Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Utah State University

2009

Series

Discipline
Keyword
Publication
File Type

Articles 1 - 30 of 107

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Can Pastoral Linkages To Livestock Markets Be Sustained In Southern Ethiopia?, D. Layne Coppock, Getachew Gebru, Solomon Desta, Seyoum Tezera, Zewdu Edea Dec 2009

Can Pastoral Linkages To Livestock Markets Be Sustained In Southern Ethiopia?, D. Layne Coppock, Getachew Gebru, Solomon Desta, Seyoum Tezera, Zewdu Edea

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

The PARIMA project has facilitated collective action, empowerment of women, and increased involvement in livestock marketing among pastoralists on the Borana Plateau since 2001. Fifty-nine collective-action groups formed by PARIMA and her partners have been recently merged into market-oriented cooperatives, consistent with government policy. We used focus groups and participatory appraisals to assess the extent that market linkages have been sustained since previously reported in 2006. The markets have been growing, but are volatile. Members report they need access to early warning and livestock market-information systems, as well as more capital, to promote trade. Export firms have imposed added conditions …

Go to article

Costs Of Implementing Collective Action And Capacity Building Among Pastoralists In Southern Ethiopia, D. Layne Coppock, Seyoum Tezera, Solomon Desta Dec 2009

Costs Of Implementing Collective Action And Capacity Building Among Pastoralists In Southern Ethiopia, D. Layne Coppock, Seyoum Tezera, Solomon Desta

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

Since 2000, the PARIMA project has implemented risk-management activities among semi-settled pastoralists in southern Ethiopia. The goal has been to improve human welfare via collective action and capacity building. Outcomes include progress in income generation, asset conservation, and livelihood diversification. Fifty-nine collective-action groups were created. Dominated by women, they included over 2,000 founding members and groups have recently merged to form 37 cooperatives, consistent with government policy. Creating sustainable impacts via collective action and capacity building requires many inputs. Taking raw, illiterate volunteers and transforming them into sustainable groups took up to three years, on average. Costs of implementing this …

Go to article

Eleven Years Of Parima Activities In North-Central Kenya: Impacts On Egerton University And Neighboring Communities, D. Layne Coppock, Abdillahi Aboud, Mark Mutinda, Stellamaris Muthoka Dec 2009

Eleven Years Of Parima Activities In North-Central Kenya: Impacts On Egerton University And Neighboring Communities, D. Layne Coppock, Abdillahi Aboud, Mark Mutinda, Stellamaris Muthoka

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

The PARIMA project was created to improve the well-being of pastoralists and agro-pastoralists in northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia via risk-management research, training, and outreach. The project began to collaborate with Egerton University’s Department of Natural Resources in 1998 and many joint activities were undertaken over the next 11 years. Among them were regional household research on pastoral risks and their management, a training program for Egerton teaching staff to obtain post-graduate degrees, facilitation of Egerton faculty and staff to attend professional meetings, and provision of computer hardware and software that led to the creation of a GIS teaching and …

Go to article

Simple Cooling Method Improves The Quality Of Marketed Camel Milk In Northern Kenya, D. Layne Coppock, A. O. Adongo, F. Wayua, I. J. Sagalla, H. K. Walaga, C. Amboga Dec 2009

Simple Cooling Method Improves The Quality Of Marketed Camel Milk In Northern Kenya, D. Layne Coppock, A. O. Adongo, F. Wayua, I. J. Sagalla, H. K. Walaga, C. Amboga

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

Milk marketing is important for many pastoralists to generate income, especially poor households with little else to sell. Milk is accumulated at pastoral settlements and transported to local markets on foot, by pack animals, or in vehicles. Despite challenges of heat and long-distance travel, pastoralists or traders do not attempt to cool marketed milk and possibly reduce risk of spoilage. Milk spoilage is an important problem that limits urban consumer demand. Our research objective was to determine effects of water-soaked hemp (burlap), wrapped around plastic jerry cans, on reducing milk temperature and enhancing quality of marketed camel milk, a key …

Go to article

Subcutaneous Administration Of Tc007 Reduces Disease Severity In An Animal Model Of Sma, Virginia B. Mattis, Marina Y. Fosso, Cheng-Wei Tom Chang, Christian L. Lorson Nov 2009

Subcutaneous Administration Of Tc007 Reduces Disease Severity In An Animal Model Of Sma, Virginia B. Mattis, Marina Y. Fosso, Cheng-Wei Tom Chang, Christian L. Lorson

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Background Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is the leading genetic cause of infantile death. It is caused by the loss of functional Survival Motor Neuron 1 (SMN1). There is a nearly identical copy gene, SMN2, but it is unable to rescue from disease due to an alternative splicing event that excises a necessary exon (exon 7) from the majority of SMN2-derived transcripts. While SMNΔ7 protein has severely reduced functionality, the exon 7 sequences may not be specifically required for all activities. Therefore, aminoglycoside antibiotics previously shown to suppress stop codon recognition and promote translation read-through have been examined to increase the …

Go to article

Educational Data Mining Approaches For Digital Libraries, Mimi Recker, Sherry Hsi, Beijie Xu, Rob Rothfarb Nov 2009

Educational Data Mining Approaches For Digital Libraries, Mimi Recker, Sherry Hsi, Beijie Xu, Rob Rothfarb

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

This collaborative research project between the Exploratorium and Utah State's Department of Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences investigates online evaluation approaches and the application of educational data mining to educational digital libraries and services. Much work over the past decades has focused on developing algorithms and methods for discovering patterns in large datasets, known as Knowledge Discovery from Data (KDD). Webmetrics, the application of KDD to web usage mining, is growing rapidly in areas such as e-commerce. Educational Data Mining (EDM) is just beginning to emerge as a tool to analyze the massive, longitudinal user data that are captured in …

Go to article

Whispers From The Cosmos: Listeing To Gravity's Hidden Message, Shane L. Larson Oct 2009

Whispers From The Cosmos: Listeing To Gravity's Hidden Message, Shane L. Larson

Public Talks

No abstract provided.

Go to article

Temperature Dependence Of Electrostatic Breakdown Of Polymeric Insulators, Charles Sim, Jr Dennison Oct 2009

Temperature Dependence Of Electrostatic Breakdown Of Polymeric Insulators, Charles Sim, Jr Dennison

Presentations

No abstract provided.

Go to article

Intra-Annual Comparison Of Mesospheric Gravity Waves Over Halley And Rothera Stations, Antarctica, Jonathan Pugmire, Michael J. Taylor, K. Nielsen, A. Wall, J. Thompson, P. D. Pautet Oct 2009

Intra-Annual Comparison Of Mesospheric Gravity Waves Over Halley And Rothera Stations, Antarctica, Jonathan Pugmire, Michael J. Taylor, K. Nielsen, A. Wall, J. Thompson, P. D. Pautet

Graduate Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Go to article

Reduction And Characterization Of Error In Low Current Measurements, Justin Dekany, Jr Dennison, Alec Sim Oct 2009

Reduction And Characterization Of Error In Low Current Measurements, Justin Dekany, Jr Dennison, Alec Sim

Presentations

No abstract provided.

Go to article

Project: F.U.N.B.O.E. (Follow-Up Nucleate Boiling On-Flight Experiment), Getaway Special Team 2009 Oct 2009

Project: F.U.N.B.O.E. (Follow-Up Nucleate Boiling On-Flight Experiment), Getaway Special Team 2009

Education and Outreach

No abstract provided.

Go to article

Leading Students To Investigate Diffusion As A Model Of Brine Shrimp Movement, Brynja R. Kohler, Rebecca J. Swank, James W. Haefner, James A. Powell Oct 2009

Leading Students To Investigate Diffusion As A Model Of Brine Shrimp Movement, Brynja R. Kohler, Rebecca J. Swank, James W. Haefner, James A. Powell

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications

Integrating experimental biology laboratory exercises with mathematical modeling can be an effective tool to enhance mathematical relevance for biologists and to emphasize biological realism for mathematicians. This paper describes a lab project de-signed for and tested in an undergraduate biomathematics course. In the lab, students follow and track the paths of individual brine shrimp confined in shallow salt water in a Petri dish. Students investigate the question, “Is the movement well characterized as a 2-dimensional random walk?” Through open, but directed discussions, students derive the corresponding partial differential equation, gain an understanding of the solution behavior, and model brine shrimp …

Go to article

Sixth Grade Lesson Plan: Heat Moves, Getaway Special Team 2009 Oct 2009

Sixth Grade Lesson Plan: Heat Moves, Getaway Special Team 2009

Education and Outreach

No abstract provided.

Go to article

Third Grade Lesson Plan: Where Does Heat Come From?, Getaway Special Team 2009 Oct 2009

Third Grade Lesson Plan: Where Does Heat Come From?, Getaway Special Team 2009

Education and Outreach

No abstract provided.

Go to article

Evaluations Of Nam Forecasts On Midtropospheric Perturbation-Induced Convective Storms Over The U.S. Northern Plains, Shih-Yu (Simon) Wang, T. C. Chen, S. E. Taylor Oct 2009

Evaluations Of Nam Forecasts On Midtropospheric Perturbation-Induced Convective Storms Over The U.S. Northern Plains, Shih-Yu (Simon) Wang, T. C. Chen, S. E. Taylor

Plants, Soils, and Climate Faculty Publications

In the U.S. northern plains, summer progressive convective storms that occur in weakly forced environ- ments are often coupled with short-wave perturbations that are embedded in the midlevel northwesterly flow. These midtropospheric perturbations (MPs) are capable of inducing propagating convection that contributes to a majority of the rainfall over the northern plains during July and August. There is a possibility that the difficulties of numerical weather prediction models in forecasting summer convective rainfall over the northern plains are partly attributed to their deficiency in forecasting MPs. The present study tests this possibility through examining operational forecasts by the North American …

Go to article

Fifth Grade Lesson Plan: Solid, Liquid, And Gas, Getaway Special Team 2009 Oct 2009

Fifth Grade Lesson Plan: Solid, Liquid, And Gas, Getaway Special Team 2009

Education and Outreach

No abstract provided.

Go to article

Hydro-Economic Models: Concepts, Design, Applications, And Future Prospects, Julien Harou, Manuel Pulido-Velazquez, David E. Rosenberg, Josue Medellin-Azuara, Jay Lund, Richard Howitt Sep 2009

Hydro-Economic Models: Concepts, Design, Applications, And Future Prospects, Julien Harou, Manuel Pulido-Velazquez, David E. Rosenberg, Josue Medellin-Azuara, Jay Lund, Richard Howitt

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Future water management will shift from building new water supply systems to better operating existing ones. The variation of water values in time and space will increasingly motivate efforts to address water scarcity and reduce water conflicts. Hydro-economic models represent spatially distributed water resource systems, infrastructure, management options and economic values in an integrated manner. In these tools water allocations and management are either driven by the economic value of water or economically evaluated to provide policy insights and reveal opportunities for better management. A central concept is that water demands are not fixed requirements but rather functions where quantities …

Go to article

Atmospheric Mercury Concentrations And Speciation Measured From 2004 To 2007 In Reno, Nevada, Usa, Seth N. Lyman, Mae Sexauer Gustin Sep 2009

Atmospheric Mercury Concentrations And Speciation Measured From 2004 To 2007 In Reno, Nevada, Usa, Seth N. Lyman, Mae Sexauer Gustin

USU Uintah Basin Faculty Publications

Atmospheric elemental, reactive and particulate mercury (Hg) concentrations were measured north of downtown Reno, Nevada, USA from November 2004 to November 2007. Three-year mean and median concentrations for gaseous elemental Hg (Hg0) were 1.6 and 1.5 ng m−3 (respectively), similar to global mean Hg0 concentrations. The three-year mean reactive gaseous Hg (RGM) concentration (26 pg m−3) was higher than values reported for rural sites across the western United States. Well defined seasonal and daily patterns in Hg0 and RGM concentrations were observed, with the highest Hg0 concentrations measured in winter and early morning, and RGM concentrations being greatest in the …

Go to article

East Canyon Reservoir Water Intake Structure Final Environmental Assessment And Finding Of No Significant Impact, United States Department Of The Interior, Bureau Of Reclamation Sep 2009

East Canyon Reservoir Water Intake Structure Final Environmental Assessment And Finding Of No Significant Impact, United States Department Of The Interior, Bureau Of Reclamation

Environmental Assessments (UT)

The purpose of the proposed action is to authorize SWDC to build and operate facilities to deliver water to the Park City/Snyderville Basin area (Figure 1.2). The need for the proposed action is a growing demand for water in the Park City/Snyderville Basin area due to population growth and increased development of recreation facilities and vacation homes.

Go to article

Self-Similar Nested Sequences On A Chaotic Attractor For Travelingwave Electrophoresis, Boyd F. Edwards Sep 2009

Self-Similar Nested Sequences On A Chaotic Attractor For Travelingwave Electrophoresis, Boyd F. Edwards

All Physics Faculty Publications

Oscillating electric potentials are applied to interdigitated arrays of cylindrical electrodes above and below a stationary conducting viscous fluid. The phases of these potentials are chosen to produce a longitudinal traveling wave that traps high-mobility ions and partially traps intermediate-mobility ions in periodic and narrowband chaotic attractors with average velocities that are commensurate with the wave speed. Stable periodic attractors have periods up to 101 times the wave period. Incommensurate broadband chaotic attractors are described by one-dimensional iterated contact-angle return maps, which feature self-similar nested sequences that converge geometrically at unstable trapped orbits. Sequences of singular angles and sequences of …

Go to article

From The Big Bang To Fossil Butte: The Cosmic Biography Of An Atom, Shane L. Larson Aug 2009

From The Big Bang To Fossil Butte: The Cosmic Biography Of An Atom, Shane L. Larson

Public Talks

No abstract provided.

Go to article

Residential Water Demand Under Alternative Rate Structures: Simulation Approach, David E. Rosenberg Aug 2009

Residential Water Demand Under Alternative Rate Structures: Simulation Approach, David E. Rosenberg

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Econometricians have long studied the effect of price on residential water demand and the impact on water use of the rate (tariff) structure in which price signals are embedded. This paper applies an existing deductive model of residential water use for the intermittent supply system in Amman, Jordan and simulates demand responses across a cross section of households over many uniform, increasing block, and linear price (quadratic charge) rate structures at historically low and significantly higher prices. Results show inelastic piped water demand responses for all rate structures at historically low prices similar to findings from a prior econometric study …

Go to article

Analysis And Modeling Of Ducted And Evanescent Gravity Waves Observed In The Hawaiian Airglow, D. B. Simkhada, J. B. Snively, Michael J. Taylor, S. J. Franke Aug 2009

Analysis And Modeling Of Ducted And Evanescent Gravity Waves Observed In The Hawaiian Airglow, D. B. Simkhada, J. B. Snively, Michael J. Taylor, S. J. Franke

All Physics Faculty Publications

Short-period gravity waves of especially-small horizontal scale have been observed in the Maui, Hawaii airglow. Typical small-scale gravity wave events have been investigated, and intrinsic wave propagation characteristics have been calculated from simultaneous meteor radar wind measurements. Here we report specific cases where wave structure is significantly determined by the local wind structure, and where wave characteristics are consistent with ducted or evanescent waves throughout the mesopause region. Two of the documented events, exhibiting similar airglow signatures but dramatically different propagation conditions, are selected for simple numerical modeling case studies. First, a Doppler-ducted wave trapped within relatively weak wind flow …

Go to article

Testing And Application Of Surrogate Surfaces For Understanding Potential Gaseous Oxidized Mercury Dry Deposition, Seth N. Lyman, Mae Sexauer Gustin, Eric M. Prestbo, Phillip I. Kilner, Eric Edgerton, Ben Hartsell Jul 2009

Testing And Application Of Surrogate Surfaces For Understanding Potential Gaseous Oxidized Mercury Dry Deposition, Seth N. Lyman, Mae Sexauer Gustin, Eric M. Prestbo, Phillip I. Kilner, Eric Edgerton, Ben Hartsell

USU Uintah Basin Faculty Publications

Currently there is no standard method for measurement of atmospheric mercury dry deposition. While all operationally defined forms of atmospheric mercury (elemental, oxidized, and particulate) can be dry deposited, oxidized forms are of concern due to high deposition velocities, water solubility, and reactivity. This paper describes the development of a surrogate surface for characterizing potential dry deposition of gaseous oxidized mercury (GOM). Laboratory tests showed that the surface collected HgCl2, HgBr2, and HgO with equal efficiency, and deposition was not significantly influenced by temperature, humidity, or ozone concentrations. Deposition of mercury to surfaces in field deployments was correlated with GOM …

Go to article

The Effect Of Negative Energy Shells On Schwarzschild Spacetime And Their Penrose Diagrams, Jeffrey Hazboun, Tevian Dray Jul 2009

The Effect Of Negative Energy Shells On Schwarzschild Spacetime And Their Penrose Diagrams, Jeffrey Hazboun, Tevian Dray

Presentations

No abstract provided.

Go to article

The Effect Of Negative-Energy Shells On The Schwarzschild Black Hole, Jeffrey Hazboun, Tevian Dray Jul 2009

The Effect Of Negative-Energy Shells On The Schwarzschild Black Hole, Jeffrey Hazboun, Tevian Dray

Faculty publications

We construct Penrose diagrams for Schwarzschild spacetimes joined by massless shells of matter, in the process correcting minor flaws in the similar diagrams drawn by Dray and ’t Hooft (Commun Math Phys 99:613–625, 1985), and confirming their result that such shells generate a horizon shift. We then consider shells with negative energy density, showing that the horizon shift in this case allows for travel between the heretofore causally separated exterior regions of the Schwarzschild geometry. These drawing techniques are then used to investigate the properties of successive shells, joining multiple Schwarzschild regions. Again, the presence of negative-energy shells leads to …

Go to article

Flight Experiments On The Effects Of Contamination On Electron Emission Of Materials, John R. Dennison, Joshua L. Hodges, Jeff Duce, Amberly Evans Jun 2009

Flight Experiments On The Effects Of Contamination On Electron Emission Of Materials, John R. Dennison, Joshua L. Hodges, Jeff Duce, Amberly Evans

All Physics Faculty Publications

We report on a study of the effects of prolonged exposure to the space environment and of chargeenhanced contamination on the electron emission and resistivity of spacecraft materials. The State of Utah Space Environment & Contamination Study (SUSpECS) was deployed on the International Space Station (ISS) in March 2008 onboard the MISSE-6 payload during STS-123. The Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE-6) program is designed to characterize the performance of candidate new space materials over the course of its ~17 month exposure to the LEO environment, with a target return date of August 2009 on STS-127. Approximately 165 samples are …

Go to article

Simultaneous Observations Of Equatorial F-Region Plasma Depletions Over Brazil During The Spread-F Experiment (Spreadfex), Pierre-Dominique Pautet, Michael J. Taylor, N. P. Chapagain, H. Takahashi, A. F. Medeiros, F. T. São Sabbas, D. C. Fritts Jun 2009

Simultaneous Observations Of Equatorial F-Region Plasma Depletions Over Brazil During The Spread-F Experiment (Spreadfex), Pierre-Dominique Pautet, Michael J. Taylor, N. P. Chapagain, H. Takahashi, A. F. Medeiros, F. T. São Sabbas, D. C. Fritts

All Physics Faculty Publications

From September to November 2005, the NASA Living with a Star program supported the Spread-F Experiment campaign (SpreadFEx) in Brazil to study the effects of convectively generated gravity waves on the ionosphere and their role in seeding Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities, and associated equatorial plasma bubbles. Several US and Brazilian institutes deployed a broad range of instruments (all-sky imagers, digisondes, photometers, meteor/VHF radars, GPS receivers) covering a large area of Brazil. The campaign was divided in two observational phases centered on the September and October new moon periods. During these periods, an Utah State University (USU) all-sky CCD imager operated at S˜ao …

Go to article

Electron Densities In The Lower Thermosphere From Guvi 135.6 Nm Tomographic Inversions In Support Of Spreadfex, F. Kamalabadi, J. Comberiate, Michael J. Taylor, Pierre-Dominique Pautet Jun 2009

Electron Densities In The Lower Thermosphere From Guvi 135.6 Nm Tomographic Inversions In Support Of Spreadfex, F. Kamalabadi, J. Comberiate, Michael J. Taylor, Pierre-Dominique Pautet

All Physics Faculty Publications

The SpreadFEx campaign was conducted with the goal of investigating potential neutral atmospheric dynamics influences in seeding plasma instabilities and bubbles extending to higher altitudes from September to November 2005, with primary measurements in Brazil. In this paper, we present the results of space-based UV and ground-based optical observations in support of this campaign. Specifically, we present multi-dimensional electron density images obtained tomographically from the 135.6 nm emissions measured by the GUVI instrument aboard the TIMED satellite that result from radiative recombination of O+ and compare those with the corresponding 630.0 nm OI images recorded in the Brazilian sector. The …

Go to article

Impact Of The Intraseasonal Variability Of Large-Scale Circulation Over The Western North Pacific On The Characteristics Of Tropical Cyclone Track, T. C. Chen, Shih-Yu (Simon) Wang, M. C. Yen, A. J. Clark Jun 2009

Impact Of The Intraseasonal Variability Of Large-Scale Circulation Over The Western North Pacific On The Characteristics Of Tropical Cyclone Track, T. C. Chen, Shih-Yu (Simon) Wang, M. C. Yen, A. J. Clark

Plants, Soils, and Climate Faculty Publications

The life cycle of the Southeast Asian–western North Pacific monsoon circulation is established by the northward migrations of the monsoon trough and the western Pacific subtropical anticyclone, and is reflected by the intraseasonal variations of mo nsoon westerlies and trad e easterlies in the form of an east–west seesaw oscillation. In this paper, an effort is made to disclose the influence of this monsoon circulation on tropical cyclone tracks during its different ph ases using composite charts of large-scale circulation for certain types of tracks. A majority of straight-moving (recurving) tropical cyclones appear during weak (strong) monsoon west- erlies and …

Go to article

Next Last