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Scholars are generally aware of a lack of citizen knowledge about politics in the United States. One commonly suggested remedy is the production of nonpartisan voter guides to provide voters a simple and low-cost information source to help inform voters. One of the more significant variations across states is whether the voter guide is provided in a hard-copy format or distributed on the internet. This paper explores the results of a randomized controlled trial comparing a group of registered voters in Utah who received a hard-copy of a paper voter guide against a group registered voters who received a postcard inviting them to view their voter guide online. Results show few statistically significant differences between the paper guide group and the postcard group in knowledge and turnout, and those that are observed slightly favor the postcard/online group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses how the proposed Kaiparowits power plant in Utah during the mid-1960s failed to materialized. Location of the plant; Plant's proximity to several national parks and monuments; Role of the politics of environmentalism in the demise of the power plant plan.

The article focuses on the periodical "Daily Universe," which is operated as a laboratory newspaper to train students for journalism careers at Brigham Young University in Utah. The newspaper was applauded throughout the university community for publishing more news. The paper had been staffed mostly by students interested in journalism as a hobby and a few journalism majors. The faculty members associated with the paper are members of the Department of Communications.

Mission statements and public statements of values are widely recognized as important for educational improvement, even if often ignored. The mission statements and supporting documents of Utah's 41 school districts were analyzed to locate prominent themes and significant omissions. An unexpected and disturbing neglect of democratic citizenship aims was found. Recognizing democracy is a complex educational ideal, the author argues for refocusing mission aims on the distinctive qualities of democracy as a way of life to be lived in schools by identifying for both modeling and practice across the curriculum the distinctive manners of democracy beginning with but moving beyond voice and listening.

Discusses information on a proposal for the classification of neuropsychiatric disturbance in patients with Alzheimer's disease. Method of empirical categorization of disturbances; Comparison of the frequency of individual neuropsychiatric symptoms with or without dementia based on the Cache County study of memory and aging in Utah; List of the proposed diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer's disease-associated neuropsychiatric disturbance; Relevance of the proposed criteria to clinical research and practice.

The article discusses a study which describes the Multi-Angle Snowflake Camera (MASC) instrument for capturing hydrometeors in freefall. The study involves stereoscopic photographs captures by continous measurements from high altitude location in Wasatch Front in Utah for two months. It also illustrates the importance of MASC in refining microwave scattering calculations.

This paper identifies several kinds of heterogeneity in nonuse values using a contingent choice experiment about two national parks in Utah. Heterogeneity has potentially important implications for national park management. When management resources are scarce, park characteristics that generate more nonuse values deserve more protection. Heterogeneity by location implies that management decisions appropriate for one park can't be adopted in other parks without careful consideration. Heterogeneity of nonuse values across individual matters is potentially important for political, equity, or justice reasons. Heterogeneity by type of nonuse value matters for management, too: existence values have different implications than bequest values since the latter still are generated by (future) visitation. The contingent choice experiment used in this paper asks respondents to compare different potential future scenarios for management of either Zion or Arches National Park. Each scenario is made up of potential changes to seven attributes: wilderness protection, educational outreach, animal conservation, plant conservation, visitation levels, cultural/historical preservation, and an annual tax payment. Respondents' rankings are used to estimate mixed logit models. In addition, respondents are asked to report what percentage of the nonuse value they receive from each attribute is due to bequest values versus existence values. These importance weights are used to indicate heterogeneity directly and also to investigate whether they influence the nonuse values generated by each attribute. Results indicate that the kinds of heterogeneity of nonuse values most important for managers are by attribute and by park. Heterogeneity across individuals and heterogeneity across types of nonuse values seem to exist, but they are mostly unrelated to observable individual characteristics which makes them of less practical importance to park management. Based on this paper's results, park managers in the two Utah parks studied should put the most emphasis on management decisions and visitor activities that affect wilderness protection and on animal and plant conservation efforts. Existence values seem to be more important to nonusers in general than do bequest values, so managers need to protect park resources for their own sakes, even if this reduces the enjoyment of current and future visitors. But results differ considerable between the two parks, indicating that results from one park can't necessarily inform management decisions in other parks. This caution extends to the whole National Park System: the particular characteristics of each national park need to inform decisions there, though consideration of nonuse values is no doubt important for every park. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advances and cost reductions in Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensor technology have allowed for their implementation in detecting vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians at signalized intersections. Most LiDAR use cases have focused on safety analyses using its high-fidelity tracking capabilities. This study presents a methodology to transform LiDAR data into localized, verified, and linear-referenced trajectories to derive Purdue Probe Diagrams (PPDs). The following four performance measures are then derived from the PPDs: arrivals on green (AOG), split failures (SF), downstream blockage (DSB), and control delay level of service (LOS). Noise is filtered for each detected vehicle by iteratively projecting each sample's future location and keeping the subsequent sample that is close enough to the estimated destination. Then, a far side is defined for the analyzed intersection's movement to linear reference sampled trajectories and to remove those that do not cross through that point. The technique is demonstrated by using over one hour of LiDAR data at an intersection in Utah to derive PPDs. Signal performance is then estimated from these PPDs. The results are compared to those obtained from comparable PPDs derived from connected vehicle (CV) trajectory data. The generated PPDs from both data sources are similar, with relatively modest differences of 1% AOG and a 1.39 s/veh control delay. Practitioners can use the presented methodology to estimate trajectory-based traffic signal performance measures from their deployed LiDAR sensors. The paper concludes by recommending that unfiltered LiDAR data are used for deriving PPDs and extending the detection zones to cover the largest observed queues to improve performance estimation reliability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the issues of microfilm, paper and optical character recognition in newspaper digitization. The Marriott Library at the University of Utah has a long history of large-scale newspaper projects beginning with the National Endowment for the Humanities' United States Newspapers Program in the 1980s, in which the library led the effort to catalog and microfilm Utah newspapers. The involvement continues with the Utah Digital Newspaper (UDN) program, which is digitizing historic Utah newspapers, making them searchable and available on the Internet. With the first of three Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grants, the Marriott Library digitized 30 years of three weekly newspapers in 2002. During the first phase of the program, the newspaper digitization process was developed and the UDN Web site was launched with some 30,000 total pages. A second LSTA grant, which ran from January-September 2003, digitized 106,000 new pages, effectively quadrupling the collection. In addition, the grant also funded a project director to run day-to-day operations and secure ongoing funding, and funded a publicity campaign to insure broad knowledge of the program across the state.

North American Weather Consultants, Inc. (NAWC) has conducted operational winter cloud seeding programs in the mountainous areas of Central/Southern Utah since 1974. Beginning in 1988, seeding has also been conducted in three additional mountainous target areas within the State. The goal of these programs has been to enhance winter snowpack accumulation in the target areas, which now include most of the mountainous areas of the State. Studies have demonstrated that a large majority of the annual runoff in Utah streams and rivers is derived from melting snowpack, which explains the focus on wintertime seeding (within the November - April period). Augmented water supplies are typically used for irrigated agriculture or municipal water supplies. Programs are typically funded at the county level with cost sharing grants from the Utah Division of Water Resources (UDWR) and the three Lower Colorado River Basin States of Arizona, California, and Nevada, since 2007. An earlier NAWC WMA paper provided a summary of seeding operations for the water years of 1974 through 2007 for the four target areas. This paper is focused on the Central/Southern Utah program which is both the largest target area and the longest running program in the State. It covers all but four water years from 1974 through 2021 and is one of the three or four longest operational winter cloud seeding programs that have been conducted in the United States. The target area encompasses several mountain ranges in Central/Southern Utah. NAWC has defined the target area boundaries as those locations that are above 7,000 feet MSL. This is a large area of approximately 10,000 square miles. Cloud seeding is accomplished using networks of ground-based, manually operated silver iodide nuclei generators located in valley or foothill locations upwind of the intended target mountain barriers. As such, these programs are classified as orographic winter cloud seeding programs. Orographic winter cloud seeding programs are typically categorized as those with the highest level of scientific support based upon capability statements of such organizations as the American Meteorological Society and the Weather Modification Association. NAWC historical target and control evaluations of this program indicate an average increase in December - March target area precipitation of 12% or an average increase in precipitation of 1.3 inches. These results were significant at the 0.06 level from a one-tailed Student's t-test. The UDWR has conducted periodic studies to estimate the increases in annual streamflow resulting from the estimated increases in April 1st snow water content produced by this seeding program. The most recent study (2018) indicated an estimated average annual streamflow increase of 83,654 acre-feet for the Central/Southern Utah target area. Factoring in the cost of conducting this program resulted in an estimate of the average cost of the augmented runoff to be $2.02 per acre-foot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global COVID-19 pandemic has had a great impact on transportation across the United States. However, there is a lack of studies investigating the pandemic's impact on vehicular traffic at the later stage of the pandemic. Therefore, this paper studies the change of freeway traffic patterns in two metropolitan counties in the State of Utah at the latter stage of the pandemic. We found that with the relaxation of travel restriction and the COVID vaccine, vehicular traffic has recovered to equaling, if not exceeding, pre-pandemic levels. Truck traffic is higher than the pre-pandemic level due to the growth of online shopping and on-demand delivery. To help responsive agencies to prepare for the near-future traffic pattern, a traffic prediction model based on an innovative approach integrating machine learning with graph theory is proposed. The evaluation shows that the proposed prediction model has a desirable performance. The mean absolute percentage prediction error is between 0.38% and 1.74% for different jurisdictions. On average, the modal outperforms the traditional long short-term memory model by 31.20% in terms of root mean squared prediction error. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper demonstrates a new water end-use disaggregation and classification tool that builds on existing end-use disaggregation studies and addresses the unavailability of code and data used by prior studies. The tool was developed in Python and can be accessed via any current Python programming environment. The base disaggregation and classification model for the tool was developed and tested on high-temporal-resolution data for a single home at which manually labeled end-use event data were also collected. The tool was then applied to four additional homes selected from a larger data set for 31 homes located in the cities of Logan and Providence, Utah, to demonstrate the generalizability of the tool. At homes for which no manually labeled end-use data are available, the tool's base model is extended through a self-learning procedure that trains the model for an individual home using end-use events identified at that home. Results from homes with different meter types and sizes are presented to demonstrate the ability of the tool to disaggregate and classify high-temporal-resolution data into individual end-use events. The results of this paper are reproducible using openly available code and data, representing an accessible platform for advancing end-use disaggregation tools. The tool can be adapted to specific research needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little evidence is available about nurses’ use of electronic tools during handoffs. This qualitative study explored information management and use of electronic tools during nursing handoffs. The sample included 93 handoffs by 26 nurses on 5 medical/surgical units in 2 western hospitals with a robust electronic health record (EHR). Data collection included audiotaping handoffs, semi-structured interviews, observations, and fieldnotes. The dataset was inductively coded into 33 categories and 5 themes: good nurse expectations for handoffs, paper forms are best, information at a glance, only pertinent information please, and information tools that work. Two-thirds of the nurses abandoned use of the leadership-endorsed electronic handoff form, preferring personal paper forms. The findings suggest effective electronic solutions will require extensive contextually-based information, information integrated across EHR modules and portable, electronic support throughout shifts. This is a call to action for leaders and informaticists as they select and design future electronic tools. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of this study was to increase awareness of the unique professional journey of female high school principals in Utah and to potentially adjust the male-gendered lens through which such leadership positions have traditionally been viewed. A narrative, phenomenological qualitative research approach was used to gather and analyze the career journeys of six female high school principals in Utah. Our findings indicated that female high school principals in Utah have experienced barriers similar to those identified in the relevant literature. Mentored support and examples of inclusive leadership practices assisted these women in moving through and beyond these barriers. Themes included expectations for female high school principals to act more like moms, failure to be recognized as the principal, perceptions of female leadership as unnatural, a woman's voice not being heard, coaching as an effective career move for men, men freely talking down to women, not considering women for advancement, career-limiting stereotypes, women having to work harder, and the impact of mentors. We suggest that the simple sharing of rich narratives like those in this paper can invite administrators and policy makers to develop an awareness of the unique experiences of female high school principals and facilitate a reconceptualization of the high school principalship both in terms of theory as well as policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines school leaders' evasive attitudes towards race in Salt Lake City (SLC), Utah, between 1969 and 1975. Salt Lake's unique demographic status as predominantly white and Mormon underscored elements of white anti-Black racism under the guise of innocence. Utilizing critical whiteness theory and historical inquiry to analyze archival documents and interviews, I highlight one white superintendent, Arthur Wiscombe, and his failed attempts to confront anti-Blackness in schools as he navigated his conflicting values of racial justice, good intentions, and white Niceness. Framing the past as prologue, I uncover the historical legacy of white supremacy's influence on local school policies and leaders' actions, and make explicit connections to the repetition of these patterns today. Contemporary iterations of white supremacy rely on the same tools of whiteness used during intense periods of integration and racial awareness in Salt Lake City in the 1960s and 1970s. I conclude that white educational leaders must look more closely at the 'nice', color-evasive discourse that enables them to maintain power and privilege in their communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Building upon the positive findings from culturally sustaining pedagogical studies, this paper explores how culturally sustaining approaches might operate on an organizational level. Examined in the context of dual language bilingual education (DLBE), this paper proposes a conceptually and empirically-guided culturally and linguistically sustaining school leadership approach (CLSL) as one option for researchers and practitioners to reimagine schools to be more affirming and sustaining for Students of Color (SOC). Research Methods: This project employed a constant comparative analysis across case studies to describe and compare culturally and linguistically sustaining mindsets and practices of DLBE principals in the state of Utah (Miles et al., 2014). Data collection involved participant methods and data analysis was completed through cycles of inductive and deductive qualitative coding. Findings and Implications: The study unveiled four leadership dimensions – cultivating critical consciousness for self and community, fostering a culturally and linguistically sustaining school climate, supporting culturally sustaining pedagogies, and enacting democratic structures— that operated in tandem to configure a culturally and linguistically sustaining school leadership. The themes bridge existing literature to define culturally sustaining tenets represented in the leadership role by describing ways principals reimagined schools to benefit SOC rather than solely responding to students' identities and maintaining assimilative student outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to reproductive health care varies widely depending on state and demographics. In Utah, there are major barriers to accessing these services due to state laws and gaps in Medicaid. This paper discusses the current landscape of reproductive rights in Utah, including access to contraception, sexual education policies, and the harms of the divisive pro-choice versus pro-life debate. Additionally, this paper discusses prior Utah-based contraceptive access demonstration projects that have shown the need for an expansion of equitable access to these services. These projects include HER Salt Lake Contraceptive Initiative and the Family Planning Elevated Contraceptive Access Program, both conducted by the University of Utah Family Planning Division and the Planned Parenthood Association of Utah. Finally, this paper offers recommendations for the improvement of access to contraception based on the literature review and demonstration projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a historically significant voter turnout gap between disabled and non-disabled voters in the United States. Current legislation targeting disability and voting mainly focuses on in-person voting, but even with this legislation in effect there are substantial disparities. Vote-by-mail policies tend to be preferred by disabled voters; further, disabled voters are more likely to use mail-in voting methods than nondisabled voters. This paper highlights accessibility barriers to voting processes by analyzing previously published research and examining stories of disabled voters shared online. This paper also suggests a variety of policy solutions that can be addressed across the nation and in Utah to make voting more accessible in efforts to close the turnout gap between disabled and nondisabled voters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Kiva is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Forum papers are thought-provoking opinion pieces or essays founded in fact, sometimes containing speculation, on a civil engineering topic of general interest and relevance to the readership of the journal. The views expressed in this Forum article do not necessarily reflect the views of ASCE or the Editorial Board of the journal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Probiotics (pro-for and bio- health) from yogurt are one of the most effective means to stimulate and strengthen the immune system. They help balance and regulate the digestive system, as well as preserve and enrich the gut microbiome. Maintaining a healthy gut microbiome is crucial for human health and well-being, especially for astronauts living in confined and stressful environments, such as those on a mission to Mars. One way to promote gut microbiome diversity is through diet, and Bulgarian yogurt (kiselo mlyako in Bulgarian: киceлo млякo) made with Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus has shown positive effects on gut health. This paper explores the potential of regular production and consumption of gut-beneficial foods, such as yogurt, during space travel. It analyses whether the dietary limitations and challenges in providing varied and fresh food for astronauts could be addressed through the addition and daily consumption of Bulgarian yogurt. To investigate this, we conducted an experiment with a team of analog astronauts participating in a two-week analog mission in a closed, Mars-like environment at the Mars Desert Research Station in the Utah desert, the USA. In compliment to all recognized health effects of yogurt, the analog astronauts reported that it can be easily prepared and had a positive effect on their overall well-being and gut health. Our study demonstrated the feasibility of incorporating freshly made yogurt into the astronauts' diet and its potential to significantly contribute to achieving good health and well-being, which is an important goal in the colonization of other planets, such as Mars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Western North American Naturalist is the property of Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Early Cretaceous is an important time of transition in Earth history, marked by a succession of oceanic anoxic events and carbon cycle perturbations that drove changes on land and in the ocean. The need for more precise geochronologic constraints in terrestrial sediments of Early Cretaceous age that record faunal and floral transitions is especially critical. The Cedar Mountain Formation (CMF) is a continental lithostratigraphic unit that hosts a trove of paleoclimate archives and important dinosaurian fossil localities. Determining the timing of deposition of CMF strata has been an ongoing effort for many years. Here, we present new lithostratigraphic and carbon isotope chemostratigraphic data along with high‐precision radiometric ages to further constrain the Ruby Ranch Member of the CMF at a unique locality referred to as "Lake Carpenter," where a thick section of dominantly lacustrine strata overlies fluvial‐overbank to palustrine strata more typical of other Ruby Ranch Member outcrops. A bentonite bed near the base of the section provides one of the most precise ages yet determined within the Ruby Ranch Member of 115.92 ± 0.14 Ma via CA‐ID‐TIMS U‐Pb analysis of zircons. The age and the trends in the carbon isotope record indicate that the Lake Carpenter sediments were deposited entirely within the late Aptian Stage. These unique new data provide an important step toward improving our understanding of the timing of Early Cretaceous evolutionary and paleoclimate events. Plain Language Summary: This paper presents a new continental record from the Aptian Stage of the Cretaceous, roughly 116 million years ago. The record comes from a series of sedimentary rocks near Moab, Utah. The sedimentary rocks provide evidence of carbon cycle perturbations and environmental change as recorded by long‐lived lake sediment deposition as well as a new precise age to constrain the timing of the deposit. Key Points: New high precision radiometric age within the Ruby Ranch Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation of 115.92 ± 0.14 MaData constrain the age of important transitions in dinosaur and other terrestrial fauna and flora in North AmericaTerrestrial evidence of Aptian Carbon Cycle Perturbations namely the Jacob Event [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In 2015, Utah enacted the first white-collar crime (WCC) registry. Similar to sex offender registries, this registry provides demographic information to the public. Utah's law includes convicted offenders of second-degree felonies for a variety of non-violent, financial crimes, including securities fraud, insurance fraud and theft by deception (H.B. 378, 2015). The purpose of this paper is to examine the perceptions of this new registry. Design/methodology/approach: A survey was built in 2016 to better understand the perceptions of said WCC registry. This paper considers the relationships between demographic variables, fear of crime and support for Utah's WCC registry using data from over 968 university students in Utah. Findings: The authors find strong support for the registry, with 76% of the sample supporting its implementation. Only one variable, social political affiliation, was significant. Those who defined themselves as social strong liberals were more likely to select somewhat support rather than definitely support the registry. Originality/value: This is the first paper that we know of to examine support for a WCC registry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Wasatch Front in Utah, USA is currently a non-attainment area for ozone according to the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). Nitrogen oxides (NOx = NO2 + NO) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the presence of sunlight lead to ozone formation in the troposphere. When the rate of oxidant production, defined as the sum of O3 and NO2, is faster than the rate of NOx production, a region is said to be NOx-limited and ozone formation will be limited by the concentration of NOx species in the region. The inverse of this situation makes the region VOC-limited. Knowing if a region is NOx-limited or VOC-limited can aid in generating effective mitigation strategies. Understanding the background or regional contributions to ozone in a region, whether it be from the transport of precursors or of ozone, provides information about the lower limit for ozone concentrations that a region can obtain with regulation of local precursors. In this paper, measured oxidant and NOx concentrations are analyzed from 14 counties in the state of Utah to calculate the regional and local contributions to ozone for each region. This analysis is used to determine the nature of the atmosphere in each county by determining if the region is VOC- or NOx-limited. Furthermore, this analysis is performed for each county for the years 2012 and 2022 to determine if there has been a change in the oxidative nature and quantify the regional and local contributions to ozone over a 10-year period. All studied counties—except for Washington County—in Utah were found to be VOC-limited in 2012. This shifted in 2022 to most counties being either in a transitional state or being NOx-limited. Local contributions to ozone increased in two major counties, Cache and Salt Lake Counties, but decreased in Carbon, Davis, Duchesne, Uinta, Utah, Washington, and Weber Counties. Generally, the regional contributions to oxidant concentrations decreased across the state. A summertime spike in both regional and local contributions to oxidants was seen. Smoke from wildfires was seen to increase the regional contributions to oxidants and shift the local regime to be more NOx-limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates spatiotemporal dynamics of the effects of urban form on the Covid-19 spread within local communities in Salt Lake County, Utah, in the United States. We identify three types of communities—minority, traditional urban and suburban, and new suburban—and three stages throughout March 2020—September 2021, reflecting the initial, outbreak, and recovery stages. While the traditional urban and suburban communities experience the least risk of Covid-19, minority communities are severely impacted in the initial and outbreak stages, and remote suburban communities are primarily affected in the outbreak and recovery stages. The regression further reveals the role of urban form in the pandemic. High-density urban land use is the main density factor contributing to the disease's spread. In the initial stage, mobility factors such as street connectivity and walkability contribute to the local spread, while land use mixture is the catalyst in the outbreak stage. A comprehensive compact development might offset these negative effects on local public health, and its contribution to local resilience in the recovery stage is also confirmed. Thus, compact development is still valuable for building urban resilience, and proper planning and policies can offset the potential adverse effects of pandemics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the Utah—Qinghai Eco‐Partnership (UQEP), a joint program between the Utah, United States and the Qinghai Province, located in Western China. This unique collaboration supports research, academic exchange, and professional capacity building related to water resource utilization, wetland protection, and national park sustainability. This paper illustrates what the UQEP, and Utah‐Qinghai State‐Province Relationship (UQSR) has achieved among Eco‐Partnership peers in the past decade. Through a review of the UQEP, we identify major factors that have contributed to this relationship including protected areas such as the Sanjiangyuan National Park, located in Qinghai Province (China's first National Park), the Giant Panda National Park, located in Sichuan Province, and the Shanxi Province, noted for its rich coal deposits. Lastly, we explain how this multi‐stakeholder effort (e.g., government agencies, academic institutions, and private enterprise) and UQEP's priority programs have forged creative outcomes at the completion of the partnership in 2016. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on 2013 The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society-sponsored upcoming meetings and calls for papers including Integrated Computational Materials Eengineering on July 7-10 in Salt Lake City, Utah, the 8th Pacific Rim International Conference on Advanced Materials and Processing on August 4-9 in Waikoloa, Hawaii, and Nanoscale Multilayers' 2013 on October 1-4 in Madrid, Spain.

Modern technology threatens traditional modes of classroom assessment by providing students with automated ways to write essays and take exams. At the same time, modern technology continues to expand the accessibility of computational tools that promise to increase the potential scope and quality of class projects. This paper presents a case study where students are asked to complete a "reproducible" final project in an introductory data science course using the R programming language. A reproducible project is one where an instructor can easily regenerate the results and conclusions from the submitted materials. Experiences in two small sections of this introductory class suggest that reproducible projects are feasible to implement with only a little increase in assessment difficulty. The sample assignment presented in this paper, along with some proposed adaptations for non-data science classes, provide a pattern for directly assessing a student's analysis, rather than just the final results.

Many studies have examined individual water-saving management practices for corn (Zea mays L.), but few studies have looked at how combinations of practices might further enhance water optimization. The research objectives of this paper were to evaluate the impact of irrigation technology, irrigation rate, and crop genetics, as well as their interactions, on silage corn yield and forage quality. Trials were conducted in three Utah locations from 2019 through 2021. The results from five site-years indicated that the best water optimization practices varied by site-year. Low-elevation sprinklers commonly applied water more efficiently, with four of the five site-years having improved or equivalent yield compared to mid-elevation sprinklers. Irrigation rate reductions and yield losses were not proportional, as a 25% irrigation reduction resulted in better silage quality and a 7% average yield loss across site-years. Further, targeted deficit irrigation (less water during vegetation and more during maturation) was inferior to a uniform deficit during all growth stages. Drought-tolerant genetics often maintained but did not improve yield in extreme water stress environments compared to non-DT genetics. No cumulative benefits were observed when combining irrigation technology, rate, and DT genetics. Irrigation technology had the greatest potential of the three factors to optimize water use in silage corn production in the Western U.S. region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The 2016–2020 Utah Comprehensive Cancer Prevention and Control Plan prioritized strategies to address cancer survivorship experiences. In this paper we present estimates for nine indicators evaluating these priorities, trends over time, and assess disparities in survivorship experiences across demographic subgroups. Methods: We surveyed a representative sample of Utah cancer survivors diagnosed between 2012 and 2019 with any reportable cancer diagnosis. We calculated weighted percentages and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for each indicator. We assessed change over time using a test for trend across survey years in a logistic regression model and used Rao-Scott F-adjusted chi-square tests to test the association between demographic characteristics and each survivorship indicator. Results: Most of the 1,793 respondents (93.5%) reported their pain was under control, 85.7% rated their overall health as good, very good, or excellent, but 46.5% experienced physical, mental, or emotional limitations. Only 1.7% of survivors aged 75 or older were current smokers, compared to 5.8% of 65–74-year-olds and 7.9% of survivors aged 55–74 (p < 0.006). No regular physical activity was reported by 20.6% and varied by survivor age and education level. The proportion who received a survivorship care plan increased from 34.6% in 2018 to 43.0% in 2021 (p = 0.025). However, survivors under age 55 were significantly less likely to receive a care plan than older survivors. Conclusion: This representative survey of cancer survivors fills a gap in understanding of the cancer survivorship experience in Utah. Results can be used to evaluate and plan additional interventions to improve survivorship quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent archaeological survey disclosed a whole, S-shaped "grooved club" similar to examples from Basketmaker II contexts of the Four-Corners. It represents the farthest north example of this artifact type in the Southwest, occurring outside the traditional area of western Basketmaker II occupation. Artifacts like this were once thought to be a characteristic Basketmaker II trait of the Four Corners, but examples come from sites distributed throughout the Southwest and beyond and from temporal intervals well before and after Basketmaker II. A study of the new find promised to shed some additional light on this enigmatic artifact class by expanding the geographic range of known occurrences, providing an additional radiocarbon age estimate, and perhaps revealing new or corroborative information about use. This paper covers these aspects and more. Un estudio arqueológico reciente reveló un "mazo ranurado" completo en forma de S similar a los ejemplos de los contextos de Basketmaker II de las Cuatro Esquinas. Representa el ejemplo más al norte de este tipo de artefacto en el suroeste, que se encuentra fuera del área tradicional de ocupación occidental de Basketmaker II. Alguna vez se pensó que artefactos como este eran un rasgo característico de Basketmaker II de Four Corners, pero los ejemplos provienen de sitios distribuidos por todo el suroeste y más allá y de intervalos temporales mucho antes y después de Basketmaker II. El estudio del nuevo hallazgo prometió arrojar algo de luz adicional sobre esta enigmática clase de artefactos al expandir el rango geográfico de ocurrencias conocidas, proporcionar una estimación adicional de la edad del radiocarbono y quizás revelar información nueva o corroborativa sobre el uso. Este documento cubre estos aspectos y más. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent analyses of the Promontory Caves assemblages by Ives and colleagues (Billinger and Ives 2015; Hallson 2017; Ives 2014; Ives et al. 2014; Reilly 2015) have renewed interest in Julian Steward's (1937) hypothesis that the thirteenth century inhabitants of the Promontory Caves have ties to Northern Dene language-speakers, thus shedding new light on Dene migration and Apachean origins. These studies have largely focused on the similarities between Northern Dene and Promontory moccasins, but other artifact classes--namely fibre perishables--have yet to be examined. This paper synthesizes conclusions drawn from the author's prior research into matting and cordage recovered from the Promontory Caves in comparison to a neighboring Fremont cordage assemblage from the site of Lakeside Cave, with some suggestive differences emerging from material, structure, and knot types. These preliminary results suggest avenues for future comparative analyses of the Promontory perishable artifacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term "Western Message Petroglyphs" (WMPs) refers to a number of petroglyph sites found scattered among eight western states that are recognized by their shared image content and layout. The imagery is drawn largely from a mash-up of late historic Native American sign-gesture language and picture-writing traditions inter-mixed with pan-cultural imagery from around the world. An increasing number of sites that fit this mold have been reported over the past 85 years or so, currently numbering 39 in all. There is no question that these sites date to post-European contact based on images in some panels that depict Euro-American cultural content (e.g., western-style house, rifle, whiskey keg, horse, etc.). The post-contact era is also apparent in the method used in rendering the engraved images evidenced by the smooth angular lines and chisel strikes produced by metal tools. This paper focuses on narrowing the time frame for these sites based on two additional streams of evidence. First, patterned associations with historic landscape settings tied to the era of western expansion bind the sites together into a coherent whole and set a floor for their oldest probable dates. An example of four sites located in Utah and Arizona illustrates their connection to the last quarter of the nineteenth century and the opening years of the twentieth. Secondly, a study of their imagery supports the proposed dates by revealing a "smoking gun" for the source of many of the individual icons. An example of the methodology used to translate a Western Message Petroglyph panel is described, and a profile of the central author who appears to have acted with a small group of others is suggested in order to aid in the search for this person(s) in the historic record of the American West. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Office of the Utah State Engineer — the administrative office responsible for tracking and determining water rights in the State — has recently adopted an internal “haircut” policy that runs directly contrary to some of Utah’s long-established water rights principles. The State Engineer’s haircut policy appears to be a reaction to increasingly intense demands to free up water resources in the State. This paper analyzes this haircut policy and argues that the State Engineer should abandon its course of action due to three policy-related concerns: (1) this policy creates legal uncertainty for water right holders; (2) these “haircuts” possibly violate the Takings Clause; and (3) this policy does little to free up water for intended purposes. Instead of undermining Utah’s legal framework for water distribution, as the haircut policy does, the State should adapt and strengthen its prior appropriation system to meet the demands of emerging water- related problems. These adaptions include increasing funding for the State Engineer to administer and enforce water rights, establishing a conservation trust, and providing the State Engineer with water-shepherding powers to ensure that water is conserved and put to its intended use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Variations in water fixtures and appliances coupled with different routines and preferences of users result in high levels of variability in residential water consumption. This study assessed differences in residential water use in terms of the timing and distribution of end uses across residential properties. Past studies analyzing residential end use of water have collected data for periods of time that may prevent the observation of temporal variations in indoor and outdoor water use practices. We examined indoor and outdoor residential water use at the household level by analyzing four to 23 weeks of 4-s resolution water use data at 31 single family residential properties in Logan and Providence, Utah, between 2019 and 2021. We identified and classified end uses of water for each property and analyzed monthly water use records to understand how water use varied for users at different levels of consumption. Our results indicated that indoor water use is influenced more by frequency of use than by the characteristics of water fixtures. At sites with longer data collection periods, indoor water use volume, timing, and distribution across end uses varied across homes and across weeks for which we collected data, indicating that short duration data collection intervals used by past studies may not have adequately characterized these variables. The paper presents opportunities to conserve water indoors and outdoors by adopting more efficient fixtures (particularly toilets) and promoting conservation behaviors. All the data and tools used in this study are freely available online for reuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In March 2020, the global health emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic brought about significant changes in classrooms around the world. This paper is part of a larger study that investigated how Utah teachers across the state adapted to technology integration during that period. Specifically, we present interview findings from ten teachers in Utah, which we analyzed using open and axial coding. The study identified four distinct challenges that teachers faced at the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak: increased stress, difficulties in transitioning to digital formats, Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) dissonance, and students' lack of technological knowledge. As a result, teachers began to reassess their pedagogical approaches and incorporate greater care for themselves and their students. In terms of technology, teachers reported an increased willingness to utilize technology and videoconferencing, as well as a shift toward digital formats and platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Instabilities, Dynamics, and Energetics accompanying Atmospheric Layering (IDEAL) program was conceived to improve understanding of the dynamics of thin strongly stratified "sheet" and deeper weakly stratified "layer" (S&L) structures in the lower troposphere under strongly stable conditions. The field portion of the IDEAL program was conducted from 24 October to 15 November 2017 at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, to target nighttime lower troposphere S&L conditions. It employed a synergistic combination of observations by multiple simultaneous DataHawk-2 (DH2) small unmanned aircraft systems (sUASs) and concurrent ground-based profiling by the NCAR Earth Observing Laboratory Integrated Sounding System (ISS) comprising a wind profiler radar and hourly high-resolution radiosonde soundings. DH2 measurement intervals as well as vertical (∼ 2–4 km) and horizontal (∼ 5–10 km) flight trajectories were chosen based on local high-resolution weather forecasting and guided by near-real-time ISS measurements. These flights combined simultaneous vertical and slant-path profiling, and/or horizontal racetrack sampling, spanning several hours before sunrise. High-spatial- and temporal-resolution data were downlinked in real time to enable near-real-time changes in DH2 flight paths based on observed flow features. The IDEAL field program performed 70 DH2 flights on 16 d, coordinated with 93 high-resolution radiosonde soundings. In this paper, raw and derived measurements from this campaign are outlined, and preliminary analyses are briefly described. This data set, along with "quick look" figures, is available for access by other researchers, as described herein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the U.S., means-tested cash, in-kind assistance, and social insurance are part of a patchwork safety net, often run with substantial involvement of state and local governments. Take-up–participation among eligible persons in this system is incomplete. A large literature points to both neo-classical and behavioral science explanations for low take-up. In this paper, we explore the response of the safety net to COVID-19 using newly-collected survey data from one U.S. state–Utah. The rich Utah data ask about income and demographics as well as use of three social safety net programs which collectively provided a large share of relief spending: the Unemployment Insurance program, a social insurance program providing workers who lose their jobs with payments; the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which provides benefit cards for purchasing unprepared food at retailers; and Economic Impact Payments, which provided relatively universal relief payments to individuals. The data do not suffice to determine eligibility for all of the programs, so we focus on participation per capita. These data also collect information on several measures of hardship and why individuals did not receive any of the 3 programs. We test for explanations that differentiate need, lack of information, transaction costs/administrative burden, stigma, and lack of eligibility. We use measures of hardship to assess targeting. We find that lack of knowledge as well as difficulty applying, and stigma in the UI program each play a role as reasons for not participating in the programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many published interpretations of ancient fluvial systems have relied on observations of extensive outcrops of thick successions. This paper, in contrast, demonstrates that a regional understanding of palaeoriver kinematics, depositional setting and sedimentation rates can be interpreted from local sedimentological measurements of bedform and barform strata. Dune and bar strata, channel planform geometry and bed topography are measured within exhumed fluvial strata exposed as ridges in the Ruby Ranch Member of the Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation, Utah, USA. The ridges are composed of lithified stacked channel belts, representing at least five or six re‐occupations of a single‐strand channel. Lateral sections reveal well‐preserved barforms constructed of subaqueous dune cross‐sets. The topography of palaeobarforms is preserved along the top surface of the outcrops. Comparisons of the channel‐belt centreline to local palaeotransport directions indicate that channel planform geometry was preserved through the re‐occupations, rather than being obscured by lateral migration. Rapid avulsions preserved the state of the active channel bed and its individual bars at the time of abandonment. Inferred minimum sedimentation durations for the preserved elements, inferred from cross‐set thickness distributions and assumed bedform migration rates, vary within a belt from one to ten days. Using only these local sedimentological measurements, the depositional setting is interpreted as a fluvial megafan, given the similarity in river kinematics. This paper provides a systematic methodology for the future synthesis of vertical and planview data, including the drone‐equipped 2020 Mars Rover mission, to exhumed fluvial and deltaic strata. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we report on two surveys and offer an introductory plan that librarians may use to begin implementing mobile access to selected library databases and services. Results from the first survey helped us to gain insight into where students at Utah State University (USU) in Logan, Utah, stand regarding their use of mobile devices for academic activities in general and their desire for access to library services and resources in particular. A second survey, conducted with librarians, gave us an idea of the extent to which responding libraries offer mobile access, their future plans for mobile implementation, and their opinions about whether and how mobile technologies may be useful to library patrons. In the last segment of the paper, we outline steps librarians can take as they "go mobile." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Undergraduates, as members of the Millennial Generation, are proficient in Web 2.0 technology and expect to apply these technologies to their coursework—including scholarly research. To remain relevant, academic libraries need to provide the technology that student patrons expect, and academic librarians need to learn and use these technologies themselves. Because leaders at the Harold B. Lee Library of Brigham Young University (HBLL) perceived a gap in technology use between students and their staff and faculty, they developed and implemented the Technology Challenge, a self-directed technology training program that rewarded employees for exploring technology daily. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Technology Challenge through an analysis of results of surveys given to participants before and after the Technology Challenge was implemented. The program will also be evaluated in terms of the adult learning theories of andragogy and self-directed learning. HBLL found that a self-directed approach fosters technology skills that librarians need to best serve students. In addition, it promotes lifelong learning habits to keep abreast of emerging technologies. This paper offers some insights and methods that could be applied in other libraries, the most valuable of which is the use of self-directed and andragogical training methods to help academic libraries better integrate modern technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite lower‐than‐average total precipitation in the western states of the U.S., the 2021 "precipitation roller coaster" defined as large precipitation swings has pointed to a strong hydroclimatic intensity (HYINT). Here we examine the 2021 HYINT using an index—a product of the average precipitation intensity (INT) and dry spell length (DSL). HYINT exhibited an extremely high value in the western U.S. in 2021. INT and DSL contribute differently to the 2021 HYINT, with large spatial variability. Overall, the 2021 extreme HYINT in central California and Utah is tied more to large INT, than to DSL. Meanwhile, the historical trends in INT and DSL may have contributed to the extreme 2021 HYINT event. The fraction of attributable risk framework reveals that the 2021 extreme HYINT is more likely to occur with anthropogenic forcing (e.g., 7.3 times more likely for HYINT exceeding 1.3) than natural forcing alone. Plain Language Summary: The western U.S. is a hotspot for studying climate change impacts on the hydrological cycle. Despite lower‐than‐average total precipitation in 2021, the contrasting dryness and wetness in the western U.S. has been widely reported as a "precipitation roller coaster." In this paper we quantified the "precipitation roller coaster" using an index (hydroclimatic intensity [HYINT])—a product of average precipitation intensity during wet days and dry spell length (DSL). The study found that the 2021 extreme HYINT event was largely attributable to the combined impacts of precipitation intensity and DSL in California and Utah, with precipitation intensity playing a more important role. In contrast, the 2021 precipitation event in other western states exhibited divergent contributions from precipitation intensity and DSL. The southwestern U.S. has been identified as a hotspot for increasing HYINT, which is tied more to the increasing DSL than the precipitation intensity. The trends in DSL and precipitation intensity may have played a key role in driving the 2021 extreme HYINT event. Using climate model experiments with and without anthropogenic forcing, an extreme HYINT event in the western U.S. is more likely to occur with anthropogenic forcing. Key Points: Hydroclimatic intensity (HYINT) exhibited extremely high values in parts of the western U.S. in 2021, mainly caused by average precipitation intensityHYINT shows a significant rising trend in most of the southwestern U.S. mainly tied to a rising dry spell length trendThe extreme HYINT event is more likely to occur under anthropogenic forcing than natural forcing alone [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we report the description and evaluation of an annual workshop titled "Capacity Building Workshops for Competitive S-STEM Proposals from Two-Year Colleges in the Western U.S." which was offered in June of 2019, 2020, and 2021 with the goal of facilitating submissions to the NSF S-STEM program from 2-year colleges (2YCs). The two-day workshop was composed of separate sessions during which participants discussed several aspects of proposal preparation. Participants also received pre- and post-workshop support through webinars and office hours. To evaluate the program, post-workshop surveys were administered through Qualtrics™. The workshop and related activities received overall positive feedback with specific suggestions on how to better support participants. The paper discusses specific challenges faced by 2YC teams in preparing their proposals. Over three offerings, the program welcomed 103 participants on 51 teams from 2YCs. As of 2021, 11 teams total (from the 2019 cohort) submitted proposals. Among them, four were funded, which is approximately double the typical success rate. Six of the declined teams resubmitted and one of them is currently in negotiations.

The advent of photorealistic, 3D computer models of cliff sections (virtual outcrops) has improved the immersive nature of virtual geological field trips. As the COVID-19 pandemic led to widespread national and international travel restrictions, virtual field trips (VFTs) became practical and essential substitutes for traditional field trips and accelerated the development of VFTs based on virtual outcrop data. This contribution explores two such VFTs delivered to a masters level Integrated Petroleum Geoscience course at the University of Aberdeen. These VFTs are based on traditional field trips that are normally run to the Spanish Pyrenees and Utah (USA). The paper summarizes the delivery mechanism for VFTs based on virtual outcrops and examines student perception, gauged primarily through questionnaires and learning outcomes. The VFTs were run in LIME, a software specifically designed for the interpretation of 3D models and the delivery of VFTs. Overall, the student perception was very positive and comparable to satisfaction with the conventional trips. Staff feedback and student assessments suggest that the learning outcomes were satisfied and highlight the value of this method of teaching for students who are unable to attend the field trip and as an addition for those who can. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following paper examines the relationship of dance in Utah with its pioneer beginnings. We first look at the role of dance in the lives of the early members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who trekked west and settled in present-day Utah. Their recreative culture and doctrinal views on the body helped foster the practice of dance in their tightly knit community. Later descendants of these original pioneers carried forward the traditions of dance, reaching new levels of professionalism and performance. Although there are many contributors to dance in Utah, this paper takes a particular look at the work of Willam Christensen and Virginia Tanner as dance educators and catalysts of the perpetuation of ballet and modern dance in the Beehive State. With the legacy of these and others, Utah continues to produce professional dancers who go on to teach and perform both locally and internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While social capital has been found to play an important role in economic transactions when information is incomplete, it remains unclear how it interacts with human capital in transaction performance. This paper explores the complementarity between social affiliations and human capital in transaction performance, and how affiliations influence the match between qualified professionals and consumers. I argue that human capital is important to professional performance, but that social affiliations lead consumers to increasingly match with lower human capital professionals. Thus, while social and human capital function as complements in transaction performance, social capital can substitute for human capital in the selection process. I test my argument using a novel approach that pairs data from a primary real estate multiple listing service in Utah with hand-collected data on geographically assigned church congregation boundaries. This setting allows me to identify listings for which real estate agents and home sellers share a common church congregation, and to explore the impact of this affiliation, as well as human capital variables, on transaction outcomes. I find that agent performance improves when listing for affiliates, on average, and that gains increase with agent human capital. However, consistent with my theory, I find that sellers are more likely to use inexperienced and underqualified affiliated agents. Human capital deficiencies reduce benefits from social affiliations and lead to inferior transaction outcomes in extreme cases. This suggests a new underexplored dark side to social capital from human capital deficiencies, which is driven by the selection process under incomplete information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]