Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Air Pollutant Emissions From Natural Gas-Fueled Pumpjack Engines In The Uinta Basin, Seth Lyman

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We measured a comprehensive suite of pollutants emitted from 58 natural gas-fueled pumpjack engines in Utah’s Uinta Basin between January and May 2021, with repeat measurements of five engines in January 2022. We documented the emissions composition of several makes and models of commonly used engines, including Ajax E42, E565, DP60, and DP80 engines; Arrow L795, C101, and C106 engines; and GM Vortec.

Reservation For Bear Lake At 10am, Party Of Four: A Look Into The Rmnp Timed Entry Permit System From 2020 To 2021, Noah Creany, Christopher Monz

Environment and Society Student Research

Topics:

1. Background

• Overview of rationing and allocation techniques
• Applications in Rocky Mtn. National Park (RMNP)

2. RMNP visitation trends

3. Timed Entry Permit System (TEPS)

• Effects on visitation & visitor behavior 4.Future TEPS research

A Practical Model Of Student Engagement While Programming, John M. Edwards, Kaden Hart, Christopher M. Warren

Computer Science Faculty and Staff Publications

We consider the question of how to predict whether a student is on or off task while working on a computer programming assignment using elapsed time since the last keystroke as the single independent variable. In this paper we report results of an empirical study in which we intermittently prompted CS1 students working on a programming assignment to self-report whether they were engaged in the assignment at that moment. Our regression model derived from the results of the study shows power-law decay in the engagement rate of students with increasing time of keyboard inactivity ranging from a nearly 80% engagement …

Elemental And Oxidized Mercury In The Atmosphere At Horsepool, Utah, January-July 2019, Seth Lyman

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This is a dataset of elemental and oxidized mercury in the ambient atmosphere at latitude 40.143° N and longitude 109.469° W. This is the location of the Horsepool monitoring station in the Uinta Basin, Utah. We collected these measurements using a dual-channel atmospheric mercury speciation instrument, which is described by Lyman, S. N., Gratz, L. E., Dunham-Cheatham, S. M., Gustin, M. S., & Luippold, A. (2020). Improvements to the accuracy of atmospheric oxidized mercury measurements. Environmental Science & Technology, 54(21), 13379-13388.

The Surface Conditions Of Spacecraft Panels May Significantly Affect Spacecraft Survivability, Trace Taylor

Research on Capitol Hill

USU junior Trace grew up in Brigham City and studies physics and electrical engineering. The majority of spacecraft failure is caused by electron charging on the outer surfaces of the craft. Additionally, contaminants on the craft can cause a film over surface panels, increasing the problem. Trace is studying how roughness on panels can mitigate this contamination as it affects the charging that can lead to craft failure. This research will help determine what optimal panel materials should be used in future spacecraft construction. Trace started research almost as soon as he came to campus in his freshman year, and …

Utah's Food Processing Industry Can Manufacture Products From Cbd-Containing Lipids That Have Superior Texture And Consistency, Joseph Cooney, Isaac Hilton

Research on Capitol Hill

Sophomore Joseph is an Honors student and Undergraduate Research Fellow studying physics. Freshman Isaac, of Kaysville, studies civil and environmental engineering. Joseph and Isaac are exploring how cannabinoids impact the way that lipids function. A common way CBD is packaged is within foods, where it is frequently added to fats like cocoa butter or palm oil, and as the market for such products increase producers need to understand CBD will change the behavior of the fats they are using.In addition to this work, Joseph also volunteers for a physics lab. “Undergraduate research has let me explore fields outside my major …

Understanding The Decline In Successful Cattle Pregnancies, Andre Tu Nguyen

Research on Capitol Hill

USU junior Andre, a local Loganer, studies computer science and biology.He has been working in an animal science lab. Over time, we have seen a decline in successful dairy cattle pregnancies. This is a huge cause for concern for Utah, with milk sales at an estimated value of $405 million in 2020. Andre’s work has been in studying a certain protein in pregnant cattle; now that he has determined there is a decrease in this protein over the course of the pregnancy, he hopes to see whether that might impact its viability. Andre got involved in research in a high …

Can Common Carp Removal Reduce Algal Bloom Intensity In Utah Lake?, Cristina Chirvasa

Research on Capitol Hill

USU sophomore Cristina is an Honors student, Undergraduate Research Fellow, and Community Engaged Scholar studying fisheries and wildlife. Cristina theorizes that removing over-populous carp from Utah Lake will allow larger zooplankton to thrive, which in turn will consume more algae and reduce algal bloom intensity. Her tests so far have proven the first part of her theory, as zooplankton size went up when she removed carp. Next, Cristina will test if bigger zooplankton eat more algae. Cristina credits her love of nature to growing up without enough wilderness in urban Romania. She moved to Utah both for access to our …

Melting Arctic Ice Exposes Possible Conflict For Us, China, Russia, Madeleine Alder

Research on Capitol Hill

USU senior Maddie, a Salt Lake City native, is an Honors student, Peak Summer Research Fellow, and USU Institute of Land, Water and Air intern. She studies Political Science. Maddie’s research dissects how rising temperatures and the resulting polar ice caps on our planet might impact international relations for the US. The opening of additional shipping lanes in previously-frozen waters could cause conflict between key actors. Maddie has been involved in research for nearly all of her undergrad degree, and says, “I love learning and I get excited to discover new connections between topics I am interested in. I like …

Precipitation Is A Strong Predictor Of Airborne Ammonia Levels., Bridger Jorgensen, Casey Olson, Connor Snow

Research on Capitol Hill

USU senior Connor has lived in the Uintah Basin all his life and studies kinesiology. Senior Casey, a Cache Valley native, studies climate science and works at the Utah Climate Center. Junior Bridger, also of Cache Valley, studies nutrition science. They led and funded this project through a student grant. Casey was alarmed by the ammonia data he was collecting at the Climate Center. “I immediately began to wonder how this issue would evolve over the coming decades.” The three teamed up to take a look at how Logan’s record-breaking amount of ammonia in our air is impacting those who …

Phosphomimetic Tyrosine Mutations In Spa47 Inhibit Type Three Secretion Atpase Activity And Shigella Virulence Phenotype, Koleton D. Hardy, Nicholas E. Dickenson

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Shigella is a highly infectious human pathogen responsible for 269 million infections and 200,000 deaths per year. Shigella virulence is absolutely reliant on the injection of effector proteins into the host cell cytoplasm via its type three secretion system (T3SS). The protein Spa47 is a T3SS ATPase whose activity is essential for the proper function of the Shigella T3SS needle-like apparatus through which effectors are secreted. A phosphoproteomics study recently found several Shigella T3SS proteins, including Spa47, to be tyrosine phosphorylated, suggesting a means of regulating Spa47 enzymatic activity, T3SS function, and overall Shigella virulence. The work presented here employs …

Hysteretic Transition Between States Of A Filled Hexagonal Magnetic Dipole Cluster, Andrew D. P. Smith, Peter T. Haugen, Boyd F. Edwards

All Physics Faculty Publications

By minimizing the magnetostatic potential energy and by finding zeros in the sum of the squares of the torques, we find the equilibrium states of six dipoles of identical strength at the vertices of a regular hexagon and a variable-strength dipole at the center. The seven dipoles spin freely about fixed axes that are perpendicular to the plane of the hexagon, with their dipole moments directed parallel to the plane. When the central dipole is weak compared with the perimeter dipoles, a ‘‘circular’’ state applies in which the perimeter dipole moments circle around the central dipole, which points toward a …

Angler Catch Rates, Opinions, And Abiotic Variable Relationships In The Lower Logan River, Utah, Tyler Coleman, Jim Derito, Chris Penne, Gary Thiede, Phaedra Budy

Watershed Sciences Student Research

Summer base flows for rivers are critical for maintaining water quality, healthy fish populations, and a functional aquatic ecosystem. Low summer base flows can increase water temperatures and lower dissolved oxygen levels. These conditions can cause Brown Trout (Salmo trutta) energetic stress and result in lower angler catch. The goal of this study was to determine if low river flows and higher water temperatures influence angler catch rates of Brown Trout on the lower Logan River, Utah and to better understand angler use of the lower river. We performed a creel survey on approximately 6.4 km of the …

The Differentialgeometry Package, Ian M. Anderson, Charles G. Torre

Downloads

This is the entire DifferentialGeometry package, a zip file (DifferentialGeometry.zip) containing (1) a Maple Library file, DifferentialGeometryUSU.mla, (2) a Maple help file DifferentialGeometry.help, (3) a Maple Library file, DGApplicatons.mla. This is the latest version of the DifferentialGeometry software; it supersedes what is released with Maple.

Installation instructions

A New Non-Inheriting Homogeneous Solution Of The Einstein-Maxwell Equations With Cosmological Term, Ian M. Anderson, Charles G. Torre

Publications

We find a new homogeneous solution to the Einstein-Maxwell equations with a cos- mological term. The spacetime manifold is R × S3. The spacetime metric admits a simply transitive isometry group G = R × SU(2) and is Petrov type I. The spacetime is geodesically complete and globally hyperbolic. The electromagnetic field is non- null and non-inheriting: it is only invariant with respect to the SU(2) subgroup and is time-dependent in a stationary reference frame.

2022 Report To The Governor: Utah's Land, Water, And Air, Janet Quinney Lawson Institute For Land, Water, And Air

Reports

This report serves as a 2022 snapshot of key issues and concerns with Utah's shared resources. It highlights gathered data that is available to provide context to these issues, as well as identifies areas where more study is needed. Addressing these challenges will enable Utah policymakers and other statewide leaders to make informed decisions for the future. Under the authorship of 37 researchers and experts and the general guidance of 38 advisory committee members, the report outlines 26 issues and trends to pay attention to in the coming months and years.

A New Non-Inheriting Homogeneous Solution Of The Einstein-Maxwell Equations With Cosmological Term, Charles G. Torre

Research Vignettes

No abstract provided.

The De Rham Decomposition Theorem, Ian M. Anderson, Charles G. Torre

Tutorials on... in 1 hour or less

In this worksheet we show how the DG software provides for a local implementation of the de Rham decomposition theorem for Riemannian manifolds.

When Is A Linear Connection A Metric Connection?, Ian M. Anderson, Charles G. Torre

Tutorials on... in 1 hour or less

In this worksheet we use the DG software to answer the following question: When is there a metric tensor on M whose Christoffel symbols coincide with the components of a given linear connection?

What's New In Differentialgeometry Release Dg2022, Ian M. Anderson, Charles G. Torre

Tutorials on... in 1 hour or less

This Maple worksheet demonstrates the salient new features and functionalities of the 2022 release of the DifferentialGeometry software package.

Far-Red Photography For Measuring Plant Growth: A Novel Approach, Cole Webb, F. Mitchell Westmoreland, Bruce Bugbee, Xiaojun Qi

Techniques and Instruments

A critical part of agricultural studies is determining plant stress and growth rate. Modern computer vision provides a series of tools that can be applied to derive this data. In this paper, we will show our findings, analyze their accuracy, and define a system capable of deriving this data with near-human accuracy in a fraction of the time. Denoising techniques applicable to this system will be discussed, as will our discoveries and findings. Finally, suggestions for further research opportunities will be provided.

Bat Mortality At Ontario Wind Farms Quantified And Compared Using Four Candidate Estimator Equations, Bethany G. Thurber, Catherine B. Jardine, J. Ryan Zimmerling

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Wind farm development is expanding globally. While wind energy is a low-cost option for new electricity supply, the impacts to wildlife populations, including bats (Chiroptera), are of ecological concern. To quantify these impacts, scientists have developed estimator equations to estimate bat mortality, which vary in assumptions related to correction factors. We compared the results of 4 estimators applied to post-construction monitoring data from Ontario, Canada, wind farms to evaluate the effects of field methods and correction factors on estimator consistency. To conduct our study, we obtained data from 21 wind farms between 2011 and 2017 for a total of 26 …

Stakeholder Knowledge And Perceptions Of Free-Roaming Equids And Their Management At A Western U.S. Land-Grant University, Hollee S. Wood, S. Nicole Frey, Terry A. Messmer

Human–Wildlife Interactions

The horse (Equus ferus caballus), originally native to North America, became extinct on the continent approximately 10,000 years ago. Horses that migrated from North America to Eurasia across the Bering Strait continued to evolve and were domesticated along with burros (E. asinus). Both species were then transported to the Americas where they were intentionally released or escaped into the wild, forming feral herds. The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 (WFRHBA) provided federal oversight and protection for feral horses and burros (hereafter, free-roaming equids) that inhabited designated areas on public lands in the western …

U.S. Public Opinion Of Reproductive Control Options For Free-Roaming Horses On Western Public Lands, S. Nicole Frey, Jeffrey L. Beck, John Derek Scasta, Loretta Singletary

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Free-roaming horses (Equus ferus caballus; horses) inhabit public rangelands located primarily in 10 western U.S. states. Recent horse population increases are impacting rangeland ecosystems, native wildlife species and their habitats, and exacerbating conflicts with domestic livestock grazing. While contraceptives and physical sterilization are promising options to manage horse herd levels, public opinion concerning the use of fertility control is not well understood. To better inform policymakers, we completed a rigorous study of a random sample of public land stakeholders across the United States (n = 3,500) in 2020 using a Likert scale online survey to assess their …

Determining The Biochemical Mechanisms And Binding Activities Of A Type Iv-A Crispr-Cas Ding Helicase, Matt Armbrust

Fall Student Research Symposium 2021

CRISPR-Cas systems are adaptive prokaryotic immune systems that enable host cells to defend against attack from foreign nucleic acids such as phage infections or plasmids. CRISPR-Cas systems are diverse and encompass 2 classes, 6 types, and 33 subtypes. The Type IV-A CRISPR-Cas system from Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain 83 is composed of five different genes (csf1, csf2, csf3, cas6, and dinG). Type IV-A systems are poorly understood, and currently there is little research detailing their biological and biochemical mechanism of immunity. CasDinG, an ancillary protein within the Type IV-A system, is required for an immune response in vivo. However, the role …

Measuring Irregularity Via Approximate Entropy: How Does Perceived Human Instability Affect One's Own Stability?, Madi Braunersrither

Fall Student Research Symposium 2021

In a study performed at Utah State University, participants were prompted to evaluate the stability of pictured human postures while standing on a force plate. The force plate was used to collect the center of pressure of the subjects by recording measurements in the vertical and horizontal directions. The way these factors fluctuate over time and the irregularity in this fluctuation, specifically, can give insight into the subject’s postural stability. Rather than working with summary statistics such as means and variances of fitting parameters of a distribution as commonly done in statistics, we want to measure irregularity through analyzing the …

Climate Change Impacts On Atmospheric Ammonia And Implications For Human Health, Casey Olson, Connor Snow, Bridger Jorgensen

Fall Student Research Symposium 2021

According to national data Cache Valley has the highest concentrations of atmospheric ammonia in the nation. This study aims to answer the questions of whether climate variables and events such as precipitation, averaged winds, geopotential height, and teleconnections can be used to predict the behavior of pollutants and how human biology is potentially affected. Data from the Utah Climate Center shows that the 3rd yearly quartile has the highest levels of airborne ammonia due to the high levels of fertilizer use and livestock emissions in the farming industry in Cache Valley. After data analysis, there seems to be a connection …

Explicit Synchronized Solitary Waves For Some Models For The Interaction Of Long And Short Waves In Dispersive Media., Bruce Brewer

Fall Student Research Symposium 2021

Four systems have recently been proposed for the study of the interaction of long and short waves in dispersive media. This poster establishes the synchronized solitary wave solutions for one of these systems.

Creating Transparent And Accessible Methods For Approximating The Composite Strength Of Concrete Sandwich Wall Panels, Ruth Taylor

Fall Student Research Symposium 2021

Background: The method of designing partially composite sandwich wall panels (SWPs) relies strongly on the use of percent of composite action. Calculating these values proves to be a complex and virtually inaccessible process for practicing engineers, resulting in the reliance on proprietary software or connector-system manufacturers for the necessary values. We simulated percent composite action data, including several relevant variables, to examine the relationship and determine if simple and accessible methods of calculation could be created. Methods: Code from collaborating engineers used to calculate percent composite action with the Iterative Sandwich Beam Theory (ISBT) method was translated into R, a …

Art As An Educator, Kylie Hansen

Fall Student Research Symposium 2021

When looking at art, eyes are often drawn to the foreground of the canvas, which can leave out many details and not tell the whole story a painting has to offer. The process of analyzing and looking deeper into works of art would be common in a perfect world; its lessons can be universal. Everyone should study art because it increases skills that can be used for many things. Art can reframe views of the world as well as condition the mind to look past quick judgments. Art teaches one to slow down and analyze situations before acting and may …