Digital Commons Network^™

Melody Of Wrath: A Retelling Of The Pied Piper, India Raye Sorensen

Theses and Dissertations

Melody of Wrath is a young adult fairy tale retelling of the Pied Piper legend centered on fifteen-year-old antihero Magnus. Driven by grief and rage after the massacre of his people, Magnus wields music as dangerous magic to summon a plague of rats and exact revenge on a corrupt city. The novel follows his morally complex journey from vengeance through compromise to a final test inside a transformative mountain, where he confronts the cost of retribution and the uncertain possibility of redemption. Drawing on folktale scholarship, archetypal theory, and literary antiheroes such as Hamlet and Edmond Dantès, this project uses …

Integrating Traditional Samoan Music With School-Aged Children In Fostering Culturally Appropriate Behaviors Within The Framework Of Fa'afaletui And Multimodal Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, Stormi Rachelle Winscot

Theses and Dissertations

Fa’aSamoa, the cultural framework shaping Samoan values, relationships, and daily life, deeply informs educational experiences in American Samoa. Music, as both cultural expression and communal practice, offers a powerful lens through which student engagement can be understood. This exploratory study employed multimodal interpretative phenomenological analysis (MMIPA), guided by the Fa’afaletui framework, to examine how Samoan and Pacific Islander students responded in embodied ways to traditional Samoan, culturally adapted Western, and other Western (folk, classical, pop) music in classroom settings. Drawing on focus group interviews and systematic observations, the study centered students’ movement, vocal expression, rhythmic participation, and peer interaction as …

Comparing The Effectiveness Of Telehealth Training For Parents Using “Help Is In Your Hands”: Joint Attention And Mands, Vivian Desiree Cortez Dominguez

Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to compare the effects of remote parent training for parents of autistic children in Peru, ages 2-4 years old. Using the Spanish version of the digital program called “Help is in Your Hands” (Rogers & Stahmer, 2026; 3C Institute, 2026), three mothers were trained on how to support their child's ability to participate in joint attention and mand. Autism is a condition in which children present with challenges in engaging with others, such as sharing joint attention and using mands. Several evidence-based trainings target these difficulties. However, accessing these trainings can be expensive and time-consuming. In less-developed …

Shame On You! The Socialization Of Self-Conscious Emotions In Early Childhood, Ashton K. Allen

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined how parents and children discuss self-conscious emotions across early childhood. Self-conscious emotions such as shame, guilt, embarrassment, awe, and pride play a critical role in children's social and emotional development. Although prior research has demonstrated links between parent and child emotion talk about basic emotions such as happiness, anger, disgust, fear, sadness, less is known about how parents and children talk about self-conscious emotions. Participants for the current study were 247 parent-child dyads. The dyads completed a wordless storybook task designed to elicit discussion of five self-conscious emotions (shame, guilt, embarrassment, awe, and pride) annually across three …

Biomass Fuel Processing, Mineral Matter Engineering, And Ash Phase Equilibria For Deposition Control In Coal To Biomass Boiler Conversion, Spencer Bandi

Theses and Dissertations

As the conversion of coal utility boilers to 100% biomass combustors gains traction, understanding the interconnected impacts of harvesting and storage methods, fuel preparation, and thermochemical ash behavior is critical. This study evaluates miscanthus, switchgrass, and corn stover, targeting a < 1000 µm particle size through minimal (shredders/hammer mills) and heavy (pelletizing) pre-treatment. While heavy pre-treatment failed in a coal mill, minimal pre-treatment succeeded. Miscanthus (forage-harvested/silage-bagged) proved optimal, exhibiting minimal exogenous mineral accumulation up to (1.26 w%) and the smoothest mechanical feeding (deviation < 9%) due to its low particle aspect ratio. Conversely, baled switchgrass and corn stover accumulated up to 9.23 w% mineral matter and exhibited severe feeding resistance (>17% deviation) driven by fibrous, high-aspect-ratio morphologies. During combustion, agricultural residues yield low ash fusion temperatures (AFTs), generating deposits two to three times stronger than coal. To mitigate this severe fouling, mineral additives (coal fly ash, lime, and cement kiln dust) were injected. These additives effectively raised bulk AFTs and reduced deposit tenacity by up to 73%. Specifically, 2 w% …

Utah Secondary English Language Arts Teachers And The Use Of Body Diverse Young Adult Literature, Katy Johnson Bigham

Theses and Dissertations

Representation in young adult (YA) literature has expanded significantly in recent years, but body size diversity - specifically the inclusion of fat protagonists - is still minimal and understudied in secondary English language arts (ELA) classrooms. Research shows that diverse literature plays a crucial role in helping students see themselves and other reflected in the texts they read, as shown in the metaphor of literature as "windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors" (Bishop, 1990). So how does this apply to the representation of body size diversity in the ELA classroom? This study explores how secondary ELA teachers in Utah perceive …

Psoas Muscle Volume Asymmetry, Not Attachment Site Asymmetry, Is Associated With Chronic Low Back Pain Status, Kassity D. Clay

Theses and Dissertations

Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is a leading cause of disability worldwide, with increasing evidence implicating neuromuscular factors such as muscle asymmetry in its pathophysiology. The psoas major muscle (PMM), a key contributor to lumbar spine stability, has been comparatively under-investigated despite its biomechanical importance. PURPOSE: To determine whether right-to-left differences in PMM volume and attachment site asymmetry are associated with CLBP; to evaluate whether ODI, IPAQ, and age are associated with PMM volume imbalance; and to assess whether combined PMM volume and attachment asymmetry are associated with CLBP. METHODS: A retrospective secondary analysis was conducted using lumbar MRI data …

"A Politics Of Its Own": Reading Adelaide Procter's Poetry In The Context Of The English Woman's Journal, Rachel Diane Gouff

Theses and Dissertations

Victorian poet Adelaide Anne Procter, a devout Catholic and a nineteenth-century feminist and social activist, was hugely popular in her lifetime for her devotional and sentimental poetry. However, scholars who have looked closely at her work have recognized that her poetry contains moments of tension that suggest they may be more than they appear on the surface. Such tensions and ironies are often glossed over or misread by readers whose expectations of Christian devotional messaging and domestic sentiment overshadow the contradictions. In this paper, I propose that one of the most effective ways to more fully understand the nuance and …

Affective Archives: Friendship And Material Intimacy In The Manuscripts Of Dora Wordsworth And Maria Jane Jewsbury, Madison Elizabeth Maloney

Theses and Dissertations

Manuscripts have long been analyzed for how they circulated alongside traditionally published texts, with scholars taking an interest in both the content and material form of such documents. In a print-centric era like the early nineteenth century, the surplus of published writing was sometimes framed as impersonal and generic. As such, material elements of manuscripts like paper, ink, and handwriting were increasingly valued as affective reflections of authors' bodies and circumstances. For example, tear stains on a letter might allow for a more personal and meaningful connection between writer and reader than the homogeneity of mass-produced texts. In a project …

How Far Is Too Far? Travel Planning Burdens In Autism Families, Risae Carlson, Daniel Olsen, Ruth Kerry

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

This study examines how the burden of planning and risk management influences travel distance and destination choice among families with a child on the autism spectrum. Survey data from Utah-based parents indicate that higher planning burden is associated with a preference for familiar, closer-to-home destinations and shorter travel distances. Despite these constraints, families report that travel remains highly valuable for bonding, fostering a sense of normalcy, and supporting developmental growth.

Metonymy In Sound: A Neurolinguistic Study Of Al-Mullalah Soundscape Using Fnirs, Rand Naser Muflih

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis offers an interdisciplinary exploration of the semantic and neurolinguistic development of Al-Mullalah, a traditional Palestinian "coded" song type. By combining metonymy, soundscape analysis, and functional neuroimaging, the study traces the evolution of Al-Mullalah from a localized, covert means of communication tied to historical struggle to a globally recognized auditory symbol of collective resilience. The research uses a multi-method approach. First, soundscape analysis demonstrates how Al-Mullalah functions within Palestinian aural counterpublics, strengthening communal memory through various uses. Second, a qualitative analysis of semantics and themes examines how the text's metonymic structures change over time. Lastly, a Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy …

Silicon Dioxide Multimode Interferometer Spectrometers, James Harkness

Theses and Dissertations

Multi-mode interferometer (MMI) spectrometers are a type of reconstructive micro-spectrometer based on imaging light propagation patterns in MMI waveguides. This dissertation describes how the MMI spectrometer was implemented for the first time using a silicon dioxide core. This approach showed a 6 dB improvement in SNR over SU-8 core devices. To implement the silicon dioxide MMI spectrometer, a fabrication technique for selectively roughening the surface of the waveguide needed to be developed. SU-8, a photosensitive polymer, was etched with oxygen plasma to create grass-like nanostructures. SU-8 grass can then be used as a transfer mask to plasma etch a surface. …

Subversive Speculative Theology In Women's Stories From The Mormon Home Literature Movement, Rachel Meibos Helps

Theses and Dissertations

In the 1910s, Mormon women used sentimental speculative fiction published in official Relief Society Magazine to engage theological questions often reserved for male ecclesiastical authority. This paper examines three short stories: Edna Coray's "A Quitter–Almost." (1918), Lucy May Green's "A Whiff of Ether" (1919), and Laura Jenkins's "Beyond the Portals" (1916), each of which depicts a woman's encounter with the spirit world at the moment of death or near-death. Drawing on the Mormon Home Literature movement and the broader tradition of sentimental fiction as political and moral discourse, I argue that these authors used narrative to fill gaps in official …

An Examination Of K-12 Administrators' Philosophical Views On Music Education, Kathryn Ann Smith

Theses and Dissertations

K-12 administrators' beliefs about the purpose and value of music education have resulted in inconsistent support for students' access to music education in public schools. This study sought to examine administrators' philosophical views about music education and factors that may influence those beliefs, contributing the first known application of a praxial framework in assessing administrator belief systems. I developed a survey incorporating Song's (2025) Philosophical Beliefs Scale (Ph.B. Scale) to measure utilitarian, aesthetic, and praxial philosophical perspectives, along with key demographic and contextual characteristics. Participants (N = 65) were recruited via e-mail and K-12 administrator Facebook groups and represented a …

Mental Gymnastics: How Misconceptions Drive Unstable Forms Of Scientific And Religious Reconciliation, Jamie Jensen, Jade Sorensen, Andrea Phillips, Mackay Strong, Isaac A. Woolley, Spencer M. Johanseon, Afton Fillmore, Luke N. Noakes

ScholarsArchive Data

Interview transcripts of introductory biology students attempting to reconcile evolutionary science with religious faith.

Anxiety Within Romantic Relationships, Brooklyn Hintze

ScholarsArchive Data

I studied the affects of social anxiety, dating anxiety, and appearance anxiety on individuals, specifically pertaining to romantic and dating relationships. I also studied literature on treatments and interventions for these anxieties.

Tracing Microplastics From Polymer-Coated Urea: Urban To Agricultural Pathways And Environmental Fate, Caden Joseph Seely

Theses and Dissertations

Polymer-coated urea (PCU) is widely used as a slow-release nitrogen (N) fertilizer because it improves N use efficiency and reduces losses through leaching, denitrification, and volatilization. However, the polymer coating raises concerns about potential microplastic (MP) transport to surface waters following fertilizer application. This thesis evaluates the off-site transport of MPs and associated nutrient and sediment losses from PCU in both urban landscape and agricultural systems. In the urban landscape study, treatments included sod, mulched beds, and water-efficient ground cover receiving uncoated urea, PCU, or liquid slow-release N at 225 kg N ha⁻¹ (with reduced rates for beds and ground …

Asymptotic Sensitivity And Adjoint Methods For Equation Discovery With Open-Source Implementation, Nathan Schill

Theses and Dissertations

The "on-the-fly" (OTF) method is a gradient-based approach to equation discovery. It makes use of (potentially limited) observational data, a data assimilation technique such as continuous data assimilation (also called nudging), and an error metric. From these it computes an asymptotic approximation of a simulated system's error sensitivity with respect to unknown parameters and utilizes any gradient-based optimization algorithm to perform parameter updates. These parameter updates may be done online or offline, and the model may be of a precisely specified form or simply a library of possible terms with potentially nonlinear parameters. We have applied the adjoint method to …

Conditioned Synthesis Of Spectra Using Matrix Decomposition For Spectral Library Augmentation, Anna Catherine Rollans

Theses and Dissertations

In hyperspectral imaging, identification and detection tasks are often done by comparing the spectrum of an unknown material to labeled spectra in a spectral library. However, it is intractable to populate a spectral library with measurements of all possible materials in all possible conditions. We propose modeling the weights resulting from matrix decomposition as functions of material condition(s) to generate synthetic spectra at unmeasured conditions to augment spectral libraries. Matrix decompositions considered here include principal component analysis (PCA), non-negative matrix factorization (NMF), and independent component analysis (ICA).We demonstrate this method by generating (1) synthetic long-wave infrared (LWIR) emissivity spectra of …

Motivating And Empowering Language Learners: Increasing Wtc Through Project-Based Open Badges, Käri Tanner

Instructional Psychology and Technology Graduate Student Projects

This design project investigates the use of project-based Open Badges to increase secondary students’ willingness to communicate (WTC) in a second language. Drawing on research identifying motivation and confidence as key predictors of communicative competence, the project integrates Project-Based Learning (PBL) with digital badging to support meaningful language use.

The intervention was piloted in a 9th-grade Spanish classroom in Davis School District, Utah. Six badges were developed across two instructional units, requiring students to complete authentic, performance-based tasks such as interpersonal conversations and presentational speaking. Students submitted evidence and reflections through a Canvas-integrated badging platform.

The design emphasized learner autonomy, …

Optimizing Seedling Emergence In Sagebrush-Steppe Restoration: The Role Of Sowing Depth, Seed Coatings, And Microsite Amendments, John Thomas Stromberg

Theses and Dissertations

Seedling survival of fall-sown seeds over the winter and subsequent emergence in spring is a major demographic bottleneck limiting recruitment in dryland restoration. Deeper sowing can place seeds in a more favorable soil environment with more stable moisture and moderated temperatures, but emergence from these depths is often constrained by the greater distance seedlings must grow to reach the surface and by mechanical resistance in the upper soil layer. In the first chapter of this thesis, we evaluated the use of a slow-release gibberellic acid (GA₃) polymer seed coating to aid in seedling emergence from deeper sowing depths. We compared …

Implementing The Safe System Approach For Speed Management In Utah, Kezia Isabelle Tripp

Theses and Dissertations

Speed management is central to reducing fatal and serious injury crashes. The Safe System Approach, an emerging roadway safety paradigm in the United States, recognizes human error and vulnerability and focuses on minimizing crash severity through coordinated policy, design, and operational strategies. This thesis examines how Safe System Approach principles can be applied to speed management, with a focus on identifying practical countermeasures and implementation strategies relevant to the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT). A compendium of practice was conducted to evaluate speed management countermeasures and document how cities and state Departments of Transportation are implementing Safe System Approach-based strategies. …

Sonic Booms From Rockets: Measurements And Modeling, Mark Charles Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

Rocket sonic booms are produced when launch vehicles or boosters travel faster than the local speed of sound in the atmosphere, generating systems of conical shock waves. The purpose of this dissertation is to perform high-fidelity measurements of rocket sonic booms and to explain the physics behind the unique phenomena observed. After a thorough literature review on sonic booms produced during spaceflight operations, Part I of this dissertation deals with measurement and analysis challenges. One challenge is reducing contaminating noise effects on sonic boom perception metrics, addressed using a low-pass filtering method tied to the noise floor. A second challenge …

Unlocking Inexpensive Training Through Overcoming Weaknesses In Dataset Distillation, Connor Wilhelm

Theses and Dissertations

Dataset distillation is a nascent technique that promises accelerated neural network training. In particular, distillation produces a highly compressed dataset that can train a neural network in as little as a single optimization step. However, distillation has not been adopted for real-world use cases due to weaknesses, such as poor approximation of the original task, unclear interpretability, high costs of the initial distillation, and poorly elaborated use cases. Here, we present five papers that advance task distillation towards real-world adoption. The papers focus on: distilling reinforcement learning environments, interpreting distillation-produced datasets, improving distillation performance using ensembling, examining distillation's generalization to …

Toward Human-Like Robot Behavior In Co-Manipulation: Learning From Human Dyad Performance, Adam Kenneth Jackson

Theses and Dissertations

Co-manipulation requires two or more agents to coordinate through a shared object while exchanging information through motion and force. Although this capability is routine for humans, robotic systems still struggle to participate in such interaction naturally and effectively. This thesis addresses that gap by studying human co-manipulation behavior, developing methods to quantify performance, collecting a leader-follower dataset that isolates haptic communication, and training data-driven controllers from human demonstrations. First, cumulative and real-time metrics were developed to quantify human dyad performance. In particular, the behavioral modes "quickly" and "smoothly" were formulated as measurable performance objectives using completion time and squared jerk. …

3d Printed Microfluidic Nonlinear Structures For Implementing Lab-On-A-Chip Integrated Logic Control, Marshall J. Rawlins

Theses and Dissertations

Microfluidic devices are individual chips that manipulate small quantities of fluid to perform, for example, biomedical assays. They provide a compact apparatus for conducting chemical processes while using only micro-liter quantities of potentially expensive chemical reagents. Continued research in microfluidics has brought significant achievements in reducing microfluidic feature sizes, allowing for microfluidic systems to be more densely packed and designed for more complex chemical assays. However, this comes with the need for additional control inputs which require additional external equipment to generate the control inputs. This leads to crowding of external inputs, or an increase in chip volume to accommodate …

Physics-Based And Data-Driven Low-Order Modeling Of Centrifugal Compressors, Chase Oliphant

Theses and Dissertations

Centrifugal compressors serve as critical components across many applications, yet their design and performance prediction present significant challenges. While computational fluid dynamics provides high-fidelity predictions of compressor behavior, its prohibitive computational cost renders it impractical for preliminary design phases where rapid exploration of the geometric and operating space is essential. Conversely, existing low-order models have enabled efficient performance estimation but suffer from limited accuracy and poor interpretability, particularly when applied to novel geometries or off-design operating conditions. This dissertation addresses these limitations through three complementary contributions that bridge the gap between high-fidelity CFD and preliminary design tools. The first contribution …

Nature Nearby: Use Of Green Spaces Mediating The Relationship Between Access To Green Spaces And Health, Sydney P. Goodson

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

Access to green spaces has been consistently linked to improved physical and mental health, yet the mechanisms driving this relationship remain underexplored, particularly in the United States. Using data from the 2018 General Social Survey (N = 1,045), this study examines whether time spent in natural environments mediates the relationship between access to green spaces and self‑rated physical and mental health. Linear regression models with robust standard errors reveal that time spent in natural environments mediates the relationship between access to green spaces and both health outcomes. These findings suggest that proximity to green spaces alone is insufficient to produce …

Family Processes As A Protective Factor Between Adverse Childhood Experiences And Adolescent Delinquency, Tessa Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores whether family processes (i.e., parental attachment and parental discipline/monitoring) serve as protective factors between the relationship of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and adolescent delinquency. Prior research has established an association between ACEs and many negative life outcomes, including delinquent behavior, while strong parental attachment and parental discipline/monitoring are linked to lower rates of delinquency. However, the interplay of these three factors has been understudied. Drawing on data from the 2024 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey (FYSAS) (N=22,016), this study examines the relationship between ACEs, family processes, and delinquency using negative binomial regression models. Results indicate that parental …

Space-Time Coded Pcm/Fm For Aeronautical Mobile Telemetry, Zachary B. Hilton

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes the application of a space-time block code for the legacy continuous phase modulation called "PCM/FM" in the IRIG 106 standard to solve the "two-antenna problem". This problem arises when two transmit antennas are used for full spatial coverage at the cost of self-interference caused by the different delays between the transmit antennas and the ground-based antenna. The space-time block encoder is described using bit-level operations on the input data stream. The space-time decoder uses coherent combining and maximum likelihood sequence estimation to produce an estimate of the data sequence. Simulation results for zero and various non-zero differential …