Digital Commons Network^™

Temple Elements In Ancient Religious Communities, Brent J. Schmidt

BYU Studies

The idea of Zion or utopia has fascinated the human race since ancient times. This topic has special meaning to Mormons, since latter-day scripture revealed to Joseph Smith is replete with references to building Zion. What, then, can Latter-day Saints learn from attempts by other groups? One thing we learn, writes Brent Schmidt, is that certain characteristics appeared in some successful ancient communities, characteristics that invoke the temple as known in the Bible and in Latter-day Saint use.

Temple teachings were known and widely dispersed throughout antiquity as a means of forming good communities within religious groups. Indeed, temple themes …

Intraclass Correlation Associated With Therapists: Estimates And Applications In Planning Psychotherapy Research, Scott A. Baldwin, David M. Murray, William R. Shadish, Sherri L. Pals, Jason M. Holland, Jonathan S. Abramowitz, Gerhard Andersson, David C. Atkins, Per Carlbring, Kathleen M. Carroll, Andrew Christensen, Kari M. Eddington, Anke Elhers, Daniel J. Feaster, Ger P. J. Keijsers, Ellen Koch, Willem Kuyken, Alfred Lange, Tania Lincoln, Robert S. Stephens, Steven Taylor, Chris Trepka, Jeanne Watson

Faculty Publications

It is essential that outcome research permit clear conclusions to be drawn about the efficacy of interventions. The common practice of nesting therapists within conditions can pose important methodological challenges that affect interpretation, particularly if the study is not powered to account for the nested design. An obstacle to the optimal design of these studies is lack of data about the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), which measures the statistical dependencies introduced by nesting. To begin the development of a public database of ICC estimates, the authors report ICCs for a variety outcomes reported in 20 psychotherapy outcome studies. The magnitude …

Seeking For The Lost: A Papyrological Search For Luke Fifteen's Lost Economics, Erik Yingling

Student Works

This paper draws upon Egyptian documentary papyri in order to show more fully the quantitative purchasing power of items of economic significance in Luke 15. Specifically, the stories of the lost drachma, lost sheep, and prodigal son each mention economic items which—when compared with the papyrological data—can more fully elucidate areas of economic import which have not been looked at before. In doing so, the article builds upon, and supports, the framework of Roman economic "middling groups" as posited by Longenecker (2009). Furthermore, a close look at Luke 15 when compared with the Egyptian papyrological data suggests the possibility of …

Foreign Language Houses: Identities In Transition, Jennifer Brown, Dan Dewey, Rob A. Martinsen, Wendy Baker

Faculty Publications

This study examined the lived experience of students participating in foreign language houses to improve their skills in Russian, French, or Japanese. American students residing in apartments with other language learners and a nativespeaking resident facilitator were required to speak with one another exclusively in the target language and participate in activities such as preparing and eating dinner together. Data sources for the study included interviews, observations, and video recordings. The data, which were analyzed qualitatively, revealed that the central experience of living in the foreign language house was the creation of a livable community and that use of the …

A Trick Of Light, Kim Hancock

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Porn, Popery, Mahometanism, And The Rise Of The Novel: Responses To The London Earthquakes Of 1750, Samara Anne Cahill

Religion in the Age of Enlightenment

In February and March of 1750, two earthquakes hit London, provoking panic in the population and generating a great deal of providentialist rhetoric from religious authorities and selfproclaimed prophets alike. Public figures used the earthquakes as didactic opportunities to structure domestic identity and national security along gridlines of reason, faith, and national guilt. Such representations indicate not only that religious identity and faith remained important to Britons throughout the eighteenth century but also that, although Britons used Christian belief to structure their national identity, they were by no means convinced of the superiority of actual Christian behavior compared to that …

Full Issue

Religion in the Age of Enlightenment

No abstract provided.

Necessity Of Hippocampal Neurogenesis For The Therapeutic Action Of Antidepressants In Adult Nonhuman Primates, Tarique D. Perera, Andrew J. Dwork, Kathryn A. Keegan, Lakshmi Thirumangalakudi, Cecilia M. Lipira, Niamh Joyce, Christopher Lange, James Dee Higley, Gorazd Rosoklija, Rene Hen, Harold A. Sackeim, Jeremy D. Coplan

Faculty Publications

Background: Rodent studies show that neurogenesis is necessary for mediating the salutary effects of antidepressants. Nonhuman primate (NHP) studies may bridge important rodent findings to the clinical realm since NHP-depression shares significant homology with human depression and kinetics of primate neurogenesis differ from those in rodents. After demonstrating that antidepressants can stimulate neurogenesis in NHPs, our present study examines whether neurogenesis is required for antidepressant efficacy in NHPs. Materials/Methodology: Adult female bonnets were randomized to three social pens (N = 6 each). Pen-1 subjects were exposed to control-conditions for 15 weeks with half receiving the antidepressant fluoxetine and the rest …

A History Of Mormon Catechisms, Kenneth L. Alford Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

An overview of the use and influence of catechisms in Latter-day Saint (Mormon) history.

The Salt Lake Theatre: Brigham's Playhouse, Kenneth L. Alford Ph.D., Robert C. Freeman Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

A history of the Salt Lake Theatre (dedicated in 1862).

Stern-Gerlach Dynamics With Quantum Propagators, Bailey C. Hsu, Manuel Berrondo, Jean F. Van Huele

Faculty Publications

We study the quantum dynamics of a nonrelativistic neutral particle with spin in inhomogeneous external magnetic fields. We first consider fields with one-dimensional inhomogeneities, both unphysical and physical, and construct the corresponding analytic propagators. We then consider fields with two-dimensional inhomogeneities and develop an appropriate numerical propagation method. We propagate initial states exhibiting different degrees of space localization and various initial spin configurations, including both pure and mixed spin states. We study the evolution of their spin densities and identify characteristic features of spin density dynamics, such as the spatial separation of spin components, and spin localization or accumulation. We …

Review Of Ingres: Painting Reimagined By Susan L. Siegfried, Heather Belnap Jensen

Faculty Publications

Susan L. Siegfried’s Ingres: Painting Reimagined is a magisterial consideration of one of the most intriguing and elusive artists of the nineteenth century, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. As the summation of a three-decade long engagement with Ingres studies, this ambitious tome sets out to account for the strange and yet beguiling nature of his paintings, c. 1800-1840. In this book, Siegfried argues that the reason Ingres has remained an enigma has much to do with his refusal to produce works that conformed to centuries-old conventions structuring narrative painting. Ingres’s imaginative project, then, was to conceive of innovative strategies for imaging classical tales …

Modern English Bible Translations, Gaye Strathearn

Faculty Publications

The work of translation from one language to another is always fraught with difficulties—philological, contextual, and even procedural difficulties. If a word has numerous meanings, as most do, how does the translator decide which one to use? Should the translation reflect a wordfor- word translation (i.e., formal equivalence), or should it reflect the idiomatic language of the receptor language (i.e., functional/dynamic equivalence)? The major benefit of a formal-equivalence approach is that the translation maintains a feel for the language and format of the original text. The construction of Hebrew and Greek words and sentences is maintained, as much as possible, …

Reconciling The Controversy Of Animal Cruelty And The Shoah: A Look At Primo Levi's Compassionate Writings, Ilona Klein

Faculty Publications

Is it ethically admissible to compare the suffering of Jews during World War II to the general suffering of animals in the Western world? Who considers this parallel to be morally obscene, and who supports the comparison? Based on the historical evidence of Nazis insulting Jews with animal verbiage and herding them into the gas chambers of concentration camps, this study looks at a few textual examples by the Italian Jewish author Primo Levi, finding a conciliatory position in his poetry and prose.

The Influence Of Depressive Symptomatology And Perceived Stress On Plasma And Salivary Oxytocin Before, During And After A Support Enhancement Intervention, Wendy C. Birmingham, Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Kathleen C. Light

Faculty Publications

Oxytocin (OT) activity increases in response to stress as well as to warm social contact. Subclinical depression is associated with higher stress but less reward from social contacts. The present investigation was intended to examine whether husbands and wives with high depressive symptomatology scores have increased plasma and salivary OT that may be mediated partly by higher perceived stress, and also to assess whether an intervention to convey partner support through ‘‘warm touch’’ may reduce effects of depressive symptoms on OT. In this study, 34 healthy married couples (n = 68) ages 20—39 provided self reports of depressive symptoms (CESD) …

Portrayals Of Bullying In Childr Als Of Bullying In Children’S Pictur S Picture Books And Implications E Books And Implications For Bibliotherapy, Tina Dyches, Emily Moulton, Melissa Allen Heath, Mary Anne Prater

Faculty Publications

Bullying, a serious issue in today’s schools, negatively impacts children. This article summarizes research and emphasizes the need for effective tools, such as bibliotherapy, to deter bullying. To assist professionals in selecting books for bibliotherapy, 38 bully-themed children’s K-3 picture books ranked 1- 4 by The Horn Book Guide (HBG) from January 1, 2004 through January 1, 2010 were analyzed. Comparisons were made between the selected books’ portrayals of bullying and aspects of bullying, and bully prevention described in research literature. Information was summarized, including the following details: (a) gender of bully and victim, (b) type of bullying, (c) location …

Strategies To Resolve The Three-Dimensional Structure Of The Genome Of Small Single-Stranded Icosahedral Viruses, Eduardo Sanz Garcia

Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this study is the three-dimensional structural characterization of the genome packaging inside viral capsids via cryo-electron microscopy and three-dimensional reconstruction. The genome of some single-stranded viruses can be densely packaged within their capsid shells. Several stretches of the genome are known to adopt stable secondary structures, however, to date, little is known about the three-dimensional organization of the genome inside their capsid shells. Two techniques have been developed to facilitate the structural elucidation of genome packaging: the asymmetric random-model method, and the symmetry-mismatch, random model method. Both techniques were successfully tested with model and experimental data. The …

Retrospective Evaluation Of The Effects Of Human Disturbance And Goldfish Introduction On Endangered Pahrump Poolfish, James E. Deacon, Joshua E. Williams

Western North American Naturalist

Life history data for Pahrump poolfish (Empetrichthys latos latos) collected from 1937 to 1975 were organized and analyzed to improve our understanding of changes caused by human habitat disruption and introduced goldfish (Carassius auratus) at Manse Spring, Nevada. Pahrump poolfish twice demonstrated their ability to recover numerically from a population crash. The first crash followed a November 1961 introduction of a few goldfish and subsequent removal of vegetation by local ranch children intent on turning Manse Spring into a swimming hole. The second crash followed another major habitat disturbance resulting from an unsuccessful attempt to eradicate …

Trapping Mammals In A Cautious World: The Effect Of Disinfectants On Trap Success, J. A. Wilson, K. E. Mabry

Western North American Naturalist

Disinfecting traps that have captured small mammals is one recommendation for preventing occurrence of hantavirus infection; however, the potential effects of disinfection on small mammal trappability have not been investigated thoroughly. We conducted an experiment to compare the effects of 2 disinfectants (Lysol^® and household bleach) on the trappability of 4 small mammal species (Peromyscus maniculatus, Neotamias spp., and Spermophilus lateralis). We established triplicate trap grids in 2 forest types (red fir and mixed conifer), each consisting of a 6 × 6 array of Sherman live-traps placed at 10-m intervals. Traps were given 1 of 3 treatments: …

Rabbit Abundance Relative To Rainfall And Plant Production In Northern Chihuahuan Desert Grassland And Shrubland Habitats, David C. Lightfoot, Ana D. Davidson, Christopher M. Mcglone, Dara G. Parker

Western North American Naturalist

No abstract provided.

Rock Outcrops Harbor Native Perennials In Type-Converted Coastal Scrub, Robert J. Steers

Western North American Naturalist

Type-conversion of coastal scrub to exotic annual grassland has been extensive in certain parts of southern California, especially in drier inland locales. Field observations suggest that rock outcrops harbor native perennials associated with coastal scrub vegetation after conversion to exotic annual grassland has occurred. Surveys were conducted to test this observation. In addition, measures of fossorial mammal disturbance, soil depth, exotic annual plant abundance, and soil moisture were collected and used to infer potential mechanisms that may influence patterns of native and exotic vegetation. Results showed that larger outcrops are associated with more native perennial species than smaller outcrops, consistent …

The Banner-Tailed Kangaroo Rat, Dipodomys Spectabilis (Rodentia: Heteromyidae), In Utah, George V. Oliver, Anthony L. Wright

Western North American Naturalist

We report the discovery in Utah of Dipodomys spectabilis, a species previously unknown to occur in the state. We searched for D. spectabilis in extreme southeastern Utah, south of the San Juan River, and were successful in finding mounds and burrows characteristic of the species and in capturing one individual. This is the northernmost record for D. spectabilis and extends its known range ~84 km northwest of the nearest previously reported locality (Fruitland, San Juan County, New Mexico). A flea, Meringis rectus, collected from D. spectabilis, is also the first record of its species in Utah.


Reportamos el descubrimiento en …

Pathology Of An Unusual Lumbar Condition In A Young Black Bear (Ursus Americanus) From The Big Bend Region Of Trans-Pecos Texas, Frederick B. Stangl Jr., Dana R. Mills, Michael W. Haiduk

Western North American Naturalist

The skeleton of a young American black bear (Ursus americanus) possessing asymmetrical distortions of the 5 caudalmost lumbar neural spines was recovered from west Texas. We attribute this abnormality, presumed to be congenital, to the absence or atrophy of the right multifidus muscle straddling L3 and to the series of compensatory muscle adjustments required to maintain spinal alignment. This finding may have important management implications for black bears in Texas, given the possibility that our specimen originates from a partially isolated population.


El esqueleto de un oso negro juvenil (Ursus americanus) con distorsiones asimétricas de las …

Considerations For Wood River Sculpin Conservation: Historical Occurrence And Sampling Efficiency, Donald W. Zaroban

Western North American Naturalist

Records of Wood River sculpin (Cottus leiopomus) from 1893 to 2003 were examined and new data were gathered in 2004 and 2006 to estimate the species’ historical range and to search for evidence of changes in its occurrence. Detections of Wood River sculpin were reported in 49 subwatersheds, primarily in the Idaho Batholith ecoregion. The remainder of the Wood River basin was classified as either potential historic range or unknown. Mark-recapture sampling was conducted to estimate the efficiency of electrofishing as a method to detect this sculpin. Sampling efficiency was calculated for 1 upstream pass and 1, 2, …

Desiccation Sensitivity And Heat Tolerance Of Prunus Ilicifolia Seeds Dispersed By American Black Bears (Ursus Americanus), Mark Borchert, Claudia M. Tyler

Western North American Naturalist

Carnivore consumption of fruit is a principle means by which many fleshy-fruited plant species achieve long-distance seed dispersal. We examined carnivore dispersal of hollyleaf cherry (Prunus ilicifolia) seeds, specifically assessing the survival, desiccation sensitivity, and germination of seeds found in bear scats. Studies were conducted both in the laboratory and in 2 burn areas in Los Padres National Forest, California. Bear scats containing P. ilicifolia seeds were collected in burned and unburned chaparral. We counted seeds in each scat and noted whether endocarps had tooth punctures or rattled audibly when shaken. For comparative germination trials, we also collected …

Mate Sampling In A Natural Population Of Pecos Gambusia, Gambusia Nobilis, John K. Leiser, Kimberly Little, Murray Itzkowitz

Western North American Naturalist

Much research has been conducted on the mating systems of poeciliid fish in aquaria; however, there are fewer studies that examine mate sampling of these fish in the wild. In general, male poeciliids are characterized as being unselective in their mate choices and will attempt to copulate with seemingly all available females. Females are selective, copulate infrequently, and are often pursued by “ardent” males who may force copulations. To avoid male harassment, females in aquaria will often shelter from males among other females in shoals. Here, we examined the mate-sampling behaviors of male and female Pecos gambusia Gambusia nobilis by …

Fecal Pellets Of American Pikas (Ochotona Princeps) Provide A Crude Chronometer For Dating Patch Occupancy, Lyle B. Nichols

Western North American Naturalist

American pikas (Ochotona princeps) seem to be especially vulnerable to climate change, with recent extinctions of pika populations being attributed to global warming. Incomplete historical location records are currently used to examine changes in pika distributions. A method of determining recent pika distributions in the absence of historical records is needed. Here I report on changes over time of known-age pika fecal pellets up to 36 years old. Predictable changes in diameter, internal consistency, and color of pellets provide a method to approximate the dates of last occupation in patches where pikas have been extirpated.


La pika Americana …

Urban Carnivores: Ecology, Conflict, And Conservation By S.D. Gehrt, S.P.D. Riley, And B.L. Cypher [Editors], Howard O. Clark Jr.

Western North American Naturalist

No abstract provided.

Capture And Access Of Multiple Screen Presentations, Kelv H. Cutler

Theses and Dissertations

Knowledge transferred during meetings is often ephemeral in nature and thus must be captured if it is to be retained. Ideally, a capture solution should be able to 1) accommodate any number of screens without sacrificing image quality and 2) allow dynamic access to a complete media capture while the capture is taking place. Both students and employees can benefit from the information captured during the lectures and meetings for enhanced discussion and afterward for knowledge retention. Current systems do not support multiple screen capture well, and no system supports dynamic access to the active meeting capture during the meeting. …

Gender And Color Specific Differences In Event Related Potentials, Abhishek Trikha

Theses and Dissertations

This project analyzed gender and color-specific differences in event-related potentials (ERPs). Previous studies have shown that males process color differently than females. In a recent study, sex differences were found in ERPs during a visual object recognition task. There were higher EEG amplitudes in females (especially P300) than males. Significant sex and color-specific differences have been found in diseases involving altered dopamine (DA) machinery. Thus, we analyzed differences between ERPs in males vs females during a color task. We also compared the color-specific differences in ERPs between males and females. Males and females participated in EEG recording sessions for 2 …