On Sediment Transport And Storage In A River With Large Sediment Loads, David J. Dean, David J. Topping, John C. Schmidt, Ronald E. Griffiths, Thomas A. Sabol

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

The Rio Grande in the Big Bend region of Texas, USA, and Chihuahua and Coahuila, Mexico, undergoes rapid geomorphic changes as a result of its large sediment supply and variable hydrology; thus, it is a useful natural laboratory to investigate the relative importance of flow strength and sediment supply in controlling alluvial channel change. We analyzed a suite of sediment transport and geomorphic data to determine the cumulative influence of different flood types on changing channel form. In this study, physically based analyses suggest that channel change in the Rio Grande is controlled by both changes in flow strength and …

Evidence Of Dispersion And Refraction Of A Spectrally Broad Gravity Wave Packet In The Mesopause Region Observed By The Na Lidar And Mesospheric Temperature Mapper Above Logan, Utah, Tao Yuan, Christopher J. Heale, Jonathan B. Snively, Xuguang Cai, Pierre-Dominique Pautet, C. Fish, Yucheng Zhao, Michael J. Taylor, William R. Pendleton Jr., V. Wickwar, Nicholas John Mitchell

Publications

Gravity wave packets excited by a source of finite duration and size possess a broad frequency and wave number spectrum and thus span a range of temporal and spatial scales. Observing at a single location relatively close to the source, the wave components with higher frequency and larger vertical wavelength dominate at earlier times and at higher altitudes, while the lower frequency components, with shorter vertical wavelength, dominate during the latter part of the propagation. Utilizing observations from the Na lidar at Utah State University and the nearby Mesospheric Temperature Mapper at Bear Lake Observatory (41.9°N, 111.4°W), we investigate a …

Exceptionally Bright Tev Flares From The Binary Ls I+61 Degrees 303, P. T. Reynolds, Et Al

Physical Sciences Publications

The TeV binary system LS I +61° 303 is known for its regular, non-thermal emission pattern that traces the orbital period of the compact object in its 26.5 day orbit around its B0 Ve star companion. The system typically presents elevated TeV emission around apastron passage with flux levels between 5% and 15% of the steady flux from the Crab Nebula (>300 GeV). In this article, VERITAS observations of LS I +61° 303 taken in late 2014 are presented, during which bright TeV flares around apastron at flux levels peaking above 30% of the Crab Nebula flux were detected. …

Centrality Dependence Of Identified Particle Elliptic Flow In Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions At √SNn = 7.7–62.4 Gev, L. Adamczyk, James K. Adkins, G. Agakishiev, M. M. Aggarwal, Z. Ahammed, I. Alekseev, A. Aparin, D. Arkhipkin, E. C. Aschenauer, G. S. Averichev, X. Bai, V. Bairathi, A. Banerjee, R. Bellwied, A. Bhasin, A. K. Bhati, P. Bhattarai, J. Bielcik, J. Bielcikova, L. C. Bland, I. G. Bordyuzhin, J. Bouchet, J. D. Brandenburg, A. V. Brandin, I. Bunzarov, J. Butterworth, H. Caines, M. Calderón De La Barca Sánchez, J. M. Campbell, D. Cebra, Renee H. Fatemi, Suvarna Ramachandran

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

Elliptic flow (υ₂) values for identified particles at midrapidity in Au + Au collisions measured by the STAR experiment in the Beam Energy Scan at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at √^s_NN = 7.7– 62.4 GeV are presented for three centrality classes. The centrality dependence and the data at √^s_NN = 14.5 GeV are new. Except at the lowest beam energies, we observe a similar relative υ₂ baryon-meson splitting for all centrality classes which is in agreement within 15% with the number-of-constituent quark scaling. The larger υ₂ for most particles relative …

Switchgrass (Panicum Virgatum) Fermentation By Clostridium Thermocellum And Clostridium Saccharoperbutylacetonicum Sequential Culture In A Continuous Flow Reactor, Noelia M. Elia, Sue E. Nokes, Michael D. Flythe

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

The study was conducted to evaluate fermentation by Clostridium thermocellum and C. saccharoperbutylacetonicum in a continuous-flow, high-solids reactor. Liquid medium was continuously flowed through switchgrass (2 mm particle size) at one of three flow rates: 83.33 mL h⁻¹ (2 L d⁻¹), 41.66 mL h⁻¹ (1 L d⁻¹), and 20.833 mL h⁻¹ (0.5 L d⁻¹). The cellulolytic phase was initiated by culturing C. thermocellum (63 °C, 24 h). The temperature was decreased (35) and C. saccharoperbutylacetonicum was inoculated. When metabolism decreased (96 h), the temperature was increased (63 °C; 24 h) …

2016 Mlk Celebration, Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy

MLK Celebration

The Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy proudly hosts its third Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration on January 19, 2016, to honor the ideals of Dr. King: freedom, justice, equality, and world peace.

Keynote Speaker/Storyteller: Mama Edie/Mama SheShe

Academic Senate - Agenda, 1/19/2016, Academic Senate

Academic Senate Agendas

No abstract provided.

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Agenda, January 19, 2016, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

• EPC Items for January 2016
• Budget and Faculty Welfare Committee (postponed to Feb)
• Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee
• 405.12.1 Annual Review of Faculty (Second Reading)
• 405.12.3 CFAC Policy (First Reading)

Ucc Minutes, January 19, 2016, University Curriculum Council

UCC Agendas/Minutes

No abstract provided.

Information Fusion For Pattern Classification In Complex Interconnected Systems, Nayeff Najjar

Doctoral Dissertations

Typical complex interconnected systems consist of several interconnected components with several heterogeneous sensors. Classification problems (e.g., fault diagnosis) in these systems are challenging because sensor data might be of high dimension and/or convey misleading or incomplete information. So, this thesis performs optimal sensor selection and fusion to lower computational complexity and improve classification accuracy. First, the thesis presents the novel Unsupervised Embedded algorithm for optimal sensor selection. The algorithm uses the minimum Redundancy Maximum Relevance (mRMR) criterion to select the candidate list of sensors, then uses K-means clustering algorithm and entropy criterion to select the optimal sensors. The Unsupervised Embedded …

The Mechanism Of Homogeneous Hg-Catalyzed Methane Partial Oxidation, Steven Butler, Daniel Ess

Journal of Undergraduate Research

There is now access to vast amounts of inexpensive natural gas, due in part to shale gas discoveries. Abundant natural gas provides significant motivation to develop methods for methane partial oxidation. One major target for methane oxidation is methanol. Natural gas is principally methane, but also includes significant amounts of ethane and propane. Methanol can be produced from natural gas via high-temperature generation of syngas (mixture of H2 and CO).

Systematic Analysis Of Nonlinearities In Complex Models, Alexander Shumway, Mark Transtrum

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Mathematical models are ubiquitous in science. Many models are nonlinear in the parameters and may have dozens to thousands of parameters and make hundreds to thousands of predictions. Analysis and application of these models is thus theoretically complicated and computationally expensive.

The standard method of model analysis is a model-by-model approach that relies on the intuition of expert researchers. Recent research, however, has shown that many models—known as sloppy models—are statistically similar, despite coming from widely varied fields⁴. This suggests the possibility of developing a theory of modeling in place of relying on expert intuition. Our research …

The Impact Of Snake Creek On The Provo River Watershed Chemistry, Tucker Chapman, Greg Carling

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Snake Creek is a tributary to the Provo River, which is an important water source for over two million people along the Wasatch Front. Arsenic concentrations in Snake Creek exceed the EPA limit of 10 μg/L and mixing water in the Provo River exceed the EPA (recommended level) of 1 μg/L. Snake creek contributes about 20% to the overall flow of the Provo River. This study focused on the probable source of arsenic in snake creek. Hot springs and faults are probable causes for high trace element contamination are were the focus of this study.