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A Critical Policy Analysis of Dual Language Education Policies on the Equity and Opportunity of Participation and Access for Multilingual Learners
No full textDual Language Immersion programs help students become fluent in two languages while achieving academic success. Originally designed to support students who speak languages other than English at home, these programs have grown rapidly across Utah and the U.S. However, they increasingly serve white, English-speaking families seeking enrichment opportunities, while multilingual students who could benefit most remain underrepresented.
This study examined recruitment and admissions policies in two Utah school districts’ dual language programs. By comparing policy documents, analyzing enrollment data, and interviewing district staff, school leaders, and parents, the research revealed significant implementation differences despite identical statewide program requirements.
One district used streamlined applications, provided multilingual materials, and actively engaged diverse communities, achieving better multilingual student representation. The other district maintained complex application requirements, offered limited translation services, and relied on word-of-mouth recruitment, resulting in greater underrepresentation of students these programs were designed to serve.
While both districts claimed to welcome all students, their practices created barriers favoring families already familiar with school systems and comfortable navigating bureaucratic processes. These barriers particularly affected immigrant families, those with limited English proficiency, and families without reliable transportation or internet access. The study demonstrated how seemingly neutral administrative decisions create unequal educational opportunities.
The research documents dual language program “gentrification” and provides evidence-based recommendations for enhancing equity. Recommendations include simplifying application processes, offering comprehensive translation services, providing multiple information session times, and actively partnering with community organizations serving diverse populations. The findings show that achieving meaningful inclusion requires comprehensive structural changes rather than surface-level policy modifications.
For Utah and other states expanding dual language education, this study offers guidance on ensuring these valuable programs serve all students equitably rather than becoming exclusive opportunities for privileged families. The research emphasizes that equitable access depends on intentional policy design addressing application procedures, outreach strategies, and community engagement mechanisms
Reconstruction and Texturing of 3D Surfaces From Fused Low-Cost Aerial Lidar and Optical Imagery
No full textDrones equipped with laser scanners (LiDAR) and cameras capture detailed 3D scenes. Combining the laser points with photos builds realistic, photo-textured 3D maps used in surveying, agriculture, and infrastructure planning. Conventional methods to create these maps often misrepresent inward shapes such as doorways, overhangs, and outcrops. These shapes are misrepresented because drones mainly view top surfaces and do not collect significant data on vertical or hidden areas. This study introduces a surface-reconstruction method that groups LiDAR points into clusters, reconstructs smooth surfaces for each cluster, and uses information from recorded camera poses to stitch clusters together. Tests on real drone flights with synchronized LiDAR, imagery, and navigation data show that the method better preserves concave features, mitigates errors from sparse sampling, and improves the completeness and accuracy of the resulting 3D maps
Assessing the Human Health Impacts of Nutrient-Dense Diets: Clinical Trials on Regenerative Agriculture and Protein Source
No full textIncreasing consumer demand for sustainable, animal-friendly food options has sparked discussion about farming production practices. As more people prioritize their food choices, questions have circulated about how farming practices might impact not just the environment, but also human health. Regenerative agriculture is a farming method that has gained popularity for its potential to improve both food quality and environmental outcomes. It focuses on restoring ecosystem function, ultimately impacting the resulting nutrients in food products, and includes foods like grass-fed meat and organic produce. However, it is still unclear whether these practices make a difference in human health. This dissertation informs this question through the results of two clinical trials focused on varying food production methods and their influence on health markers. The first study evaluated the immediate inflammatory effects of different protein sources-grass-fed beef, grain-fed beef, and a plant-based meat alternative. The participants ate one of the protein options at each visit, followed by blood collection over a five-hour window. While the nutrient content varied between the protein sources, there were no significant differences in acute inflammatory response. This might be because of the intricate nature of inflammation, which is influenced by many factors like sleep, stress, medication, and overall diet. In the second study, participants followed two different whole foods diets: one sourced solely from regenerative farms and one from conventional farms. Both diets led to improvements in health, likely because of the shift away from ultra-processed, convenient foods. Some small differences in inflammation and fatty acid profiles were observed between the two diets, though these differences were not significant nor did they produce substantial clinical or practical outcomes. Together, the findings from these clinical trials show that while regenerative farming practices result in small differences in the nutrient content of food, the observed magnitude of change may not be large enough to translate into meaningful health effects during short-term periods. Instead, our findings suggest that a person’s health benefits substantially from eating more whole foods as part of their regular diet. More research is needed to fully understand whether these small effects could accumulate over time or are more meaningful in different populations
Discourses Embedded in the \u3cem\u3eAdams v. School Board of St. Johns County\u3c/em\u3e Decision and the Rights of Transgender Students in Schools
No full textThis study was critical analysis of the language of the court case Adams v. School Board of St. Johns County (2022). This case was brough by a student against the School District challenging a policy that prevented him, a transgender boy, from using the boys’ restroom. The analysis was not intended to determine the merits of the case or the correctness of the legal reasoning. Rather, the analysis was performed on the text of the case—the language used by the judges—to learn about the beliefs, attitudes, and values of the judges.
The reason this analysis is important is because judges are supposed to be objective decisionmakers without bias toward any ideologies. This case revealed that judges brought legal, political, and personal biases to the case, particularly on their definitions of sex and gender. The definitions of sex and gender are critical to the constitutional and statutory analysis of civil rights afforded to individuals based on their sex and gender. This study determined that the judges came to the case with predetermined ideas, which shaped the outcome of the decision. This is important for educators because the decision heavily impacts how educators make policies, govern students, and manage their schools
Rich County, Utah, Range Plants: A Condensed Field Guide
No full textThis guide is meant for land managers, producers, and natural resource professionals in Rich County, Utah, who are new to plant identification. This guide helps in quickly identifying common range plants in Rich County, Utah, and provides useful information about each species to aid management decisions
Development and Optimization of Ovine \u3ci\u3eIn Vitro\u3c/i\u3e Fertilization for Enhanced Embryo Development
No full textIn vitro embryo production (IVEP) is a groundbreaking assisted reproductive technology that has transformed the livestock industry and improved reproductive efficiency. IVEP involves collecting eggs and growing them in a laboratory until they are mature enough to be fertilized and develop into embryos. However, the efficiency of these procedures in sheep IVEP remains low compared to other livestock species. The goal of this study was to identify and optimize sperm preparation and fertilization conditions for more predictable development of sheep embryos, so that the effect of sperm from different genetic backgrounds on embryo development, embryo quality, developmental timing, and survivability and re-growth patterns after freezing could be explored. Sperm motility was assessed across four pH levels (a standard non-buffered control and three buffered media) and two laboratory culture methods. The optimal fertilization method was determined by comparing the developmental rates and embryo quality of embryos from two non-gene-edited and two gene-edited rams with the sickle-cell disease (SCD) mutation. The most favorable fertilization method was then used to evaluate the effects of sperm genotype on developmental timing and survival after freezing. Buffered media at physiological pH (7.00 and 7.40) resulted in the highest percentage of progressive sperm motility. The microdrop fertilization method showed a trend toward increasing sperm survivability over time, but the culture system did not affect overall embryo development or quality. Gene-edited sperm had produced more late-stage embryos in the microdrop system compared to the non-gene-edited ram. Heterozygous SCD embryos from the Romney breed had a lower ratio of fetal to placental precursor cells compared to embryos from a non-gene-edited ram of the Polypay breed. However, embryo quality did not differ between non-gene-edited and sickle-cell disease gene-edited embryos within the same breed. Sperm genotype did not influence developmental timing or post-freezing survival and re-growth patterns. Overall, the findings in this study provide insights that serve as a foundation for further refining sheep in vitro fertilization protocols and may be implemented in the agricultural industry and in laboratory breeding to increase production of gene-edited animals for biomedical research that benefits society
Combining N-Mixture and Occupancy Analysis Offers a More Complete Picture of Carnivore Habitat Use in Northeastern Türkiye
No full textOccupancy and N-mixture analyses have been successfully used to understand habitat use in various species. However, since these methods fundamentally answer different questions about wildlife distribution, the results from each modelling approach may provide different insights into species’ habitat use. In this study, we leveraged data from a long-term camera trapping study in northeastern Türkiye to compare the results from occupancy and N-mixture analyses, with the main objective of understanding how the modelling approach used can influence our knowledge of species’ habitat use. Specifically, we compared the habitat use preferences from N-mixture and occupancy analyses for three carnivore species with varying baseline abundances. Our results provide evidence that occupancy and N-mixture analyses provide different insights into species’ sensitivity to environmental and anthropogenic factors. Whereas occupancy analysis provides a relatively broad summary of the factors that affect where a species may or may not be located on a landscape or which areas they may be more likely to use over a certain time period, N-mixture modelling may provide insights into the factors that affect the degree of use at individual sites, with particular emphasis on being able to deduce small-scale changes in habitat use across a landscape. Furthermore, while the detection probability of an occupancy analysis has been formally used as a measure of site use intensity, N-Mixture models may offer higher resolution of the quantity of use. Therefore, as these two methods tend to investigate habitat use at different spatial scales, when used in conjunction they can provide a more refined understanding of species’ habitat use through repeat-survey sampling methods like camera trapping
Interactions Among Nutrients Govern the Global Grassland Biomass–Precipitation Relationship
No full textEcosystems are experiencing changing global patterns of mean annual precipitation (MAP) and enrichment with multiple nutrients that potentially colimit plant biomass production. In grasslands, mean aboveground plant biomass is closely related to MAP, but how this relationship changes after enrichment with multiple nutrients remains unclear. We hypothesized the global biomass–MAP relationship becomes steeper with an increasing number of added nutrients, with increases in steepness corresponding to the form of interaction among added nutrients and with increased mediation by changes in plant community diversity. We measured aboveground plant biomass production and species diversity in 71 grasslands on six continents representing the global span of grassland MAP, diversity, management, and soils. We fertilized all sites with nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium with micronutrients in all combinations to identify which nutrients limited biomass at each site. As hypothesized, fertilizing with one, two, or three nutrients progressively steepened the global biomass–MAP relationship. The magnitude of the increase in steepness corresponded to whether sites were not limited by nitrogen or phosphorus, were limited by either one, or were colimited by both in additive, or synergistic forms. Unexpectedly, we found only weak evidence for mediation of biomass–MAP relationships by plant community diversity because relationships of species richness, evenness, and beta diversity to MAP and to biomass were weak or opposing. Site-level properties including baseline biomass production, soils, and management explained little variation in biomass–MAP relationships. These findings reveal multiple nutrient colimitation as a defining feature of the global grassland biomass–MAP relationship
Gravity Wave Activity During the 2024 Sudden Stratospheric Warmings Observed by Atmospheric Waves Experiment (AWE)
No full textThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Atmospheric Waves Experiment (AWE) instrument, launched in November 2023, provides direct observation of small‐scale (30–300 km) gravity waves (GWs) in the mesosphere on a global scale. This work examined changes in GW activity observed by AWE during two major Sudden Stratospheric Warmings (SSWs) in the 2023 and 2024 winter season. Northern Hemisphere (NH) midlatitude GW activity during these events shared similarities. Variations in mesospheric GW activity showed an evident correlation with the magnitude of zonal wind in the upper stratosphere. NH midlatitude GW activity at ∼87 km was reduced following the onset of SSWs, likely caused by wind filtering and wave saturation. The upward propagation of GWs was suppressed when the zonal wind reversed from eastward to westward in the upper stratosphere. In regions where the zonal wind weakened but remained eastward, the weakened GWs could be due to their refraction to shorter vertical wavelengths
Evidence of Substorm-Driven Penetration Electric Field Contributions to Low-Latitude Phenomena: Enhanced Upward Drifts, Plasma Bubble Development and Severe Scintillation
No full textIn this work, it is demonstrated that substorm-driven penetration electric fields can efficiently enhance the upward plasma transport, favoring the development and structuring of plasma irregularities and the occurrence of scintillation on L-band signals. While most previous studies focus on investigating penetration electric fields during intense geomagnetic storms, here, the period used (April 01–05, 2020) was under very mild geomagnetic activity (−27 nT ≤ SYM-H ≤ 6 nT), so that interplanetary and disturbance dynamo contributions are minimized. This period comprised the same seasonal and solar flux conditions, while undergoing multiple short-lived substorms, making it well-suited to evaluate unequivocally: (a) to what extent substorm-driven penetration electric fields alter electrodynamical processes over low latitudes, and (b) how effective they are in contributing to the structuring of the early nighttime ionosphere and the subsequent occurrence of severe scintillation on L-band signals. Ground-based and space-based multi-instrument data sets were used. The results show that, even under weak geomagnetic activity, substorm-driven penetration electric fields—despite being subtle and short-lived—play a decisive role, enhancing the upward drifts, favoring the development of equatorial plasma bubbles and severe scintillation. The findings indicate that substorms with onsets coinciding with early nighttime are more impactful. This decisive contribution is more likely to be identified during late spring and early fall in the northern hemisphere (or vice versa in the southern hemisphere), when the prereversal vertical drifts are moderate—neither too small nor too large—and may have direct impacts on the day-to-day variability of equatorial plasma bubbles