Many secondary schools in Utah have adopted the Project Lead the Way (PLTW) pre-engineering program. Little research has been conducted in Utah to show how successful these programs are or what factors are perceived to contribute to that success. This research is about defining PLTW program success and identifying factors perceived to improve success. This was accomplished by interviewing career and technical education directors in Utah who have the PLTW program in their districts. Questionnaires were also developed to question PLTW teachers, school administrators, and counselors with PLTW in their schools about factors that might contribute to PLTW program success. A successful PLTW program in Utah was found to be a program that was perceived to meet the goals of implementation, had the ability to attract adequate student enrollment, and was perceived to promote scholarly student achievement. It was found that successful PLTW programs (a) utilize dynamic teachers taking advantage of teacher professional development, (b) capitalize on student interest in the subject and differentiate learning models and environments, (c) utilize a collaborative effort between schools, industry, and community, (d) advertise class offerings and program benefits so students can make wise class choices during registration, and (e) make sure resources and facilities are available for all the curriculum requirements.

Lumbar fusion performed among injured workers has dramatically increased over the past two decades, coinciding with the increased use of more advanced surgical technology. Despite recent changes in how this surgery is performed, few outcome studies have been conducted, particularly among workers compensation populations. In prior studies, several biopsychosocial risk factors were found to be predictors of functional outcomes of lumbar fusion. Considering the recent changes in lumbar fusion surgery, there is a need to identify how patient outcomes have changed among injured workers, and whether a biopsychosocial model continues to be predictive of outcomes. The current study aimed to address multidimensional patient outcomes associated with lumbar fusion and examine the relationship between presurgical biopsychosocial variables and outcomes by testing the predictive efficacy of a multiple variable model. Injured workers (N = 245) who underwent their first lumbar fusion between 1998 and 2007 were included in a retrospective-cohort study performed in two phases that involved coding presurgical information documented in patient medical charts in the Worker's Compensation Fund of Utah computer database (Phase 1) and administering a telephone outcome survey with patients at least 2 years post-surgery (Phase 2). Of the total sample, 45% (n = 110) of patients were contacted and completed follow-up outcome surveys on several measures of patient satisfaction, quality of life, fusion status, dysfunction level, disability status, pain, and general physical and mental health functioning. Results revealed injured workers reported a solid fusion rate of 89.0%, disability rate of 28.7%, and a poor outcome rate of 57.1%. Multiple linear regression analyses demonstrated an eight variable model was a statistically significant predictor of multiple patient outcomes. Involvement of a nurse case manger, vocational rehabilitation, and litigation at the time of fusion were the most prominent predictors across outcome measures, while age and depression history showed modest prediction of outcomes. Prior back operations, number of vertebral levels fused, and type of instrumentation showed no statistically significant prediction of outcomes. Results were evaluated and compared to prior lumber fusion studies on injured worker and fusion outcome literature, in general. Specific implications for our findings and limitations associated with this study were addressed.

The ''Guide to Residential Landscape Development" has been written for the Logan City Planning Department as a supplement to the "City of Logan Guidelines for Development", a comprehensive planning tool adopted in 1976. The Guide is primarily intended to motivate Logan homeowners in designing, constructing and maintaining their residential properties by pointing out methods of design and construction that : reduce costs of electricity, oil and natura l gas by reducing energy needs Increase property values maximize effective use of the property improve the aesthetic qualities of the homesite The Guide also serves as a prototype of the kind of consumer adyocqcy tool needed in many cities to help inform private citizens. of the vital role they can play in conserving energy and improving the natural and cultural environment in which they live.

The purpose of this thesis is to look at the preferred use and management of public lands in the state of Utah. The data used in this study was collected through a statewide, random survey measuring the respondent’s preferred use and management of public lands along with social and demographic information. Several quantitative tests were conducted on the variables used to illustrate the following: a snapshot of what the survey population looks like, how each independent variable interacts with the dependent variable, and finally, the combined interaction of all of the independent variables on the dependent variable. The primary goal of this thesis is to add more information to the growing body of literature on public land uses and preferences. Specifically, this research hopes to shed some light on how people in Utah feel about the use and management of public lands that exist within the borders. A secondary purpose in this study is to provide agencies and individuals that have a say in the use and management of public lands with information that will help them to manage public lands to more closely resemble the desires of the state residents. If a characteristic (or set of characteristics) is identified as a reliable predictor of preferences, those people and agencies who have the power to decide how public lands will be used will have a better indicator as to how well their decision will go over based on the characteristics of the population in that area.

A comparative study of phytoseiid populations was made of two well- cultivated and regularly sprayed apple orchards with two unsprayed orchards in Cache Valley, northern Utah. Two phytoseiid species, Typhlodromus mcgregori Chant and T. occidentalis Nesbitt were observed on the apple leaves, under the bark, and occasionally in the litter and soil. Amblyseius cucumeris (Oudemans) occurred in the soil and litter and occasionally under bark. T. mcgregori was dominant in the unsprayed orchards, and T. occidentalis in the sprayed. Of the phytophagous mites, which served as food for the phytoseiids, the two-spotted mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch was dominant. Other phytophagous mites were the brown mite, Bryobia rubrioculus (Scheuten), the European red mite, Panonychus ulmi (Koch), and the McDaniel mite, Tetranychus mcdanieli McGregor. The study suggests T. mcgregori to be a non-specific, facultative predator of phytophagous mites. T. mcgregori was adversely affected by standard pesticide practices, but T. occiden talis survived in larger numbers. The phytoseiids seem well adjusted to the environment of the unsprayed orchards and to contribute to the low phytophagous mite populations in those orchards. In the sprayed orchards, the phytoseiids failed to control the high populations of phytophagous mites which developed. No statistical differences were found in the efficiencies of the mite brushing machine and Berlese funnels in removing either phytoseiid or phytophagous mites from apple leaves.

The study addresses five areas relating to the biology and management of common snipe (Capella gallinago), including habitat requirements, food habits , breeding biology, sexing and aging and census techniques. The primary habitat requirement of snipe was determined to be areas that were saturated or covered with shallow water . Secondary requirements were vegetation of less than 3 decimeters in height and between 30 and 50 percent density. Food habit studies determined that snipe selected animal material with larger and more abundant organisms being preferred without regard to species . Plant material appeared to be ingested only i r.cidentally. Common snipe u se winnowing as a courtship display, distraction device and a means of defining territory. Winnowing activity was most intense in periods of subdued light and cooler temperatures . A ground call emitted from a perch also was used to define territory . Snipe on the ground were observed to use the fanned, erect rectrices as a courtship display and as a distraction device. No new techniques were developed for externally sexing snipe and previously used techniques were unreliable. Using the presence of a faint black t erminal line on the rectrices as indication of an immature, 84. 5 percent of 58 snipes were correctly aged. A previously suggested method using the characteristics of the upper wing coverts correctly aged 84. 0 percent of snipe correctly. Discriminant functions developed for externally sexing and aging snipe are not considered reliable because of measurement difficulties and variations in samples. Strip census methods and capture- recapture techniques tested were not effective in estimating snipe populations . The use of average territory size divided into the amount of suitable habitat and actual counts resulted in reliable estimates of the population.

The Land Condition-Trend Analysis (LCTA) program was developed by the U.S. Army to ass ist in the sustainable management of natural resources on U.S. Army lands. The LCTA program applies a standardized procedure in order to select long-term monitoring sites. The LCTA monitoring program was applied to Camp Williams, a National Army Guard training site located in central Utah. Due to the criteria set by the LCTA monitoring program, 6 I percent of Camp Williams was explicitly excluded from the LCTA monitoring protocol because it appeared to be more heterogeneous, which would make it difficult to locate monitoring sites in the field. This study compared the monitored landscape with the unmonitored landscape to determine how the two landscapes differed. The expectation was that the monitored landscape would contain larger, less numerous patches compared with the unmonitored landscape, which was expected to contain smaller, more numerous patches. Accordingly, the landscape structures of the included and excluded lands were compared. The landscape metrics utilized to quantify landscape structure were largest patch index (percent), number of patches, patch density (#/1 00 ha), mean patch size (ha), double log fractal dimension, Simpson 's diversity index, Simpson 's evenness index, interspersion (percent), and contagion. Small differences did occur between the two landscapes, though the population variance showed that the two landscapes were more alike than different for all metrics, except interspersion and contagion which did show small differences. Due to the criteria set by the LCTA monitoring program, these results were not expected. Since it was shown for the majority of landscape metrics that the two landscapes were more alike than different, the 61 percent of Camp Williams excluded from monitoring consideration was not greatly different. However, important features such as riparian areas and recent small burns were largely contained within the areas excluded by the LCTA program. Further investi gation of landscape metrics is encouraged because previously unmonitored features of wildlands can only be assessed by examination of these coarse-scale characteristics.

A methodology to estimate stochastic surface water flows was developed and applied to a case study area using chance constrained programming model. The results were analyzed as to the effects on different areas of production in Utah.

Combined simulation and optimization models, which are helpful for long-term groundwater planning of complex nonlinear aquifer systems, are developed using alternative modelling approaches. The models incorporate a representation of steady-state, quasi-three-dimensional head response to pumping within an optimization . An embedding model which describes exactly the nonlinear flow of an unconfined aquifer is presented. In contrast with the embedding models presented in the Utah State University Ground Water Model, it directly achieves the optimal solution without a "cycling." To address the nonlinearity of the flow system, response matrix models couple superposition with the cycling procedure. Their linear influence coefficients are generated using a modified McDonald and Harbaugh model. First, these models are tested for a hypothetical, 625 cell, nonlinear aquifer system and compared in terms of computational accuracy and efficiency. All of the models achieve the same optimal solution. The fully nonlinear embedding model attains the same optimal solution regardless of how far the initial guess is from that solution. Thus, global optimality is probably obtained. A predictive program for comparing a priori the embedding and response matrix models in terms of computational size is also developed. This computes the required memory for running each model, an important factor in computational efficiency. It is based on the number of nonzero elements in the matrix of the optimization scheme. The model most appropriate for a given aquifer and desired management scenarios is dependent upon required simulation accuracy, flow conditions (steady or unsteady) , spatial scale, model computational resources requirement, and the computational capacity of available hardware and software. The linear embedding model coupled with a cycling procedure, as incorporated within a modified version of the USUGWM, is most appropriate for the subject reconnaissance level study of the East Shore Area. Here, the demand for sufficient water of adequate quality is increasing. The underlying aquifer is three-layered, unconfined/confined and is discretized into 4,880 finite-difference cells. To overcome the difficulties of solving many nonsmooth functions describing evapotranspiration, discharge from flowing wells, and drain discharge, a former cycling procedure is improved by optimizing the purely linearized models repeatedly. Using the modified version of the USUGWM, optimal sustained-yield pumping strategies are computed for alternative future scenarios in the East Shore Area.

The feasibility of locating the major household appliance industry in Utah was studied by comparing a Utah location with present production sites for this commodity. Major elements of cost were projected in detail according to a hypothetically constructed model. The Utah location showed advantages in transportation and labor costs while at the same time having a disadvantage in the cost of steel. Since the analysis is made with respect to the model, which is based on certain assumptions, the use of different models would naturally lead to different results. Both the advantages and disadvantages of the Utah location would most likely change in the event that a facility for the construction of household appliances were established in Utah. The advantages of the Utah site would become more defined .