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New Light On The Shining Stones Of The Jaredites, Nicholas Read, Jae R. Ballif, John W. Welch, Bill Evenson, Kathleen Reynolds, Matt Roper

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The preparation of light sources for the Jaredite barges has long been an enigma to Book of Mormon readers. The Lord indicated the impracticality of using normal sources of light, saying, "Ye cannot have windows, for they will be dashed in pieces; neither shall ye take fire with you, for ye shall not go by the light of fire. . . . Therefore what will ye that I should prepare for you that ye may have light?" (Ether 2:23, 25).

Review Does It Again--Offers Careful Analyses, And Pulls No Punches

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

F.A.RMS. has published the fourth volume of its annual Review of Books on the Book of Mormon, edited by Daniel C. Peterson.

Full Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

A Reader Notes An Expression That Is Unique To Nephi

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Richard Rust, professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, whose research has been published by F.A.R.M.S. in the past, has noticed phraseology that is unique to individual Book of Mormon prophets. He writes to F.A.R.M.S. that the phrase "my soul delighteth" appears to be unique to Nephi. It is a beautiful expression, which Nephi uses ten times: for example, "my soul delighteth in the scriptures" (2 Nephi 4:15); "my soul delighteth in the things of the Lord" (2 Nephi 4:16); "my soul delighteth in proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ" …

Welch Takes Leave Of Absence

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

A leave of absence from the F.A.R.M.S. board of directors for John W. Welch has been approved during the time that he serves as the editor of BYU Studies. Welch was the founding president of F.A.R.M.S. and has served on its board of directors throughout the life of the foundation. His contributions to the success of the foundation's efforts have been considerable and essential.

Books Focus On Ancient Mesoamerican Civilizations

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

New editions of two books, available at a discount from F.A.R.M.S., provide a scholarly yet readable introduction to civilization in the area where most of the events of the Book of Mormon probably took place. Both books were written by Michael D. Coe, Professor of Anthropology at Yale University. Although not written from an LDS perspective, these books provide the serious student of the Book of Mormon some very valuable background information. Both books also contain a large number of excellent photographs, maps, and line drawings, which make them not only informative to read but a pleasure to browse.

Former Farms Worker Honored

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

On March 7, DeeAnn Hofer was crowned Ms. Wheelchair Utah. Because of her fine contributions to the foundation, F.A.R.M.S. was pleased to be one of her sponsors in this competition.

Changes In Rna Expression Of Hut78 Cells Resulting From The Hiv-1 Viral Protein R R77q Mutation, Joshua S. Ramsey

Theses and Dissertations

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is the causative virus for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). AIDS is characterized by chronic inflammation and reduction of CD4+ T-cells in the blood. This leads to the patient becoming immunocompromised and much more susceptible to disease in general. Different phenotypes in the progression of AIDS have been observed in patients in either progressing to AIDS faster as a Rapid Progressor (RP), or slower as a Long-Term Non-Progressor (LTNP). Researching elements that result in the LTNP phenotype is of interest as it has the potential to offer alternative treatments and therapies to those suffering from …

Ecosystem Structure And Function Across Western Dryland Ecosystems: A Cross-Site Comparison Of Semiarid Ecosystem Types In Colorado And Wyoming, Christopher W. Beltz, William K. Lauenroth, Ingrid C. Burke

Western North American Naturalist

Drylands extend over large portions of the globe, including a significant share of the western United States, yet they remain understudied. We examined ecosystem structure and function at 3 semiarid dryland sites in Colorado and Wyoming, each of which was dominated by a different ecosystem type and plant community—shortgrass steppe, mixed-grass prairie, and sagebrush steppe. This initial study was conducted to fill gaps in knowledge about how sagebrush steppe compares to dryland grasslands in the western United States. Soil respiration was higher at the sagebrush steppe than at the 2 grassland sites (P = 0.001). Aboveground biomass, microbial abundance, …

Front Matter, Vol. 83 No. 3

Western North American Naturalist

No abstract provided.

End Matter, Vol. 83 No. 3

Western North American Naturalist

No abstract provided.

Creating An Inclusive Metadata Policy, Nicole Lewis, Jeremy Myntti

Faculty Publications

The BYU Library is creating 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 describes the process we used to undertake the creation of the library policy and recommendations document.

Dnssec Meets The Frontend: Usability Study Of Dnssec Status Indicator In Browser, Tyler Karren

Theses and Dissertations

DNSSEC ensures the integrity of DNS data. DNSSEC however is not visible to the end user. We designed a DNSSEC status indicator tool that shows the DNSSEC validation statuses of the host being visited in the Web browser. We then conducted a usability study to evaluate the tool, gathering user behavior and feedback from 30 participants. The usability study revealed that users were able to make security conscious decisions based on context of the task, but the tool struggled to communicate that it was sharing the status of the validity of the name-to-IP-address resolution of visited websites. We hope that …

Telling Stories In Noise: The Impact Of Background Noises On Spoken Language For People With Aphasia, Tyson G. Harmon, Brenna Scadden Nelson, Christopher Dromey, Kirsten Dixon Clawson

Faculty Publications

Purpose: Determine how different background noise conditions affect the spoken language of participants with aphasia during a story retell task.

Method: Participants included 11 adults with mild to moderate aphasia and 11 age- and gender-matched controls. Participants retold stories in a silent baseline and five background noise conditions (conversation, monologue, phone call, cocktail, pink noise). Dependent measures of speech acoustics (fundamental frequency, mean intensity), speech fluency (speech rate, disfluent words), and language production (correct information units, lexical errors, lexical diversity, and cohesive utterances) were compared between groups and across conditions.

Results: Background noise resulted in higher fundamental frequency (F_{0 …}

A Grounded Theory Of Relational Masculinity In Brazil, Douglas M. Wendt

Theses and Dissertations

Many societal problems in Brazil, including sexual assault, intimate partner violence, and fatherlessness, are said to be related to hegemonic masculine development, commonly known as toxic masculinity. Very little research has been conducted in Marriage and Family Therapy and related fields that explores masculinity in the context of family systems and within relational frameworks. Current research in this area focuses largely on the negative aspects of traditional masculinity that reinforce narrow stereotypes rather than highlight possibilities of relationally healthy masculine development. The aim of this study was to develop a constructivist grounded theory of relational masculinity in Brazil by interviewing …

Could Our Universe Have Been Initiated Intentionally: An Epistemological Framework, Dan Broadbent

Faculty Publications

The possibility that our universe was initiated intentionally is a compelling philosophical and scientific question that can be evaluated probabilistically based on four primary considerations: fine-tuning in our universe, hypotheses about the multiverse, the likelihood that intelligent life may be able to initiate a universe, and the possibility that we live in a simulation. This paper offers an equation analogous to the noteworthy Drake equation that is intended to be used as a structured thought experiment to help identify factors related to the initiation of our universe and to facilitate examining each in terms of what we know, do not …

Late Pleistocene Herpetofauna From Two High-Elevation Caves In The Upper Gunnison Basin, Colorado, Jim I. Mead, Steven D. Emslie, David J. Meltzer

Western North American Naturalist

Cement Creek and Haystack caves in Colorado have produced a diverse record of high-elevation late Quaternary mammals. Intermixed with the abundant mammalian remains were rare occurrences of amphibian and reptile fossils reported here. Cement Creek Cave (2860 m elevation) contained the fossils of only a few anurans and a limited number of snakes, whereas Haystack Cave, at a substantially lower elevation (2450 m), contained the fossils of a salamander, a larger number of snakes, and an extensive number of lizard remains, yet no anurans. The 2 faunas are overall distinct in composition, and, although not diverse or abundant in terms …

Utilizing Student Workers For Digital Commons Projects, Ellen Amatangelo, Elizabeth Parret

Faculty Publications

This lightning talk was presented by the Scholarly Communications Coordinator and the Scholarly Communications Student Supervisor from Brigham Young University at the Digital Commons North American Conference 2023. It provides an overview of how student workers at the BYU Library are involved in Digital Commons projects and discusses the types of projects and processes that students work on, including an outline of student supervisor responsibilities. The purpose of the presentation is to get other Digital Commons administrators excited about expanding the possibilities of their repositories by collaborating with student workers.

Facial Motion Augmented Identity Verification With Deep Neural Networks, Zheng Sun

Theses and Dissertations

Identity verification is ubiquitous in our daily life. By verifying the user's identity, the authorization process grants the privilege to access resources or facilities or perform certain tasks. The traditional and most prevalent authentication method is the personal identification number (PIN) or password. While these knowledge-based credentials could be lost or stolen, human biometric-based verification technologies have become popular alternatives in recent years. Nowadays, more people are used to unlocking their smartphones using their fingerprint or face instead of the conventional passcode. However, these biometric approaches have their weaknesses. For example, fingerprints could be easily fabricated, and a photo or …

The Effects Of A High-Carbohydrate Versus A High-Fat Shake On Biomarkers Of Metabolism And Glycemic Control When Used To Interrupt A 38-Hour Fast: A Randomized Crossover Study, Landon S. Deru

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: The primary aim of this study was to determine the impact of various fast-interrupting shakes on markers of glycemic control including glucose, β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), insulin, glucagon, GLP-1, and GIP. Methods: Twenty-seven adults (12 female, 15 male) completed all three conditions of this study. One condition consisted of a 38-hour water-only fast, and the other two conditions were similar but the fasts were interrupted at 24 hours by either a high carbohydrate/low fat (HC/LF) or a low carbohydrate/high fat (LC/HF) shake. Results: The water only fast resulted in 135.3% more BHB compared to the HC/LF condition (t = 7.77, p < 0.0001) and 69.6% more compared to the LC/HF condition (t = 5.12, p < 0.0001). Conversely, the LC/HF condition exhibited a 38.8% higher BHB level than the HC/LF condition (t = 2.70, p = 0.0086). Additionally, the area under the curve (AUC) for glucose was 14.2% higher in the HC/LF condition than in the water condition (t = 6.23, p < 0.0001) and 6.9% higher compared to the LC/HF condition (t = 3.14, p = 0.0024), with the LC/HF condition yielding 7.8% more glucose than the water condition (t = 3.21, p = 0.0020). At the 25-hour mark, insulin and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) were significantly elevated in the HC/LF condition compared to the LC/HF condition (F = 3.84, p = 0.0002 and F = 2.27, p = 0.0244, respectively) and compared to the water condition (F = 7.00, p < 0.0001 and F = 9.96, p < 0.0001, respectively). Furthermore, insulin, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), and GIP were increased in the LC/HF condition compared to the water condition at 25 hours (F = 3.19, p = 0.0016, F = 2.43, p = 0.0158, and F = 12.13, p < 0.0001, respectively). Notably, glucagon concentrations at the 25-hour mark decreased in the HC/LF group compared to the LC/HF condition (F = 3.37, p = 0.0009). However, by the 38-hour time point, no statistically significant differences were observed among the conditions for any of the analyzed hormones. Conclusions: While a LC/HF shake does not mimic a fast completely, it does preserve some of the metabolic changes including elevated BHB and glucagon, and decreased glucose and insulin compared to a HC/LF shake.

God, Can You Help Me? Effects Of Religious Coping On Patients With Anxiety And Trauma, Camron Angell

Student Works

Historically, religion has been overlooked in psychology as a method of coping due to stigma and an apprehension to bring up religious beliefs. Recent literature suggests positive religious coping can help patients with anxiety and PTSD (Anastasi & Newberg, 2008; Areba et al., 2018; Plante et al., 2000; Starnino et al., 2019; Yazici et al., 2020). Religious coping, both positive and negative, appears to affect patients with anxiety and PTSD. Positive religious coping is thought to have a positive effect on both anxiety and PTSD and can lead to greater mental health outcomes (Areba et al., 2018; Harris et al., …

Integrating Clinical Cancer And Ptm Proteomics Data Identifies A Mechanism Of Ack1 Kinase Activation, Eranga R. Balasooriya, Deshan Madhusanka, Tania P. López-Palacios, Riley J. Eastmond, Dasun Jayatunge, Jake J. Owen, Jack S. Gashler, Christina M. Egbert, Chanaka Bulathsinghalage, Lu Liu, Stephen R. Piccolo, Joshua L. Andersen

Faculty Publications

Beyond the most common oncogenes activated by mutation (mut-drivers), there likely exists a variety of low-frequency mut-drivers, each of which is a possible frontier for targeted therapy. To identify new and understudied mut-drivers, we developed a machine learning (ML) model that integrates curated clinical cancer data and posttranslational modification (PTM) proteomics databases. We applied the approach to 62,746 patient cancers spanning 84 cancer types and predicted 3,964 oncogenic mutations across 1,148 genes, many of which disrupt PTMs of known and unknown function. The list of putative mut-drivers includes established drivers and others with poorly understood roles in cancer. This ML …

Online Protection Laws.Full Issue

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

No abstract provided.

Investigating The Potential Benefits Of Standards-Based Grading Practices At Urban Secondary Schools In Southern Utah: A Qualitative Study, April Larsen

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Letter grades are often inflated or lowered based on non-learning aspects, and students tend to focus on earning a particular grade rather than on mastering academic content and skills. The problem is that the letter grade method that has been used for many decades in education may not be the best way to determine or report student achievement. Gaps in the literature exist regarding comparisons between letter grades and standards-based grades in terms of increasing student achievement and reporting student learning. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to determine whether one grading method is more effective than the …

Feminist Pragmatism In The Nonprofit Sector, Elise L. Kieffer

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

This thought paper explores the practical applications of the feminist pragmatism philosophy for modern nonprofit organizations confronting persistent issues. I argue that the integration of research, theory, education, programming, and administration serve as spokes strengthening the wheel that is the nonprofit sector.

Factors Influencing Employee Satisfaction In Nonprofit Organizations In The United States, Kristi Egbert

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Employees in nonprofit organizations are not paid as much as for-profit employees according to the United States 2014 Labor Statistics. Nonprofits work to meet community needs. Since turnover rates impact a company’s ability to these needs (Lee, 2015), it is important to learn what keeps employees satisfied. This review found that employees find the work itself satisfying when they see how they support the organization’s mission (Haley-Lock, 2007), chances to move up in the company, autonomy, (Weisberg & Dent, 2016), and inclusivity (Brimhall, 2019), and workplace relationships (Mathieu & Nabiak, 2016; Slater & Slater, 2018) are related with job satisfaction.

Article Summaries (Online Protection Laws Of Children)

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

No abstract provided.

Online Safety Laws By Country, Haoming Song, Angie Holzer

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

No abstract provided.

The Power Of Protective Factors: A Framework For Mental Health Action And Education, Rich Stowell

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Mental health advocates, practitioners, and research have long used the framework of risk factors and protective factors to understand mental health. This article examines the origins of the concept of protective factors and describes how it contributes to the applications of resources in the mental health space.

Evaluating A Large Language Model’S Ability To Solve Programming Exercises From An Introductory Bioinformatics Course, Stephen R. Piccolo, Paul Denny, Andrew Luxton-Reilly, Samuel H. Payne, Perry G. Ridge

Faculty Publications

Life scientists frequently write computer code when doing research. Computer programming can aid researchers in performing tasks that are not supported by existing tools. Programming can also help researchers to implement analytical logic in a way that documents their steps and thus enables others to repeat those steps. Many educational resources are available to teach computer programming, but this skill remains challenging for many researchers and students to master. Artificial-intelligence tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT are able to interpret human-language requests to generate code. Accordingly, we evaluated the extent to which this technology might be used to perform programming tasks described …