Digital Commons Network^™

Understanding Host-Pathogen Interactions, Brett E. Pickett

BYU Research Development Office Research Networking Conference

Gene Expression, Signaling Pathway Analysis, RNA-Sequencing, Drug Repurposing, Infectious Diseases, Diagnostics, Human Diseases, Genome Assembly, Comparative Genomics, Machine Learning

Regulation Of Protein Breakdown In Skeletal Muscle, William Bradley Nelson

BYU Research Development Office Research Networking Conference

Protein degradation, atrophy, skeletal muscle

Using X-Ray Vision To Understand How Things Break: Lensless X-Ray Imaging Of Materials In Extreme Conditions, Richard Sandberg

BYU Research Development Office Research Networking Conference

Microscopy, nanotechnology, optics, inverse problems, applied math, materials science, computer science, data science, x-ray imaging and diffraction

Change In Implicit Alcohol Associations Over Time: Moderation By Drinking History And Gender, Scott A. Baldwin, Kristen P. Lindgren, Kirsten P. Peterson, Reinout W. Wiers, Bethany A. Teachman

Faculty Publications

Implicit measures of alcohol-related associations or implicit alcohol associations are associated with drinking outcomes over time and can be understood as vulnerability markers for problem drinking. Longitudinal research remains rare, leaving open questions about how implicit alcohol associations themselves change over time and what factors moderate that change. We examined these questions with data from a larger study of first and second year U.S. college students. We investigated how these implicit alcohol associations change over time and potential moderators of those changes (gender, lifetime drinking history, family history of problem drinking, and class standing). A sample of 506 students (57% …

A Comprehensive Comparison Of Teratogenic Compounds Known To Induce Neural Tube Defects In The Chicken Embryo, Micah Marie Ross

Theses and Dissertations

One of the first embryonic structures generated during early human development is the neural tube. The embryonic process of neurulation, including neural tube closure, is necessary for proper brain and spinal cord development, whereas improper closure leads to neural tube defects including anencephaly, spina bifida, and craniorachischisis. The mechanism by which these defects occur is unknown, but some evidence suggest that redox disruption may play a role. Cellular redox state is important in regulating key processes during neural tube closure, including differentiation, proliferation, gene expression, and apoptosis. This study aims to determine whether redox potential shifts and these key processes …

Activity, Stability, And Binding Capacity Of Β-Galactosidase Immobilized On Electrospun Nylon-6 Fiber Membrane, Deborah Ann Hutchins

Theses and Dissertations

This research explores various immobilized enzyme support materials, including the novel nylon-6 fiber membrane (NFM), observing the increase of surface area and what effect that has on enzyme binding potential. This study also manipulates incubation and reaction conditions and observes what affect that has on activity and stability of β-galactosidase comparing various solid support materials and free enzyme. Nylon-6 fiber membranes were created using the process of electrospinning and were compared with other materials as solid support materials for enzyme binding. The other materials included polyvinylidene fluoride 5 kD nanofiltration dairy membranes, nylon-6 pellets, silica glass beads, and free—dissolved—enzyme. Scanning …

Improving The Detection Of Rheumatic Heart Disease In Children Residing In Samoa, Shay Harding

Student Works

Improving the Detection of Rheumatic Heart Disease in

Children Residing in Samoa

Shay Harding

College of Nursing, BYU

Master of Science

Rheumatic Heart disease (RHD) is the most common cause of heart related illness in individuals under 25 years of age and is a major health concern on the Pacific Islands of Samoa (Saxena et al., 2017). RHD related mortality among Samoan children is disproportionally high relative to the rest of the world; it is estimated to impact 10 out of every 1000 children there (Allen et al., 2017). The health care system in Samoa is limited in its resources, …

Optimal Learning Rates For Neural Networks, Tyler Moncur

Theses and Dissertations

Neural networks have long been known as universal function approximators and have more recently been shown to be powerful and versatile in practice. But it can be extremely challenging to find the right set of parameters and hyperparameters. Model training is both expensive and difficult due to the large number of parameters and sensitivity to hyperparameters such as learning rate and architecture. Hyperparameter searches are notorious for requiring tremendous amounts of processing power and human resources. This thesis provides an analytic approach to estimating the optimal value of one of the key hyperparameters in neural networks, the learning rate. Where …

Biological Control Potential Of Streptomyces Isolates On Pathogens (Helminthosporium Solani And Pythium Ultimum) Of Potatoes, Shae Jamison Taylor

Theses and Dissertations

Two fungal pathogen species, Helminthosporium solani and Pythium ultimum, cause significant economic loss to potato (Solanum tuberosum) growers throughout the world. These pathogens have substantial differences in cellular makeup, pathogenicity, and modes of infection. We studied the efficacy of 82 isolates within the bacterial genus Streptomyces in inhibiting these pathogens under laboratory and greenhouse conditions. Derivatives of Streptomyces have significant implications in medicinal use because of their antibiotic and antifungal properties. Under in-vitro conditions, 25% of Streptomyces isolates inhibited growth of P. ultimum, up to 81%. Ninety-five percent of the Streptomyces isolates inhibited growth of H. solani, with a maximum …

Longitudinal Links Between Parents’ Mental Health, Parenting, And Adolescents’ Mental Health: Moderation By Adolescent Sex, Laura M. Padilla-Walker, Hannah B. Apsley

Faculty Publications

This study explored mothering and fathering as possible mediators of the relationship between parent and adolescent mental health concerns and considered the adolescents’ biological sex as a potential moderator. Using structural equation modeling, the longitudinal links between parents’ mental health, parental psychological control, parent-adolescent connectedness, and adolescent mental health in 500 families— including 338 fathers and 500 mothers—were explored over the course of 5 years. The mean age of the adolescents (51.8% female, 69.6% European American) at Time 1 was 13.3 years. Mothers’ symptoms of anxiety directly predicted girls’ depression 5 years later. This relation was not mediated by parenting …

Developing Rangeland Restoration Techniques: A Look At Phosphorus Fertilizer As A Seed Coating To Improve Bluebunch Wheatgrass Growth, Morgan Elaine Parkinson

Theses and Dissertations

Planting native species after a major disturbance is a critical tool land managers use to stabilize soils, restore ecosystem processes, and prevent weed invasion. However, within the sagebrush steppe and other arid and semi-arid environments the percentage of sown seeds that produce an adult plant is remarkably low. Applying fertilizers at the time of planting may improve native plant establishment by increasing the ability of the seedlings to cope with environmental stresses. However, traditional fertilizer applications are often economically infeasible and may be counterproductive by encouraging weed invasion. Seed coating technology allows for the efficient application of fertilizers within the …

Predation Environment Does Not Predict Life History In Morphologically-Constrained Fish Alfaro Cultratus (Cyprinodontiformes: Poeciliidae), Kaitlyn Beard Golden

Theses and Dissertations

Predation is known to have a significant effect on life history, eliciting predictable responses. Physical constraints of body shape and size may also limit life history divergence. There may be a trade-off between adapting to predation, and limits placed by constraints that decrease life history divergence. We test this idea in the Costa Rican livebearing fish Alfaro cultratus. This species has a keeled ventral surface and does not develop a distended abdomen when pregnant like other livebearers. We describe the life history of A. cultratus in 20 different populations across predator and non-predator environments. We found significantly lower reproductive allotment …

The Effects Of Exercise On The Fasting Ketone Production Curve: A Randomized Crossover Study, Landon S. Deru

Theses and Dissertations

Elevated ketone production and utilization results in a host of health benefits. The aim of this study was to assess the rate of ketone production during a prolonged fast and to evaluate how an initial bout of exercise influences this production. Mood and hunger, along with plasma insulin and glucagon, were also assessed. In this crossover study, 20 adult subjects (11 Male, 9 Female) completed two 36-hour fasts, with one protocol requiring the subject to complete an intense treadmill exercise session at the beginning of the fast. Ketone levels were assessed via blood ketone meter and recorded every two hours. …

Be Good For Goodness' Sake: Parenting Practices That Promote Value-Congruent Behavior During Adolescence, Ryan David Mclean

Theses and Dissertations

Research indicates that adolescence is an especially crucial time for developing habits of values congruent behavior that will persist throughout the lifespan. Past research has suggested that parents may play an important role in socializing their children, however few studies have looked at the mechanism through which this socialization occurs. The current study explored associations between different types of proactive and reactive parenting and value congruent behavior using nationally representative data from across three years during adolescence. Additionally, the current study attempted to further explain these associations through the mechanism of extrinsic and intrinsic values regulation. The current sample included …

At Ages 1-2, Will Tv Impact If I Help You? Prosocial Media, Joint Media Engagement, And Infant Prosocial Development During The Second Year, Sara Catherine Brown

Theses and Dissertations

Prosocial behavior typically emerges during an infant's second year. Because it is posited to be continuous from infancy to adulthood, and past research has identified numerous positive outcomes associated with prosocial behavior, it is important to understand the mechanisms involved in early prosocial behavior, such as prosocial media. Past research has examined the relation between prosocial media and prosocial behavior in preschool children, but no studies have explored this association with infants. The current study includes 60 infants and their primary caregivers. Data about media use, parent-infant media interactions, and infant prosocial helping was collected through survey and observational measures. …

Effect Of Dilution On Sedimentational Separation Of Bacteria From Blood, Clifton M. Anderson, William G. Pitt

Faculty Publications

Bacteria must be separated from septic whole blood in preparation for rapid antibiotic susceptibility tests. This work improves upon past work isolating bacteria from whole blood by exploring an important experimental factor: Whole blood dilution. Herein, we use the continuity equation to model red blood cell sedimentation and show that overall spinning time decreases as the blood is diluted. We found that the bacteria can also be captured more efficiently from diluted blood, up to approximately 68 ± 8% recovery (95% confidence interval). However, diluting blood both requires and creates extra fluid that end users must handle; an optimal dilution, …

Use Of Viologens In Mediated Glucose Fuel Cells And In Aqueous Redox Flow Batteries To Improve Performance, Meisam Bahari

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents my efforts to use viologens to improve the performance of glucose fuel cells and aqueous redox flow batteries. These two electrochemical systems have the potential to efficiently exploit renewable sources of energy. The contributions and significance of this work are briefly described below. Glucose Fuel cells. For glucose fuel cells, viologens were adopted as an electron mediator to facilitate the transfer of electrons from glucose to electrodes for power generation. Use of a mediator circumvents the need for precious metal electrodes to catalyze glucose oxidation. Both the oxidation efficiency and rate of glucose oxidation are important to …

Behavioral Response To High Temperatures In A Desert Grassland Bird: Use Of Shrubs As Thermal Refugia, Janet M. Ruth, William A. Talbot, Eric Krabbe Smith

Western North American Naturalist

Birds inhabiting hot, arid ecosystems contend with trade-offs between heat dissipation and water conservation. As temperatures increase, passerines engage in various behaviors to reduce exposure to heat, solar radiation and insolation, and reradiation of heat from the ground. These responses to rising temperatures may result in subordination of reproductive urgency or nutrient acquisition to the need for thermoregulation. During studies on Arizona Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum ammolegus) life history and ecology, we noted that these sparrows abandoned territoriality and foraging behaviors under certain circumstances in favor of cooler microsites. In this paper we document the extreme temperatures to …

End Matter, Vol. 80 No. 2

Western North American Naturalist

No abstract provided.

Variable Uptake Of Selenium: Exposing Bryophytes In-Situ To A Se-Gradient Watershed, Del Wayne R. Nimmo, Scott J. Herrmann, James S. Carsella, Igor V. Melnykov

Western North American Naturalist

We investigated the uptake of selenium (Se) at 14 sites in a Se-rich watershed, using an aquatic bryophyte (Hygrohypnum ochraceum). We expressed uptake using the symbol K_d to underscore the relationships between Se in water and Se in plants as “partitioning coefficients” related to the bases of aquatic food chains. A 2-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed with K_d as the dependent variable and season and stream segment (location) as main effects. Selenium concentrations, measured as dissolved Se, total Se, and pore water Se, were also examined. There were significant differences in K_d values …

Front Matter, Vol. 80 No. 2

Western North American Naturalist

No abstract provided.

Development And Analysis Of A Vibration Based Sleep Improvement Device, Benjamin John Himes

Theses and Dissertations

Many research studies have analyzed the effect that whole-body vibration (WBV) has on sleep, and some have sought to use vibration to treat sleep disorders such as insomnia. It has been shown that low frequencies (f < 2Hz) are generally sleep inducing, but oscillations of this frequency are typically difficult to achieve using electromagnetic vibration drives. In the research that has been performed, optimal vibration parameters have not been determined, and the effects of multiple vibration sources vibrating at different frequencies to induce a low frequency traveling wave have not been explored. Insomnia affects millions of people worldwide, and non-pharmacological treatment options are limited. A bed excited with multiple vibration sources was used to explore beat frequency vibration as a non-pharmacological treatment for insomnia. A repeated measures design pilot study of 14 participants with mild-moderate insomnia symptom severity was conducted to determine the effects of beat frequency vibration, and traditional standing wave vibration on sleep latency and quality. Participants were monitored using high-density electroencephalography (HD-EEG). Sleep latency was compared between treatment conditions. Trends of a decrease in sleep latency due to beat frequency vibration were found (p ≤ 0.181 for AASM latency, and p ≤ 0.068 for unequivocal sleep latency). Neural complexity during wake, N1, and N2 stages were compared using Multi-Scale Sample Entropy (MSE), which demonstrated significantly lower MSE between wake and N2 stages (p ≤ 0.002). Lower MSE was found in the transition from wake to N1 stage sleep but did not reach significance (p ≤ 0.300). During N2 sleep, beat frequency vibration shows lower MSE than the control session in the left frontoparietal region. This indicates that beat frequency vibration may lead to a decrease of conscious awareness during deeper stages of sleep. Standing wave vibration caused reduced Alpha activity and increased Delta activity during wake. Beat frequency vibration caused increased Delta activity during N2 sleep. These preliminary results suggest that beat frequency vibration may help individuals with insomnia symptoms by decreasing sleep latency, by reducing their conscious awareness, and by increasing sleep drive expression during deeper stages of sleep. Standing wave vibration may be beneficial for decreasing expression of arousal and increasing expression of sleep drive during wake, implying that a dynamic vibration treatment may be beneficial. The application of vibration treatment as part of a heuristic sleep model is discussed.

Automated 3d Reconstruction Using Optimized View-Planning Algorithms For Iterative Development Of Structure-From-Motion Models, Samuel Arce, Cory Vernon, Joshua Hammond, Valerie Newell, Joseph Janson, Kevin Franke, John Hedengren

Faculty Publications

Unsupervised machine learning algorithms (clustering, genetic, and principal component analysis) automate Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) missions as well as the creation and refinement of iterative 3D photogrammetric models with a next best view (NBV) approach. The novel approach uses Structure-from-Motion (SfM) to achieve convergence to a specified orthomosaic resolution by identifying edges in the point cloud and planning cameras that “view” the holes identified by edges without requiring an initial model. This iterative UAV photogrammetric method successfully runs in various Microsoft AirSim environments. Simulated ground sampling distance (GSD) of models reaches as low as 3.4 cm per pixel, and generally, …

Variation In Masculinities And Fathering Behaviors: A Cross-National Comparison Of The United States And Canada, Kevin Shafer, Richard J. Petts, Casey Scheibling

Faculty Publications

Research continues to examine the barriers to and facilitators of positive fathering behaviors. One area recently addressed by researchers focuses on the relationship between masculine norm adherence and father involvement. Yet, little work has examined cross-national variability in this relationship—despite differences in gender norms, fathering expectations, and social policies across countries. The present study considers possible differences in the relationship between masculine norm adherence and fathering behaviors in the United States and Canada—two rich, multiethnic countries with many similarities but some distinct policy and family support differences. Using data from fathers in Canada (n = 2057) and the United …

Seeking The Feminine Divine: Mormon Women's Religious Authority, Power, And Presence In Rachel Hunt Steenblik's Mother's Milk, Kaitlin Hoelzer

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Literary theorists like Hélène Cixous and other French feminists have written about l’écriture feminine, a deconstructive force which allows female writers more freedom from male-dominated areas. Because Christianity has been historically male-dominated, Christian women have long used this idea to great effect, using their writing as a space in which they are free to assert power and authority. Mormonism, which arose in the 1830s during the Second Great Awakening, has grown to reinforce a patriarchal model for both family and church leadership, making Cixous’ separate space of writing necessary for Mormon women of the twenty-first century. The Mormon poet …

Do You Feel In Control? Sexual Desire, Sexual Passion Expression, And Associations With Perceived Compulsivity To Pornography And Pornography Use Frequency, Nathan D. Leonhardt, Dean M. Busby, Brian J. Willoughby

Faculty Publications

Previous scholars have found that when individuals feel that pornography use is uncontrollable, it is linked to more extreme negative outcomes than frequency of use. With a Mechanical Turk sample of 1421 individuals, we used structural equation modeling to evaluate how multiple aspects of sexual desire (sexual drive and dyadic desire) and multiple aspects of sexual passion expression (harmonious, obsessive, and inhibited) were associated with both pornography use frequency and perceived compulsivity to pornography. In general, sexual desire was more connected to pornography use and sexual passion was more connected to perceived compulsivity. Specifically, sexual drive was associated with higher …

Social Withdrawal Associated With Regret And Fulfillment In Three Long-Term Care Facilities, Melanie Mei Yukie Serrao

Theses and Dissertations

The study of social withdrawal continues to grow among younger samples, including childhood, adolescence, and emerging adulthood. Little research has addressed socially withdrawn older adults, despite the various losses, declines, and changes experienced by those in later life and their known benefits resulting from social interactions. Shy, avoidant, or unsocial individuals at younger ages may withdraw and possibly miss out on important opportunities; as a result, when they are grown, these same socially withdrawn individuals may experience greater regret and lower fulfillment in later life. Further, socially withdrawn older adults residing in long-term care (LTC) facilities may have more time …

Not The First But The Second, Richard E. Bennett

BYU Studies

Professor James B. Allen, distinguished scholar of Joseph Smith’s First Vision accounts, wrote the following in a 2012 article: “The writing of Mormon history has only begun. As in the case of other institutions and movements, there is still room in Mormonism for fresh historical scholarship. . . . What is needed, simply, is the sympathetic historian who can approach his tradition with scholarship as well as faith and who will make fresh appraisal of the development of the Mormon mind.”1 The purpose of this presentation is to provide such a “fresh appraisal” of Joseph Smith’s 1820 theophany, less perhaps …

Religious Education In Byu’S Prophetic Historical Context, Elder Bruce C. Hafen

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Dean Daniel Judd has invited me to offer a historical perspective on Religious Education within BYU’s larger historical context. In doing so, I speak more from experience than with authority, having been blessed with some opportunities to learn about the subject at fairly close range for several decades.

Full Issue

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

No abstract provided.