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Standards and Schematics for Intelligent Extensible Mission Architectures in Space
Get PDFAs the space sector trends toward complex mission types, the demand for multi-asset, multi-generational, and multi-organizational paradigms has grown. It is critical that the spaceflight community builds the infrastructure needed to realize these mission architecture goals. To this end, we present a standard and schematic for intelligent extensible mission architectures, which will allow missions of the future to be distributed, heterogeneous, incremental, and interoperable for enhanced flexibility, adaptability, and responsiveness in space. We begin by describing a motivation for intelligent extensibility, followed by a review of related work in standards and autonomous multi-agent systems. Next, we present the theoretical definition and schematic of our standard, followed by an illustrative example and description of experimental results. We conclude with suggestions for adoption of our standards in future work
Analysis of Modifications to an Outdoor Field-Scale Rotating Algal Biofilm Reactor With a Focus on Biomass Productivity and Power Usage
Get PDFFiltrate from dewatering anaerobically digested biosolids is a side-stream of wastewater treatment that contains high concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus compounds that can serve as nutrients for cultivating microalgae biomass as biofilms for bioproduct production at Water Resource Recovery Facilities (WRRFs). One system used to cultivate attached microalgae biofilms is the rotating algal biofilm reactor (RABR). A pilot RABR with 72 m2 growth surface area, 11.5 m2 footprint area, and a liquid volume of 11,500 L was operated in an outdoor environment at the largest WRRF in Utah, U.S.A, the Central Valley Water Reclamation Facility (CVWRF). The configuration of the RABR was altered from the previous configuration with regard to temperature and duty cycle with the goal to maximize biomass productivity. Results included an increase in dry biomass productivity on a footprint basis from 8.8 g/m2/day to 26.8 g/m2/day (205%) while power requirements changed from 28.3 W to 91 W. The increase in biomass productivity has direct benefits for bioproducts including bioplastic, biofertilizer, and the extraction of lipids for conversion to biofuels
Floating and Submerged Plants of Utah: Pocket Field Guide
Get PDFThis is a field guide to identifying floating and submerged plants of Utah. We include a page for each species and also a dichotomous key at the end for the pondweeds. Submerged and floating plant species play critical roles in aquatic ecosystems. They provide habitat to aquatic organisms, improve water clarity by trapping sediment, and absorb excess nutrients from the water column, among other vital services. However, they have been threatened and degraded by pollution, land conversion, and introductions of harmful species. Identifying native and non-native plants is an important component of tackling this degradation and promoting the conservation and restoration of aquatic plant communities
Relative Vulnerability of Juvenile June Sucker to White Bass Predation in Utah Lake
Get PDFIntroduced species are one of the leading causes of native fish population declines globally, and predation by introduced species can impact native fish abundance, growth, and survival. In Utah Lake, many nonnative predators have been intentionally introduced over the past century to promote recreational fishing, including White Bass (Morone chrysops), one of the most abundant species in the system. June Suckers (Chasmistes liorus) are endemic to Utah Lake, but have experienced severe declines in abundance due to a combination of historical overexploitation, habitat degradation, and the introduction of nonnative fishes. Previous studies have indicated that first-year survivorship of June Suckers less than 100 mm is effectively zero, but survivorship increases to 50% by 300mm, suggesting the presence of high predation mortality for smaller individuals. Here, we examine the relative vulnerability of juvenile June Suckers to White Bass predation to determine if White Bass could be contributing to the high mortality of June Suckers at sizes less than 300mm. We used White Bass diet data collected via gastric lavage and dissection from 1983 to 2021 to fit quantile regressions of predator length to fish prey length. From these regressions, we determined the distributions of prey fish lengths in diets of White Bass of a given length, across all observed White Bass lengths. We used a catch-curve to estimate White bass relative abundance across all lengths observed, using commercial seine data from 2020 and accounting for gear size-selectivity. We then simulated the length and number of fish prey consumed by all White Bass using the abundance of White Bass at each length and the quantile regressions of prey length to predator length. We found the distribution of the length of prey items consumed to be unimodal and right-skewed with a median prey length of 39.306 mm (95% simulation confidence interval: 14.017 mm – 91.842 mm). The upper limit of the distribution of White Bass simulated prey item lengths was less than the length of June Suckers at first annulus (111 mm), suggesting that White bass predation on June Suckers would be limited to their first year. Given the high densities of White Bass in Utah Lake, predation on larval June Suckers may present a significant barrier to survival past the first annulus and could impede the establishment of a robust naturally reproducing June Sucker population in Utah Lake. Further research is needed to understand the possible impacts of other nonnative predators, such as Walleye (Sander vitreus) and Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus). Our results establish a valuable predator-prey model that management agencies and stakeholders can use to inform effective management plan(s) and potentially mitigate the impact of non-native White Bass on June Sucker recruitment in Utah Lake
Utah Producers and Soil Health: Statewide Survey Results
Get PDFTo gain soil health perspectives and actions from a representative sample of Utah farmers and ranchers, a mail and online survey of Utah producers was conducted in 2024, focused on those who indicated they produced crops in 2023. In this report, we provide an overview of the survey results, with a specific focus on producers’ views on soil health, indicators used for soil health, factors that influence soil health adoption, and information sources used for soil health
Agricultural Producers\u27 Motivations and Challenges With Improving Soil Health in Utah
Get PDFThe Utah Soil Health Program (USHP) developed a five-year project to increase understanding of how best to implement soil health practices into Utah’s diverse farming systems. Fifteen producers were selected to participate in the USHP On-Farm Soil Health Demonstration Project. During 2022, the trial’s first year, the participating farmers and ranchers were interviewed. We begin by discussing participant demographics and operation characteristics. Next, we turn to challenges the producers faced in implementing soil health practices in the IMW and then turn to motivations for the producers to enroll in the USHP trial. This will help (1) document what is currently known about soil health efforts in the IMW and (2) provide information to other producers interested in pursuing soil health on their agricultural land
The IEEE 4001 Standard for Hyperspectral Imaging
No full textDescribing the properties and performance of a hyperspectral camera is more complex than for a conventional camera. Still, up to now, hyperspectral cameras have been described largely in the same terms as conventional cameras, which fall short of what is needed to convey the actual performance to users and potential buyers. Responding to this situation, the IEEE Standards Association established a working group in 2018 to develop a new standard for hyperspectral imaging. More than 200 members of the hyperspectral community have taken part in the work, representing users, manufacturers, government labs and academia. This extensive work has resulted in the IEEE 4001 standard, which as of April 2025 is in the final stages of approval by IEEE. This standard defines a comprehensive set of characteristics to describe the performance of a hyperspectral camera as a “black box.” As a result, the standard provides for comparison of performance across several different internal camera architectures. This has required adoption and development of several new characteristics, but only where it has been necessary in order to arrive at a minimal (necessary and sufficient) set of performance metrics. Examples include quantities describing dynamic range, spatial co-registration of bands, spectral co-registration of pixels, actual spatial resolution, actual spectral resolution, light collection, noise floor, and stray light.
Arguably, image exploitation that is not informed about camera properties risks producing suboptimal results. Therefore, the standard also defines a set of metadata needed to capture camera-related properties of a hyperspectral image. With this information, it is, for example, possible to estimate the level of signal-dependent physical noise in individual pixel values. It is also possible to estimate the magnitude of crosstalk from spatial to spectral contrast that results from an error in the pixel-level co-registration between bands. An interesting aspect of the standard can be to study what benefit this extra information brings into different applications. The standard is expected to become an important tool for the hyperspectral imaging community in several ways, ranging from camera design decisions to procurement processes. The novel elements introduced thanks to the “black box” approach also have clear potential for use outside the hyperspectral field, in conventional imaging as well as in spectroscopy. Annexes in the standard outline procedures for testing cameras according to the standard, using commonly available test equipment. It is now a good time for the community to become familiar with the standard and start using it
Faculty Senate Agenda September 8, 2025
No full text3:00 Call to Order Approval of Minutes - April 28, 2025 3:05 University Business 3:20 Faculty Senate Business 3:35 Information EPC Report - April 3, 2025 The Office of Equity 3:45 Report Empowering Teaching Excellence Center for Instructional Design and Innovation 4:10 Old Business 4:15 New Business Adjourn: 4:30 p
Physically Based Assessment of Flow Resistance in Stepped Chutes
No full textExisting physically based methods for estimating stepped chute friction factors or energy dissipation rates consider relative step height and relative step-tip spacing to be key factors, but do not fully account for chute slope and associated step orientation. For slopes steeper than 45° each step acts as an offset into the flow, while for flatter slopes each step presents an offset away from the flow, but methods that consider only the step-tip spacing do not account for this difference. Furthermore, most experimental studies have been performed in open channel spillway models, where two-phase air-water flow and variable flow depths make it difficult to isolate the effects of geometric factors, and relations developed in studies restricted to narrow slope ranges (either steep or mild) do not extrapolate accurately into other slope ranges. To address these limitations, this study reports physical tests and complementary computational fluid dynamics simulations that isolate the geometric factors influencing flow resistance in stepped chutes. A water tunnel facility that prevents aeration and stabilizes flow properties over multiple steps was used to determine the effects of relative step height and chute slope (i.e., step orientation). Preliminary results suggest stepped chute flow resistance can be related to the Moody diagram or Colebrook-White equation, providing a robust physical framework for determining friction factors. A key finding is that the effective roughness height of steps is directly related to the tangent of the chute slope over the full range of practical slopes
Academic Standards Subcommittee Agenda October 16, 2025
No full textWelcome and approval of September 18, 2025 minutes New Topics: Academic Grievance Policy process Potential Topics for 2025-2026 Academic Standard Subcommitte