Digital Commons Network^™

Everyday Practices In Seed Sovereignty, Tapiwa Singini, Wu Xu

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Seed sovereignty is increasingly recognized as central to debates around food security, biodiversity, and rural livelihoods, particularly in the Global South. In Malawi, seed is not merely an agricultural input but a carrier of memory, resilience, and political agency. This paper explores how smallholder farmers in rural Malawi engage in everyday acts of resistance to maintain seed sovereignty amidst expanding corporate influence, restrictive state policies, and climate variability. Based on 12 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Mchinji District, I employ a political ecology framework and peasant resistance theory to analyze the lived strategies of farmers. These include seed saving, informal …

Three Case Studies Of Transformative Learning In A Service-Learning Anthropology Course, Elizabeth S. Schulte

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the processes of personal transformation of three students enrolled in a service-learning based course that I taught at Brigham Young University. Informed by my observations as instructor of the course, in the analysis below I draw upon these students' weekly personal reflection essays to describe the process of individual transformation of these three students across the semester. This accounting provides insight into aspects of and contributing factors to that growth. I propose that a service-learning based course design with a framework of anthropological theory is a good way to facilitate transformational educational experiences. Aspects of service-learning such …

Cybernest: A Step Forward For Training Cybersecurity Professionals, Justin Mott

Theses and Dissertations

The growing complexity of cyber threats has exposed a critical gap between academic cybersecurity education and the operational demands of the workforce. This thesis presents a pilot study for a use-case of CyberNEST, a simulation-based training platform that integrates adversary emulation and threat-informed learning to create realistic, hands-on experiences for cybersecurity students.(17) The system was designed to replicate Security Operations Center (SOC) environments and incident response workflows, allowing participants to investigate, analyze, and respond to simulated attacks under authentic conditions. This pilot-study performed training simulations using the CyberNEST platform, developed by Brigham Young University, with students, collecting data from pre- …

An Analysis Of Ukrainians' Language Attitudes And Ideology: A Conflict-Catalyzed Language And Identity Shift, Kateryna Kravchenko

Theses and Dissertations

On February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine. According to Vladimir Putin's speech, the main goal of the war was to protect the Russian-speaking population of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. Many Ukrainians indeed speak Russian on a daily basis, largely due to the long and complicated history between the two countries. Recently, there has been an increase in pro-Ukrainian ideologies (Kulyk 2016); however, as the full-scale invasion began, people started advocating for Ukrainian usage in all public domains, and many even vowed to never speak Russian again. Since then, there has been a profound change in language …

Evaluating The Performance Of The Primary Heat Exchanger In A Sco2 Brayton Cycle While Firing Solid Fuels, Brian Jeffrey Schooff

Theses and Dissertations

The sCO2 closed-loop Brayton cycle is an alternative to the standard steam-Rankine cycle for generating electrical power from a heat source. The sCO2 Brayton cycle is advantageous because it can be more efficient, use less water, and have smaller turbomachinery than the steam-Rankine cycle. While there are several research groups advancing the technology necessary to utilize the sCO2 Brayton cycle on an industrial scale, none of these groups use solid fuel combustion as the heat source. A Brigham Young University-led project developed and tested a pilot-scale sCO2 Brayton cycle unit (1.6 MWth) using natural gas, pulverized coal, and pulverized biomass …

Kuleana Mākua: Native Hawaiian Parents' Exercise Of Agency In K-12 School Selection, Joseph Piikeha Kahaka`Ulamaikalaniki`Eki`E Hao

Theses and Dissertations

In this qualitative study the author investigates how Native Hawaiian parents on Hawai`i Island navigate educational choices for their children amidst a history of centralized, Western-dominated schooling and systemic cultural suppression. Grounded in Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), the research explores parent perceptions of different K–12 school types and the complex factors that drive their selection. Through semi-structured interviews and a card sort activity with sixteen Native Hawaiian parents (n = 16), the study confirms that parental choice is fundamentally an act of indigenous self-determination defined by Kuleana Mākua (parental responsibility, authority, and privilege). The findings reveal that parents’ choices …

Inelastic Behavior Of Three-Story Buildings With Concrete-Filled Composite Plate Shear Walls Subjected To Wind Loads, Joshua John Blom

Theses and Dissertations

Although elastic design of the main wind force resisting system in a building is the conventional approach it is not always desirable. In this study, nonlinear static and dynamic analyses are used to predict the inelastic behavior of a three-story building with concrete-filled composite plate shear walls subjected to wind loads. To explore the potential for inelastic design, two types of planar composite shear wall buildings are examined: individual shear walls designed using an elastic approach, and coupled shear wall pairs designed using an inelastic approach adopted from seismic design provisions. Nonlinear static "pushover" analyses are run using an assumed …

Teaching And Learning In Envisioning Byu, Volume 1: Foundations And Dreams: A Latter-Day Saint University Educative Perspective, Nicholas P. Bown

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis outlines the principles of teaching and learning found within Envisioning BYU, Volume 1: Foundations and Dreams, a collection of foundational texts on education at Brigham Young University (BYU). In doing so, this thesis addresses a gap in internal university discourse about how to apply “gospel methodology” to teaching and learning at BYU. This study aims to elucidate these principles based on the assumption they may be of philosophical and practical value within BYU, as well as higher education more generally. In order to identify the salient teaching and learning principles found within Foundations, I conducted a qualitative textual …

Measuring And Modeling Nonlinear Vibrations In Structures With Mechanical Joints, Suzanna Gilbert

Theses and Dissertations

Many assembled structures have bolted or riveted joints. Aside from providing a convenient method of assembly, mechanical joints have an important effect on the structure's dynamic response to its environment. Friction and microslip within the joints help to damp out unwanted vibration. However, the joints also introduce nonlinearity into the response. Most notably, the natural vibrational modes of the structure no longer have constant natural frequencies and damping ratios. Rather, they shift as a function of vibration amplitude. Several methods exist to characterize the dynamics of nonlinear systems, yet they are generally validated on simple benchmark structures, and many still …

Evaluating Feature Importance In Antarctic Soil Biota Models: An Exploratory And Modeling-Based Approach, Rachel E. Hunter

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Antarctic McMurdo Dry Valleys are some of the harshest environments on our planet. They may not support higher fauna and vegetation, but the environment has a fairly diverse soil microbiome. The soil microbiome consists mainly of invertebrate nematodes (Plectus, Scottnema, and Eurydiolaimus), rotifers, and tardigrades. In this study, we examined ecological modeling approaches to enhance our understanding of the processes contributing to the overall population. In this process, two extensive data sets were used: the Biotic Effects Experiment (BEE) and the Elevational Transect (ET) data set compiled by the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research program were combined. …

The Policy Project: Translating Menstrual Equity Resources, Ashley Jackman

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This creative project focuses on translating key materials from The Period Project, a campaign by the Utah nonprofit The Policy Project that tackles menstrual inequity by pushing for free period products in schools and public spaces. Their educational toolkits guide students and parents toward menstrual resources and outline compliance requirements for school administrators. However, a significant portion of Utah’s population speaks Spanish at home, and current toolkits are not readily available in Spanish. As a Spanish translation major, I saw this as an opportunity to use my skills in a real-world setting, as the translated toolkit will be immediately electronically …

Cracking The Shell: A Corpus-Based Analysis Of The Functions Of Shell Nouns In American Legal Contracts, Geoffrey T. Julian

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The forms and functions of shell nouns (SN), semantically abstract nouns that can package and characterize complex segments of discourse, have been documented in academic discourse and L2 English writing (e.g., Aktas & Cortes, 2008; Benitez-Castro & Thompson, 2015). The abstract nature of SNs lends itself to use where vague language might be favored to allow for a variety of contingencies (Benitez-Castro, 2015). Thus, SNs have also been found to be present in legal language where some of these functions are desirable (Ren et al., 2019). The present study examines the use of SNs in a corpus of 2,700 US …

Liahona Project Data Set 5 Up To 2025, Yoshihiko Ariizumi

Spiritual Proficiency

This document is a collection of highlights extracted from more than 800 articles from the Japanese online Liahona magazines, spanning from the beginning of 2024 to the end of 2025. Each article was individually checked to extract inspirational principles and highlights from personal experiences, serving as a resource to develop Spiritual Proficiency and build the foundation for Wits Psychology (With the Spirit Psychology). The document is 61pages long.

In Their Own Voice: A Grounded Theory On Overcoming Internet Gaming Disorder, Jayson Carmona

Theses and Dissertations

Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) is highly comorbid with depression, anxiety, sleep loss, lower productivity, and social isolation. The DSM-5 TR designates IGD as a condition for further study, however the ICD-11 has designed Gaming Disorder as a codified illness. While most studies look at IGD via a medical model lens focusing almost exclusively on symptomology, very little research explores the process of recovery in IGD. In this grounded theory inquiry, a theory of recovery from IGD is generated. Secondary internet data consisted of 113 posts on the subreddit /r/StopGaming on reddit.com. This resulted in 196 pages of data. Researcher used …

Using Serial Open Circuit Potentiometry To Study Ce And Gd Deposition In Molten Licl-Kcl Eutectic, Ranon G. Fuller, Guy L. Fredrickson, Devin Rappleye

Faculty Publications

The ability to electrochemically separate individual species in a pyrochemical reprocessing salt relies on first being able to detect a separation in their reaction potentials. This requires the ability to measure reaction potentials with extreme precision. In this work, we introduce a novel technique called serial open circuit potentiometry (SOCP) and demonstrate its effectiveness at precisely measuring metal deposition reaction potentials. SOCP has several advantages over traditional open circuit potentiometry, including its abilities to quantify the error of measured equilibrium potentials by averaging many individual OCP measurements, determine overpotential deposition nucleation potentials to instrument precision, and simultaneously determine the nucleation …

Building A Growth Mindset Via Continuous Revision: A Case Study Of A Basic Writing Classroom, Adrian J. Rivera

Journal of Response to Writing

Continuous revision policies provide sizable benefits to students, though one previously unexplored avenue of research is how such policies can help students develop a growth mindset. For the purposes of this article, a continuous revision policy is one where students are able to revise their work on a rolling basis up until a predetermined point in the semester, with multiple rounds of revision being accepted and encouraged. This article details the results of a semester-long study of a basic writing classroom wherein the objective was to determine how a continuous revision policy can help students develop a growth mindset. By …

Research Summaries - Research For Practice: Joni September 2025 Issue, Erica Jensen, Emma Indart, Emilyn Watkins, Faith Manchester

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

No abstract provided.

Realities Of Mexican Civil Society Organizations: Index For The Promotion Of Activities Of Civil Society Organizations, Pablo Armando Gonzalez Ulloa Aguirre

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

This article presents the findings derived from the construction of an Index that evaluates the state of promotion of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) across Mexico’s 32 federal entities during the year 2021. It also outlines the criteria considered in building the Index and the results obtained in each of its dimensions. The Index provides a comprehensive and multidimensional perspective on the study of CSO promotion, analyzing legal, institutional, and programmatic dimensions with the aim of comparing progress and setbacks in this area. In doing so, it offers an opportunity to improve certain aspects as more data is generated and made …

The Inaccessibility Of Nonprofit Organizations Data In Sub-Saharan Africa, Barnabas Suva, Robert Bhero

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

This article presents initial findings from a research study on nonprofit data across countries, focusing on the accessibility of nonprofit organizations in 49 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, following thorough research of accessibility data from nonprofit organizations, regulatory bodies, and nonprofit websites. Only 12% of countries maintain a functional public nonprofit organization database, and even fewer provide detailed, searchable registries. While 94% of countries legally grant nonprofit organizations tax exemption, mandatory reporting obligations are often not paired with public access, thereby weakening accountability. These findings situate data inaccessibility as an agency problem where principals (donors, policymakers, communities) lack sufficient information to …

Special Edition: Full Issue - Research For Practice, September 2025, Angie Holzer, Erica Bassett

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

No abstract provided.

Editor’S Note: Comparative Civilizational Turn: The Future Of The Iscsc In The Wake Of Geopolitical “Grey Rhino” Events, Greg Lewicki

Comparative Civilizations Review

The last few years seem to have brought some bitter realizations among political scientists, forecasters, and security analysts. Namely: they tend to err, and their forecasts too often remain off-target.

Sociological Dichotomies Of Mława, Poland, Over Time: Misplaced Concreteness, Individual Triumph, Social Tragedy, Joseph Drew

Comparative Civilizations Review

For many years, I have been an active member of the International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations and Editor-in-Chief of its journal, the Comparative Civilizations Review. Since the 1960s, I have also been a university administrator and a professor, globe-trotting to learn about societies near and far, their rises and falls. Yet even though I lived and worked in Prague, as president of a university, not far from the Polish border, I had never set foot in that country, notwithstanding that my paternal grandfather came from there.

Resisting Islamophobia: “Westophobia” In Social Media, Peter O'Brien, Jordan Nelson

Comparative Civilizations Review

Both the practice and study of Islamophobia repose on the concept of comparative civilizations. Purveyors of Islamophobia use what Roger Westcott calls a “denotative” understanding to posit an objective conflict (or “clash” à la Samual Huntington) between Western and Islamic civilizations. Scholars who analyze Islamophobia tend to take what Westcott calls a “connotative” approach that views civilizations as subjective, social constructs (à la Edward Said’s “Orient”).

Despite many advantages, the latter approach tends to dismiss the agency of Muslims to resist Islamophobia. This article counters that trend by exploring Islamist resistance to Islamophobia, to which we give the shorthand label, …

Academic Civilization: Expansion And Development, Inbar Gotlib Gotlib-Rivkin

Comparative Civilizations Review

The concept of academic civilization was developed out of and in relation to that of modern civilization. Prominent characteristics of modern civilization are reflected in institutions of higher education, and they can therefore be regarded as constituting a civilization. The six main characteristics of institutions of higher education that render them a civilization include expansion in terms of scope and growth, flexibility and institutional diversity, center-periphery relations, academic culture, autonomy and academic freedom, and the monopolization of professional training and the professional middle class. This paper addresses the first characteristic — expansion of institutions of higher education — and …

Towards The Systematic Cross-Civilizational Comparison: How Civilizations Work - Case 1: The Monotheistic Civilization, Liah Greenfeld

Comparative Civilizations Review

The purpose of this essay is to offer several hypotheses based on the concept of civilization and the conceptual scaffolding for the study of the cultural reality, proposed in the Spring 2024 CCR paper, regarding the three civilizations coexisting in the world today: the monotheistic, the Sinic, and the Indic. It introduces the modal dimensions along which civilizations may differ on the level of the individual mind — cognitive (pertaining both to the structure and contents of thought), moral, and emotional; and that of the society (separate institutions and institutional systems) and history.

End Matter

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Wind Turbine Rotor Design Using High-Fidelity Aerostructural Optimization, Marco Mangano, Sicheng He, Yingqian Liao, Denis-Gabriel Caprace, Andrew Ning, Joaquim R. R. A. Martins

Faculty Publications

Large wind turbines yield more energy but demand careful aeroelastic blade design. Coupled multiphysics design strategies can reduce wind energy costs exploiting fluid-structure interactions. This work presents the first high-fidelity aerostructural optimization study of a large wind turbine rotor.We use blade-resolved fluid dynamics and structural solvers in a monolithic gradient-based optimization framework to explore steady-state torque and blade mass trade-offs. The coupled-adjoint approach computes gradients efficiently, enabling the optimization of over 100 structural and geometric parameters simultaneously. Our optimization study modifies a DTU 10 MW benchmark with a simplified structure and isotropic material properties. The tightly coupled optimizations increase torque …

What Guides The Iscsc?, Lynn Rhodes

Comparative Civilizations Review

Clear and well-defined bylaws are the backbone of any nonprofit organization, ensuring transparency, accountability, and effective governance. For organizations like the International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations (ISCSC), bylaws serve as a guiding framework that outlines decision-making processes, leadership roles, and the responsibilities of members.

Full Issue

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Modeling, Control, And Learning For Whole-Body Manipulation With Large-Scale Soft Robots, Curtis C. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation addresses the challenge of enabling soft robots to perform contact-rich manipulation tasks by overcoming limitations in hardware, modeling, control, and learning. First, we present hardware advancements with PneuDrive, a pneumatic control system for actuating soft robots. We also introduce Baloo, a hybrid soft-rigid robotic torso which achieves a single-arm payload capacity of 19.3 kg and robust whole-body grasping capabilities. We also develop a full-body tactile sensing system enabling piezoresistive sensor arrays to cover large areas (1 square meter) with over 8000 distributed sensing points. Second, we focus on developing tractable dynamic models based on the Recursive Newton-Euler algorithm …