Digital Commons Network^™

Females With Autism Traits: A Retrospective Look At Developmental Trajectories, Greer Caroline Willman Finster

Theses and Dissertations

It is becoming more apparent in recent years that many females with autism spectrum disorder (autism) have not been identified, sometimes until adulthood. Most of what is known about early signs of autism is based on predominantly male symptomatic presentations or data gathered from females with autism who are severely affected by autism and co-morbid conditions such as intellectual developmental disorder. One of the issues contributing to the under diagnosis of females is that the presentation of symptoms or traits and developmental histories of females with autism may not be the same as those of males. There is a gap …

Needs Assessment Of Services Provided In A Rural School District For Students With Autism, Danielle Anne Katterman

Theses and Dissertations

The number of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (autism) has steadily increased dramatically over the past generation, and more students with autism than ever before are enrolled in the public education system. Educating students with autism presents unique challenges (e.g., shortage of staff, low incidence of autism, limited programming) to rural school districts. Rural districts must adhere to the same federal and state guidelines (e.g., Individuals with Disabilities Education Act & Free and Appropriate Public Education) as urban districts that have more readily available resources in providing appropriate programming. This study examined stakeholders' perceptions of the current services offered …

The Impacts Of Local Schools On Experience Of Community, Ciera M. Galbraith

Theses and Dissertations

This study expands upon the research regarding the role of schools in the local community to include how they impact experience of community. Current literature and school-related legislation focus on schools as facilities for education and socialization; little research has been done to look at how schools may influence how individuals experience community. To look at the possibility of this relationship, this study uses the 2017 Rural Utah Community Study to examine how residents view local education, schools, and degrees in addition to their experience of community through community attachment, community satisfaction, and community desirability. I find that residents' views …

Full Issue - Nonprofit Resources

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Learn more about nonprofit resources and what's available. Did you know? There are 10 million nonprofits and charities working around the world.

The majority of US based nonprofit make under $1 million a year, with the most of these nonprofits being small, making under $50,000 a year. As these nonprofits work to solve community and global issues, they struggle with limited resources and funding. There is a great need to provide these nonprofits tools and resources to help in their efforts.

A research study from 2020 shows that when nonprofits work together, outcomes are improved (Holzer, 2020). There is a …

How Scholars Are Using Social Media To Support Their Scholarship, Olga Maria Belikov

Theses and Dissertations

This article-format dissertation focuses on how scholars use social media to support their scholarship. The first article is a scoping literature review that outlines current research. While overviewing an emergent field of literature, the article highlights motivations for using social media use, discusses benefits and drawbacks of this use for scholarship, explains how this discourse has evolved over time, and shares implications of what further topics can be investigated as well as implications for post-secondary institutions and scholars integrating social media use into their professional roles. In article two, I built a classifier and used it to analyze the Twitter …

Online Sexual Mindfulness Intervention For Black And Interracial Couples: A Pilot Study, Jenna M. Lawlor

Theses and Dissertations

Sexual mindfulness has been shown to improve couple's relationship and sexual satisfaction. Mindfulness research has mostly been conducted with White participants, largely leaving out the perspectives of diverse participants. This study piloted an online culturally-adapted version of the Sexual Mindfulness Project with Black and interracial couples (N=26 heterosexual individuals in a committed relationship from three different continents; age range 23€“44) to understand the program's acceptability and impacts. Qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys showed that couples enjoyed the program and experienced positive relational and sexual impacts post-intervention, including improved relationship satisfaction, sexual satisfaction, communication, and sexual mindfulness. Implications to improve the …

Exploring The Perceptions Of School Teams Implementing Multi-Tiered Systems Of Support, Saanya Rajesh Lulla

Theses and Dissertations

Many schools are transitioning towards a preventative approach to meet the needs of at-risk learners with academic and/or behavioral concerns through the Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) framework. This qualitative study explored the perceptions of the impacting factors for MTSS and the needs of building leadership teams through semi-structured interviews using a video conferencing-based online platform. Participants included 15 building administrators from school districts in a mountain west state of the United States. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed through thematic analysis. A total of four themes or impacting factors were identified. First, participants reported that MTSS relies on the district's …

Tensions And Pitfalls In The Depiction Of Multiracial Characters In Children's Picture Books: A Critical Content Analysis, Melody Green

Theses and Dissertations

The United States is becoming more and more multiracial, but little research attends to multiracial characters in children’s picture books. This research employed a critical content analysis using the lens of critical race theory to examine eight children’s picture books published after 2000. This study sought to answer two questions. First, using a critical race theory lens, what patterns and tensions emerge in the depictions of multiracial characters in children’s picture books? Secondly, how do the depictions of multiracial characters in children’s picture books perpetuate deconstructed conceptualizations of multiracial identity? Common themes that presented themselves in this study were (a) …

Being "Rightly Known": Otherness And The Ethics Of Reading In Charlotte Brontë'S Villette, Tin Yan Grace Lee

Theses and Dissertations

Villette (1853), Charlotte Brontë's last novel, is famously riddled with ambiguity: its narrator-protagonist, Lucy Snowe, avoids disclosing details about her childhood, fails to reveal to readers the identity of characters she recognizes from her past, and, at the end of the novel, refuses to confirm if her love interest, M. Paul, has died at sea after a storm. Believing Lucy's ambiguous narrative style to be a tool she uses to train readers to better understand her, many critics have focused their efforts on trying to interpret Lucy's silences and evasions "correctly," thereby turning themselves into Lucy's or Brontë's "ideal" authorial …

An Exploratory Study Of Behavioral Engagement In People With And Without Aphasia: Comparisons And Relationships, Vivian Elisabeth Ward

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research suggests that attentional deficits could be the underlying cause of language impairments in people with aphasia (PWA) and that behavioral engagement ratings can be an accurate way to measure attention to specific tasks. Previous research also suggests that PWA have lower levels of behavioral engagement than neurologically healthy adults. Participants in the present study included 9 PWA and 18 neurologically healthy adults. This was an exploratory study investigating the relationships and differences between behavioral engagement and physiological measures, perceived arousal, and naming accuracy and response time in PWA and neurologically healthy adults. Participants completed a confrontational naming task …

The Behavioral And Neurophysiologic Relationships Between Sensory Processing And Autistic Traits In Emerging Adults, Savanah Calton

Theses and Dissertations

The majority of individuals diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) experience sensory processing difficulties that are also associated with greater presence of autistic traits, psychiatric difficulty, and intolerance of uncertainty (IU). These relationships are also expressed in the neurotypical (NT) population, termed the Broader Autism Phenotype (BAP), and present with impacts to daily functioning/well-being just as prominently. However, little is known concerning the neurophysiologic nature of these behavioral relationships, especially in young adults. Thus, the purpose of the current study was to examine the behavioral and neurophysiologic nature of the relationships between sensory processing, autistic traits, and related behavioral functions …

The Effects Of Relatedness Support On Motivational Profiles In Rural Vs. Urban Physical Education Students, Corbin D. Stringam

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which relatedness support affects motivational profiles in rural vs. urban physical education (PE) students. Participants included rural (n=177) and urban (n=431) junior high/high school students (grades 5-12) from Alberta, a western province in Canada (n=508), and Utah, a state in the intermountain west of the USA (n=100). This cross-sectional study measured and assessed students’ basic psychological needs of student-to-student relatedness, student-to-teacher relatedness, competence, and autonomy using a revised version of the Basic Psychological Needs Scale (BPNS-R). Situational motivation was measured and assessed using the Situational Intrinsic Motivation Scale – …

Examining The Preliminary Validity Of A Dynamic Assessment Of Narrative Language In Mandarin Chinese, Lok Yee Sarah Cheung

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis was to examine the preliminary validity of a newly developed dynamic assessment of narrative language in Mandarin Chinese. Two studies are reported in this thesis. Study 1 included 31 second grade participants and Study 2 included 43 first grade participants. All participants were enrolled in a Chinese immersion program in an elementary school in Utah. A dynamic assessment of narrative language was administered to each participant in Mandarin Chinese. A teacher rating was also included in Study 1. Results indicated that the dynamic assessment investigated in this thesis demonstrated some similar characteristics with other valid …

Women's Response To Spousal Pornography Use: A Grounded Theory, Misha Duncan Crawford

Theses and Dissertations

Empirical research suggests that married women may more commonly experience spousal pornography use as a relational attachment threat and are more likely to experience negatively associated relational outcomes such as distress and loss of trust. The purpose of this study was to develop a grounded theory of women’s response to concealed spousal pornography use. This study included the experiences of 30 women who reported spousal pornography use as a threat to relational attachment and demonstrated evidence of individual and relational healing thereafter. The research question, “How do women describe the experience of learning of their spouse’s pornography use and the …

Improving Transition Care: A Transition Toolkit Implementation Project, Julieanne Cox, Bret Lyman, Matt Anderson, Marie Prothero

Student Works

The purpose of this project was to develop an easy-to-use transition toolkit for clinics serving children and young adults with chronic illnesses who are transitioning from a pediatric model of care to an adult model of care. GotTransition’s six core elements served as a guiding framework for the toolkit. The toolkit was developed through an iterative process with substantial stakeholder input. Stakeholders included patient, parents, clinicians, and transition care experts. Project evaluation data were gathered from clinic stakeholders using a quantitative post-then survey based on GotTransition’s six core elements of transition care, as well as three open-ended questions. All six …

Amino Acids As Alternatives To Emulsifying Salts In Processed Cheese Analogues, Jeremy Thomas Pack

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Manufacturers have used emulsifying salts universally in the processed cheese industry since James L. Kraft patented the first processed cheese in 1916. My objective was to find alternative ingredients to replace emulsifying salts in processed cheese formulations; the product would follow "clean-labeling" trends and lower the final formulation's sodium content. Materials and Methods: My experiments followed conventional processed cheese formulations to create experimental batches, which were compared to positive and negative controls for significance. Textural, rheological, and melting tests evaluated objective cheese parameters. We observed subjective sensory properties through qualitative descriptive analysis, consumer acceptance panels, and focus groups. Results: …

Progress On Static Structures In Leaky Mode Waveguides, Manusha Korimi

Theses and Dissertations

Virtual reality (VR) head-mounted displays provide a high definition, immersive experi-ence to the viewer. However, most existing technologies have flaws like bulky design and vergence-accommodation conflict that may cause stress in the neck muscles, posture issues, nausea, motion sickness and dizziness. Similarly, augmented reality (AR) displays, which use transparent light modulators, exist, but they possess low field of view and a limited number of discrete depth planes when wide field of view and continuous depth would be ideal. The ultimate goal of my research is use leaky mode waveguide devices to create wide-view angle, transparent near eye holographic displays for …

Examining Limbic Sexual Dimorphisms In Schizophrenia, Kennedy S. Madrid

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that affects a significant number of individuals in the United States and can have numerous different symptoms. Recently, interest in the differences between the neuroanatomy of individuals with schizophrenia and individuals without schizophrenia has emerged, specifically the sexual dimorphism in individuals with schizophrenia. This study aimed to gain a better understanding of the sexual dimorphisms of two structures in the limbic system: the hippocampus and amygdala. Data was harmonized and analyzed from two datasets to determine the sexual dimorphic factor of these structures in healthy controls and individuals with schizophrenia. Demographic features were also taken …

Peer Counseling As A Possible Solution: Students Helping Students Move Toward Mental Health, Katherine Leonard

Undergraduate Honors Theses

College students experience a variety of stressors that make school difficult (Zhai & Du 2020). While BYU has many good resources for students, students sometimes face difficulties in finding help when they are struggling with mental and emotional difficulties, due to the system being overburdened. The researchers explored peer counseling as a possible solution to getting students the help they need. The researchers administered a questionnaire to a sample of 254 BYU students through an online survey. The questionnaire was adapted from a measure used in a previous study also conducted at BYU (Gibbons et al., 2019). The survey included …

The Dna Methylation Landscape Of Five Pediatric-Tumor Types, Alyssa C. Parker, Badí I. Quinteros, Stephen Piccolo

Faculty Publications

Fewer DNA mutations have been identified in pediatric tumors than in adult tumors, suggesting that alternative tumorigenic mechanisms, including aberrant DNA methylation, may play a prominent role. In one epigenetic process of regulating gene expression, methyl groups are attached at the 5-carbon of the cytosine ring, leading to 5-methylcytosine (5mC). In somatic cells, 5mC occurs mostly in CpG islands, which are often within promoter regions. In Wilms tumors and acute myeloid leukemias, increased levels of epigenetic silencing have been associated with worse patient outcomes. However, to date, researchers have studied methylation primarily in adult tumors and for specific genes—but not …

Isothermal Inactivation Studies Of Listeria Monocytogenes, Salmonella, And Enterococcus Faecium Nrrl B-2354 In Almond, Peanut, And Sunflower Butters, Ruo Fen Liao

Theses and Dissertations

Vegetative, non-sporeforming foodborne pathogens show notable survival and uncanny thermotolerance in low water activity (aw) foods. Controlled studies on Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., and Enterococcus faecium NRRL B-2354 (a Salmonella surrogate) in a variety of food matrices support thermal process validation studies required to achieve global food safety objectives. In this study, we determined and compared thermal inactivation rates using independent six-strain cocktails of pathogens in three plant-based butters. Direct determinations of decimal reduction times (D-values) for L. monocytogenes, Salmonella, and E. faecium, in corresponding butters were inoculated using peanut oil, almond oil, or sunflower oil. Thermal Death Time (TDT) …

Divine Intervention? The Association Between Spirituality And Eating Disorder Recovery, Haley Graver

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The extant literature on the association between religiosity/spirituality and eating disorder symptomatology presents mixed findings. Some evidence suggests that spirituality is a protective factor and aids in eating disorder recovery, while other findings indicate that it is hurtful. Yet, many eating disorder treatment facilities have begun addressing spirituality as part of treatment. The current study investigates the role of spirituality in eating disorder recovery by tracking the association between changes in spiritual distress and reduction in eating disorder symptomatology in 234 patients over the course of five weeks. The results suggest that those who decrease or maintain their spiritual distress …

Factors In Word-Final /T/ Reduction And Deletion In German, Kellie C. Busath

Theses and Dissertations

Sound reduction and deletion have been studied across many languages for some time. Usage-based approaches suggest that the more often a word is used, the more likely it is that some of the sounds are reduced. Phonetic environment, stress, and speech rate have all been studied as reasons for sound reduction or deletion. Most recently, frequency in reducing context (FRC) has been included when studying sound reduction and deletion. FRC in this thesis measures the portion of word tokens of a given word type that are followed by a reducing context. This thesis focuses on word-final /t/ reduction and deletion …

Autoignition Temperatures Of Pure Compounds: Data Evaluation, Experimental Determination, And Improved Prediction, Mark Edward Redd

Theses and Dissertations

The Design Institute for Physical Properties (DIPPR) maintains the DIPPR 801 database for the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. Autoignition temperature (AIT) is one of the properties included in the database and is the focus of this work including improvement of the overall state of AIT in the database. Phenomena related to AIT as well as the relevant literature are reviewed. Likewise, the database is presented to respond to significant misuse of the DIPPR 801 database in the literature. The database is evaluated, respecting AIT, as a whole to show where improvement is needed. An experimental study of minimum autoignition …

Synthesis Of Yaku’Amide A Analogues And Impact Of Dehydroamino Acids On The Structure And Stability Of Incipient 310 Helical Peptides, Daniel Joaquin

Theses and Dissertations

The first project in this dissertation describes the total synthesis of yaku’amide A analogues. Natural product yaku’amide A possesses potent anticancer activity and exhibits a novel mode of action. However, due to its complex asymmetrical isoleucine dehydroamino acids, the synthesis of this polypeptide poses a unique challenge. Despite the efficient synthesis developed in our lab, the total synthesis of this natural product remains lengthy. In order to simplify the overall synthesis, symmetrical dehydroamino acids were incorporated to replace the dehydroisoleucine residues yielding two analogues of yaku’amide A that closely resembles the conformation of the natural product. Biological testing of the …

Relative Influence Of Precipitation And Grazing On A Salt Desert Shrub Plant Community, Clint A. Stonecipher, Eric Thacker, Michael H. Ralphs

Western North American Naturalist

Long-term vegetation monitoring is essential to understanding plant responses to both climate and grazing. The objective of this study was to monitor the long-term effects of precipitation on vegetation changes within a salt desert shrub plant community and determine whether grazing by livestock altered the vegetation during this time. The study was located within the Colorado Plateau in southern Utah. Two sites were selected. One exclosure was constructed at each site, and foliar cover was measured inside and outside the exclosure to separate the effect of grazing from precipitation on vegetation change over a 30-year period. Shrubs were the dominant …

Effects Of An External Oscillation Device On Phonation Threshold Pressure (Ptp), Brittany Tiffany Jones

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of external laryngeal vibration on voice function. The current study was based on a recent pilot study using silicone vocal folds that demonstrated a decrease in phonation threshold pressure (PTP; cmH2O) when an external oscillation was applied to the vocal folds. Using a within-subjects experimental design, a custom external oscillatory device was fitted to the posterior portion of 12 excised pig larynges using a traditional benchtop phonation setup. For each larynx, phonation was elicited during 30 repeated trials, including 15 with and 15 without external oscillation. During the phonation …

District Leaders' Perception Of Multi-Tiered System Of Supports Implementation: A Qualitative Study, Julia E. Facer

Theses and Dissertations

Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) is a model that can be implemented in school buildings with the support of school district leaders. However, the voices of district leaders involved in MTSS implementation are limited in the research. This study sought to investigate what district leaders perceived as impacting factors towards MTSS implementation and draw conclusions about impacting factors from their opinions. Ten district leaders in a mountain west state of the United States were interviewed via Zoom and had their transcripts analyzed for impacting factors using a form of thematic analysis. All participants were involved with MTSS at their district …

Monitoring Whitebark Pine Stand Health In The Central Washington Cascades, Nancy H. Parra, Teresa J. Lorenz, Taza D. Schaming, Alison Scoville

Western North American Naturalist

Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) plays a vital role in colonizing newly disturbed areas, providing shade for other tree species to germinate, and supplying food for a variety of birds and mammals, such as Clark’s Nutcrackers (Nucifraga columbiana) and grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis). Decline of whitebark pine populations has been attributed to several factors, including white pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola), mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) outbreaks, and fire exclusion. In 2009, the U.S. Forest Service began to install permanent plots in whitebark pine stands in Washington and Oregon as …

Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (Pots): A Frequently Missed Diagnosis, Aubrey R. George, Blaine A. Winters

Student Works

Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) is a debilitating chronic illness that involves a sustained tachycardia upon standing and affects millions of patients in the United States alone. POTS is most commonly seen in adolescent females and substantially reduces overall quality of life. In 2019, less than a third of all providers had heard of POTS and patients may wait over a decade for a proper diagnosis and treatment. With the intermittent and variable nature of symptoms, 83% of patients reported being misdiagnosed with a psychological condition before receiving a diagnosis of POTS. Understanding the relationship between autonomic compensation and hemodynamic …