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Full Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Pleading Bar Of God, Royal Skousen

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Near the end of his life, the prophet Nephi referred to the day of judgment and declared that we, the readers of the Book of Mormon, will stand face to face with him before the bar of Christ (2 Nephi 33:11). Similarly, the prophets Jacob and Moroni referred to meeting us when we appear before “the pleasing bar” of God to be judged.

The Development Of A Genomic Toolbox For Studying The Evolutionary Genetics Of Reptilian Lungs Using The Chicken Model, Logan Thomas Edvalson

Theses and Dissertations

There is a vast diversity in tetrapod lung branching morphology. Phylogenetically, much of the pulmonary diversity among vertebrates appears to arise from the way epithelial tubes branch or form saccular (cyst) structures. Fgf10 activity has been shown to play a critical role in regulating branch versus cyst morphology. We hypothesize that the species-specific differences in lung morphology may be primarily due to species-specific differences in Fgf10 expression. To test this hypothesis, we have performed bioinformatic analyses on the Fgf10 locus and have identified a conserved 11 kb noncoding region that potentially contains the Fgf10 lung enhancer. We are taking a …

The User Experience: Student Perspectives On Library Course Reserve, Sara Foster, Duane Wilson, Shannon Sanders, Justin Johnson

Faculty Publications

A group of researchers from an academic library surveyed students to understand how and why the members of their community use course reserve services. Students were happy with the service and used it as a replacement for purchasing textbooks. Frequent users requested more textbook offerings, and both users and nonusers indicated a need for increased promotion of the service. Users provided specific suggestions for improvement that should be examined. Findings illustrated the value of course reserve services as a way to help students with college affordability and to support instruction and learning.

Mindful Musicians: Trait Mindfulness, Deliberate Practice, Anxiety And Depression In College Musicians, Sally S. Wynn

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Background. Mindfulness is understood as a capacity to cultivate moment-to-moment awareness with a sense of nonjudgement, curiosity, and kindness. Anxiety and depression are prevalent in the undergraduate musician population, despite positive effects on mental health that are often associated with listening to music. This study explored factors of music practice including instrument category, practice time, and the use of deliberate practice techniques. Our objective was to test the relationships between dispositional mindfulness, musicianship, and mental health among college instrumental musicians. I hypothesized first, that dispositional mindfulness would be positively associated with musicianship; second, that mindfulness would be negatively associated with …

Modeling Of High-Pressure Entrained-Flow Char Oxidation, Daniel Gundersen

Theses and Dissertations

Coal plays a significant role in electricity production worldwide and will into the foreseeable future. Technologies that improve efficiency and lower emissions are becoming more popular. High pressure reactors and oxyfuel combustion can offer these benefits. Designing new reactors effectively requires accurate single particle modeling. This work models a high-pressure, high-temperature, high-heating rate, entrained-flow, char oxidation data set to generate kinetic parameters. Different modeling methods were explored and a sensitivity analysis on char burnout was performed by varying parameters such as total pressure, O2 partial pressure, O2 and CO2 mole fractions, gas temperature, diameter, and pre-exponential factor. Pressure effects on …

Moral Foundations In Bunkerville And Malheur, David Keith Frey

Theses and Dissertations

The events of the Bunkerville standoff and the Malheur wildlife refuge occupation were both important confrontations with the government by the western land rights movement. Participants in and responders to the events engage in distinct moral judgments and rationales. Utilizing cultural schema analysis and moral foundations theory (MFT), I explored the differences in rationales and judgments made by participants and responders in their explicit, public moral discourses of both events. My analysis indicates that responders and participants defined and utilized the same moral foundations, but in distinct ways. Participants were more diverse in their invocation of moral foundations while responders …

End Matter, Vol. 82 No. 3

Western North American Naturalist

No abstract provided.

Machine Learning With Gradient-Based Optimization Of Nuclear Waste Vitrification With Uncertainties And Constraints, Lagrande Gunnell, Kyle Manwaring, Xiaonan Lu, Jacob Reynolds, John Vienna, John Hedengren

Faculty Publications

Gekko is an optimization suite in Python that solves optimization problems involving mixed-integer, nonlinear, and differential equations. The purpose of this study is to integrate common Machine Learning (ML) algorithms such as Gaussian Process Regression (GPR), support vector regression (SVR), and artificial neural network (ANN) models into Gekko to solve data based optimization problems. Uncertainty quantification (UQ) is used alongside ML for better decision making. These methods include ensemble methods, model-specific methods, conformal predictions, and the delta method. An optimization problem involving nuclear waste vitrification is presented to demonstrate the benefit of ML in this field. ML models are compared …

Full Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Farms Symposium Opens Window On Lehi’S World

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

FARMS’s publication earlier this year of Glimpses of Lehi’s Jerusalem was a significant milestone in Book of Mormon studies. The prodigious effort marshaled the research talents of 19 BYU scholars in a multidisciplinary reconstruction of Lehi’s Old World environment. Those who acquaint themselves with this groundbreaking research will read 1 Nephi with new eyes—with a greater awareness of the sociocultural context and lifeways of Lehi’s world.

Of Punctuation And Parentage, Grant Hardy

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

As is well known, when the words of the Book of Mormon were translated “by the gift and power of God,” there was no punctuation at all in the early manuscripts, and that is the way the translated text was delivered to E. B. Grandin’s print shop. Type-setter John Gilbert reported that when he sat down to prepare the text for publication, “every chapter . . . was one solid paragraph, without a punctuation mark, from beginning to end.”¹ So he added punctuation and paragraphing as he went along. He did a good job, especially for someone reading the book …

Improving Student Success In A Large-Enrollment Introductory Accounting Course, Melissa P. Larson

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation follows a three-article format presentation. The topic addresses improving student success in a large enrollment introductory accounting course. The first article is a literature review of pre-class activities within a flipped classroom setting in higher education. The review of 34 articles identified as relevant to the literature review explored what the literature tells us about pre-class learning activities and synthesized what instructors can do to design pre-class activities that encourage students' preparation for class. The review showed the importance of pre-class learning in a flipped classroom and that more research is needed to better understand students' behaviors and …

Population Structure, Diet, And Bioenergetics Of Introduced Smallmouth Bass In An Intermountain West Reservoir, Skylar L. Wolf, Natalie Boren, Benjamin Vasquez, Jack Dudding, Robert Shields

Western North American Naturalist

Smallmouth Bass Micropterus dolomieu is a recreationally important sport fish throughout much of North America, but population metrics are lacking in the Intermountain West, where the species is not native and where its performance may differ from other geographic portions of its range. We characterized population structure and condition, growth, and the feeding habitats and bioenergetics of a self-sustaining Smallmouth Bass population in Starvation Reservoir, located in northeast Utah. In this reservoir, Smallmouth Bass may experience environmental conditions (e.g., shorter growing season and greater water-level fluctuation) that are uncommon to other portions of its range. We found growth rates to …

Jeal 175 Full Issue

Journal of East Asian Libraries

No abstract provided.

The Pinyin Conversion Project And The Challenge Of Cleaning Up Afterward, Philip Melzer

Journal of East Asian Libraries

No abstract provided.

A Reflection On The Challenges And Collaborative Potential In Working With Buddhist Studies Materials In East Asian Librarianship, Matthew Hayes

Journal of East Asian Libraries

This article explores a set of shared challenges that tend to emerge for East Asian Librarians in working with Buddhist studies materials. It outlines how Buddhist linguistic conventions can give rise to an unpredictability in reference work, how its historical textual practices can complicate collections development, and how Buddhist temple archive management can make traditional approaches to research advising unreliable. It also proposes that these challenges provide distinct opportunities for collaboration across Chinese, Japanese, and Korean areas of bibliographic coverage. These challenges offer a chance for librarians to work together and develop a standard, field-wide toolset for working with these …

Book Censorship In Post-Tiananmen China (1989-2019), Yuwu Song

Journal of East Asian Libraries

Abstract: Censorship has become more prevalent in Chinese cultural and social life since the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre. Modern commentary on Chinese censorship focuses on news media and Internet, but neglects print books, which is part of a broader crackdown on dissent. To fill this gap, the project aims to map the contours of book censorship in China during the past 30 years. The emphasis is on the Chinese authorities’ increasing attempts to dominate people’s minds under Xi Jinping, who ascended to power as the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 2012. The project reveals different levels of …

Dating App Facilitated Sexual Assault: A Retrospective Review Of Sexual Assault Medical Forensic Examination Charts, Julie L. Valentine, Leslie W. Miles, Kristen Mella Hamblin, Aubrey Worthen Gibbons

Faculty Publications

Dating app facilitated sexual assault (DAppSA) is a concerning phenomenon with minimal published research. This retrospective study explored if DAppSAs were different than other sexual assaults (SAs) committed by acquaintances through a review of 3,413 sexual assault medical forensic examination (SAMFE) charts from 2017 to 2020 in a Mountain West state in the United States. Routine Activities Theory and Confluence Model of sexual aggression provided the theoretical framework for the study. Inclusion criteria for DAppSA cases included (1) victim was 14 years of age or older; (2) victim indicated meeting the perpetrator on a dating app; (3) SA occurred at …

The Impact Of Rubric Training On Students' Self-Efficacy And Self-Regulated Learning, Ying Suet Michelle Lung

Theses and Dissertations

ESL writing teachers often deal with a heavy workload of giving feedback to students. Training students to self-assess their work can ease teachers' burdens; one self-assessment method is rubric training (RT), where teachers guide students in reading and grading sample essays. This research explores whether RT leads to positive emotional and regulatory gains. Twenty-one students enrolled in a first-year writing class received incremental exposure to RT. The same set of surveys, Self-efficacy Scale (SES) and Self-regulated Learning Perception Scale (SRLPS), was administered three times to measure the changes in their language self-efficacy (LSE) and self-regulated learning (SRL). The results were …

Family Outcomes And Resilience In Adult Children Of Late-Life Divorce, Kaitlyn Larsen Dyshkant

Family Perspectives

No abstract provided.

Caring For Your Marriage When Your Child Has Disabilities, Meghan Cawley

Family Perspectives

No abstract provided.

Devices: Tools Or Vices?, Rebekah Case

Family Perspectives

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Parents’ Avoidant And Anxious Attachment On Children, Nicole Busacker

Family Perspectives

Avoidant and anxious attachment styles are both negative ways of dealing with the need for connection or bonding. One reason these attachment styles develop is in “the absence of a secure bond with an available and responsive ‘other,’ rigid, repetitive internal and interpersonal coping patterns or attachment strategies develop” (Brubacher, 2017, p. 52–53). These coping patterns are made manifest in either avoidant or anxious attachment behaviors and are mainly expressed in relation to spouses and children.

Design And Evaluation Of Miniaturized Ion Trap Mass Analyzers Using Simulation, Radhya Weligama Gamage

Theses and Dissertations

Mass spectrometry is a technique that analyzes the chemical compositions of compounds based on the mass-to-charge ratio of their ionized constituents. Miniaturized ion trap mass spectrometry finds application in a wide range of fields where portable, rugged, and reliable analytical instruments are required. Ion traps of various designs have been introduced over the past decades, each with their own unique advantages and capabilities. However, the process of developing a novel miniaturized ion trap mass spectrometer continues to be fraught with challenges. This dissertation discusses simulation studies pertaining to the development of a novel dual ion trap, the simplified coaxial ion …

Preparation And Engagement Throughout Cultural Immersion Experiences: Helping Nursing Students Gain Awareness, Erin Minhondo, Karen H. De La Cruz

Student Works

Objectives: This review explores evidence-based methods of increasing cultural awareness in pre-licensure nursing students during cultural immersion experiences (CIEs).

Design: A literature review was conducted in March of 2022.

Data sources: Databases employed included CINAHL and MEDLINE. The search strategy included publication dates between 2017 and 2022, English-only transcripts, and full-text references from academic journals, dissertations, and books.

Review methods: The review assessed for quality by searching relevant articles for bias and ensuring each study was from an accredited journal. Editorials and opinion pieces were omitted.

Results: Three major themes emerged from the literature including pre-departure preparation, in- country …

Parental Reports Of Vaccine Information Statement Usage In Utah, Angela T. Jacobs

Theses and Dissertations

Objective: Little is known about the parental perception of usage and delivery of Vaccine Information Statements (VISs), the timing of VIS delivery, parent opportunity to read VISs, and time for discussing content of VISs with providers. Parental reports of dissemination and use of VISs are explored in this study, including parental use, experience, and perceptions. Method: Data for this pilot cross-sectional descriptive study were collected via an online survey. The instrument consisted of 21questions including five demographic questions, 11 questions about VIS distribution, four questions about parental use and understanding of VISs, and one open-ended question about finding information about …

Full Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Byu Anthropologist Addresses Maya Origins Puzzle

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

In 2001 the chance discovery of a 2,000-year-old Maya mural in a chamber buried beneath a pyramid in the Guatemalan jungle stirred the archaeological community. It was a sensational find, one of the most important for Mayanists in half a century. Rendered in brilliant colors with exquisite skill, the remarkably well-preserved mural reveals a highly sophisticated artistic tradition and hieroglyphic script predating the Maya’s golden age by 800 years.

Advising The Victim Of Domestic Violence, Kristen Clarke Kellems, Kristen Kellems

Faculty Publications

This presentation provides Utah attorneys and advocates with a practical framework for advising people experiencing domestic violence. It explains how criminal, protective-order, divorce, custody, housing, financial, juvenile, and immigration matters may overlap, often leaving clients overwhelmed and uncertain about what each court can accomplish. The presenters emphasize client autonomy, safe communication, realistic expectations, and coordination with victim advocates and community resources. Through case hypotheticals, the presentation examines civil and criminal protective orders, restraining orders, court safety planning, custody and parent-time concerns, documentation, communication between parents, social media, supervised visitation, and the risk that litigation may become another means of control. …