Digital Commons Network^™

Communities Of Water: An Examination Of Cooperation And Conflict In Water Management Practices In The Central Peruvian Andes, Sylvie D. Littledale

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores two examples of water management in the highland Peruvian villages, San Pedro de Llancha and San Antonio de Chinchina. One example is of cooperation and union between the two communities. The other is of conflict between the same two villages just 40 years prior. I examine ethnographic and ethnohistorical data from both the collaborative period and the conflictive period of these two communities’ relations over water. The data suggest that, while the outcomes of these two periods were drastically different, the processes through which these communities came into relation with one another were quite similar. Their communal …

Outdoor Air Pollution And Psychological Well-Being: A Meta-Analysis, Jeremy Stanley Bekker

Theses and Dissertations

Human life takes place as part of a global ecosystem, meaning that human mental health is at least partially tied to the health of the planet. Health experts who seek to promote psychological well-being should consider how changes to the broad ecological system may impact their efforts. Given the potential impact of the environment on human well-being, we conducted a meta-analysis to assess the impact of air pollution on subjective well-being. The goal of this project was to outline the current state of the research on these constructs and provide a clear framework for what research is still needed. Nonsignificant …

Physical Place And Online Space: Permeability, Embodiment, And Gender In Two Online, Synchronous Critical Multicultural Teacher Education Courses, Elizabeth Finlayson Harris

Theses and Dissertations

This semester-long microethnography explores how the emotional geography in two online, synchronous critical multicultural education courses are shaped by online interactions and infrastructures as well as social frames. Using a microethnographic approach, video data, interviews, and open-ended questionnaires revealed patterns of interactions suggesting an online emotional geography characterized by a duality of physical place and online space. Key findings suggest that the levels of permeability in student and instructor's physical location influence how online participants gave or received emotion gifts and performances in online spaces. This study further supports emergent research suggesting gender frames as relevant in students' level of …

Systems Engineering Of The Global L-Band Observatory For Water Cycle Studies, James Nathan Smith

Theses and Dissertations

The Global L-band Observatory for Water Cycle Studies (GLOWS) is designed as a follow-on to the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) observatory launched in 2015. While GLOWS is essentially copying many aspects of the SMAP mission, a key change has been made in the antenna technology. SMAP uses a reflector antenna and to reduce mission costs GLOWS uses a metamaterial lens antenna. This type of antenna is less efficient, so it must be proven that GLOWS can achieve the same uncertainty levels in soil moisture measurements as SMAP. In this work, a unified framework for modeling and analyzing GLOWS' ability …

Comparative Sequence Analysis Elucidates The Evolutionary Patterns Of Yersinia Pestis In New Mexico Over Thirty-Two Years, M. Elizabeth Warren

Theses and Dissertations

Yersinia pestis, a gram-negative bacterium, is the causative agent of plague. Y. pestis is a zoonotic pathogen that occasionally infects humans, and is endemic in the western United States. History gives evidence of three main plague pandemics. The first, originating in Egypt in 541AD, is known as the Justinian plague. The second, perhaps most well-known, is thought to have emerged in 1347AD in China, and is called the Black Death. The third, and current plague pandemic, also emerged in China in 1855. In 1899, Y. pestis was established in California, and the plague in other parts of America evolved from …

Performing Italian Identity: Through The Plays Gemini And A View From The Bridge, Angela Dicarolo Moser

Theses and Dissertations

"Italian Identity"is the set of values and beliefs performed daily, that are markers of what it is to be "Italian,"whether those carrying those beliefs live in Italy or not. The latter point became evident in the United States following the vast wave of Italian immigration during the late-19th and early-20th centuries. Italian identity has been greatly influenced by Catholicism and its centering of values and beliefs on the family, heavily defined Italian life in America. One principal mode for constructing and disseminating these values and beliefs among Italian Americans was through the theatre. This thesis provides a close reading of …

Cryptids And The Uncanny Valley, Megan Petty, Caroline Dale

Final Projects

About cryptids and their relationship to the uncanny valley.

Cattle Branding: Epitomizing Ranch Culture, Cassidy Crosby

Final Projects

Customs surrounding cattle branding on the Crosby Family Ranch in Northern Wyoming. This paper highlights how branding reflects family ethics and how those ethics are transmitted to the next generation of ranchers.

A Descriptive Analysis Of Severe Maternal Morbidities In Southern Arizona, Joseph Sherman

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Introduction

Maternal morbidities and maternal deaths are rising at an alarming rate throughout the United States, despite advances in medicine and technology (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2020). In 2020, maternal deaths climbed to its highest peak in thirty years, at 23.8 deaths per 100,000 births (CDC 2020; CDC 2022b). Maternal morbidities have also increased by nearly 200% from 1993 to 2014 (CDC, 2021). The startling rise in both maternal morbidities and maternal deaths is likely exacerbated by limited access to healthcare and the pervasiveness of chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease (Carroll, 2017; Geller …

Differences Between Northern And Southern Female Coyotes, Alina Gabriela Monroy-Gamboa

Western North American Naturalist

The coyote (Canis latrans) has a wide distribution range, spanning boreal forests from the north of the continent to tropical environments in Central America, showing great adaptation and plasticity. Bergmann’s rule states that individuals inhabiting colder climates are larger than those in warmer climates. It is suggested that in carnivore species, litter size is influenced by allometric constraints such as maternal body size. The aim of this study is to analyze the relations using correlation between female coyote mass, latitude, and litter size. Using data compiled from the literature, I carried out statistical analyses to correlate female body …

John Serrano Did Not Vote For Proposition 13, William A. Fischel

BYU Education & Law Journal

Rather than advancing new arguments, this essay will review my work on this subject in the form of a memoir (with popular-song headings that betray my vintage) about my evolving interest in the Serrano and Proposition 13 connection.

A World Of Cities, Amanda Morgan

Children's Book and Media Review

From London to Dubai, Dublin to Cape Town, this book describes popular places in the world on the back drop of James Brown’s amazing contemporary art. Each of the thirty cities in this book is illustrated in bold colors. Geographical facts like size and location are listed, as well as demographical facts like what language is spoken and where citizens are from. The history of the cities are also mentioned along with legends and stories told about each place. With quotes and facts carefully positioned and designed on every poster-worthy page, this book is sure to become a favorite of …

The Effect Of Mobile Voting Units On Voter Turnout: An Ada County, Idaho Case Study, Tayzlie T. Haack, Tayzlie Tripple Haack

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Counties across the United States are struggling to find solutions that decrease the costs of voting while increasing voter turnout across varying demographics. In particular, because of transportation and information costs, voting is costly for low-income citizens. Ada County, Idaho attempted to mitigate these costs through introducing a mobile voting unit. This mobile voting unit is used during early voting periods and targets precincts that do not have a permanent voting location. Using voter registration data from 2006 to 2020, I attempt to identify a treatment effect of the mobile voting unit on voter turnout in general elections. My paper …

Impact Of Care For Life- Mozambique's Cyclone Recovery Program, Anna Osguthorpe

Undergraduate Honors Theses

My research is primarily an impact evaluation of the cyclone recovery efforts of the non- profit organization Care For Life, based in Beira, Mozambique. I determine the causal effects of this program on business creation and several inputs to health (serious sickness, improved latrines, meals per day, and access to a vegetable garden). The treatment intervention consists of Care For Life workers providing mosquito nets, water purification, and soap, improving available latrines, and providing gardening materials (seeds, fertilizer, hoes, and watering cans). I analyze the effect of this treatment on five different outcome variables chosen because they are deeply affected …

The Role Of Latter-Day Saint Resentment In Utah's Culture War, Jessica Dofelmire

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who have continually held majority status in Utah soon after arriving in 1847, dominate the state in terms of culture and politics. In the last few decades, the dominance of the Church and its members has led to contentious disputes regarding issues ranging from property sales to medical marijuana and conversion therapy, but the conflict has existed since the 19^th century. The conflict, which is often referred to as Utah’s culture war, has fueled resentful feelings on both sides of the battle and is in turn fueled by the …

Plea To Professors: A Passionate Approach To Controversy In The Classroom, Adrianna Meredith

Intuition: The BYU Undergraduate Journal of Psychology

Scholars have warned of a student-driven movement to turn campuses into comfort zones free from any material that may be seen as controversial (Lukianoff & Haidt, 2015). Despite this movement, the notion that professors ought to shelter their students as opposed to exposing them to challenging ideas is anti-intellectual and counterproductive to the development of critical thinking (American Association of University Professors, 2014). If the goal of education is indeed to foster critical thinking, it is crucial for professors to be willing to discuss controversial subjects (Schneider, 2013). Such openness in the classroom requires students to analyze the origin and …

Hannah’S Adversity And Peninnah’S Redemption, Loren Spendlove

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

Most biblical students are familiar with the story of Hannah, who after years of barrenness, finally gave birth to the prophet Samuel. Some will remember her adversary, Peninnah, who allegedly tormented Hannah to tears. My objective in this article is to reclaim Peninnah’s good name by reinterpreting the passage found in 1 Samuel 1:6.

Review: Miles Harvey. The King Of Confidence: A Tale Of Utopian Dreamers, Frontier Schemers, True Believers, False Prophets, And The Murder Of An American Monarch. New York: Little, Brown And Company, 2020., Amy Derogatis

Mormon Studies Review

A little over a year ago I was in the Clarke Historical Library in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, sifting through documents with librarian John T. Fierst to answer a nagging question regarding the provenance of a remarkable daguerreotype. As we were musing about the limits of what could be known about this material object, he happened to mention that another person who was finishing a book about James Jesse Strang had recently visited and looked at the photograph. Like any other academic hearing about scholarly competition, my heart froze, and out of my dry mouth I managed to croak, “Oh, really, …

End Matter

Mormon Studies Review

No abstract provided.

Lehi And Nephi As Trained Manassite Scribes, Noel B. Reynolds

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

This paper brings together contemporary Ancient Near East scholarship in several fields to construct an updated starting point for interpretation of the teachings of the Book of Mormon. It assembles findings from studies of ancient scribal culture, historical linguistics and epigraphy, Hebrew rhetoric, and the history and archaeology of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Levant, together with the traditions of ancient Israel to construct a contextualized perspective for understanding Lehi, Nephi, and their scribal training as they would have been understood by their contemporaries. Lehi and Nephi are shown to be the beneficiaries of the most advanced scribal training available in …

Serpents Of Fire And Brass: A Contextual Study Of The Brazen Serpent Tradition In The Book Of Mormon, Neal Rappleye

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

The story of the Israelites getting bitten in the wilderness by “fiery serpents” and then being miraculously healed by the “serpent of brass” (Numbers 21:4–9) is one of the most frequently told stories in scripture — with many of the retellings occurring in the Book of Mormon. Nephi is the first to refer to the story, doing so on two different occasions (1 Nephi 17:41; 2 Nephi 25:20). In each instance, Nephi utilizes the story for different purposes which dictated how he told the story and what he emphasized. These two retellings of the brazen serpent narrative combined to establish …

Full Issue

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

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

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

No abstract provided.

Jonathan Edwards’S Unique Role In An Imagined Church History, Spencer Kraus

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

This is the second of two papers reviewing Jonathan Neville’s latest books on the translation of the Book of Mormon. In Infinite Goodness, Neville claims that Joseph Smith’s vocabulary and translation of the Book of Mormon were deeply influenced by the famous Protestant minister Jonathan Edwards. Neville cites various words or ideas that he believes originate with Edwards as the original source for the Book of Mormon’s language. However, most of Neville’s findings regarding Edwards and other non-biblical sources are superficial and weak, and many of his findings have a more plausible common source: the language used by the King …

Modern Near East Archaeology And The Brass Plates, Noel B. Reynolds

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

Contemporary Palestinian archaeology has produced two major threats to traditional interpretations of the history of ancient Israel. The first threat, which derives from scientific discomfort with the exodus story as an explanation for the sudden population expansion in southern Palestine at the beginning of the Iron Age (c. 1200 bce), has led to a wide variety of theories about how these Israelites could have been drawn from existing populations in the general area. This challenge is answerable in ways that preserve the exodus account, which is fundamental to the Book of Mormon as well as the Bible. The second threat …

Alma’S Prophetic Commissioning Type Scene, Alan Goff

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

The story often referred to as Alma’s conversion narrative is too often interpreted as a simplistic plagiarism of Paul’s conversion-to- Christianity story in the book of Acts. Both the New and Old Testaments appropriate an ancient narrative genre called the prophetic commissioning story. Paul’s and Alma’s commissioning narratives hearken back to this literary genre, and to refer to either as pilfered is to misunderstand not just these individual narratives but the larger approach Hebraic writers used in composing biblical and Book of Mormon narrative. To the modern mind the similarity in stories triggers explanations involving plagiarism and theft from earlier …

Could Joseph Smith Have Drawn On Ancient Manuscripts When He Translated The Story Of Enoch?: Recent Updates On A Persistent Question, Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, Ryan Dahle

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

In this article, we offer a general critique of scholarship that has argued for Joseph Smith’s reliance on 1 Enoch or other ancient pseudepigrapha for the Enoch chapters in the Book of Moses. Our findings highlight the continued difficulties of scholars to sustain such arguments credibly. Following this general critique, we describe the current state of research relating to what Salvatore Cirillo took to be the strongest similarity between Joseph Smith’s chapters on Enoch and the Qumran Book of Giants — namely the resemblance between the name Mahawai in the Book of Giants and Mahujah/Mahijah in Joseph Smith’s Enoch account. …

Financially Constrained Mortgage Servicers, Darren Aiello

Faculty Publications

Financially constrained mortgage servicers destroyed substantial MBS investor value during the financial crisis through their management of delinquent mortgages. Servicers advance to investors monthly payments missed by borrowers. In order to minimize this obligation to extend financing to distressed borrowers, constrained servicers aggressively pursued foreclosures and modifications at the expense of investors, borrowers, and future mortgage performance. When agency frictions between the servicer and the investor are higher, the servicer’s financial constraints matter more. IV regressions suggest that, on average per defaulted loan, servicers’ financial constraints are responsible for 20% of the total investor value reduction during the financial crisis.

The Russian Sphinx: Contemplating Danilevsky’S Enigmatic Magnum Opus Russia And Europe, Vlad Alalykin-Izvekov

Comparative Civilizations Review

The relations between Russia and the West have never been particularly easygoing or unambiguous, and, presently, they are yet again at an all-time low. The way to better understand, as well as to successfully communicate and cooperate with another society is through learning about evolution (and revolutions) of their (as well as one’s own) history and culture. Are there any important sources in the Russian cultural heritage that could illuminate these ages-old problems, tendencies, and trends? The year 2021 marks 150 years since publication of Nikolay Danilevsky's book Russia and Europe (1871), while the next one, the year 2022, denotes …

Creating "Good Government", Linda Hoffman Kimball

BYU Studies

Creating an image that represents the quest for good government was a meaty challenge. There are so many opinions, so many priorities, so many personalities. How do power, choice, cooperation, force, fear, aspirations, and even geography impact how a society will structure itself and relate to others whose priorities vary?