Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Expression Of Wnt-Signaling Pathway Genes And Their Associations With Mirnas In Colorectal Cancer, Martha L. Slattery, Lila E. Mullany, Lori C. Sakoda, Wade S. Samowitz, Roger K. Wolff, John R. Stevens, Jennifer S. Herrick

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications

The Wnt-signaling pathway functions in regulating cell growth and thus is involved in the carcinogenic process of several cancers, including colorectal cancer. We tested the hypothesis that multiple genes in this signaling pathway are dysregulated and that miRNAs are associated with these dysregulated genes. We used data from 217 colorectal cancer (CRC) cases to evaluate differences in Wnt-signaling pathway gene expression between paired CRC and normal mucosa and identify miRNAs that are associated with these genes. Gene expression data from RNA-Seq and miRNA expression data from Agilent Human miRNA Microarray V19.0 were analyzed. We focused on genes most strongly associated …

Seasonal Resource Selection And Habitat Treatment Use By A Fringe Population Of Greater Sage-Grouse, Rhett Boswell

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

Movement and habitat selection by Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus uropasianus) is of great interest to wildlife managers tasked with applying conservation measures for this iconic western species. Current technology has created small and lightweight GPS (Global Positioning Systems) transmitters that can be attached to sage-grouse. Using GIS software and statistical programs such as Program R, land managers can analyze GPS location data to assess how sage-grouse are geospatially interacting with their habitats. Within the Panguitch Sage-Grouse Management Area (SGMA) thousands of acres of land have been restored or manipulated to enhance sage-grouse habitat; this usually involves removal of pinyon pine …

Non-Methane Hydrocarbon Source Apportionment And Btex Risk Assessment Of Winter 2015 In Roosevelt, Utah, Jerimiah Lamb

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Non-Methane Hydrocarbons (NMHC) monitored in Roosevelt Utah including Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene and Xylene (collectively known as BTEX) are associated with deleterious effects including cancer. This study was designed to assess the origin and effect of the toxicants and addressed two points: 1) Source identification using the USEPA’s Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) and NOAA’s Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model and 2) A human health risk assessment based on ambient concentrations of BTEX collected at the Roosevelt site. Model fit indicated that the primary contributor to total NMHCs was local oil and gas operations and was supported by previous …

Using Data To Improve Services For Infants With Hearing Loss: Linking Newborn Hearing Screening Records With Early Intervention Records, Maria Gonzalez, Lori Iarossi, Yan Wu, Ying Huang, Kirsten Siegenthaler

Journal of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention

The purpose of this study was to match records of infants with permanent hearing loss from the New York Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Information System (NYEHDI-IS) to records of infants with permanent hearing loss receiving early intervention services from the New York State Early Intervention Program (NYSEIP) to identify areas in the state where hearing screening, diagnostic evaluations and referrals to the NYSEIP were not being made or documented in a timely manner. Data from 2014-2016 NYEHDI-IS and NYEIS information systems were matched using The Link King. There were 274 infants documented in NYEIS Information System as receiving early …

Phenology Largely Explains Taller Grass At Successful Nests In Greater Sage-Grouse, Joseph T. Smith, Jason D. Tack, Kevin Doherty, Brady W. Allred, Jeremy D. Maestas, Lorelle I. Berkeley, Seth J. Dettenmaier, Terry A. Messmer, David E. Naugle

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Much interest lies in the identification of manageable habitat variables that affect key vital rates for species of concern. For ground-nesting birds, vegetation surrounding the nest may play an important role in mediating nest success by providing concealment from predators. Height of grasses surrounding the nest is thought to be a driver of nest survival in greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; sage-grouse), a species that has experienced widespread population declines throughout their range. However, a growing body of the literature has found that widely used field methods can produce misleading inference on the relationship between grass height and nest success. Specifically, …

Stability Of Equilibria In Quantitative Genetic Models Based On Modified-Gradient Systems, Benjamin J. Ridenhour, Jerry R. Ridenhour

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications

Motivated by questions in biology, we investigate the stability of equilibria of the dynamical system x′ = P(t)∇f(x) which arise as critical points of f, under the assumption that P(t) is positive semi-definite. It is shown that the condition ∫^∞λ₁(P(t)) dt = ∞, where λ₁(P(t)) is the smallest eigenvalue of P(t), plays a key role in guaranteeing uniform asymptotic stability and in providing information on the basis of attraction of those equilibria.

Ncer Assistance Agreement Annual Progress Report For Grant #83582401 - Assessment Of Stormwater Harvesting Via Manage Aquifer Recharge (Mar) To Develop New Water Supplies In The Arid West: The Salt Lake Valley Example, Ryan Dupont, Joan E. Mclean, Richard C. Peralta, Sarah E. Null, Douglas B. Jackson-Smith

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The aims of the original proposed project remain the same, that is, to test the hypothesis that Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) for stormwater harvesting is a technically feasible, socially and environmentally acceptable, economically viable, and legally feasible option for developing new water supplies for arid Western urban ecosystems experiencing increasing population, and climate change pressures on existing water resources. The project is being carried out via three distinct but integrated components that include: 1) Monitoring of existing distributed MAR harvesting schemes involving a growing number of demonstration Green Infrastructure (GI) test sites; 2) Integrated stormwater/vadose zone/groundwater/ ecosystem services modeling; and …

Special Issue: Intramolecular Hydrogen Bonding 2017, Steve Scheiner

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Even after more than a century of study [1–6], scrutiny, and detailed examination, the H-bond continues [7–12] to evoke a level of fascination that surpasses many other phenomena. Perhaps it is the ability of the simple H atom, with but a single electron, to act as a glue that maintains contact between much more complicated species. Or it might be its geometry, which prefers to hold the bridging proton on a direct line between the two heavy atoms. Not to be ignored are the spectral features of the H-bond: the large red shift of the stretching frequency of the covalent …

A Comparison Of Five Statistical Methods For Predicting Stream Temperature Across Stream Networks, Maike F. Holthuijzen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The health of freshwater aquatic systems, particularly stream networks, is mainly influenced by water temperature, which controls biological processes and influences species distributions and aquatic biodiversity. Thermal regimes of rivers are likely to change in the future, due to climate change and other anthropogenic impacts, and our ability to predict stream temperatures will be critical in understanding distribution shifts of aquatic biota. Spatial statistical network models take into account spatial relationships but have drawbacks, including high computation times and data pre-processing requirements. Machine learning techniques and generalized additive models (GAM) are promising alternatives to the SSN model. Two machine learning …

Great Basin Bristlecone Pine Resistance To Mountain Pine Beetle: An Evaluation Of Dendroctonus Ponderosae Host Selection Behavior And Reproductive Success In Pinus Longaeva, Erika L. Eidson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) is a native bark beetle that attacks and kills most species of pines (Pinus) throughout its range in western North America. Due to the strong relationship between thermal conditions and mountain pine beetle population success, climate change-induced changes in mountain pine beetle outbreaks are a major concern for land managers. Over the past several decades, warmer than average temperatures allowed mountain pine beetle populations to reach epidemic levels across much of the western U.S. and Canada, including high elevations where outbreaks were previously limited by cool temperatures. Many high-elevation pine …

First-Row Transition Metal Sulfides And Phosphides As Competent Electrocatalysts For Water Splitting, Nan Jiang

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Solar energy is a carbon-neutral and renewable energy resource. Its nature of intermittence and unequal distribution requires efficient solar energy capture, conversion, and storage. Solar-driven water splitting to produce hydrogen and oxygen is widely considered as an appealing approach to meet this goal, in which hydrogen acts as a green energy carrier. Water splitting consists of two redox half reactions: hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Both reactions involve the transfer of multiple electrons and protons and possess high energy barriers to proceed at appreciable rates, hence catalysts are needed.

A large number of HER and OER …

Effect Of Foliage And Root Carbon Quantity, Quality, And Fluxes On Soil Organic Carbon Stabilization In Montane Aspen And Conifer Stands In Utah, Antra Boča

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Soil organic carbon (SOC) positively affects many soil properties (e.g., fertility and water holding capacity), and the amount of carbon (C) in soil exceeds the amount in the atmosphere by about three times. Forest soils store as much C as is found in trees. Tree species differ in their effect on SOC pools. Quaking aspen forests in the Western US often store more stable SOC in the mineral soil than nearby conifers. During the last decades a decline in aspen cover, often followed by conifer encroachment, has been documented. A shift from aspen to conifer overstories may negatively affect the …

Conservative Tryptophan Mutations In Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase Ptp1b And Its Effect On Catalytic Rate And Chemical Reaction, Teisha Richan

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Protein-tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) catalyze the hydrolysis of phosphorylated tyrosines by a 2-step mechanism involving nucleophilic attack by cysteine and general acid catalysis by aspartic acid. In most PTPs the aspartic acid resides on a flexible protein loop, consisting of about a dozen residues, called the WPD loop. PTP catalysis rates span several orders of magnitude, and differences in WPD loop dynamics have recently been show to correlate with the rate of enzymatic catalysis. The rate of WPD loop motion could possibly be related to a widely conserved tryptophan residue on the WPD loop. Therefore, point mutants were made in PTP1B …

Spatial And Behavioral Patterns Of Captive Coyotes, Jeffrey T. Schultz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Environmental enrichment is a technique used at many captive animal facilities that can improve the well-being of their animals. It seeks to enhance habitat features and promote natural behavior by providing a variety of practical ways for captive animals to control their environmental settings, especially during stressful circumstances. Enclosure features, such as shelter structures, are one tool that promotes wild behavior by adding complexity to an enclosure’s physical environment. Enrichment efforts for captive wildlife are most effective when they are specialized to the biological needs of the animals. Human activity may alter captive animal behavior and utility of enclosure features, …

Sclerocactus Wetlandicus: Habitat Characterization, Seed Germination And Mycorrhizal Analysis, Kourtney T. Harding

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Uinta Basin hookless cactus (Sclerocactus wetlandicus) is a threatened species native to Eastern Utah. The cactus is found in a landscape highly disturbed by non-renewable energy production. To understand the environmental conditions that support natural growth of this cactus, we asked what types of plants were present in the same areas as the cactus, and if the types of plants were different in environments that were disturbed. From our assessment, we determined that the types of plants present in disturbed areas were drastically different from those present in undisturbed locations. Areas previously used for energy production are …

To What Extent Might Beaver Dam Building Buffer Water Storage Losses Associated With A Declining Snowpack?, Konrad Hafen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Dams built by North American Beaver create natural water storage and slow water as it moves through streams. In portions of streams with beaver dams, these effects have been observed to decrease the peak magnitude of floods and increase base flow during annual summer droughts. In the western United States changes to streamflow patterns have been observed in recent decades with large spring floods coming earlier in the year, causing annual summer droughts to start earlier and last longer. These changes are linked to decreasing snowpack which acts as the most significant natural water storage reservoir by holding onto precipitation …

The Influence Of Aspen Chemistry And The Nutritional Context On Aspen Herbivory, Kristen Y. Heroy

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Consumption of aspen by herbivores is one major force causing aspen decline in North America. In this Dissertation, I aimed to determine why herbivores prefer browsing on certain aspen stands over others, and why they prefer consuming aspen that contains chemical defenses over understory forages like grasses, forbs, and shrubs. I explored the influence of nutrients and chemical defenses within aspen on aspen intake and preference by lambs in pen experiments. I also explored drivers of aspen preference on the landscape by looking at relationships between aspen herbivory, indicators of aspen health, amount of nutrients available in the understory, and …

Accounting For Spatial And Temporal Variation In Macroinvertebrate Community Abundances When Measuring The Food Supply Of Stream Salmonids, Nicholas Weber, Nicolaas Bouwes, Chris Jordan

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

The goal of salmonid habitat monitoring programs is to measure habitat attributes linked to salmonid productivity based on protocols that have sufficient precision to detect environmental variation at relevant spatial and temporal scales. Benthic macroinvertebrate community composition often is evaluated as part of habitat monitoring and assessment protocols, despite a lack of direct relationships between benthic composition and salmonid production. Macroinvertebrate drift provides a direct measure of the food resources available to stream salmonids, but drift is rarely evaluated as part of habitat monitoring protocols. This reluctance may stem from the complex spatial and temporal variability inherent in macroinvertebrate drift …

Accounting For Spatial And Temporal Variation In Macroinvertebrate Community Abundances When Measuring The Food Supply Of Stream Salmonids, Nicholas Weber, Nicolaas Bouwes, Chris Jordan

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

The goal of salmonid habitat monitoring programs is to measure habitat attributes linked to salmonid productivity based on protocols that have sufficient precision to detect environmental variation at relevant spatial and temporal scales. Benthic macroinvertebrate community composition often is evaluated as part of habitat monitoring and assessment protocols, despite a lack of direct relationships between benthic composition and salmonid production. Macroinvertebrate drift provides a direct measure of the food resources available to stream salmonids, but drift is rarely evaluated as part of habitat monitoring protocols. This reluctance may stem from the complex spatial and temporal variability inherent in macroinvertebrate drift …

Accelerated Increase In The Arctic Tropospheric Warming Events Surpassing Stratospheric Warming Events During Winter, Shih-Yu (Simon) Wang, Yen-Heng Lin, Ming-Ying Lee, Jin-Ho Yoon, Jonathan D.D. Meyer, Philip J. Rasch

Plants, Soils, and Climate Faculty Publications

In January 2016, a robust reversal of the Arctic Oscillation (AO) took place associated with a rapid tropospheric warming in the Arctic region; this was followed by the occurrence of a classic sudden stratospheric warming in March-April. The succession of these two distinct Arctic warming events provides a stimulating opportunity to examine their characteristics in terms of similarities and differences. Historical cases of these two types of Arctic warming were identified and validated based upon tropical linkages with the Madden-Julian Oscillation and El Niño as well as those documented in previous studies. Our results indicate a recent and accelerated increase …

Mass Action In Two-Sex Population Models: Encounters, Mating Encounters And The Associated Numerical Correction, Katherine Snyder, Brynja R. Kohler, Luis F. Gordillo

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications

Ideal gas models are a paradigm used in Biology for the phenomenological modelling of encounters between individuals of different types. These models have been used to approximate encounter rates given densities, velocities and distance within which an encounter certainly occurs. When using mass action in two-sex populations, however, it is necessary to recognize the difference between encounters and mating encounters. While the former refers in general to the (possibly simultaneous) collisions between particles, the latter represents pair formation that will produce offspring. The classical formulation of the law of mass action does not account this difference. In this short paper, …

Patterns In Greater Sage-Grouse Population Dynamics Correspond With Public Grazing Records At Broad Scales, Adrian P. Monroe, Cameron L. Aldridge, Timothy J. Assal, Kari E. Veblen, David A. Pyke, Michael L. Casazza

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Human land use, such as livestock grazing, can have profound yet varied effects on wildlife interacting within common ecosystems, yet our understanding of land-use effects is often generalized from short-term, local studies that may not correspond with trends at broader scales. Here we used public land records to characterize livestock grazing across Wyoming, USA, and we used Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) as a model organism to evaluate responses to livestock management. With annual counts of male Sage-grouse from 743 leks (breeding display sites) during 2004-2014, we modeled population trends in response to grazing level (represented by a relative grazing index) …

The Optical Trapezoid Model: A Novel Approach To Remote Sensing Of Soil Moisture Applied To Sentinel-2 And Landsat-8 Observations, Morteza Sadeghi, Ebrahim Babaeian, Markus Tuller, Scott B. Jones

Plants, Soils, and Climate Faculty Publications

The “trapezoid” or “triangle” model constitutes the most popular approach to remote sensing (RS) of surface soil moisture based on coupled thermal (i.e., land surface temperature) and optical RS observations. The model, hereinafter referred to as Thermal-Optical TRAapezoid Model (TOTRAM), is based on interpretation of the pixel distribution within the land surface temperature - vegetation index (LST-VI) space. TOTRAM suffers from two inherent limitations. It is not applicable to satellites that do not provide thermal data (e.g., Sentinel-2) and it requires parameterization for each individual observation date. To overcome these restrictions we propose a novel OPtical TRApezoid Model (OPTRAM), which …