Digital Commons Network^™

Dealing With Insufficient Data: Metadata Modelling And Stochastic Exploration Of The Decision Space, David Nijssen, Andreas H. Schumann

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

In Integrated Water Resources Management, a conjunctive consideration of hydrological processes and human influences is essential. Even though a large variety of hydrological models is available for this purpose; the application of these models is often hampered by insufficient data and information. In particular human impacts can not be described in detail. To cope with these problems a metadata modelling approach in form of a dynamic water balance was used, incorporating model-based analyses of the hydrological conditions and human impacts based on socio-economic statistics as well as on detailed studies of water utilisation in agriculture, industries and settlements. Interlinks of …

Improving Student Engagement: An Evaluation Of The Latinos In Action Program, Jose Elder Enriquez

Theses and Dissertations

Hispanic students make up 12% of the enrollment in Utah elementary and secondary schools but only 3.4% of the enrollment at Utah's colleges and universities, according to Alemán and Rorrer (2006). The intervention Latinos in Action (LIA) seeks to increase high school completion and college graduation rates among emergent bilingual Latinos by involving them as paraprofessional literacy tutors for younger Spanish-speaking students. This dissertation, written in article-ready style, reports on two studies of the program. Study 1, a survey of 128 high school students, found that those involved in the service and literacy program scored higher than their bilingual Latino …

The Personal Characteristics And Pedgagogical Styles Of Effective Abstinence Education Instructors, Karen D. Hill

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the personal characteristics and pedagogical styles of effective abstinence instructors. Abstinence instructors receive regular training and evaluation and tend to remain in the abstinence education field for multiple years. Abstinence education programs are offered throughout the United States and present a pool of participants in which to sociologically examine the dynamics of the relationship of adolescents and instructors in a youth prevention program. This qualitative study is based on in-depth personal interviews of eight abstinence instructors who shared insights into their own teaching experiences, expressed their thoughts about who they are as …

Effect Of Antioxidants And Oxidative Stress On Different Cancer Cell Types, Gaytri Devi Gupta Elera

Theses and Dissertations

Vaccinium cyanococcus, most commonly known as blueberry, is a fruit native to North America that is known for its unique taste and high antioxidant content. The skin, seed and juice of both organically and conventionally grown blueberry extract were analyzed for antioxidant content using both the Hydrophilic and Lipophilic Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) assays. Results from the Hydrophilic ORAC test showed that conventionally grown blue berries had a higher antioxidant capacity across all samples, while the Lipophilic ORAC assay showed that the antioxidant concentration of organically cultivated blueberry juice was highest, but conventionally grown blueberry seed and skin …

Italy At Home And Abroad After 150 Years: The Legacy Of Emigration And The Future Of Italianità, Mark I. Choate

Faculty Publications

Shortly after unification in the Risorgimento, mass emigration stretched Italy in unforeseen ways, changing its culture, economics, and politics, and even its state, territory, language, and population. This enforced globalization polarized Italy and radically changed Italy as a nation-state and as a national culture. Controversies over emigration sharply divided Italian Liberals from the Nationalists and Fascists. The ideals of the nation-state, articulated by Mazzini, have been transformed by emigration in ways that have anticipated the twenty-first century global world. Today Italy faces similar challenges with rising immigration, together with the potential for constructive solutions.

Shifting Prehistoric Abundances Of Leporids At Five Finger Ridge, A Central Utah Archaeological Site, Jacob L. Fisher

Western North American Naturalist

The faunal assemblage from Five Finger Ridge, an archaeological site in central Utah that was occupied by the Fremont from approximately AD 1100 to 1350, shows marked transitions in the relative abundances of 3 leporid taxa. At the time of initial occupation of the site, Sylvilagus audubonii and Lepus sp. dominated the assemblage but through time were gradually replaced by Sylvilagus nuttallii. I contextualized the shifting frequencies of these species using independent paleovegetation data. The data collectively suggest that the altitudinal range of the leporid species shifted during occupation of the site as a response to expanding pinyon-juniper woodlands.


El …

Obituary: Kimball Taylor Harper, 1931–2011, Renée Van Buren

Western North American Naturalist

Obituary: Kimball Taylor Harper, 1931–2011

Full Issue, Comparative Civilizations Review

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Richard Rudgley, Lost Civilisations Of The Stone Age., Laina Farhat-Holzman

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

World Trade And Biological Exchanges Before 1492, Eric N. Jellen, John L. Sorenson, Carl L. Johannessen

BYU Studies

This book by John L. Sorenson (emeritus professor of anthropology at Brigham Young University) and Carl L. Johannessen (emeritus professor of geography at the University of Oregon) presents a comprehensive, well-referenced, and intriguing overview of historical and archeological evidence for pre-Columbian exchange of plants, microfauna, and animals between the Old and New Worlds. Its style is more encyclopedic than narrative, resembling an expanded, annotated bibliography. I read with interest the sections dealing with the crops that I have researched genetically--Amaranthus and Chenopodium--as well as several other crops that I am very familiar with, such as cotton.

Editor's Note, Joseph Drew

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Pyburn, K. Anne, Editor. Ungendering Civilization., Connie Lamb

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Rediscovering Provo's First Tabernacle With Ground-Penetrating Radar, John H. Mcbride, Emily Utt, R. William Keach Ii, Benjamin C. Pykles

BYU Studies

During the early morning hours of December 17, 2010, fire broke out in the Provo (Utah) Tabernacle, virtually gutting the historic building and leaving only the exterior walls standing in stable condition. On October 1, 2011, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced that the ruined tabernacle will be restored as a temple, the Provo City Center Temple, giving a second life to the tabernacle. However, this building is not the first tabernacle on that square.

To The Peripheries Of Mormondom: The Apostolic Around-The-World Journey Of David O. Mckay, 1920–1921, Kaitlyn S. Hedge, Hugh J. Cannon, Reid L. Neilson

BYU Studies

An around-the-world journey made by an Apostle may not be something extraordinary today, but in 1920 it was monumental. Hugh J. Cannon's To the Peripheries of Mormondom details the historic trip of Elder David O. McKay--the first Apostle to make a journey of this magnitude and to visit most of the places he did. He and Hugh J. Cannon were called on a one-year fact-finding mission to visit the Church's non-North American congregations and to study the customs and needs of the people at each place. This mission was the beginning of a major push toward the globalization of the …

Mexican Adolescents' Risky Sexual Behavior And Migration Intentions, Stephanie L. Ayers, Flavio F. Marsiglia, Steven Hoffman, Jildyz Urbaeva, Jaime Booth

Faculty Publications

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to identify the association between risky sexual behaviors and migration intentions among adolescents living in Guanajuato, Mexico.

Design/methodology/approach - Data were collected by self-administered questionnaires to students enrolled in an alternative schooling system in Guanajuato, Mexico, during the school year of 2006-2007. The sample size for this study includes 538 unmarried students, 35 percent male, ages 14-19. Ordinal logistic regression is used to estimate the odds of engaging in risky sexual behaviors.

Findings - The results reveal that male adolescents with higher intentions to migrate have significantly higher odds of engaging in …

What Is The Difference Between Culture And Civilization?: Two Hundred Fifty Years Of Confusion, Thorsten Botz-Bornstein

Comparative Civilizations Review

The distinction between culture and civilization is not well embedded in the English language but has remained relatively meaningful in both other European and non-European languages. Edward B. Tylor designed in idea of civilization that covers both culture and civilizations. Similar attempts had been made in late 18th Century Germany. Though it is sometimes stated that Tylor's relativist concept of culture harks back to Herder, the latter's cultural relativism differs from Tylor's civilizational relativism. Tylor's holistic definition of civilization-culture has created an amount of confusion that can still be felt today. European totalitarianism is often called "civilization" because many people …

Ceramics From Wolf Village, Kari Schrade, James Allison

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

Ceramics have been found all over the world and in most cultures. Ceramics can be a form of art or can be strictly utilitarian. Most cultures have tried to create pottery that is unique to them. These styles and tempers help archaeologists determine where a piece of ceramic has come from. Pottery decorations and the different tempers found in the ceramics at Wolf Village present evidence that the Fremont traded with people outside their local community. Great Salt Lake one of the largest counts is associated with northern Utah, especially around the Great Salt Lake. All of the other types …

Dating A Mummy: Determining Background On Museum Objects With No Provenience, Shannon C. Wood, Paul Stavast

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

An Egyptian falcon mummy donated to BYU's Museum of Peoples and Cultures had no provenience and thus aroused a lot of curiosity. At first, noninvasive research procedures were used in order to see inside the mummy. Results were inconclusive, so only after these procedures were followed were more invasive techniques carried out. It is important that museums follow these procedures in order to build a background for their objects without a history.

Nike, Goddess Of Victory: Symbol Of Ancient Greek Identity, Shannon C. Wood, James Allison

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

The importance of the Ancient Greek goddess of victory, Nike, has traditionally been ignored or understated in Classical studies. However, I would argue that because the Greeks idolized traditional values that Nike had patronship over, and because there is evidence in the archaeological record that demonstrates Nike's importance and presence across a broad spectrum of worship, Nike is in fact one of the more important deities when considering the relation of Greek religion to Greek identity.

Power By Possession: Cuban-American Types And Collecting In The Agüero Sisters, Ashley Noelle Walton

Theses and Dissertations

Although many other ethnic and cultural studies have moved beyond essentialist labels and categories, Cuban-American studies persists in categorizing the people belonging to the cultural group in terms of how much time they have spent in Cuba, thus creating a hierarchy of "authentic" Cuban-ness. Isabel Alvarez Borland gives a comprehensive overview of Cuban-American literary categories, and through her description we can see how these categories may lend themselves to stratification. These categories include: the first generation, the second generation, the one-and-a-halfer, and the ethnic writer. To say that one generation of Cuban exiles is more or less authentically Cuban discounts …

Punjabi Tonemics And The Gurmukhi Script: A Preliminary Study, Andrea Lynn Bowden

Theses and Dissertations

Punjabi, a language primarily spoken throughout Pakistan and in the northern Indian state of Punjab, is one of a few closely related Indo-Aryan languages, including Lahnda and Western Pahari, or Dogri-Kangri, which are counted among the world's tone languages, despite having no genetic link to other recognized tone languages. Few grammars have been published for Punjabi, and of those available, the grammars either fail to discuss the existence of lexical tone or note tone only in passing, and these disagree among themselves on even the number of tones. Unfortunately, those grammars which do make note of the presence of lexical …

When Power Does Not Corrupt: Ngo Vulnerability And Political Corruption, Megan Spencer

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

No abstract provided.

The Investiture Panel At Mari And Rituals Of Divine Kingship In The Ancient Near East, Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, Ronan James Head

Studies in the Bible and Antiquity

This article explores the ancient Near Eastern rituals that endowed kings with this power, specifically the rites suggested by the Investiture Panel at the palace of Mari, with specific focus on the motifs of creation, sacred garden, and divine kingship. Because contemporary evidence at Mari relating to an interpretation of the panel and the functions of various rooms of the palace is limited, it will be necessary to rely in part on a careful comparative analysis of religious texts, images, and architecture throughout the ancient Near East, including the Old Testament. Comparative analysis not only has the benefit of increasing …

Full Issue, Neal A. Maxwell Institute For Religious Scholarship

Studies in the Bible and Antiquity

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Apologetics In Mormon Studies, Daniel C. Peterson

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

T he following essay was presented on 3 August 2012 as “Of ‘Mormon Studies’ and Apologetics” at the conclusion of the an nual conference of the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR) in Sandy, Utah. It represents the first pub lic announcement and appearance of Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture, which had been founded only slightly more than a week earlier, on 26 July. In my view, that rapid launch was the near-miraculous product of selfless collaboration and devotion to a cause on the part of several people—notable among them David E. Bokovoy, Alison V. P. Coutts, William …

Front Matter

Quidditas

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

Quidditas

No abstract provided.

The Cultural Context Of Nephite Apostasy, Mark Alan Wright, Brant A. Gardner

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

Nephite apostates turned away from true worship in consistent and predictable ways throughout the Book of Mormon. T heir beliefs and practices may have been the result of influence from the larger socioreligious context in which the Nephites lived. A Mesoamerican setting provides a plausible cultural background that explains why Nephite apostasy took the par ticular form it did and may help us gain a deeper understanding of some specific references that Nephite prophets used when com bating that apostasy. We propose that apostate Nephite religion resulted from the syncretization of certain beliefs and practices from normative Nephite religion with …

Social Variability In The Emergence Of The Pueblo World, Richard Wilshusen, Gregson Schachner, James R. Allison

Faculty Publications

Between A.D. 650 and 950, there was a near total reorganization of society in the northern Southwest. In some areas, intensive agriculture, high population growth rates, and large villages appeared. In others, diverse mixes of subsistence strategies enabled the creation of aggregated communities and semi-sedentary settlements within the same landscape. A third pattern of high mobility and seasonal use of smaller settlements defined much of the periphery. In many areas, people pursuing more than one of these patterns resided simultaneously. We propose that the patterns established by A.D. 800 were integral in the shaping of later Pueblo history.