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: Clay - Consent Form; Consent form for "Spatial Correlation Between Average Fracture Spacing (AFS) in the Lower Burro Canyon Formation and the GTO Fault, Lisbon Valley, UT, USA" by Hayden Clay

: Climate Change And Forest Fires In The Western United States; Forest fire suppression and climate change are directly changing the forest structure of western North America. Forest fires have virtually been eradicated from western ecosystems in the United States since the late nineteenth century, producing unusually dense forests. Additionally, the International Panel on Climate Change has forecast a warmer and drier climate for the Western United States. The increase in fuel loads paired with warmer and drier conditions have the potential to cause catastrophic wild fires. This is especially true for areas with an expanding wildland-urban interface such as communities in the foothills west of Denver, Colorado. A warmer, drier climate has profound effects on forest structure and species composition. Plant species are likely to move northward as well as rise in elevation, completely changing current ecosystems. Less precipitation also means that forests will become drier and more susceptible to insects and diseases such as the pine beetle and mistletoe. Forest overcrowding due to fire expulsion has already created a struggle for resources such as water, producing drier fuels and larger more intense fires. The 2011 wildland fire season in the western U.S. saw some of the largest fires in the histories of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. These Southwestern states are seeing the initial results of climate change in North America. Texas had one of its hottest summers on record as well as its worst drought since the 1950s. The fires in these states caused millions of dollars in damages and suppression costs, which could have avoided if proper forest management was upheld. Although it is unlikely to restore the historical fire regime, a selection of mitigation efforts can minimize the effects brought on by climate change and wild fire exclusion. These methods include reincorporating wildfires and controlled burns, emulation silviculture, and fire suppression. Each technique has its advantages and disadvantages but when used in combination they can help restore forests to healthy levels. Some federal policies make fire mitigation efforts difficult if not impossible, and some help these management options more available. Future laws should allow for less restriction on fire mitigation efforts and allow for more restoration funding. An increase in proper forest management will cost only a fraction of the suppression expenses of large destructive fires.

: Climate Change and Sustainability in National Parks; Climate change is one of the most pressing issues of our time. The national parks are taking specific measures to reduce their carbon emissions. I have conducted research with the National Park Service and the Environmental Studies Program as a sustainability intern to help the national parks reduce their carbon footprint and become more sustainable.

: Climate Change, Displaced Peoples and the Impact on the Global Community; Environmental refugees are people who have been displaced by environmental degradation, which has been increasing at a rapid rate due to climate change. The land which these people call home can no longer support a healthy lifestyle, due to intense drought, flooding, and extreme storms. Anthropogenic climate change has been caused by the excessive emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane; these gases accumulate in the atmosphere, causing a heating effect on the planet. The majority of countries which have a strong impact on climate change are developed nations, but the countries which are affected the most are those which are developing. This paper looks at the two case studies: the effects of sea level rise in Bangladesh and the impact of drought of the Sahel. These were related to the increase in disease and violence. The heating of the planet has resulted in sea level rise and an increase in the frequency of extreme weather events. The rise in sea level will put populations of coastal communities at risk of being displaced due to flooding and storms. For example, Bangladesh is a country which has been seriously affected by the increase in intense storms due to its low-lying landscape and a high density of coastal communities. The storms which have torn through this area have caused large scale destruction and have been responsible for large scale migration. Climate change has caused serious amounts of flooding in some areas, but in much of Africa climate change has brought drought. Drought has caused desertification in throughout the landscape, while much of the population faces water shortages. Environmental scarcity has put many people on the move, creating stress between communities and the possibility for violent conflict. Those who are displaced due to climate change face a variety of threats: disease, unsafe conditions, and volatile social conditions. The findings of this paper are that displacement due to climate change is an environmental justice issue. There is little support available in the global system for environmental refugees because displacement due to environmental factors does not classify a person as a "refugee". Climate change has been caused primarily by the wealthiest countries on the planet, but it is the impoverished countries which are dealing directly with the effects. As the climate situation worsens the amount of people who will be displaced will increase, and the stress on the global community will increase. It is necessary to create policy to deal with environmental refugees, before the problem becomes unmanageable.

: Cloning and Expression of a Putative Transaldolase Gene from Acidobacterium Capsulatum into E. Coli; Acidobacterium capsulatum is an abundant bacterium in soil and aquatic ecosystems whose metabolic processes are not well understood. The A. capsulatum genome does not contain a known gene sequence for aldolase, an enzyme that is directly involved in glucose metabolism. A. capsulatum was grown with glucose as its sole carbon source to efficiently study its glucose metabolism. Because the bacterium grows readily on glucose it is hypothesized that the metabolic pathway being utilized in the breakdown of glucose is separate from aldolase catalyzed metabolisms and could involve other key enzymes identified in the genome. Transaldolase is a secondary metabolic enzyme that is predicted to control flux through the pentose phosphate pathway and has been identified as part of the A. capsulatum genome. This pathway is utilized to produce NADPH and pentose-phosphates in the cytosol that can be used for biosynthesis. In order to characterize the transaldolase from A. capsulatum we have designed a cloning method to overexpress and isolate the protein from competent E. coli cells. The gene of interest was amplified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and specifically designed primers. A TOPO isomerase-based cloning kit was used to insert the amplicon into the correct plasmid for transformation into competent E. coli cells for storage and expression.

: Cloning the Triose Phosphate Isomerase Gene from A. Cap to E. Coli; The gene tpiA was chosen from Acetobacter capulatum to be cloned in Escherichia coli. The genomic DNA was removed from the bacteria and purified using a Quigen DNeasy 96 kit. The desired gene was found on KEGG, the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes. Using the DNA sequence provided by KEGG foreward and reverse primers were designed for PCR. Through polymerase chain reaction, tpiA was replicated to usably concentrations. Gel electrophoresis confirmed the presence of amplicons approximately the desired size. The amplicons were then attached to a plasmid vector containing a gene for ampicillin resistance. The resulting plasmid was "fed" to the E. coli. We selected E. coli with the plasmid to grow colonies on ampicillin-containing agar. Colonies were taken from the agar and grown in LB broth. The E. coli were tested for the tpiA gene by removal of the DNA and isolating the plasmid for use in another gel electrophoresis. After the presence of tpiA was confirmed, expression of triose phosphate isomerase was tested for. Rapid expression of the gene was induced. TPI will be isolated and tested using various protein and kinetics assays. This will hopefully show beyond doubt that the gene tpiA was successfully taken from A. cap and not only cloned into E. coli, but expressed.

: Co-Workers; Short story by Ryan Meer, published in the Fall 2012-Winter 2013 issue of Images.

: Cognitive Reasoning and Decision Making in Regards to Personal Biases; In this study, we replicated Kahan's (2013) two famous studies. He examined motivational reasoning and cognitive reflection and formulated a mathematical equation on crime increase/ decrease in cities that did/did not ban carrying concealed handguns in public. He also created a control equation on rashes that did/did not improve on people who did/did not use rash cream. Kahan's results showed that those who scored greater than 7 on the Numeracy scale were more likely to get the answer correct when asked to identify if the rash cream helped and that those whose Numeracy test scores were high were still more likely to answer incorrectly when asked about gun control if their political views opposed the findings. Our research tests the validity of Kahan's original two experiments, although we tested crime increase/decrease in regards to mental health screening in cities instead of concealed carry. It also gives us insight on how people view mental health and gun control. Since we are replicating Kahan's original study, we decided to use two of this three hypothesis which follow: 1) subjects high in Numeracy would be more likely to get the right results in both the skin-treatment conditions and 2) subjects higher in Numeracy would be more likely to construe the data correctly not only when it was consistent with their ideological predisposition but also when it was inconsistent with them and thus likely to display less ideological polarization than subjects lower in Numeracy. We used 128 students from Fort Lewis, 62.5% were female and 37.5% were male. We found that in the control group, 34.3% got the wrong answer compared to 53.2% in the experimental group. We were able to confirm the first hypothesis: 1) subjects high in Numeracy were more likely to get the right results in both the skin-treatment conditions. However, we had to reject the second: 2) subjects higher in Numeracy were no more likely to construe the data correctly when it was inconsistent or consistent with their political view. Kahan also had to reject his second hypothesis. Our results show that we are all susceptible to our own biases regardless of mathematical and scientific evidence.

: Colbert et al - Consent Form

: College Athletes' Perceptions of Care Quality Based on Gender/Race; The purpose of this study was to add to the body of literature about perceptions of care quality in athletic training through the lens of race and gender, given that both are prominent issues in general health care. We hoped to see how gender and race match/non-match relationships between collegiate athletes and Athletic Trainers affect their perceptions related to quality of care. Methods: We sent out a survey designed to assess athletes' perception of care quality with athletic trainers and demographic information to varsity coaches at NCAA DIII schools. With the 210 survey responses we received, we performed an independent t-test comparing the averages of questions relating to care quality with whether the respondent was a race or gender match/non-match with their athletic trainer. Results: We found that there was no statistically significant difference in reported quality of care between athletes who reported race (t=209; p=0.929) or gender (t=56.35;p=0.333) match/non-match. Discussion: Based on our results, we concluded that gender and race match/non-match has little to no effect on perceptions of care quality. Race and gender appears to have little effect on perceptions of care quality from Athletic Trainers, however our study was limited due to its lack of diversity. Our respondents reported 163 White-White race matches. It would be beneficial to apply this same study design to a more diverse population.

: Cologne Cathedral; Artwork by Matt Lay from Fall 2013 - Winter 2014 issue of Images

: Colorado Mountains; Artwork by Matt Law from Fall 2013 - Winter 2014 issue of Images

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