Digital Commons Network^™

Evaluating The Impact Of An Exotic Plant Invasion On Rodent Community Richness And Abundance, Trinity N. Smith, Eric M. Gese, Bryan M. Kluever

Western North American Naturalist

Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), Russian thistle (Salsola kali), and tall tumblemustard (Sisymbrium altissimum) are nonnative plants widely distributed throughout the desert and shrubsteppe communities of the western United States. The impact of these invaders on plant community structure, form, and function has been well documented, but investigations determining the impacts of this cumulative invasion on terrestrial vertebrates have not been undertaken. Our objective was to assess community-level rodent responses to changes in plant community features, with an emphasis on dominance of invasive plant species. We sampled rodent and plant communities in the Great Basin Desert …

Helicobacter Pylori Moderates The Association Between 5-Mthf Concentration And Cognitive Function In Older Adults, Bruce L. Brown, Andrew N. Berrett, Shawn D. Gale, Lance D. Erickson, Dawson W. Hedges

Faculty Publications

Objective: To explore potential interactions between folate-cycle factors and Helicobacter pylori seropositivity in the prediction of cognitive function. Methods We used data obtained from the 1999–2000 continuous National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey produced by the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Using Ordinary Least Squares regression, we tested for associations between multiple folate-cycle factors, Helicobacter pylori seropositivity, and cognitive function assessed by the digit symbol coding subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III. We then tested for interactions between each of the folate-cycle factors and Helicobacter pylori in the prediction of cognitive function.

Results: Although Helicobacter pylori …

An Invertebrate Ecosystem Engineer Under The Umbrella Of Sage-Grouse Conservation, Jason D. Carlisle, David R. Stewart, Anna D. Chalfoun

Western North American Naturalist

Conservation practitioners often rely on areas designed to protect species of greatest conservation priority to also conserve co-occurring species (i.e., the umbrella species concept). The extent to which vertebrate species may serve as suitable umbrellas for invertebrate species, however, has rarely been explored. Sage-grouse (Centrocercus spp.) have high conservation priority throughout much of the rangelands of western North America and are considered an umbrella species through which the conservation of entire rangeland ecosystems can be accomplished. Harvester ants are ecosystem engineers and play important roles in the maintenance and function of rangeland ecosystems. We compared indices of the abundance …

Composition And Seasonal Abundance Of Hover Flies (Diptera: Syrphidae) At A Midelevation Site In Central Utah, Tyson J. Terry, C. Riley Nelson

Western North American Naturalist

Dipteran pollinators are important in the successful reproduction of many plants, yet are less studied than other groups. We know that these insects affect the biodiversity of natural landscapes, yet much remains unknown about the extent of their influence in pollination systems and flight seasons. In this study, we collected hover flies (Diptera: Syrphidae) with 3 Malaise traps at a midelevation site in central Utah throughout the flies’ flight season of 2015. We collected 27 genera and 48 species in our traps. We determined seasonal flight times by collecting at weekly intervals throughout the frost-free year. Abundance of all hover …

Four Blue Windbreakers, Mari Molen

Inscape

Aimee and I wear ours at eight in the morning-alone. The night before, Mom had weaved Aimee's lightning-blonde hair into a tight braid. But now in the morning light, Aimee looks like an albino Klingon or something, random hairs flying from her head like alien antennas. Her light blue windbreaker pulls tight along her bird shoulders as she slides into the passenger seat.

A Learning Vector Quantization Based Geospatial Modeling Approach For Inland Wq Remote Prediction

Journal of Spatial Hydrology

Quick and accurate quantification of lake water quality (WQ) is essential for its management and improvement. Use of geotechnology (remote sensing, GIS, and GPS) applications is a step forward in improving our ability to effectively quantify and manage the WQ of ungauged lakes. Beaver Reservoir, a drinking water source for over 280,000 people in northwest Arkansas, is facing increased chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) and suspended matter (SM) content in the lake. This study is designed to qualitatively predict the Chl-a and SM content in the lake on a spatial basis from Landsat-TM image digital information. A Learning Vector Quantization (LVQ) classification neural …

Hydrological Modeling In The Ong River Basin, India Using Swat Model

Journal of Spatial Hydrology

The Ong river basin, a tributary of the Mahanadi River (a major river basin in eastern India) needs an effective management of water resources due to flood severity for sustainable agricultural production and flood protection. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was used in this study for setting up a watershed model for discharge simulation in the basin. SWAT-CUP (SWAT-Calibration and Uncertainty Program) that enables calibration, sensitivity and uncertainty analysis with the Sequential Uncertainty Fitting (SUFI-2) technique was used in the study. The SWAT model was calibrated from 1981–1990 (warm up period: 1979–1981); and validated from1991-2000. The goodness of …

Christ And Antichrist: Reading Jacob 7, Adam S. Miller, Joseph M. Spencer

Maxwell Institute Publications

The Book of Mormon’s Jacob chapter 7 focuses on a dramatic showdown between Sherem, a defender of the Mosaic tradition, and Jacob, a prophet who views the Mosaic law as dead in light of what he calls “the doctrine of Christ.” The papers collected in this volume offer theological readings of this Book of Mormon chapter that draw on Jacob 7’s structure and literary details to illuminate key themes like law, family, prayer, mourning, and messianic time.

Includes contributions from Jana Riess, Kimberly M. Berkey, Adam S. Miller, Jacob Rennaker, Jeremy Walker, Joseph M. Spencer, Jenny Webb, and Sharon J. …

Race: Always Complicated, Never Simple, Tarik D. Lacour

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

The concept that race has evolved rather than remaining static is not well understood, both outside and within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In Religion of a Different Color, W. Paul Reeve shows how the concept of race evolved from painting Mormons as nonwhite in the 19th century to “too white” by the beginning of the 21st century.

Full Issue

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

No abstract provided.

On Being The Sons Of Moses And Aaron: Another Look At Interpreting The Oath And Covenant Of The Priesthood, Mark Hamstead

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

Section 84 of the Doctrine and Covenants contains what is commonly known by Latter-day Saints as the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood. Priesthood leaders in the church are expected to teach and explain this Oath and Covenant to prospective Melchizedek Priesthood holders. However, the meanings of phrases within the Oath and Covenant are not well understood. For example: What does it mean to become the sons of Moses and Aaron? In what sense are bodies renewed? Are the promised blessings just for holders of the priesthood or for others as well? This paper discusses several ways that phrases in …

Plant Endemism And Geoendemic Areas Of Utah, Stanley L. Welsh, Nephi Duane Atwood

Books by Faculty of the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum

Abstract

This summary of Utah's plant endemics is based large part on a paper dealing with differences and similarities of the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau presented by Welsh to a meeting of the Range Society of America at Montrose, Colorado, in May of 2004, and a second presentation to the Colorado Native Plant Society in September of 2007. Discussed in those presentations were brief considerations of topography and geomorphology, geology, hydrology, vegetation, migrational aspects, endemics and disjuncts, and peculiar habitats of plants in the Great Basin of Utah and in the Colorado Plateau. This work expands on those considerations …

“They Said I Have A Lot To Learn”: How Teacher Feedback Influences Advanced University Students’ Views Of Writing, Dana Ferris

Journal of Response to Writing

This study examines the relationship between students’ memories of teacher feedback and these students’ writing and attitudes toward and enjoyment of writing. More than 8,500 survey responses were collected from advanced undergraduate students in a large university writing program. A question about the characteristics of teacher feedback received by student respondents was examined both quantitatively and qualitatively. Second, responses to a different survey question about students’ attitudes toward writing were statistically compared with their reported memories of teacher feedback. Responses to the teacher feedback and writing attitudes questions from different student subgroups (analyzed by first language backgrounds and by when …

Affective Tensions In Response, Nicole I. Caswell

Journal of Response to Writing

This article reports on a study focused on understanding the relationship between teachers’ emotional responses and the larger contextual factors that shape response practices. Drawing from response and emotion scholarship, this article proposes affective tensions as a way for understanding the tug and pull that teachers experience between what they feel they should do (mostly driven from a pedagogical perspective) and what they are expected to do (mostly driven by an institutional perspective) in a contextual moment. The case study of Kim, a community college instructor, offers an analysis of two affective tensions that emerged from her think-aloud protocol (TAP): …

Volume 4 Number 2 (2018)

Journal of Response to Writing

No abstract provided.

Happy Sun, Julien Fish

Inscape

I wept for Armando Palomo at his viewing lunch. I don't know what set me off. Maybe it was the weight of my steady indifference over the years, or the thought that had things been reversed and it been my viewing, he'd have been too busy consoling my family, stirring the mood to a warm reverence, to reckon with the reasons for our losing touch. But whatever hard truth the crying had flushed out of me was soon lost to my embarrassment at the thought that others at the table had taken my tears to mean that Armando and I …

A Plain And Precious Part Restored: An Essay Based On Matthew Bates's The Birth Of The Trinity: Jesus, God, And Spirit In New Testament And Early Christian Interpretations Of The Old Testament, Paul Y. Hoskisson

BYU Studies

Once every ten or twenty years, it seems, a book happens on the scene that promises to dislodge a long-held and often beloved paradigm. It is not that the old paradigm is necessarily abandoned, but rather it makes room for a different, equally valid one. The subtitle of The Birth of the Trinity announced such a shift and to my utmost delight delivered on that promise.

Parameter Uncertainty Analysis For Biofuel Crops

Journal of Spatial Hydrology

Watershed scale models are preferred to quantify long-term impacts of various land use decisions. Numerous models are available for carrying out land use change analyses, however, there are uncertainties associated with the simulation modeling system. Uncertainty in parameters is inevitable and has to be assessed before reporting modeled results to stakeholders. Parameter uncertainty analyses have been carried out in the past for different land use conditions. However, very few studies have been conducted on the parameter uncertainty analysis for biofuel crops. The production of biofuel crops is increasing since 2007 mainly because of the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) …

Improving The Bureaucracy: What Leads Government Officials To Use Evidence-Based Reports?, Nicholas Moffitt

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

No abstract provided.

The Believing Scientist: Essays On Science And Religion, Hyrum Lewis

BYU Studies

Stephen M. Barr. The Believing Scientist: Essays on Science and Religion.

Grand Rapids, Mich: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2016.

The Protective Effects Of Social Support And Engagement Coping Strategy On The Relationship Between Perceived Discrimination And Psychological Distress Among Chinese Migrant Children, Jin-Liang Wang, Hsing-Fang Hsieh, Shervin Assari, James Gaskin, Detlef H. Rost

Faculty Publications

This study was aimed to figure out whether perceived stress mediates the relationship between perceived discrimination and psychological distress among Chinese migrant children and whether social support and engagement coping moderate the detrimental effects of perceived discrimination on psychological distress. The sample comprised 813 middle-school students (482 migrant children, 331 non-migrant children) from three schools in Southwest China. The results indicate that migrant children’s perceived discrimination and perceived stress are associated with psychological distress, and perceived stress does not mediate the relationship between perceived discrimination and psychological distress. Both social support and engagement coping are inversely related to psychological distress …

Exploring The Resting State Neural Activity Of Monolinguals And Late And Early Bilinguals, Carrie Elizabeth Gold

Theses and Dissertations

Individuals who speak more than one language have been found to enjoy a number of benefits not directly associated with the use of the languages themselves. One of these benefits is that bilingual individuals appear to develop symptoms of dementia 4-5 years later than comparable individuals who speak just one language. Studies on this topic, however, do not consistently account for factors including if the individual learned their second language as a child or later in life, or their language proficiency. In an attempt to more carefully examine these variables, this study looks at structural and resting-state functional MRI scans …

Liminally White: Jews, Mormons, And Whiteness, Richard Benjamin Crosby

Faculty Publications

Jews and Mormons have pasts as racialized Others. Although they appear dissimilar, both groups have been inscribed historically as non-White. Both groups responded to these inscriptions by attempting to achieve Whiteness, making numerous and radical concessions to U.S. American culture. As a result, both groups became "liminally White". We argue that such liminal status demonstrates the fissures in Whiteness and provides creative new grounds for critiquing Whiteness as a rhetorical construct.

Sanctifcation And Cheating Among Emerging Adults, Scott Braithwaite, Paige Mcallister, Elena Henderson, Meghan Maddock, Krista Dowdle, Frank D. Fincham

Faculty Publications

Cheating—a general term for extradyadic romantic or sexual behavior that violates expectations in a committed romantic relationship—is common and leads to a number of poor outcomes. Religion has historically infuenced conceptions of romantic relationships, but societal attitudes about religion are in fux as many seek to retain spirituality even as afliations with formal religion decrease. The present study evaluated a potential predictor of cheating that is more spiritual than formally religious, the “psychospiritual” concept of relationship sanctifcation (i.e., the idea that one’s relationship itself is sacred). In a sample of college students in committed relationships (N=716), we found that higher …

Examining Engineering Design Cognition With Respect To Student Experience And Performance, Greg J. Strimel, Eunhye Kim, Scott R. Bartholomew, Diana V. Cantu

Faculty Publications

This study investigated the design cognition and performance results of secondary and post-secondary engineering students while engaged in an engineering design task. Relationships between prototype performance and design cognition were highlighted to investigate potential links between cognitive processes and success on engineering design problems. Concurrent think-aloud protocols were collected from eight secondary and 12 post-secondary engineering students working individually to design, make, and evaluate a solution prototype to an engineering design task. The collected protocols were segmented and coded using a pre-established coding scheme. The results were then analyzed to compare the two participant groups and determine the relationships between …

Comparing L1 And L2 Texts And Writers In First-Year Composition, Grant Eckstein, Dana Ferris

Faculty Publications

Scholars have at various points discussed the needs of second language (L2) writers enrolled in “mainstream” composition courses where they are mixed with native (L1) English speakers. Other researchers have investigated the experiences of L2 writers in mainstream classes and the perceptions of their instructors about their abilities and needs. Little research, however, has directly compared L1 and L2 students (mostly Generation 1.5) taking composition classes together. For this article, the researchers collected writing samples from 56 L1 and 74 L2 students enrolled in a university (mainstream) first-year composition course. Using a mixed-methods design, they analyzed the texts for language …

Examining The Impact And Influence Of The Leisure Science Literature, Mat D. Duerden, Michael B. Edwards, Michael C. Goates, Justin Dyer

Faculty Publications

This study explored the impact and influence of the leisure sciences literature through an analysis of highly cited articles. Discriminant function analysis identified whether articles had more exclusive impact inside or outside the field. Research themes and methodologies were examined based on these classifications. Results indicate articles with the greatest impact within the leisure literature tended to be quantitative studies drawing upon survey data and non-experimental designs focused on general leisure and outdoor/forest recreation. Articles with the greatest impact outside the leisure literature were more recent and focused on place attachment, psychological motivation, or community parks and recreation and used …

What Is Mormon Transhumanism? And Is It Mormon?, Gregory L. Smith

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

Some sources have described Mormonism as the faith most friendly to the intellectual movement known as Transhumanism. This paper reviews an introductory paper by the past President of the Mormon Transhumanist Association. A syllogism that purports to show that Mormonism is compatible with — or even requires — Transhumanism is analyzed. The syllogism’s premises are shown to misunderstand or misrepresent LDS scripture and doctrine. The proffered Transhumanist conception of “human nature” and the perspective offered by LDS scripture are compared and found to be incompatible. Additional discrepancies between the Transhumanist article’s representation of LDS doctrine and the actual teachings of …

The Agency Of Prayers And Their Benefit To The Dead: The Continuity Of The Commemoration Of The Sinful Dead, 400 - 1240, Stephanie Victoria Violette

Quidditas

According to their hagiographies, medieval saints could cure or let languish the devoted followers of their cults. Humans were at their mercy, and of course by extension at God’s mercy. For the ordinary dead, however, these roles were reversed. In Late Antiquity, Augustine of Hippo’s De cura pro mortuis gerenda reveals the belief that the living had the power to aid their deceased loved ones, as well as the anxieties theologians had about the place of commemoration within a Christian framework. Conversely, in Gregory the Great’s sixth-century Dialogues (book four) a different clerical viewpoint emerges, one much more at ease …

Watershed Characterization And Runoff Simulation Using Hydrologic Model

Journal of Spatial Hydrology

Attempt has been made to analyze runoff generation in two agricultural watersheds of Rift Valley Lakes basin of Ethiopia. Watershed physiographic parameters are extracted from 90m SRTM and 30m ASTER DEM data using ArcHydro and TOPAZ watershed delineation algorithms. Climatic, soil and land use data are obtained from historical observation and satellite acquired information to simulate runoff. It has been observed that 30m ASTER DEM resulted in spurious flow accumulation path that subsequently reduced the watershed area by 29% and affected other basin parameters at Hare watershed. However, 90m DEM generated well patterned flow accumulation path. ArcHydro and TOPAZ watershed …