ScholarWorks

ScholarWorks is an open access repository for the capture of the intellectual work of Montana State University (MSU) in support of its teaching, research and service missions. MSU ScholarWorks is a central point of discovery for accessing, collecting, sharing, preserving, and distributing knowledge to the Montana State University community and the world.

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Scholarship & Research

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LaboratOry for the Behavior of the SloT Region: a small mission doing big radiation science
(Frontiers Media SA, 2025-08)
Filwett, Rachael
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Miles, David
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Jaynes, Allison
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Gabrielse, Christine
This paper outlines the science and basic design choices associated with a mission concept study known as the LaboratOry for the Behavior of the SloT Region (LOBSTR). This mission concept focuses on energetic particles, both electrons and protons, as they impinge upon the slot region in the Van Allen radiation belts around Earth. In particular, it emphasizes the drift dynamics of particles that were not captured by Van Allen Probes. We conceptualize a mission, utilizing state-of-the-art instruments and components, and calculate the mission’s orbit, thrust, and radiation requirements using industry-standard methods. The concept uses two SmallSats in a near-equatorial orbit, with precise orbital timing to capture the desired dynamics. The total radiation dose and the details of the orbital dynamics are examined and found to be within the capabilities of current technology.
A Numerical Investigation of Drainage Characteristics of Nonwoven Geotextile in Unsaturated Fine-grained Soil
(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2025-09)
Jana, Amalesh
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Dey, Arindam
This study presents a comprehensive numerical investigation into the drainage behavior of nonwoven geotextiles embedded within unsaturated fine-grained soils. The simulations were calibrated using laboratory data to ensure consistency and reliability. Transient seepage analyses were performed to evaluate the dual functionality of geotextiles-as capillary barriers and drainage layers-under varying infiltration conditions. The study examined geotextile performance in both lateral and vertical drainage configurations, considering the presence or absence of vertical drains, and evaluated behavior under varying initial soil moisture contents and successive wetting-drying cycles. Results demonstrate that geotextiles act as effective capillary barriers, delaying water migration until a breakthrough suction is reached. The time to breakthrough was found to depend strongly on the geotextile’s hydraulic properties and the initial moisture content of the surrounding soil. The study also showed that geotextiles maintain lower suction values in the subsurface, even after prolonged drying periods. A parametric analysis involving seven geotextile types revealed that air-entry suction is a critical factor governing lateral drainage performance. Geotextiles with higher air-entry or water-entry suction values facilitated quicker breakthroughs and more efficient drainage. Overall, this research provides valuable insight into the hydraulic mechanisms governing geotextile behavior in unsaturated conditions and underscores the importance of incorporating unsaturated soil-geotextile interactions into drainage system design.
The Influence of Ultraviolet-C Light Pretreatment on Blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum) Quality During Storage
(MDPI AG, 2025-07)
Wang, Zhuoyu
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Svyantek, Andrej
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Miller, Zachariah
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Davis, Haydon
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Kapus, Ashley
Blackcurrant is a notable superfruit in Europe, and its vitamin C content surpasses the well-known blueberry superfruit. However, due to its short shelf life during storage, consumption is mainly accounted by frozen berries, extracts, and concentrates. This study applied an intensity of 1.2 W/m2 UVC with different durations, including control (non-treated), UVC irradiation for 0.5 h (0.5 h treatment), UVC irradiation for 1 h (1 h treatment), and UVC pretreatment for 2 h (2 h treatment) to blackcurrant berries before storage. Fundamental physical (firmness and weight loss) and physicochemical characteristics (SSC, pH, and acids), microbial population changes, total phenolic content, antioxidant capacity, and specific phenolic compound changes were evaluated every five days over a twenty-day storage period. The results indicated that the longer the UVC pretreatment, the lower the water weight losses during storage. Meanwhile, the UVC pretreatment significantly affected the blackcurrant soluble solid content, resulting in higher soluble solid contents detected in the blackcurrants with the higher doses of UVC. For the mold population control, UVC effects were highly correlated with the pretreatment duration. However, UVC did not have a significant influence on the berry pH and acid contents, but the storage length slightly increased the pH and decreased the acids. At the same time, UVC pretreatment did not affect the berry firmness, polyphenols, ascorbic acid content, or antioxidant capacities, which were primarily influenced by the storage duration. The monophenolic compounds detected before and after storage indicated that more than one hour of UVC radiation influenced most of the phenolic contents largely before storage. The UVC pretreatment has also influenced some phenolic compounds. After storage, half an hour of UVC pretreatment increased cyanidin levels, and two hours of UVC pretreatment increased catechin and epicatechin levels. However, most of the compounds remained at similar amounts during storage in each treatment. Further research is needed to improve the UVC radiation time length or intensity or explore other technology combinations to optimize UVC pretreatments for blackcurrant storage.
Comparing Juvenile Physiology and Morphology of Two High-Elevation Pines, Pinus albicaulis and P. balfouriana
(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2025-08)
Sparks, Katherine
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Hoy-Skubik, Sean L.
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Alongi, Franlkin
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Runyon, Justin B.
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Banner, Katharine M.
Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis, PIAL) and foxtail pine (P. balfouriana, PIBA) are slow-growing, high-elevation, five-needled pines. Recently, PIAL has experienced significant mortality while PIBA has experienced minimal decline. PIBA exists in two disjunct southern (PIBAS) and northern (PIBAN) populations. Our study compared juvenile physiological and morphological traits between the two species (PIAL, PIBA) and foxtail populations (PIBAN, PIBAS) to investigate mechanisms underlying responses to environmental stressors in their high-elevation environments. We grew four-year-old PIAL and PIBA trees in a common greenhouse environment. We measured traits describing their morphology, biomass, stomatal and xylem conduit size and density, budburst phenology, gas exchange, whole plant volatile organic compounds (VOCs), phloem volatile resin (PVR) compounds, and non-structural carbohydrates (NSC). We found that PIAL and PIBA displayed different suites of traits that similarly promote resistance to environmental stressors (e.g., high wind, drought, herbivores). The two PIBA populations did not differ in most traits except for VOCs where PIBAS emitted higher concentrations of specific and total whole plant VOCs than PIBAN, suggesting that PIBAS may differ in susceptibility to stress from PIBAN. For many traits and especially evident in whole plant VOC concentration and composition, PIAL and PIBAN were most similar while PIAL and PIBAS differed the most, consistent with growing season total precipitation of the juveniles’ climates of origin. Our observed trait differences between species and populations offer insight into mechanisms by which PIAL and PIBA juveniles survive in their environments, improving our ability to understand drivers of current and future species distributions.
A New Generation of Collecting Priorities: Case Studies from the Northwest
(Utah State University Libraries, 2024-05)
Allison-Bunnell, Jodi
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Long, Linda
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Bond, Trevor J.
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Nielsen, Carrie
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Valentine, Amy M.
The last twenty-five years have brought lively, important, and difficult discussions around heritage collections. We are called to broaden our collecting activities to be more inclusive of (among many things) all races, classes, and experiences. We have begun to move away from the troubled legacy of taking collections away from creators and toward empowering those same creators to steward their heritage. We confront a vast universe of current holdings and possible collections and have few models for assessing the opportunities. We also operate with some firm limitations on our budgets, personnel, and space that we have outdistanced with our collecting. The framework of responsible stewardship suggests that we must stop over-collecting. Broader cultural forces call us to make our collections more diverse and representative. Inevitably, both of these mean that we must stop or de-emphasize some collecting in order to make other types possible. Given that our collecting policies outline both our aspirations and limitations, what have we done or failed to do in terms of tending to the collecting policies that we inherited? How have we changed them–or kept them the same? And, moving forward, how do we go about implementing and making public big shifts in our collecting policies? We consider these questions through four case studies from the University of Oregon, Washington State University, Montana State University, and the Anchorage Museum that consider (respectively) two decades of work with LGBTQ+ and indigenous collections, current and clear changes in who is documented, and considerations of capacity as part of stewardship. First presented at the annual meeting of [organization] in May 2023, the case studies spurred lively conversations and are broadly applicable to archives across the west and beyond.