Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

A Novel Qtl Associated With Dwarf Bunt Resistance In Idaho 444 Winter Wheat, Jianli Chen, Mary J. Guttieri, Junli Zhang, David Hole, Edward Souza, Blair Goates

Green Canyon Environmental Research Area, Logan Utah

Dwarf bunt [Tilletia controversa J.G. Kühn [as ‘contraversa’], in Rabenhorst, Hedwigia 13: 188 (1874)] is a destructive disease of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) that reduces grain yield and quality. A number of distinct genes conferring resistance to dwarf bunt have been used by breeding programs for nearly 100 years. However, few markers were identified that can be used in selection of dwarf bunt resistance. A recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from the bunt-resistant germplasm, Idaho 444 (IDO444), and the susceptible cultivar, Rio Blanco, was evaluated for phenotypic reaction to dwarf bunt inoculation in four trials in …

Temperature Dependency Of Electrostatic Breakdown In Ldpe And Peek, Tyler Kippen, Allen Andersen, Jr Dennison

Posters

Electrostatic breakdown is a leading cause of many of the anomalies and failures attributed to spacecraft interactions with the space environment. It is therefore critical to understand how the electrostatic field strength varies due to changing environmental conditions, including temperature and radiation dose. Standard step-up to electrostatic discharge (ESD) tests were performed on two polymers, low density polyethylene (LDPE) and polyetheretherketone (PEEK). Tests were done at room temperature and at other temperatures ranging from ~130 K to ~350 K. Preliminary analysis found that samples tested at a higher temperature had lower average breakdown field strength and a narrower distribution of …

Computer Vision–Based Orthorectification And Georeferencing Of Aerial Image Sets, Mohammadreza Faraji, Xiaojun Qi, Austin Jensen

Computer Science Faculty and Staff Publications

Generating a georeferenced mosaic map from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)imagery is a challenging task. Direct and indirect georeferencing methods may fail to generate an accurate mosaic map due to the erroneous exterior orientation parameters stored in the inertial measurement unit (IMU), erroneous global positioning system (GPS) data, and difficulty inlocating ground control points (GCPs) or having a sufficient number of GCPs. This paperpresents a practical framework to orthorectify and georeference aerial images using the robustfeatures-based matching method. The proposed georeferencing process is fully automatic and does not require any GCPs. It is also a near real-time process which can be …

Future Changes In Propagating And Non-Propagating Diurnal Rainfall Over East Asia, Wan-Ru Huang, Shih-Yu (Simon) Wang

Plants, Soils, and Climate Faculty Publications

The characteristics of diurnal rainfall in the East Asian continent consist of a propagating regime over the Yangtze River and a non-propagating regime in southeast China. Simulations of these two diurnal rainfall regimes by 18 CMIP5 models were evaluated from the historical experiment of 1981–2005. The evaluation led to the identification of one model, the CMCC-CM that replicated the key characteristics of diurnal rainfall regimes including the propagation of moisture convergence. Using the CMCC-CM to assess the future (2076–2100) change of diurnal evolution and propagation projected by the RCP4.5 experiment, it was found that propagating diurnal rainfall will enhance and …

Interactions Between Temozolomide And Guanine And Its S And Se‐Substituted Analogues, Okuma Emile Kasende, Aristote Matondo, Jules Tshishimbi Muya, Steve Scheiner

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Temozolomide was paired with guanine, 6-selenoguanine, and 6-thioguanine, as well as the SH tautomer of the latter. The potential energy surface of each heterodimer was searched for all minima, using Dispersion-Corrected Density Functional Theory and MP2 methods. Among the dozens of minima, three categories were observed. Stacked geometries place the aromatic systems of the two molecules parallel to one another, while the two systems are roughly perpendicular to one another in a second category. Also found are coplanar structures held together by H-bonds. Dispersion proves to be a dominating attractive force for the stacked structures, less so for perpendicular, and …

Dynamics Of Orographic Gravity Waves Observed In The Mesosphere Over Auckland Islands During The Deep Propagating Gravity Wave Experiment (Deepwave), Stephen D. Eckermann, Dave Broutman, Jun Ma, James D. Doyle, Pierre-Dominique Pautet, Michael J. Taylor, Katrina Bossert, Bifford P. Williams, David C. Fritts, Ronald B. Smith

Publications

On 14 July 2014 during the Deep Propagating Gravity Wave Experiment (DEEPWAVE), aircraft remote sensing instruments detected large-amplitude gravity wave oscillations within mesospheric airglow and sodium layers at altitudes z ~ 78–83 km downstream of the Auckland Islands, located ~1000 km south of Christchurch, New Zealand. A high-altitude reanalysis and a three-dimensional Fourier gravity wave model are used to investigate the dynamics of this event. At 0700 UTC when the first observations were made, surface flow across the islands’ terrain generated linear three-dimensional wave fields that propagated rapidly to z ~ 78 km, where intense breaking occurred in a narrow …

Dependence Of Electrostatic Field Strength On Voltage Ramp Rate For Spacecraft Materials, Krysta Moser, Allen Andersen, Jr Dennison

Posters

No abstract provided.

Predictive Formula For Electron Penetration Depth Of Diverse Materials Over Large Energy Ranges, Anne C. Starley, Gregory Wilson, Lisa Phillipps, Jr Dennison

Posters

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of The Electric Vehicles Adoption Over The United States, Ali Soltani-Sobh, Kevin Heaslip, Aleksandar Stevanovic, Ryan Bosworth, Danilo Radiviojevic

Applied Economics Faculty Publications

Increasing the use of electric vehicles (EVs) has been suggested as a possible method to decrease fuel consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in an effort to mitigate the causes of climate change. In this study, the relationship between the market share of electric vehicles and the presence of government incentives, and other influential socio-economic factors were examined. The methodology of this study is based on a cross-sectional/time-series (panel) analysis. The developed model is an aggregated binomial logit share model that estimates the modal split between EV and conventional vehicles for different U.S. states from 2003 to 2011. The results …

Analysis Of Close Conjunctions Between Dayside Polar Cap Airglow Patches And Flow Channels By All-Sky Imager And Dmsp, Boyi Wang, Yukitoshi Nishimura, Larry R. Lyons, Ying Zou, Herbert C. Carlson, Harald U. Frey, Stephen B. Mende

Faculty publications

Recent imager and radar observations in the nightside polar cap have shown evidence that polar cap patches are associated with localized flow channels. To understand how flow channels propagate from the dayside auroral oval into the polar cap, we use an all-sky imager in Antarctica and DMSP (F13, F15, F16, F17 and F18) to determine properties of density and flows associated with dayside polar cap patches. We identified 50 conjunction events during the southern winter seasons of 2007–2011. In a majority (45) of events, longitudinally narrow flow enhancements directed anti-sunward are found to be collocated with the patches, have velocities …

Mysterious Mesospheric Bores Over The South Pole, Christina Solorio

Physics Capstone Projects

Abstract. During the winter‐time, the South Pole lies at the center of the giant Antarctic polar vortex which isolates it from the rest of the world. Over the past four years, USU has successfully operated an infrared camera at the US Amundsen‐Scott South Pole Station to investigate dynamics of atmospheric gravity waves within the vortex. Gravity waves are generated when a force disturbs an air packet and buoyant and gravitational forces in turn cause it to oscillate. While gravity waves in general are ubiquitous in the atmosphere, propagating well into the mesosphere and lower thermosphere region (~80‐100 km), one rare …

Systems Modeling To Improve The Hydro-Ecological Performance Of Diked Wetlands, Omar Alminagorta, David E. Rosenberg, Karin M. Kettenring

Publications

Water scarcity and invasive vegetation threaten arid-region wetlands and wetland managers seek ways to enhance wetland ecosystem services with limited water, labor, and financial resources. While prior systems modeling efforts have focused on water management to improve flow-based ecosystem and habitat objectives, here we consider water allocation and invasive vegetation management that jointly target the concurrent hydrologic and vegetation habitat needs of priority wetland bird species. We formulate a composite weighted usable area for wetlands (WU) objective function that represents the wetland surface area that provides suitable water level and vegetation cover conditions for priority bird species. Maximizing …

On The Geodesic Centers Of Polygonal Domains, Haitao Wang

Computer Science Faculty and Staff Publications

In this paper, we study the problem of computing Euclidean geodesic centers of a polygonal domain P of n vertices. We give a necessary condition for a point being a geodesic center. We show that there is at most one geodesic center among all points of P that have topologically-equivalent shortest path maps. This implies that the total number of geodesic centers is bounded by the size of the shortest path map equivalence decomposition of P, which is known to be O(n^{10}). One key observation is a pi-range property on shortest path lengths when points are moving. With these observations, …

Evidence Of The Excitation Of A Ring-Like Gravity Wave In The Mesosphere Over The Andes Lidar Observatory, F. Vargas, G. Swenson, A. Liu, Pierre-Dominique Pautet

All Physics Faculty Publications

On 23 March 2012, our all-sky imager recorded a concentric, ring-like gravity wave pattern. The wave arose within the area covered by images of both OH and O(1S) nightglow emissions taken at the Andes Lidar Observatory (ALO), Chile (30.3ÁS, 70.7ÁW). We have estimated the observed and intrinsic parameters of the event and located the wave source within the lower mesosphere altitude range using a reverse ray tracing method. By the analysis of GOES and LIS satellite images, we have not found evidence of neither convective nor lightning activity nearby ALO, indicating that the source of the ring-like wave was not …

Smartphone Seismology: Data Acquisition Through Consumer Available Devices, Matt Olsen

Physics Capstone Projects

“Science!”, is an exuberant exclamation of achievement or satisfaction in the actual results of science that can be heard in a loud comic tone from time to time throughout the Geology department. Science is also defined as, “knowledge about or study of the natural world based on facts learned through experiments and observation” by Merriam-Webster dictionary. Whether the science is Physics or Geology, Biology or Chemistry, scientists seem to get excited when science happens. But science is always happening, so scientists should always be excited and exuberant, which if math serves me correctly would definitely equal happy.

Cubesat Space Environments Effects Studied In The Space Survivability Test Chamber, Jr Dennison, Gregory Wilson, Alex Souvall, Ben Russon, Katie Gamaunt

Posters

CubeSats are particularly susceptible to environmental-induced modifications, which can lead to deleterious or catastrophic consequences. This is increasingly important as small satellites—with minimal shielding due to reduced mass and size constraints and reliance on more compact and sensitive electronics—have longer mission lifetimes and make more diverse, complex and sensitive measurements. The current push to expand deployment of CubeSats beyond LEO, into even more demanding environments where modest relief due to shielding by the Earth’s magnetosphere is absent (such as polar or GEO orbits), can further exacerbate these problems.

Testing of small satellites is therefore critical to avoid such problems. A …

Interactions Of Nucleic Acid Bases With Temozolomide. Stacked, Perpendicular, And Coplanar Heterodimers, Okuma Emile Kasende, Steve Scheiner

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Temozolomide (TMZ) was paired with each of the five nucleic acid bases, and the potential energy surface searched for all minima, in the context of dispersion-corrected density functional theory and MP2 methods. Three types of arrangements were observed, with competitive stabilities. Coplanar H-bonding structures, reminiscent of Watson–Crick base pairs were typically the lowest in energy, albeit by a small amount. Also very stable were perpendicular arrangements that included one or more H-bonds. The two monomers were stacked approximately parallel to one another in the third category, some of which contained weak and distorted H-bonds. Dispersion was found to be a …

Monitoring The Charge Distribution During Proton And Sodium Ion Conduction Along Chains Of Water Molecules And Protein Residues, Steve Scheiner

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Quantum calculations are used to determine the level of delocalization of the charge of a cation as it translates along a chain of water molecules or glycine residues. Charge dispersal is monitored via the molecular electrostatic potential and the dipole moment of the entire system. The positive charge is largely localized on the water molecule on which the proton is situated, but becomes more intense and extended as the proton moves along the chain. The positive charge is more delocalized in protonated polyglycine, where it extends over at least an entire residue. Displacement of the proton along the chain intensifies …

Modeling Zombie Outbreaks: A Problem-Based Approach To Improving Mathematics One Brain At A Time, Matthew Lewis, James A. Powell

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications

A great deal of educational literature has focused on problem-based learning (PBL) in mathematics at the primary and secondary level, but arguably there is an even greater need for PBL in college math courses. We present a project centered around the Humans vs. Zombies moderated tag game played on the USU campus. We discuss the project in the context of an undergraduate differential equations course and discuss how the project is launched. We highlight examples of students mathematical models along with their verbal and written responses as well as discussing assessment and student learning. Results are discussed in the context …

The Distribution Of Climate Change Public Opinion In Canada, Matto Mildenberger, Peter Howe, Erik Lachapelle, Leah Stokes, Jennifer Marlon, Timothy Gravelle

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

While climate scientists have developed high resolution data sets on the distribution of climate risks, we still lack comparable data on the local distribution of public climate change opinions. This paper provides the first effort to estimate local climate and energy opinion variability outside the United States. Using a multi-level regression and post-stratification (MRP) approach, we estimate opinion in federal electoral districts and provinces. We demonstrate that a majority of the Canadian public consistently believes that climate change is happening. Belief in climate change’s causes varies geographically, with more people attributing it to human activity in urban as opposed to …

Topographic Constraints On Magma Accumulations Below The Actively Uuplifting Uturuncu And Lazufre Volcanic Centers In The Central Andes, Jonathan P. Perkins, Noah J. Finnegan, Scott T. Henderson, Tammy M. Rittenour

Geosciences Faculty Publications

Geodetic surveys of Volcán Uturuncu and the Lazufre volcanic complex in the Central Andes of South America reveal sustained surface uplift from magmatic intrusion at depth. However, the decadal timescales of geodetic surveys are short relative to the timescales of magma chamber growth. Thus, from geodesy alone, it is difficult to infer the deformation and hence magma accumulation history of these volcanoes. Here we combine data from InSAR, long-wavelength topography, GPS and high-resolution topographic surveys of lake shorelines and rivers, and lava flow morphology to constrain the spatial and temporal evolution of magmatism at Uturuncu and Lazufre. Near Uturuncu, dated …

Ε-Kernel Coresets For Stochastic Points, Haitao Wang, Lingxiao Huang, Jian Li, Jeff Mark Phillips

Computer Science Faculty and Staff Publications

With the dramatic growth in the number of application domains that generate probabilistic, noisy and uncertain data, there has been an increasing interest in designing algorithms for geometric or combinatorial optimization problems over such data. In this paper, we initiate the study of constructing epsilon-kernel coresets for uncertain points. We consider uncertainty in the existential model where each point's location is fixed but only occurs with a certain probability, and the locational model where each point has a probability distribution describing its location. An epsilon-kernel coreset approximates the width of a point set in any direction. We consider approximating the …

Observational Evidence Confirms Modelling Of The Long-Term Integrity Of Co2-Reservoir Caprocks, N. Kampman, A. Busch, P. Bertier, J. Snippe, S. Hangx, V. Pipich, Z. Di, G. Rother, J. F. Harrington, James P. Evans, A. Maskell, H. J. Chapman, M. J. Bickle

Geosciences Faculty Publications

Storage of anthropogenic CO₂ in geological formations relies on a caprock as the primary seal preventing buoyant super-critical CO₂ escaping. Although natural CO₂ reservoirs demonstrate that CO₂ may be stored safely for millions of years, uncertainty remains in predicting how caprocks will react with CO2-bearing brines. This uncertainty poses a significant challenge to the risk assessment of geological carbon storage. Here we describe mineral reaction fronts in a CO₂ reservoir-caprock system exposed to CO₂ over a timescale comparable with that needed for geological carbon storage. The propagation of the reaction front is retarded by …

Modeling The Global Atmospheric Transport And Deposition Of Mercury To The Great Lakes, Mark D. Cohen, Roland R. Draxler, Richard S. Artz, Pierrette Blanchard, Mae Sexauer Gustin, Young-Ji Han, Thomas M. Holsen, Daniel A. Jaffe, Paul Kelley, Hang Lei, Christopher P. Loughner, Winston T. Luke, Seth N. Lyman, David Niemi, Jozef M. Pacyna, Martin Pilote, Laurier Poissant, Dominique Ratte, Xinrong Ren, Frits Steenhuisen, Alexandra Steffen, Rob Tordon, Simon J. Wilson

USU Uintah Basin Faculty Publications

Mercury contamination in the Great Lakes continues to have important public health and wildlife ecotoxicology impacts, and atmospheric deposition is a significant ongoing loading pathway. The objective of this study was to estimate the amount and source-attribution for atmospheric mercury deposition to each lake, information needed to prioritize amelioration efforts. A new global, Eulerian version of the HYSPLIT-Hg model was used to simulate the 2005 global atmospheric transport and deposition of mercury to the Great Lakes. In addition to the base case, 10 alternative model configurations were used to examine sensitivity to uncertainties in atmospheric mercury chemistry and surface exchange. …

Effects Of Angular Deformation On The Energetics Of The Sn2 Reaction, Vincent De Paul Nzuwah-Nziko, Steve Scheiner

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Quantum calculations are applied to a number of model SN2 reactions. The halides F-, Cl-, and Br- were allowed to attack the central C atom of a set of CH2RI molecules, with R= H, CH3, CH=CH2, C≡CH, and C≡N. For each system the X∙∙C∙∙I angle was distorted in set increments from the optimized value, and the activation energy computed for each angle. The energy of the transition state rose in conjunction with this deformation. However, the distortion energy of the initial X-∙∙CH2RI reaction complex was similar in magnitude. As a result, the activation energy of the reaction was quite insensitive …

Interpretation Of Spectroscopic Markers Of Hydrogen Bonds, Steve Scheiner

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Quantum calculations are used to examine whether a AH∙∙D H-bond is unambiguously verified by a downfield shift of the bridging proton’s NMR signal or a red (or blue) shift of the AH stretching frequency in the IR spectrum. It is found that such IR band shifts will occur even if the two groups experience weak or no attractive force, or if they are drawn in so close together that their interaction is heavily repulsive. The mere presence of a proton-acceptor molecule can affect the chemical shielding of a position occupied by a proton-donor by virtue of its electron density, even …

Scale Analysis Of Equatorial Plasma Irregularities Derived From Swarm Constellation, Chao Xiong, Claudia Stolle, Hermann Lühr, Jaeheung Park, B. G. Fejer, Guram N. Kervalishvili

All Physics Faculty Publications

In this study, we investigated the scale sizes of equatorial plasma irregularities (EPIs) using measurements from the Swarm satellites during its early mission and final constellation phases. We found that with longitudinal separation between Swarm satellites larger than 0.4°, no significant correlation was found any more. This result suggests that EPI structures include plasma density scale sizes less than 44 km in the zonal direction. During the Swarm earlier mission phase, clearly better EPI correlations are obtained in the northern hemisphere, implying more fragmented irregularities in the southern hemisphere where the ambient magnetic field is low. The previously reported inverted-C …

Interactions Between Temozolomide And Quercetin, Okuma Emile Kasende, Vincent De Paul Nzuwah-Nziko, Steve Scheiner

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Temozolomide and quercetin are both molecules with important pharmaceutical activity, whose effects can mutually enhance one another when clinically applied simultaneously. Quantum chemical calculations are used to examine how the two molecules might interact with one another. The most stabilizing force arises when the aromatic systems of the two molecules are arranged parallel to one another. These stacked configurations are reinforced by H-bonds, but geometries containing only H-bonds, without the aromatic stacking, are much less stable, even if the H-bonds are short and strong. Comparison between B3LYP and B3LYP-D binding energies allows an evaluation of dispersion energy, which is found …

How The Magnitude Of Prey Genetic Variation Alters Predator-Prey Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics, Michael H. Cortez

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications

Evolution can alter the stability and dynamics of ecological communities; for example, prey evolution can drive cyclic dynamics in predator-prey systems that are not possible in the absence of evolution. However, it is unclear how the magnitude of additive genetic variation in the evolving species mediates those effects. In this study, I explore how the magnitude of prey additive genetic variation determines what effects prey evolution has on the dynamics and stability of predator-prey systems. I use linear stability analysis to decompose the stability of a general eco-evolutionary predator-prey model into components representing the stabilities of the ecological and evolutionary …

Stratospheric Gravity Wave Fluxes And Scales During Deepwave, Ronald B. Smith, Allison D. Nugent, Christopher G. Kruse, David C. Fritts, James D. Doyle, Steven D. Eckermann, Michael J. Taylor, Andreas Dornbrack, M. Uddstrom, William Cooper, Jorgen Jensen, Stuart Beaton

All Physics Faculty Publications

During the Deep Propagating Gravity Wave Experiment (DEEPWAVE) project in June and July 2014, the Gulfstream V research aircraft flew 97 legs over the Southern Alps of New Zealand and 150 legs over the Tasman Sea and Southern Ocean, mostly in the low stratosphere at 12.1-km altitude. Improved instrument calibration, redundant sensors, longer flight legs, energy flux estimation, and scale analysis revealed several new gravity wave properties. Over the sea, flight-level wave fluxes mostly fell below the detection threshold. Over terrain, disturbances had characteristic mountain wave attributes of positive vertical energy flux (EF_z), negative zonal momentum flux, and …