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Time-Evolved Constant Voltage Conductivity Measurements of Common Spaceborne Polymeric Materials
No full textLong-duration current measurements were made for low-density polyethylene (LDPE), polyimide (PI), polyether ether ketone (PEEK), and biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) to determine their bulk conductivity near room temperature as a function of time. These common thin-film spacecraft material samples were vacuum baked to remove moisture and volatile contaminants to better simulate space conditions. The constant voltage conductivity (CVC) method used a very stable, low-noise dc voltage source and measured the resulting current in a parallel plate geometry. Due to the extremely low conductivity of these four polymeric materials, extended experiments of up to ten days were necessary to establish equilibrium current flow and determine the saturated conductivity. The lower instrumental limit of conductivity measurements with this setup is 2⋅10−21(Ω⋅cm)−1 . Changes in conductivity due to field-enhanced conductivity and radiation induced conductivity (RIC) as well as varying voltages, temperatures and dose rates are also considered. Current data for each material are fit to a multiterm model to account for the different electric and displacement charge transport contributions within highly disordered insulating materials (HDIMs), including polarization, dispersive transport, and saturated current. The regimes of disorder-induced dispersive transport demarcated by the transit time are observed in all materials, indicative of hopping transport between trap states in HDIM. Information on the energy distribution of localized trap states responsible for electron conduction in HDIM is extracted from the fitting parameters. Magnitudes and time-dependence of conductivity are reported, along with estimated polarization, transit, equilibrium, and decay times; these are compared favorably with previous measurements using constant voltage and charge storage decay conductivity test methods. These fits can be used with model simulations of time-dependent spacecraft charging to determine nonequilibrium transient conductivity for specific applications
A Review of Automation in Small Satellite Operations
No full textIn the context of congested orbital space, the proliferation of small satellite constellations aims to enhance resilience and responsiveness in on-orbit systems. The escalating number and diversity of small satellites and the need for intersatellite coordination pose operational challenges. Chief among these challenges is that the quantity of operators needed to fully utilize these deployed systems is prohibitively large and expensive; further, operators simply may not be responsive enough to events.
Automated systems, both on-board and ground-based, offer a viable solution to streamline various operational tasks. The integration of automation mitigates the operational burden, minimizes errors originating from human intervention, and enhances schedule efficiency and response time. This paper provides an examination of methodologies employed in automated small satellite operations, encompassing fault analysis and mission planning. It will also consider the creation of trusted systems using human-machine interfaces. Further, this investigation will encompass the development and application of high-fidelity predictive models using analytical and data-driven techniques. Questions that are addressed include: can satellite behavior be predicted reliably; what telemetry is needed for effective automation of mission planning; and what data from assembly, integration and testing (AI&T) can aid in model creation.
This research discusses the implementation of key methods identified in the survey, utilizing simulated and/or real-world data, and assesses their effectiveness. Additionally, this work explores promising avenues for future research, addressing potential challenges and opportunities. Preliminary results are presented for select promising paths, shedding light on the feasibility and potential benefits of the proposed solutions
Tremblings, November 2025
No full textAn Aspen Community: Roots, on Roots, on Roots
Paul C. Rogers, Director, Western Aspen Alliance; Dept. of Environment & Society; Ecology Center; Utah State University
In a flicker of foliage, a glimmer of light, time passes and a career senesces. Dappled highlights alongside stochastic frustrations, bureaucratic pathologies, and unforeseen opportunities tremble across the forest floor of one’s vocation. We call that an occupation, but it could be seen as a succession of disturbances, recoveries, and, well, growth. I have been fortunate to spend the bulk of my career focused on the aspen sciences and spending time with many of you, collectively unraveling some of the messy restoration issues in these charismatic landscapes. Under the canopy of the Western Aspen Alliance we have made some strides, but there is much more to accomplish
Boosting the Human Brain: The Potential of Neuroenhancement for Health and Human Functioning
No full textThe quest to boost brain function has been an ongoing pursuit of humankind. This includes a wide range of methods, from the ingestion of natural substances (such as herbs and herbal mixtures) to the use of electricity. For example, one of the earliest documented uses of “neurotechnology,” in the first century (49AD) involved the application of electricity from an electric ray—as a therapeutic tool by placing it on the skull to treat neuropsychiatric conditions (Sironi 2011). Over time, as humans gained more knowledge about how neurostimulation influences people’s behaviors, movements, and emotional states, they developed therapeutic and non-therapeutic applications, including boosting brain function, to improve human performance in various domains. Much of this work stems from functional studies wherein different geographic regions of the brain were stimulated to produce an observable, downstream effect. For example, Eduard Hitzig and Gustav Fritsch demonstrated that muscle contractions in dogs exhibit geographical specificity, as revealed through targeted cortical electrostimulation (Hagner 2012)
Flawed Analysis Invalidates Claim of a Strong Yellowstone Trophic Cascade After Wolf Reintroduction: A Comment on Ripple et al. (2025)
No full textRipple et al. (2025) recently argued that large carnivore recovery in Yellowstone National Park triggered one of the world’s strongest trophic cascades, citing a ∼1500 % increase in willow crown volume derived from plant height data. In this comment, we show that their conclusion is invalid due to fundamental methodological flaws. These include use of a tautological volume model, violations of key modeling assumptions, comparisons across unmatched plots, and the misapplication of equilibrium-based metrics in a non-equilibrium system. Additionally, Ripple et al. rely on selectively framed photographic evidence and omit critical drivers such as human hunting in their causal attribution. These shortcomings explain the apparent conflict with Hobbs et al. (2024), who found evidence for a relatively weak trophic cascade based on the same height data and a long-term factorial field experiment. Our critique underscores the importance of analytical rigor and ecological context for understanding trophic cascade strength in complex ecosystems like Yellowstone
USU Extension Sustainability Permaculture Initiative: 2025 Impact Report
No full textPermaculture Statistics Harvest Donations (Organic) Participant Response 2025 Monthly Educational Events Publications USU Extension Workshops & Event
2. Leveraging Open Pedagogy to Create an Authentic and Renewable Curriculum
No full textThe high cost of course materials is a barrier for many students, and traditional assessments often fail to inspire engagement. To address these challenges, NC State University Libraries promotes open course materials and open-enabled practices. Since 2014, the Alt-Textbook Project has helped faculty incorporate Open Educational Resources (OER) into their syllabi, reducing textbook costs and supporting innovative educational approaches. This effort was enhanced with the Open Pedagogy Incubator, a multi- semester program bringing together librarians and interdisciplinary faculty to redesign courses around open- pedagogical practices. Dr. McKenney, an incubator participant, redesigned her advanced undergraduate course on Applied Ecology (AEC 400) to use OER as assessments. She developed assignments that helped students practice science communication skills and create learning materials, contributing to an openly licensed digital textbook. Open- ended prompts empowered students to explore topics of personal interest, increasing motivation. The textbook framework encouraged students to reflect on their learning and identify gaps for future students to address. By making student works publicly accessible, The Open Pedagogy (OP) framework also motivated high-quality work thereby benefiting current and future students, as well as a broader audience. In Applied Ecology, OP helped students relate their coursework to global and local challenges, aligning with NC State University’s land grant mission and supporting the development of global citizens
13. Mentorship Matters: Documenting the Unseen Impact of Instructor-Student Relationships
No full textThis chapter explores the critical yet often unrecognized role of documenting instructor mentorship as a core component of teaching excellence in higher education. Mentorship encompasses a range of instructor-to-student interactions, including academic guidance, psychosocial support, research support (graduate and undergraduate), and career exploration for students (DeAngelo, Mason, & Winters, 2016; Thiry & Laursen, 2011). Despite its importance, mentorship is rarely documented comprehensively in teaching documentation portfolios (Ocobock et al., 2022). By systematically capturing the multifaceted impacts of mentorship, instructors enhance their teaching portfolio and contribute to the broader discourse on teaching excellence. This chapter aims to empower instructors to demonstrate how mentorship serves as a key element of their educational contributions. The strategies offered are drawn from real-world examples, including dossiers submitted by faculty members in Utah State University’s Faculty-to-Student Mentorship Program. These contributors are deeply involved in guiding students and serve on the steering committee for the mentorship program
11. Me-Search Research: The Use of a Self-Study Methodological Approach to Teaching Documentation
No full textAs teaching in higher education becomes increasingly complex (De Courcy, 2015), documenting one’s teaching practice requires instructors1 to take a more nuanced approach. The diversity associated with teaching today, impacted by COVID (Scholkmann et al., 2024), the various teaching modalities now available (McManus et al., 2024), and the introduction of artificial intelligence into academia (Li, 2025; Sok & Heng, 2024), has created a concoction of elements available to each instructor. This means that every instructor, bringing their own philosophical and ontological approach to teaching, has a myriad of decisions to make about how to best teach each course to students. Despite the ubiquitous use of the term innovative teaching to indicate an instructor’s intentional curriculum design to enhance student learning, teaching today is not about innovation but rather about being contextually relevant. Innovation implies employing one’s agency to embrace change, but instructors in post-secondary do not have a choice anymore whether to change. What instructors can do is exert their agency in the decisions they make about the many elements associated with the course and where it is being taught, making teaching excellence highly context and instructor specific
Development of Interface-Specific Two-Dimensional Vibrational-Electronic (i2D-VE) Spectroscopy for Vibronic Couplings at Interfaces
Get PDFBulk 2D electronic–vibrational (2D-EV) and 2D vibrational–electronic spectroscopies (2D-VE) were previously developed to correlate the electronic and vibrational degrees of freedom simultaneously, which allow for the study of couplings between electronic and vibrational transitions in photo-chemical systems. Such bulk-dominated methods have been used to extensively study molecular systems, providing unique information such as coherence sensitivity, molecular configurations, enhanced resolution, and correlated states and their dynamics. However, the analogy of interfacial 2D spectroscopy has fallen behind. Our recent work presented interface-specific 2D-EV spectroscopy (i2D-EV). In this work, we develop interface-specific two-dimensional vibrational–electronic spectroscopy (i2D-VE). The fourth-order spectroscopy is based on a Mach–Zehnder IR interferometer that accurately controls the time delay of an IR pump pulse pair for vibrational transitions, followed by broadband interface second-harmonic generation to probe electronic transitions. We demonstrate step-by-step how a fourth-order i2D-VE spectrum of AP3 molecules at the air/water interface was collected and analyzed. The line shape and signatures of i2D-VE peaks reveal solvent correlations and the spectral nature of vibronic couplings. Together, i2D-VE and i2D-EV spectroscopy provide coupling of different behaviors of the vibrational ground state or excited states with electronic states of molecules at interfaces and surfaces. The methodology presented here could also probe dynamic couplings of electronic and vibrational motions at interfaces and surfaces, extending the usefulness of the rich data that are obtained