941496 research outputs found
Sort by
Learning new languages: French, expressionism, and the Grammar of the visual arts
No full texthonors thesisCollege of Fine ArtsArt & Art HistoryXi ZhangA language is like a cathedral, it changes with the centuries, is a cultural symbol of a people, its national pride; it has a foundation that is built upon, ravaged, and questioned. For my honors thesis, and as I continue to produce artwork after I graduate, I want to explore the idea of the palimpsest/pentimento as a teaching tool and language-learning as a way of progress. I believe that like morphemes in language, understanding the formal elements in art gives us new ways to communicate universal experiences to diverse audiences. I am interested in the essence of artworks and wonder if the smallest units of meaning built upon each other is where their communicative power lies. Reflection on how we got to where we are is made possible through written and archaeological evidence, and being aware of this history, making these layers of time and structure visible, helps us to understand, progress, combine, and create. Specifically, through a guided investigation of the formal qualities that are the foundations of a work of art, I revisited my capstone project (see abstract below) on the communicative advantages of visual mediums in keeping with my interest in the interdisciplinary, and studied and deconstructed my own images in hopes of making new works. I wanted to document this process of working to understand and be more aware of the parts that make the whole, as well as the symbol, in order to better learn and grow as an artist
Improving law enforcement\u27s response towards victims of sexual violence: the impact of traumatic memory
No full texthonors thesisCollege of Social & Behavioral ScienceSociology & CriminologyMelton, HeatherMemory plays a pivotal role in the criminal justice system, serving as a crucial component of evidence in numerous criminal proceedings, particularly those reliant on witness accounts, like sexually violent acts. Unfortunately, victims of sexual assault and rape often face disbelief when their memories come into question. Upon delving deeper into the existing research on traumatic memory, it becomes evident that law enforcement has misinterpreted signs of trauma, wrongly perceiving them as indicators of dishonesty among victims and dismissing their cases. However, the recent introduction of trauma-informed policing in Utah Police Departments may help police understanding and response to traumatic memory. The present study is an exploration of the perspectives and experiences of law enforcement within the Salt Lake Valley. Investigating the narrative accounts of law enforcement might enhance a deeper understanding of whether this new approach has resulted in tangible changes in policing methods and law enforcement perceptions. This inquiry aims to uncover the valuable insights and experiences that contribute to the ongoing dialogue about the effectiveness and impact of trauma-informed policing. The study interviewed three current or former detectives who have received trauma-informed training. The findings reveal that officers who have undergone this training report perceiving lower rates of false reports among victims and demonstrate a clear understanding of how trauma and traumatic memory affect victims. The detectives involved in the study noted improved victim engagement and an increased sense of empathy and understanding toward victims. Ultimately, this research supports the case for broader adoption of trauma-informed training across the United States
Identifying a hybrid sterility and segregation distortion Gene in drosophila pseudoobscura
No full texthonors thesisSchool of Biological SciencesBiologyNitin PhadnisClosely related species can sometimes produce hybrid offspring; when these hybrids exhibit sterility or even death, it is classified as hybrid incompatibility. Hybrid incompatibility can form when two or more species become geographically isolated. A physical separation can expose these discrete populations to independent evolutionary forces and if the separation is maintained for many generations, their genomes are bound to diverge from one another\u27s. If these populations encounter one another again, and enough divergence has occurred between the populations, diverged alleles can interact in a deleterious fashion, leading to phenotypes of sterility or inviability in the hybrid offspring. The introduction of deleterious interactions between two species\u27 genomes can accelerate divergence by solidifying a reproductive barrier that assists in maintaining discrete evolutionary paths, ultimately leading to these populations forming separate species. Although researchers have classified millions of organisms, and documented many accounts of hybrid incompatibilities, little is known about the molecular mechanisms that lead to sterility or inviability in the early stages of the process of speciation. One of the more salient problems of describing early mechanisms of speciation is as follows: When newly formed species continue to evolve, they will inevitably accumulate genetic differences, making it difficult to distinguish the initial genetic differences that originally led to speciation. To solve this problem would require a model system that is in the earliest identifiable stage of speciation. Fortunately, we can begin to identify these hybrid sterility genes by examining the model organism, Drosophila, fruit flies. The fruit flies, Drosophila pseudoobscura pseudoobscura (USA) and Drosophila pseudoobscura bogotana (Bogota) are subspecies of Drosophila pseudoobscura that are hypothesized to have diverged around 150 thousand years ago (Orr and Irving 2001). Interestingly, hybrids between these subspecies are not fully incompatible; F1 males generated from a USA mother and a Bogota father are fertile, whereas F1 males generated from a USA father and a Bogota mother are nearly always sterile (Prakash 1972). This indicates that reproductive isolation is incomplete and therefore makes D. pseudoobscura an excellent candidate for identifying the initial genetic variation that led to the formation of these two subspecies. This recent divergence and incomplete reproductive isolation provides the unique opportunity to attempt to fully characterize the molecular mechanisms of a hybrid incompatibility
From policy to practice: a literature review on how Utah\u27s government shapes developmental support for neurodivergent children
No full texthonors thesisCollege of EducationEducational PsychologyJulia Hood,This undergraduate thesis examines Utah\u27s early intervention system under Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), with a focus on infrastructure, accessibility, and the lived experiences of families navigating services. Drawing from a review of state documents, national policy guidance, and comparative case studies from California and Arizona, the study seeks to understand how Utah\u27s implementation aligns with the broader goals of IDEA, particularly in terms of equity, family-centered practices, and developmental prevention. While Utah has established a foundational framework for early intervention, systemic challenges remain, especially for families in rural, low-income, or linguistically diverse communities. Through a comparative lens, the dissertation explores how other states have responded to similar obstacles with varying levels of funding, policy design, and community engagement. California\u27s robust infrastructure and Arizona\u27s strategic use of federal funds and culturally responsive outreach offer instructive contrasts. The final chapters offer a set of policy recommendations for Utah grounded in developmental research and system design theory. These include expanding service reach, enhancing cross-sector coordination, embedding universal screening, and supporting family engagement. Rather than offering a definitive solution, this work invites continued reflection on how early intervention in Utah can evolve to better serve all families-and what it means to build public systems that are accessible, preventative, and humane from the very start
Economic and environmental impacts of Bears Ears National Monument
No full texthonors thesisSchool of Environment, Society & SustainabilityGeographyAlberto GarciaDesignating new tracts of protected lands as national monuments affects local communities and ecosystems. Economic analysis into these impacts has been constrained to considerations of economic variables without consideration of the effectiveness of the national monument to accomplish non-use economic goals or improve social utility outside of the local communities. Similarly, environmental analyses do not traditionally consider the relative impact of restrictive environmental policy on the potential economic outcomes of those policies. This project uses Bears Ears National Monument in Southeast Utah as a case study for comparing both environmental impacts, through the changes in different key land cover classes, and economic effects on local communities. Bears Ears National Monument has been the subject of extensive public debate surrounding its designation and size, but this has not translated to academic analysis of its impact. This project applies the synthetic control method to isolate the impacts of the national monument designation on the local community
A synopsis of America\u27s nuclear discourse: how Salt Lake\u27s radiation influences the discussion
No full texthonors thesisCollege of EngineeringCivil EngineeringEdward CazalasNuclear power has the potential to become a significant contributor to global energy production. However, one of the biggest concerns in the scientific community is the effect of increased radiation doses, particularly regarding proximity to a reactor. This study has two main objectives: first, to gain a deeper understanding of the debates circulating within the nuclear energy community; and second, to examine potential correlations in radiation readings around the Salt Lake Valley, considering factors such as proximity to a reactor, altitude, and climate conditions. The ultimate goal is to provide reassurance to the nuclear community and its critics while emphasizing the need for further research. This research aims to contribute to the development of more effective methods of energy production that leverage the strengths of nuclear power reactors. After conducting a radiation survey across various locations in the Salt Lake Valley, we found no significant correlation between background radiation levels and proximity to the nuclear reactor or known radioactive materials. Instead, we observed stronger positive correlations between radiation levels and factors such as altitude and sunny weather compared to cloud cover. These findings suggest that concerns about living near a reactor-concerns that have hindered the development of small modular reactors-may be overstated. Additionally, the public can use the data gathered from this survey to identify areas of higher radiation, providing valuable information for those concerned about potential exposure
DOS tails to Urbach tails: mitigating radiative losses in photovoltaics
No full texthonors thesisCollege of EngineeringMechanical EngineeringZlatan AkšamijaMitigating radiative losses in photovoltaics is crucial to attaining high power conversion efficiencies. Sub-bandgap absorption, often characterized by an exponential Urbach tail, is a major contributor to these losses. Previous work has shown that exponential tails in the density of states (DOS) create large Urbach energies which dramatically reduce efficiency. However, this relationship remains unexplored for other DOS shapes, such as the Gaussian DOS, commonly observed in organic materials, and for unbalanced carrier concentrations-both are critical for understanding the radiative properties of doped organic photovoltaics (OPVs). In this work, we show how the Urbach energy evolves from a generalized Gaussian DOS, finding that Gaussian tails result in significantly smaller Urbach energies than exponential tails. We then simulate the DOS of a doped polymer and show the relationship between doping and radiative efficiency for OPVs. We find that dopant-induced disorder broadens the DOS and increases the Urbach energy, while heavy doping shifts the Fermi level deep into the DOS and truncates the tail of the density of occupied states. These competing effects cause radiative efficiency to decrease initially with doping, but then recover at high concentrations. For highly disordered polymers, we find that heavy doping is optimal for radiative efficiency
Spatio-temporal models Valley fever incidence using INLA and stochastic PDE\u27s
No full texthonors thesisCollege of SciencePhysics & AstronomyKatharine WalterValley fever, caused by the Coccidioides fungus is a disease of increasing concern in the American West. Valley fever is underdiagnosed and neglected, and the ecological niche of the fungus is likely to extend in relation to anthropogenic change and a warming climate. Robust predictive models are a critical tool to inform public health intervention. This interdisciplinary thesis project aims to develop predictive models for Valley fever endemicity in the western United States. We will harness Integrated nested Laplace approximations (INLA), a versatile method for Bayesian inference. The project fundamentally connects to the field of physics through the usage of stochastic partial differential equations (SPDE). Combining INLA with a finite solution to a SPDE offers a powerful approach to spatial modeling. SPDEs have been shown to assist in two typical challenges in spatial models by creating flexible models, and models that are computationally efficient. SPDEs are commonly used in the physical sciences, for example the advection- diffusion SPDE. SPDEs allow a continuous Gaussian Random Field to be turned into a discrete Gaussian Markov Random Field, allowing for a model that uses neighborhood structure instead of a covariance function and a sparse precision matrix instead of a dense covariance matrix. We successfully implement the INLA method with SPDEs and identify areas of increased Valley fever infection risk in the American West. Additionally, we used mammal range maps as a covariate in our model and find that potential reservoir diversity is associated with risk of Coccidioides endemicity. We find that SPDE based methods of spatial modeling, and the inclusion of mammal range maps, allow for effective modeling of Coccidioides, guiding much needed public health intervention
Brine shrimp (artemia SP.) and their microbial communities: implications for the Great Salt Lake ecology and contributions to global aquaculture
No full texthonors thesisSchool of Biological SciencesBiologyJames GagnonBrine shrimp from the Great Salt Lake (GSL) in Salt Lake City, Utah, are crucial to both global aquaculture and local ecosystems. However, the GSL is undergoing significant changes in water levels and salinity due to human-induced climate change, which is affecting brine shrimp populations and ecological dynamics. This study aims to explore how changes in the GSL\u27s environment impact the microbial communities associated with brine shrimp from different salinities and rearing conditions (GSL vs. lab-grown). Microbial communities of GSL-collected and lab-reared brine shrimp were analyzed using 16S Oxford Nanopore Sequencing. The findings of this study revealed that microbial communities at the genus level differed significantly between lab-grown and GSL brine shrimp. There were no significant microbial composition differences among GSL samples from varying salinities; on the other hand, a decrease in microbial richness as salinity increased was observed. These results offer valuable insights into the microbes closely associated with brine shrimp, providing potential applications for improving aquaculture practices and enhancing our understanding of GSL microbial dynamics
Disparities in fertility treatment access: examining the utilization and success of online crowdfunding across social, economic, and geographic factors
No full texthonors thesisSchool of Biological SciencesBiologyJoemy RamsayAbout one in six adults will experience infertility, yet many remain untreated because of financial, geographic, and sociocultural barriers. The high cost of assisted reproductive technology (ART), combined with insufficient insurance coverage, drives many individuals to use online crowdfunding platforms like GoFundMe to finance fertility care. This study examines the extent to which relationship status, LGBTQ+ identity, geographic location, insurance mandates, and fertility preservation needs affect the utilization and success of fertility-related crowdfunding campaigns on GoFundMe (2013-2022). The results show that single individuals and those seeking funding for fertility preservation raised significantly more funds and attracted more donors than other groups, but were not always more likely to meet their fundraising goals. LGBTQ+ individuals were severely underrepresented in the dataset, suggesting possible systemic barriers. Campaigns from rural areas and states without mandated fertility insurance coverage were significantly less successful. Greater public awareness, targeted policy reforms, and expanded insurance mandates are needed to ensure equitable access to fertility treatment and services