Digital Commons Network^™

Lean Six Sigma's Impact On Firm Innovation Performance, Austin Michael Strong

Theses and Dissertations

Following Toyota's dramatic rise to prominence within the automotive industry in the late 1980's, firms around the globe have widely sought to adopt Lean Six Sigma (LSS) as a means of reducing costs, improving quality, and gaining an overall competitive advantage. While the operational benefits of LSS are largely undisputed, there are criticisms of the movement with regards to its effect on firm innovation capability. Prior academic studies investigating the relationship between LSS and innovation are largely conceptual in nature, rely heavily on qualitative data, and display a high degree of variability in results. The objective of this work was …

Doing And Interpreting Lyrical Sociology: Living In Detroit, Gregory Joseph Wurm

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines, experiments with, and theorizes the value of lyrical sociology as an approach to social scientific research. A lyrical sociology, as proposed by Andrew Abbott, seeks to describe an author's emotional response to a phenomenon rather than explain it. This allows for a researcher's own experience to play a role in the research process in a way that helps the reader to connect emotionally and ethically to both the world they read about and the world they themselves are a part of. It has valuable implications for the way researchers relate to their research, their research subjects, their …

A Comparison Of Qualitative And Quantitative White Matter Methods In Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury, Kacie Larae Wright

Theses and Dissertations

Magnetic resonance imaging is used to assess white matter (WM) abnormalities including total WM volumes and WM hyperintensities (WMHs). Comparisons between several qualitative and quantitative methods to assess WM that are used in research and clinical settings are lacking in pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI). This study 1) WM methods including Scheltens ratings, manual tracings, NeuroQuant®, and FreeSurfer; (2) compared total WM volumes and WMHs to assess potentially similar reporting of WM integrity; and (3) assessed the relationship between cognitive functions (intelligence, attention, processing speed, and language) and WM in pediatric TBI.Sixty participants (65% male) between ages 8-13 years old, …

Examining Large Game Utility And Transport Decisions By Fremont Hunters: A Study Of Faunal Bone From Wolf Village, Utah, Spencer Francis Lambert

Theses and Dissertations

This analysis of faunal bones from Wolf Village focuses on large game and its utility, as evidenced by what is known as the modified general utility index (MGUI). The MGUI proposes that bones at sites reflect transportation and butchering choices made by hunters at kill-butchering sites. According to the assumptions associated with the MGUI, hunters should select animal portions with high food value. The MGUI has been used in Fremont archaeology to provide a rough measure of site function. The expectation is that faunal bones would accompany the prized cuts of large game meat at habitation sites – and the …

Social Media Use And Its Impact On Relationships And Emotions, Spencer Palmer Christensen

Theses and Dissertations

A large majority of the people throughout the world own a smartphone and access social media on a daily basis. Because of this digital attachment, the author sought to understand to what extent this use has impacted the users' emotional well-being and offline interpersonal relationships. A sample size of 627 participants completed a mixed-methods survey consisting of Likert scale and short answer questions regarding social media use, emotional well-being and interpersonal relationships. Results revealed that the more time an individual spent on social media the more likely they were to experience a negative impact on their overall emotional well-being and …

Informing Social Impact: Enabling Everyday Changemakers Through Research, Marissa Getts

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Despite a lack of expertise regarding social impact, laypeople make many important decisions about social good by starting or supporting organizations or social businesses, voting for or against legislation and policymakers, or spending their money and time on volunteering or service trips. Unfortunately, many people base their interventions or analysis of interventions for any given social issue on overly simplistic understanding or incorrect information regarding social impact. This keeps them from developing interventions with positive, sustainable impact. Ballard Brief is a publication based on a framework intended to inform the layperson about social issues and interventions.

This thesis is comprised …

A Q-Method Study Of Visual Metaphors In Advertising, Mckenzie Joell Madsen

Theses and Dissertations

Visual metaphors in advertising have been researched extensively because of their ability to persuade. However, few studies have investigated why they are persuasive from the perspective of the consumer. The purpose of this study was to identify why viewers are attracted to visual metaphor ads and provide a better understanding of the types of consumers who view them, revealing their subjective opinions and attitudes. Through the use of Q-method, four factors were identified: "Highbrows," who prefer metaphors that are classy and refined, "Connectors," an emotional group that focuses on interpersonal relationships and the relevance of the metaphor to the advertised …

Friction Bit Joining Of Similar Alloy Sheets Of High-Strength Aluminum Alloy 7085, Matthew R. Okazaki

Theses and Dissertations

Friction Bit Joining (FBJ) is a new technology used primarily in joining dissimilar metals. Its primary use has been focused in the automotive industry to provide an alternative joining process to welding. As automotive manufacturing has continually pushed toward using dissimilar materials, new joining processes have been needed to replace traditional welding practices that do not perform well when materials are not weld compatible. FBJ meets these needs perfectly as it provides strength as well as the ability to join materials of almost any kind.The purpose of this research was to explore different applications of the FBJ process. Traditionally FBJ …

Social Outcome Following Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury: A Meta-Analysis, Jonathan James Mietchen

Theses and Dissertations

Objective: Children and adolescents with a history of traumatic brain injury (TBI) are at increased risk for developing social incompetence and impairment in broad psychosocial functioning. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between history of TBI, social competence, and broad psychosocial functioning using meta-analytic methods. Methods: Studies relating to social outcome following pediatric TBI were searched for using scientific, academic databases. Sixteen studies (N=2,005) met inclusion criteria, and relevant data relating to social functioning was extracted. Meta-analytic methods were used in order to obtain Hedges's g effect size data for mild, moderate, and severe TBI groups. …

The Feasibility Of Augmenting A Fixed-Gap Bobbin Friction Stir Welding Tool With Cutters To Join Enclosed Castings, Adam Baxter Christensen

Theses and Dissertations

Bobbin Friction Stir Welding (BFSW) is a new application of Friction Stir Welding (FSW) that can be used to join materials together with little to no axial forces. This eliminates the need of a backplate or anvil needed to apply counter pressure against the tool. The applications of BFSW are growing every day. This new technology is helping the automotive industry and many other industries join materials more effectively and efficiently. This technology can be used to join materials with high strength to weight ratios to make cars lighter to increase fuel efficiency. This will also greatly reduce the cost …

Training Security Professionals In Social Engineering With Osint And Sieve, Jared James Meyers

Theses and Dissertations

This research attempts to create a novel process, Social Engineering Vulnerability Evaluation, SiEVE, to use open source data and open source intelligence (OSINT) to perform efficient and effectiveness spear phishing attacks. It is designed for use by "œred teams" and students learning to conduct a penetration test of an organization, using the vector of their workforce. The SiEVE process includes the stages of identifying targets, profiling the targets, and creating spear phishing attacks for the targets. The contributions of this research include the following: (1) The SiEVE process itself was developed using an iterative process to identify and fix initial …

Stack The Deck: An Intervention For Regulating Verbal Participation In Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Katherine Ensign Montgomery

Theses and Dissertations

Some students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) struggle with social reciprocity, or the ability to engage in chains of back-and-forth conversation, interfering with other students' ability to respond to a question that is posed by the teacher in classrooms. The participants were 11 fifth grade students with autism spectrum disorder. We used a simple differential reinforcement intervention within a token system in direct instruction sessions for math to help balance the participation in a class of children with ASD as well as lower the number of talk-outs made by all students. Using a single-subject design, data were analyzed for changes …

Like And Shout: Brand Loyalty, Framing, And Fan Interactions On The Byu Football Facebook Page, Zachary Anderson Miller

Theses and Dissertations

This research is intended to provide the stewards of social media for Brigham Young University's football program with information that will allow them to make better decisions on what kind of content will maximize engagement and enhance brand loyalty among fans and consumers on Facebook. Using several variables, including the type or theme of content, post frequency, and sponsorship, content was compared against that from the University of Oregon's football program for the 2017 season. The results, found using quantitative data analysis, reveal that some variables have a significant impact on the quantity of engagement from viewers for both programs …

Understanding Biracial Women's Identity Formation, Tinesha Zandamela

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This qualitative study study seeks to identify themes and patterns concerning biracial women’s experiences in the U.S. It is intended to help expand what researchers currently know about what it means to be biracial in the U.S. If society at large has not dictated a script for multiracial persons because they are not even fully recognized as a racial group throughout the US, what can the experiences of these biracial women tell us about the current sociological theories of identity construction? Utilizing six interviews with half-black women and three sociological theories, this paper seeks to answer that question. Ultimately, this …

Applying The Developmental Path Of English Negation To The Automated Scoring Of Learner Essays, Allen Travis Moore

Theses and Dissertations

The resources required to have humans score extended written response items in English language learner (ELL) contexts has caused automated essay scoring (AES) to emerge as a desired alternative. However, these systems often rely heavily on indirect proxies of writing quality such as word, sentence, and essay lengths because of their strong correlation to scores (Vajjala, 2017). This has led to concern about the validity of the features used to establish the predictive accuracy of AES systems (Attali, 2007; Weigle, 2013). Reliance on construct-irrelevant features in ELL contexts also forfeits the opportunity to provide meaningful diagnostic feedback to test-takers or …

Does Race Matter? School Decision Making Among White, Latino, And Polynesian Families, Maria Daniela Barriga

Theses and Dissertations

Low-income parents value excellent schools, yet often enroll their children in low-performing schools. The literature is inconclusive when examining how low-income families go through school choice decisions. It is important to understand the school decision-making process among different racial groups because choosing a good school improves later academic outcomes. Choosing a good elementary school is especially important because this is a critical period in a child's development and can affect performance in subsequent educational institutions. I am interested in understanding how race/ethnicity shapes how low-income parents make decisions about schools. Using interview data from an extensive qualitative study, I examine …

Managing Distressing Thoughts In Adults With And Without Autism: The Role Of Cognitive Fusion And The Effectiveness Of A Brief Defusion Intervention, Max Emanuel Maisel

Theses and Dissertations

In the tradition of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), cognitive fusion is a transdiagnostic risk factor and occurs when one becomes overly attached to or "caught up" in their thoughts, leading to a more narrowed behavioral repertoire and difficulty taking effective action in response to life's demands. Cognitive defusion is ACT's curative answer to fusion, and denotes the process of taking a step back, seeing thoughts as "simply thoughts," thereby reducing the negative impact of distressing or anxiety-provoking thoughts. While these components have been widely studied in neurotypical (NT) samples, the purpose of this study was to extend findings to …

Can Mentoring Help Reduce The Risk Of Recidivism? An Analysis Of The Serious And Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (Svori) Data, Amanda Claire Workman

Theses and Dissertations

This research project investigates the effectiveness of mentors on rates of self-reported criminal offending for released offenders. I use data from the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) study (2004-2007), which sought to evaluate factors relating to high-risk offenders outcomes post release in an effort to reduce the societal problem of mass incarceration. Previous research has examined the use of mentors to improve the delinquent and criminogenic behavior of youth, but little is known about the effectiveness of mentors used to aid imprisoned adult males. I utilize negative binomial analysis to compare the number of self-reported criminal activities among …

The Influence Of Foreign-Born Population On Immigrants' Academic Achievement: A Multilevel Analysis Of Students In High-Income Countries, Florencia Silveira

Theses and Dissertations

Scholars have linked multiple background characteristics to academic achievement; among these are student SES and race/ethnicity. A largely understudied student characteristic in relation to academic achievement is student immigrant status. I contextualize this relationship by considering a macro social setting: country-level foreign-born population. To do this, I examine mathematics achievement from the 2015 PISA assessment in 41 high-income countries. Using mixed-effects modeling, I examine student- and country-level factors and their effects on mathematics achievement. I use within- and cross-level interactions to examine the relationship between 1) immigrant status and student SES and between 2) immigrant status and foreign-born population. To …

Gender And Religion In A Shifting Social Landscape: Anglo-Saxon Mortuary Practices, Ad 600-700, Caroline Palmer

Undergraduate Honors Theses

My thesis examines seventh-century East Anglian mortuary practices and cross-correlates grave goods and human remains to determine whether there was an expression of the sexual division of labor during this period of social and religious change. I argue that gender roles changed as a result of adopting kingdoms and Christianity. Prior to this time period, Anglo-Saxons were primarily pagan and were buried with extensive burial goods. In addition to changes in religious and burial practices, during the Final Phase (600-700 AD) there appears to have been a division of labor that was not as dichotomous in the Migration Phase (450-600 …

The Rise And Fall Of The Stock Market: A Look At Financial Professionals Suicide Ideation, Jefferson Mcclain

Undergraduate Honors Theses

On October 24, 1929, the United States stock market crashed. Will Rogers, a local newspaper writer, said of that experience, “When Wall Street took that tail spin, you had to stand in line to get a window to jump out of, and spectators were selling space for bodies in the East River” (Lowenthal 1987). Tales of ruined stockbrokers jumping from the windows of tall buildings ran across the country. These stories have prompted interest in the interaction between workplace environment and mental health. In this study, we looked at the relationship between stock market performance and suicide ideation for working …

The Effect Of Belief Of Victory On Third-Party Vote Share: Duverger's Law & Why Evan Mcmullin Lost Utah In 2016, John Geilman

Undergraduate Honors Theses

A key reason Duverger’s Law is valid is a voter’s belief that a third-party does not have a chance at winning an election in a “first past the post” electoral system. Duverger’s Law has traditionally been explained through two reasons—a mechanical factor and a psychological factor. The mechanical factor focuses on aspects of electoral systems that work against third parties, while the psychological factor focuses on what voters think and feel about third parties. In the 2016 presidential election in the United States, voters in the state of Utah demonstrated that their perception of the electability of a third-party candidate …

Investing For Peace And Peace For Investing: Motivations Behind China’S Involvement In U.N. Peacekeeping Operations, Fred (Wen Jie) Tan

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper seeks to explore the motivations behind China’s increased involvement in international peacekeeping operations. Specifically, I seek to explore the motivations behind China’s increased involvement in international peacekeeping operations. This involves looking to the past to understand China’s actions, but also forecasting to the future to derive expectations for subsequent action. I also seek to determine if constructivist theories are able to explain China’s peacekeeping strategies. Using historical records, I first build a narrative of China’s peacekeeping ideology. I then examine China’s numerical contributions to peacekeeping to see how constructivist arguments might explain China’s strategy. Using regression analyses, I …

The Digital Global Supply Chain: The Growing Case For Blockchain Technology Expansion Within Global Supply Chain, Jonathan Chichoni, Scott Webb Dr.

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In a competitive global market place, technology adoption and application in supply chain is becoming increasingly important as companies seek to acquire competitive advantages. Since blockchain’s advent to the global stage of modern disruptive technologies, several questions remain unanswered pertaining to the benefits that blockchain adoption poses to global supply chains. I apply a typology analysis to a corpus of company filings, press releases and industry studies to better understand the reasons for which global supply chains industry wide are adopting blockchain technology and the specific benefits which they seek to exploit through the use of blockchain. I characterize the …

Effectiveness Of Different Regime Types In Preserving Common Resources: Evidence From A Lab Experiment, David Bates

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This experiment is based on a game-theoretic problem that has troubled the field of political economy since people first started grazing cows in pastures: how can economies best solve collective action problems? This experiment looks at one aspect of this question—types of governance. Are different styles of government (democracies, dictatorships, etc) more or less likely to prevent a common-pool resource (as these goods are called by Elinor Ostrom) from being depleted? Or is the style of governance irrelevant to the question of whether a CPR (common-pool resource) is sustained?

The problem of CPRs (common pool resources) is much the same …

Broadcasting The Search For Understanding: The Essay's Relationship With The Podcast, Miriam Bay Sweeney

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In this creative thesis project, I explore the relationship between the modern essay and the podcast. I do so by producing the first three episodes of my own essayistic podcast, called Peer-Refined Health. In this foundational exploration, I consider the value of the podcast as a new medium of communication for the essay. I begin this project report with a background on both the podcast and the essay as well as a discussion of my project development. The transcripts of three episodes of Peer-Refined Health follow. Finally, I analyze the relationship between the essay and the podcast and suggest additional …

The Impact Of Gap Years On Academic Outcomes For Women: A Case Study From The Missionary Age Change, Margaret Marchant

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Young adults throughout the United States and other countries participate in “gap years,” or time away from school, often for travel, work, or volunteering. This practice is promoted as a way to mature and refocus. However, some worry that it lowers the likelihood of college completion. Previous literature has investigated the academic, social, and personal benefits of gap years with mixed results; however selection into gap years confounds the true impact with unobservable personal characteristics. To overcome selection issues, I exploit an exogenous policy change that lowered age requirements for missionary service, a unique type of gap year, resulting in …

Cultural Differences In Russian And English Magazine Advertising: A Pragmatic Approach, Emily Kay Furner

Theses and Dissertations

Many American companies looking to increase sales and achieve growth targets consider expanding the reach of their product lines to other countries. However, expansion on a global scale often requires much trial and error as English-speaking companies try to market their goods to a foreign audience. In order to ease this process, localization experts are often hired to "localize" or change advertisements in order to make them more culturally relevant to consumers. Because the field of localization is relatively new, there is little research done on the degree and extent to which advertisements are localized. The purpose of this study …

Switch-Reference In Pastaza Kichwa, Alexander Harrison Rice

Theses and Dissertations

Pastaza Kichwa is a Quechuan language spoken in eastern Ecuador. This thesis describes its use of switch-reference which is traditionally understood to be an interclausal cross-referencing feature. Switch-reference is manifested by one of two morphemes that mark a subordinate clause as having either the same or different subject as another clause. Switch-reference has been described for other Quechuan languages and some of these studies present challenges to the theoretical underpinnings of switch reference (Stewart 1988, Dreidemie 2007) others present associated functions of switch-reference morphemes (Cole 1982). This study tests some of the propositions made about switch-reference in other Quechuan languages …

An Analysis Of Rehearsed Speech Characteristics On The Oral Proficiency Interview—Computer (Opic), Gwyneth Elaine Gates

Theses and Dissertations

The ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines identify memorized words and phrases as a hallmark of novice-level speech. For this reason, research by Cox (2017) found rehearsed content to be a major hindrance to interviewees being rated at higher sublevels on the Oral Proficiency Interview-computer (OPIc). To further investigate, an analysis of these memorized segments to determine patterns of lexico-grammatical and discursive features was conducted. In this study, researchers utilized a Praat analysis to compare prosodic features (specifically, mean length of utterance, number of silent pauses, and articulation rate) of speech segments marked as memorized and those which were not. A qualitative analysis …