Digital Commons Network^™

A Sociolinguistic View Of Cultural Influences In Conversations About Religion, Rachael Merrill

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

My research project deals with intercultural communication issues in religious conversations among American English speakers and Japanese speakers. Much research has been done to examine how miscommunications occur across cultures, and that understanding cultural contexts can help us be more successful in linguistic endeavors. This paper specifically examines how the different sociocultural meanings attached to individual lexical items associated with religious topics (e.g., ‘God’ and ‘prayer’) differ between English and Japanese. This is a qualitative study using data from publicly available corpora of Japanese and English, as well as sociolinguistic interviews. I will not present the analysis of the interviews …

'72 Datsun, Elizabeth Garcia

Inscape

In the blue cool of morning, before the reds had dressed themselves, we sipped our yoo-hoos, cocooned in blankets you’d tucked around us, blinked out the gas station glare and waited, half-hidden in the the back seat of that old gray car while you fetched your stack of papers.

The Art Of Chewing Ice, Lisa Pettit

Inscape

Begins with a mild case of anemia exacerbated by pregnancy, preferably beyond the first trimester nausea which can be made worse by cold water or chewing ice. Disregard the slight anemia your OB tells you about and nod your head when she suggests iron pills. Attempt to take the pills but stop when they make you sick. Decide your craving is exactly that, a bone-deep need to fill your mouth with frozen pebbles and hear the crunch of them between your back molars. Fill your purple, BPA vacuum insulated tumbler three-fourths with ice then top with water. Sip for the …

Essay Questions, Trenton Hickman

Inscape

1) Consider in one thousand words or less the way that life on the frontier changed the way you scan the horizon on breezeless mornings, how it has made you sure that sharp riders will someday angle across the hills like shadows, arc over the back fences with the grace of deer, root you to the ground with the dark headlights of their eyes.

The Many Names Of Limahong: Remembering A Chinese Pirate In The Philippines, William Martindale

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

The 1574 attack of Limahong on Manila and the subsequent expulsion of his attempted Pangasinan colony left a profound impact in Philippine history. The threat once presented by Limahong cast a long shadow over Spanish colonization and Philippines security, particularly regarding relations with China and Chinese. As a result, his name was continually evoked in the centuries after his attack. This paper examines how Limahong is remembered in the Philippines. Limahong is remembered as a generic sea-borne threat, a pirate whose name is evoked at any threat from the sea or from China. But, he is also remembered as a …

From Biology Major To Religion Professor: Personal Reflections On Evolution, Joshua M. Sears

BYU Studies

When I arrived at Brigham Young University as an excited freshman, my plan was to major in biology. I had really enjoyed biology in high school and scored a perfect 5 on the AP exam, so I figured this was something I could be good at. That first year I took courses in general biology, biodiversity, chemistry, and physical science.

Translation And The World Order, Richard Lyman Bushman

BYU Studies

Joseph Smith published three books he called translations: his masterwork, the Book of Mormon, translated from gold plates when he was twenty-four and published in March 1830; the eight chapters of the book of Moses based on Genesis in the Bible, begun in June 1830 and completed by February of the following year; and the book of Abraham, translated from scrolls that the Church purchased from Michael Chandler in 1835 and published in 1842. It is hard to think of any prophetic figure in religious history who relied as extensively on translations to spread his message as did Joseph Smith.

Book Of Mormon Grammar And Translation, Stanford Carmack

BYU Studies

This paper discusses some of the Book of Mormon’s nonstandard grammar, showing how in many cases it was not the kind of grammar that Joseph Smith would have been expected to produce, since it was neither his native usage nor a presumed biblically influenced English. In these contexts, if he had been in control of the wording of the text, it is highly likely that he would have expressed things differently. Quite a few examples are provided in support of this claim, along with additional matching examples found in early modern texts.

Tasting God’S Light: Saints And The Spiritual Senses, Philip Abbott

BYU Studies

While many Westerners once assumed that sensory perception is more or less constant and universal, scholarship in the area of sensory studies has shown how volatile and diverse sensory discernment can be. For instance, though Western epistemology categorizes sensory knowledge into five senses, people across world cultures do not agree on the number of human senses that exist (some enumerate two, four, six, or seven senses), nor do they agree on how the senses function. As anthropologists have illuminated, these various notions of sensory perception lead people to translate sensory experience into vastly different worldviews. Thus, researchers have concluded that …

All One People, Susan Elizabeth Howe

BYU Studies

In his BYU Studies article “Building an Innovative ‘Latter-day Saints without Borders’ Organization,” Warner Woodworth recounts both his own and his students’ extensive work to better the lives of the poor, but he gives credit to many other Latter-day Saint groups who are carrying out similar efforts. All One People, an organization located in Manti, Utah, is one of these groups. Woodworth says that these groups “[act] as ‘social entrepreneurial’ Christians who draw on their faith, rely on scriptural values, harness their educations, and call forth their business skills in designing and launching effective humanitarian services.” These are exactly the …

Full Issue

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Religion And Perfectionism, Michael A. Goodman

BYU Studies

Perfectionism has been a frequent topic of interest to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In official Church material and in other sources aimed at a Latter-day Saint audience (such as podcasts and blogs), the problems of toxic perfectionism have continued to receive attention in scholarly and clinical literature. The concept has been addressed several times in general conference addresses, including by members of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles.1 The Church has produced official videos and articles for youth,2 young adults,3 and adults.4

Last Hours, Lily Jensen

Inscape

No abstract provided.

Joseph Smith And Our Preparation For The Lord's Final Judgment, George L. Mitton

Interpreter Foundation Books

It is with pleasure that I share a few thoughts in connection with this compilation of my father’s published essays. I join others in our family in congratulating him on a lifetime of achievements and acknowledge the significant contribution of our mother Ewan Harbrecht Mitton in supporting this research and scholarship. During my formative years, Dad and

The Temple Plates, Patterns & Patriarchs, Stephen D. Ricks, Jeffrey M. Bradshaw

Interpreter Foundation Books

Sacred/Temple in Ancient Christianity The Latin term sacer (and related forms, e.g., sacred) means something consecrated to God (or to a god or goddess), and templum (Greek temenos) refers to land “cut off” or set aside from common use and dedicated to a deity. Putting it another way, a sacred area or a temple designates restricted space, and the activities performed in that ground dedicated to a god or goddess are likewise limited to those authorized to be there.

Joseph Of Egypt As A Model Of Gospel Living, Khumbulani D. Mdletshe

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

In Genesis 37–50, the narrative of Joseph of Egypt offers instructive lessons on the blessings that flow from persevering through trials while honoring covenant commitments with God. Joseph’s capacity to consistently and courageously apply eternal principles when facing abuse, temptation, injustice, and other challenges not only led to his personal success but also proved critical for those whom he served as a slave and prisoner and, once he was elevated to great power in Egypt, for the numerous subjects of Pharaoh’s kingdom during times of famine. This essay identifies and discusses the primary principles that guided Joseph’s efforts to accomplish …

Relational Grace The Reciprocal And Binding Covenant Of Charis, Brent J. Schmidt

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

In New Testament times, the concept of grace (Greek charis) was operative in relationships in which a person giving something of value to another could expect the recipient to provide service, thanks, or something else of much lesser value in return. When the Apostle Paul described Jesus Christ’s atoning sacrifice as a gift (charis), his ancient audiences understood that redemptive act as initiating a covenantal bond with expectations of devoted discipleship. Bible translators have never properly conveyed Paul’s message of active, obliging grace, an oversight that some scholars of the New Pauline Perspective are now demonstrating. During the Great Apostasy, …

Leveraging Compliance To Design A Minimally Invasive, Expandable Interbody Cage Capable Of Customized Anatomical Fit For Spinal Fusion Surgery, Larry L. Howell, Daniel J. Orr, Anton E. Bowden, Christian Payne, Hailey Jones, Bruce M. Frankel, James Anderson, Alek Sperry, Brandon Sargent

Faculty Publications

As spinal fusion surgery continues to transition to less invasive techniques, there remains an unmet need for ever smaller and more complex interbody cages to meet the unique needs of this difficult surgery. This work focuses on the hypothesis that this need can be met using the inherent advantages of compliant mechanisms in a way no previous device has. Deployable Euler Spiral Connectors optimized using a gradient based optimization algorithm were used as the foundation for a device that can stow to a very small size for device insertion then bilaterally deploy to a substantially larger device footprint. Additionally, a …

Ethnic-Racial Socialization Experiences Of Mexican American Youth, Katherine J. Bingham, Elizabeth A. Cutrer-Párraga, Timothy B. Smith

Faculty Publications

Research has shown that ethnic–racial socialization (ERS) predicts education and mental health outcomes for adolescents. However, limited research has evaluated the ERS experiences of Latinx students. The current study examined ERS experiences of Mexican American youth in four focus group interviews that were transcribed and analyzed at both the individual and group level using interpretive phenomenological analysis. Main themes included feeling like an outsider, navigating discrimination, encountering social/emotional difficulties, and achieving a positive identity. Each theme contained two to three subcategories that provide further insight into the Mexican Americans' ERS experiences. Participants reported within-group discrimination, motivation to disprove stereotypes, and …

Examining The Self-Regulation Abilities Of Students Enrolled In An Online Secondary Charter School, Karen T. Arnesen, Charles R. Graham, Heather Leary

Faculty Publications

This exploratory research addresses the state of student selfregulation (SR) in an online secondary school. Students are more likely to be successful, especially in online schools, when they are self-regulated. Understanding these students’ current SR abilities can facilitate targeted interventions. Data for this study was gathered from a student survey and interviews of students, parents, and teachers from an online secondary school. Quantitative and qualitative analysis revealed that many students perceived their SR as being adequate to strong and that students were more aware of the help-seeking and time management dimensions of SR than of the other dimensions. This awareness …

Parental Support Challenges For K-12 Student Online Engagement, Qi Guo, Charles R. Graham, Jered Borup, Bobbie Sandberg, Richard E. West

Faculty Publications

This research seeks to understand parental support for online students. Using a survey, this study examined perceptions from 567 parents from eight online K-12 programs in a Midwestern state regarding their support for students’ online affective, behavioral, and cognitive engagement. Guided by the Academic Communities of Engagement Framework, our analysis identified eight main challenges parents faced when supporting their online student: (a) focus; (b) keeping on pace; (c) lack of motivation; (d) lack of organization, learning materials, live sessions, and support from online schools; (e) lack of feedback, support, and communication from teachers; (f) parents in need of additional skills …

Learning From Secondary Blended Teaching Practitioners: Selecting Activities And Connecting In-Person And Online Learning, Michelle Jensen, Charles R. Graham, Cecil R. Short

Faculty Publications

Implementation of blended teaching (BT) practices is increasing rapidly in K-12 classrooms. This trend creates an urgent need for professional development to support BT. An understanding of how experienced teachers implement BT can inform teacher educators and professional development leaders as they develop training to support this practice. We interviewed 24 secondary educators implementing BT strategies to determine what activities they include in the online space and how they connect them to in-person learning. Qualitative thematic analysis of the interviews revealed that experienced blended teachers used a variety of online activities, providing opportunities for learners to interact with content, other …

Effects Of Cognitive And Social Demands On Linguistic Production For People With Moderate, Mild, Or No Aphasia, Tyson G. Harmon, Emily Mcdonald, Kyle Steele

Faculty Publications

Background: Most everyday communication occurs in situations where cognitive and social demands are present. These types of situations may compound language deficits for people with aphasia (PWA). An understanding of the language interference that may occur from cognitive and social demands is an important precursor for assessment and intervention that addresses everyday communication situations.

Aims: To determine how cognitively and socially demanding conditions affect micro- and macrolinguistic production for people with moderate, mild, or no aphasia during narrative discourse and to compare effects among groups.

Method: Thirty participants with mild (n = 9), moderate (n = 9), or no (n …

Alterity As A Mirror Of Identity: Primo Levi’S Self Representation In Other People’S Trades, Ilona Klein

Faculty Publications

Primo Levi reveals much about himself in the fifty-one short essays of L’altrui mestiere (Other People’s Trades). This study analyzes L’altrui mestiere as the awareness of the “self” through the observation of “otherness” — other people, but also other living beings which are not human (mammalian animals and insects), others as minerals, and others as hypotheses, theories, writings, microcosmic or macrocosmic conceptions that Levi uses to weave a discourse of “alterity” as a mirror of “identity.” L’altrui mestiere’s narrative pattern revolves around contrasts and comparisons between the familiar and the unfamiliar, the canny and the uncanny, the …

Estimating The Likelihood Of Future Tax Settlements, Jared Jennings, Joshua A. Lee, Erin Towery

Faculty Publications

Corporate income tax settlements represent a substantial cash outflow for many U.S. firms. This study develops an ex-ante measure of future corporate income tax settlement likelihood using quantitative and qualitative information from Form 10-K. We find that both quantitative and qualitative information are incrementally useful in predicting future tax settlements. We then use our new measure to examine the association between predicted future tax settlements and cash holdings. In contrast with prior research documenting a positive association between reserves for uncertain tax positions and cash holdings, we find that firms with a higher likelihood of future tax settlements hold less …

The Effects Of Strategic Alignment And Strategic Clarity On Multidimensional Task Performance, Steven D. Smith, Tyler F. Thomas

Faculty Publications

The alignment of a firm’s performance measures with its strategic objectives is fundamental to effective management control, at least in part because performance measures and stated strategy represent separate sources of information that workers can rely on to guide their efforts. We experimentally examine the effects of strategic alignment and strategic clarity (i.e., the specificity with which strategic objectives are communicated) on workers’ performance on a multidimensional task. We predict and find that alignment improves performance under a vague strategy statement but impairs performance under a clear strategy statement. These results are consistent with strategic clarity and performance measure alignment …

Hidden Wealth And Automatic Information Sharing, Andrew Belnap, Jacob Thornock, Braden Williams

Faculty Publications

In recent years, governments across the globe have implemented automatic information-sharing measures as a revolutionary tool to combat offshore tax evasion. Using hand-collected and private Internal Revenue Service data on participation in the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, we provide some of the first evidence of the costs and quality of information shared via automatic information sharing. We estimate that the aggregate costs borne by foreign financial institutions (FFIs) were $31–$52 billion. Furthermore, although 97 percent of FFIs have committed to sharing information with US tax authorities, there is significant variation in quality. Quality is lower for accounts held by …

Patience Is Key: The Time It Takes To See Benefits From Continuous Auditing, Marc Eulerich, Benjamin Fligge, Vanessa Lopez Kasper, David A. Wood

Faculty Publications

Despite research showing numerous benefits to continuous auditing, uptake by internal audit functions has been quite slow. Using field data from a multinational company, we study two possible reasons for the slow uptake of continuous auditing—the time it takes for continuous auditing to result in measurable reductions in audit risks and that not every type of risk is equally likely to improve from continuous auditing. Results suggest it takes three years before observing significant risk reductions from implementing continuous auditing. We also find that the benefits of implementing continuous auditing vary by risk factor, ranging in improvement from 0 percent …

Chatbots Mitigate Help-Seeking Avoidance, James Gaskin, Eva Blondeel, Ryan Schuetzler, Rachel Serre, Jacob Steffen, David A. Wood

Faculty Publications

This research explores the transformative role of large language model (LLM) chatbots in fostering help-seeking behaviors among introverted and underrepresented students in educational settings. Despite the importance of help-seeking for academic success, certain groups exhibit avoidance behaviors due to self-presentation concerns and stereotype threats. By integrating LLM chatbots as non-judgmental, anonymous teaching assistants in an introductory information systems course, the study demonstrates how technology can mitigate these behaviors and promote inclusivity. The chatbots provided real-time, unbiased support, significantly enhancing the students' willingness to engage in help-seeking behaviors without fear of judgment. This practical application of chatbots not only supports academic …

Assessing Virtual Reality’S Influence On Honesty In Reporting, Jeffrey Pickerd, Nathan Waddoups, David A. Wood, Xiaomei (Grazia) Xiong

Faculty Publications

Organizations, businesses, and society are exploring and adopting virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). VR is expected to boost the global economy by $1.5 trillion by 2030. In this study, we focus on the effect of VR on an important accounting variable—reporting honesty. We examine reporting honesty across two tasks, various measures, and various populations, that are commonly used in existing research. In our initial experiment, participants misreported more in a dice rolling task when performing it in a VR setting than in a non-VR setting. However, in a second and third experiment attempting to replicate and extend our …