Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Digital Commons Network™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Brigham Young University

Discipline
Keyword
Publication Year
Publication
Publication Type
File Type

Articles 2911 - 2940 of 10253

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

Student Participation In The Distribution Of Instructional Leadership, Janeel M. Juncker Jun 2017

Student Participation In The Distribution Of Instructional Leadership, Janeel M. Juncker

Theses and Dissertations

This explorative study offers much needed perspective on students' role and development as instructional leaders (Halverson & Clifford, 2013) through answering the following questions: (a) How can students be involved in distributions of instructional leadership in a studio learning environment; (b) What is the value of their contribution; and (c) What patterns of distributed instructional leadership (DIL) facilitate student involvement? I chose an animation studio at a large western university for the setting, on account of its collective-leadership structure involving students. I randomly sampled a pre-recorded data set of participants' studio interactions and participant interviews to use for the study; …

Go to article

The Ogcleaner: Detecting False-Positive Sequence Homology, Masaki Stanley Fujimoto Jun 2017

The Ogcleaner: Detecting False-Positive Sequence Homology, Masaki Stanley Fujimoto

Theses and Dissertations

Within bioinformatics, phylogenetics is the study of the evolutionary relationships between different species and organisms. The genetic revolution has caused an explosion in the amount of raw genomic information that is available to scientists for study. While there has been an explosion in available data, analysis methods have lagged behind. A key task in phylogenetics is identifying homology clusters. Current methods rely on using heuristics based on pairwise sequence comparison to identify homology clusters. We propose the Orthology Group Cleaner (the OGCleaner) as a method to evaluate cluster level verification of putative homology clusters in order to create higher quality …

Go to article

National Parks And The Threats They Face: A World Survey, Jared Meek, Brigham Daniels Jun 2017

National Parks And The Threats They Face: A World Survey, Jared Meek, Brigham Daniels

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The earth is experiencing profound changes in its ecological health and rate of biodiversity loss across the globe. For example, birds, insects, and mammals of Europe are migrating northwards and uphill in response to observed climate changes1, and these changes are affecting the rate of European plant development2. According to one author, “It is estimated that one-third of all reef-building corals […] a third of sharks and rays, a quarter of all mammals, a fifth of all reptiles, and a sixth of all birds are headed toward oblivion. The losses are occurring all over: in the South Pacific and in …

Go to article

Making Old Stories New In The Anthropocene: Reading, Creating, And The Cosmological Imagination In Darren Aronofsky's Noah, Kellianne Houston Matthews Jun 2017

Making Old Stories New In The Anthropocene: Reading, Creating, And The Cosmological Imagination In Darren Aronofsky's Noah, Kellianne Houston Matthews

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines Darren Aronofsky's 2014 film Noah as a pattern for metafictionalizing narratives into thinking stories as we confront the uncertainty and challenges of the Anthropocene. While Ecocriticism has sought for the development and promotion of nature writing and environmentally oriented poetry and fiction- "new stories" that will shape a stronger environmental ethic"”it has placed too much responsibility for the environmental imagination on what we read rather than on the more important question of how we read. My argument addresses the readerly responsibilities that, if met, have the power to transform old stories and old habits of mind into …

Go to article

Assessing Phosphorus Sources With A Gis-Based Phosphorus Risk Index In A Mixed-Use, Montane Watershed, Josiah A. Johns Jun 2017

Assessing Phosphorus Sources With A Gis-Based Phosphorus Risk Index In A Mixed-Use, Montane Watershed, Josiah A. Johns

Theses and Dissertations

Elevated phosphorus (P) loading of freshwater lakes and reservoirs often results in poor water quality and negative ecological effects. Critical source areas (CSA) of P in the watershed can be difficult to identify and control. A useful concept for identification of a CSA is the P risk index (P Index) that evaluates the P risk associated with distinct source and transport pathways. The objectives of this study were to create a GIS model that adapts the Minnesota (MN) P Index for use at the watershed scale in a mixed-use, mountain environment, and to evaluate its effectiveness relative to field-based assessment. …

Go to article

Posthuman Maturation In Amie Kaufman And Jay Kristoff's Illuminae: Re-Conceptualizing The Human For Adolescence And Artificial Intelligence, Gregory Alaric Williams Jun 2017

Posthuman Maturation In Amie Kaufman And Jay Kristoff's Illuminae: Re-Conceptualizing The Human For Adolescence And Artificial Intelligence, Gregory Alaric Williams

Theses and Dissertations

In order to empower adolescents, this thesis examines how the adult conception of the human in humanism disempowers adolescents. This thesis examines this process in Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff's Illuminae, a work of young adult science fiction with non-traditional text structures. In consequence of their disempowerment, the adolescent Kady and artificially intelligent AIDAN impersonate human authorities in order to gain control over their lives. When these attempts fail, Kady and AIDAN transition from a humanist conception of the human, as an isolated self that balances rationality and emotionality, to a posthuman conception of the human, a distributed self …

Go to article

The Living River: Ritual And Reconciliation In The Famished Road, Marissa Deane Compton Jun 2017

The Living River: Ritual And Reconciliation In The Famished Road, Marissa Deane Compton

Theses and Dissertations

In Ben Okri's The Famished Road, rituals such as baptism are easily lost in the dense symbolism. The novel is, in the words of Douglas McCabe, a "ramshackle and untidy affair, a hodge-podge of social ideologies, narrative forms, effusive enthusiasms, and precision-jeweled prose poems" (McCabe 17). This complex untidiness can be discouraging for readers and critics alike, and yet "there is something contagious about the digressive, meandering aesthetic of The Famished Road" that makes the novel difficult to consign to confusion (Omhovere 59). Commonly considered post-colonial, post-modern, and magical-realist, The Famished Road deals with, among other things, spiritualism, …

Go to article

Interaction Between Predation Environment And Diet Constrains Body Shape In Utah Chub, Gila Atraria (Cypriniformes: Cyprinidae), Trevor J. Williams, Jerald B. Johnson, Mark C. Belk Jun 2017

Interaction Between Predation Environment And Diet Constrains Body Shape In Utah Chub, Gila Atraria (Cypriniformes: Cyprinidae), Trevor J. Williams, Jerald B. Johnson, Mark C. Belk

Faculty Publications

Evolution typically occurs in response to a suite of selective pressures. Yet, many studies of natural selection in the wild only investigate a single selective agent at a time. This can be problematic when selective agents act in non-additive ways. Here we evaluate the interactive effects of diet and predation on the evolution of body shape in the cyprinid fish Utah chub (Gila atraria). We found that both factors and the interaction between them are significant predictors of body shape. This interaction is likely a result of different forms of selective pressures, where predation is a stabilizing selective …

Go to article

Damselflies Of Patagonia: A Phylogeographic Study Utilizing Epic, Taylor King, Seth Bybee May 2017

Damselflies Of Patagonia: A Phylogeographic Study Utilizing Epic, Taylor King, Seth Bybee

Journal of Undergraduate Research

While working on my original project, “In Situ Hybridization of Opsins in Odonata,” I encountered abundant setbacks that led to refocusing my efforts on a similar project. Patagonian Odonata is one of the most well known insect groups in South America. Within the order Odonata there are two main suborders, encompassing dragonflies and damselflies. It is composed of 36 species in 18 different genera, with 60% of the species and 40% of the genera endemic to the region. We selected two damselfly species, Rhionaeshna variegata and Cyanallagma interruptum to perform the first phylogeographic study of Patagonian Insects. They are the …

Go to article

Hydrophobic Seed Coating, Karlee Humrich, Dr. Matthew Madsen May 2017

Hydrophobic Seed Coating, Karlee Humrich, Dr. Matthew Madsen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The western rangelands are the wide open spaces of American history. They are increasingly used as a recreational resource by millions of visitors each year. Rangelands produce tangible products such as forage, wildlife habitat, water, minerals, energy, plant and animal gene pools, recreational opportunities, and some wood products. There has been a history of rangeland degradation in the U.S. Because of this degradation, native plant species are not as dominant as they once were. Invasive plant species, such as cheat grass, have integrated into the precious rangeland system. These invasive species out compete and take over native plants. The overall …

Go to article

Effects Of Age And Prior Reproduction On The Cost Of Reproduction In Two Species Of Burying Beetles, Ethan Damron, Dane Jo, Mark Belk May 2017

Effects Of Age And Prior Reproduction On The Cost Of Reproduction In Two Species Of Burying Beetles, Ethan Damron, Dane Jo, Mark Belk

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Understanding how much energy an organism allocates to breeding to maximize reproduction over their lifetime, or the cost of reproduction, is a central idea to understanding the variations in patterns of reproduction among living organisms (Creighton et al., 2009). In most studies of cost of reproduction, age is confounded with prior reproductive experience. As individuals age, they tend to reproduce making it difficult to disentangle these two factors when evaluating costs of reproduction. It is not clear whether reproduction early in life costs the same as reproduction later in life and how much of that difference might be due to …

Go to article

The Effect Of Gut Microbiota On Cancer Metastasis In Model Organism D. Melanogaster: Establishing An Abnormal Genetic Line Of D. Melanogaster, Andrew Bratsman, John Chaston May 2017

The Effect Of Gut Microbiota On Cancer Metastasis In Model Organism D. Melanogaster: Establishing An Abnormal Genetic Line Of D. Melanogaster, Andrew Bratsman, John Chaston

Journal of Undergraduate Research

As early as the beginning of the 20th century, Metchnikoff proposed that putrefactive bacteria living in the digestive tracts of hosts contribute to various disease processes and that modification of microbiota composition through consumption of viable microbes might help to improve health and longevity. This theory of longevity was the basis for the relatively recent trend of probiotic foods, the idea being that “healthy” bacteria could be ingested to produce a positive phenotypic result. The probiotic approach to treatment has been limited to large processes such as digestion or correcting large deficiencies in humans, but as evidence continues to mount …

Go to article

Do Antartctic Tardigrades Survive Better When They Are Wet Or Dry When Exposed To Freese/Thaw Cycling?, Katelyn Hendricks, Byron Adams May 2017

Do Antartctic Tardigrades Survive Better When They Are Wet Or Dry When Exposed To Freese/Thaw Cycling?, Katelyn Hendricks, Byron Adams

Journal of Undergraduate Research

: Substantial amounts of evidence prove that there are drastic climate changes taking place everywhere on Earth. Antarctica, the home to microscopic tardigrades, or water bears, is no exception. Tardigrades have distinct roles and adaptations that allow them to survive the harsh climates of their environment. Because of climate change in Antarctica, there is a clear increase in the presence of liquid water and freeze/thaw cycles. This correlation raises the question of whether or not the increase of freeze/thaw cycles in Antarctica could result in increased tardigrade mortality. Normally, tardigrades experience the majority of their freeze-thaw cycles in a desiccated …

Go to article

Development Of An Animal Model In Which To Study Hiv-2, Taalin Rasmussen, Bradford Berges May 2017

Development Of An Animal Model In Which To Study Hiv-2, Taalin Rasmussen, Bradford Berges

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) attacks and destroys the cells of the immune system necessary to mounting an effective immune response to successfully fight off infection. Unchecked, an HIV infection leads to a gradual deterioration of the immune system, giving rise to many opportunistic infections not normally seen in people with a functioning immune system. There are two subtypes of HIV: HIV-1, which accounts for the most HIV infections worldwide, and HIV-2, which is most commonly seen in West Africa and countries with strong socioeconomic ties to West Africa, such as France, Portugal, Spain, Angola, Mozambique, and Brazil (1). There is, …

Go to article

The Effect Of Microbiota On Lifespan In Drosophila Melanogaster, Melinda Koyle, John Chaston May 2017

The Effect Of Microbiota On Lifespan In Drosophila Melanogaster, Melinda Koyle, John Chaston

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Almost all animals are affected by the bacteria found in their intestines (1). Recent research has begun to show the close relationship hosts have with their microbiome. These interactions influence metabolic, respiratory, nutritional, neurological, and immunological functions along with many other biological roles (2). The short lifespans, fruit flies make an excellent model organism for studying host/microbiome interactions (3). By better understanding the correlation between lifespan and host microbiota in D. melanogaster, I hope to help further the knowledge of the relationship between lifespan in humans and our own microbiome.

Go to article

Fast Food, Slow Brain: The Effect Of Diet On Brain Volume, Kayla Alder, Dr. Brock Kirwan May 2017

Fast Food, Slow Brain: The Effect Of Diet On Brain Volume, Kayla Alder, Dr. Brock Kirwan

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The hippocampus is a brain structure in the medial temporal lobe that mediates the encoding of sensory information into long-term memory (Squire, Clark, & Stark, 2004). Studies have found a relationship between the volume of the hippocampus and behavioral memory tests; that is, the smaller the volume of the hippocampus, the less accurate the performance on memory tests (Rajah, Kromas, Han, & Jens, 2010). Previous research also demonstrates that a high fat and sugar (HFS) diet impairs the hippocampus and affects memory (Francis & Stevenson, 2011).

Go to article

Re-Epithelialization Of Whole Porcine Kidney Scaffold, Evan M. Buckmiller, Alonzo D. Cook May 2017

Re-Epithelialization Of Whole Porcine Kidney Scaffold, Evan M. Buckmiller, Alonzo D. Cook

Journal of Undergraduate Research

An estimated 20 million adults (approximately 10% of all individuals over the age of 18) in the United States suffer from some level of chronic kidney disease (CKD), making CKD the 9th leading cause of death in the United States (1). The only successful treatment for end-stage renal failure is transplantation from a donor with similar blood antigen makeup, while living the remainder of their lives receiving immunosuppressive therapy. Unfortunately, individuals awaiting a kidney transplant outnumber viable donations. Scientists have been tasked with discovering and developing methods to answer this growing need. One promising method is the decellularization of porcine …

Go to article

Between Hot Rocks And Dry Places: The Status Of The Dixie Valley Toad, Matthew J. Forrest, Josefin Stiller, Tim L. King, Greg W. Rouse May 2017

Between Hot Rocks And Dry Places: The Status Of The Dixie Valley Toad, Matthew J. Forrest, Josefin Stiller, Tim L. King, Greg W. Rouse

Western North American Naturalist

In Dixie Valley, Nevada, an isolated population of toads has been the subject of proactive conservation measures by the Nevada Department of Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service since 2008 due to concerns about potential habitat degradation resulting from exploitation of nearby geothermal energy resources. These toads appear to belong within the Anaxyrus boreas species group but are commonly referred to as Dixie Valley toads (DVTs). The DVT is currently confined to an extremely narrow habitat range (370 ha) that is geographically isolated from any other A. boreas population. In this study, genetic variations in mitochondrial genes and …

Go to article

Fossil Mustela Nigripes From Snake Creek Burial Cave, Nevada, And Implications For Black-Footed Ferret Paleoecology, Nathaniel S. Fox, Steven C. Wallace, Jim I. Mead May 2017

Fossil Mustela Nigripes From Snake Creek Burial Cave, Nevada, And Implications For Black-Footed Ferret Paleoecology, Nathaniel S. Fox, Steven C. Wallace, Jim I. Mead

Western North American Naturalist

Morphometric measurements were used to classify 11 mustelid dentaries from Snake Creek Burial Cave (SCBC), a late Pleistocene to early Holocene–aged paleontological locality in eastern Nevada, that were undifferentiated between Mustela nigripes (black-footed ferret) and Neovison vison (American mink) due to their similar size and morphology. We, therefore, classified the SCBC fossils using 10 linear measurements of the dentary using extant M. nigripes and N. vison as proxy. Discriminant function and principal component analyses grouped the 11 unknown SCBC specimens within extant M. nigripes exclusively. Confirmation of M. nigripes at SCBC is significant because Cynomys spp. (their primary prey source …

Go to article

Analysis Of Magnetic Resonance Imaging Of Peripheral Nerve Regeneration, Jaron Lundwall, Alonzo Cook May 2017

Analysis Of Magnetic Resonance Imaging Of Peripheral Nerve Regeneration, Jaron Lundwall, Alonzo Cook

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Due to accident-related neural damage, many people’s lives are impaired or limited in what they can do. Current medical practices are limited at helping distal and proximal nerve stubs regenerate. Many recent research studies have focused on trying to improve this problem by understanding how cut or crushed nerves heal. This study focused on helping these efforts by improving non-invasive analysis techniques of nerve growth. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is one possible solution to creating a reliable analysis technique that in the future could be used on humans. We have shown that Magnetic Resonance Imaging can be used without invasive …

Go to article

Collision Or Cohesion? Hmong Shamanism And Ontological Holism In France, Madison Harmer, Telisha Pantelakis May 2017

Collision Or Cohesion? Hmong Shamanism And Ontological Holism In France, Madison Harmer, Telisha Pantelakis

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

The Hmong are an ethnic group from Southeast Asia who’ve lived as forced migrants and political refugees for the past several hundred years. Current U.S. literature has attributed Hmong difficulties adapting to Western culture, specifically health care from shamanic practices. They claim that traditional and western healing practices are incompatible. (Franzen-Castle & Smith 2013, Fadiman 1997). While living in a small town in central France, we conducted an ethnographic study observing Hmong refugees and their interactions and beliefs between traditional healing practices and Western medicine to explore this claim.

Go to article

Looking For Truth: Dissecting Tales Of Fijian Cannibals, Brandon Olsen, Sarah Jamarillo, May Harrington May 2017

Looking For Truth: Dissecting Tales Of Fijian Cannibals, Brandon Olsen, Sarah Jamarillo, May Harrington

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

After Europeans encountered Fiji in the eighteenth century, the islands quickly gained fame for having cannibal tribes. Captain James Cook, an early explorer of the Pacific islands, describes the Fijian natives as an “addicted people, eating their enemies, whom they kill in the battle”(Banivanua-Mar 26). The people had a culture of war rituals, rivalry, and conflict between tribes that inspired cannibalistic rumors. Those that visited Fiji spread wild tales that the westerners eagerly devoured. Under analysis, these stories lack compelling evidence to claim the Europeans and Americans met Fijian cannibals and instead tell more about the society the tales come …

Go to article

"For They Were No Gods"-- Lawrence's Defiant Magdalene, Madeline N. Hipol May 2017

"For They Were No Gods"-- Lawrence's Defiant Magdalene, Madeline N. Hipol

BYU English Symposium

After the social, cultural and national crisis left in the wake of the first World War there was a loss of faith in Reason and in the traditional Christian God. The resulting literature was of disillusionment, doubt and loss. This essay discusses how D. H. Lawrence sought to cope with the darkness of a “godless” reality, critique a disillusioned society, and respond to the rise of feminism through the creation and development of a failed Christ figure and a defiant Mary Magdalene in his short story “Tickets, Please.” As he develops his Magdalene, Annie Stone Lawrence is able to use …

Go to article

Radical Words Then And Now: The Historical And Contemporary Impact Of Elizabeth Cady Stanton’S The Woman’S Bible, Erika L. Larsen May 2017

Radical Words Then And Now: The Historical And Contemporary Impact Of Elizabeth Cady Stanton’S The Woman’S Bible, Erika L. Larsen

BYU English Symposium

First published in 1895, Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s The Woman’s Bible was a reaction to Stanton’s dissatisfaction with the way women were oppressed in society; she blamed religion—particularly the Bible—for this inequality. Stanton was a prominent suffragist in the early fight for women’s rights, and although her views were often seen as quite radical in her time, her behavior was warranted given the environment of the 19th century world in which she lived. At the time of its publication, The Woman’s Bible was rejected and ridiculed by Stanton’s contemporaries, however, this paper will demonstrate how Stanton’s contribution to early feminist …

Go to article

The Other Side Of Biculturalism: Native American Symbolism In The Writings Of Zitkala-Ša, Tanner J. Urmston May 2017

The Other Side Of Biculturalism: Native American Symbolism In The Writings Of Zitkala-Ša, Tanner J. Urmston

BYU English Symposium

Citizens of the United States come from a variety of cultures. Authors who come from ethnic backgrounds often find themselves in a middle ground between their culture and that of the dominant “American” culture. One such example is Yankton-Sioux author Zitkála-Šá. Most critics analyze either Zitkala-Sa’s response to mistreatment of Native American peoples, or the influences of Anglo-American culture in her works, thus diminishing her Yankton-Sioux identity and emphasizing Anglo-American Identity. One such example is Catherine Kunce’s essay “Fires of Eden: Zitkala-Sa’s Bitter Apple”, which demonstrates how Christian symbolism informs Zitkala-Sa’s work. I argue that Zitkála-Šá includes Native American symbolism, …

Go to article

Woman Transfigured: Sylvie And Ruth In Marilynn Robinson’S Housekeeping, Sarah K. Johnson May 2017

Woman Transfigured: Sylvie And Ruth In Marilynn Robinson’S Housekeeping, Sarah K. Johnson

BYU English Symposium

Used repeatedly throughout Marilyn Robinson’s Housekeeping, the word “transfiguration” differs slightly from the biblical definition. In Housekeeping, a living person transfigures into a dead one. Through a close analysis of the use of “transfiguration,” I have discovered that Sylvie physically transfigures into Helen, Sylvie’s sister and Ruthie’s mother, who committed suicide when Ruthie was very young. Helen’s death functions as absolute abandonment of Ruthie, and this abandonment initiates a crippling identity crisis in Ruthie. Through a close exploration of how Helen’s death causes both the transfiguration of Sylvie and the abandonment of Ruthie, how the transfiguration is physical rather …

Go to article

The Shadow’S Symphony: Archetypal Awakening In Igor Stravinsky’S The Rite Of Spring, Rebekah M. Hood May 2017

The Shadow’S Symphony: Archetypal Awakening In Igor Stravinsky’S The Rite Of Spring, Rebekah M. Hood

BYU English Symposium

Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring is often hailed as the genesis of a new, abrasive, aesthetic—the clarion call for the modernist movement. While the performance certainly appeals to the modernist ideal of fragmentation with its un-balletic dancers, jarring meter, and dissonant sounds, The Rite’s detachment from intention and convention creates a purely visceral effect that startles the audience. This archaic effect stimulates an encounter with the Shadow, a Jungian archetype that embodies the darkness of human character and evokes primal images that lay hidden within the collective unconsciousness. While the Shadow is indeed troubling, The Rite urges the audience …

Go to article

“We Are All Mad Here”: The Changing Roles Of Mental Illness In V. S. Naipaul’S Fiction, Chelsea Lee May 2017

“We Are All Mad Here”: The Changing Roles Of Mental Illness In V. S. Naipaul’S Fiction, Chelsea Lee

BYU English Symposium

In this paper I seek to analyze the role mental illness plays in two of V.S Naipaul's works. Naipaul's own struggles with mental illness add an additional dimension to his treatment of the subject, however, the role that mental illness plays in his stories changes according to the social contexts of his characters. In this paper, I attempt to analyze the ways that different cultural situations affect the role that mental illness plays in a character's life.

Go to article

The Sexual Spectrum Of The Androgynous Mind In Virginia Woolf’S Mrs. Dalloway, Sylvia Cutler-Laboulaye May 2017

The Sexual Spectrum Of The Androgynous Mind In Virginia Woolf’S Mrs. Dalloway, Sylvia Cutler-Laboulaye

BYU English Symposium

Examining what Woolf calls the “androgynous mind” in her fictional narrative A Room of One’s Own, I will analyze the function of bisexuality in portraying androgyny in Woolf’s novel, Mrs. Dalloway. I will address how Woolf’s exploration of sexual orientation in the characters of Septimus Smith and Clarissa Dalloway illustrates the value of the androgynous mind and its capacity to overcome patriarchal, masculine modes of writing. Furthermore, I will discuss the work of French feminist Hélène Cixous and the theory of écriture féminine in relation to Woolf’s own writing. Drawing on Cixous’ “The Laugh of the Medusa,” I will …

Go to article

The Creature From The Book Of Mormon: An Exegetical Analysis Of The Word "Creature" In The Book Of Mormon, Joshua H. Blake May 2017

The Creature From The Book Of Mormon: An Exegetical Analysis Of The Word "Creature" In The Book Of Mormon, Joshua H. Blake

BYU English Symposium

No abstract provided.

Go to article

First Prev Next Last