2014 Abstracts

We need to improve our educational system through giving our teachers more chances to be given constructive feedback through teacher evaluations. As teachers receive feedback and are put through effective teacher evaluations their performance will improve and the upcoming generation will be more educated. This will greatly beneficial to the future of our society as a whole. Teacher evaluations is an important topic to raise awareness of to help produce effective and beneficial teaching to the upcoming generation. The topic I will address is how we can make teacher evaluations more effective by exploring ways to quantitatively measure teachers’ effectiveness through examining student gains. I will also examine why implementing teacher observations will be an asset to teacher performance and a necessity in teacher evaluations.

Past research shows that parents interact more positively with their children and use more supportive language during play than during teaching interactions (Kwon, Bingham, Lewsader, Jeon, & Elicker, 2013). Children with normal language development tend to have parents who use more language supporting speech, (Vigil, Hodges, & Klee, 2005) than parents of children with language delays. The specific research question addressed in this study is: Do maternal (maternal depression, education levels, parenting stress) or child factors (language development, social-emotional development) influence maternal language behaviors in teaching and play contexts?

Problem based learning is an approach to education where students develop solutions to authentic problems (Hmelo-Silver, 2004) with support from scaffolding (Wood, Bruner, & Ross, 1976; Reiser, 2004). Computer based scaffolding helps students organize thoughts and arguments while solving problems (Belland, Glazewski & Richardson, 2008). We examined how students from one small group constructed order in their interactions and arguments as they solved an environmental issue using a stakeholder lens.

Calochortus is a plant genus that includes approximately 60 species distributed in North America with great ornamental and ethnotobanical value. Sego lily, mariposa lily and other common names have been used to describe the different species of Calochortus. Native Americans and settlers have used the bulbs as food, either raw or ground into flour and cooked. C. nuttallii played an important role in the success of colonization of Utah. Between 1840 and 1851 the scarcity of food due to a plague of crickets led to the pioneers to dig for the bulbous roots of sego lily, ensuring the survival of the pioneer population. This research studies the effects of Gibberellic acid on the germination and elongation of these species in vivo and in vitro. Eight different species of Calochortus are being utilized for this experiment to evaluate the effect of this growth regulator on the germination of these species. Different types of media are being tested to evaluate the optimal in vitro conditions that these species require for germination and growth. In addition embryogenesis and organogenesis is being induced by using Benzyl Amino Purine and 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid at different concentrations. Sego Lily is the State flower of Utah; micropropagating this plant will allow us to understand and research new methods and conditions to grow these species successfully, making preservation possible since some Calochortus species have been listed as endangered. In addition, other species such as Calohortus ambiguous (Doubting Mariposa Lily), which is distributed in Utah, Arizona and New Mexico, will also benefit from the system developed in this research because they are closely related to Sego Lily (C. nuttallii). The long term goal of this research is to establish an appropriate micropropagation system for a wide variety of Calochortus species.

The culture of sex outside intimate relationships including dating scripts and sexual scripts has shifted to one of more ambiguity. Multiple changes in sexual scripts have occurred in the last 50 years with the diversification of types of relationships in which sex occurs, including, a greater acceptance of sex outside of relationships (Gagnon & Simon, 1987). This study is in response to the call for more research on how social identities influence perceptions of sexual interaction (Backstrom, Armstrong, and Puentes, 2012). The purpose of this study is to examine hook-up culture outside of traditional intimate relationships. This study explores the extent of the shift from traditional dating scripts to a culture of hooking up as perceived by males and females that identify with the predominant Latter-Day Saint (LDS) religious culture. Using the tenants of social exchange and scripting theories this study examined the attitudes of males and females. Transcripts from four same gender and religion focus groups and 100 open-ended survey responses provided data for analysis. The constant comparative method (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) provided the means by which to analyze data within emergent categories. One open-ended response question was reviewed to assess content theme analysis. The constant comparative method indicated distinct contrast of perceptions of sexual intimacy between males and females. Findings suggest that there are distinct differences between male and female and LDS and non-LDS attitudes about and perceptions of hook-up culture. These results are consistent with previous research indicating that hooking-up can be a functional strategy used to shift focus from traditional intimate relationships to more academic and professional goals.

With the new generations comes new forms of entertainment. Rarely is there a home without a television. The Cultivation Theory presented by George Gerbner and his colleagues states that television is so common in our society that it has an affect on our perceptions of the world. The Cultivation Theory specifically looks at violence on television and its effects on the viewer. Those that are heavy viewers of television often have what is known as mean-world syndrome. Because of the violence they watch on television, they are more likely to see the world as a violent place (Littlejohn & Foss, 2011). Along with a television often comes some type of video gaming system. Studies state that over 65% of North American households now have a video gaming system (Chiawen, Aiken & Huang, 2012). The purpose of this research is to determine if video gaming effects the perception of individuals similarly to that of television as described by George Gerbner’s Cultivation Theory.

A newspaper is the catalog of a community’s past. I spent about three years researching the impact of industrialization on Tooele from a variety of angles, primarily by reading archived newspapers from 1905 to 1970. During this time, I also collected and scanned nearly 200 original photographs. Industrialization came to Tooele in force in 1908, with the construction on the International Smelter and the Tooele Valley Railroad. Prior to the railroad and the smelter, Tooele was a small, predominantly Mormon community with an agrarian economy. Construction of the railroad, the smelter, and several affiliated projects could have employed 72 percent of every man, woman and child living in Tooele City in the early 1900s. An influx of immigrants changed the social landscape dramatically, reshaping Tooele as one of Utah’s most diverse communities. Through the early 1900s, conflict between the original Mormon settlers and the transplants embroiled the community in something of a perpetual identity crisis. Temporarily, a sort of physical segregation solved the problem-Mormons lived west of Main Street, and the immigrants set up shop east of Main Street. But it wouldn’t be long before the Tooele newspapers came to accept the newcomers and the advertising revenue they had to offer. The Great Depression and football, of all things, finally brought the community back together, and throughout the 1940s and 1950s, the immigrant families were invited to fly their native colors at important community events that celebrated Tooele’s heritage.

As the world of online social networking has changed to accommodate public interest, online dating sites have become increasingly popular. With this new trend in social media there has been an increased awareness as to how one might present him or herself in the most favorable way possible through computer mediated stimuli. To find out if nonverbal cues played a significant role in online impression formation, we had males and females randomly assigned to one of two variables, where they viewed stimuli of a member of the opposite gender. The stimuli that was presented was either a photograph accompanied by a written autobiography about a member of the opposite gender, or a video of the person reading their own autobiography, which allowed for the presence of nonverbal cues. Participants rated the subjects in the assigned stimuli on a number of different scales ranging from trustworthiness to sexual attractiveness based on their first impressions. Results showed no significant differences between the presence of nonverbal cues in the video stimuli or the photographic stimuli, reasoning for the indifference participants had towards the nonverbal cues is discussed. However, there were significant gender differences among the first impressions formed, other findings are presented.

An award winning research project, this summary highlights research conducted by Communication students at Utah Valley University of a grassroots public relations campaign created to increase awareness among middle school students, parents, educators, and community leaders of the serious short and long term consequences of youth bullying. The study also demonstrates how the campaign informed audiences of the steps they should take to help prevent bullying. The goal of the research was to understand the short-and-long term effects of bullying, types of bullying, and the prominence of bullying in the surrounding community where the research was conducted. A public relations strategic communication plan was developed based on the research to change bullying behavior in the community. The campaign aimed to spread awareness of the short and long term effects of bullying and outline the steps to report and prevent bullying through the development of strategies and tactics. These steps help students, parents, educators, and community members understand bullying, recognize the signs and types, and know the appropriate authority to whom to report the behavior. This presentation will show how the research provided the students with the information needed to establish measureable objectives for the campaign, reach their key publics and provide an evaluation of the strategies and tactics used to meet campaign objectives. The document reviews the outcome and evaluation of each strategy and tactic implemented during the campaign, including media relations and social media tactics, The summary concludes with an overview of how campaign objectives of teaching key publics how to take steps to prevent bullying were achieved due to thorough research and understanding of how to effectively use messaging to generate behavior changes within the key public.

Romance novels seem to be a staple in the devoted reader’s array of books and have remained an extremely popular genre throughout the centuries. Not only are the actual stories appealing to the readers, but some readers go a step further and interact with or create a relationship with characters themselves. A phenomenon called parasocial interaction. This research study seeks to discover if the parasocial interactions female romance novel readers experience relate to a practice of a particular attachment style and jealousy in their romantic relationships. These characteristics are important to the health and sustainability of people’s romantic relationships, and this study seeks to learn whether or not the quasi relationships romance novel readers create with characters influences those relationships.

With globalization and the minority population changing, it is extremely important to learn the real statistics that are out there when it comes to single parenting. The most important thing though, is to figure out is which communication styles work in healthy communication, with single parent families.

The biocatalysis industry has been rapidly expanding due to the fact that there has been a greater demand for ecologically friendly manufacturing processes. The benefit of biocatalytic systems is that it enables stereo-, chemo-, and regio- specificity in chemical manufacturing. This in turn reduces wasteful byproducts from chemical manufacturing. This is especially valuable in industries where removal of chemically similar but physically harmful waste products is essential. The problem with the traditional biocatalytic processes is that they are hindered from limitations in areas such as enzyme stability, leaching, recoverability, and reusability. These limitations significantly impede the cost-effectiveness of biocatalysis for industrial applications. The processes of enzyme immobilization like adsorption, entrapment, and other such forms of immobilizations provide improvements such as stability, recoverability, and reusability. Though they provide improvements they also go through enzyme leaching, complicated or even toxic conjugation procedures and have a lack of specificity to attachment location from. This ends in being counterintuitive and defeats the purpose of enzyme immobilization. It is here we start to build upon the recent advancements in unnatural amino acid and incorporating them into enzymes to demonstrate a biocompatible and covalent enzyme immobilization process that improves protein stability and enables attachment orientation control. This system we refer to as the Protein Residue-Explicit Covalent Immobilization for Stability Enhancement or PRECISE system, and it permits the covalent attachment of enzymes at potentially any location on the enzyme onto a surface. Using this process, we create reusable enzymes that are more stable and more resistant to harsh conditions. We have also concluded from this process that there is no leaching and increased stability from immobilization with the enzyme with satisfactory results in enzyme activity.

Annually, 500,000 US inhabitants suffer from end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Allogeneic transplantation struggles with few donors and the high risk of organ rejection. Decellularized kidneys reseeded with autologous cells present a promising solution. Proposed decellularization methods require long times or high flow rates that may damage extracellular matrices’ (ECMs’) native architecture and lead to implantation thrombosis. We aim to optimize decellularization to preserve ECM integrity for subsequent recellularization and reimplantation.

72-hour emergency kits are often inadequately equipped; they lack means to treat water or cook food, compromising chances of survival in an extended critical situation. Dr. Jones and I aim to develop a foldable, lightweight biomass cookstove to solve this problem.

Although it is known as a graceful sport, figure skating can take a serious toll on skaters’ bodies. Considering that figure skaters commonly train five days per week, with 50-100 jumps per day, it is not surprising that repetitive stress injuries are a serious issue in figure skating. Because the forces associated with these jumps are poorly understood (including their magnitudes, loading rate, and when they occur) training plans designed to prevent injury are incapable of preparing athletes to best avoid their negative effects.

The protein production industry which creates vaccines, cancer drugs, and enzymes for chemical manufacturing and biocatalysis has revenue of over $160 billion a year. However, there are several significant protein production obstacles: high production costs exacerbated by difficulties with protein purification, retention, and stability. By better understanding protein structure and function we can resolve these issues. However, traditional methods of studying protein structure and function are costly and time consuming, taking several days to even a week to study one or a few sites. We have developed a process to study up to potentially hundreds of sites simultaneously in a matter of hours.

3D immersive visualization systems, or CAVEs™, have found wide adoption for use in geosciences, planetary science, medical research, and computer science. However, much of the potential for such systems in practical civil and environmental engineering settings has been severely limited due to 1) extreme costs in both hardware and software; 2) immobility due to calibration and darkroom requirements; and 3) extensive and expensive manpower requirements for both operation and maintenance. This project presents the development and testing of a new mobile low-cost immersive stereo visualization system – the “VuePod” – that attempts to address these challenges through the use of commercial-off-the-shelf technologies, open source software, consumer-grade passive 3-D television monitors, an active tracking system, and a modular construction approach. The VuePod capitalizes on recent functional advancements and cost decreases in both hardware and software and is demonstrated herein as a viable alternative to projector-based walk-in CAVEs and their limitations. A description of the hardware and its assembly, software and its configuration, and the modular structural system is presented as well as results from several benchmark computation and visualization tests.

Due to the increasing interest in combining the physical and digital world devices which allow users to naturally interact with digital systems are becoming much more important and prevalent. In order to improve upon standard haptic controllers and interfaces we explored compliant haptic devices, which us a compliant member to provide tunable force feedback to users. We were able to produce a prototype device and demonstrate some of the capabilities and advantages of compliant haptic devices.

Much of SQL’s power derives from SQL’s declarative rather than procedural nature: a programmer describes the result desired rather than how to produce the result. Systems using SQL must translate SQL’s declarative language into a procedural language in order to execute queries. Relational Algebra (RA) is a procedural language that SQL can be transformed into and executed on a computer using a RA engine. Optimizations are applied to RA code to improve the performance of a translated query. The author of this abstract will present a simple RA engine written in Python and how it has been used as part of a Database Theory course.

The delivery of zinc ions using ZnO nanoparticles within the body has been shown to cause the destruction of tumor cells and may also treat neurodegenerative disorders. The silane capping of ZnO nanoparticles is employed as a post-synthesis method to protect them from dissolution in polar solvents. Preliminary research demonstrates standard methods of silane capping result in aggregation of nanoparticles. Aggregation produces particles significantly larger than the original diameter of the nanoparticles, making them too large for some medical applications.

High-frequency (HF) ultrasound in the 20-80 MHz range has recently been found to be sensitive to pathology in tissue margins from breast cancer surgery. In order to improve the resolution and sensitivity of this method, however, transducers need to be employed that have piezoelectric elements that are smaller than those currently in use. The purpose of this study was to determine if similar results can be obtained from small element transducers (Blatek pachyometer, 50 MHz, element diameter < 2 mm) as compared to large element immersion transducers (Olympus NDT, V358-SU, 50 MHz, 6.35-mm diameter active element). Ultrasonic tests were performed on 10 bovine heart specimens of varying surface structure (myocardium, endocardium, and epicardium). Pulse-echo and through transmission measurements using a HF square-wave pulser/receiver (UTEX, UT340) and a digital storage oscilloscope (Agilent, DSOX3104A, 1 GHz, 4 analog channels) were acquired from a total of 2 sites per bovine specimen, first testing all specimens with the large transducers then again with the small transducers. Specimens were marked with India ink for location and accuracy of testing. The density of peaks in the ultrasonic spectra of the large transducers paralleled those of small transducers. Results from HF ultrasonic measurements of bovine heart tissue obtained from large transducers compared to the small transducers indicate that they produce statistically comparable peak densities.

Research has shown that high-frequency (HF) ultrasound is capable of detecting structural and biomechanical property changes in tissues and cells at the microscopic level. This capability is currently being tested for the real-time identification of breast tissue pathology in surgical margins during lumpectomies. The objective of this study was to determine if structural and property changes arising in tissue from variations in temperature can be detected by using HF ultrasound. Once a tissue sample is excised from the body, the temperature of the sample decreases rapidly from body temperature to that of the surrounding room temperature. Because of the decrease in heat, the tissue can become more rigid and thus less fluid. These alterations in biomechanical properties can affect HF ultrasonic measurements such as wavespeed and attenuation. These biomechanical changes may also affect the ultrasonic signals sensitive to tissue structure such as the number of peaks in the ultrasonic spectra. The methodology of the research was as follows. Fresh samples of bovine tissue were ultrasonically tested at 3 different temperatures: 37º, 24.5º, and 15º C. Each sample was approximately 7.6 mm thick and 3.8 x 2.5 cm in size. To observe the overall effects of temperature on a sample, the tissue was slowly heated from room temperature to body temperature (37º C) and then tested with HF ultrasound. The sample was then cooled back down to room temperature (24.5º C) and tested again using HF ultrasound. Lastly, the sample was cooled further to 15º C and again tested using HF ultrasound. Ultrasonic waveforms were collected using 50-MHz pitch-catch and pulse-echo measurements. The data was then analyzed to determine changes in wavespeed, attenuation, and spectral peak density with temperature. Results from the study will be presented and discussed with respect to the improvement of HF ultrasound procedures for testing tissue samples.

Anatomy Academy (AA) is a recently developed school based educational program for fifth graders that uses college age students as small group mentor educators. This program aims to combat child obesity by improving the children’s understanding of nutrition, anatomy, exercise, and healthy behaviors. Our study specifically aimed to evaluate the impact of this mentoring opportunity on student nurses. As the largest population of healthcare workers, nurses play an essential role in patient and family education, especially in well populations. As healthcare costs increase, it will be increasingly important for nurses to actively participate in prevention efforts that empower individuals to develop healthy lifestyles. Currently, there exists a paucity of opportunities for student nurses to practice providing this health teaching to well populations and a lack of research literature on the subject. Anatomy Academy is one of these opportunities and our hypothesis is that there will be positive changes in the self-perceived abilities of the student nurses. After identifying undergraduate nursing students engaged in AA, we collected pre and post (5 scale Likert) surveys asking the nurses to rate their self-perceived ability of their skills to 1) adapt the message to the level of audience understanding, 2) communicate basic physiological concepts, 3) teach and model the link between concepts and health behaviors, 4) empower children toward healthy decisions, and 5) collaborate with organizations, like elementary schools, toward a common goal of helping children maintain healthy BMI and habits. A demographic survey and weekly reflective journals were also collected. Our results found statistically significant results in every perceived skill and we conclude that mentoring opportunities for student nurses in programs like AA improve their confidence and ability to communicate in a nursing role. We recommend that similar opportunities be included in the curriculum of all undergraduate nursing programs.

High frequency (HF) ultrasound has been investigated for the detection of breast cancer in surgical samples, and has shown correlations to histology including precursors to cancer development. It is hypothesized that the sensitivity of HF ultrasound to breast cancer is due to changes in the microscopic structure of the tissue. With this approach, better diagnosis of breast cancer can be achieved for purposes such as the assessment of surgical margins in lumpectomy procedures. The microscopic structure of the tissue affects HF waves as they pass through the tissue. These structures can therefore be recorded and distinguished by the HF ultrasound. HF ultrasound will show differentiation between healthy tissue, benign pathologies such as hyperplasia, and advanced cancerous formation. With continuing development, variables are being studied which may skew or produce artifacts in the HF ultrasound results.

PURPOSE: An Exercise Science class homework assignment revealed that a significant majority of the Exercise Science majors were Kinesthetic vs. Visual or Auditory learners. The researchers were curious what learning styles other fields of study had and if, like Exercise Science, other fields of study were dominated by one learning style or another. The purpose of this study was to identify the percentage of different learning styles of majors in various fields of study at UVU. Our hypothesis is that each field of study, by its very nature, would be lead by > 50% of the percentage points by one learning style over the others.

One of the challenges facing emergency room physicians is the number of tests and procedures to be performed on patients who present with chest pain but had negative initial findings. Since heart disease ranks as the leading cause of death in the United States, hospitals have protocols to monitor patients for a period of time before discharging them. At the University Of Utah’s Emergency Department our monitoring protocol was adjusted over a year ago to mandate consultation with a cardiologist for any and all chest pain patients being observed due to negative findings, whereas prior to the adjustment patients were monitored and consulted by normal emergency room physicians or advanced care providers.

Background

The purpose of this study was to quantify the efficacy of a six-week aquatic treadmill exercise program on measures of pain, balance, mobility, and muscle thickness. Three participants (age = 64.5 ± 10.2) with knee OA completed a six-week exercise training intervention. Outcome measures, collected before (pre) and after (post) the six-week intervention, included visual analog scales for pain, posturography for balance, a 10 m walk test for mobility, and ultrasound for muscle thickness. The exercise protocol included balance training and high-intensity interval training (HIT) in an aquatic treadmill using water jets to destabilize while standing and achieve high ratings of perceived exertion (14-19) while walking. Expected results include, reduced joint pain (pre = 50.3 ± 24.8 mm versus post = 15.8 ± 10.6 mm), improved balance (equilibrium pre = 66.6 ± 11.0 versus post = 73.5 ± 7.1), and mobility (walk pre = 8.6 ± 1.4 s versus post = 7.8 ± 1.1 s) after participating in the exercise protocol (p = 0.03-0.001). We expect that aquatic treadmill exercise that incorporates balance and HIT training will be well tolerated by patients with OA and may be effective at managing symptoms of OA.

Background

The gold standard in purification of influenza virus is by means of ultracentrifugation. Although effective, this process is very expensive and thus impractical for developing countries. We hypothesize that column chromatography can be a cost efficient alternative that is as effective as ultracentrifugation. If correct, this method of purification could revolutionize vaccine production in third world countries. We tested the purification ability of column chromatography by comparing two different chromatography resins. The Capto Q resin separates proteins on the basis of protein charge. The Capto 700 resin separates proteins on the basis of both size and charge. Samples following chromatography were collected, and evaluated for virus specific proteins as well as total protein content. After chromatography selected samples were evaluated by electrophoresis to determine protein separation. Although it is evident that some protein separation occurred, the results are inconclusive and suggest more testing.

In this paper I will be discussing the health impacts of immunizations and how it affects the individual, the family, the community, and society. I will present information from both sides of the argument of immunizations, as well as my own conclusion on this controversial subject. Findings from leading experts in the medical field will be cited, including Dr. Paul Offit, co-inventor of vaccines and one of the most trusted advocates for vaccine safety, as well as award-winning scientific writer Seth Mnookin. Their research on vaccines, specifically the ingredients included in vaccines, possible side effects, and the nonexistent correlation between vaccines and autism, will support my thesis of vaccine safety and the need for immunizations. I will include current scientific studies which reveal the very serious results of a vaccine-free society and discuss the desperate need to change the anti-vaccine mindset. In conclusion, I will re-state, with supporting evidence, why immunization is absolutely crucial and why it plays a key role in the health of our society and in our personal daily living.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of a community-based sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) program on sexual assault criminal case outcomes in Salt Lake County, Utah.

In Evolutionary Multi-objective Optimization (EMO), the mechanism of epsilon-dominance has received a lot of attention because of its ability to guarantee convergence near the Pareto frontier and maintain diversity among solutions at a reasonable computational cost. The main weakness of this mechanism is its inability to also identify and exploit knee regions of the Pareto frontier, which are frequently the regions of the frontier that are most interesting to the user. Many attempts have been made to resolve this issue, but each has resulted in either decreased computational efficiency or slower convergence. We therefore propose a new mechanism – Lamé-dominance – as a replacement for epsilon-dominance in EMO. The geometry of the Lamé curve naturally supports a greater concentration of solutions in directions of high tradeoff between objectives. This adaptable resolution of solutions in knee regions of the Pareto frontier will result in significant savings in time and money for complex optimization routines in large n-objective design scenarios.

More than one in three people die because of organ failures such as congestive heart failure. The major issues of heart transplants include a scarcity of donors, immunorejection and blood clot formation. Over the last decade bioartificial organs have emerged as a potential alternative to traditional transplantation because they eliminate the need for immunosuppressants, DNA testing, and the use of another human’s organs. In this study an economic, effective, and rapid decellularization process that produces minimal damage to a cardiac extracellular matrix (cECM) is described. In addition, a static blood thrombosis assay was used to verify the effect of exposed cECM on clotting. Also an aorta was recellularized and analyzed.

The purpose of this research is to use slab coupled optical sensors (SCOS) to take high voltage measurements at high frequencies. Voltage dividers are currently used to take high voltage measurements. However, these voltage measurements are limited to bandwidths up to the range of 1MHz. SCOS sensors are electric field detectors developed by the BYU optics lab which couple light from a D-shaped fiber into a lithium-niobate slab wave guide. This light couples at certain frequencies and the frequencies at which these resonances occur will shift in proportion to the applied electric field. The electric field measurement can be used to measure voltage.

Extreme piezoresistivity was discovered in a silicone/nickel nanostrand (silicone/NiNs) nanocomposite. A quantum mechanical tunneling percolation model has been developed which bridges the gap between quantum effects at the nanoscopic scale and bulk material response at the macroscopic scale. To further improve on this theory, a measurement technique was adapted for use in measuring the average distance (in nm) between the NiNs in the silicone matrix. The measurements produced strong correlation to newly developed theories on the nature of the nickel-silicone interaction. The predictions of the previously developed model were also compared to these new experimental measurements and the model is being adapted to more accurately represent the real data.

Current ion detector technologies require low pressures and temperatures to achieve high sensitivity. These extra constraints result in bulky or expensive ion detection units and make a highly-portable mass spectrometer difficult or impractical to produce. A new ion detector technology that is unhampered by such constraints would allow the construction of miniaturized mass spectrometers. Such devices would have a myriad of potential applications, including use in space probes, on-site chemical weapon analyses, and in-field forensics. This research has produced solid-state ion detection devices with detection levels in the hundreds-of-ions range. The detectors are produced on a printed circuit board, are inexpensive, and are functional at room temperature and pressure. Solid-state detection capabilities were realized by adopting concepts from modern non-volatile (flash) memory and using custom-made low capacitance MOSFETs. Detection occurs as ions impact a Faraday cup and charge the gate of a MOSFET, yielding a voltage change in the circuit. In addition to refinements made by incorporating low-capacitance MOSFETs, commercial MEMS switches (which have only recently become available) are used to produce ion counts at rates up to 30 kHz. Amplification and filtering circuitry has also been added to further increase sensitivity levels. Results of this research show that ion detectors can be reduced in size and complexity, making a portable mass spectrometer more viable.

Foot Mouth Disease is considered to be the greatest hindrance to livestock trade in the world. The disease is extremely contagious and can transmit via aerosol, food scraps, and through blood, and tears among other transmission routes [1]. Currently, technological challenges hinder eradication efforts due to a wide variety of FMD strains, high vaccine production costs, as well as limited efficacy of vaccines across strains [2]. The countries most affected by the disease also face economic, social, and political challenges to disease eradication. Based upon historical evidence disease eradication has proven to be possible as shown in the US, the UK, and other countries [3]. In this presentation, we highlight these challenges and propose various routes to eradication in order to open up economic opportunities to developing countries as well as eliminating the threat of a disease outbreak in countries currently free of the disease. Morgan, E.R., et al., Assessing risks of disease transmission between wildlife and livestock: The Saiga antelope as a case study. Biological Conservation, 2006. 131(2): p. 244-254. Parida, S., Vaccination against foot-and-mouth disease virus: strategies and effectiveness. 2009. Perry, B. and K. Sones, Poverty reduction through animal health. Science, 2007. 315.

A scatterometer is a type of radar used to measure the backscatter of the earth’s surface. In 2014, NASA will launch a new scatterometer, RapidSCAT, and mount it on the International Space Station (ISS). An integral part of the processing code for RapidSCAT is the X-table. X relates the power received by the scatterometer to the backscatter of the surface. It depends on the antenna, processor, and frequency of the sensor, as well as the sensor’s position, velocity, and attitude. The ISS’s comparatively unstable orbit renders previous methods of X-table generation inaccurate. By incorporating position, velocity, and attitude data from a revolution of the ISS, a table that is accurate for that revolution has been produced. This table can be made accurate for up to 8 revolutions of the ISS, by parametrizing variations in X with another variable. Different methods of estimating the relationship between these variables are attempted. Because the table will have to be recalculated repeatedly through the mission life of the sensor, tradeoffs between accuracy and processing time are explored.

Current treatments for cancer and diseased tissue often cause severe side effects due to drug interactions with healthy cells. In order to minimize these effects, we are developing a nano-scale near-infrared (NIR) light-responsive drug delivery system based on liposome-encapsulated perfluoropentane (PFC5) emulsions with gold nanorods in the PFC5 phase. The nanorods efficiently convert NIR light to heat, vaporizing the liquid PFC5 emulsions, which have boiling points near body temperature. Emulsion vaporization increases the volume inside the liposome enough to burst the phospholipid bilayer and release encapsulated cargo. This system will allow continuous therapeutic drug release localized at the site of NIR laser irradiation with a low-power, portable NIR laser diode. To date, we have successfully loaded PFC5 emulsions with gold nanorods and have loaded liposomes with PFC5 emulsions. Previous work in our lab has shown that a release to the cytosol of cells can be induced by ultrasound using similar liposomes. Experiments designed to demonstrate NIR laser-induced cargo release are currently in progress. We will continue to improve upon this system over the coming months to increase release and decrease the required laser power.

The Arduino microcontroller is very robust and is capable of performing a wide variety of functions to fit the needs of almost countless different projects. Many robots that are being built use a microcontroller, and the Arduino microcontroller is a good fit for many robots. The microcontroller is also standardized so it can be learned easily, and maintained easily as well, especially in a team environment. The simplicity of the Arduino offers a much more accessible design and development environment. This environment allows for very complex projects such as robotics to be approached in a manageable way. The SERA Bot is a robot which is designed efficiently and yet still has complexity, using the Arduino microcontroller. The S.E.R.A Bot is an acronym which stands for Searching Exploring Roaming Autonomous robot. The first task this robot can do is to communicate over Bluetooth to an Android tablet or phone to remotely control the robot by driving the motors or sending command signals to the Arduino microcontroller. The next task it is capable of is to use Light Dependant Resistors or LDRs to follow a light source or find the most brightly illuminated area of a room. The third task is object avoidance which is implemented using a simple ultrasonic distance sensor to detect if there is an object close in front of the robot. The last function of this robot is the ability to locate a beacon which emits a loud detectable sound, and is implemented using three amplified condenser microphones. The purpose behind this project is mainly to incorporate many simple functions to one robot. Many robots do one simple task, but the focus is to create a versatile robot, with enough complexity to be useful, but simple enough to be efficient.

Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology is becoming more popular among Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) developers. The ease of development and the maintainability makes FPGAs a very attractive option in many performance and efficiency critical applications. The purpose behind this project was to implement an arcade style game on top of a VGA driver. The project was developed on a Xilinx Spartan-3E Starter board using Verilog, a hardware descriptive language.

The research project is aimed at developing a tool to monitor the progress of rehabilitation efforts in Lake Malheur in Harney count, Oregon. The application of remote sensing techniques, which will be used to detect chlorophyll-a distribution from water algae growth in the lake. Concentrations of chlorophyll-a act as an indicator for algal blooms, which compete for nutrients and oxygen and can have significant detrimental effects on a body of water. To better identify the trend in growth activities of algal colonies, remote sensing will be effective in developing a model to map the path and region of high activities of algal growth and subsequently monitoring fish habitation on the entire Malheur Lake. The method uses satellite images which measure the reflectance of pigment concentrations, which can then be quantified as concentrations of chlorophyll-a using appropriate software and algorithms. The algorithms are based on relationships between the chlorophyll-a concentration measured in-situ and the reflectance measured in the satellite images. The algorithm that would be tested relies on the ratio of suitable bands in the electromagnetic spectrum. The Oregon Fish and Wildlife services have set preliminary actions by taking chlorophyll measurements earlier this year that will be used to help draw the relationship between the measured and satellite derived chlorophyll-a concentrations. There exists a research group in the Civil and Environmental engineering department that have employed this process on the Deer Creek lake in Utah and other surrounding water bodies which has shown successful outcomes in monitoring these lake’s water quality parameters including chlorophyll-a to help support the survival of fishes, restore their habitats and preserve cultural history. There will be a comparison done to the performance of remote sensing models in a large, shallow lake in Oregon, compared to models developed in deep, narrow lakes.

The recent development of rainwater harvesting (RWH) as a local government and individual property owner solution to stormwater management and water supply has led to a wide array of individual program implementations across the country. RWH involves collecting stormwater runoff, storing it and applying it for beneficial reuse or release at a controlled rate. Decreased need of freshwater withdrawals reduces hydrology based energy consumption and protects ecosystems, potentially making RWH a more sustainable and efficient practice than centralized water supply. The goal of this research project was to compile and analyze the national trends for local government urban rainwater harvesting program policy. A survey was created and administered to RWH managers across the country to collect U.S. policy information. This report contains information to be used as a guide for local governments and other institutions considering implementing a program to promote RWH.

The development of an effective treatment for cancer is one of the most important goals for research today. One method of treatment is a targeted delivery mechanism using encapsulating drug carriers paired with a release mechanism. The Pitt laboratory has developed a potent chemotherapeutic called eLipoDox that uses a liposomal delivery construct combined with ultrasound release. eLipodox is composed of a liposome that encases an emulsion and the drug Doxorubicin. The emulsion droplet is a perflourocarbon stabilized by a lipid bilayer that contains a high vapor pressure solvent that will expand and burst the liposome upon sonication. The liposome is an artificially made lipid bilayer membrane that effectively encases the drug and does not allow the drug to diffuse freely through the body. Doxorubicin works through intercalating DNA, or distorting the structure of DNA, which is effective in treating tumors. However, it can cause heart failure and thus can have deathly effects for human patients. Encapsulating Doxorubicin minimizes the effects of Doxorubicin to other parts of the body while increasing the efficiency of the drug. Currently, the efficiency of loading the chemotherapeutic drug into the liposome is only around 34 to 38 percent, which is not ideal due to how expensive the drug is and the labor required to make the carrier. Thus, the purpose of this research was to systematically examine loading parameters and test the optimized carrier on a human cancer cell line. Higher temperature, greater sonication rounds, and lower concentration of drug on the exterior all correlated to greater loading efficiency. Cell death was also demonstrated with the optimized construct.

Mobile devices are promising tools today to people’s life thanks to lower-cost hardware, steep subsidies from wireless carriers and the popularity of mobile apps. Equipping with touchscreen is the point of fulfillment for all that a mobile device promises to deliver to normal users. However, few mobile devices today have been built that address accessibility and usability of the touchscreen for a wide range of physical capabilities and challenges. In this research, we investigate human capabilities, environmental factors and hardware ergonomics that can improve the usability when people with impairment disabilities use a touchscreen-equipped mobile device.

Goals: The pudendal nerve (PN) was targeted in attempt to create controlled micturition via intrafascicular electrical stimulation (IES) following the onset of surgically induced incontinence. We investigated both the effectiveness of unilateral and bilateral transection of the PN in creating a model of urinary incontinence and the ability of IES of efferent fibers to excite the external urethral sphincter (EUS) in order to restore a controlled voiding pattern. High Density Utah Electrode Arrays (HD-USEAs) were used to provide IES in these studies.

Mining has always been among the most hazardous of occupations, and with the increasing demand for coal and minerals, safety in mines assumes even greater importance. Worldwide, underground miners are being exposed to noise and respirable dust hazards associated with roof bolt drilling. These hazards are now being understood to cause irreparable damage to the health of miners.

A Family Write Night is an opportunity for teachers, students, and parents to come together to learn about the different stages of writing development and what writing does for the student at any level. Since writing will strengthen and enhance the student in other literacy skills and knowledge, bringing these students and families together in a friendly, casual atmosphere to provide enjoyable, non-assessed activities builds confidence in a writer’s sense of who they are, their voices as writers, as well as developing critical thinking skills. Parent and family involvement is a key component of this activity. Having families, students, and teachers working together to encourage writing at home builds strong family bonds while strengthening writing skills.

High school English as a Second Language (ESL) students often feel separated from their schools and communities. These feelings of separation can lead to low engagement and low achievement despite the students’ desire to do well in school. One method used to counter low engagement in mainstream classes is service learning, but there is little research on service learning with ESL students. In this study, an existing group of 9th grade ESL students was taught and observed to determine the feasibility and effectiveness of using service-learning methods. The project endeavored to tie academic work to community involvement and therefore increase student engagement and academic confidence. Throughout the implementation of the service-learning project, students displayed increased classroom involvement and reported improvements in attitudes and self-assurance. The methods and procedures described in this study can be adapted to larger class sizes and a variety of projects in order to increase engagement and academic confidence in ESL students.