Fall Student Research Symposium 2022

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  Electron Yield Measurements of Highly Insulating Granular Samples Related to Charging of Dusty Plasmas

  Heather Allen

  Reliable electron yield (EY) measurements of highly insulating granular particles have long been considered too difficult to collect due the many experimental complexities that arise from the nature of the granular materials. This has led to a critical knowledge gap for both engineering strategies and basic science issues essential for myriad important space applications. This talk will emphasize the preliminary EY measurements of highly insulting granular samples we have collected, including a range of samples with typical particle size ranging from ~1 μm to ~100 μm, samples with cubical, spherical and highly angular particle shapes, studies of highly angular Al2O3 polishing compound particles adhered to graphitic carbon conductive tape from 0% to ~100% coverage that demonstrates the effectiveness of the sample preparation methods used for dust samples. Acquisition of these accurate high-yield curves, which showed minimal charging effects, demonstrated our ability to make EY measurements for high-yield highly-insulating samples, unlike previous results for dust which showed highly suppressed yields due to severe charging effects. All this work has importance in applications surrounding lunar dust, which has been recognized as one of the most immediate and critical issues faced when expanding into deep space, mitigation of charged dust. The effects of surface roughness were demonstrated through comparison of EY for highly polished single crystal sapphire, rougher microcrystalline Al2O3, and very rough and porous layers of granular alumina; these were found to have the same shape of the yield curves and energy at maximum yield, while maximum yield decreased from 15 to ~2.5 as roughness increased. It was apparent that the maximum yield drastically decreased as the surface roughness of the materials increased from sample to sample.

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  Laughing All the While: Race, Gender, and Recreational Violence in the Mechanisms Fanwork

  Katelyn Allred

  From 1960s housewives exchanging Star Trek zines, to early-internet Harry Potter message boards, to small pockets of community on modern social media, fans have been connecting over their shared love of a source material for decades, and the Internet has made creating and finding both original and fan content more accessible around the globe. This kind of worldwide connection brings people into contact with people they might not meet otherwise and can foster an awareness of others' lives and perspectives. Though fandom has always been at least subtextually political, the last few years have brought more and more conscious use of fan spaces as a vehicle for discussion of social issues. Even in spaces that pride themselves on diversity and inclusivity, though, unconscious bias still underlies the conversation. I studied the fandom for the Mechanisms, a queer storytelling folk punk band, to look for how these biases manifest in treatment of canon-typical actions in fanworks about characters based on race and gender, including transness. By surveying fans on their views of characters and analyzing fanfiction for frequency, severity, and treatment of violence perpetuated by canon characters, I found patterns in how characters with different identities were treated, and how these treatments interacted with dominant narratives surrounding people with those identities. While the kind of egregious mischaracterization that started this discussion within the fandom seems to be an outlier and did not appear in my sample, more subtle inequalities do exist. My research offers a snapshot into one fandom, and how in discussions of racial and gender inequality, public conversations, self-reported attitudes, and created content are not necessarily consistent.

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  Unintentional or Not, It's Racist

  Logan Andrews

  No one should have to live in a world where they are mistreated and hurt simply because of the color of their skin.

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  Keep Sweet: An Ideological Analysis of the FLDS Cult Led by Warren Jeffs

  Kassidi Andrus

  This presentation is an ideological criticism of the 'keep sweet' ideology that contributes to the hegemonic society of the FLDS religious cult led by Warren Jeffs. The fundamentalists of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are a cult that practices polygamy and communalism. According to Michael McGee, humans are not conditioned directly to beliefs but to a vocabulary of concepts, called ideographs, that function as guides, excuses for behavior, and act as building blocks for an ideology. Two ideographs will be analyzed: perfection and obedience.

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  One More Clever Writer Gone Wrong': A Critical Pentadic Analysis of the Reception of Kate Chopin's 'The Awakening'

  Maren Archibald

  In 1898, Kate Chopin was a generally well-received author of short stories, her previous works described as "clever." But after the publication of her 1899 novel "The Awakening," Chopin's reputation was destroyed. To better understand the novel's disastrous failure, I will present a pentadic analysis of two initial reviews of the novel published in local newspapers. Corse and Westervelt explain that "the dominant interpretive strategy of reviewers in 1899 was built on assumptions of reading as moral instruction and of women as selfless nurturers." Reading with these assumptions, critics were appalled at the immoral and selfish behavior depicted in the novel, and they used their reviews to direct criticism at Chopin, the author, instead of Edna, the character. Kenneth Burke's pentad is a rhetorical tool used to uncover the motives of the rhetor, and in these reviews, it shows an agent-act construction based on Chopin. The critics used such a construction to direct their anger at Chopin for promoting what they viewed as immoral. In a public response to the backlash, Chopin uses an agent-agency construction based on Edna to deflect blame from herself while still standing by the novel she wrote. Audience takeaways will include an understanding of how the pentad can reveal a rhetor's motive, and a look into the disruptive and revolutionary effects of Chopin's writing.

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  Women in the Aviation Community

  Sarah Bass

  The aviation community today has little diversity, women and women of color are under represented. Through this study I was hoping to discover the reasons for this gender gap and the lack of diversity in this community. Research was conducted using library and internet resources to locate both primary and secondary research. As well as personal experience within this community allowed me to review documents to find reasoning for this gender and diversity gap. This gender and diversity gap in the aviation community is due to the lack of role models and women being responsible for breaking through gender stereotypes themselves. To increase the number of women in the aviation community we must increase the number of women in higher positions creating a conducive and accepting work environment that allows women to build support groups and communities. As well as address gender stereotypes in our society to make women entering the aviation community easier and more inviting. By addressing these problems we will increase the number of women in aviation and diversify this community.

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  Spooks and Spanks; Unraveling Paranormal Romance's Presence on BookTok

  Lizzy Bermudez

  This research project examines the frequency at which the romance subgenre, paranormal romance, appears on the online social media subcommunity BookTok. The term paranormal romance refers to any title containing a protagonist or associate who is deemed to be unnatural or supernatural in species, ability, presence, or otherwise wherein a romance containing the supernatural character is prominently featured. Collecting data from top BookTok accounts, we found that paranormal romance appeared more often within BookTok creator content. However, surveys from BookTok users asserted that the contemporary romance subgenre dominated their 'For You Pages.' Interviews with BookTok creators suggest that BookTok viewers often used major romance genres as catch-all categories, grouping titles that didn't technically meet set criteria for the sake of efficiency. Overlap among top subgenres is becoming increasingly common due to the rise of self-publishing, which forgoes the traditional publishing process that typical genre determination is associated with. As titles become increasingly harder to categorize appropriately, it seems that readers opt instead to group fiction based on loose overarching, broad categories into definitions that differ from industry standards. By analyzing BookTok and other online reading communities, we uncovered interesting information about the state of the current reader, whose interpretation of book categorization deviates from the industry and is more in tune with the cultural shifts within the reading community. These findings have the potential of offering information to the publishing industry or self-published authors on how they market their books.

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  Relationship Between Protein and Secondary Metabolite Content in Congeneric Tropical Shrubs

  Anna Billings

  Secondary metabolites are important defensive compounds found in plants which deter pests and pathogens and play an important role in defending against herbivory and seed predation. The role of secondary metabolites in fruits is complex as plants must defend the costly fruits while also successfully attracting dispersers. Protein investment into fruits is costly for plants but can serve as a reward to dispersers. In this experiment, we examined the protein content of plant tissues and compared it with the secondary metabolite content. We extracted and measured protein content of leaf and fruit pulp tissues from 15 species of Psychotria (a genus of fruiting plants in the coffee family) and one closely related species in the genus Palicourea. All species sampled in the study are fruiting and animal-dispersed. The objectives were to determine the relationship between secondary metabolite (defensive chemicals) and protein concentrations in the sampled tissues. With a linear regression, we found that all tissue types exhibited a negative relationship between protein content and secondary metabolite content. Using an ANOVA, we found that there was an overall significant relationship between secondary metabolites and protein content from the sampled tissues. When tissue types were separated out, expanding leaves and mature fruits were significant and immature pulp was not significant. These results support the removal rate and relative risk models of the defense trade-off hypothesis; nutritionally rewarding fruits are removed quickly from the plant and do not require extensive chemical defenses.

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  The Many Cause of Food Inflation

  Jade Bird

  My research investigates the problems with inflation today, starting with questions about what is causing inflation in the first place and how this will affect the economy. What made me first question why inflation is rising was simply noticing the continuous rise in ice cream prices one of my favorite treats. I did research through the internet and library resources finding primary and secondary research. I found that Inflation has been affected by multiple conflicts or problems over the past years, like less production and struggles in commerce, but the biggest one currently is labor shortages. Some other events causing these problems are the war in Ukraine, the Bird flu, the smaller farming community, the government support packages, and the rush to restart the economy after COVID. The result has become a spiraling loop causing business struggles to heighten inflation, making it harder to get products and making labor more expensive. The effect that inflation is having is devastating for restaurants, food vendors, and low-income families. The government is working to improve the spike in the past year still the rates are dangerously close to an Economic recession. It can be frustrating to wait and see if the government's interest hikes will work, but for now, we can help people in need by donating more to food pantries.

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  What Works in Reskilling?

  Brenden Bodily

  Economies and technologies shift rapidly, which at times leaves workers behind with skills that are no longer as relevant as they used to be. Employers may also have difficulty finding employees who have the skills needed to take advantage of these new technologies. The result is a skills gap, meaning that there are lots of job openings in specialized fields and plenty of people looking for work, but they are unable to find a job because they do not have the skills to work in industries that are hiring. For example, the IDC estimates that the global shortage of web developers could rise from 1.4 million in 2021 to 4 million in 2025. Similar statistics exist throughout the economy. Workers need to develop new skills to break into new industries. This is known as reskilling.My research asks the question: What works in reskilling? To answer this question, I review the academic literature and analysis from trade associations to examine best practices in reskilling workers for a changing job market. I look at ways that governments, companies, and educational institutions can help retrain displaced workers with the skills they need to stay competitive. Many large companies, such as Amazon and Microsoft, retrain their employees themselves to help them move into better jobs inside and outside of the company. Government programs also play a role in reskilling workers, and I examine what qualities make those programs more effective. Generalized "workforce development" programs that many states offer do not appear to be very successful at fulfilling either the needs of workers or the companies that would hire them. In addition, I explore the strengths and weaknesses of various forms of training program funding, including loans, grants, and income share agreements.As workers are equipped with specific, industry-relevant skills, they become more valuable in the job market and find fulfilling careers more easily. State and local governments, along with program providers, should collaborate with local employers to identify the skills for which employers are most in need. According to those needs, public and private sector funds could then be allocated towards putting workers through trade schools, coding boot camps, or apprenticeship programs, each of which has high placement rates into relatively high-paying jobs. This approach lifts workers into better careers and simultaneously fills the skills gap that employers are experiencing.

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  How Does Perceived Human Instability Affect One's Own Stability?

  Madi Braunersrither

  Participants were prompted to evaluate the stability of pictured human postures while standing on a force plate. We measured irregularity by analyzing the presence of patterns in the sequential center of pressure values. To measure the presence of patterns, sample entropy, a time series statistic, was developed and we utilized it on the force plate data. Does one's own stability change when viewing a posture deemed unstable? Is Sample Entropy (SampEn) an effective tool to determine stability? This relationship could have implications for modeling the progression of motor skills, understanding human development, and the design of environments for rehabilitation.

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  The Shepherds Calendar

  Shaylee Briones

  Comparison of the 1732 and 1579 versions of the Shepherd's Calendar images

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  Impact of Cannabinoids on Human Neural Differentiation and Oxidative Stress Response

  Emily Brothersen, Dillon Weatherston, Ashton Young, and Bryan Gustafson

  Cannabinoids are a group of over 144 known compounds extracted from hemp species. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive compound in hemp, and the non-psychoactive cannabidiol (CBD) are the most commonly known and most well studied cannabinoids. As cannabinoids can be sold for medicinal or recreational purposes, it's important to understand the impact of these cannabinoids on the brain. To explore the effects of cannabinoids on neural development, undifferentiated SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells were used as a model of fetal neurons. SH-SY5Y cells were fully differentiated in the presence of no cannabinoids, THC, and/or CBD and analyzed for any developmental differences. In addition to the qualitative development assessment, we also explored the cytoprotective properties of THC and CBD against reactive oxidative species (ROS) on neural cells. We did not discover any difference in neuron development when exposed to THC or CBD, but we did discover a statistically significant protection against ROS when grown in the presence of CBD.

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  Keep Calm and Carry On: The Relationships Between Cognitive Flexibility, Social Support & Anxiety in Students Transitioning to College

  Max Buck, Rebecca Thornley, and Mara Smuin

  The current study sought to understand the correlations between cognitive flexibility, social support, and anxiety. A hypothesized model, developed using the Social Skills Deficiency Vulnerability Framework, was tested and verified using bivariate analysis. The findings of this research indicate that increased cognitive flexibility is correlated with decreased symptoms of anxiety and increased perceived social support. Additionally, increased social support is found to correlate with decreased symptoms of anxiety. Keywords: cognitive flexibility, social support, anxiety

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  Depression Provides Additional Obstacles/Barriers for College Students to Maintain a Healthy Mindset

  Jake Cardon

  This study reflects the answers that I have found to the question "How does depression affect the ability of college students to have and maintain a good mindset?" Research was conducted using library and internet resources to locate both primary and secondary research. Academic articles and extensive studies were reviewed and analyzed to better understand what mindset is, what depression is, what challenges college students face, and ultimately the barriers that students with depressive disorders face as they try to maintain a healthy mindset while attending college. Over the course of my research and studies I have gained a deeper understanding of what mindset is. I have learned that depending on our goals and challenges we may alter or change our mindset to be able to best adapt and handle the situation. I have learned and studied the various effects of depression and have come to understand that depression itself can act as its own mindset. And finally I have learned different skills and treatments that college students who suffer from depressive disorders can use to better maintain their mindset and succeed in college.

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  Disability Communication and How Society Needs to Be More Inclusive

  Olivia Colton

  Historically people with disabilities have been discriminated against and oppressed by the dominant culture of "normal" people. During this project, I wanted to look more into how people with disabilities have been treated by society, are currently being treated in today's society, and how society needs to/should change to become more inclusive. For this project, my research was done using both library and internet sources to find both primary and secondary research. With this research, I was able to find and review both studies of people with disabilities and personal accounts and stories. After evaluating the sources I found that society discriminates against people with disabilities in many ways. Some examples are the language used throughout the media as well as the language used in the medical and political fields. Knowing that the language used by society is often wrong and discriminatory people can be more conscious of the words they choose when talking to or about those with disabilities.

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  Childhood Sexual Abuse and its Lasting Effects

  Tessa Conrad

  According to the CDC, one in every six boys and one in every four girls are sexually assaulted before they are eighteen. While most everyone agrees that childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is extremely harmful and can really disrupt a child's development, what they don't realize is how long the effects can last. For many survivors, they struggle with the effects for most of their lives. Just as there is a wide range for what actions are sexual abuse, there is even wider range for the effects and challenges that are left behind after the incident. These challenges include mental, emotional, and physical consequences that survivors are left to battle for a long time. Some survivors may deal with physical pain but haven't had to face eating disorders while others live with depression but haven't struggled with substance abuse. Every incident of abuse is unique and different from the next, so proper healing and coping is also going to be very unique for each individual.

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  Modeling Plant Migration in a Varying Landscape

  Seth Corbridge

  It is important to predict how plants will migrate under the changing conditions associated with climate change. In particular, finding instances where plants migrate quickly will help in predicting which plant species are in danger of being outpaced by climate change. Many existing models for plant migration assume a homogeneous landscape, however this is not always fully realistic. This project considers a model incorporating landscape heterogeneity for modeling plant migration. By forming a landscape of varying patches of high and low motilities, it is shown how a varying landscape can lead to increased migration rates in some cases when compared against a constant landscape.

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  Collagen and PDMS Scaffolds for C2C12 Muscle Tissue Cell Line

  Alisa Dabb, Sariah Jardine, and Clayton Lords

  In tissue engineering, scaffolds are vital materials for cell growth. Scaffolds are used to provide the structural support for cell attachment and eventually tissue development. Although scaffold properties need to change to suit the nature and properties of the cells, most scaffolds need to simulate the extracellular matrix of the cells. Collagen is a major component of the extracellular matrix (ECM) in most tissues. Therefore, collagen is a favorable scaffold material for most tissues, including muscle tissue. However, collagen has poor mechanical properties; it is sometimes combined with synthetic polymers such as poly-Lactic Acid (PLA) for structural support. Furthermore, poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS) has been previously used in scaffolds and has been noted for its flexibility and strong mechanical properties. The goal of this project is to explore several ways to apply collagen to a PDMS scaffold to increase the proliferation and viability of the cells as well as give the scaffold a stronger mechanical property than pure collagen scaffold would. Our hypothesis was that the PDMS crosslinked to collagen would provide the highest C2C12 cell proliferation compared to a pure PDMS scaffold or a pure collagen scaffold. We used two methods to combine the PDMS and collagen: cross-linking and cross-hatching. In a series of 12-well plates, we cultured C2C12 cells on both plasma-treated and untreated PDMS/collagen samples. Plasma-treated PDMS cross-hatched with collagen showed the highest cell proliferation among the samples and most closely matched the proliferation of an empty control well.

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  Alzheimers Disease: The Effects It Has on Everyone Involved

  McKinlee Denson

  Alzheimers Disease is hard on everyone who is involved. With being a caregiver in my past I understand how hard it is taking care of someone with Alzheimers Disease. Family plays a big role in the life of those who have Alzheimer's Disease. On average 11 million Americans provide 15.3 billion hours of unpaid work. I believe that we need to find relief for those who give endless hours to support their loved ones with AD. Many people are impacted by Alzheimers Disease this can be friends, family, and medical caregivers. Alzheimers is especially hard on those who have the disease. People with this disease are more prone to getting lost, repeating questions often, and even having a really difficult time completing daily life tasks.

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  Investigating the Color-Changing Properties of Poly-Phenyl Sulfide

  Dallen DeWaal

  Investigating the Color-Changing Properties of Poly-Phenyl Sulfide Dallen DeWaal, Megan Loveland DeWaal, Heather Allen, JR DennisonMaterials Physics Group, Physics Department, Utah State UniversityAbstractWhile preparing samples of FortronTM PPS (poly-phenyl sulfide) for spacecraft charging testing, it was discovered that the polymeric dielectric material exhibits color-changing properties from mechanical forces while shearing and bending. Given enough time, PPS reverts from blue-green back to its original tan color. PPS samples were characterized by the magnitude of color change and recovery time. PPS samples were subjected to multiple tests to discover which forms of energy input activate the color change, and which (if any) affect the recovery time constant. These tests evaluated mechanical energy by exerting pressure with an arbor press, thermal energy by heating in an oven, and electromagnetic energy through UV irradiation. Previous studies of similar polymers suggest that introducing mechanical energy to a ring-based polymer through pressure, bending, or pressing causes a reversible ring opening reaction, producing a change in color.Dallen DeWaal, Megan Loveland DeWaal, JR Dennison, "Investigating the Color-Changing Properties of Poly-Phenyl Sulfide," USU Student Research Symposium, Logan, UT, December 8, 2022.

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  BIPOC Contributions Are Largely Excluded From Introductory Social Work Textbooks

  Porscha Doucette

  The National Association of Social Workers first added social justice to its Code of Ethics in 1979. However, the major focus for social justice was outside the profession itself. In order to genuinely work towards social justice, lingering institutional racism and white supremacy must be identified and rectified at every level of the profession, including its education.

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  Why America Should Switch to Nuclear Energy as its Primary Power Source

  William Fike

  While nuclear waste and public fear hurt the image of nuclear energy, I believe that nuclear energy should be used instead of alternative power sources because it is safe, carbon-free, and more fuel efficient than alternative energy sources. Nuclear power is the process of using uranium 235 to make energy. Nuclear energy is a very clean and safe energy producer. My target audience would be someone who does not know a lot about nuclear power. Or they are possibly scared because of past nuclear disasters. My goal in this poster is to convince you that nuclear power is safe and that the pros outweigh the cons.

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  Letting Go: How Movie Elements in Rouge (1987) Portray Ruhua's Process of Letting Go of Her Broken Relationship

  Patrick Ganiere and Steven Cox

  In the last five minutes of Rouge, through the use of camerawork, lighting and music, we see the process of how Ruhua moves on from her bad relationship with an ex-lover.

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  Chicanos' Negotiation of Language and Culture With Standard English in Cache Valley, UT

  Vanessa Garcia Vazquez

  Gloria Anzaldúa theorized that the Chicano English, which she felt best depicted her identity, is seen by educators and American society as an "illegitimate, bastard language" (1987). The stereotypical view on various language variations and vernaculars has contributed to this idea that non-standard English is "illegitimate" or wrong. A Chicano's first language is essentially both English and Spanish. They typically begin speaking Spanish at the beginning of their lives and shortly after they begin to learn English at school. However, this new language is introduced before they can learn the first—which produces a mix of both languages and is commonly referred to as code-switching, a communication style that combines both English and Spanish words in a single conversation. This language is not accepted as a proper form of communication despite being the language that best expresses Chicano culture. Chicano English is typically something that will be corrected by educators, as they offer a Standard English form of expressing the same words. This limits Chicanos' abilities to accurately express themselves in their spoken and written work. Speech and language are the very essence of community and culture. Correcting Chicano English induces erasure of cultural identity. In this sense, negotiating language can become detrimental to identity and self-expression. This article reports research from an IRB approved study (#12787), in which Chicano participants were interviewed about their experience with their Chicano English, codeswitching, and their ability to express culture.