The distribution of the kit fox (Vulpes macrotis) in Utah was studied from 1974 to 1976 . A variety of methods were used, but a questionnaire sent annually to state and federal agencies, combined with interviews of fie ld personnel of these agencies, was found to be the most valuable. Kit foxes occur in western Utah and Washington County as previously reported. In addition, range extensions were noted in central Utah , and in Carbon, Emery, Grand, Wayne, and Garfield counties in east-central Utah. These range extensions total approximately 4,600- square miles (12,000 - square kilometers). The kit fox probably also inhabits San Juan County , but this was not confirmed. Stepwise discriminant analysis ~1as performed on groups of skull s representing the three nominal subspecies of y_. macrotis reported to occur in Utah (V. m nevadensis, arsipus , and neomex i cana). The skulls were judged to represent three distinct populations significantly different from each other in at least seven skull characteristics. Six specimens from eastern Utah and western Colorado were tentatively assigned to V m nevadensis.

Prior research of rough-and-tumble play (RTP) has shown mixed results—different operational definitions, varying functions, and positive and negative outcomes. Few researchers have studied interventions to address RTP in school settings. With unclear evidence of RTP outcomes and the extent school interventions are addressing RTP in school settings, this study explored the extent and effectiveness of intervention programs being implemented to prevent/reduce negative outcomes of RTP in elementary schools. A survey was created and conducted with 30 school problem-solving teams in a western state to obtain information concerning RTP in elementary school settings. Teams provided estimated percentages of RTP leading to beneficial and problematic behaviors, types of benefits or problems resulting from RTP, specific prevention/intervention programs that teams report implementing to address RTP concerns, percentage estimations of students responding to implemented interventions, and training needs to address interventions for RTP concerns. Survey responses showed different medians for estimated percentages for problematic outcomes (80%) versus beneficial outcomes (10%). Further, the number of problem items (M = 9.57, SD = 1.87) was more highly endorsed by teams than the number of items listing benefits (M = 4.43, SD = 3. 39), suggesting RTP was more often problematic than beneficial. Interventions estimated to be effective in treating negative RTP outcomes with 80% or greater response rates are reward systems, social skills trainings, active supervision, and bully prevention. These study findings are different from previous research, which concluded that RTP was harmless and/or beneficial to students, and might be due to environmental differences (school vs. community). It might be estimated that schools should monitor or prevent RTP to avoid problems, such as aggression, bullying, and poor peer relationships. Programs frequently used by teams targeted skill acquisition through social skills training, anger management, and bully prevention. This study provides understanding to the extent RTP should be addressed in schools. School problem-solving teams report that RTP can be problematic in school settings; however, it can be prevented with school-wide intervention and intervened with individual and small-group interventions.

A review of how water institutions in the American West have changed in response to arid conditions as a means of examining the possibility of further change as an adaptation to climate change induced water scarcity. Two institutions are examined, prior appropriation and shares. While much of the American West operates under prior appropriation formally, irrigators have found Coasian methods of lowering transaction costs by forming irrigation companies. Irrigation companies own appropriative rights and redefine them, typically as shares. Lower transaction costs allow irrigators to trade more freely within companies, though trades between companies still face high transaction costs. Using a dataset of Utah’s 1100+ irrigation companies collected from the Utah Division of Water Rights, I measure the extent to which these companies have internalized transaction costs. Because most, if not all, irrigation companies transform appropriative rights into some form of shares, regions facing more water scarcity should be more likely to manage water by using shares rather than appropriative rights. I test the hypothesis that an increase in water scarcity makes trade more valuable and thereby increases the relative opportunity costs of managing a river through appropriative rights versus shares.

This research evaluated dissolved air flotation (DAF) as a separation method for algae and phosphorus from municipal wastewater at the City of Logan, Utah Wastewater Reclamation Facility. DAF uses the supersaturation of air to raise suspended algae and other particles to the surface, where they can be easily removed. DAF, in conjunction with chemical coagulants and flocculants, can approach 95% algae and phosphorus removal. The algae removed using the DAF process will be used in the production of biofuels and bioplastics. A pilot DAF unit was used to determine the optimum alum dose for total phosphorus (TP) and algae removal. In addition, a bench-scale jar test unit was used to study the effects of various alum and polymer doses on removal efficiencies at different times of the day. An optimal alum dose was found to be 30 mg/L based on results from both the pilot and bench-scale units. No advantage to adding polymer was found. Algae removal efficiencies on the pilot DAF ranged from 68-70%, and the effluent algae concentration was reduced to 10 mg/L. Approximately 65% of the total phosphorus was removed, from 1.1 to 0.4 mg/L, which is low enough to meet regulations anticipated to be promulgated by the state of Utah. Using the assumption that the molar weight of algae is 3,550 g/mole, the molar ratio of Al/TSS was found to be 30.1 and the molar ratio of Al/TP was found to be 7.5. Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) excreted by algal cells act as a natural flocculant and may allow for chemical usage to be minimized. Autoflocculation and bioflocculation, natural processes caused by EPS production and an increased pH level, were not observed to be a significant factor. The chemical dosing rates provide the City of Logan with basic operational parameters for a full-scale (15 million gallons per day) DAF plant, providing an effluent phosphorus level below 0.5 mg/L. The alum will cost $1,118 per day, with a daily electrical cost of approximately $149. This full-scale DAF plant would harvest 1,563 kg of algal biomass per day, with a cost per kilogram of algae at $0.81.

This research examines the physical and economic feasibility of 5% biomass co-firing in the coal-fired power plants of Utah. Transportation models is used to find out the physical feasibility of 5% biomass co-firing, as well as locate the supply zone for each power plant that would minimize the transportation cost. Additional cost required for 5% biomass co-firing and the economic benefits associated with biomass co-firing are calculated. The additional cost required for 5% biomass co-firing is estimated to be $34.84 million. Previous studies on CO2 emission reduction are used to compute the economic benefit attain from CO2 reduction by selling carbon credits in the carbon trading market. Based on 2010 emission record in Utah, 5% biomass co-firing might reduce 0.71~2.13 million metric tons of CO2 and, in turn, bring the annual economic benefit of $11.37~$34.10 million assuming $16/ton of CO2 in the emission trading market. The regression model is used to find the relationship between PM emission and the human health damage. The regression results show that decreases in 1% of PM25 emission improves the human health in U.S. by 0.65%~0.67% in value. Five percent biomass co-firing generates annual economic benefits of $6.72~$9.93 million in Utah depending on the emission reduction scenarios. Note that these might not be the precise economic benefit from the biomass co-firing in Utah because elasticities estimated in the regression are expected to be lower in Utah. This is because most of power plants in Utah are located in open areas. Altogether, the economic benefit from 5% biomass co-firing is estimated to be $38.55 million assuming the medium emission reduction scenario, moderate carbon price ($16/ton of CO2) which is higher than the additional cost of biomass co-firing to generate electricity ($34.84 million). The benefit cost ratio is calculated as 1.107. Five percent biomass co-firing is economically feasible when benefits from all the positive externalities are included. The findings of the research suggest that in order to make 5% biomass co-firing physically and economically feasible, Utah needs cooperation from Idaho and the price of carbon and biomass would have to be $16 and $20, respectively.

The purpose of this study was (1) to develop a guideline for cooperative education; (2) to determine the current status of cooperative vocational education in Utah; and (3) to compare current practices with the established guideline. This study was completed in two parts. The first part involved the construction and verification of a guideline for cooperative education in Utah; the second, a survey of the current status of cooperative education. A descriptive survey technique was employed to gather data required for determination of the guideline's validity and relevance, and the current status of cooperative education in Utah. All 13 key administrators in the state office, 75 coordinators representing 84 percent of the initial mailings and 112 cooperating employers or 74 percent of the selected sample participated in this study. Opinions from the 13 key administrators in the Utah State Division of Vocational and Technical Education were largely in agreement with the tentative guideline derived from the two nationally accepted guides in cooperative education. Due to the lack of an official guide for cooperative education in Utah, many of the coordinators' interpretations of federal legislation and state regulations were based on their own convenience. Inconsistencies in programs, standards and requirements were frequently found among cooperative programs in Utah. There appear to be some discrepancies existing between the current practices and the established guideline mainly because in a majority of the programs: (1) students spend insufficient numbers of hours in attending school or receiving on- the-job training; (2) schools provide inadequate in-school instruction; and (3) students receive substandard on-the-job supervision.

The decade from 1953 to 1963 was one of drastic change for the egg industry in Utah. A study conducted at Utah State University shows that in 1952, slightly more than 40 percent of local egg production was s old in distant markets while in 1964, import data gathered from egg handlers in the State indicate that 20 to 25 percent of the eggs consumed in Utah were imported.

The purpose of this paper is to provide interest ed rural Utah parties with a description of the financial structure and impacts of rural Utah manufacturing firms on t he local and state economies . Direct interviews with plant managers were used to gather the necessary data. Rural Utah manufacturing firms were grouped into nine different categories according to the type of product produced . Mean financial statements of each group were presented, with a breakdown of where each type of expenditure was made, whether locally , in-state, or out of state. Regression analysis was used to generate predictive equations for the propensity to consume locally and in state, and for the propensity to sell out of the local area and out of state. Discussions of the location and make up of rural Utah manufacturing were also included along with a discussion of the factors influencing manufacturing firms to locate i n rural Utah.

Biologies of eight chrysidid species were described. These wasps parasitized bees and wasps collected in trap nests set at several sites in two canyons near Logan, Utah. The completed nests were taken to the laboratory and the parasitized ones were kept for study of the development a l biology and behavior of both host and parasites. The larval stages of Chrysura smaragdicolor, Chrysura sonorensis, Chrysis parkeri, Chrysis derivata, Chrysis coerulans, Cerotachrysis enhuycki, Trichrysis doriae and Hedychridium solierellae were studied. Omalus iridescens and Omalus purpuratus larvae were observed only in the fifth instar. The major differences between species or genera were found in the first instar larvae. The other larval instars differed in size but behaved similarly. The first instar larvae had a sclerotized, prognathous head, sharp sickle shape mandibles. When threatened the parasite larvae could escape quickly with the help of the forked appendages of the first segment. All the species except in Chrysura killed the host in the first instar and fed on the prey stored by their hosts. The Chrysura first instar attacked the host bee larva only after the latter had spun its cocoon. By the fifth instar all species of larvae had developed several teeth (two to three) at the distal end of each mandible. The hardening of these teeth coincided with the change of the food consistency from liquid to solid. The study also included a proposed evolutionary scheme of the possible pathway of morphological and behavioral characters that might ensure more successful parasitism.

The objective of this study was to field-test the "microenvironment concept" of avian botulism epizootiology. The "microenvironment concept" hypothesizes that aquatic invertebrate carcasses may serve both as a substrate for toxin production by Clostridium botulinum type C in nature and as a vehicle for toxin transmission to waterbirds. This concept has become the generally accepted, but inadequately tested, working hypothesis of type C botulism epizootiology. This study attempted to experimentally induce type C botulism in sentinel flocks of mallard ducks (Anas platyrhynchos) and American coots (Fulica americana) on sewage oxidation ponds in northern Utah. The three experimental oxidation ponds were inoculated with Cl. botulinum type C (strain X220B2) endospores in June,l974. Aquatic invertebrate populations were monitored throughout the summer. Rotenone was used in August in two of the experimental ponds (one pond served as a control) to kill aquatic invertebrates and thereby provide a large amount of substrate for clostridial growth and toxin production. No botulism was detected among the sentinel birds even though they routinely ingested invertebrate carcasses. None of the samples of dead invertebrates collected from the experimental ponds contained detectable (in white mice) botulinum toxin. It was concluded that the "microenvironment concept," as it now stands, cannot always be a sufficient explanation of how type C botulism epizootics are initiated in nature. Microbiological experiments designed to determine why the invertebrate carcasses collected from the study ponds contained no botulinum toxin were started and are now ongoing. Early results indicate that Cl. botulinum (X220B2) cells may not normally be able to effectively compete (at least in terms of toxin production) with other microorganisms present in the sewage ponds. It is suggested that the initiation of a type C botulism epizootic in nature may require the alleviation of the inhibitory effects of other putrefactive microorganisms upon clostridial metabolism and/ or toxin. This hypothesis is highly speculative and requires much further experimentation.