Digital Commons Network^™

Moving Toward A Real-Time Model Of Groundwater/Surface Water Interactions In Two Heavily Irrigated Systems, Daniel Abrams, Shelby Ahrendt, Daniel R. Hadley

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

The drought of 2012 taught us two things about water supply in Illinois: 1) many areas in the state had at-risk water supplies, while others were remarkably resilient and 2) there was a need for more rapid analyses of water resources in periods of extreme stress. To this end, we have established a real-time monitoring network of both groundwater and surface water elevations in the most heavily irrigated county in the state, which also happens to be one of the most resilient water supplies. Furthermore, we have established a monitoring network near the Illinois State Water Survey campus where transducer …

Scalable Big Data Platform, Mining And Analytics Services For Optimized Forecast Of Animals Habitats, Zoheir Sabeur Dr, Gianluca Correndo Dr, Fabien Castel Mr, Geoffrey Neumann Dr, Galina Veres Dr, Banafshe Arbab-Zavar Dr

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

The effects of climate change have been observed for decades now that we can access to multiple methods of Earth Observation (EO) using in situ, air-borne and space-borne sensing. The generated EO Big Data from these sources is of paramount importance for scientists to understand the effects of climate change and the specific engendered natural (and anthropogenic) processes that are likely to trigger the changing behaviour of species on Earth. In the EO4wildlife project (http://www.copernicus.eu/projects/eo4wildlife), we have access to Copernicus and Argos EO Big Data for investigating the changes of habitats for a variety of marine species. The …

Framing Crime & Punishment Through The Lens Of Game Theory & Macbeth, Sarah Matthews

BYU English Symposium

Scholars draw on the tools of Game Theory to explore the Humanities as a whole but fail to make sense of the great contributions of Russian literature. Therefore, the purpose of my research paper was to frame Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment through a reading of Game Theory. Framing the novel in this way allowed me to better understand Raskolnikov’s behavior and the moral implications of his actions and the novel itself.

I consulted many different secondary sources for this paper, but the most important source I consulted was Steven J. Brams book Game Theory and the Humanities: Bridging …

Nothing But A Tortoise, Sarah Doyle

BYU English Symposium

This paper discusses the symbolic nature of animals in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, focusing specifically on the role of the tortoise. In the novel, an Igbo legend describes the character of Tortoise, a selfish trickster who outwits a group of birds and breaks his shell as a result of his greed. While several critics have compared the tortoise’s broken shell to Okonkwo, the paper pushes back on this idea, arguing that Tortoise instead represents the cunning of the white man. The first half of the paper portrays the tortoise as a symbol of the white man, illustrating how …

Predicting Bacteriophage Gene Function Through Secondary Structure Blast, Corinne Sexton, Perry Ridge

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Bacteriophages are viruses that specifically target bacteria. With antibiotic resistance on the rise, some researchers are looking to bacteriophages as a viable treatment alternative. Phage therapy would be effective for a host of reasons, some of which are because phages are 1) highly specific to their host bacteria, 2) very effective in lysing bacteria targets, 3) non toxic to humans, and 4) easy to manufacture and cost effective. (Oliveira 2015) Additionally, bacteriophages could be used effectively to treat bacterial infections in plants and animals of agricultural importance.

Phylogeny Of Hetaerina (Odonata: Calopterygidae), Samantha Smith, Seth Bybee

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Damselflies (Zygpotera) exhibit diverse mating behaviors, with the family Calopterygidae known for its pigmented wings and territorial behavior (Cordoba-Aguilar, Cordero-Rivera 2005). The genus Hetaerina, or rubyspot damselflies, has been used in numerous studies due to mating behaviors, morphology and a high density along certain streams (Anderson 2010, 2011; Contreras-Garduno 2006; Cordoba-Aguilar 2009; Grether 1996, 1997; Raihani 2008; Regions 2011). Despite use in studies, relationships between species of Hetaerina remain unclear. Over the past ten years, the taxonomy of Hetaerina and their sister genus Mnesarete has been in flux with species being transferred between the two genera and into Ormenophlebia and …

Bioactivity Of Secondary Metabolites Of The Alaskan Fungus, Phellinus Igniarius, Johnathon Kreider, Brad Geary

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Drug testing is one of the most important activities of the Life Sciences. As biotechnological resources like genetically modified mice or artificial skin become more commonplace and accessible to drug researchers, testing has become more efficient. One of the reoccurring problems, though, is that for new drugs to be tested they must first be found. Research has shown that plants and fungi are the best places to look: over 70 percent of drugs that have been introduced in the last quarter century have been derived from natural resources (Newman& Cragg 2012). Notable examples such as Taxol from the Yew tree, …

Using Matilda As A Lens Through Which To Understand The Tempest As A Work For Young Audiences, Lauren Redding

BYU English Symposium

As Shakespeare plays go, The Tempest is a wonderful choice for children, and this is illustrated through comparisons with Matilda by Roald Dahl. Matilda is well-beloved by children moreso even than by adults, and this is because it appeals to parts of the experience of a child reader that adults have forgotten. Shakespeare is usually well-known by adults but less so by children, so the similarities that The Tempest has with Matilda help us to understand children’s experience reading Shakespeare. Both works contain strong protagonists who experience an unconventional coming-of-age that children connect to and understand. The fantastic and magical …

Wonder Woman's Fight For Autonomy: How Patty Jenkins Did What No Man Could, Hanann Morris

BYU English Symposium

Originally created to empower women, the iconic super heroine, Wonder Woman, has fluctuated between feminist icon to an over-simplified object of male fantasy. In this paper, I will do a brief comparison of the many Wonder Woman adaptions in an effort to show how all adaptions, except one, have failed to empower Wonder Woman as a champion of women autonomy. I will also show how given the recent rise of sexual-harassment awareness, it is more important than ever to have role models that are not objectified but are independent, self-governing subjects.

Photo Reference Library The Creation Of A Desperately Needed Figure Drawing Reference Library For Design And Art Students, Gregory Bean, Robert Barrett

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The idea for this project arose from the need to provide BYU Design and Art Students with an appropriate photo reference for life drawing. Solid drawing skills have always been the foundation for most visual arts. For hundreds of years, artists have learned those skills by spending countless hours drawing the human figure. Even during times when figurative art was overshadowed by more abstract forms, BYU continued the traditional teaching methods in order to help young artists gain the skills needed for more figurative pursuits like animation and illustration. That tradition continues today; however, unlike most art schools, BYU does …

Poverty And Empowerment Discourse In Utah Dual Immersion Classrooms, Lauren Johnson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper considers the discourse, or communication, that occurs in dual immersion programs in Utah. I take a sociocultural perspective to address the question of whether and how these programs are meeting the unique needs of the students enrolled in them. I consider two tasks frequently viewed in five consecutive days of filming: mirroring/repeated phrases and partner talk. Findings suggest that although they have promise, they often do not meet the intended aims of comprehension and language development. The findings also show that these tasks do little to empower participants. The conclusions and implications suggest that commonly accepted tasks in …

Increased Energy Yield Through Fast Pyrolysis: Empowering Malawian Villages, Diehl Mutamba

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Biomass contributes to several renewable energy technologies. This project will explore the use of fast pyrolysis to produce fuels by designing an apparatus for fast pyrolysis. Malawian people harvest firewood from the forests, which is a major contributor to deforestation. Furthermore, they convert some of it to charcoal with about 10-15% efficiency to sell to city dwellers. The project will enable herbaceous fuels to replace wood, increase charcoal yields and create new products. Firewood and charcoal produce smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) that compromises the villagers’ health.

This project will address deforestation problems, improve sustainability, decrease health hazards and improve …

Effects Of Larynx Preservation Method On Phonation Threshold Pressure In An Excised Porcine Benchtop Model, Chelsea Savannah Pipkin Litster

Theses and Dissertations

Several studies involving excised animal larynges have been performed to simulate the structural and physiological properties of the human larynx. The most common way to preserve the laryngeal tissue being studied is by immersing it in a 0.9% isotonic saline solution and then flash freezing it. Isotonic saline is used empirically to replenish the potential ion loss that occurs postmortem. Each larynx is flash frozen so it can be used at a more convenient time while still maintaining the integrity of the tissue. However, the preservation methods found in previous studies tend to vary and no consensus had been reached …

Variable Modulation Of Inputs To Gaba Cells In The Ventral Tegmental Area And Hippocampus, Teresa Marie Nufer

Theses and Dissertations

The ventral tegmental area (VTA) is an important component of the mesolimbic dopamine circuit and processes reward and motivational behaviors. In response to drug exposure, synaptic connections of this circuit can be rewired via synaptic plasticity—a phenomenon thought be responsible for the pathology of addiction. While much is known about dopamine neuron plasticity, less is known regarding plasticity exhibited by VTA GABA cells, specifically inhibitory inputs from outside the VTA. Expanding on the work of Bocklisch et al. (2013), we investigated the plasticity of inhibitory inputs to VTA GABA neurons. Using whole cell electrophysiology in GAD67 GFP mice, we observed …

Hardware And Software Improvements To A Low-Cost Holographic Video Monitor, Andrew August Henrie

Theses and Dissertations

The "Mark V" Holographic Video Monitor ("HoloMonitor") is a continuation of effort and accomplishments to produce a low-cost device capable of reproducing true full-color horizontal-parallax-only computer-generated holograms at typical video frame-rates. While other devices around the world may have greater capabilities, these devices are currently confined to laboratory settings due to their sheer complexity and expense. The aim of this project is to provide researchers and "tinkerers" with a device capable of recreating holographic effects in full color, respectable resolution, in real time, and at a comparatively low cost. The "Mark V" HoloMonitor is a closer representation of a consumer …

Crash Severity Distributions For Life-Cycle Benefit-Cost Analysis Of Safety-Related Improvements On Utah Roadways, Conor Judd Seat

Theses and Dissertations

The Utah Department of Transportation developed life-cycle benefit-cost analysis spreadsheets that allow engineers and analysts to evaluate multiple safety countermeasures. The spreadsheets have included the functionality to evaluate a roadway based on the 11 facility types from the Highway Safety Manual (HSM) with the use of crash severity distributions. The HSM suggests that local agencies develop crash severity distributions based on their local crash data. The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Brigham Young University worked with the Statistics Department to develop crash severity distributions for the facility types from the HSM.The primary objective of this research was to …

L. T. Meade's Avaricious Anomaly: Â Madame Sara, British Imperialism, And Greedy Wolves In The Sorceress Of The Strand, Laurie Langlois Denning

Theses and Dissertations

L. T. Meade's Avaricious Anomaly: Madame Sara, British Imperialism, and Greedy Wolves in The Sorceress of the Strand. Laurie Langlois Denning, Department of English, BYU Master of Arts. Critics interested in the prolific late Victorian author L.T. Meade have primarily focused on her work as an author of girls' stories and novels for young people, which enjoyed fantastic commercial success in her lifetime but fell into obscurity after her death. Recent scholarship on her detective fiction shows Meade's significant contributions to the genre as well as her engagement with social and political discourse. Scholars have noted ways that Meade's popular …

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 …

The Effects Of Social Communication Intervention On Emotion Inferencing In Children With Developmental Language Disorder, Capri Annissa Seaberg

Theses and Dissertations

Children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) often face problems in areas of social communication including negotiating with peers, entering ongoing interactions, and engaging in conflict resolution. A potential cause of these social communication difficulties is the decreased ability to make emotional inferences. This thesis investigates the effects of a social communication intervention on the ability of school-aged children with DLD to make inferences about emotions. Five children with DLD between the ages of 6;10 and 12;4 participated in a social communication intervention that highlighted principles of emotion understanding (recognizing emotions in facial expressions, inferring emotions with contextual information, and discussing …

"Laughter Is Part Of My War Effort": The Harmonizing And Humanizing Influences Of Laughter In Andrea Levy's Small Island, Jacob Holt Shumway

Theses and Dissertations

Most critical analyses of humor in postcolonial literary settings have focused on its power to critique and subvert dominant hegemonic systems in ways that tend to divide participants according to predictable dichotomies. Yet humor theorists have long recognized laughter's equivalent potential as a bonding mechanism. An examination of the rhetorical functions of humor in Andrea Levy'sSmall Islandreveals the extent to which these affiliative forms of humor can be successfully deployed across cultural divides within a migrant context, as well as the risks and limitations inherent to such an approach. Ultimately, the novel's gentle, inviting, and accessible humor provides the basis …

Application Of The Entropy Concept To Thermodynamics And Life Sciences: Evolution Parallels Thermodynamics, Cellulose Hydrolysis Thermodynamics, And Ordered And Disordered Vacancies Thermodynamics, Marko Popovic

Theses and Dissertations

Entropy, first introduced in thermodynamics, is used in a wide range of fields. Chapter 1 discusses some important theoretical and practical aspects of entropy: what is entropy, is it subjective or objective, and how to properly apply it to living organisms. Chapter 2 presents applications of entropy to evolution. Chapter 3 shows how cellulosic biofuel production can be improved. Chapter 4 shows how lattice vacancies influence the thermodynamic properties of materials. To determine the nature of thermodynamic entropy, Chapters 1 and 2 describe the roots, the conceptual history of entropy, as well as its path of development and application. From …

Art To Engineering: Curved Folding And Developable Surfaces In Mechanism And Deployable Structure Design, Todd G. Nelson

Theses and Dissertations

This work investigates how curved-crease origami and the developable surfaces which compose it can be transitioned to engineering design. Methods for creating flexible, tailorable-property surfaces that function as thick panels in place of paper are presented. Concepts from curved-crease origami and developable surfaces that can describe and extend engineering applications are discussed and demonstrated. These concepts are particularly beneficial to applications where curved surfaces are integral to the function, deployability is desired, and planar manufacturing could be beneficial.The first part of this work uses arrays of compliant elements to create flexible-tailorable property surfaces. The key feature to these arrays is …

Characterizing The Spatial Variation Of Crop Water Productivity For Variable-Rate Irrigation Management, Jeffrey David Svedin

Theses and Dissertations

Irrigated agriculture is the primary consumer of limited worldwide freshwater resources. Drought, growing world populations, and environmental demands compete with irrigation for freshwater resources"”threatening sustainable global food, fuel, and fiber production. This escalating global crisis demands that agriculture produce more food using less water. Traditional irrigation management has used technology to apply uniform irrigation rates across landscapes"”ignoring natural environmental variation. This provides inherent inefficiencies of over- or under- irrigation within individual fields. Variable-rate irrigation (VRI) is modern technology that employs global positioning systems and geographic information systems to match irrigation to spatially variable crop water demands within a field. Although …

Mark Twain And Eliza R. Snow: The Innocents Abroad, Kathryn Marie Meeks

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will examine the surprising and delightful similarities between Mark Twain's The Innocents Abroad (1869) and Eliza R. Snow's letters to the Woman's Exponent published in a book titled Correspondence of Palestine Tourists (1875). Snow traveled abroad from 1872-1873, five years after Twain went abroad in 1867 and three years after The Innocents Abroad was published. She clearly states in her early letters that she was reading Twain and his influence is apparent in her letters. A careful look at her letters will also show that they are not merely an imitation of Twain. Snow takes on a Twainian …

Plane Of Energy Nutrition On Blood Metabolites, Milk Production And Lamb Growth In Friesian Sheep, Rebekah Paige Jensen

Theses and Dissertations

Small ruminant species are utilized for their diverse products including meat, dairy products, and wool. Effective and humane management are essential to maintain high production rates and comfortable animals. To attain this objective, managers needs to have an extensive knowledge of husbandry techniques, understanding of physiological processes, and familiarity with nutritional requirements. We examined the effects of varying feed components on two different ruminal species. In Chapter 1, we conducted a study to evaluate"¯the effects"¯of a low metabolizable energy (LME) and high metabolizable energy (HME) diet on twenty-two Friesian/Lacuane"¯cross ewes and lamb nutritional status."¯Effects on milk production during early lactation …

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 …

Evaluation Of Pigments From A Purple Variety Of Atriplex Hortensis L. For Use In Food Applications, Eva Graciela Vila Roa

Theses and Dissertations

Atriplex hortensis L., also known as orach, is a leafy vegetable from the Amaranthaceae family, which has historically been consumed as a potherb, like spinach. The brightly colored leaves are a source of high quality protein, but may also be of interest as a potential source of natural food pigments. An aqueous extraction was obtained from the freshly harvested leaves of the'Triple Purple' variety of A. hortensis. The extract was spray-dried into a powder, and individual pigments were analyzed using HPLC and LC-MS. The powder was also included as a color additive in a typical stabilizer/sweetener preparation and mixed into …

Genomics And Transcriptomics Of Antarctic Nematodes Reveal Drivers Of Life History Evolution And Genome Evolution, Xia Xue

Theses and Dissertations

Elemental stoichiometry defines a critical understanding of the relationship between nutrient availability and usage throughout different levels of the biological community. We found there is a link between available phosphorus (P), cellular phosphorus, and nematode development as postulated by the growth rate hypothesis (GRH). I predicted that in a P-poor environment, cellular RNA concentrations would be lower than they are in P-rich environment, and thus the 18s rRNA expression level will have reduced. To most efficiently regulate the uptake of limited P, I predicted that nematodes in P-poor environments would decrease the number of copies of the 18s rRNA gene …

Tuning Out Security Warnings: A Longitudinal Examination Of Habituation Through Fmri, Eye Tracking, And Field Experiments, Anthony Vance, Jeffrey L. Jenkins, Bonnie Brinton Anderson, Daniel K. Bjornn, C. Brock Kirwan

Faculty Publications

Research in the fields of information systems and human-computer interaction has shown that habituation— decreased response to repeated stimulation—is a serious threat to the effectiveness of security warnings. Although habituation is a neurobiological phenomenon that develops over time, past studies have only examined this problem cross-sectionally. Further, past studies have not examined how habituation influences actual security warning adherence in the field. For these reasons, the full extent of the problem of habituation is unknown. We address these gaps by conducting two complementary longitudinal experiments. First, we performed an experiment collecting fMRI and eye-tracking data simultaneously to directly measure habituation …

Childhood: A Paradise (English Translation), Emilie Mataja

Prose Fiction

No abstract provided.