Digital Commons Network^™

Traditional Investment Research And Social Networks: Evidence From Facebook Connections, Travis Dyer, Gerrit Köchling, Peter Limbach

Faculty Publications

We show that investors acquire more public information about firms to which they are more socially proximate. On average, a standard deviation increase in the Social Connectedness Index (Bailey et al., 2018) between a firm’s headquarter county and a searcher county is associated with 30% more EDGAR filing downloads from the searcher county. The effect of social proximity on traditional investment research is distinct from the effect of geographic proximity. We find similar results studying headquarter relocations, investor-level data, and EDGAR downloads from European regions, for which physical distance should be irrelevant. Social proximity matters more during times of high …

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 Naci Way: Connecting Native Groups And Teachers Through Culturally Responsive Instructional Design, Stephanie West, Heather Francis, Cally Flox, Brenda Beyal, Emily Soderborg, Jason K. Mcdonald

Faculty Publications

In 2018, the BYU ARTS Partnership Native American Curriculum Initiative (NACI) was developed in response to teacher questions regarding the teaching of Native topics. Despite increased movements towards reconciliation, Native groups continue to be marginalized in Westernized educational settings. Additionally, teachers lack clear guidelines regarding the respectful teaching of Native topics. Describing the challenges we, the NACI team members, faced in our six-year journey partnering with Native groups in Utah, we outline key instructional design decisions we made and identify the culturally responsive principles that guided those decisions. We also advocate for the application of culturally responsive principles and practices …

Where Do I Belong? : Creating An Inclusive Metadata Policy, Nicole Lewis, Karen Glenn, Jeremy Myntti, Sharolyn Swenson, Katie Yeo

Faculty Publications

Inclusiveness and honoring different cultures that reflect our patrons has been discussed in many different venues in the last few years. The staff of the Brigham Young University Library recognized the need for our metadata to demonstrate the commitment we have to honor others and to create a community of belonging. The staff also recognized that a policy would provide a roadmap for how to embark on fixing legacy metadata and how to move forward in creating metadata that reflects our core values in the library and at the university. This case study details how we developed an inclusive metadata …

An Integrated Model For Information Adoption & Trust In Mobile Social Commerce, Fulya Acikgoz, Abdelsalam Busalim, James Gaskin, Shahla Asadi

Faculty Publications

Despite the growing importance of mobile social commerce (ms-commerce), little research has been conducted on the effects of informational and social factors on users’ post-adoption behavior. We, therefore, build on the understanding of mobile social commerce in the UK market and how it affects users’ post-adoption behaviors. Our theoretical model leverages the information adoption model, social support theory, and social influence theory. Data was gathered from 377 ms-commerce users from the UK and analyzed via Partial Least Squares (PLS-SEM). The research findings show that both informational and social factors have a positive impact on information adoption in ms-commerce apps. Furthermore, …

Risk Perception, Cooperation, And Emotional Distress During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Exploring Adaptive Risk Perception, Haiping Liao, Rebecca L. Monk, James Gaskin, Jin-Liang Wang

Faculty Publications

During the COVID-19 pandemic, while risk perception may promote public cooperation with pandemic prevention, it may also increase emotional distress and thus endanger mental health. This study aimed to examine whether there is an adaptive risk perception pattern that fits both needs of pandemic control and mental health protection. Two waves of Chinese participants (N sample 1 = 1633, N sample 2 = 1899) completed the Scale of Pandemic Risk Perception, the Scale of Public Cooperation with Pandemic Prevention, the Epidemic Worry Scale, and the Positive and Negative Affective Schedule during Feb 3rd to 5th, and during Feb 18th to …

Intermittent Digital Fasting: The Mental Health Benefits Of A One-Hour Daily Social Media Hiatus, Austin Lahue, James Gaskin, Kennedy Daniel

Faculty Publications

In an era where social media ubiquity persists, concerns over its impact on mental health have escalated. This preliminary study investigates the effects of a one-hour daily social media hiatus on the mental wellbeing of 60 college students over two weeks. Unlike common interventions demanding prolonged abstinence, this research explores a more feasible, short-term avoidance approach. The experimental design, including treatment and control groups, illuminates the potential mental health benefits of brief, yet regular, digital disengagements. Preliminary results suggest that even minimal breaks from social media can yield significant improvements in users' mental health. Interestingly, these benefits come not from …

What I Think I Learned, Andrew S. Gibbons Iii

Faculty Publications

A retrospective review of fifty years of research and development experience showing the connectedness of the author’s theoretical ideas to practical application. An effort to show designers how over the span of a career new ideas begin as work-related insights and discoveries that by problem solving flow together to create a unique personal view of design and designing. Encouragement for individual designers to be willing to experiment with new ideas that may step beyond received practice and to learn from those experiences, even to the extent of testing and adopting new worldviews that may differ from the general view. Encouragement …

In Theory: Дезинформация, Sidney Eric Dement

Russian Language Journal

This essay explains the debates and theoretical insights of the emerging transdisciplinary field of Disinformation Studies as a potential set of tools for designing and implementing curricula that include new media or other discussions of propaganda and censorship in the Russian language classroom. I argue that the terminology elucidated in Disinformation Studies can provide both an engaging lesson in Russian language as well as a pedagogically strategic focus on concepts that can motivate students to continue the study of Russian language and Russia-related disciplines. Section 2 provides a summary overview of representative works in the field of Disinformation Studies that …

Building Social Media Literacy In The Russian Language Classroom, Kelly Knickmeier Cummings

Russian Language Journal

This article presents ways to teach media literacy (ML) skills in Russian language classrooms with particular focus on developing proficiencies to navigate social media (SM) where information disorder is a critical concern. Because of its numerous configurations and applications, SM is understood broadly as “the creation and exchange of user-generated content.” After outlining critical concerns surrounding SM use, the discussion focuses on three conditions that affect the development of ML skills when trying to engage meaningfully online: cognitive vulnerabilities, unreliable narrators, and populist rhetoric. Developing an awareness of how these three conditions on SM impact decision-making and behavior online equips …

Russian Authoritarian Discourse Of The 20th And 21st Centuries As A Subject Of Study In The University Classroom, Yulia Denisova

Russian Language Journal

The ability of students to recognize and interpret various forms of propagandist speech within the context of authoritarian discourse is crucial for effective information literacy education. This article emphasizes the need to introduce a specialized section within university courses on Russian cultural history for foreign students learning Russian. We propose naming this section “Russian Authoritarian Discourse: Features of Propaganda Language.” Focusing on the relationship between language and social structures and exploring the typology of linguistic situations shaped by social factors, the proposed section is grounded in a sociolinguistic approach. The article presents practical tools for analyzing real-life and immediately relevant …

Tracking Current Events In The Russian-Language Classroom, Cori Anderson, Daniel Brooks

Russian Language Journal

Given weaponized disinformation about recent US elections and the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, media literacy has become an essential part of a 21st-century liberal arts education, in line with the AAC&U’s Essential Learning Outcomes. By including news media in the language classroom, instructors can introduce students to the products and practices of the target culture and enhance their comprehension of Russian-language texts. We describe a current events blog project, appropriate at any level of instruction, with specific examples from second- and sixth-semester university-level Russian-language courses. Students follow current events in the Russian-speaking world on a topic of their choosing, …

Teaching Critical Media Literacy In An Advanced-Level Classroom Through The Eyes Of Journalism As A Profession, Alexandra Shapiro

Russian Language Journal

This paper presents an approach to promoting social media literacy in a Russian language class. The instruction was conducted within a university setting for Flagship students in their third year of Russian studies. The course focused on teaching professional Russian to students at the Intermediate Mid to Advanced levels. It is modular and covers several topics, including journalism, law, and human rights, among others. The overall aim of the course was to help students develop critical thinking skills, expose them to Russian language and culture, and enable them to stay informed about current events while discussing a wide range of …

Constructing A Course On Russian Media Analysis For Learners At Ilr 3+/4 Proficiency, Olga Mukhortova

Russian Language Journal

The proficiency movement of the 1980s and ‘90s in foreign language teaching and learning demonstrated that U. S. students can attain Intermediate-level proficiency by the end of a four-year post-secondary course of study. Language programs can now pay more attention to enabling students to reach the Advanced1 and Superior levels (ACTFL, 2012; Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR); Martin, 2020, p. 43). One can observe the particular demand for ILR 3/4 speakers from the U. S. government in the diversity of state-sponsored initiatives in foreign languages aiming for Superior-level (ILR 3/3+) and higher proficiency. Understandably, the need for speakers of Russian at …

Digital Dissidence: Russian Foreign Agents And The Media Of Opposition, Matthew Mangold

Russian Language Journal

Over the last ten years the Russian state has veered steadily toward authoritarianism, passing new socially repressive laws and harnessing television and radio to state propaganda and disinformation about Ukraine and the west. At the same time, platforms like Vimeo and Youtube have made uploading, sharing, and viewing digital content in high-quality formats more accessible to author-producers and viewers globally. These social changes have been followed by a movement of independent, fact-grounded digital storytelling built on documentary forms and deft investigative reporting that reveals the Russian state’s negligence, corruption, and efforts at social control. This article addresses the digital environment …

Book Review: Task-Based Instruction For Teaching Russian As A Foreign Language, Izolda Savenkova

Russian Language Journal

Svetlana V. Nuss' and Wendy Whitehead Martelle's (editors) Task-Based Instruction for Teaching Russian as a Foreign Language stands as an invaluable resource, offering task-based practices beneficial for both novice and experienced instructors of Russian as a second and foreign language. The contributing authors provide excellent examples of classroom activities supplemented with suggestions on how to design task-based syllabi. It is noteworthy that the team of authors is extraordinarily diverse, encompassing educators from various kinds of educational institutions and engaged in different language teaching formats. This work is of great interest not only to practical teachers, but also to researchers in …

Book Review: Любимые Советские Фильмы На Уроке Рки, Ekaterina Talalakina

Russian Language Journal

Любимые советские фильмы на уроке РКИ is the perfect example of the material for the linguo-cultural approach to language learning. The book is designed for Russian as foreign language students at the Advanced Low level of language proficiency and above. The book is built around the exploration of ten popular Soviet movies in the entertainment genre. Each movie is covered in a separate chapter, including the necessary language and culture-related details to promote language acquisition and facilitate comprehension of the cultural references.

Reducing Food Scarcity: The Benefits Of Urban Farming, S.A. Claudell, Emilio Mejia

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Urban farming can enhance the lives of communities and help reduce food scarcity. This paper presents a conceptual prototype of an efficient urban farming community that can be scaled for a single apartment building or an entire community across all global geoeconomics regions, including densely populated cities and rural, developing towns and communities. When deployed in coordination with smart crop choices, local farm support, and efficient transportation then the result isn’t just sustainability, but also increasing fresh produce accessibility, optimizing nutritional value, eliminating the use of ‘forever chemicals’, reducing transportation costs, and fostering global environmental benefits.

Imagine Doris, who is …

An Integrated Model For Teaching Information, Media, And Language Literacy, Maria Shardakova

Russian Language Journal

This paper explores the connection between the rise of critical approaches to teaching media in Russian language classrooms and the political events of the last decade, during which Russia has increasingly positioned itself as an adversary to the Western world. The Russian state’s systematic weaponization of its media, severe restrictions on freedom of speech, and suppression of independent voices have created an environment where propaganda permeates all forms of social and public expression. This saturation has led information consumers to dismiss media content as manipulation, sometimes overlooking voices of resistance. As a result, it is crucial to equip students with …

Students As Co-Creators Of A Russian Media Literacy Course, Katya Jordan, Jennifer Bown

Russian Language Journal

This paper reports on a 4th-year Russian course designed around information, media and technology literacy and focused on developing Advanced-level proficiency. The goals of this course include development of 21st century skills, with an emphasis on information and media literacy. This inquiry-based course follows the core principles of Open Architecture Curricular Design (Leaver & Campbell, 2015), including the use of a theme-based syllabus designed around authentic texts and learner involvement in the selection and delivery of content. The course focuses on current events and uses current authentic materials available through Russian-language news outlets. Students act as co-creators as they select …

Teaching Media Literacy Through Task-Based Instruction, Snezhana Zheltoukhova

Russian Language Journal

This article explores ways to apply the TBLT approach to teaching media literacy as part of an L2 Russian bridge course module. The primary goal of a bridge course is to equip students with the learning skills and tools needed to navigate various online resources, facilitating the transition from language-based instruction to content-based upper-level courses. The TBLT method aligns well with the dual objectives of teaching media literacy while simultaneously improving target language proficiency. In this article, I discuss a set of tasks designed to help students navigate Russian-language media and recognize various propaganda techniques. Additionally, I address some pedagogical …

Critical Language Pedagogy In The Classroom: The Tv Talk Show '60 Minutes' As A 'Lesson' On Russian Propaganda, Eva Binder, Magdalena Kaltseis

Russian Language Journal

This article examines the TV talk show 60 Minutes—one of the main pillars of Russian television propaganda. Since its launch in 2016 on Russia-1, the show has placed the defamation of Ukraine and the promotion of anti-Western, conservative values as Russia’s proclaimed national and international mission at the top of its agenda. Consequently, this talk show is of particular interest for studying and analyzing political propaganda in contemporary Russian mass media. In this article, we focus on a short segment from a 2020 broadcast of 60 Minutes titled “The Limits of Tolerance” and propose ways to integrate it into …

Book Review: Teaching Languages With Screen Media: Pedagogical Reflections, Michael Lavery

Russian Language Journal

Herrero and Suarez’s edited volume Teaching Languages with Screen Media explores a range of innovative approaches to incorporating screen media in foreign language instruction. Although none of the authors’ contributions discuss teaching Russian as a foreign language, the book offers a broad theoretical overview of screen studies as well as case studies drawing from diverse contexts (teaching Spanish, French, and English in secondary and university-level education) that can inform the teaching of any modern foreign language.

Book Review: Authenticity Across Languages And Cultures: Themes Of Identity In Foreign Language Teaching And Learning, Aselle Almuratova

Russian Language Journal

The word “authenticity” and its derivatives have become almost a catch-all in language pedagogy. While language teachers strive to use authentic materials in their teaching and attempt to prepare students for authentic communicative situations, few teachers of Russian are aware of the connection between personal and cultural authenticity, as the term itself is not clearly defined in the field of Russian as a Foreign Language (RFL) and is often seen as self-explanatory. The authors of the current volume explore the conceptualization of the word “authenticity” in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) more broadly, bringing together authors from different languages; however, this …

Teaching Media Literacy Through Narrative In An Advanced Russian Listening Course, Karen Evans-Romaine

Russian Language Journal

Teaching information and media literacy has become more important than ever before. This article will describe how students of Russian at the Intermediate High through Advanced levels acquire information and media literacy through narratives in a course focused on development of listening and speaking skills through the Advanced proficiency spectrum. The course, designed for undergraduate students from a variety of majors in a Russian Flagship program and for graduate students from various disciplines, enables students to develop listening comprehension and speaking skills at the Advanced level through narratives. In addition, the course teaches students how to analyze and formulate arguments, …

Book Review: Colloquial Russian: The Complete Course For Beginners, Liz Ewaskio

Russian Language Journal

Colloquial Russian: The Complete Course for Beginners, now in its fifth edition, has been updated to reflect the diversity of the Russophone world, including modernized language, as well as new characters (whose storylines run through the textbook) “to highlight the diversity of speakers of Russian, both within Russia and beyond” (p. xi). Part of Routledge’s Colloquial Series, this traditional textbook is intended for adult learners and students working on their own or with an instructor. Colloquial Russian is designed to bring students up to the GCSE level (the British equivalent of the American GED) and includes advanced-level grammar, such …

Rlj Volume 73, Number 2 Special Issue

Russian Language Journal

No abstract provided.

Merits Of Audio-Recording, Yoshihiko Ariizumi

Learning, Teaching, & Researching Optimization

This article may open your eyes for the great potential to utilize your dead time.

Inference Methods For Token-Level Topic Assignments With Fixed Topics, Stephen Cowley

Theses and Dissertations

Topic modeling, an unsupervised technique used to gain high-level understanding of a large collection of documents, often involves two major goals: The discovery of topics used in the corpus (topic-discovery) and the assignment of topics to individual words (token-level topic assignment). While Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) normally performs both of these steps simultaneously, some situations require only the token-level topic assignments, using fixed topics. We evaluate three topic assignment strategies using fixed topics -- Gibbs sampling, iterated conditional modes, and mean field variational inference -- to determine which should be used when only token-level topic assignment is needed. Among these …

The Fineview Dataset: A 3d Scanned Multi-View Object Dataset Of Fine-Grained Category Instances, Suguru Onda

Theses and Dissertations

In the past decade state-of-the-art deep learning models have shown impressive performance in many computer vision tasks by learning from large and diverse image datasets. Most of these datasets consist of web-scraped image collections. This approach, however, makes it very challenging to obtain desirable data such as multiple views of the same object, 3D geometric information, or camera parameters for a large-scale image dataset. In this paper, we propose a 3D-scanned multi-view 2D image dataset of fine-grained category instances with accurate camera calibration parameters. We describe our bi-directional, multi-camera and 3D scanning system and the data collection pipeline. Our target …