Digital Commons Network^™

Report On A Self-Directed Pilot Study (For Students), Yoshihiko Ariizumi

Spiritual Proficiency

Level Up Your Life: The Science of Spiritual Growth

Ever feel like you're stuck in "mental noise" or struggling to stay focused? This study explores how a simple 4-week routine can literally "accelerate" your brain and emotional resilience. By using checklists and specific mental "switches," I found that we can turn daily frustrations into moments of gratitude and even boost our ability to learn complex subjects. This isn't just about faith; it's about a practical "system" to help you stay calm, sharp, and connected to your higher purpose in a busy world.

Acoustic Analysis Of Prosodic Speech Pause In Autistic And Neurotypical Adults, Rachel Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine prosodic speech pause across two groups: neurotypical and autistic young adults. Conversational speech samples were collected from 11 neurotypical and 11 autistic young adults between the ages of 18 and 26. Speech samples were subsequently transcribed and analyzed using Praat Software. The boundaries of between- and within-utterance pauses were identified, as well as acoustically determining if the pause was filled, silent, or a combination of both. Results found a significant difference in the frequency of pauses as a function of location, pause type, and neurological status. As expected, combination pauses were the …

Perception Of Prosodic Speech Patterns Of Autistic Individuals, Rebecca Lunt

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the perception that neurotypical individuals have of autistic individuals’ speech, including their speech prosody. Speech samples were collected from four neurotypical and four autistic young adults as they answered interview questions. Then, 50 neurotypical listeners (28 female, 22 male) were recruited to listen to the speech samples and rate the speech on visual analogy scales on their likeability and ability to communicate. Participants were told prior to listening to the speech samples whether or not the speaker had autism; however, there were both deceptive and truthful listening conditions, with some autistic speakers …

Humanizing The Base Of The Pyramid: Exploring The Influence Of Resource (Dis)Advantages On Value Creation, Ted London, Lisa Jones Christensen, Tyson Mackey, Alison Mackey, Heather Esper, Andrew Grogan-Kaylor

Faculty Publications

Base of the pyramid (BoP) scholarship emphasizes the potential for enterprises to generate profits by enhancing the wellbeing of the impoverished, often by selling socially-beneficial products (SBPs). Yet, many such BoP enterprises have experienced mixed results. We argue that this may stem from insufficient attention to how BoP consumers value SBPs and other products. We frame SBPs as a type of human capital investment and thus use human capital theory to study how the consumption of SBPs does or does not create value for consumers. Specifically, we use a novel data set from rural India to measure value creation in …

Choco Pies, Economic Gains, And The Opening Of North Korea:, Quinci Rasband

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

Since the armistice was signed putting a hold on the Korean War (July 27, 1953) and officially created two separate entities, has there ever been a time when North Korea and South Korea—two diametrically opposed countries— worked together towards a common goal? If there really was such a time when North Korea and South Korea collaborated, one can wonder how this was received in the minds of North Koreans and South Koreans. While it is challenging to understand North Korean citizens’ perceptions of events, delving into accessible sources can shed light onto South Korea’s viewpoint of inter-Korean relations. One such …

Memories Of The Low-Income Elderly Of South Korea, Jacob Gilbert

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

Rain pattered against my umbrella as I walked down the small alleyway near Tapgol Park. An elderly man carrying a black umbrella hobbled past me. Rain dripping from the gutters made puddles at my feet. I carefully avoided several puddles in the pavement making my way to the end of the alleyway. As I drew closer to the end, loud voices echoed down the alley. Around the corner a crowd of elderly people huddled underneath the roof of the front gate to the park. Some stood, while others sat on the ground leaning their backs against the walls of the …

The Hallyu Hexagon:, Katherine Linton

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

From the opening credits, Crash Landing On You1 captured the attention and adoration of millions. The show follows a South Korean chaebol heiress, Yoon Se-ri, who crash lands into the North Korean side of the Demilitarized Zone. She is discovered by North Korean soldier, Ri Jeong Hyeok, who mercifully decides not to kill her on the spot. Over the course of 16 episodes and 23 hours, as Ri Jeong Hyeok betrays loyalty lines by evading the North Korean Military Police and helping Yoon Se-ri return to the south, the two’s fateful meeting evolves into a cross-border romance.

Korean dramas are …

Silencing The Party, Amplifying The Music:, Brian Lewis

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

The 2024 dissolution of the MFP marked a turning point in Thai electoral politics, catalyzing a cultural contest over political expression through music. The court’s decision to dissolve the MFP was perceived as a direct attack on free political discourse, intensifying state-led censorship efforts against musicians who critiqued the establishment. In response, political music became not only a means of protest, but a crucial space for youth to form their political identities and express dissent. This escalation in censorship and the concurrent surge in musical activism cannot be directly attributed to long-standing political trends; rather, they were significantly increased by …

Beyond War: Building Wisdom Civilization To Rescue Humanity, Andrew Targowski

Comparative Civilizations Review

This paper presents a comparative civilizational analysis of humanity’s transition from a War Civilization to the emerging Wisdom Civilization. Drawing on the works of Toynbee, Sorokin, Quigley, Huntington, Spengler, and Koneczny, it interprets the present global disorder — marked by the tension between Western, Chinese, Russian, and Muslim civilizations — as a transformative moment in human history. War and militarism, once adaptive mechanisms of civilizational growth, have become self-destructive in an era of technological interdependence. It is proposed that the next evolutionary stage of civilization must integrate knowledge with conscience to form a Wisdom Civilization founded on empathy, sustainability, and …

The Jevons Filter: Why Civilizations May Fail Before Reaching “Type I” Status, Giray Fidan

Comparative Civilizations Review

Humanity’s accelerating energy use poses profound questions about the long-term viability of technological civilization. This paper introduces the “Jevons Filter” hypothesis: a self-reinforcing feedback loop between efficiency improvements and rising aggregate consumption, rooted in the classical Jevons Paradox that systematically drives civilizations toward resource depletion and environmental thresholds. Here we argue that this feedback constitutes a critical developmental barrier, hindering sustainable progression toward Kardashev “Type I” energy mastery. We develop a simplified thermodynamic model linking energy efficiency, economic expansion, and civilizational dynamics, and engage with counterarguments regarding absolute decoupling and transformative technological innovations. Building on the classical Jevons Paradox, this …

Full Issue

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Gambling Away Stability: Sports Betting’S Impact On Vulnerable H, Scott R. Baker, Justin Balthrop, Mark J. Johnson, Jason Kotter, Kevin Pisciotta

Faculty Publications

We estimate the causal effect of online sports betting on households’ investment, spending, and debt management decisions using household transaction data and a staggered difference-in-differences framework. Following legalization, sports betting spreads quickly, with both the number of participants and frequency of bets increasing over time. This increase does not displace other gambling or consumption but significantly reduces savings, as risky bets crowd out positive expected value investments. These effects concentrate among frequent bettors and low-savings households. Our findings highlight the potential adverse effects of online sports betting on vulnerable households.

Engagement Is Not A Checklist, Michael S. Bowden

The Utah English Journal

A Familiar Classroom Scene

A teacher stands at the front of her classroom, mid-lesson, and scans the room to check for understanding. She sees what many teachers recognize in their classrooms every day: a sea of students, each seemingly in a different place. In the projector’s glow, she sees a few students intently taking notes on the lesson; a couple are scratching doodles on their page, one is staring straight ahead but not really interacting, and she can hear two more click-clacking on their keyboards as they are looking at something on their Chromebooks.

Book Review: The Bletchley Riddle, Tiffany Bills

The Utah English Journal

Protagonist Lizzie Novis has many labels: half-Jewish, half-American, half-Polish-British, and precocious little sister. One label she refuses to adopt is orphan. The news of her mother’s presumed death upon Hitler’s invasion of Poland reaches her in 1939 London, but she refuses to let it reach her heart. She can’t believe her vibrant, independent mother Willa is not returning from an embassy assignment in Warsaw. She is determined to find out what happened to her, whether or not her older brother Jakob, busy with a mysterious new job, will help or not. But perhaps Jakob isn’t as clueless about Willa’s disappearance …

The Utah English Journal, Volume 54, 2026: Full Issue

The Utah English Journal

No abstract provided.

Book Review: When We Ride, Madalynn Belliston

The Utah English Journal

What do you do when someone you love makes choices that can harm your future? This is the challenge for Diego Benevides in Rex Ogle’s novel in verse, When We Ride. Nicknamed by his best friend Lawson, he goes by Benny to everyone but mom. The novel opens with Benny’s life flashing before his eyes as a gun is pointed directly at him.

Beyond The Book Report: Finding Student Voice Through Podcasting, Gaby Dawson, Johnny Allred

The Utah English Journal

“Mrs. Dawson, I never want to write another essay again,” a student groaned after class, clearly worn out by the end-of-term pileup of assignments. As a student teacher in a ninth-grade English Language Arts (ELA) classroom, Gaby could relate to her student’s fatigue— she only had one last reading unit to plan and teach before the end of the semester. However, with thoughts of winter break at the forefront of her students’ minds, Gaby noticed it was getting increasingly difficult to keep them engaged. To finish the semester strong, she needed a high-interest project and summative assessment that could reenergize …

Guitar Amplifier Directivity, Rachel C. Edelman, Brian E. Anderson, Samuel D. Bellows, Timothy W. Leishman

Directivity

No abstract provided.

Toward A World History Of Pre-Modern Coin Imitations, Niv Horesh

Comparative Civilizations Review

Among historians, it has become axiomatic that coinage over three millennia served three purposes: as a medium of exchange, as a store of value, and as a unit of account. The communicative aspects of coinage, i.e. the imagery it carries often by way of issuer propaganda, have been of less interest even if it remains the mainstay of numismatists. But in the world of numismatics, globally framed studies of imagery or iconography are rare. This article is aimed at correcting this imbalance, at least provisionally. It will explore the main archetypes of coinage imitation by way of inferring commonalities or …

An Academic Civilization?, Inbar Gotlib-Rivkin, Uri Cohen

Comparative Civilizations Review

Can institutions of higher education be defined as constituting a civilization that has emerged from modern civilization? This theoretical study defines a new concept of academic civilization and demonstrates how prominent characteristics that define the collective identity of modern civilization are manifested in institutions of higher education. The study focuses on six specific characteristics: expansion, flexibility and diversification, center-periphery relations, academic culture, autonomy and academic freedom, and the monopolization of professional training and the professional middle class. The conceptual analysis presented here provides a significant addition to sociological discourse, offering a refined conceptualization of civilizations. The goal is to expand …

Artificial Intelligence And African Studies, Gloria Emeagwali

Comparative Civilizations Review

African Studies is a conglomerate of multidisciplinary academic fields that include paleontology, history, literature, linguistics, philosophy, African Traditional Religion and theology, art, and Afrofuturism, as well as African Indigenous Knowledge Systems. This paper focuses on the latter, namely African Indigenous Knowledge Systems (AIKS), and African Studies, in general, from the viewpoint of two chatbots, namely, ChatGPT-4, and DeepSeek v.3. Do these models make a break with Eurocentrism and prevent unbiased information on AIKS? Are the underlying conceptual issues underpinning AIKS fully grasped, and if so, what are some relevant examples of this accomplishment? How do these programs respond to specialized …

Extending Norbert Elias: Adjacency And The Dynamics Of Civilizations, Arthur Michelino

Comparative Civilizations Review

Civilizations have rarely been approached as systems of interdependence and strain. Most modern theories have oscillated between cyclical visions of rise and fall and static conceptions of blocs defined by cultural essence. Both perspectives have offered sweeping interpretations, but both also detached civilizations from the environments of pressure and interaction in which they have always existed. To reframe civilizations as relational processes requires both recognition of their internal dynamics and attention to the external conditions that compel their transformation.

Do Audit Partner And Audit Committee Member Ideologies Influence Engagement Partner Selection And Financial Reporting Oversight Effectiveness?, Robert Felix, Sattar Mansi, Mikhail Pevzner, Timothy Seidel

Faculty Publications

This study examines whether the ideological orientation of the audit partner and audit committee members— defined as their personal belief systems and inclinations, including their attitude toward risk, ambiguity, and novelty—has an impact on engagement partner selection and the effectiveness of oversight in the financial reporting process. Drawing on prior evidence that the two main US political parties reflect different ideologies, we hand-collect political donation data to construct ideological scores for audit partners and audit committee members. Our findings highlight several intriguing relationships. First, audit committees are more likely to select an ideologically dissimilar partner. Second, greater ideological dissimilarity between …

Blue Spring (2001):, George Dibble

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

“Congratulations on your graduation,” broadcasts on the upper secondary school’s PA system—the first sound in the film Blue Spring (2001), directed by Toshiaki Toyoda—yet none of the students we follow for the next 83 minutes have anything to graduate for. Like a chick denied egg-shell breakage, stuck in its hard world, the film-focused boys are told to live. But where, and how? Blue Spring exists between the graffiti laden walls of high school where classes are secondary to student politics and fights are as common as words.

Annoyances lead to murders. Money is extorted. Teachers are harassed. The first image …

Teaching Matters: What Students Value In Writing Classrooms, Kirsten W. Burningham, Amy Williams

The Utah English Journal

As teachers of first-year writing at Brigham Young University, we eagerly welcome young writers to our campus. While we know that moving from high school to college marks a significant change for students, we intentionally look for connections between these two sites of writing to understand the continuity of students’ writing beliefs, assumptions, concerns, and confidence, or lack thereof. Because we know that writing development requires practice, time, and effort (Adler-Kassner & Wardle, 2015), we view high school and college as adjoining spaces for writing practice.

One Family Under Kim:, Jared Johnson

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (D.P.R.K. or the state), as one of the most isolated and controlled states in Asia, has since its founding attempted to shape the culture and ideology surrounding the family construct to support the rule of the socialist regime and its leaders, the Eternal President, Kim Il Sung, and his successors. In Korea, like the rest of East Asia, the traditional family unit has been a central societal structure for centuries. Largely based upon Confucianism, the nuclear family—referring generally to the biological family unit of parents and children—has determined not only the lifestyle and livelihood …

Mystics, Oracles, And Bones: Spiritual Resistance For Justice, Healing, And Resolution, Leah Hollis

Comparative Civilizations Review

This conceptual essay examines the enduring human impulse to seek meaning, justice, and healing through mystical traditions in response to suffering and harm. When traditional solutions through grievance, the law, or mediation fails, some individuals may turn to spiritual practices not as superstition, but as embodied strategies of survival, reclamation, and clarity. Comparing diverse traditions from a variety of cultures, including oracle bone divination in ancient China, the Oracle at Delphi in Greece, West African Ifá, Benin’s Voudou, diasporic Hoodoo, Celtic Druidic law, and Sufi mysticism, this paper explores how mystics have long served as interpreters of suffering and perceived …

Front Matter

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Book Review: All The Noise At Once, Shalece Garff

The Utah English Journal

All the Noise at Once depicts the life of two incredibly close brothers. The eldest is the star quarterback and is being headhunted by universities across the nation (Brandon), while the other is living with autism and difficulties that come with it (Aiden). Unfortunately, many of the activities that he and his brother are involved in (school and football) are almost always crowded and filled with commotion, which sometimes leads Aiden to experience meltdowns when he is overstimulated with touch and noise. Being seen as different puts him on the outs with the other football players, who regard him as …

The Future Of The English Class Essay: Reimagining Multimodal Composition In The Chatgpt Era, Taylor Rose-Dougherty, Christy Goldsmith

The Utah English Journal

As English teacher educators, we are on the frontlines of navigating the technological elephant in the 2025 writing classroom: Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) technologies like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini that can produce pages of text in mere seconds. English teachers’ philosophies on GenAI are as diverse as their preferred novels or their favorite poets. But, as the two dozen publications in major English education journals1 in the past two years suggest, what is at stake is not the end of high school English (Herman, 2022), but the opportunity to give it a makeover (Herman, 2023) by reimagining what writing experiences …