Digital Commons Network^™

Royal Skousen’S Book Of Mormon Critical Text Project, Roger Terry

BYU Studies

Between 1984 and 1986, the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS) published a critical text of the Book of Mormon. While this early publication was useful in certain ways, it was also woefully inadequate. It was, for instance, based on a computerized text of the 1830 printed edition of the Book of Mormon rather than on the remnants of the two handwritten manuscripts.1 Recognizing its inadequacies, Brigham Young University linguistics professor Royal Skousen began in 1988 what would become a thirty-seven- year endeavor and his life’s work: a fully professional critical text of the Book of Mormon.2

Review: Latter-Day Saint Theology Among Christian Theologies By Grant Underwood William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2025, John G. Turner

BYU Studies

Grant Underwood’s Latter-day Saint Theology Among Christian Theologies is a project born out of hope. Underwood, a former Richard L. Evans Chair of Religious Understanding at Brigham Young University, has spent years in dialogue with other Christians. In particular, he was part of a “Mormon-Evangelical Dialogue” that met at least once a year for more than two decades. (Full disclosure: I attended two sessions.) Underwood didn’t only talk with other Christians. He read their theology—a lot of their theology.

Existing Personal Leadership Prototypes Versus Organizational Leadership Prototypes: How Individuals Manage Tensions Between Leading With Authenticity And Conformity During Their Socialization As Leaders In Organizations, Benjamin M. Galvin, Jeffrey S. Bednar, Archie Bates

Faculty Publications

Based on qualitative data collected at the United States Military Academy (West Point), this research enhances our understanding of how individuals manage tensions between leading with authenticity and organizational pressures for conformity, resulting from a lack of alignment between their existing personal leadership prototypes and organizational prototypes of leadership. Our theoretical model moves beyond existing research on leader identity construction− which largely treats individuals as blank slates as they construct who they will be as leaders in organizations− by highlighting how individuals learn to enact a leadership approach during socialization that fits within their personal zone of acceptable authenticity and …

Creating And Implementing An Inclusive Metadata Policy, Nicole Lewis, Jeremy Myntti

Faculty Publications

The BYU Library developed an Inclusive Metadata Policy for metadata creators to use when creating and remediating descriptions to be more inclusive. Accompanying the policy is a companion document with recommendations and examples, including links to many external resources. In addition to working with stakeholders in the library to develop the policy, we consulted with the University’s Office of Belonging. This presentation will describe the process we used to create the library policy and recommendations document and share information about how the policy has been implemented.

Categorical Perception Of The Index Finger As An American Sign Language Phonological Construct, Lareina Hingson, Jeffrey Jack Green, Brooklyn Lorenc

Faculty Publications

In American Sign Language, specific handshapes found in the manual alphabet and/or numbering system (such as the pointed index finger—the number “1”—and its bent counterpart—the letter “x”) are assumed to be phonologically distinct under the rationale that bentness of the finger(s) constitutes a phonemic distinctive feature. This study investigates this notion, building on previous behavioral studies of American Sign Language categorical perception of bentness of the index finger. We examined varying levels of bentness between 180◦ and 90◦ using a scale ranging from the signs BLACK and SUMMER in the standard dialect. Experiment 1 found that when presented with all …

Testing The Effect Of Speaker Diarization And Speech Separation On Vowel Formant Estimates, Joseph A. Stanley, Lisa Morgan Johnson, Earl Kjar Brown

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Customer Service Operations: A Gatekeeper Framework, Maqbool Dada, Brett A. Hathaway, Evgeny Kagan

Faculty Publications

Customer service has evolved beyond in-person visits and phone calls to include live chat, AI chatbots and social media, among other contact options. Service providers typically refer to these contact modalities as “channels”. Within each channel, customer service agents are tasked with managing and resolving a stream of inbound service requests. Each request involves milestones where the agent must decide whether to keep assisting the customer or to transfer them to a more skilled – and often costlier – provider. To understand how this request resolution process should be managed, we develop a model in which each channel is represented …

Business Communication And Editing Students’ Evaluations Of Written Error: An Eye-Tracking Study, Matt Baker, Grant Eck, Ana Barraza, Benjamin Duffield

Faculty Publications

Using eye-tracking and interview methods, this study investigates how business communication students and editing students attend to and evaluate writing. Participants reviewed blog posts embedded with errors and judged publication readiness. While both groups visually fixated longer on errors than non-errors, business communication students were more likely to approve error-containing texts for publication. Qualitative data revealed that business communication students prioritized content while editing students prioritized surface-level issues. These findings suggest that disciplinary background informs evaluative standards, even when error-detection behavior is similar. The results carry implications for instruction in business writing and editing, especially concerning collaborative, cross-disciplinary workplace writing.

Individual, Family, Peer, And Religious Community Predictors Of Adolescent Religious Deidentification, Sam A. Hardy, Russ Amelang, Michael Goodman

Faculty Publications

This study examined individual, family, and peer religiosity, and religious community supportiveness as predictors of adolescent religious deidentification. The longitudinal study involved two waves of data, two years apart, from U.S. families (1,021 families; religious adolescents from 11–17 years of age), with measures of dimensions of religiosity at Time 1 and changes in religious identification from Time 1 to Time 2. Within each domain, at least one dimension of religiosity at Time 1 predicted religious deidentification at Time 2. Specifically, youth higher in individual, family, and peer religiosity, and religious community supportiveness, were less likely to leave religion. These relations …

Timing Is Everything: Congruence, Controllability, And Performance Measure Weighting, Hayden T. Gunnell, Gary Hecht, William B. Tayler, Kristy L. Towry

Faculty Publications

We investigate whether the weights managers place on performance measures for performancebased compensation depend on whether weights are determined at the beginning or end of the performance period. We propose that managers frame the weighting decision differently depending on timing. Specifically, prior to employee effort, managers frame the decision as intended to align employee effort to firm objectives, whereas after employees have exerted effort, managers frame the weighting decision as intended to evaluate employee effort. Thus, we expect, and find, that managers weight measures that are more congruent with firm objectives more heavily when weightings are determined ex ante (before …

Signaling Innovation: The Nontax Benefits Of Claiming R&D Tax Credits, Bradford F. Hepfer, Hannah W. Judd, Sarah C. Rice

Faculty Publications

Using the IPO setting, we test whether firms signal the quality of their investments in innovation activities by claiming R&D tax credits. We find the presence and amount of the R&D credit are each associated with lower information asymmetry and with higher investor demand at IPO. Conservatively, we estimate that sample firms realize additional IPO proceeds of 32–45 percent of their creditable R&D expenditures, indicating economically significant non-tax benefits associated with the R&D credit. We verify the R&D credit signal by showing its positive association with firms’ future patenting activity, patent citations, and post-IPO stock returns. Results from these tests …

The Signaling Value Of Input Information: Performance Effects Of Task Difficulty And Effort Sensitivity, Steven D. Smith, William B. Tayler, Tyler F. Thomas, Todd A. Thornock

Faculty Publications

We investigate how the reporting of input information to managers affects employee performance, and how the signaling value of inputs for impression management moderates this effect. We develop theory to predict that the information content of input information (incremental to output measures), and thus its potential for impression management, will depend separately on both the difficulty of the task and the sensitivity of performance to effort. Across three experiments, we predict and find the reporting of input information significantly increases employee effort and performance in difficult relative to easy tasks and in low relative to high effort sensitivity tasks. Our …

Encouraging Self-Regulation In An Online University Course For Preservice Teachers: An Intervention Study, Karen T. Arnesen, Charles R. Graham, Heather Leary, Alison I. Mcmurry

Faculty Publications

Although self-regulation (SR) has long been seen as an important educational concept, we know little about how to foster it in higher education online student populations. This research addresses this need by introducing an SR intervention into a preservice teacher course. The 30 students who participated used an intervention consisting of weekly student goal setting and self-reflection. Using data collected from a self-regulation survey, weekly reflections, final exam reflections, and interviews, all but one student indicated that the process of setting a goal weekly and especially reflecting on their actions during the week increased their self-regulation abilities. More than half …

Actuator Disk Model For Aeropropulsive Coupling Effects In Vortex Particle Method, Eduardo Alvarez, Vineet Ahuja, Vinod Lakshminarayan, Aaron Perry, Ryan Anderson, Andrew Ning

Faculty Publications

Blown lift and distributed electric propulsion aircraft pose strong aeropropulsive coupling effects that cannot be ignored during the early stages of design. In this study, we develop an advanced actuator disk model (ADM) for aeropropulsive coupling effects of ducted fans with the vortex particle method (VPM). The advanced ADM consists of (1) an actuator disk at the rotor plane, (2) a surface vortex sheet modeling the mixing and convection of blade tip vorticity along walls, and (3) a powered wake at the exhaust. With these three components, a propulsion jet with an arbitrary velocity profile is formed and interactions with …

Comparing The Sensitivity And Specificity Of Novel Motor Assessments For Traumatic Brain Injury, Paula K. Johnson, Ariana M. Hedges-Muncy, Erin D. Bigler, Lorie Richards, Steven Knight Charles

Faculty Publications

Background: Portable technology that records movements with high accuracy provides potential for sensitive clinical movement tests for individuals who experienced a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Objective: (1)To present impairments assessed using markerless motion capture (MMC) and (2) to compare the sensitivity and specificity of the MMCmediated tests to each other and to common clinical tests. Design: Screening study, using as criterion standard the ability to classify participant with TBI versus control participant. Setting: Research laboratory. Participants: The study included 30 individuals with TBI and 101 control participants. Entry criteria included most recent head injury < 5 years old, no history of movement issues prior to injury, no movement-affecting medications, and sufficient cognitive ability to follow instructions. Interventions: Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures: Performance on MMC-mediated tests and existing clinical analogs. MMC-mediated tests included finger oscillation, simple reaction time, and visually guided movement tasks. For comparison, participants also completed the following clinical tests: Halstead–Reitan finger tapping, simple reaction time test, and Beery Visuomotor Integration test. Impairments were identified as test scores of participants with TBI that fell outside of the 95% interval of control participants’ test scores. Random forest analysis was used to calculate the sensitivity and specificity of MMC and clinical tests according to their ability to correctly classify participants with TBI and control participants. Results: MMC-mediated tests revealed impairments in more participants with TBI than clinical tests in all three TBI groups (mild, repeated, and moderate to severe). Similarly, MMC-mediated tests revealed a higher percentage of scores as impairments than clinical tests in all three groups with TBI. Furthermore, MMC-mediated tests proved more sensitive and more specific than clinical tests (70% versus 50% and 98% versus 93%, respectively). Conclusion: MMC-mediated tests are sensitive and specific (compared to traditional clinical tests) and have potential to fill a gap in clinical care of TBI.

Psychological Reactance Theory And Tax Evasion Intentions, Diana Falsetta, Brian C. Spilker

Faculty Publications

This study experimentally examines how tax administration service inefficiencies in the form of tax return processing delays from paper-filed tax returns indirectly affect taxpayer tax evasion intentions through taxpayers’ psychological reactance to the delay. We further consider whether this indirect effect is different when the taxpayer willingly chooses to paper file their tax return versus when the taxpayer is forced to do so. Consistent with Psychological Reactance Theory (PRT), we find that when taxpayers receive delayed refunds, they experience psychological reactance (e.g., anger and frustration with the tax administration) that increases their tax evasion intentions. Further, we find that the …

Foreign Tax Holiday Participation And U.S. Job And Investment Loss, Zackery D. Fox, Linda Krull, Scott G. Rane

Faculty Publications

We investigate whether foreign tax holiday participation among U.S. multinational companies is associated with offshoring U.S. jobs and other domestic investment activities. We find that foreign tax holiday participation is associated with (1) an increase in offshoring U.S. jobs and (2) a decrease in domestic investment, as proxied by changes in the number of employees, capital expenditures, and R&D activity. Furthermore, we find evidence suggesting that the association between targeted, temporary tax incentives provided by foreign tax holidays and firms’ domestic activities is stronger among firms with a smaller foreign presence and is distinct from the impact of foreign statutory …

Redesigning Executive Incentives: The Rising Role Of Subjective Performance Measures, Zackery D. Fox

Faculty Publications

Despite the growing use of subjective performance incentives used in executive bonuses, empirical evidence on their effectiveness remains inconclusive. This study explores three aspects of subjective metrics in bonus plan design: their prevalence, the goals they target, and their impact on managerial behavior and firm outcomes. First, I document 53.8 percent of CEO bonus plans include at least one subjective performance measure, and among these plans, an average of 38.9 percent of total bonus weight is allocated to these measures. Using machine learning, I show subjective metrics target incentives related to employees, firm culture, and executive performance. Second, using the …

Instructional Designer Perspectives On The Pursuit Of Quality In Online Course Design, Jason K. Mcdonald, Stephen C. Yanchar

Faculty Publications

In this qualitative study we investigated the experiences of instructional designers as they sought to build quality into online courses. Through semi-structured interviews, we explored what enabled and hindered their pursuit of quality, how they experienced their efforts in this regard, what mattered to them, and complexities that accompanied this pursuit. Our analysis of participant experiences suggested four themes: (1) connections between quality and designers’ ability to act autonomously; (2) connections between quality and collaborative, team-based relationships; (3) ambivalence due to tensions between autonomy and collaboration; and (4) ways of coping with limits on autonomy and collaboration. We conclude our …

Disclosure Benchmarking By Lawyers: Evidence Fromthe Ipo Setting, Michael S. Drake, Jeff Mcmullin, Kenneth Merkley, Chase Potter, John Treu

Faculty Publications

Lawyers play an important advisory role in drafting financial reports, yet empirical evidence documenting the influence of external legal counsel on this process remains sparse. This study focuses on a specific aspect of lawyers’ drafting process: the practice of reviewing disclosures previously filed by other issuers—a practice termed “disclosure benchmarking.” Using initial public offering (IPO) disclosures as the setting, we find that disclosure benchmarking is associated with amore efficient Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) review process. We further find that it is associated with several measures of disclosure quality, including disclosures that are less likely to be revised in subsequent …

The Influence Of Financial Data Subscriptions On Analyst Research, Braiden Coleman, Travis Dyer, Mark Lang

Faculty Publications

We use disclosed “source” data from analyst reports to infer brokerage financial data subscriptions (FDS) and investigate their effects on analyst research. When brokerages add FDS, their analysts’ forecast accuracy increases. Effect sizes are at least as large as those for analyst experience, busyness, and brokerage size. Benefits are largest for less experienced and busier analysts with less private access to management forecasting over longer horizons. Although adding new FDS benefits individual analysts, there is substantial overlap in FDS across brokerages, leading to homogenized market views. Specifically, when brokerages have overlapping FDS, their analysts’ forecasts, timing, boldness, recommendations, report content, …

The Future Performance Implications Of Non-Gaap Motivated Investment, Minkwan Ahn, Theodore E. Christensen, Ryan G. Johnson, Melissa F. Lewis-Western

Faculty Publications

We investigate whether consistent non-GAAP reporting is associated with investment efficiency. Prior research finds a positive association between non-GAAP reporting and investment levels, concluding that it represents overinvestment. We corroborate this positive association, but additional tests are not consistent with the conclusion of inefficient overinvestment. Specifically, we explore the relation between investment and future cash flows as a proxy for the realization of investments in positive net present value projects. We find that the investments of firms that consistently report non-GAAP metrics are associated with similar or higher future cash flows than the investments of firms reporting only GAAP earnings, …

Internally Stowed, Radially Deployed Radiator Panels For Passive Cubesat Thermal Control, Josh R. Cannon, Kyle N. Havey, Noah S. Housley, Rydge B. Mulford, Brian D. Iverson

Faculty Publications

CubeSats experience significant thermal loads due to solar irradiation and the dissipation from electrical components. The high heat dissipation per unit volume can lead to mission failure if not properly managed. Deployable radiators that are externally stowed and passively actuated in response to changes in CubeSat temperature have been explored as a viable solution. This work describes a radially deployed fin array that is stowed within the CubeSat body when the required heat dissipation is low and passively deploys when the required heat dissipation is high. Internal stowage improves thermal transport to the deployable fins and minimizes heat loss when …

Issues In Religion And Psychotherapy Volume 42 Number 1

Issues in Religion and Psychotherapy

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

Issues in Religion and Psychotherapy

No abstract provided.

Front Matter Fall 24

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

No abstract provided.

Generative Ai Applied To Aac For Aphasia: A Pilot Study Of Aphasia-Gpt, Dallin J. Bailey, Francesca Herget, Derek Hansen, Forrest Burton, Grant Pitt, Tyson Harmon, David Wingate

Faculty Publications

Background

People with aphasia may be supported by augmentative and alternative communication systems, but further development is necessary to improve the communication support such systems provide. Advances in artificial intelligence methods of natural language processing may provide improved support for people with aphasia, but development and testing involving people with aphasia is critical.

Aims

The purpose of the study is to describe the development and pilot testing of a new AAC system for people with aphasia, a mobile web app named Aphasia-GPT.

Methods & Procedures

Aphasia-GPT is specifically designed to receive spoken input from a user with aphasia; it then …

Weird Geometry: The Operation Of Anti-Sacred Spaces In “The Immortal” And “The Call Of Cthulhu”, Washington C. Pearce

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

No abstract provided.

Gender Rebellion: Gender Non-Conformity As An Act Of Resistance In The Hunger Games, Julia Koncurat

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

No abstract provided.