Digital Commons Network^™

Unanswered Mormon Scholars, Matthew Roper

Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1989–2011

Review of Answering Mormon Scholars: A Response to Criticism Raised by Mormon Defenders (1996), by Jerald and Sandra Tanner

The Sound Of Utah: The Presence Of Geographical Elements In Music Written About The State Of Utah, Kamia Walton Holt

Theses and Dissertations

Music is a by-product of place and time. Musicians have opportunities to use the idea of place in their music. Thus, music has regionally distinctive characteristics which reflect human perceptions of the physical environment. Artists of the past and present focus on geographical themes, and paint a picture of ‘place’ in their music. This thesis focuses on the music of a geographical location: Utah. Musicians wrote of Utah in hymns of the past, and contemporary musicians continue to write music about Utah. This thesis answers the questions: Is music characterized by geography? How have the local musicians been influenced by …

Damped Diocotron Quasi-Modes Of Non-Neutral Plasmas And Inviscid Fluids, S. Neil Rasband, Ross L. Spencer

Faculty Publications

Computations of damped diocotron oscillations (quasi-modes) are described for non-neutral plasmas and inviscid fluids. The numerical method implements a suggestion made by Briggs, Daugherty, and Levy some 25 years ago [Phys. Fluids 13, 421 (1970)] to push the branch line that forms the continuum into the complex w-plane by solving the mode equation in the complex r-plane. For the special case of power-law density profiles the calculation finds the same quasi-mode frequencies found recently by Corngold [Phys. Plasmas 2, 620 (1995)]. It is found that the feature of the continuum eigenfunctions which indicates the presence of a nearby quasi-mode is …

The Influence Of Decision Aids On User Behavior: Implications For Knowledge Acquisition And Inappropriate Reliance, Steven M. Glover, Douglas F. Prawitt, Brian C. Spilker

Faculty Publications

Structured decision aids are widely used in many organizational settings, and their influence on judgment consistency and accuracy have received considerable attention in the literature. While two benefits commonly associated with decision aid use are improved judgment and enhanced expertise development, relatively little attention has been directed toward the potential influence of decision aids on decision maker behavior. In particular, we argue that the use of structured aids may influence relatively inexperienced decision makers to approach aided tasks mechanistically, without becoming actively involved in the task or judgment. Such passive decision behavior may, in some situations, threaten gains in performance …

Employment Separation And Health Insurance Coverage, Jonathan Gruber, Brigitte C. Madrian

Faculty Publications

We study the interrelationship between employment separation and insurance coverage. We first document that employment separation is associated with large reductions in insurance coverage, even conditioning on underlying tastes for insurance.We then show that reducing the cost of insurance through state laws mandating continued access to employerprovided health insurance for the non-employed increases the likelihood of having insurance after separating from a job by 6.7%. These mandates also increase the number of individuals who separate and the total amount of time spent jobless. Finally, at least some of this increased non-employment appears to be spent in productive job search as …

Full Report

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

The Mantle Of The Prophet Joseph Passes To Brother Brigham: A Collective Spiritual Witness, Lynne Watkins Jorgensen, Byu Studies

BYU Studies

After the death of Joseph Smith, many of the Saints reported that they received a strong spiritual witness that convinced them the mantle of Joseph had fallen on Brigham Young.

Brief Notices, Byu Studies

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Exterior Symbolism Of The Salt Lake Temple: Reflecting The Faith That Called The Place Into Being, Richard G. Oman

BYU Studies

Exterior stonework on the Great Temple masterfully represents the Latter-day Saint understanding of the universe, time, the priesthood, and Jesus Christ and his gospel.

A Fertility Channel Model For Post-Correction Of Continuous Speech Recognition, Eric K. Ringger, James F. Allen

Faculty Publications

We have implemented a post-processor called SPEECHPP to correct word-level errors committed by an arbitrary speech recognizer. Applying a noisy-channel model, SPEECHPP uses a Viterbi beam-search that employs language and channel models. Previous work demonstrated that a simple word-for-word channel model was sufficient to yield substantial incieases in word accuracy. This paper demonstrates that some improvements in word accuracy result from augmenting the channel model with an account of word fertility in the channel. This work further demonstrates that a modern continuous speech recognizer can be used in "black-box" fashion for robustly recognizing speech for which the recognizer was not …

Behind The Iron Curtain: Recollections Of Latter-Day Saints In East Germany 1945-1989 Garold N. Davis And Norma S. Davis; Faith Rewarded: A Personal Account Of Prophetic Promises To The East German Saints Thomas S. Monson, James K. Lyon

BYU Studies

Garold N. Davis and Norma S. Davis, eds. Behind the Iron Curtain: Recollections of Latter-day Saints in East Germany, 1945-1989. Provo: BYU Studies, 1996. xiv, 351 pp. Illustrations, map, index. $15.95.

Thomas S. Monson. Faith Rewarded: A Personal Account of Prophetic Promises to the East German Saints. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1996. ix, 182 pp. Illustrations, index. $14.95.

James H. Hart's Contribution To Our Knowledge Of Oliver Cowdery And David Whitmer, Edward L. Hart

BYU Studies

Most Latter-day Saints take for granted the existence of portraits of the Three Witnesses, but in fact no likeness of Oliver Cowdery was available to the Church until 1883, and then it was touch-and-go whether one would be obtained. Had it not been for the faith and tenacity of James H. Hart, who pursued the portrait when others had failed, we might never have known just what Oliver Cowdery looked like. In the course of following the trail of the portrait, Hart was also able to conduct important interviews with David Whitmer.

Reports, Karl Niederer, Eric Pumroy, Sabine Jessner, Scott Baumgartner, Fred Moser, Leo Schelbert, Selina Sutter

Swiss American Historical Society Review

President Karl J. Niederer called the meeting to order at 10: 10 a.m. The members were greeted by the Swiss honorary consul, Franz Portmann, who invited them to visit the Swiss consulate between 6th and 7th Streets, time permitting. Next Eric Pumroy, director of the Balch Institute of Ethnic Studies, welcomed those present and reminded them that this was the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Institute. He noted that the Swiss were in on the Institute's ground-breaking in 1972 and the SAHS records are housed there, as well as those of the Swiss Benevolent Society of New York. He also mentioned …

Full Issue

Brigham Young University Prelaw Review

No abstract provided.

Time-Honored Doctrine Of Forum Non Conveniens: In Re Union Carbide Corp. Gas Plant Disaster, Bryan Reeves

Brigham Young University Prelaw Review

The American Journal of International Law states, "The Union Carbide case is a convincing example of the exercise of judicial restraint on the part of the U.S. courts in the application of the time-honored doctrine of forum non conveniens" (Union 81: 417). Forum non conveniens is defined as, "the discretionary power of the court to decline jurisdiction when convenience of parties and ends of justice would be better served if an action were brought and tried in another forum" (Black 665). It is the objective of this paper to examine the purpose of forum non conveniens, when it can be …

International Business Transactions, Sean F. Parmenter

Brigham Young University Prelaw Review

In our system of government, the laws are made by the legislative power, enforced by the executive power, and interpreted by the judicial power. The judicial power is not oft influenced by politics, corporate pressures or the media. Their's is the basis of the Constitution and amendments. In the exercise of their power they take into consideration not only who is right, but what is right. The Federal Court of Appeal has been over-loaded with court cases. Common to the Court are appeals that have to do with international law. Cases about fabrics, computers, calculator, dolls, toys, and even doll …

Patent Protection In The European Community, Carey Nuttall

Brigham Young University Prelaw Review

When firms develop products, they desire to protect their investment and seek to prevent other firms from producing the same products. Patents are the most common form of protection sought by these firms. Once the patent has been obtained, they can exclusively control the production and distribution of the products, or they can license other businesses to perform these tasks. Patents give companies a monopoly on the product that is protected. Companies gain from these monopolies; so, naturally, they want to maintain as much control as possible over the production and distribution of their patented goods.

The Development And Evaluation Of The Knife Finite Element, Brett W. Clark

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents the development and evaluation of the knife finite element which is a degenerate case of a hexahedral element. The knife connectivity is an artifact of automatic all-hexahedral mesh generators. Currently, knives are propagated to the surface of the mesh for removal. However since this disturbs the surface mesh, other alternatives are needed. This thesis investigates the option of leaving the knife connectivity in the mesh and treating it as a valid finite element. The shape functions and stiffness matrix for the knife element are derived and evaluated using theoretical and practical evaluations. It is concluded that the …

Jewish And Other Semitic Texts Written In Egyptian Characters, Stephen D. Ricks, John A. Tvedtnes

Journal of Book of Mormon Studies

An Egyptian script was possibly used to write Hebrew text on the Nephite record. Documents from the correct location and time period have texts and languages in varying scripts that lend credence to this scribal phenomenon.

Book Of Mormon Event Structure: The Ancient Near East, Robert F. Smith

Journal of Book of Mormon Studies

The Book of Mormon annals open in an ancient Near Eastern context. The archaeological-historical context is carefully outlined here within a systematic chronology that is tied to fixed, absolute dates of recorded astronomical events—particularly those from cuneiform eponym calendars. The resultant matrix allows those early Book of Mormon events to be understood in a rational, familiar, and meaningful way—that is, in a biblical context. In addition, an excursus is devoted to understanding the Arabia of the Book of Mormon as the Lehite exiles must have known it. Throughout it is clear that the world depicted by the Book of Mormon …

The Book Of Mormon Wars: A Non-Mormon Perspective, Massimo Introvigne

Journal of Book of Mormon Studies

The Protestant Bible wars were fought between fundamentalists, who initially claimed for the Bible the same "truth" that Enlightenment claimed for science, and liberals, who denied that historical "truth" could be achieved at all. In the present Book of Mormon wars the opposite seems to be true: the liberal camp appears deeply rooted in the Enlightenment paradigm, while the orthodox (but not fundamentalist) position often uses postmodernist arguments, claiming that absolute objectivity is a "noble dream" never achieved nor obtainable in historical studies. The article reviews the present Mormon controversies by comparing them to the discussions on biblical interpretation in …

The Anthon Transcripts And The Translation Of The Book Of Mormon: Studying It Out In The Mind Of Joseph Smith, David E. Sloan

Journal of Book of Mormon Studies

Prophesying of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, Nephi foretold that an unlearned man would be asked by God to read the words of a book after a learned man had failed to do so. The unlearned man was initially unwilling, claiming, “I am not learned” (2 Nephi 27:19). One interpretation of Nephi’s account is that Joseph Smith could not translate the Book of Mormon before the meeting of Martin Harris and Charles Anthon. Early historical accounts are consistent with this interpretation. However, according to Joseph Smith—History 1:64, Harris did take a translation to Anthon. Although this translation …

Rod And Sword As The Word Of God, John A. Tvedtnes

Journal of Book of Mormon Studies

The rod or staff, as well as the sword, symbolize power and the word of God.

Erratum

Great Basin Naturalist

No abstract provided.

Full Issue, Vol. 56 No. 3

Great Basin Naturalist

No abstract provided.

Synopsis Of The Mosses Of Wyoming, P. M. Eckel

Great Basin Naturalist

A revised list of the mosses of the State of Wyoming is presented. Recorded are 315 species and varieties.

Masada: Herod's Fortress And The Zealot's Last Stand, Yigael Yadin

BYU Studies

From 1963 to 1977, before Professor Yigael Yadin entered politics and became Deputy Prime Minister of Israel, he held the most distinguished chair of archaeology at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, a chair which was established in the name of his father, Professor E. L. Sukenik, who was in his own right a noted archaeologist and linguist and who performed the initial work on three of the seven Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in Cave 1 at Qumran. An indication of the remarkable abilities of Professor Yadin can be seen in his notable military career. Without receiving any formal military training, …

“The Keys Of The Kingdom”: Keys From Masada, Marti Lu Allen

BYU Studies

At least six keys were recovered at Masada from levels the excavators apparently associated with the occupation of the Sicarii. Would a small group of people living close together and uniquely bound by a common cause feel the need for security from each other—even as they defended themselves on an isolated mesa in the middle of the desert? What do these keys tell us about the people who used them on Masada, and what significance do they hold for the modern observer? This chapter explores the types and functions of typical locking devices in the ancient Mediterranean world from 2000 …

A Historical Sketch Of Galilee, Andrew C. Skinner

BYU Studies

By the first century A.D., much of Palestine, the area known to the Israelites as the "land of promise," was divided under the Romans into five areas of provincial or semiprovincial status: Galilee, Idumea, Judea, Perea, and Samaria. Only Judea was overwhelmingly Jewish, while the other provinces, although mostly Jewish, also supported mixed populations of Jews, Greeks, and Syrians. This ethnic background and many historical factors become significant when one seeks to understand the elements that contributed to Jewish rebellion and to Galilee as a seedbed of revolt, including the Jewish War against Rome.

Legal And Social Perspectives On Robbers In First-Century Judea, John W. Welch

BYU Studies

Robbers, bandits, zealots, Sicarii, and other groups operating outside of normal legal channels were prominent features on the political landscape in and around the Roman province of Judea in the first century. To an extent, the Jewish insurgents who died at Masada can be viewed as robbers or bandits within the ancient meaning of those terms. Knowing something about the prevailing laws concerning robbery and the typical characteristics of social banditry helps modern people to understand these "outlaws" and to imagine how typical Roman rulers or average Jewish citizens in that day probably viewed both the group of dissidents who …