During the past decade much attention has been attracted to the great range lands of the West. The inherently low productivity of these arid lands coupled with abnormal drought and constantly heavy use by livestock because of lack of grazing control, have caused these lands to become greatly depleated over most of the West. That the vegetation on most range land in the intermountain states is depleted appreciably is evident to the careful observer. Undoubtedly the vegetation of much of the range has decreased in quantity, but more serious in many cases is the decrease in quality. Valuable forage species have been replaced by less valuable or even worthless ones. This situation has been recognized by students of range ecology, and, therefore, management plans have been formulated to preserve or improve the forage cover. These plans have undergone changes and are still being modified as basic facts concerning the growth habits of range plants are brought to light. Grazing plans in the past were, of necessity, based upon superficial study and general impressions; plans of the future will be based upon scientific facts supplemented by experience. The studies herein reported were made during the summer of 1938 in southern Cache Valley, Utah. The range under observation is roughly comparable to the northern intermountain grasslands. The observed range occupies the benches and foothills above the more moist valley floor.

This project examined the association between dietary patterns, erythrocyte membrane fatty acids concentration, and Alzheimer’s-related genes in systemic inflammation, as indicated by C-reactive protein (CRP) levels, in order to achieve more comprehensive knowledge of how nutrition and genetics influence systemic inflammation among the elderly residents of Cache County, Utah. First, the associations between dietary patterns defined by Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) and Mediterranean dietary patterns (MED) and the risk of having a high level of CRP were examined. This study showed that a healthy dietary pattern score was associated with CRP levels; a higher score reflecting the ideal DASH diet and MED diet was associated with a 26% and 27% reduction in the risk of having high CRP levels respectively. This association appeared stronger among overweight and obese individuals. Second, the association between erythrocyte membrane fatty acids (EMFAs) and elevated serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels was examined. Those that had high EMFAs composition of palmitoleic acid and nervonic acids, both monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs), and dihomo-y-linolenic acid (DGLA), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA-6), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), all polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), had an increased risk of having CRP elevation. In contrast, risk of CRP elevation was reduced in those that have highest levels of saturated fatty acids (SFAs) of margaric acid, stearic acid, and arachidic acid. These associations were generally observed to be stronger among women compared to men. Lastly, the study examined whether AD-related genes identified in previous genome-wide association studies are associated with elevated levels of inflammatory CRP. Results revealed a strong association between APOE-epsilon genotypes and CRP levels. Results also showed an association between major alleles of APOE rs439401, TOMM40 rs157580, and minor alleles MMP8 rs1892886, CR1 rs6656401, CR1 rs3818361, and CR1 rs4844609 that were associated with a risk of elevation of CRP. These associations were stronger among men compared to women. Reduction in the prevalence of AD could have tremendous importance; the results of this dissertation may help identify factors important to AD etiology and, in turn, provide valuable targets for prevention.

Primary production was measured on a 9.5 acre Cache Valley, Utah farm pond from July 1971 to July 1972. Polyethylene film tubes, with lids, were used to confine columns of water for determining dissolved oxygen concentration. Once a week, dissolved oxygen samples were taken at sunset, the following sunrise and sunset. Annual primary production was estimated at 1289 grams oxygen per square meter for two of the four stations, and 927 grams oxygen per square meter for the remaining two stations. The weekly data was computed at once a month intervals to see if it would be possible to get a good estimate of primary production sampling only 12 times a year~ It was found that the stations with consistent limiting factors could have been sampled once a month with good results, but stations with fluctuating limiting factors could not be sampled that way for good results.

The study of environmental history suggests that nature and culture change all the time, but that the rate and scale of such change can vary enormously. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Anglo settlement in the American West transformed landscapes and ecologies, creating new and complex environmental problems. This transformation was particularly impressive in Cache Valley, Utah's Bear River Range. From 1860 to 1910, Mormon settlers overused or misused the Bear River Range's lumber, grazing forage, wild game, and water resources and introduced invasive plant and animal species throughout the area. By the turn of the 20th century, broad overuse of natural resources caused rivers originating in the Bear River Range to decline. To address the water shortage, a small group of conservation-minded intellectuals and businessmen in Cache Valley persuaded local stockmen and farmers to support the creation of the Logan Forest Reserve in 1903. From 1903 to1910, forest managers and forest users attempted to restore the utility of the landscape (i.e., bring back forage and improve watershed conditions) however, they quickly discovered that the landscape had changed too much; nature would not cooperate with their human-imposed restoration timelines and desires for greater profit margins. Keeping in mind the impressive rate and scale of environmental decline, this thesis tells the heretofore untold environmental history of the Bear River Range from 1860 to 1910. It engages this history from an ecological and social perspective by (1) exploring how Mormon settlers altered the landscape ecology of the Bear River Range and (2) discussing the reasons why forest managers and forest users failed to quickly restore profitability to the mountain landscape from 1903-1910. As its value, a study of the Bear River Range offers an intimate case study of environmental decline and attempted restoration in the western United States, and is a reminder of how sensitive our mountain ranges really are.

LARs (Line Associative Registers) are very wide tagged registers, used for both register-wide SWAR (SIMD Within a Register )operations and scalar operations on arbitrary fields. LARs include a large data field, type tags, source addresses, and a dirty bit, which allow them to not only replace both caches and registers in the conventional memory hierarchy, but improve on both their functions. This thesis details a LAR-based architecture, and describes the design of a compiler which can generate code for a LAR-based design. In particular, type conversion, alignment, and register allocation are discussed in detail.

Discharge monitoring and water sampling of springs in the southeastern portion of Cache Valley, Utah was performed in order to determine recharge sources and the cause of decreasing flows for some springs. The discharges of 43 springs were measured monthly from May or June of 2005 through March of 2006. Water samples from 36 of these springs plus an additional 10 were analyzed for major ions and trace metals. Twenty-one of the springs were analyzed for deuterium and oxygen-18 and 10 of these were analyzed for tritium. The springs were divided into groups based on when they had their peak discharge. Peak discharges in the summer months suggest recharge from excess irrigation water and/or canal water, whereas peak discharges in winter months suggest recharge from rivers, and peak discharges in spring months suggest recharge by precipitation and/or river water recharge. Multiple discharge peaks suggest multiple recharge sources. The chemical data collected in the study were compared with data from previous investigations to determine potential spring sources, including: shallow ground water, deep ground water, irrigation (river/canal) water, and precipitation. Spring water is characterized by calcium, magnesium, and bicarbonate, similar to deep ground water and river water. However, most of the 21 springs analyzed for deuterium and oxygen-18 displayed an evaporative signature; thus, chemically, the shallow, unconfined aquifer that recharges these springs appears to be recharged in part by excess irrigation water and/or canal water. Several of the springs have high chloride levels indicating the shallow, unconfined aquifer recharging those springs has surface runoff infiltrating into it. Because of the evaporative signature in the stable isotopes, the similarity of major ion and trace metal values, and the discharge trends observed throughout the year, it seems unlikely that the springs are directly connected hydraulically with the deep, confined aquifer, from which most of the wells in the valley withdraw their water. Thus, the recent drought, rather than increased pumping, probably has been responsible for decreases in spring discharges.

Adolescents are not consuming the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables (FV). An overall decrease in diet quality is seen as adolescents get older, with decreases in fruit and vegetable intake and increases in energy dense food intake. The aim of this study was to test whether or not the Food Dudes (FD) healthy eating program helps to prevent decreases in fruit and vegetable intake and increases in energy dense foods during the transition from elementary school into middle school. Past FD studies supported the use of repeated tasting, rewards, and role modeling to encourage children to eat more fruits and vegetables at school with data from studies of young children. A review of available literature on effectiveness of these techniques in adolescents found evidence that the program may also be effective for adolescents. Participants were 4th and 5th graders (n=874) from 6 elementary schools, recruited during the 2011-2012 school year. Treatment group was assigned by school and included a prize condition, a praise condition, and a control. Students were followed into the 2012-2013 school year when the 5th grade cohort entered middle school. During 2012-2013 an additional control group was recruited from three middle schools (n = 154). Results showed short term success at increasing FV intake and that the program had some long term success preventing large drops in FV intake. A small to medium positive correlation was seen between energy dense snack foods and total FV intake (r ranging from .125 to .355, p The results of this study suggest that the FD program may play a role in helping to maintain lunch time FV intake during the transition into middle school. The results for the impact on total FV intake and total diet were less conclusive due to problems in the self-reported data. Future studies on this topic should look for a better method for tracking changes in total FV intake and total diet.

The Box Elder Bug, Leptocoria trivittatue (say), is a hanipterous insect belonging to the family corisidae. Although it rarely is a pest of agricultural crops, its habit of invading homes and other buildings for hibernation and to warm itself has made it an annoying household pest. It has proven to be a difficult insect to control. Only a few of the contact insecticides, useful in control of related insect pests, have given satisfactory control of the Boxelder Bug. Because it has not been considered a critical problem, it has not received detailed attention from the scientific investigators. Its close association with boxelder trees has long been recognized. Elimination of boxelder trees has often been advocated for control of this insect. However, boxelder is not its only host and, furthermore, elimination of boxelder trees is not always practical or desirable.

Important public facilities located in Cache Valley, Utah, were studied to assess their exposure to geologic hazards. Also, the level of geotechnical and geologic expertise involved in the siting, design, and construction of critical public facilities was studied. A discussion of several individual facilities, that were exposed to some degree of hazard, was presented to illustrate the nature of the problem. Earthquake hazards probably constitute the greatest threat to facilities and to the general welfare of the public. Many earthquake hazard mitigation measures were discussed and recommendations were made, based on aseismic design criteria which has been developed for seismically active areas such as California. A goal of this study was to present information concerning the seriousness of the current geologic hazard situation in Cache Valley, Utah, in an attempt to help generate public interest in understanding and correcting the problem.

The Cache Valley Shoshone are the survivors of the Bear River Massacre, where a battle between a group of US. volunteer troops from California and a Shoshone village degenerated into the worst Indian massacre in US. history, resulting in the deaths of over 200 Shoshones. The massacre occurred due to increasing tensions over land use between the Shoshones and the Mormon settlers. Following the massacre, the Shoshones attempted settling in several different locations in Box Elder County, eventually finding a home in Washakie, Utah. However, the LDS Church sold the land where the city of Washakie sat, forcing the Shoshones to adapt quickly. Much of our knowledge of the massacre stems from either white American sources or the oral histories that circulate among one Shoshone family group. This leaves the information incomplete. Adding the voices of more individuals expands our knowledge of the massacre itself and the adaptations the Shoshones continue to make in order to survive.