Digital Commons Network^™

Ranking Accounting Journals By Topical Area And Methodology, John A. Barrick, Nathan W. Mecham, Scott L. Summers, David A. Wood

Faculty Publications

This paper presents rankings of accounting journals disaggregated by topical area (AIS, audit, financial, managerial, tax, and other) and methodology (analytical, archival, experimental, and other). We find that only for the financial topical area and archival methodology does the traditional top-3 characterization of the best journals accurately describe which journals publish the most-cited work. For all other areas, including AIS, audit, managerial, tax, and other topics, and all other methodologies, including experimental, analytical, and other methodologies the top- 3 characterization does not describe which journals publish the most cited work. For only analytical research does the traditional top-6 journal characterization …

Redmond (2002) Revisited: Have Standardized Behavioral Rating Scales Gotten Better At Accommodating For Overlapping Symptoms With Language Impairment?, Kirsten M. Russell, Sean M. Redmond, Amy Wilder

Faculty Publications

Seventeen years ago, Redmond reviewed five standardized behavioral rating scales and identified several aspects of their design that made them prone to mischaracterize language impairments as socioemotional behavioral disorders. The purpose of this report is to provide an update and extension of the original audit. We consulted test manuals to evaluate: (1) representation of children with language impairments in their standardization samples; (2) presence of language, or academic items within their inventories; (3) accommodations for administering the measure to children with language impairments; and (4) procedures for identifying inordinately punitive ratings. Overlapping language and academic symptoms continued to be a …

The Security Layer, Mark Thomas O'Neill

Theses and Dissertations

Transport Layer Security (TLS) is a vital component to the security ecosystem and the most popular security protocol used on the Internet today. Despite the strengths of the protocol, numerous vulnerabilities result from its improper use in practice. Some of these vulnerabilities arise from weaknesses in authentication, from the rigidity of the trusted authority system to the complexities of client certificates. Others result from the misuse of TLS by developers, who misuse complicated TLS libraries, improperly validate server certificates, employ outdated cipher suites, or deploy other features insecurely. To make matters worse, system administrators and users are powerless to fix …

Correlations Of The Elemental Compositions Of Primary Coal Tar And Char, Andrew P. Richards, Colson Johnson, Thomas H. Fletcher

Faculty Publications

Simulations of large-scale coal combustors rely on accurate submodels to describe the chemical and physical changes in coal during reaction. Typically, simplified empirical submodels are tuned to experimental data to reduce the computational complexity. When data are not readily available, simplifying assumptions are used, which can create inaccuracies and biases in a large simulation. One such simplifying assumption in coal research is how to describe the elemental composition of primary pyrolysis products. This paper explores several different empirical model forms to predict the dry, ash-free fractions of C, H, O, N, and S in both the char and tar, using …

Y2O3 Optical Constants Between 5 Nm And 50 Nm, Joseph B. Muhlestein, Benjamin D. Smith, Margaret Miles, Stephanie M. Thomas, Anthony Willey, David D. Allred, R. Steven Turley

Faculty Publications

We report optical constants of e-beam evaporated yttrium oxide Y₂O₃ thin films as determined from angle-dependent reflectance measurements at wavelengths from 5 to 50 nm. Samples were measured using synchrotron radiation at the Advanced Light Source. The experimental reflectance data were fit to obtain values for the index of refraction and thin film roughness. We compare our computed constants with those of previous researchers and those computed using the independent atom approximation from the CXRO website. We found that the index of refraction near 36 nm is much lower than previous data from Tomiki as reported by …

Building Bridges With Bach: Syntegration Of Music And Visual Art, Tara L. Carpenter, Brittany Nixon May

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Decade Of Disability Depictions In Newbery Award Books, H. Grow, Sharon Black, K. Egan, Tina Taylor, K. Moss, Rachel L. Wadham, Mary Anne Prater

Faculty Publications

Newbery awards are conferred annually on books recognized as having made the most distinguished contribution to children’s literature; these books reach a wide audience, and their depictions of characters with disabilities can influence children's perceptions and attitudes toward individuals with disabilities. Eight Newbery Medal and Honor books chosen from 2010 to 2019 were identified as portraying 11 main or supporting characters with a disability. Six disabilities were represented: emotional disturbance, deafness, specific learning disability, speech/language impairment, orthopedic impairment, and traumatic brain injury. Applying the Rating Scale for Quality Characterizations of Individuals with Disabilities in Children’s Literature, we found most of …

Disclosure Overload? A Professional User Perspective On The Usefulness Of General Purpose Financial Statements*, Michael S. Drake, Jeffrey Hales, Lynn Rees

Faculty Publications

We survey a broad group of professionals who use financial statements as part of their job to assess the extent to which they believe financial reports suffer from disclosure overload. Consistent with the claims made by regulators, auditors, and preparers, we find that a significant portion of professional financial statement users believe disclosure overload is a problem. However, this group is in the minority, with about twice as many professional users believing that overload is not a problem and that more information should be disclosed in financial statements. This dichotomy presents a difficult challenge to standard setters aiming to improve …

Redmond (2002) Revisited: Have Standardized Behavioral Rating Scales Gotten Better At Accommodating For Overlapping Symptoms With Language Impairment?, Kirsten M. Hannig, Sean M. Redmond, Amy Wilder

Faculty Publications

Seventeen years ago, Redmond ¹ reviewed five standardized behavioral rating scales and identified several aspects of their design that made them prone to mischaracterize language impairments as socioemotional behavioral disorders. The purpose of this report is to provide an update and extension of the original audit. We consulted test manuals to evaluate: (1) representation of children with language impairments in their standardization samples; (2) presence of language, or academic items within their inventories; (3) accommodations for administering the measure to children with language impairments; and (4) procedures for identifying inordinately punitive ratings. Overlapping language and academic symptoms continued to be …

Beyond Justice: Reading Alma 42 In The Context Of Atonement Theories, Mark D. Ellison

Faculty Publications

In Alma 42, Alma teaches his son Corianton about the atonement in a statement laden with legal vocabulary. Terms such as law, judged, just, justice, injustice, punishment, probationary, and penitent dominate the message, in company with such concepts as the execution of the law, the infliction of punishment, and punishment being affixed to violation of law. By all appearances, Alma sets forth what theologians call a juridical view of atonement (one concerned with the administration of justice). The problem as Alma states it is that “all mankind were fallen” and because of disobedience were “in the grasp of justice” and …

Fine-Grained Topic Models Using Anchor Words, Jeffrey A. Lund

Theses and Dissertations

Topic modeling is an effective tool for analyzing the thematic content of large collections of text. However, traditional probabilistic topic modeling is limited to a small number of topics (typically no more than hundreds). We introduce fine-grained topic models, which have large numbers of nuanced and specific topics. We demonstrate that fine-grained topic models enable use cases not currently possible with current topic modeling techniques, including an automatic cross-referencing task in which short passages of text are linked to other topically related passages. We do so by leveraging anchor methods, a recent class of topic model based on non-negative matrix …

Stem Superstar Women: Ada Lovelace, Pioneering Computer Programming, Erica Sonzogni

Children's Book and Media Review

When a person thinks of a scientist, they usually consider the men that dominate the field. In reality, there were many important women who made a strong contribution in this area. Ada Lovelace is one of those women. Ada’s life is chronicled from birth to death in this book. The text focuses on her many contributions to science and mathematics in a time when women were not supported in receiving an education. Ada’s mother encouraged this, her husband continued with the support, and Ada pursued her passion until her early death.

Melia And Jo, Samantha Bullock

Children's Book and Media Review

Melia spends most of her time inventing and experimenting in her backyard—until one day her makeshift STEM lab is turned upside down by her artsy, pirouetting new neighbor Jo. At first Melia isn’t sure what to think of this new girl who finds unorthodox uses for Melia’s half-completed inventions, but eventually she realizes that Jo’s artistic solutions are actually making the inventions better! The two girls work together to complete Melia’s inventions with Jo’s artistic sense, creating the ultimate STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics) team by combining their individual unique talents.

A World Of Her Own: 24 Amazing Women Explorers And Adventurers, Leah Christopher

Children's Book and Media Review

Join twenty-four women explorers and adventurers as they dive into the deep sea, summit Mt. Everest and other peaks, discover new plants and animals, cross the world in a yacht, explore the Amazon River, catch venomous snakes, save endangered species, and venture through forest canopies. These women are diverse, coming from various countries, ethnicities, family situations, age groups, time periods, and career fields. Although each woman’s path is different, they share a love for nature and discovery—and they all have to overcome others’ doubts about their abilities. These motivating accounts can transform readers’ thinking about the great potential women have …

Iggy Peck, Architect, Jazmin Gomez

Children's Book and Media Review

Iggy Peck has been an architect since age two. He's built a leaning tower of diapers and an arch made of pancakes and coconut pie. But when he gets to the second grade, his teacher bans anything to do with building and architecture. The school days drag by for deflated Iggy until the class goes out on a field trip. They cross over the river to get to a small island but end up stranded when the footbridge collapses. Iggy comes to the rescue as he draws up plans to build a new bridge. Everyone returns safely, and his teacher …

Edgar Allan Poe's Pie: Math Puzzlers In Classic Poems, Nicole Clark

Children's Book and Media Review

What do you get when you cross Walt Whitman with a spider whose web-spinning was disturbed by a wind which blew sixty percent of it away? Robert Frost with boxer shorts at ninety cents a pair? Shel Silverstein with a hippo-po-tah-tum eating you at four percent per bite? In Edgar Allan Poe’s Pie, children’s poet Laureate J. Patrick Lewis cleverly integrates math problems into new adaptations of classic poetry using the original rhyme and meter.

A Blackthorn Key Adventure: The Assassin's Curse, Tessa Mcmillan

Children's Book and Media Review

King Charles II invites Christopher and Tom to a party, where Christopher stumbles upon a poisoned guest and is attacked by an assassin. Acting quickly, Christopher and Tom save Charles and the king’s sister, Minette. Charles asks Christopher, Tom, and Sally to join Minette’s entourage to Paris so they can stop the assassins. Once in Paris, the three friends learn the origin of the curse on the French royal line. Christopher realizes the curse is being resurrected by a group of servants and nobles who want the Templar treasure for themselves. The mastermind servant over the assassination attempts flees, but …

A Hundred Billion Trillion Stars, Kristie Hinckley

Children's Book and Media Review

We live in a world filled with a hundred billion stars. Our planet is covered with lots of water and trees. This book tells you exactly how many in cardinal numbers. Including the number of seconds in a year and the number of rabbits in the world, the entire world is filled with crazy numbers that make it what it is today! This book acknowledges that by the time readers are finished reading this book, almost every number in it will have changed! Try to wrap your head around that (not literally)! The book starts zoomed out from earth, and …

Evaluating An Educational Cybersecurity Playable Case Study, Tanner West Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

The realities of cyberattacks have become more and more prevalent in the world today. Due to the growing number of these attacks, the need for highly trained individuals has also increased. Because of a shortage of qualified candidates for these positions, there is an increasing need for cybersecurity education within high schools and universities. In this thesis, I discuss the development and evaluation of Cybermatics, an educational simulation, or playable case study, designed to help students learn and develop skills within the cybersecurity discipline.

This playable case study was designed to allow students to gain an understanding of the field …

Collaborative Innovation In Global Teams: A Case Study Of The Startup Grind Inc. Global Community Team, Camey L. Andersen

Student Works

The Startup Grind Inc. Global Community Team was studied to show how creativity and innovation occur in a global virtual team. Innovation occurred by choosing team members who were committed to a creative team environment. Team creativity online was strengthened by providing opportunities for the global virtual team to meet in person. Alternative brainstorming methods outside the scheduled team meetings also added to the overall innovation of the team. Flexibility with the virtual office and meetings provided a platform for the team to think outside the box. Team members achieved a unity of ideas as they used innovation and creativity …

Designing Cybersecurity Competitions In The Cloud: A Framework And Feasibility Study, Chandler Ryan Newby

Theses and Dissertations

Cybersecurity is an ever-expanding field. In order to stay current, training, development, and constant learning are necessary. One of these training methods has historically been competitions. Cybersecurity competitions provide a method for competitors to experience firsthand cybersecurity concepts and situations. These experiences can help build interest in, and improve skills in, cybersecurity.

While there are diverse types of cybersecurity competitions, most are run with on-premise hardware, often centralized at a specific location, and are usually limited in scope by available hardware. This research focuses on the possibility of running cybersecurity competitions, specifically CCDC style competitions, in a public cloud environment. …

Nonlinear Optical Characterization Of Solids, Alex Farnsworth

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Vibrational Sum Frequency Generation (VSFG) and the similar Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) are both classified as nonlinear optical phenomena, with the hallmark trait being that the input and output frequencies are different. Both of these systems are remarkable tools due to their surface specific nature. Still, there is much that is not known about the response from these systems, especially the nonresonant SFG response. We have worked to better understand SFG signal, specifically the nonresonant temporal profile. We have also collected results that call into question some underlying assumptions about time-based suppression methods when working with single crystal substrates.

As …

User Attitudes About Duo Two-Factor Authentication At Byu, Jonathan Dutson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Simple password-based authentication provides insufficient protection against increasingly common incidents of online identity theft and data loss. Although two-factor authentication (2FA) provides users with increased protection against attackers, users have mixed feelings about the usability of 2FA. We surveyed the students, faculty, and staff of Brigham Young University (BYU) to measure user sentiment about DUO Security, the 2FA system adopted by BYU in 2017. We find that most users consider DUO to be annoying, and about half of those surveyed expressed a preference for authentication without using a second-factor. About half of all participants reported at least one instance of …

Discovery Of Paleotsunami Deposits Along Eastern Sunda Arc: Potential For Megathrust Earthquakes In Bali, Hanif Ibadurrahman Sulaeman

Theses and Dissertations

Several laterally extensive candidate tsunami deposits are preserved along coastlines facing the eastern Java Trench, indicating it has experienced mega-thrust earthquakes in the past. We investigated 37 coastal sites in Bali, Lombok, Sumba and Timor islands, many of which preserve course sand and pebble layers that overlie sharp basal contacts with scour marks into the mud, fine upward in grain size, and have bimodal grain size distributions. Other unique features are the common occurrence of marine fossils and concentrations of heavy minerals. The occurrence of these high-energy deposits interlayered with clay-rich units indicates the coarse clastics are anomalous because they …

Wall Shear Stress In Simplified And Scanned Avian Respiratory Airways, Michael Sterling Farnsworth

Theses and Dissertations

Birds uniquely produce sound through a vocal organ known as a syrinx. The presence of wall shear stress acting on the airway cells of any organism will affect how airway cells develop and multiply. Unique features of avian airway geometry and breathing pattern might have contributed to the development of the syrinx. This thesis examines wall shear stress in the trachea and first bronchi of avian geometries using computational fluid dynamics. The computational fluid dynamic simulations underwent grid- and time-independence studies and were validated using particle image velocimetry. Parameters such as bird size, bronchial branching angle, and breathing waveform were …

Security Analysis And Recommendations For Coniks As A Pki Solution For Mobile Apps, George Bradley Spendlove

Theses and Dissertations

Secure mobile apps, including end-to-end encrypted messaging apps such as Whats-App and Signal, are increasingly popular today. These apps require trust in a centralized key directory to automatically exchange the public keys used to secure user communication. This trust may be abused by malicious, subpoenaed, or compromised directories. A public key infrastructure (PKI) solution that requires less trust would increase the security of these commonly used apps.CONIKS is a recent PKI proposal that features transparent key directories which publish auditable digests of the public keys they present to queriers. By monitoring its key every time a new digest is published, …

An Analytical Model Of Material Deformation In Rotary Friction Welding Of Thin-Walled Tubes, Caleb James Brown

Theses and Dissertations

A new model of the material flow in rotary friction welding of tubes is proposed. The material flow proposed is based on 3D scans of welds performed with tungsten tracers. The tracers indicate a bifurcation of flow into two deformation paths. A different analysis is performed on each path.The material in Path 1 interacts with the weld interface and exhibits large amounts of azimuthal flow. Previous analytical investigations that have analytically modelled the weld interface as a non-Newtonian fluid are used to calculate the strain rate in this zone.The material in Path 2 transitions from axial to primarily radial flow. …

Cake Cam: Take Your Photo And Be In It Too, Candice Lynn Davis

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis we explore a different kind of computer-mediated collaboration (CMC) in which two people collaborate to perform a single task in a time-sensitive asymmetric situation wherein one person is more invested in the outcome than the other is. Our conjecture is that interactive computing can quickly communicate intent, which may help mediate time-sensitive asymmetric tasks between two people. We explore this idea specifically in the context of asking a stranger to take one's picture at a tourist site. Consider a tourist handing a cell phone to a complete stranger and asking the stranger to take the tourist's picture …

The Bird And The Fish: Motion Field-Based Frame Interpolation In The Context Of A Story, Thomas Sterling Ellsworth

Theses and Dissertations

Animating by hand can be a long and challenging process in part because of the necessity of drawing every frame by hand. 3D animation media minimize this problem with the use of automatically interpolated frames, but despite significant research no universally acceptable techniques have been demonstrated for 2 dimensional interpolation. In this paper we explore computer-assisted optimizations to the animation pipeline. Specifically, we utilize 3D motion fields to create more realistic in-between frames for sets of 2D ``key frames.'' We demonstrate our method by using it to create 2D special effects for a 30-second clip of an animated short film.

Internal Deformation Measurements And Optimization Of Synthetic Vocal Fold Models, Cassandra Jeanne Taylor

Theses and Dissertations

Developing lifelike vocal fold models is challenging due to various associatedbiomechanical complexities. Nevertheless, the development and analysis of improved vocal foldmodels is worthwhile since they are valuable tools for gaining insight into human vocal foldvibratory, aerodynamic, and acoustic response characteristics. This thesis seeks to contribute tothe development of computational and physical vocal fold modeling in two ways. First is byintroducing a method of obtaining internal deformation fields within vibrating synthetic vocal foldmodels; second is by presenting an optimization algorithm coupled with a computational vocalfold model to optimize geometry and stiffness of a synthetic vocal fold model to achieve morerealistic vibration …