Digital Commons Network^™

The Role Of Response Time In Math Anxiety, Christine K. Hartmann

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Math anxiety is characterized by feelings of discomfort or distress that are triggered when an individual is tasked with using numbers. Math anxiety impacts people at all ages, from early elementary school into adulthood (for review see Ramirez et al., 2018). In these studies, we investigated the cognitive impact that math anxiety has on both children and adults by measuring their math anxiety and reaction time on two tasks. The first task was the arithmetic affective priming task (AAPT), which purportedly shows that those with math anxiety tend to complete math tasks more efficiently (faster) when they are primed to …

Factors Affecting Mathematics Teachers’ Instructional Decision-Making: An Ecological Systems Theory Multiple-Case Study, Camille M. Lund

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Though research on effective mathematics instructional strategies is robust, there remains a gap between research and the instruction that takes place in mathematics classrooms. One such effective instructional practice—mathematical student discourse (MSD)—has been extensively researched, but little research has looked holistically at the ecological factors that interact to influence teacher decision-making for this practice. In this qualitative multiple-case dissertation study using Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory as a theoretical lens, I conducted semi-structured interviews with three elementary teachers who teach mathematics in districts across northern Utah. These interviews utilized the researcher-created Ecological Factors Map to explore how teachers described the …

Advancing Context-Aware Detection Of Socially Harmful Discourse Using Transformer-Based Models, Santosh Chapagain

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Social media platforms are a central part of modern communication, shaping how people share ideas, build communities, and discuss social issues. While these spaces can support connection and self expression, they also enable the spread of harmful language such as hate speech. At the same time, social media is an important place where members of marginalized communities, including sexual and gender minorities, express stress, discrimination, and emotional challenges in ways that are often indirect and context dependent.

This research examines whether modern artificial intelligence systems can better identify harmful language and expressions of minority stress in online posts. The study …

Probing The Roles Of Connexin 43 Hemichannels In A Mouse Model Of Alzheimer's Disease, Madison Treasure-Areno

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive disorder involving neuronal death and cognitive decline, such as memory loss and changes in personality. One feature of the disease is buildup of abnormal protein called amyloid-beta in the brain. Amyloid-beta may activate support cells called astrocytes, triggering them to release large amounts of chemicals, possibly harming nearby cells. This study set out to examine the roles of the channels on astrocytes involved in releasing these chemicals, called connexin 43 hemichannels. Using a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease, this study blocked the hemichannels using the drug Tonabersat, and measured spatial learning and memory in a …

Dyadic Agreement In And Task Correlates To A Measurement Of Conversational Success, Samantha Budge

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Successful conversation matters for social connection, wellbeing, and quality of life, but people do not always agree on whether a conversation was successful, even when they participated in the same interaction. Conversation is also commonly measured through task success, even though it’s unclear how task success correlates to how successful a conversation feels. This study examined how conversational success is experienced by different conversation partners and whether feeling successful in a conversation is related to how well a task is completed.

Participants took part in a structured conversational task and then rated their own conversational experience using a self-report questionnaire …

Influence Of Coterie On Utah Prairie Dog Translocation Success, Bonnie Stokes

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

The Utah prairie dog (Cynomys parvidens) is a threatened species found in southwestern Utah. Utah prairie dogs are small, burrowing squirrels that live in family groups called coteries. Translocation, the intentional capture, movement, and release of animals from one location to another, has been widely used to aid in their recovery; however, post-translocation survival remains low. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of translocating Utah prairie dogs as intact coteries on post-translocation survival.

This study was conducted within the West Desert Recovery Unit in Iron and Beaver Counties, Utah, during July–October 2023 and …

Comparing Strategies For Wetland Revegetation In An Uncertain Water Future, Hailey M. Machnikowski

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Wetlands worldwide are expected to experience more frequent and intense droughts and floods due to climate change. These shifting water conditions introduce challenges to restoring wetland plants, especially using direct seeding. Seeding is cost and labor-efficient compared to planting, but seeds and seedlings are highly vulnerable to water stress, so restoration efforts often fail when conditions are too wet or dry. Understanding how to improve seed-based revegetation under these conditions is increasingly important. Therefore, we sought to understand the response, measured by percent canopy cover or dry biomass weights, of native plants to different durations of drought in greenhouse experiments, …

Mapping Spatial Variability For Precision Management In Utah’S Tart Cherry Orchards, Kurt T. Wedegaertner

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Tart cherry orchards are a major part of the agricultural landscape in Utah, but producing cherries is becoming increasingly difficult and expensive. Orchard land is not uniform. Some parts of a field grow strong, healthy trees, while other parts struggle because of differences in soil, water, and landscape. Even though these differences exist, orchards are usually managed the same way everywhere. Over many years, this causes some trees to become much larger than others, making orchards harder to manage, less efficient to harvest and prune, and more costly to maintain.

This research focused on finding practical ways to measure these …

Effects Of Mineral Supplementation On Ovine Performance, Forage Selectivity, And Rangeland Utilization In Southern Utah, Ryan A. Spurling

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Sheep producers in the Intermountain West region of the US rely on productive rangeland ecosystems that vary widely in forage composition and nutrient availability. As such, supplementation is often necessary to offset dietary deficiencies. Soils and forages grown on rangelands are known to be highly variable in mineral content. Even so, a third to half of the producers in the Intermountain West choose not to provide a complete mineral supplement. Rangeland environments are often characterized by rugged geographical features that make optimal supplement placement difficult. New advances in technology have allowed us to measure individual animal intake on rangelands via …

Alfalfa Yield, Quality, And Nutrient Use Response To Pivot Sprinkler Technology, Deficit Irrigation, And Genetics, Dakota Boren

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

In water limited environments, alfalfa is often criticized for its high water use, prompting implementation of new irrigation technologies, deficit irrigation, and adapted crop genetics. Cumulative potential benefits from combining, or stacking, these water-optimizing practices have not been identified. The objective of this on-farm research study was to determine how irrigation technologies, deficit irrigation, genetics, and combinations of these practices impact alfalfa yield and forage quality. Trials were conducted at three sites in Utah from 2020 to 2022 on young alfalfa stands (establishment and first one to three production years). Treatments included five irrigation technologies, four irrigation rates, and two …

Influence Of Predation Risk On Elk Feeding Behavior In A Multi-Predator Environment, Rosemarie C. Pugh

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Sometimes predators don’t just affect prey by killing them, they can also change how prey behave. For example, animals may spend more time watching for danger and less time eating, which could affect their health and survival. In Yellowstone National Park, past research has suggested that elk may reduce feeding because they are trying to avoid predators like wolves and cougars. However, most previous studies have only looked at elk behavior during the daytime and have often looked at responses from single predators rather than multiple.

In this study, I used high-resolution tracking collars equipped with motion sensors to directly …

Development Of A Laboratory Apparatus For Evaluating Infiltration Performance Of Filter Strips In Utah, Pranish Dahal

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Stormwater from Utah’s roadways often carries pollutants such as oil, metals, and sediments, especially during small storms when runoff is not diluted. Vegetated filter strips—areas of soil and vegetation placed alongside roads—are one of the most effective ways to capture and clean this runoff before it reaches rivers and lakes. However, choosing the right combination of topsoil and base soil for these filter strips is difficult, expensive, and traditionally requires multiple field visits.

This thesis introduces a laboratory device that allows engineers to test how different soil combinations absorb and filter water without having to go to the field each …

The Impact Of Parental Infidelity During Childhood On Emerging Adult Relationships, Rachel Anderson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

In this master’s thesis, I collected and analayzed data from 429 participants, 78 of whom reported having experience with parental infidelity, namely having at least one parent be sexually unfaithful to the other. The purpose of this study was to better understand the long-term impacts of experiencing parental infidelity during childhood. Participants with and without experience of parental infidelity were invited to complete an online questionnaire about potential experiences with parental infidelity, emotional well-being, attachment security in adult romantic relationships, couple satisfaction with current romantic partner, and attitudes (permissive versus accepting) towards potentially unfaithful behaviors of infidelity and pornography. I …

A Dyadic Mixed Methods Study Of An Online Asynchronous Acceptance And Commitment Therapy Intervention For Individuals Diagnosed With Dementia And Their Caregivers, Gavin Brendan Green

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

A dementia diagnosis can be overwhelming for both the person diagnosed and the people who care for them. Many experience stress, uncertainty, and emotional strain, yet most support programs require significant time and are difficult to access. This study examined a brief, online program called the Compassion Compass, designed to provide early emotional support for both individuals living with dementia and their caregivers.

The program is based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and can be completed in about 30–45 minutes. It focuses on helping individuals notice difficult thoughts and emotions, reconnect with what matters to them, and take small, …

The Rodent Electronic Nicotine Delivery System (Rends): Effects Of Age On Self-Administration Of Inhaled Nicotine In Female Rats, Daniel Santos Da Silva

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Smoking tobacco is the leading avoidable cause of death and drives many health problems. Nicotine, the main chemical in tobacco products, keeps people using it. This study used the Rat Electronic Nicotine Delivery System (RENDS), an inexpensive and freely shared, to examine e-cigarette use in adolescent and adult female rats by exploring four phases of nicotine delivered and not delivered to understand use patterns among ages. Our study found that both adolescent and adult female rats chose to inhale nicotine when given the opportunity, showing drug-seeking behavior. Overall, nicotine use was similar between ages. These results could help inform therapies, …

Great Power Competition In Africa: U.S. Aid Responses To Chinese Aid And Investment, Ebenezer Nana Botsio

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Over the past two decades, China’s rapid expansion of aid and investment throughout sub-Saharan Africa has raised questions about how the United States responds to growing competition in the region. While the impact of China’s aid has been the subject of considerable study, far less attention has been given to how other donors shift their strategies to adjust. This thesis asks a simple but rather consequential question: does the US change how it gives aid in Africa in response to China’s ever-growing footprint? 

With data from 54 African countries, I find that the United States does not attempt to directly …

Examining Middle School Girls' Self-Efficacy Changes During A Design-Based Engineering Unit, Emily Lehnardt

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Drawing on Bandura’s self-efficacy theory, this exploratory multi-case study examines how engagement in an engineering designed-based unit, specifically through an intervention focused on iterative improvements, influences middle school girls’ self-efficacy. This study was conducted in a suburban public middle school. It involved five female participants enrolled in a seventh-grade science classroom. Qualitative data were collected from pre- and post-interviews, self-reflection journals, observations and student artifacts. Multiple data sources were triangulated to ensure the credibility and depth of the findings. Qualitative data were analyzed using inductive and deductive coding to produce open codes, axial categories driven by Bandura’s four sources of …

Factors Influencing Student Satisfaction And Perceived Learning In Global, Faith-Based Online Education: The Roles Of Course Structure, Instructor Presence, Learner Interaction, And Student Engagement, Brandon Weekes

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Online education continues to expand worldwide across diverse contexts. Online students often differ from traditional in-person learners, as they are more likely to return to or begin education later in life while balancing career and family responsibilities. When online experiences are ineffective, students may withdraw from courses or stop progressing in their programs. As a result, there is a need to better understand how to improve the experiences in the online learning environment

Prior research has identified course structure, instructor presence, learner interaction, and student engagement as key factors influencing student satisfaction and perceived learning in online learning environments. However, …

Developing And Improving Digital Image Correlation (Dic) Techniques For Challenging Environments, Prasenjit Dewanjee

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Understanding how materials and parts deform during testing is crucial for creating safer and more reliable engineering systems. Engineers need to measure not only how much a part deforms, but also where deformation concentrates before any damage or failure happens. Digital image correlation (DIC) is a camera-based, non-contact measurement method that tracks surface motion and deformation across a whole area. It is particularly useful when traditional contact-based measurement techniques cannot withstand harsh conditions or capture enough detail. This dissertation develops optical methods to improve DIC in three challenging measurement situations. First, a shortwave ultraviolet lighting technique is developed to reduce …

The Fourth Skill Revisited: A New-Ish Approach To Latin Pedagogy, Tyler Perry

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This thesis examines a new way of teaching Latin that combines Gareth Morgan’s The Fourth Skill method with the traditional grammar-translation approach. Latin teaching has often moved between two extremes. Grammar-translation focuses heavily on analyzing grammar, while modern immersion-style approaches focus more on understanding the language through exposure. Each method has strengths but also clear limitations. Morgan’s The Fourth Skill (1968) tried to balance these approaches by focusing on reading real Latin texts, but it relied heavily on Morgan’s personal teaching and included little direct grammar instruction.

To address these problems, this study tested a revised version of the method …

Housing Markets In The American West: A Dynamic Time Warping Analysis Of Inter-City Relationships, Daniel Johnson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Housing markets revolve around perhaps the most consequential good to the average person, yet the relationships between local housing markets remain understudied. While major American cities appear to follow similar patterns, the nature of these connections is not fully understood. This project looks at housing markets across the western United States, using Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) to identify which cities tend to lead or lag others in price movements, and look at the overall similarity of their market movements. We also explore whether geographic distance, population growth, and income growth help explain why some markets are more similar than others. …

Rainbow Dominating Sets Of Graphs, Samuel L. Powell

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

The content of this thesis may be compared to a stack of plates with a common design that are broken, one at a time. If the plates are broken into large enough pieces you would be able to choose one fragment from each broken plate to discover the entire design that the plates share. For example, if you were still missing the center of the design after taking a piece from some plates, you could look for the piece of the next broken plate with the region in question.

We study the question of how many broken plates might guarantee …

Visualizing Probabilistic Model Checking: An Interactive Framework For Exploring Ctmc Models, Ishara Mawelle Kankanamge

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Probabilistic model checking is a critical method for analyzing systems characterized by uncertainty, such as communication protocols, randomized algorithms, and biochemical networks. While formal verification tools provide precise numerical data about these systems, interpreting these results is often limited by large state space, high-dimensional state space and time dependent evolution. Current tools typically output raw numerical data, offering limited support for intuitively understanding the time-dependent behavior of a model. This research presents an interactive visualization framework designed to bridge the gap between complex numerical analysis and human intuition. The framework integrates coordinated visual interfaces, including lower-dimensional state-space projections and synchronized …

Examining Motivations And Perceptions In Secondary Technology And Engineering Education: A Gendered Analysis Using The Fit-Choice Scale, Abigail Villanueva

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This study examined why individuals choose to become secondary technology and engineering education (TEE) teachers and whether motivations differ between men and women. TEE programs help prepare students for careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), yet schools face teacher shortages and low female representation in the field. Understanding what draws people to this profession can support better recruitment and retention efforts. Sixty-six current TEE teachers completed a survey about the factors that influenced their decision to teach. Overall, the strongest motivations were a personal interest in teaching, enjoyment of working with young people, and the desire to make …

Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind? Psychological Distance And Public Perceptions Of The Great Salt Lake, Nathan Thompson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Over the past several years, Great Salt Lake has received a lot of media attention, both locally in Utah as well as nationally and even internationally. Within Utah, public perception surveys have indicated that concern about the lake varies depending on how low the lake levels are. This suggests that a concept called psychological distance might be influencing concern about the lake as well as support for strategies to help the lake. Psychological distance is the perceived distance a person has from an object, event, or person and is manifested in four ways: across physical distance (spatially), across time (temporal), …

Food-Form Delivery Of Spore-Forming Probiotics As An Alternative To Gavage In Animal Models, Aubreyona Faith Migliori Skalka

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Western dietary patterns are characterized by nutrient-poor, calorie-rich diets and have been linked to poor health outcomes and gut inflammation phenotypes. Probiotics are often taken to support gut health, but many beneficial bacteria do not survive transport through the digestive system to produce any effect. Spore-forming bacteria, such as Bacillus coagulans, are more resilient due to their hardy outer coat which aids in survival through many obstacles encountered in the gastrointestinal tract, including acidic stomach conditions. In research studies, probiotics are usually given to mice through a procedure called oral gavage, where a tube is used to deliver the …

Longing For Home, Ryker Eggenberger

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This thesis is a collection of creative nonfiction essays examining what it means to belong. Multiple factors of belonging are explored, including belonging in human relationships, belonging to oneself, and feeling a sense of belonging to a physical place. Each essay contains three cohesive narratives—called “strands”—which are woven together to form a single essay. These strands include the author’s personal experiences, site visits conducted by the author, and various research topics. The personal experiences explore the author’s relationship to belonging contextualized by his pure obsessive-compulsive disorder. The site visits recount the author’s experiences in natural and community-oriented places. The research …

Where Were Women?: Women In The United States Intelligence Organizations From The Office Of Strategic Services To The Central Intelligence Agency, Madison Harris

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

United States intelligence historians have largely neglected the importance of women’s intelligence labor as well as the centralized intelligence organizations that existed from World War II to the early years of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) – including the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), Strategic Service Unit (SSU), and Central Intelligence Group (CIG). While assumptions about women in intelligence work during this period are usually drawn from stereotypical portrayals in popular media, such as books and movies, this thesis utilized statistical data and other agency sources to build a broader understanding of women’s actual labor.

This thesis demonstrates that women …

Comparison Of Consumptive Use Of Furrow And Drip Irrigated Onions, Chad C. Withers

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

The State of Utah funded agricultural water optimization studies to determine how agricultural water depletion can be decreased while maintaining or improving yields. Conversion from surface irrigation to drip irrigation is investigated as a method to decrease consumptive use.

Some Utah onion producers are converting from furrow irrigation to drip irrigation to decrease water and fertilizer use and improve profits. This study compares the consumptive use and yield of three drip irrigated onion fields against the consumptive use and yield of three furrow irrigated onion fields.

Arrays of soil moisture sensors at various depths were placed in drip and furrow …

Extracting Wildfire Influence From Natural Streamflow Variability To Inform Post-Fire Peak Flow Predictions, Haley Anne Canham

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Wildfire is a natural process, however, wildfire occurrence, severity, and size is increasing globally along with large storms. Despite the expectation that floods will be larger after wildfire, a large range in post-fire flood size has been observed. This creates challenges for emergency managers to prepare for flooding in areas where wildfire might occur. Aside from wildfire, many other factors influence the size of floods, making it difficult to isolate the influence of wildfire. This work finds that factors including wetter versus drier years and seasons can alter the size of a flood, effectively hiding the influence of wildfire. Additionally, …