Fine Arts

Authors: Joshua Thlaman, Brynlei Luke, Emily Pattee. Mentors: Lindsay Chaney. Insitution: Snow College. We tested if grasshopper species varied based on locations with constant human interaction vs. locations with little to no human interaction within Sanpete county. Due to how close, (a 6 mile radius), the collection locations are, it was logically reasoned that there will be no differences in grasshopper species between Ephraim and Manti Utah.​This study was performed with grasshoppers collected in Sanpete County: specifically, the town of Ephraim, Ephraim canyon, the town of Manti, and Manti canyon. To do this, we collected grasshoppers from each of the mentioned locations, extracted the DNA samples by humanely freezing the grasshoppers and collected small amounts of the grasshoppers, amplified the DNA samples using PCR, and sequenced the PCR products to help identify the grasshopper species collected using BLAST. ​Our experiment results showed that there was a large variation of species collected, as well as many similar species were present in all collection locations. Ephraim housing and Ephraim canyon only had one type of species present (Melanoplus sanguinipes), while Manti housing showed three other species (Melanoplus differentialis, Dissosteira carolina, Trimerotropis pallidipennis), and Manti canyon showed another species type (Trimerotropis cincta). This suggests that there is more variation within Manti housing and Manti canyon, no variation within Ephraim housing and Ephraim canyon, and only some variation between Manti and Ephraim.

Authors: Michal Hansen, Nathan Werner. Mentors: Nathan Werner. Insitution: Southern Utah University. The preparation of pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals requires chemical reactions that make carbon-carbon bonds. Carbon atoms of three different hybridazations are known: sp3, sp2 and sp. Most reactions are specific to the hybridization of the carbon atom. We will study a reaction to bond an sp2-hybridized carbon to an sp3-hybridized carbon. This reaction could then be used to make interesting molecules that contain similar bonds. Specifically, the synthesis of 1,3-diphenylpropene will begin with a hydroboration reaction of phenylacetylene with pinacolborane. These two starting materials are combined with a 9-BBN-catalyst and heated to reflux in tetrahydrofuran at 65 degrees Celsius for 1 hour. The hydroboration product is then purified by aqueous extraction and silica gel flash chromatography. The product from the hydroboration reaction contains an sp2-hydridized carbon-boron bond and is then combined with benzyl bromide that contains a sp3-carbon-bromine bond. This is the reaction that we are studying. They are heated in DMF solvent with a palladium catalyst, ligand and base at 90 degrees Celsius for 1.5 hours. Once the reaction is complete, the cross-coupling product is purified by aqueous extraction and silica gel flash chromatography.

Authors: Cate Bateman, Jose Aurelio De La Rocha Tapia, Ethan Fulwood, Arianna Harrington. Mentors: Arianna Harrington. Insitution: Southern Utah University. The Eocene-Oligocene boundary in North America was marked by climatic cooling and drying. This transition is a key time in mammalian evolution, and studying fossils spanning this boundary could yield important information about how fauna responded to the climatic change. McCarty’s Mountain, a fossil rich geological feature located in Madison County, Montana, has long intrigued scientists due to the many insights it holds into the terrestrial fauna of the region. The sites from McCarty’s Mountain date from the Chadronian North American Land Mammal Age, which corresponds to the late Eocene epoch. The geological strata to produce these fossils were thought to have been deposited in a floodplain, yielding remarkably preserved fossils which have been collected and studied since the early 1900’s. However, the microfossils from this locality have been understudied despite the insights it could provide to the terrestrial Eocene-Oligocene transition in North America. In this study, we aim to close this gap by analyzing microfossils picked from matrix collected from McCarty’s Mountain localities in summer 2023. Preliminarily, we have processed about ⅛ of the collected sediments, and have found several identifiable elements including mammalian teeth, vertebrae, and long bones. We will continue this work by washing and soaking the remaining matrix and quantifying the microfossils retrieved. The fossils recovered may provide future insight to changes in microfauna across the Eocene-Oligocene boundary.

Authors: Ashley Hartwig, Dr. Weeg. Mentors: Matthew Weeg. Insitution: Southern Utah University. The physiological benefits of petting pet cats, dogs, and horses have been thoroughly investigated for decades. Studies suggest that the act of handling and being around pets can offer direct cardiovascular benefits, such as lower blood pressure and heart rate as well as indirect benefits such as lowering triglyceride and cholesterol levels. However, the ability of pet reptiles to offer similar benefits has not been explored. In this work, we investigated the effects of reptile handling on the handler, expressed by cardiovascular variables. An automated blood pressure device was used to obtain the blood pressure and heart rate of participants every five minutes over a 20-minute time period. Three different conditions were tested for each participant: one where they handled a snake (Python regius), one where they handled a lizard (Pogona vitticeps), and one where they handled a stuffed animal , which served as the control. Overall, we saw a significant decrease in the systolic blood pressure in subjects during both reptile conditions compared to the control , though there was no change in diastolic blood pressure, mean arterial pressure (MAP), or heart rate. A decrease in systolic blood pressure has also been documented in studies involving mammalian companion animals. Therefore, our results provide evidence that handling snakes and lizards might provide some of the same cardiovascular benefits as handling cats, dogs, or horses. If so, this lends support to the argument that lizards and snakes can also be considered companion animals. These conclusions can be used to advocate for proper reptile husbandry and conservation efforts to protect native species in the fight against stigmas surrounding reptiles.

Authors: Logan Whitney, Jaren Wilson, Elley Colledge, Jamie Thygerson. Mentors: Jessica Pullan. Insitution: Southern Utah University. Exosomes are nanosized (40-150 nm) extracellular vesicles (EVs) secreted from cells that play a vital role in the human body's intracellular communication.1 The use of bovine-derived exosomes as a drug delivery vehicle provides an innovative approach to targeted drug delivery4 due to their stability, nontoxicity, non-immunogenic properties, and cost efficiency.5,6,7,8,9 The purpose of our research is to establish and refine a raw bovine milk exosome isolation protocol to determine the quality of exosomes. Current standards for small EV identification are currently being established and regulated by the International Society of Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) but center around three main categories: proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids.2 To refer to EVs as exosomes, they must be of endosome origin, otherwise they are referred to as ectosomes, and must be appropriately referred to by their size.13 Upon isolation, we verified the morphology of the small EV’s using Scanning Electron Microscopy, allowing visualization of the size and shape of the small EVs. Our research methods for the quantification of surface proteins include Rose Bengal Assay12 and Bradford Assay. Examination using exosome-specific cell surface markers, such as CD63, demonstrates protein functionality of the small EVs. Quantification of lipids allows for comparison of lipid concentration to surface protein concentration for further evidence of exosome identification. Lastly, RNA quantification ensured the small EVs met the concentration threshold to be defined as exosomes. The combination of these methods will further the work in bovine milk extracellular vesicles by yielding a low-cost, high-yield protocol for the isolation and characterization of EVs that can be further used as biomarkers, drug carriers, and a variety of platforms of delivery to physiological targets. [1] Rayamajhi, S., Nguyen T., Marasini R., Aryal S. Macrophage-derived exosome-mimetic hybrid [2] Théry, C., Witwer, K.W., Aikawa, E., Alcaraz, M.J., Anderson, J.D., Andriantsitohaina, R., et al. Minimal information for studies of extracellular vesicles 2018 (MISEV2018): a position statement of the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles and update of the MISEV2014 guidelines.  Journal of Extracellular Vesicles 2018; 7:1. [3] Pullan, J. E., Confeld, M. I., Osborn, J. K., Kim, J., Sarkar, K., and Mallik, S. Exosomes as drug carriers for cancer therapy. Molecular Pharmaceutics 2019; 16:1789–1798. vesicles for tumor targeted drug delivery. Acta Biomaterialia 2019; 94:482-494.  [4] He J, Ren W, Wang W, et al. Exosomal targeting and its potential clinical application. Drug Deliv Transl Res 2022;12(10):2385-2402. [5] Munagala R, Aqil F, Jeyabalan J, Gupta RC. Bovine milk-derived exosomes for drug delivery. Cancer Lett. 2016; 371(1):48-61. [6] Rashidi M, Bijari S, Khazaei AH, Shojaei-Ghahrizjani F, Rezakhani L. The role of milk-derived exosomes in the treatment of diseases. Front Genet 2022;13:1009338.  [7]García-Martínez J, Pérez-Castillo ÍM, Salto R, López-Pedrosa JM, Rueda R, Girón MD. Beneficial Effects of Bovine Milk Exosomes in Metabolic Interorgan Cross-Talk. Nutrients 2022;14(7):1442.  [8] Mashouri, L., Yousefi, H., Aref, A.R. et al. Exosomes: composition, biogenesis, and mechanisms in cancer metastasis and drug resistance. Mol Cancer 2019; 18:75.  [9] Radha Munagala, Hina Kausar, Charu Munjal, Ramesh C. Gupta, Withaferin A induces p53-dependent apoptosis by repression of HPV oncogenes and upregulation of tumor suppressor proteins in human cervical cancer cells, Carcinogenesis 2011; 11:1697–1705. [10] Wijenayake S., Eisha S., Tawhidi Z., Pitino M.A., Steele M.A., Fleming A.S., et al. Comparison of methods for pre-processing, exosome isolation, and RNA extraction in unpasteurized bovine and human milk. PLoS ONE 2021;16:e0257633. [11] Osteikoetxea X., Balogh A., Szabó-Taylor K., Németh A., Szabó T.G., Pálóczi K., et al. Improved Characterization of EV Preparations Based on Protein to Lipid Ratio and Lipid Properties. PLOS ONE 2015;10:e0121184. [12] Kishore, S.; Maruthamuthu, M. Binding of Rose Bengal onto Bovine Serum Albumin. Proceedings / Indian Academy of Sciences 1993, 105 (4–5), 279–285. DOI:10.1007/bf02866917. [13] Théry, C., Witwer, K. W., Aikawa, E. et al. (2018). Minimal information for studies of extracellular vesicles 2018 (MISEV2018): A position statement of the International Society for extracellular vesicles and update of the MISEV2014 guidelines. Journal of Extracellular Vesicles, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/20013078.2018.1535750z

Authors: Mackay B Steffensen, AustinRyan A Kirkby, Kieran L Richards. Mentors: Mackay B Steffensen. Insitution: Southern Utah University. Cyanuric chloride, a 1,3,5-trichlorotriazine, serves as a valuable platform for constructing innovative molecules. This project explores the unique reactivity of triazines to synthesize triazine crown ethers—a class of cyclic polyethers with a central cavity capable of selectively binding metal ions and polar molecules. Temperature-controlled nucleophilic aromatic substitution is employed to selectively substitute the triazine ring, providing precise control over the reaction. The first substitution with a primary amine nucleophile occurs rapidly at 0 °C, while subsequent substitutions at room temperature or 70 °C necessitate longer reaction times. This controlled approach enables the incorporation of three different amines.The project aims to synthesize triazine crown ethers through temperature-dependent substitution using two different methods. The first approach employs a diamine with an ether linkage in the presence of a base, facilitating consecutive substitutions to produce the target molecule. Intramolecular reactions are favored, but intermolecular reactions may lead to unexpected yet valuable products. The second method utilizes templated synthesis, taking advantage of the affinity of crown ethers for metal cations to promote cyclization reactions. A traditional route involving post-synthetic cyclization with ethylene glycol is also considered.The successful synthesis of these molecules opens up opportunities for further research, including characterizing their affinity for metals and exploring other unique properties. The acquired knowledge can be applied to construct more complex molecular structures, making this work valuable in materials science, analytical chemistry, and pharmaceuticals.

Authors: Lonnie Ernst. Mentors: Lane Law. Insitution: Salt Lake Community College. Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic bacteria commonly found in water. Microcystis aeruginosa is one such cyanobacteria that is found within the waters of Utah Lake. M. aeruginosa produces the microcystin toxin which is harmful to the aquatic life and contributes to the ongoing problem of eutrophication and, if ingested, is also harmful to humans. Alongside this toxin producing cyanobacteria, Utah Lake is contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) which are highly carcinogenic chemical compounds. This study aims to offer a method of bioremediation by engineering M. aeruginosa to carry a BPH gene pathway that breaks down PCBs. Using CRISPR, this gene would remove the microcystin producing gene and replace it with the BPH gene resulting in the engineered M. aeruginosa to breakdown the PCB contaminants and halt further production of the microcystin toxin.

Authors: Sydney Pruett. Mentors: Roger Gold. Insitution: Southern Utah University. Microbiologically Induced Calcite Precipitation (MICP) presents an innovative avenue for sustainable construction and environmental remediation. This biogenic process leverages the enzymatic hydrolysis of urea by microorganisms to generate calcium carbonate crystals, offering a green alternative with carbon sequestration potential, enhanced structural durability, and self-healing capabilities. Sporosarcina pasteurii is currently the predominant microorganism employed in biobrick production due to its notable urease activity. This study endeavors to assess the MICP potential of less explored bacterial strains with comparable urease activity levels. The strains under investigation include Sporosarcina ureae, Bacillus sphaericus, Bacillus thuringiensis, Bacillus cereus and Bacillus stearothermophilus. Additionally, we aim to shed light on the viability of these alternative microorganisms for MICP applications, contributing to a broader understanding of this promising technology's adaptability and potential implications for sustainable construction practices.

Authors: Alix Elliston. Mentors: Lane Law. Insitution: Salt Lake Community College. Cyanobacteria (colloquially known as blue-green algae) are photosynthetic prokaryotes commonly found in water. Several genera of freshwater cyanobacteria, including Microcystis, Planktothrix (Oscillatoria), and Anabaena, produce potent hepatotoxins known as microcystins. Eutrophication and increasing temperatures facilitate an overgrowth of toxin-producing cyanobacteria, referred to as cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (cyanoHABs). There are several known cyanophages which infect these genera and there has been some research into the role phages play in regulating cyanoHABs. This study aims to isolate microcystin-producing cyanobacteria from Utah Lake, as well as known or novel freshwater cyanophages which can infect the isolates. Any isolated phage will be propagated, have its DNA extracted and sequenced, and studied for use as a CRISPR delivery vehicle to target toxin-producing cyanobacteria, with the aim of knocking out microcystin biosynthesis.

Authors: Isaac Wilson, Bree Wilson. Mentors: Arianna Harrington. Insitution: Southern Utah University. Understanding the body size of an organism is crucial for discussing its ecological role, potential trophic impact on its environment, and life history. The sauropod dinosaurs represent the largest land animals known, reaching masses many times that of modern elephants and rivaling the most massive cetaceans in some cases. This study attempts to quantify the body size variation between average and maximum sauropod dinosaurs by using Camarasaurus as a focal genus and comparing appendicular elements from the same quarries. Intraquarry rather than intraspecific variation is chosen due to the difficulty of diagnosing limb elements to the species level, and limb elements are known to scale isometrically in Camarasaurus. In addition to Camarasaurus-centric measurements, extant and extinct ecological analogues with recorded body size ranges are also used to estimate body size variation. While their life histories are not well-known, histological analysis indicates that sauropods were likely tachymetabolic endotherms, and their growth curves were most similar to birds and large herbivorous mammals in terms of extant taxa. This is in contrast to basal sauropodomorphs like Plateosaurus, which is demonstrated to exhibit high developmental plasticity. Minimum intraspecific size variation, collected from the literature and based on birds, nonavian dinosaurs, and large herbivorous mammals suggest that the largest representatives of any given sauropod species could have been between 139% and well over 200% larger than the average. Applying preliminary ratios from the data collected so far to the largest well-preserved sauropod, Argentinosaurus huinculensis, results in a plausible maximal mass of 137-177 tonnes for the genus.

Authors: Seunghwan Shin, Sydney Coates. Mentors: Guizella Rocabado. Insitution: Southern Utah University. Organic chemistry is one of the most feared and failed courses in the undergraduate curriculum. Consequently, studying what makes this course “too difficult” as perceived by students is worthwhile because these perceptions result in many students not considering STEM majors because they require chemistry courses. Our research group has investigated perceived costs in general chemistry, and this study expands our understanding of these constructs in organic chemistry. Students’ perceived costs of a chemistry class can be many, such as task effort, loss of valued alternatives, emotional, and others. These costs might be overcome by students’ interests and goals, yet the level of perceived costs might have a lasting impact on the students’ overall perception of chemistry and their desire to pursue chemistry and other STEM careers in the future. In this study we investigated the mentioned subclasses of perceived costs, other salient perceived costs, and mastery or performance goal orientations and the impact these constructs may have on students’ experiences in organic chemistry classrooms. Expanding on a previous study in general chemistry, we present the results of interviews we conducted with students in this class. Our results reveal that students struggle with the content, pace, and overall difficulty of the material. These results are not surprising; however, we also uncovered the students’ deep desire to learn and understand the material, the motivating effect of having a good relationship with their professor, and many other themes that emerged from our conversations.

Authors: Braden Nelson. Mentors: Nathan S Werner. Insitution: Southern Utah University. The stereocontrolled palladium-catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reaction of (E)-2-phenylethenylboronic acid pinacol ester with aryl chlorides to produce (E)-stilbene derivatives was studied. (E)-2-Phenylethenylboronic acid pinacol ester was synthesized by 9-borobicyclo[3.3.1]nonane (9-BBN) catalyzed hydroboration reaction of phenylacetylene with pinacolborane. The reaction conditions of the palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction of this reagent with aryl chlorides were then evaluated to maximize the yield of the cross-coupled product. The maximum yield of (E)-stilbene, 74%, was obtained when the amount of (E)-2-phenylethenylboronic acid pinacol ester was increased from 1.2 to 1.5 equivalents, RuPhos was used as the ligand, K2CO3 was used as the base, and DMF was used as the reaction solvent at 90 °C. Four other aryl chlorides bearing electron-withdrawing and electron-donating substituents in the ortho- and para-positions were found to undergo facile coupling in 91-100% isolated yield.

Authors: Derek Baker, Lauren Jensen, Dagney Goodfellow, Seunghwan Shin. Mentors: Guizella Rocabado. Insitution: Southern Utah University. Differences in sexes have long been speculated, yet their application in chemistry learning environments has not been well researched. Literature shows that males have larger cerebral volumes for visual capacities more often associated with hands-on projects and courses than female brains. And female brains have larger cerebral volumes for areas associated with memorization and socialization which more highly correlate with lecture-based learning. Given the high attrition of women in chemistry courses, we investigated this phenomenon in organic chemistry topics that are highly visual (e.g. chirality, Newman projections, chair conformations, bond rotations, etc.) and topics that require more memorization (e.g., functional groups, energy values associated with sterics, nomenclature, definitions, etc.). We conducted an anonymous survey with students who are currently enrolled in organic chemistry or have taken organic chemistry in the past. The questions varied in difficulty as well as levels of visualization or memorization required. The results show correlation with the literature that males score better in the visual-based questions, and females score better in the memorization-based questions. In addition, we conducted interviews with male and female students in organic chemistry, and found that the female students self-generated various techniques to visualize 3D rotations (e.g., use their hands, draw arrows, etc). While most male students didn’t adopt these techniques because they were able to do the 3D rotations in their head. With these results, we plan to design course interventions to bridge the gaps between the extremes of visualization vs. memorization-based concepts for the students.

Authors: Jaiden Sherratt, Madison Ward, Alexandra Clements, Makenzie Vance, Christopher Furlow. Mentors: Julie Johnson Pynn. Insitution: Southern Utah University. Global identity is a concept once recognized by Maslow in 1954 as he said people “feel a kinship and connection, as if all people were members of a single family… Because of this, self-actualizing people have a genuine desire to help the human race.” Historically, it has been seen that this sense of global identity and citizenship can lead to great acts of kindness and empathy, as was the case with Chiune Sugihara who saved over 6000 Jews from Nazi oppression out of a sense of love for humanity (McFarland et al., 2013). It was also found that people with a strong global identity are more likely to be concerned about human rights and hold egalitarian views (McFarland et al., 2012). The research sought to answer the question, “Can images of global success or suffering affect subjects’ feeling of connection with humanity as a whole?” Through this research, we can better understand how positive or negative events impact people’s feelings of global citizenship. Participants will be recruited through the SONA system, as well as the researchers’ social media accounts, and a SUU portal announcement. Our main survey measure is the Identification With All Humanity scale. The scale is intended to measure an individual’s characteristics of concern for global issues and human rights, prosocial attitudes, intergroup forgiveness, and solving global problems (Hamer 2021). Participants were randomly assigned to one of two exposure conditions consisting of either 10 images of human success or 10 images of human suffering. Participants took the adapted IWAH survey, then were exposed to one of the two image sets for five second minimum per image, then took the adapted IWAH survey again to see if the images influenced their perception of global identity. After exposure, participants were asked “Did these images affect your feeling of connection with humanity? Why or why not? The images presented focused on issues of environmentalism. This research is currently in the phase of conducting the survey, and will close the survey gathering on November 1, 2023. Then the researchers will analyze the collected data to see if images of success or suffering influence global identity.

Authors: Claudia Wiese, Josh Steffen, Heather Briggs, Rodolfo Probst. Mentors: Josh Steffen. Insitution: University of Utah. Evaluating effect of formic acid treatment on foraging behaviors of Apis mellifera through pollen DNA metabarcoding using the MinION deviceBees play a vital role in maintaining the health and productivity of terrestrial ecosystems by providing pollination to many of the world’s plants. In recent decades, many bee species, including Apis mellifera (European honeybee), have experienced worldwide population declines.Varroa destructor, an external parasite, is one of the leading causes of honeybee population declines, as they are the primary cause of colony collapse disorder.Various methods exist to control the impact of V. destructor, including Formic Acid (FA) treatment, a well-documented solution to reducing V. destructor numbers. Yet, despite clearly established evidence that A. mellifera behaviors are very sensitive to changes in their hive environment, very few studies have looked at the effect of FA on honeybee foraging behavior. DNA metabarcoding is a powerful tool allowing ecologists to quantitatively assess differences in diet within species without the need for extensive knowledge of pollen taxonomy or complicated fieldwork experiments.In this study, A. mellifera hives (n=7) were split into control (n=3) and treatment groups (n=4). Pollen samples were collected from all hives before, during, and after FA treatment to compare if FA application impacted the foraging patterns of the bees in the treated colonies as compared to the control group. To compare foraging patterns between the treatments, we performed metabarcoding using the trnL (UAA) chloroplast intronic region, commonly used to barcode plant species. Amplicons were subsequently sequenced with a portable sequencer (ONT MinION Mk1C). Basecalling, quality check, demultiplexing, and filtering of the data were conducted with Guppy and Medaka. Obtained sequences (n=120 reads) were compared to a reference database with BLAST to determine the sequence identity of visited plants. With this information, we plan to compare absolute foraging numbers, species, and related ratios between control and experimental hives. Most sequences were assigned with a high percentage identity to a sample database (>89%), Although certain species (e.g., Malus sylvestris [European crab apple] and Prunus avium [wild cherry]) were probably visited by all hives, our preliminary findings show that pollen loads differ between control and experimental conditions, indicating a variation in floral visitation.These results suggest that FA treatment, while effective at controlling V. destructor, may impact honeybee foraging patterns. Further research is needed to understand if this behavioral change is detrimental to the health of the colony, and the consequences of variation in floral visitation to pollination networks.

Authors: Alyson Camacho, Camille Bryner, Bowen Houser. Mentors: William Pitt. Insitution: Brigham Young University. Current methods for the diagnosis of bacterial infections require time consuming cultures. To prevent deaths caused by sepsis, faster methods for bacterial identification and antibiotic susceptibility methods are urgently needed. Necessary to these faster methods is the ability to separate and concentrate bacteria. While techniques such as filtering and centrifugation have been explored for this purpose, we propose an innovative approach. Polydopamine (pDA) is a remarkably adhesive polymer that has been used to create antibacterial and anti-biofouling coatings on medical devices. In this study, however, we show how magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) coated with pDA can selectively bind and remove specific bacteria from suspensions. For these experiments, pDA- MNPs were added to suspensions of bacteria mixtures and allowed to bind for 10 minutes. The MNP/bacteria mixture was then placed on a holder with a magnet which collected the MNPs on the side of the test tube. Finally, the bacterial supernatant was carefully removed and plated. Capture efficiency of the beads was calculated and it was shown that the pDA-coated MNPs preferentially isolated S. epidermidis from a suspension of both S. epidermidis and E. coli. This approach holds great potential for separating bacteria from clinical samples like urine or blood, enabling faster and more efficient diagnosis of bacterial infections.

Authors: Holly Biesinger. Mentors: Ran Qi. Insitution: Southern Utah University. This study analyzes important intersections in the relationship that photography had with polygamy from the year 1878, when the gelatin dry-plate method of photography became commercialized, to 1953, when the Short Creek Raids occurred. The study focuses on the polygamist faction within the Mormon Church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints), specifically the group that later evolved into the Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints (FLDS). It is important to note that not all members of the original Mormon church were polygamists, and as such this study does not represent the church as a whole. Additionally, it is important to note that the entire history of polygamy or photography will not be addressed, but key points of intersection will be acknowledged. This study describes how photography that contained polygamist subjects shifted over time and established a narrative for the outside general public to understand.

Authors: Eve Christensen, Chase Redd, Bailey Uzzardo. Mentors: Elijah Neilson. Insitution: Southern Utah University. The advent of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020 brought with it a host of changes to the workplace. One change in particular was the wide-spread transition to remote work as opposed to in-person work as concerns with spreading the Covid-19 virus necessitated a shift in how the labor force performed their work. The Covid-19 pandemic created more opportunities for employees to work from home rather than working on site. This paper seeks to evaluate the correlation between working from home and earnings using an econometric model. By comparing an individual’s earnings before and after the Covid-19 pandemic, along with whether they work from home or on site, we hope to better understand the effect that remote work has on a person's decision to enter the job market and which fields the incoming labor force are pursuing. Our findings will also be relevant to employers as they evaluate what a competitive wage would be depending on the availability of work from home options for a certain job.

Authors: Camille Bryner, Alyson Camacho, Bowen J Houser. Mentors: William G Pitt. Insitution: Brigham Young University. In an attempt to combat a growing number of nosocomial infections related to medical devices, many studies have investigated the effect of polydopamine (pDA) coated surfaces on biofilm formation and found them to have antibacterial and anti-adhesive properties. However, we discovered that pDA coated magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) display strong attractive interactions with many, but not all, species of bacteria. Fe3O4 MNPs were prepared using sodium acetate, ethylene glycol, and iron (III) chloride hexahydrate solutions and characterized by a variety of methods. XRD data confirmed a magnetite pattern characteristic of Fe3O4, then TEM characterization of MNP samples showed successful pDA coating onto iron oxide particles. Bacterial capture efficiencies (CE) by pDA-MNPs for 8 strains of bacteria were measured by optical turbidity and plate counts. We have found that CE is a function of exposure time to and concentration of MNPS; thus some experiments were done with constant exposure time and variable MNP concentration and others were done at variable exposure times and constant MNP concentrations. Additionally, these pDA-MNPs exhibit extremely efficient adhesion to some bacteria such as Staphylococcus epidermidis (S. epidermidis) while being ineffective at capturing some strains of Esherichia coli (E. coli). We propose that such capture ability of pDA-coated MNPs can be employed for detection and identification of bacteria in hospitals and for food science quality control.

Authors: Audrey Wells. Mentors: Fredric Govedich. Insitution: Southern Utah University. This project is an interdisciplinary meta-analysis of literature across neuroscience, psychology, biochemistry, and biological anthropology. I am interested in comparing the neural physiology of love relationships to that of recreational drug use. I have cross referenced studies on the areas of activation and neurotransmitter level changes for each of these experiences. Both of these activities, specifically when comparing drugs to the infatuation stage of a relationship, show a dramatic increase in the reward complex within the center of the human brain, as well as an increase in risky behavior and obsession with the object of attraction/addiction. I then continued in an analysis of the termination from either positive stimuli, namely, rejection from a lover, and recreational drug withdrawal. I have found that within the motivational sectors of the brain, activation when viewing your rejector, as well as the heightened dopamine produced, show comparable similarities to those who are experiencing an active physiology drug withdrawal.

Authors: Spenser A Clark. Mentors: Acacia Overono. Insitution: Utah Valley University. It is not uncommon for a college student to see a list of learning objectives when skimming through a syllabus for a program or course. The goal of learning objectives is to set reasonable expectations for student learning and guide their study, as well as providing a framework for the development of teaching practices and assessment. Part of the inception of learning objectives as a means of organizing teaching and assessment in the classroom may be attributable to the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, more commonly referred to as Bloom's Taxonomy. Another taxonomy similar to Bloom's, but much less well known, is the Structure of Observed Learning Outcome (SOLO) taxonomy. Bloom’s taxonomy organizes learning objectives into six categories: Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, and Create. The categories are structured as a cumulative hierarchy in which mastery of each level is assumed necessary for progressing to the next. The structure of Bloom’s is not derived from any specific learning theory, but a categorization of pre-existing learning objectives. Bloom’s therefore suffers from a lack of a strong theoretical foundation and may not accurately reflect how learning actually occurs. Additionally, although Bloom’s has been widely employed in the context of educational assessment, research has shown that it suffers from low interrater reliability and is inconsistent between educational contexts such as courses and topics. Unlike Bloom’s, SOLO is based upon Piaget’s Stage Development theory and categorizes learning into five distinct stages: Prestructural, Unistructural, Multistructrual, Relational, and Extended Abstract. SOLO does not suggest that learning is unidirectional or hierarchical. It also acknowledges internal cognitive processes rather than focusing solely on observable behaviors. Although very little research has investigated its reliability, it could be an attractive alternative to Bloom’s because it may more accurately reflect how learning occurs. The present work reviews the development and implementation of these two models and compares them.

Authors: Jonas P Knochelmann. Mentors: Rogelio E. Cardona-Rivera. Insitution: University of Utah. Despite the highly technical nature of Procedural Content Generation (PCG), the holistic study of the discipline is minimal and qualitative. We argue that this gap exists because there is no formal framework to talk about PCG artifacts and algorithms and propose the mathematical field of group theory to serve as such a framework. Group theory is a well-established discipline that has been embraced in chemistry, physics, and art, with tools for analyzing, combining, and generating objects based on their structure. We outline a specific method for applying group theory to PCG and explore a number of case studies in the hopes of developing a more unified formal framework for future study.

Authors: Tia Dudley, Ty Erickson. Mentors: Matthew Weeg, Mary Jo Tufte. Insitution: Southern Utah University. The pharmacological investigation of plant essential oils has been expanding due to their suspected health implications. Research supports that plant essential oils have cardiovascular benefits, including reducing blood pressure and managing hypertension. Our research centers on stinging nettle and its effect on the vasculature in frogs. Existing evidence shows that stinging nettle can be used to treat hypertension, a disease intensified by vasoconstriction. Our study aims to investigate if stinging nettle causes a relaxation in smooth muscle and vasodilation. We administered stinging nettle on the vasculature in frogs and measured the diameter of the blood vessels before, during, and after the application. Results show that the application of stinging nettle has a vasodilating effect on some of the smaller blood vessels. The vasodilation is a potential mechanism for the anti-hypertensive effects of stinging nettle. These findings illustrate a probable avenue in cardiovascular medicine and highlight the potential of plant oils in reshaping the landscape of modern health.

Authors: Joseph Nielson, Ben Schooley. Mentors: Ben Schooley. Insitution: Brigham Young University. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) affects an estimated 30 million Americans and is the third leading cause of death worldwide. A recent effort to curb deaths and hospitalizations involves remote patient monitoring (RPM). Of all possible monitoring parameters, spirometry presents itself as potentially accurate and helpful, but the exact effect and its size remain to be described. A systematic literature review is being performed to describe the current state and future opportunities in RPM systems that use remote spirometry for COPD patients. Only studies that specifically mention the use remote spirometry for monitoring COPD patients were included. The databases PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and EBSCO were searched in July and August 2023. Studies are being synthesized by tabulating the study sizes and designs, technological parameters, and interesting findings. Twenty-nine studies have been included spanning feasibility and pilot studies as well as one randomized clinical trial. Remote spirometry for COPD patients has generally been shown to be feasible. Many studies present systems in early stages of development that have yet to be tested thoroughly in large trials. It may be necessary to involve remote spirometry in more large-scale trials soon. Future studies could confirm the degree to which spirometry adds helpful information for monitoring COPD patients.

Authors: Megan DuVal, John Longino, Rodolfo da Silva Probst. Mentors: John Longino. Insitution: University of Utah. Army ants (Formicidae: Dorylinae) are top predators throughout most tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Their nomadic colonies and cooperative social hunting make them behaviorally and ecologically unique keystone species that are of conservation concern. Their status as nomadic top predators makes army ants vulnerable in areas affected by habitat fragmentation. An obstacle to conservation efforts is the outdated army ant species-level taxonomy, which hasn’t been updated since the 1950s for many genera. For Labidus, a widespread and ecologically important army ant genus in the Americas, there are currently seven valid species recognized solely based on morphology of workers and/or males. Three species are only based on males, which need to be associated with their respective workers, and within the four primarily worker-based species, there are likely cryptic species. To address these issues, we applied cutting-edge phylogenetics and phylogenomics to update the species-level taxonomy. To construct our phylogenetic tree, we used ultraconserved elements (UCEs, which use thousands of regions across the genome and can accurately infer evolutionary relationships across broad timescales) from 17 specimens, 66 COI barcodes from the Barcode of Life Database (BOLD), and 35 new COI barcodes obtained through in-house Nanopore sequencing. Through our analyses, we found that the genus Labidus contains at least 11 species and that all of the previously recognized wide-ranging species are made up of multiple cryptic species with more restricted ranges. We were able to associate all three previously identified male-based species with their respective workers. We have also found patterns of parallel and overlapping biogeography across multiple Labidus clades. Our UCE+Nanopore approach allows for an updated taxonomy of Labidus, leading to a better understanding of its evolutionary history and a better ability to promote its conservation.

Authors: Ashlyn Clark. Mentors: Lynnette Finau. Insitution: Brigham Young University. Festivals, museums, bookstores, and Shinto shrines might not seem to have a lot in common, but implicit Nationalist ideals find their way into each of these, leaving their mark in the transmission of Japanese identity. In this study of Yasukuni Jinja and the Yushukan Museum (the Tokyo National War and Peace Memorial shrine and museum), it becomes more clear how these relate to one another, how they relate to Japanese identity, and how exactly they are nationalist in nature. Honor, sacrifice, tradition, and war come together to create a beautiful, unifying narrative that links ancestors with descendants, maintaining national identity and continuing to transmit their traditional ideals.

Authors: James Wade, Chris Paul. Mentors: Nathan Usevitch. Insitution: Brigham Young University. Soft Robotics offer significant advantages when completing certain tasks compared to other robots and methods. Compliance, adaptability, and energy efficiency are a few of the major advantages. On the moon, where safety, volume and versatility are of high importance, soft robotics may find an innovative niche. NASA’s BIG Idea Challenge for 2024 incentivizes creating new innovative soft robot designs. Our research group is building our facility mentor, Nathan Usevitch’s, work at Stanford University. Doctor Usevitch and his cohort developed an octahedral, inflated robot composed of multiple tubes folded into triangular shapes in a truss-like structure. Each triangle consisted of a long inflatable tube and 3 motorized modules at the nodes of the triangle. The motorized nodes (consisting of a DC motor and rollers) roll along the length of the tube, lengthening one edge of the triangle while shortening the other. By attaching multiple triangles to each other in geometric shapes, flexible structures are created that can adapt their shape to the desired need. Because this system has a constant inflated volume, no external air compressor is necessary, allowing for untethered movement. The bulk of the mechanical work is performed by electric motors, providing a higher energy efficiency than a system of repeated inflation. Furthermore, this design is compactly stored when deflated, optimal for transport into space.To build on this design and optimize it for use on the moon, our research group will make the following changes and improvements:- Developing the physical prototype. This will enable robust and dynamic movement and the support of large loads- Develop a simulation tool that allows us to explore different configurations of the robot for different tasks- Develop a joint system that allows an astronaut to quickly reconfigure the triangles into different structures based on the required task - Develop a control approach that accounts for the underdamped dynamics of large inflatable structuresThrough our research, we hope to expand the possibilities of soft robotics. We are synthesizing the advantages of traditional robotics (robustness, untethered motion) with the unique strengths of soft robotics (flexibility, adaptability, cost efficiency).

Authors: Kevin Young. Mentors: Gretchen Ellefson. Insitution: Southern Utah University. The concept of competition is not new to humans, nor is it simple. Countless philosophers throughout the years have approached competition in many ways. One of the core subjects that philosophers have used to discuss competition is that of decision theory. Decision theory, in short, discusses the best things to do. Game theory, a subset of decision theory, discusses the same within the context of games, or in other words, strategy. Both of these subjects have been used to evaluate how best to win games of chance, games of choice, and games in between. I work to explore the concept of making moves to gain information, seeking to learn another person’s moves before you make your own. This subset of moves deserves recognition, especially within the modern eras of competition.

Authors: Daniel Davis, Paul B Frandsen. Mentors: Paul B. Frandsen. Insitution: Brigham Young University. The nut and acorn weevils of the genus Curculio (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) are a diverse group of beetles with a unique life history. A female weevil uses her rostrum (snout) that is about the length of her body to dig into the flesh of a developing hard-shelled seed and lay her eggs inside where they can safely develop into larvae. After the grown larvae exit their seeds, they spend one or more years burrowed in the soil near host trees. During this time they enter diapause, a state of suspended development to minimize the energy that they expend. Studies indicate that a major purpose of this behavior is to align their adult emergence with masting events (large scale seed production every 2-5 years) of their host trees. Between, and even within, Curculio species, there is significant variation in diapause lengths and behaviors (Higaki, 2016). This wide array of adaptive behaviors is a result of the coevolution between these insects and their various hosts. Here, we present a high quality genome of a Curculio species. With this genome, we discuss the genetic and evolutionary factors that have given rise to this unique life history of Curculio and future plans to compare the genomes of multiple Curculio to further unravel this mystery.

Authors: Erika Frandsen. Mentors: C. Riley Nelson. Insitution: Brigham Young University. The Timpanogos Cave System consists of three caves in American Fork, Utah. In 2003, the National Park Service (NPS) commissioned Dr. Riley Nelson and laboratory students to conduct a survey of the diversity and abundance of terrestrial arthropod species found within the caves. Over the two years they sampled in Timpanogos Caves, they identified 55 species of macroinvertebrates in an unpublished report.In the 20 years since the last sampling, many environmental factors could’ve changed in these caves, contributing to an overall decrease in both abundance and biodiversity of fauna. Therefore, we repeated the sampling done by the Nelson lab in 2003-2004 for the duration of May 2023-October 2023 to compare the two time periods’ macroinvertebrate communities.The six taxonomic families found most abundantly in 2003-2004 continue to be the most abundant families found in 2023. Additionally, a new taxon of cave beetle Rhadine sp. not found 20 years ago was discovered early in our sampling of 2023. Despite the increase in visitation over the past 20 years, at this stage in the analysis, the macroinvertebrate community within the caves seems to have almost no loss of diversity. Additionally, the appearance of new taxa indicates that there is still more life and diversity within the caves left to discover.

Authors: Emma Manley. Mentors: Johnathan Chidester. Insitution: Southern Utah University. This presentation will be about the indescribable magical Studio Ghibli movies. Specifically, I will be analyzing how these movies are great at representing life. From the weird, outstanding world of Chihiro’s ghost town from Spirited Away, all the way down to the simple little Iron town of Princess Mononoke. These movies are amazing, not just for their remarkable art work and lovable characters, but for the relatability and symbolism of these stories. These stories are weird and strange, but so is everyone. We are human. A complex being that is evolving every single day. We have creative minds in all sorts of differing ways, and these movies are great at explaining this; they are complex, imaginative, and life-like. I will not be defining every single Studio Ghibli movie, but I have chosen a few movies I wish to expand on. My first one is The Wind Rises. This movie is based on a true story about Jiro Horikoshi, the designer of the A5M fighter aircraft. This story goes into detail about his life: his failures, his trials, and the hardships he endured. The second one is Spirited Away: this story is Studio Ghibli's most famous work. This is a story of a little girl who gets trapped in a spirit world all alone. Along her journey she makes new friends, discovers new ideas, and is able to discover who she is. The final movie is Princess Mononoke: Princess Mononoke is Studio Ghibli's masterpiece. The young warrior Ashitaka is strucken with a curse and will soon die. This story is about him getting rid of his curse, discovering how to make peace and stop hate.We should know and understand these movies, not because they are just films and that I like them, but because they are innovative and original. With these movies we jump into a creative world that we can make our own. These movies are relatable in every sense because they are just like us: weird, quirky, and just so compelling. We feel a connection to the trials that each character has because in a sense we all have been through something of the same. These movies represent life in a silly way that I wish to know more about. I will expand on the way these movies are made, the theme and writing, and the characters that we relate to.

Authors: Nathaniel Call. Mentors: Chelsea Romney. Insitution: Brigham Young University. New college students may experience stressors like difficult academic work, new social environments, and living on their own for the first time. Students of color may experience additional stressors due to minority stress, experiences of racism, and unfamiliar social contexts. We collected self-reported depression, anxiety, and academic self-efficacy measures from 742 first-year college students. We found that students of color reported higher levels of depression, F(1, 733) = 11.04, p < .001, and anxiety F(1, 734) = 14.91, p < .001, compared to white students. Further, we found that white students reported higher academic self-efficacy, F(1, 742) = 9.97, p = .002, compared to students of color. This suggests that lower confidence in academic work is related to higher depression and anxiety in nonwhite students, r(661) = -.32, p < .001. Our study builds on previous research by providing a possible pathway through which students of color develop more depression and anxiety through lower academic self-efficacy compared to white students.

Authors: Jared Carter. Mentors: Jeff Tessem. Insitution: Brigham Young University. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) is a chronic condition affecting nearly half a billion people worldwide. Symptoms of T2D include impaired glucose tolerance, decreased insulin secretion and significant weight gain. While the symptoms of T2D are well-documented, the underlying pathology remains unclear. Recent research has indicated the critical role of the nuclear receptor Nr4a3 in the development of glucose intolerance and weight gain. In individuals with T2D, the Nr4a3 promoter is hypermethylated, leading to decreased Nr4a3 expression. Elucidating the role of Nr4a3 in mitochondrial respiration in adipose will help define the mechanism of T2D onset and treatment. I studied mice with full body knockout (KO) for Nr4a3. These mice exhibited T2D-like symptoms, including impaired glucose tolerance, reduced insulin secretion and increased adiposity. I measured mitochondrial respiration in muscle, liver, kidney, and adipose tissue, with impaired respiration only observed in adipose tissue. This impairment in adipose tissue respiration correlated with an increase in the size of all adipose deposits, larger adipocytes, and expanded lipid droplets. Intriguingly, the analysis of electron transport chain and tricarboxylic acid complex proteins revealed no significant differences compared to control samples. Instead, the change in respiration was attributed to a reduction in active DRP1 protein, responsible for mitochondrial fission and maintenance. These findings have important implications for our understanding of T2D and its potential treatment strategies, which will be discussed in more detail.

Authors: Kenna Johnson. Mentors: Nicole Dib. Insitution: Southern Utah University. My paper is an interpretative analysis of Thomas Harris’ 1988 novel The Silence of the Lambs as analyzed through the lens of feminist film critic Laura Mulvey’s concept of the masculinization of spectators. In her essay collection Visual and Other Pleasures, Mulvey discusses how cinema, as a traditional medium, has misogynistic, voyeuristic characteristics. Through camera angles and editing, the audience is subconsciously led to identify with the protagonist (who is typically male). As a result, we, the audience, follow his gaze to his object of desire: the woman. This phenomenon she deems the masculinization of spectators. In my paper, I have applied Mulvey’s theory to Harris’ novel and concluded that the masculinization of spectators is, in fact, subverted in The Silence of the Lambs. Here, the audience identifies with Agent Clarice Starling, a young FBI trainee. We follow her gaze to the man she has been tasked with hunting: Jame Gumb, who is referred to colloquially throughout the novel as “Buffalo Bill.” Throughout my paper, I analyze the stark differences in characterization between these two. While Starling is depicted as a pillar of feminine strength, Gumb, a male to female transgender character, is depicted as gaudy and grotesque. In comparing the notable differences in characterization, I determine these characters to serve as each other’s foils. Having been denied as a candidate for gender reassignment surgery, he creates a ‘girl suit’ out of his victims’ skins as an attempt to pass as a woman. Gumb’s atrocities paint the transgender population in a monstrous light; Starling’s actions, conversely, portray her as fiercely independent, and a hero for the feminist cause. Drawing from this analysis, I argue that The Silence of the Lambs is a stark support for the trans-exclusionary radical feminism, or TERF, movement. Through an in-depth analysis of the literary symbols present in the novel in conjunction with the two main characters’ characterization, I determine that TERF rhetoric beats strongly underneath the novel’s surface feminism.

Authors: Justin Webb. Mentors: Jeffrey Edwards. Insitution: Brigham Young University. Understanding the mechanisms underlying depotentiation in the context of previously induced long-term potentiation (LTP) is crucial for unraveling the processes of memory consolidation and forgetting. Our research is focused on synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus, the primary brain region responsible for mediating learning and memory. Using electrophysiology and neuropharmacological techniques, our goal is to elucidate the cellular mechanisms behind depotentiation, a reversal of the increase in postsynaptic response and overall synaptic strength characteristic of LTP. By doing this research, we hope to both fill existing gaps and resolve conflicting views about the processes and receptors involved in depotentiation. Experiments were performed on hippocampal brain slices of young mice. We induced LTP in hippocampal CA1 neurons using high-frequency electrical stimulation, and then elicited depotentiation in the same neurons via low-frequency electrical stimulation. This creates a cellular event analogous to learning and subsequently forgetting a new memory trace. Our preliminary findings show that depotentiation still occurs in the presence of MPEP, a metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR5) antagonist, suggesting that the depotentiation mechanism is independent of mGluR5. Additionally, because female rodent models have largely been ignored in prior electrophysiology experiments involving LTP and depotentiation, we investigated and observed gender-related differences, which show female mice exhibiting more pronounced depotentiation than their male counterparts. Building on these findings, our research will continue to identify gender-related differences in both juvenile and adolescent mice, as well as explore the role of NMDA receptors on depotentiation. We will also extend the temporal gap between LTP induction and depotentiation to explore the impact of early-phase versus late-phase LTP on subsequent depotentiation. This research aims to shed light on the intricate mechanisms of synaptic plasticity and its implications for learning, memory, and potential therapeutic modulation of these processes in the context of conditions like Alzheimer's disease, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other disorders of learning and memory.

Authors: Zachary Flynn, Britton Davis, Josh Nicholls, Bryson Mumford. Mentors: Joseph Price. Insitution: Brigham Young University. The United States has massive amounts of public data and land ownership stretching back to the early homesteading period of the American West. This data has been of limited use for economic research because it only includes the name of the ownership, thus making it impossible to study racial and gender differences in land on ownership. We develop an innovative method for linking individual land records to US census records. Our key innovation is that we start by linking individuals with unique names that we can make from land record to census record based on name and town. We then use the geo-coordinates in the land records and the proximity of households on the census sheets to link other individuals that have more common names. This two-step process allows us to link 36% of a sample of people in the land records in Colorado to a census record between 1880 and 1940. This new linked data will be a valuable resource for individuals doing research on the development of the American economy, and also people doing genealogical research.

Authors: Ezra Stein. Mentors: Nicole Dib. Insitution: Southern Utah University. In Simulacra and Simulation (1981), Jean Baudrillard lays out for stages through which a sign (an image or other representation of reality) becomes a simulacrum (a sign with no basis in reality). I argue that the followers of the Qanon conspiracy movement, as detailed in Mike Rothschild’s "The Storm is Upon Us" (2021), follow these four stages in their radicalization into the conspiracy. The first stage outlined by Baudrillard is when the image is a basic reflection of reality itself. We see this stage when Rothschild discusses how QAnon believers discuss the CIA. Adherents of QAnon will often point to the declassified MKULTRA documents released by the CIA for credibility, as this is something that was proven to have actually happened, the sign being a representation of actual reality. The second of Baudrillard’s stages is when a sign takes something from reality and twists and distorts it into something different than what it originally represented. An example of this in "The Storm is Upon Us" is seen in the way Q believers talk about adrenochrome, which is a real but harmless chemical compound, as an elixir of youth used by the elite. Stage three is when a sign claims to be based in reality but is actually based on nothing at all. The originator of QAnon, the man who goes by “Q,” fits within this stage. Rothschild lays out Q’s origins as an anonymous poster on the website 4chan who claimed to high-level military clearance. Q’s claims were supposedly based on real-life military intel, but were actually made up by an anonymous stranger on the internet. The fourth and final of Baudrillard’s stages is the simulacrum. This is when signs do not reflect anything in reality, but instead are based on other signs. The Storm is Upon Us shows that many QAnon beliefs, both major and minor, are based in pre-existing conspiracy theories like blood libel, flat earth, and global cabals that secretly control the world. Those who are completely indoctrinated into QAnon hold these beliefs that are based on other beliefs and are therefore existing in Baudrillard’s fourth stage of the precession of simulacra. My presentation will examine these four stages and demonstrate the overlap between this critical theory and the contemporary conspiracy movement that is taking up a considerable space in the American cultural imaginary.

Authors: A. Kalani Brubaker. Mentors: Nathan Crane. Insitution: Brigham Young University. Binder Jetting is an exciting form of Additive Manufacturing in which a binding agent is selectively deposited on layers of powder to bind the powder together and create a 3D printed part. It is notable for its wide range of materials, energy efficiency, and built-in supports. Much research has been done on how to achieve desirable properties of binder-jetted parts and post-processing, but the fundamental principles of binder-powder interaction and the effects of changing printing parameters are still not fully understood. This research aims to increase that understanding. Each binder-jetted part begins by depositing individual binder droplets in a straight line, and the binder-powder droplets coalesce to form a single line. Adjacent lines are then printed to form a cross-section of the part, the next layer of powder is applied, and the process continues until a 3D part is printed. If the spacing between the droplets is too large or the inter-arrival time too short, the droplets form spheres on the surface of the powder (a phenomenon called balling), and a continuous line is not formed. This research determines how continuous line formation is affected by droplet spacing, inter-arrival time, and controlled misting of the powder bed prior to printing. To examine the effects of these parameters, lines were printed in dry and prewetted powder beds while varying the spacing and inter-arrival time between droplets. The beds were then examined using an optical microscope to determine whether continuous lines were formed. The results were recorded on a graph of inter-arrival time versus droplet spacing, and the “boundary line” for successful line formation was found for each bed. The results showed that the boundary on the prewetted data exhibited a different relationship than dry powder beds, suggesting that a different binder-powder principle may dominate after prewetting. The prewetting also shifted the boundary upwards, making it possible to form continuous lines at higher droplet spacings and shorter inter-arrival times. This increased ability to form continuous lines has the potential to significantly increase the throughput of binder-jetted parts.

Authors: Danyon Gedris, Paul Frandsen. Mentors: Paul Frandsen. Insitution: Brigham Young University. Whole genome assembly has rapidly improved as third-generation sequencing technology like PacBio HiFi and Oxford Nanopore (ONT) have bridged the gaps of complex genomes by providing high-accuracy, long read data. The improvements in these technologies have resulted in long average read lengths (>15 kbp) and sequence quality scores above 99% (>Q20). They are particularly well-suited to assembling long, repetitive regions of the genome. Current assembly techniques combine reads with identical sequences to form longer, continuous sections. In repetitive regions, this process tends to condense the repeated sequences into one shorter read, instead of preserving the continuous nature of the repeats. Long reads avoid this issue by sequencing repeats together in one continuous read. Heavy chain fibroin (h-fibroin), the gene that encodes for the primary silk protein in Trichoptera and Lepidoptera, is long (often >20 kbp) and repetitive. Recent work showed that PacBio HiFi sequencing provided higher quality assemblies of h-fibroin when compared to the last generation of ONT pores (R9.4.1) and chemistry despite having a shorter average read length. Recent advances in ONT chemistry and nanopores (R10.4.1) have led to higher quality scores, perhaps allowing successful assembly of this gene region. To better understand the advances in ONT sequencing and its ability to provide high-quality, continuous genome assemblies of complex organisms, we assess the quality of assemblies of the h-fibroin silk gene for the Trichoptera species, Arctopsyche grandis and Parapsyche elsis, using the newest ONT chemistry.

Authors: Seth Cannon. Mentors: Joe Price. Insitution: Brigham Young University. We use the occupation strings in the full-count US census files from 1880-1940 to create a new dataset of everyone during this time period that listed their occupation as a clergy (or related term). We use this data to identify the number of clergy located in each town in the United States in each census year. We find that towns with at least one person that identifies as clergy in the census record experience 5.4% greater population growth by the next census compared to towns without any clergy. This result is robust to various ways to control for the population and other characteristics of the town. We also focus on just the set of towns that had only one person in the census who identified as clergy. When we restrict the dataset to these towns, we find that the towns for whom that single clergy member died before the next census experienced an average population loss of 2.8%, while towns that didn’t have their clergy die experienced a population growth of 12.5%. These results highlight the ways in which access to local religious resources can help promote economic growth in small communities.

Authors: Kaerli Ringle. Mentors: Johnathan Chidester. Insitution: Southern Utah University. This presentation will discuss the way that music affects memory retention, memory recall, and how it can influence the memory of moments, moods, and emotions. The Public Broadcasting System produced an educational video about how listening to music boosts learning and memory. Research from Harvard noted that while neuro-imaging a patient, singing will help a patient during recovery with a brain injury or a stroke. This results because the left-brain region is majorly responsible for our speech function. Researchers also noted that because singing takes place in the right hemisphere, recovering stroke, Dementia and Alzheimer’s patients are able to regain their speech through singing and eventually being able to transition back into speaking. Having knowledge of how music affects the brain can help build great study habits and empower people to retain new information, recall old information, and have influence over their and other people’s emotions. This is important because music is around us all of the time, whether it is walking through the grocery store or playing through earbuds while studying, and if it has such power to influence these things, then why not use it to the fullest of its potential?

Authors: Ty Wilson. Mentors: Amita Kaundal. Insitution: Utah State University. Climate-induced environmental stresses and the increased use of fertilizers to meet the increasing demand for food significantly threaten food production and soil health. In natural environments, microbes are vital to the growth and development of plants. Their presence in the soil allows for enormous flexibility and nutritional availability for plants, particularly those living in harsh conditions. A plant’s microbiome, especially the underground, plays a significant role in its growth and development and mitigates environmental stresses. Idaho and Utah are particularly challenging environments due to extreme temperatures and arid soil. However, despite these difficult environmental factors, the native plants of Utah and Idaho can thrive. Here, we are exploring the rhizosphere microbiome of Shepherdia x utahensis ‘Torrey,’ a hybrid of two highly drought-tolerant buffaloberry species, S. argentea and S. rotundifolia native to the Intermountain West region of the US to isolate plant growth promoting bacteria. In this study, we isolated drought-resistant plant growth-promoting microbes from the rhizosphere of hybrid buffaloberry. Root samples of hybrid buffaloberry were collected from three locations in Utah: the USU campus, Greenville Farm USU, and the USU botanical garden, Kaysville. The rhizosphere was removed from these root samples and pooled together. The bacteria were isolated on five different bacterial growth media twice. The isolated microbes were then purified using the streak plate method. Forty-six unique isolates were selected based on morphological characteristics and tested for four plant growth-promoting traits. Fourteen bacteria could show the ability to fix nitrogen fix, 18 produced a siderophore, 17 could solubilize phosphate, and 11 produced catalases. IAA production, ACC deaminase, and protease activity assays are in progress. All isolates will be identified by 16S rRNA Sanger sequencing.

Authors: Alexander Everett, David Bean, Jeremy W Bakelar, Randy L Klabacka. Mentors: Randy L Klabacka. Insitution: Utah Tech University. β-barrel assembly machinery (BAM) is a protein complex vital to cell survival in gram-negative bacteria that functions to insert proteins into the cell’s outer membrane. BamA, a protein composed of a membrane-bound beta barrel and several POTRA domains that protrude into the cytosol, is the primary subunit within BAM. It is suggested that BamA is conserved due to its widespread presence across the bacterial tree of life. Here we quantify the conservancy of BamA in 142 species of gram-negative bacteria from across the bacterial tree of life, with a focus on 120 species belonging to the order Enterobacterales. In addition, we compared the conservancy of BamA with other proteins with high and moderate levels of conservation in Enterobacterales. Lastly, we discuss regions of BamA that are of high conservation in the context of their potential as antibiotic targets.

Authors: Kylie Hansen. Mentors: Janis Boettinger. Insitution: Utah State University. Cache Valley, Utah, has unique soils due to environmental events such as Pleistocene pluvial Lake Bonneville. This lake extended about 20,000 square miles in Northern Utah, and its depletion left numerous shorelines, the most relevant being the Bonneville and Provo shorelines. These various water levels influence the geological formations in Cache Valley and the different characteristics of soil formation. An important soil-forming factor used to characterize varying soils is the parent material. Parent material is the original sediments the soil formed on and can be various things such as sediments deposited by gravity, streams, lake sediments, or wind. These different materials depend on the location and alter the soil properties. A dominant soil parent material in the Lake Bonneville area is sediment deposited by this lake. This type of parent material is identifiable by coarser-sized sediments, such as cobbles, gravel, and sand. This pattern is evident on terraces in Cache Valley’s lower soil layers, but the near-surface layers have fewer rock fragments and more fine sand, silt, and clay. This distinct difference in particle size leads to the question of what is the parent material source in the surface horizons of soil formed in Lake Bonneville deposits in Cache Valley. There is not much literature on this question and little documentation compares the soil profiles for different Lake Bonneville terrace levels (Bonneville shoreline compared to Provo shoreline). We hypothesize that the different particle sizes of parent material in the surface of soils formed dominantly in Lake Bonneville deposits is eolian sediment transported and deposited by wind. To determine this, we will sample soils across Cache Valley and analyze the fine and very fine sand sediments in plane-polarized and cross-polarized light. This process will identify various minerals within each soil horizon, showing possible differences in the upper and lower horizons. The minerals present in each soil will indicate the parent materials, allowing us to understand what is causing the different textured horizons in these soils and where the sediment originated from.

Authors: Reagan McKee, Vicente Fernández Lara, Jeremy Bakelar, Randy Klabacka, Dustin Kolste. Mentors: Randy Klabacka. Insitution: Utah Tech University. The capability to survive freezing temperatures is of crucial importance to ectothermic organisms inhabiting cold climates. The mechanisms that have evolved to minimalize the cellular damage incurred by freezing are of interest due to their applications in agriculture and medicine. fr10 is a gene identified in the wood frog (Rana sylvatica)that has been shown to reduce the cellular damage sustained in freezing temperatures. To date, fr10 has not been identified in any taxa beyond R. sylvatica and as such, the evolution of this novel gene remains ambiguous. Furthermore, the exact mechanism by which fr10 reduces freezing related damage has yet to be determined. We use bioinformatics scripts to scan 38 frog genomes to identify orthologs in divergent frog lineages across varying elevational and latitudinal gradients and examine the evolution of this novel gene. Understanding the evolutionary and ecological context of this gene can elucidate its function and may inform commercial and medical applications.

Authors: Grace Moore. Mentors: Aaron Olsen. Insitution: Utah State University. AbstractAnimal care technicians for research labs have many responsibilities in order to maintain the integrity of a research project. However, it is difficult to determine what tasks will require most of a technician’s time and effort. Thus, it is proposed that tracking what each individual does during a given shift can allow supervisors and technicians to create an efficient schedule of how they will work and provide a standard for individuals to meet every day. This project consists of tracking in detail what an animal care technician does in a given “shift”, including observation hours, handling and restraining, working in different biosafety levels, cleaning and prepping caging, and changing the caging. This data collection, over several months of work, finds relationships between tasks, the frequencies of being completed, and the time they take. The key tasks of an animal care technician are observing, providing nourishment, maintaining clean environments for both the researchers and the subjects, and maintaining supplies and accurate records. Additionally, many hours are dedicated solely to observing the animals to ensure their health and safety. Moreover, cleaning and prepping of caging or supplies are completed more than half of the time during a given shift. Finally, working with a given species may require more time to complete a task (such as cage changing or cage preparation) compared to another species despite the task being the same. If each technician were to track their tasks and create a profile of personal statistics, they would be able to easily determine how long a task should take. Moreover, a supervisor would be able to determine if a technician is working more efficiently or even falling behind during daily tasks. Overall, these findings could be used to incorporate better time management or planning for institutions to know what more time or resources may need to be devoted to in order to maintain a safe environment, provide exceptional care for the subjects, and follow every protocol.

Authors: Justin Hawkins, Charley Beck. Mentors: Alex Tye. Insitution: Utah Tech University. This study aims to address a critical gap in our understanding of the geological history and tectonic evolution of the Andes mountain range in Argentina. The Andes were formed due to a convergent boundary between the Nazca and South American plates. We are interested in the history of this boundary and how these mountains were formed. To better constrain the history of crustal deformation in NW Argentina, we collected samples from the Sierra de Chango Real, located south and along-strike of the Eastern Cordillera, and conducted new apatite (U-Th)/He dating on these samples. We combined new apatite (U-Th)/He data with the existing apatite fission-track data to gain a more comprehensive perspective on the geological evolution of the region.Apatite (U-Th)/He ages for new samples from the Sierra de Chango Real are between 6.3 and 17.6 Ma. These ages indicate Miocene exhumation of the Sierra de Chango Real due to tectonic deformation. Also, the distribution of these ages within the samples offers valuable information regarding variations in uplift rates and thermal events, which contribute to a better understanding of the geological processes that have shaped the Andes mountains. Published apatite fission track ages from the same locations have ages of 38 Ma to 30 Ma. Together, the thermochronometric ages suggest a history of tectonic exhumation from 38 Ma until ca. 6 Ma. In conclusion, our current study and analysis of samples taken from Sierra de Chango Real, Argentina, in conjunction with published apatite fission-track data, contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the region's geological history.

Authors: Amy Richards, Caleb Shelton, Jordan Colmenero, Mason Warenski. Mentors: Diana Reese. Insitution: Utah Tech University. Hydrogen gas has potential to be an excellent form of clean energy; unfortunately, hydrogen gas is difficult to store safely in its elemental form. Consequently, this research project investigated cyclic aminoborane complexes in which hydrogen (H2) can be safely stored. Utilizing computational methods, molecular dynamics simulations of four cyclic aminoborane compounds were performed using Q-CHEM 6.0, with a t-HCTHh density functional and cc-pVDZ basis set. Results were visualized using Molden 6.7 and VMD 1.9.3 then plotted using Gnuplot 5.2.8. Molecules selected for the investigation involve two constitutional isomers for both the 3- and 4- membered ring cyclic aminoborane complexes. The four molecules studied were (CH2)2NHBH3, (CH2)2BHNH3, (CH2)3NHBH3, and (CH2)3BHNH3, (hereafter 3N-B, 3B-N, 4N-B, 4B-N). Motions inherent in these molecules exhibited surprising differences. Specifically, in the 3-membered rings, the terminal borane (3N-B) exhibited more motion than the terminal amine (3B-N); however in the 4-membered rings (4N-B and 4B-N) the opposite occurred. Differences in these and other motions were quantified and qualified with respect to each molecule to gather data relevant to hydrogen storage potential.

Authors: Alyssa Muller, Russ Ross. Mentors: Russ Ross. Insitution: Utah Tech University. University course timetabling assigns rooms and times to courses, considering instructor availability, curriculum conflicts, and quality of life considerations. Computing an optimal solution is computationally intractable. Researchers have refined approximation algorithms that yield far better results than the conventional pencil-and-paper approach used at many universities, including our own. Transitioning to an automated system can be disruptive and poses both real and perceived risks to an institution. The implicit knowledge that humans bring to the problem is hard to fully capture within formal rules that a computer can understand. Our research addresses the impedance mismatch between abstract solutions and the messy real world.In this project we build on prior research to fit the specific needs of our university. We will pilot our system with a set of departments in parallel with the traditional by hand process. We will analyze outcome quality through subjective assessment and quantitative comparison between human and machine generated timetables.

Authors: Ashley Staten. Mentors: Jennifer Meyer. Insitution: Utah Tech University. Pterostilbene, a natural product found in blueberries and nuts, has been shown to be multifunctional. In low doses, it has been shown to be a potent antioxidant, while in higher doses, it has been shown to reduce cell proliferation, induce autophagy, and increase apoptosis. Recent literature has indicated that derivatives of pterostilbene can improve the functionality of pterostilbene in both cancer cell viability (reduction) and antioxidant capacity (increase). Previously, our group has synthesized and characterized the antioxidant capacity of a select group of pterostilbene derivatives, which have been functionalized to contain an additional alcohol and amine group. Most recently, we have synthesized a derivative containing benzylamine as the amine. This amine was chosen as benzylamine and drugs functionalized with benzylamine groups have been shown to have antiapoptotic properties. Currently, we aim to further characterize this novel pterostilbene derivative as we believe it has the potential to be utilized as a therapeutic in various disease states such as cancer and type 2 diabetes.