Digital Commons Network^™

Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: Are Emergency Department Providers Identifying Which Patients Are At Risk?, Barbara Kay Stuart

Theses and Dissertations

Objective: Identify patients with specific emergency department (ED) discharge diagnoses who later report symptoms associated with a mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI), compare frequency and severity of MTBI symptoms by discharge diagnoses, investigate the frequency of head injury education provided to ED patients with each diagnosis, and finally, to learn what type of changes have occurred in the lives of patients as a result of their injury.

Methods: Fifty-two ED patients, aged 18 to 28 who were at least two weeks post injury, spoke English and were discharged with a diagnosis of concussion/closed head injury (CHI), head laceration, motor vehicle …

Understanding The Tensions That Exist Between Two Co-Teachers Education Classroom Using Positioning, Garth Gagnier

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the tensions that existed between my co-teaching partner and me while working together during the last four years. Additionally, I studied how my partner, the special educator, and I, the general educator, negotiated the tensions that came up during our collaboration. Using a narrative approach to share our stories about our teaching, I investigated how we worked together and contributed to our co-teaching relationship. I analyzed the stories and storylines that we shared using a theoretical lens called positioning. Positioning theory looks at how people interact with each other and the positions …

Genomic Analysis Of Nematode-Environment Interaction, Bishwo Adhikari

Theses and Dissertations

The natural environments of organisms present a multitude of biotic and abiotic challenges that require both short-term ecological and long-term evolutionary responses. Though most environmental response studies have focused on effects at the ecosystem, community and organismal levels, the ultimate controls of these responses are located in the genome of the organism. Soil nematodes are highly responsive to, and display a wide variety of responses to changing environmental conditions, making them ideal models for the study of organismal interactions with their environment. In an attempt to examine responses to environmental stress (desiccation and freezing), genomic level analyses of gene expression …

Identifying Social Studies Content Embedded Inelementary Basal Readers, Wendy Taylor Workman

Theses and Dissertations

In the current educational climate of federally mandated assessments of student learning, the survival of the elementary social studies curriculum may depend on interdisciplinary instructional methods to link social studies to the accountability-favored discipline of literacy. The purpose of this content analysis study was to examine and identify social studies content embedded within a second grade and a fifth grade basal reader from the 2008 Houghton Mifflin Reading Series. Each of the basals were read and coded using the Utah State Office of Education Social Studies Standards indicators and the National Council for the Social Studies Standards as a priori …

Tensions Between Word And Image In Amalie Skram's Professor Hieronimus, Benjamin A. Bigelow

Theses and Dissertations

In her 1895 novel, Professor Hieronimus, Amalie Skram describes the struggle of Else Kant, a young mother and artist, against a tyrannical and apparently unfeeling doctor who keeps her at a Copenhagen asylum for more than a month against her will. Else feels terrorized by the constant surveillance to which she is subjected. This voyeuristic tendency in psychiatry is not only a reflection of Amalie Skram's own experience at a Copenhagen asylum, but is also indicative of a new psychiatric epistemology that understood visual observation as the key to ascertaining objective truth. Skram's novel is thus read against the …

An Introduction To Major University English Tests And English Language Teaching In China, Caiping Sun

Theses and Dissertations

The purposes of this project were to introduce (1) the four main college level English tests used in the People's Republic of China to expatriate English language educators, researchers, curriculum developers, and program designers; and (2) the college English language teaching situation in China to expatriates and give them information on where and how to apply for teaching positions there. The project produced two products to fulfill these goals. First, a paper titled an introduction to major university English tests in China: Their nature, development and importance is now ready to submit for publication. It is a paper that introduces …

Positive Versus Negative Neuroimaging In Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Outcome: A Meta-Analysis, Thomas Jeffrey Farrer

Theses and Dissertations

Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) can be broken into two categories; complicated and uncomplicated. These categories are based on structural imaging scans during the assessment of the injury. If abnormalities appear in the scan, we refer to it as complicated. The present research aims at determining whether there are differences in the neuropsychological deficits in the presences of positive neuroimaging as opposed to negative neuroimaging. This was accomplished with meta-analytic techniques. It was found that neuroimaging does not predict neuropsychological functioning in the chronic state of mTBI.

Age Differences In Marriage: Exploring Predictors Of Marital Quality In Husband-Older, Wife-Older, And Same-Age Marriages, Brandan E. Wheeler

Theses and Dissertations

Using data from a nationally representative sample of 723 married adults, this study explored the association of age differences between spouses at the time of marriage on various aspects of marital quality years into the marriage. Four groups (full sample, husband-older, wife-older, and same-age marriages) were compared to see how marital quality was affected by age difference and several other moderating variables. Spousal interactions increased among wife-older marriages, but not among the other groups. An increased level of husband participation in household labor was linked with an increase in marital happiness and a decrease in marital problems for wife-older marriages. …

Levinas, Meaning, And Philosophy Of Social Science: From Ethical Metaphysics To Ontology And Epistemology, Samuel David Downs

Theses and Dissertations

The current approach to science for mainstream psychology relies on the philosophical foundation of positivism that cannot account for meaning as humans experience it. Phenomenology provides an alternative scientific approach in which meaning is constituted by acting toward objects in the world that is more consistent with how humans experience meaning. Immanuel Levinas argues that the phenomenological approach, while more consistent with human experience, does not provide a grounding for meaning. Rather, Levinas argues that meaning is grounded in the ethical encounter with the Other, or other person, such that meaning is given by the Other in rupture. For Levinas, …

Developing Cued Pronunciation Readings For Latter-Day Saint Missionaries Learning English, Holly A. Mueller

Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this project was to develop self-directed pronunciation materials for a specialized group of English as a second language (ESL) learners—missionaries at the Provo Missionary Training Center (MTC) of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A set of six Cued Pronunciation Readings (CPRs) were developed. CPRs are computer-based, self-directed pronunciation materials designed to help students perceive pausing, word stress, and sentence-final intonation in spoken English and practice these features through a sequence of oral reading tasks. The CPRs developed in this project were based on essential missionary communicative tasks and utilized high-frequency gospel vocabulary. These tasks …

Prediction And Study Of Binary Alloys Using First-Principles Methods, Richard Hansen Taylor Ii

Theses and Dissertations

The utility of first-principles methods in the study and prediction of binary alloys is showcased by three detailed studies. In particular, the T = 0K cluster expansion methodology in conjunction with finite temperature statistical modeling by a Monte Carlo method is used to study two systems of practical interest, Mg-Li (magnesium-lithium) and Rh-W (rhodium-tungsten). Also, an empirically-informed, high-throughput approach to crystal structure prediction is shown by a study of the Pt$_8$Ti (the Pietrokowsky phase) phase and a broad and detailed analysis of binary Mg-X phases in 39 systems (X=Ag, Al, Au, Ca, Cd, Cu, Fe, Ga, Ge, Hf, Hg, In, …

The Roles Of Shame And Guilt In Hypersexual Behavior, Randy Gilliland

Theses and Dissertations

Studies among people struggling with hypersexual behavior commonly report that shame needs to be addressed when treating this population. These studies theoretically distinguish that it is shame and not guilt that exacerbates hypersexual behavior, yet no study to date has demonstrated this difference empirically. This observation led to the current investigation in which a sample (N = 177) of people seeking treatment for pornography use anonymously filledout measures of hypersexuality, shame-proneness, guilt-proneness, and motivation to change unwanted behavior. A hypothetical path model of the constructs was analyzed yielding significant positive relationships between shame-proneness and hypersexuality as well as guiltproneness and …

Does Electroacupuncture Affect Ethanol Modulation Of Mesolimbic Neurons?, Jung Jae Park

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this project was to investigate the mechanism of action of acupuncture on a critical neural substrate involved in alcoholism. Specifically, this study evaluated the effects of stimulation of the acupuncture Shenmen (HT7) point on inhibitory GABA neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA), a midbrain structure implicated in drug and alcohol abuse, and ethanol self-administration. In addition, the role of opioid receptors (ORs) in ethanol and acupuncture effects was explored. Using electrophysiological methods in mature rats, we evaluated the effects of HT7 stimulation and opioid antagonists on the VTA GABA neuron firing rate. With behavioral paradigms, we …

The Role Of Religion And Spirituality In Olav’S Treatment And Recovery: Commentary On An Exemplary Case Report, P. Scott Richards

Faculty Publications

The Case of Olav (Stålsett, Engedal, & Austad, 2010) offers in-depth insight from a spiritually and existentially informed psychodynamic perspective of how religious and spiritual issues may be intertwined with psychopathology. This case report also shows how psychological and spiritual interventions can be used in an integrative manner to help patients with severe long- term psychopathology. Ultimately the case provides convincing quantitative and qualitative evidence that an in-depth working through of Olav’s pathological inner representations of self and God were instrumental in his psycho-spiritual healing and recovery.

Status Of An Invading Mainland Jackrabbit On Cerralvo Island, Gulf Of California, Consuelo Lorenzo, Sergio Ticul Álvarez-Castañeda, Patricia Cortés-Calva, Mayra De La Paz, Jorge E. Bolaños

Western North American Naturalist

We report the first observations of the black-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus californicus) on Cerralvo Island, Baja California Sur, Mexico. Evidence suggests a self-sustaining population. Analysis of available records indicates no previous record of Lepus on the island. Introduction of the jackrabbit to the island appears to have occurred between 1960 and 1991.

Real-Space Approach To Time Dependent Current Density Functional Theory, Daniel S. Jensen

Theses and Dissertations

A real-space time-domain calculation of the frequency-dependent dielectric constant of nonmetallic crystals is outlined and the integrals required for this calculation are computed. The outline is based on time dependent current density functional theory and is partially implemented in the ab initio density functional theory FIREBALL program. The addition of a vector potential to the Hamiltonian of the system is discussed as well as the need to include the current density in addition to the particle density. The derivation of gradient integrals within a localized atomic-like orbital basis is presented for use in constructing the current density. Due to the …

Investigation Of Potential Trapping Bias In Malaise Traps Due To Mesh Gauge, In Two Habitats, David Jensen Betts

Theses and Dissertations

Malaise traps are a common tool for collecting insects used by many researchers. Although there have been variations in the models and materials used for Malaise traps, the potential for sampling bias due to mesh gague has been explored inadequately. This study compared coarse and fine mesh Townes model Malaise traps in two habitats on the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The two habitats next to the Lick Wash trailhead were defined by dominant vegetation type – sagebrush and grasses or Piñon-Juniper. We collected from three sites per habitat type, over three consecutive days in June in both 2006 and 2007. …

Synthesis Of Glycolipids And Evaluation Of Their Nkt Cell Stimulatory Properties, Yang Liu

Theses and Dissertations

Natural killer T (NKT) cells are a subset of T cells that modify a variety of immune responses. NKT cells recognize glycolipid antigen presented by a molecule called CD1d, a nonclassical antigen-presenting molecule. The best known subset of CD1d-dependent NKT cells expresses an invariant T cell receptor Vα (TCR-α) chain. These are referred to as type I or invariant NKT (iNKT) cells. When stimulated by a glycolipid, NKT cells rapidly release large amounts of cytokines. Cytokines released by NKT cells can induce either Th1 or Th2 responses. Th1 cytokines are effective in regulating bacterial, parasitic, and viral infections. But Th1 …

State Regulation Of Assisted Reproductive Technology, Jonathan J. Morgan

Theses and Dissertations

State regulation of assisted reproductive technology (ART) has been occurring since the inception of earlier technological advances such as artificial insemination to aid human reproduction. I provide a brief overview of the current regulation of ART in the U.S. and the literature on state regulation. Unlike previous studies of ART regulation which use content analysis or case studies of individual state laws I estimate ART regulation for the entire U.S. by using a series of random effects logistic regression models for the time period 1995-2006. To my knowledge this is the first quantitative analysis of ART regulation. I test the …

Evaluating The Usefulness Of An Aural Gapped Listening Summary As A Measure Of Academic Listening Proficiency, Sarah Elizabeth Mottaghinejad

Theses and Dissertations

For this project I sought to find a more effective means of evaluating academic listening comprehension. This involved doing an in-depth investigation of academic listening, the constructs involved in listening comprehension, and of methods of assessing listening comprehension. It also included a study of the concept of test usefulness (Bachman and Palmer, 1996), which consists of reliability, construct validity, authenticity, interactiveness, impact, and practicality, and is used to help select the most effective methods of assessing language abilities. Based on my review of listening comprehension testing methods, I created a method of assessing academic listening comprehension, Aural Gapped Listening Summaries …

An Evaluation Of The Learning Outcomes And The Curricular Organization Of The Brigham Young University Undergraduate Tesol Internship Course, Marisa Irene Ontiveros

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents two research problems regarding the evaluation of the learning outcomes and the curricular organization of the TESOL minor internship course at Brigham Young University. First, the course learning outcomes have not been revisited after their initial design which demands the need for assessment. Additionally, the current curricular organization of the course does not allow for all learning outcomes to apply to students enrolled in the course, as some of the students do their internships internationally which prevents them from participating in the sessions held locally during their internship. In an effort to find solutions to these two …

Planning Policy And Public Perception In Small-Town Utah, Greg M. Platt

Theses and Dissertations

City growth policies codify community values and serve as the basis for enforcement of community standards. If these policies do not match resident preferences for growth, potential exists for communities to grow in ways which make the community undesirable. This thesis examines whether adopted city growth policies match resident preferences in small towns in Utah. Findings include a strong relationship between resident preferences and city leader preferences for growth. Also, city staffs are poor readers of public sentiment relative to growth and growth management. Some cities are more effective in enacting city policies to match resident attitudes towards growth than …

Sport As Art: The Female Athlete In French Literature, Christina Ann Tsaturyan

Theses and Dissertations

The modern conception of organized, codified sport originated in Europe during the 19th century. At this time, instructors began to institute the practice of certain physical activities at school as a means of teaching morals, forming character, and initiating social exchange. Sport is particularly appropriate for forming men because of its public, physical nature. The values it instills—courage, strength, leadership—are also decidedly masculine. What, then, is made of the female athlete? Are the noble qualities that sports affirm inapplicable to women? In this thesis, I argue that female participation in sports often leads to masculinization, unless the sport is transformed …

« Pour La Patrie, Par La Montagne » : Illustration De L’Imaginaire De La Conquête Dans Tartarin Sur Les Alpes D’Alphonse Daudet Et Là-Haut D’Édouard Rod, Anabelle Stephania Selway

Theses and Dissertations

La période 1870-1914 est une ère de paix relative pour la France. Apres la défaite de 1870, la politique revancharde française ranime les efforts impérialistes de colonisation en Afrique et dans les iles. Cet élan colonialiste se traduit dans la pratique du sport qui gagne de popularité et devient le moyen idéal d’acheminer les idéaux républicains. L’alpinisme et la course aux sommets des Alpes deviennent alors symboliques de l’imaginaire de conquête présent dans l’esprit de la bourgeoisie européenne.

Bien que ce phénomène soit l’objet de plusieurs études historico-culturelles, telles que celles d’Olivier Hoibian, Philippe Joutard et Dominique Lejeune, rares sont …

Physical And Chemical Properties Of Ice In A Main Valley Glacier And A Tributary Glacier, Gornergletscher, Canton Valais, Switzerland, Annika M. Quick

Theses and Dissertations

Glacier models often fail to incorporate the geometry and/or physical properties of tributaries included in complex glaciers. Tributary glaciers have different source areas and flow conditions than the adjacent main valley glacier. Ice cores (~3m depth) and surface samples (<0.5m depth) were collected from Grenzgletscher (main valley glacier) and Zwillingsgletscher (tributary glacier) in the Gornergletscher system of the Swiss Alps. Stable water isotopes indicate seasonal variation, showing 1-2 annual layers. The mean d18O for Grenzgletscher is ~4.8‰ lower than for Zwillingsgletscher. This difference may be accounted for in part by elevation differences between the accumulation areas (~1.1‰ δ18O), increased avalanching in Grenzgletscher (~1.8 ‰ δ18O), and by varying climatic conditions at the time of precipitation (~0.9-1.4‰ variation in δ18O). Using a kinematic ice flow model, core ages were estimated using effective annual layer thickness (based on seasonal variations), annual accumulation rate and ice thickness. The Grenzgletscher core is ~4 years older than the Zwillingsgletscher core. Based on ages and flow distances, the tributary has a lower flow velocity (63-87 m/yr) compared to Grenzgletscher (61-134 m/yr). To understand thermal properties of the tributary, a 775 m GPR survey (200 MHz) was conducted along a flow line of Zwillingsgletscher. Topographic waves (ogives) observed on the surface are mimicked by the onset of reflectivity 10-20 m below the surface. Reflective regions are interpreted as warmer ice at the pressure melting point, overlain by colder ice. This thermal structure is likely related to acceleration through an ice fall. Since most tributary glaciers include ice falls, thermal properties of tributary glaciers may be different from those of the main valley glacier. The properties and geometry of tributary glaciers are significantly different from main valley glaciers and should therefore be incorporated into glacier models in the future.

A New Eulerian-Based Double Continuity Model For Predicting The Evolution Of Pair Correlation Statistics Under Large Plastic Deformations, Sadegh Ahmadi

Theses and Dissertations

A new model using a double-continuity relation for predicting the evolution of pair-correlation functions (PCFs) is presented. The proposed model was developed using statistical continuum theory and is employed to predict the viscoplastic behavior of polycrystalline materials. This model was built based upon the continuity relations and a double divergence law that guarantees the conservation of both orientation and mass; and also satisfies the field equations (equilibrium, constitutive, and compatibility) at every point of the polycrystalline material throughout the deformation process. In the presented model, motion of particles in the real space and rotation of crystallographic orientations in the Euler …

Understanding Teachers' Change Towards A Reform-Oriented Mathematics Classroom, Linnae Denise Williams

Theses and Dissertations

Within the current mathematics teacher population there are teachers that want to change from traditional teaching styles to become more reform-oriented (i.e. focusing on student understanding rather than procedures). Many of these teachers do not know how to begin this change. This research looks into the tools that are most valuable for teachers as they change from traditional teaching practices to include more reform-oriented teaching practices. Through this phenomenological study, six successful reform-oriented teachers were interviewed to understand what tools they found to be most valuable in their process of change. The interviews uncovered a common guiding principle that facilitates …

Shavian Self-Fashioning: Authorized Biography And Shaw's Superman, Cort H. Kirksey

Theses and Dissertations

George Bernard Shaw exercised an above-average level of authorial control, which even extended to his relationship with his biographers. Shaw crafts a persona, with the help of his "authorized" biographer Archibald Henderson, which displays a process of evolutionary development and progress along the lines of the Shavian philosophy of the Life Force and the Superman. In essence, Shaw is casting himself as a prototype for the Superman through the autobiographical manipulation of his biographers and aesthetic modes of self-fashioning.

Crosses, Flowers, And Toads: Classic Maya Bloodletting Iconography In Yaxchilan Lintels 24, 25, And 26, Kirsten Rachelle Steiger

Theses and Dissertations

The lintels of Yaxchilan Structure 23 seem to be a demonstrable case wherein specific symbols are singled out and deliberately used in an ordered sequence. Taken together as a unified series, Yaxchilan Lintels 24, 25, and 26 summarize the multi-step process of royal autosacrifice. An iconographic study of the huipil patterns depicted on these lintels yields a better understanding of complex bloodletting iconography and the way in which depictions of ceremonial autosacrifice reinforce Classic Maya beliefs relating to the divine role of Maya elite in eliciting communion with the gods and the subsequent rebirth of the cosmos. The rich iconography …

In Search Of Empty Places: Voids In The Distribution Of Galaxies, Brian K. Bucklein

Theses and Dissertations

We investigate several techniques to identify voids in the galaxy distribution of matter in the universe. We utilize galaxy number counts as a function of apparent magnitude and Wolf plots to search a two- or three-dimensional data set in a pencil-beam fashion to locate voids within the field of view. The technique is able to distinguish between voids that represent simply a decrease in density as well as those that show a build up of galaxies on the front or back side of the void. This method turns out to be primarily useable only at relatively short range (out to …