In industry, antioxidants are added to prevent changes that affect quality due to oxidation, such as the development of off flavors, unacceptable odors and discoloration. New resources that are familiar to consumers and may work as antioxidants should be studied. The changes in antioxidant activity were determined for four freeze-dried native wild berry powder species in Utah, including skunkbush (Rhus trilobata), chokecherry (Prunus virginiana), river hawthorn (Crataegus douglasii) and silver buffaloberry (Shepherdia argentea), during cold storage (-20 °C) for 6 months. The total antioxidant activity was stable in most of the berry powders during the six months of frozen storage. Overall the river hawthorn and buffaloberry contained the highest antioxidant activity values, which indicated that they would be more efficient for use as food antioxidants. The effectiveness of two different levels of native Utah river hawthorn and buffaloberry freeze-dried powders in maintaining the quality of ground poultry and ground beef was studied. Meat patties mixed with berry powders were held at 4 °C and analyzed every three days for two weeks. The river hawthorn berry and silver buffaloberry delayed the undesirable changes in flavor or color caused by the oxygen present in the air in both chicken and beef ground patties. However, the plant pigments in the silver buffaloberry increased the redness of chicken patties. Neither berry significantly changed the color of ground beef patties or changed the microbial growth in ground meats. Overall, both river hawthorn and buffaloberry are suitable for using in ground beef product as antioxidants. Milk mineral and sodium tripolyphosphate are antioxidants that could bind free metal ions into insoluble or inactive forms. They can delay the changes of the meat pigment and maintain color in meat products. The purpose of the third study was to examine the effect antioxidants on meat pigment.pH describes the amounts of acid in food. Slowed color changes in the poultry meat pigment with antioxidants was seen both at the pH of living poultry muscle (7.2) and the pH of raw poultry meat (pH 6.0). This suggested that addition of metal-binding antioxidants like milk mineral or sodium tripolyphosphate could help preserve poultry meat pigment and maintain the color of poultry products.

The behavior and ecology of Uinta ground squirrels (Spermophilus armatus) at the Utah State University Forestry Field Station northeast of Logan, Utah were studied from 1964-1971 to determine the role of behavior in population regulation. From 1965 to 1968, data were collected to establish population norms. In 1968, the population density was reduced experimentally to help elucidate regulatory processes. This paper compares the dynamics of the population before and after the population reduction. Before the density reduction, juvenile survival was lower than that of yearlings and adults. The disappearance of juveniles was associated with their tendency to disperse from the natal burrow while still small. The litter size of yearlings was smaller than that of adults. The principal changes following the reduction were an increase in percentage of yearling squirrels breeding and a decrease in dispersal of juveniles. Litter size and proportion of adult females breeding did not change significantly. Dispersal of squirrels from the study area was the principal regulatory factor. Losses during hibernation, presumably to badger predation, also decreased after the reduction. Several conclusions were drawn. The importance of anyone of the complex of factors, which determined the dynamics of the population, varied with place, time, and population density. The value of habitat was affected by population density as well as the physical environment. Density pressures seemed to have more effect on subordinate than on dominant squirrels. Surplus animals from the prime habitat raised the population density in the surrounding area. Dispersing animals probably suffered higher mortality than those which stayed, but this did not imply that dispersal was maladaptive for the individual. (58 pages)

Spin-stabilized spacecraft generally rely on sun and three-axis magnetic field sensor measurements for attitude determination. This study experimentally determines the total accuracy of attitude determination solutions using modest quality sensors. This was ac- complished by having a test spacecraft collect data during spinning motions. The data was then post-processed to find the attitude estimates, which were then compared to the exper- imentally measured attitude. This same approach will be used to test the accuracy of the attitude determination system of the DICE spacecraft to be built by SDL/USU.

A series of five east-west and two north-south hydrostratigraphic cross sections were drawn from drillers' logs of water wells within the southern half of Cache Valley, Utah. These cross-sections demonstrate that ground water flow to streams is restricted by a continuous low- II permeability layer, nearly 100-feet thick. This layer was correlated to the lake-bottom deposits of the Bonneville (30,000 -13,000 years ago) and Little Valley (140,000 - 90,000 years ago) cycles of the ancient Lake Bonneville. The most productive aquifers in the valley, collectively termed the principal aquifer , are in the southeast corner , approximately between Smithfield and Hyrum, and between the eastern valley margin and the valley center. Sands and gravels of the principal aquifer were deposited as alluvial fans and deltas by streams draining the Bear River Range. Ground water chemistry in the principal aquifer system is of the calcium-magnesium bicarbonate type with total dissolved solids (TDS) averaging about 300 ± 100 mg/L. TDS and the relative proportions of sodium, potassium, and chloride increase down flowpath, from recharge areas in the east to discharge areas in the west. Oxygen-18 (18O) and deuterium (D) analyses were performed on precipitation samples at three locations on the east valley benches, four surface water samples from streams entering the valley, and fourteen ground water samples from either wells or springs. Precipitation and surface water values generally plotted along the Global Meteoric Water Line (GMWL), although the precipitation values plotted significantly lower on the GMWL than the surface water values. Of the ground water samples, twelve from the principal aquifer generally clustered near the surface water data points, suggesting that water from streams, rather than infiltrating precipitation, recharges the principal aquifer. Twelve ground water samples were analyzed for tritium. The tritium values of eight samples from wells or springs in the principal aquifer suggest recharge after 1952. Two samples with tritium values dating prior to 1952 are from wells in the principal aquifer, and two are from wells west of the principal aquifer. Four samples were analyzed for 14C. Two of these wells were completed in the principal aquifer and two west of it. Correcting for partial carbon dilution, the age difference between the different areas is on the order of tens of thousands of years.

Perception is a key feature in how any creature or autonomous system relates to its environment. While there are many types of perception, this thesis focuses on the improvement of the visual robotics perception systems. By implementing a broadband passive sensing system in conjunction with current perception algorithms, this thesis explores scene reconstruction and world modeling. The process involves two main steps. The first is stereo correspondence using block matching algorithms with filtering to improve the quality of this matching process. The disparity maps are then transformed into 3D point clouds. These point clouds are filtered again before the registration process is done. The registration uses a SAC-IA matching technique to align the point clouds with minimum error.  The registered final cloud is then filtered again to smooth and down sample the large amount of data. This process was implemented through software architecture that utilizes Qt, OpenCV, and Point Cloud Library. It was tested using a variety of experiments on each of the components of the process.  It shows promise for being able to replace or augment existing UGV perception systems in the future. / Master of Science

Permafrost is vulnerable to climate changes and the associated landscape changes that are enhanced by amplification processes and feedbacks unique to the Arctic. Permafrost degradation leads to important changes in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and determining regions that are sensitive to permafrost degradation therefore represents an urgent issue. The Tombstone Territorial Park (TTP) and its surroundings (Ogilvie Mountains, central Yukon) represent one of those sensitive permafrost environment that should be monitored. The central Yukon is an enigmatic permafrost environment that reflects both Pleistocene and Holocene permafrost and climate conditions. The area is particularly intriguing because of the extensive presence of permafrost landforms that are more typical of areas much further north, especially ice-wedge (IW) polygons. It also represents a major transportation corridor linking multiple northern communities (Dempster Highway). Despite access along the road, and signs of permafrost degradation, there have been a limited number of studies addressing permafrost and ground ice conditions throughout the landscape. Consequently, this PhD thesis aims to characterize IW polygons, define the type and magnitude of landscape changes, and model permafrost distribution, conditions and sensitivity to climate changes in the study area. Characterization of IW polygons reveals that they occupy 2.6% of the TTP and preferentially develop in woody sedge peat, glaciofluvial and alluvial deposits along the lower reaches of the Blackstone and East Blackstone rivers on hillslopes of ≤1°. Vegetation type, surface wetness, and polygon spatial pattern are influenced by the development stage of ice-wedge polygons, while the size and angles of polygons seem independent of the development stage. A Landsat-based landscape change analysis of the TTP and surrounding region covering the 1986-2021 period shows that statistically significant spectral changes occurred in 24% of the study area, and most of these changes are associated with vegetation succession and hydrological processes (i.e., erosion and deposition). Other landscape changes included wildfires, slumps, changes to riverbanks and lake shores, earlier melting of icings in the summer, degradation on the peripheries of some ice wedge polygonal terrain, and potential insect damage to forests. The analysis reveals that the extent and magnitude of landscape changes in the study area are influenced by the geomorphic setting, ecological succession and glacial history of the region. Modeling current and future permafrost conditions in the study area using the Northern Ecosystem Soil Temperature (NEST) model indicate that permafrost has persisted through the 20th century and beginning of the 21st century and is currently present throughout the area. Modeled mean permafrost depth (113.8 ± 49.6 m), active layer thickness (2.45 ± 7 m), surface, near-surface, and deep ground temperatures (−1 ± 1.2°C, −1.6 ± 1.2°C, −2.4 ± 1.3°C, respectively) are in the range of other local and regional measurements. Predicted ALTs and permafrost depth show areas of permafrost loss by 2100 (22% of study area under RCP4.5, and 29% under RCP8.5). Permafrost degradation in the study area could greatly impact slope stability and conditions of aquatic systems, and shrubification could contribute to increased degradation.

Latency is a common issue found in robotics teleoperation that is not currently addressed in simulation. This study examined the effects of latency on operator performance for a robot teleoperation navigation task. Operators used a Logitech gamepad controller to teleoperate a robot through both a simulated environment and real-world environment. Both environments had the same dimensions and provided a path with obstacles the participant had to navigate. Participants performed this navigation task under three latency conditions, zero, low and high. Completion time, number of collisions, NASA-TLX, System Usability Survey, and User Experience survey were collected and participant performance compared for all latency conditions across the simulated and real-world environments. Results indicated a significant difference in participant performance between the simulated and real-world scenarios.

No description available.

Genetic Expression Programming (GEP) is used to create Ground Motion Predicting Equations (GMPEs) for the average peak ground acceleration using 12,854 ground motion records obtained from the NGA-WEST2 project. The predictor set considered in this research consists of the moment magnitude, dip angle, rake angle, depth to the top of fault rupture, Joyner Boore distance, closest distance to the ruptured fault area, and the shear wave velocity in the top 30 m of the site. Four out of 23 candidate models were able to fairly predict the PGA for magnitudes larger than 4.5 and compared well with existing GMPEs in literature. GEP was capable of reasonably predicting the physical importance of the magnitude and distance parameters. However, other parameters often were either not fitted, or fitted as regression coefficients. The results illustrate GEP’s potential as a viable alternative to regression methods currently used in developing GMPEs.

No description available.