Digital Commons Network^™

Flight Of The Gods: Charting The Terra Incognita Of Belief Through Dragon Literature, Alanna Hess

Undergraduate Honors Theses

“Flight of the Gods” is a fantasy short story that portrays a religious relationship between humans and dragons to explore themes of religious questioning. In doing so, “Flight of the Gods” unites with modern dragon literature by adapting the dragon motif to address real-world issues. Drawing from research on falcons and falconry, the dragons in this short story exhibit a complex relationship with their human counterparts that emphasizes themes of religious doubt and the complexity of belief. The thesis begins with a critical introduction discussing these topics and then presents the short story.

The Mediterranean Diet As A Protective Factor Against Tobacco-Induced Lung Cancer: Insights From The Italian Population, Morgan V. Roundy

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Lung cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer among men and the third among women in Italy, representing a major public health concern. This ecological, cross-sectional study examined and analyzed regional patterns of smoking prevalence, Mediterranean diet adherence, and age-adjusted lung cancer incidence across Italy, stratified by sex, using publicly available regional and macro-regional data and accounting for age structure and air quality. Smoking prevalence and lung cancer incidence were higher among males than females nationwide, although regional lung cancer patterns did not consistently mirror smoking prevalence, particularly among females. High adherence to the Mediterranean diet was low across …

Quantifying Location-Based Variability Of Regional Brain Metabolism Using Microsamples From Apoe Knock-In Mice, Jason G. Wells, Esteban G. Colman, John C. Price

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) is an important lipid transporter in the brain. There are three different ApoE variants: ApoE2, ApoE3, and ApoE4. Each of these variants either contribute to or protect against Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The Hippocampus (HC) and the Entorhinal Region (ER) of the brain consistently develop AD pathology first. We hypothesize that ApoE variants affect lipid and protein metabolism in these regions more strongly than in others. Differences in the regional regulation and the ApoE-isoform impacts of these metabolic pathways remain unknown.

We measured brain protein turnover rates in ApoE knock-in mice labeled with deuterated water. Using a laser …

Paul’S Porneia: A Lexical Study Of Sexual Ethics And Communal Boundaries In The Pauline Corpus, Robert G. Flores

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis thoroughly examines the Apostle Paul’s use of the Greek term πορνεία within the Pauline corpus to challenge the normative translation of sexual immorality and the accompanying assumptions connected to this broad phrase. Modern scholarship continually isolates individual occurrences of πορνεία leading to inconsistent and reductionistic interpretations. Rather, through sustained philological analysis of πορνεία and its cognates, this thesis aims to situate Paul’s πορνεία within its contemporary cultural, historical, and lexical milieu with the objective of making Paul’s πορνεία distinct. With this background, it is posited that πορνεία functions as a communal boundary marker used to differentiate between the …

Movement As Worship: Deepening Religious Practices Through Bodily Awareness And Expression, Jordan M. Halterman

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This creative project explores how bodily awareness and expression deepen personal religious practice, with particular attention to the theology from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and embodied dance experience. Drawing from theological scholarship (Aquino and Gavrilyuk 2022, Brown 2014, Jordan 2016, Summers 2014, Taylor 2023, Zaluchu 2021), dance and liturgical studies (Debenham and Debenham 2008, Hackney 2020, Kent and Tucker 1996, Kline-Chesson 1989, Roseman 2015), and teachings from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Bednar 2001, Lloyd 1998, Nelson 2008, Tanner 2005, Wisco and Seferovich 2014), this study reveals that the body is not peripheral …

“I Know He Would Do Anything If I Asked”: To All The Boys I’Ve Loved Before, Female Power Fantasy, And The Ya Romance, Ilse Eskelsen

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The female power fantasy in which a powerless woman conquers a powerful man, thereby symbolically winning his status within the patriarchy for herself, is a classic feature of adult romance. It is visible, too, in YA romances like Jenny Han’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. Sitting in tension with this inheritance from adult romance is the fact that YA is generally expected to be pedagogical, teaching young readers how to live and love well. In blending pedagogy with power fantasy and its associated escapism, To All the Boys essentially upcycles the tropes of adult romance for young …

When The Muses Went Silent And Almost Died:, Thomas M. Hines

Journal of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

What would life be like if there were no fine or performing arts? If music could not be heard in public, if great paintings of famous artists of the past and present could not be seen—in other words, how would we adjust in an esthetically deprived existence? In truth, we could continue to see and hear; nature would still be around us, but the interpretative acuity of our senses would be dulled. Opportunities to witness works of art would not be readily available. Our creative images would be internalized and not reflective of visual or auditory models. It would be …

The Art Of Jussi Björling, Conrad L. Osborne

Journal of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

Hello, everybody. Thanks to all of you looking in, and special thanks to Janel Lundgren, who extended the invitation to speak, to Walter Rudolph for hosting our event, to Steve Fischman for handling the sound fragments we’ll be hearing, and to my wife, Molly Regan,for all her help getting the fragments out to Steve. I’ve been following the activities of the Society at one degree of separation for many years, and have met or corresponded with several of you along the way, so I know I’m on home ground, among people as devoted as I am to keeping alive an …

Full Issue

Journal of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

No abstract provided.

If Only:, Walter B. Rudolph

Journal of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

The idea is perpetual. It meanders through most of our noggins, yet remains welcome in its brain-draining manner. The Anna-Lisa Björling/ Andrew Farkas biography, Jussi, keeps reminding us of the likes of Il tabarro with Leontyne Price and George London (Amadeus Press, 1996, page 335). Elsewhere it is suggested that the RCA/Serafin Otello with Jon Vickers, Leonie Rysanek and Tito Gobbi was RCA’s means of salvaging what was to have been Jussi’s Otello recording. The facts and tales are out there. We salivate every time we read or re-read them. Since many others have had a hand in that creative …

Craft Meets Code: Digital Pathways For Fine Press Collections, Nicole Lewis, Brooke Farnsworth

Faculty Publications

Fine press books embody a unique blend of artistry and craftsmanship, yet their rich material and bibliographic details often remain locked in specialized catalogs or physical archives. This project explores how integrating fine press information into Wikidata—a global, linked open data platform—can preserve and amplify the cultural significance of these works in a digital context. Using the BYU Library’s fine press holdings, we’re modeling presses, printers, and editions within Wikidata’s semantic framework, creating opportunities for discovery, visualization, and computational analysis that respect the material heritage of the book arts.

The presentation will highlight:

•        Utilizing library holdings to compile a …

Albumin-Binding Domains In Therapeutic Protein Engineering: A Structural And Computational Perspective On Rational Design, Matthew Argyle, Dallin M. Chipman, Anna Claire Woolley, Bradley C. Bundy, Dennis Della Corte

Faculty Publications

Therapeutic proteins face a critical pharmacokinetic challenge: rapid clearance from circulation limits their clinical efficacy. Albumin-binding domains (ABDs) offer an elegant solution by enabling therapeutic proteins to “hitchhike” on serum albumin’s favorable 19-day half-life through FcRn-mediated recycling. Clinical validation through approved therapeutics like ozoralizumab demonstrates the success of this approach, with preclinical studies showing fusion to an ABD extended half-life to 18 days. This review provides an analysis of ABD-fusion protein design, integrating structural biology, computational prediction, and rational engineering principles. We catalog the major classes of albumin-binding modalities, including bacterial three-helix bundle domains, engineered peptides, antibody-derived binders, and alternative …

Master Any Language 100x Faster, Yoshihiko Ariizumi

Learning, Teaching, & Researching Optimization

Learn any language 100x faster with this booklet of high-speed acquisition techniques!

Neurocore: A Gnn Approach To Configurable Ip Core Identification In Fpga Netlists, Dallin Dahl, Keenan Faulkner, James Usevitch, Jeffrey Goeders

Student Works

Netlist reverse engineering enables many applications, including detecting IP theft, verifying CAD tool correctness, and detecting hardware trojans. However, reconstructing high-level information and circuit structure from a flat, nameless netlist is challenging. In this work we focus on the problem of locating known IP cores in an FPGA netlist, which is especially challenging due to the prevalence of highly configurable IP cores. We present Neurocore: a graph neural network-based approach to classifying nodes in a netlist as instances of known IP cores, and present and evaluate different models for different use cases. We have created a large open-source dataset of …

Website & Social Media Report For 2025, Richard Hacken

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The Society’s website (https://swiss-american-historical-society.org) has undergone a series of positive changes this year. This is one case where an “upgrade” has not become a “downgrade” in disguise! The Menu (which is where you can access links to other pages on the website) is now more minimalistic, sleek, and user friendly. You will also find a newly inserted search button that helps you find keywords from the entire site.

Influence Of Superhydrophobic Surface Microstructure On Transient Jet Impingement Cooling, D. Jacob Butterfield, Brian D. Iverson, Daniel Maynes, Julie Crockett

Faculty Publications

Water jet impingement is an effective method of rapidly cooling a surface, but heat transfer from the surface is highly dependent on the surface condition and properties. Here, the impact of a superhydrophobic (SH) surface on heat transfer to an impinging, axisymmetric, room-temperature water jet with Re=6 x 10³to 18 x 103 is explored. SH surfaces are created by etching thin silicon wafers to form different micropatterns (posts or holes). Surfaces are heated to between 200 and 320°C, and the local surface temperature is measured with a thermal camera. The time resolved heat transfer from the surface and …

Officers (Executive Board)

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Thomas Quinn Marabello became President of the Swiss American Historical Society in November 2024. As president, he is focused on increasing membership, organizing engaging and interesting annual meetings, and supporting young historians.

Beth Zurbuchen has been Vice President of the Swiss American Historical Society since November 2024. She served as President of the Swiss Center of North America in New Glarus, Wisconsin from 2009 until retiring in April 2024.

Barbara Müller joined the SAHS in 2013, became Vice President of the SAHS Swiss Chapter in 2016 and is President of our sister organization, Friends of the Swiss American Historical Society …

Self-Efficacy Switch List, Yoshihiko Ariizumi

Learning, Teaching, & Researching Optimization

The Self-Efficacy Switch List is a practical checklist for building real confidence by noticing small actions, not by demanding perfect results. Each week, you focus on just 2–3 switches—such as taking small steps, restarting after failure, using social support, caring for your body, and simplifying your environment—while reflecting on what felt easier or heavier. Over time, these small, repeatable practices turn effort into momentum, strengthen your belief that “I can do this,” and help you keep going even when progress feels slow.

Improving Surface Analysis Through The Correct Use Of Low Energy Ion Scattering And X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy: Best Practices, Common Errors, And Multimodal Approaches For Material Development, Joshua W. Pinder

Theses and Dissertations

Surface analysis is the study of the atoms at surfaces and their connectivity, including their relative depth distribution, concentration, chemical state, and crystallinity. These characteristics govern many important material properties. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is one of the most widely used surface analysis techniques. Proper interpretation of XPS spectra including the appropriate use of backgrounds, peak shapes, peak positions, and charge compensation, with appropriate constraints on fitting parameters provide valuable information about elemental composition, concentration, depth distribution, and chemical speciation of surface atoms. However, despite widespread use, much of the XPS literature contains poor interpretations and irreproducible results which undermine …

Effects Of Social Support Interventions On Medical Patient Survival: A Meta-Analysis Of Non-Randomized Clinical Trials, Ksenia Illinykh-Bair, Timothy B. Smith

Faculty Publications

Background: Prior research confirms that social support promotes resilience among medical patients with chronic illness. Beyond emotional benefits, research has increasingly shown the importance of social support on physical health outcomes. Therefore, identifying and evaluating interventions that increase social support among medical patients with chronic conditions is a priority for healthcare. Methods: This meta-analysis summarized data from 39,493 medical patients across 14 non-randomized trials that had been identified by a prior review of the survival benefits of social support interventions. Results: Across four studies reporting hazard ratio data, the results failed to reach statistical significance (HR = 2.10, 95% CI …

Liahona Project Checklist And Form Samples, Yoshihiko Ariizumi

Spiritual Proficiency

Table of Contents (Page)

• Checklist for Phenomenological Reduction and Analysis of Spiritual Experiences (1)

• Spiritual Experience Phenomenological Reduction Journal Template (3)

• Daily Checklist for Spiritual Growth (4)

• 1-Minute Daily Spiritual Growth Check (5)

• Spiritual Proficiency (SP) Daily Journal (6)

• Checklist for Phenomenological Reduction and Analysis of Spiritual Experiences (Reprint) (8)

Access Is The Outcome: Rethinking Metrics, Worthiness, And Human Rights Across Philanthropy And Development, Stephanie Zabriskie

Faculty Publications

This thought paper examines how philanthropic evaluation frameworks misclassify access to basic human rights as a preliminary step rather than a complete outcome. In competitive funding environments, post-access behavioral metrics such as utilization and compliance are often elevated to outcome status and used to assess program worthiness. Drawing on rights-based and systems-level evaluation frameworks, the paper argues that access itself constitutes a sufficient and legitimate outcome, and that post-access data should function as program management inputs rather than legitimacy or financial thresholds. Reframing access as the outcome has implications for philanthropic accountability, administrative burden, and the ethical consistency of funding …

Distributed Model Predictive Control-Based Power Management Scheme For Grid-Integrated Microgrids, Sergio Escareno, Sijo Augustine, Liang Sun, Sathishkumar J. Ranade, Olga Lavrava, Enrico Pontelli, John Hedengren

Faculty Publications

Transitioning from traditional electrical grids to smart grids is currently an ongoing process that many nations are striving for due to their access to renewable resources. Energy management is one of the key parameters that decides the performance of such complex systems. Distributed Model Predictive Control (DMPC) is a promising technique that can be used to improve the energy management of grid-connected systems. This paper analyzes a grid-connected inverter system with DMPC that exchanges key operating parameters with the grid to optimize coordinated power sharing between its respective loads. The state-space model for the inverter is derived and verified to …

Molecular Survival Strategies Against Kidney Filtration: Implications For Therapeutic Protein Engineering, William Heaps, Anna Elise Packard, Kristina M. Mccammon, Tyler P. Green, Joseph P. Talley, Bradley C. Bundy, Dennis Della Corte

Faculty Publications

The glomerular filtration barrier poses a significant challenge for circulating proteins, with molecules below ~60–70 kDa facing rapid renal clearance. Endogenous proteins have evolved sophisticated evasion mechanisms including oligomerization, carrier binding, electrostatic repulsion, and FcRn-mediated recycling. Understanding these natural strategies provides blueprints for engineering therapeutic proteins with improved pharmacokinetics. This review examines how endogenous proteins resist filtration, evaluates their application in protein engineering, and discusses clinical translation including established technologies (PEGylation, Fc-fusion) and emerging strategies (albumin-binding domains, glycoengineering). We address critical challenges of balancing half-life extension with tissue penetration, biological activity, and immunogenicity—essential considerations for the rational design of next-generation …

Report On A Self-Directed Pilot Study (For Students), Yoshihiko Ariizumi

Spiritual Proficiency

Level Up Your Life: The Science of Spiritual Growth

Ever feel like you're stuck in "mental noise" or struggling to stay focused? This study explores how a simple 4-week routine can literally "accelerate" your brain and emotional resilience. By using checklists and specific mental "switches," I found that we can turn daily frustrations into moments of gratitude and even boost our ability to learn complex subjects. This isn't just about faith; it's about a practical "system" to help you stay calm, sharp, and connected to your higher purpose in a busy world.

Report On A Self-Directed Pilot Study (For Researchers), Yoshihiko Ariizumi

Spiritual Proficiency

Strategic Self-Regulation for Spiritual and Cognitive Enhancement

This pilot study investigates the impact of structured spiritual interventions on cognitive processing and emotional regulation. By integrating meta-cognitive tools—such as narrative accountability, systematic scripture application, and "mental toggles" via hymns—the research demonstrates a significant acceleration in learning efficiency and a reduction in emotional recovery time. The findings suggest that spiritual experiences are not merely random occurrences but "probability-controllable phenomena" that can be systematically cultivated through intentional environmental settings and habitual reflection.

Acoustic Analysis Of Prosodic Speech Pause In Autistic And Neurotypical Adults, Rachel Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine prosodic speech pause across two groups: neurotypical and autistic young adults. Conversational speech samples were collected from 11 neurotypical and 11 autistic young adults between the ages of 18 and 26. Speech samples were subsequently transcribed and analyzed using Praat Software. The boundaries of between- and within-utterance pauses were identified, as well as acoustically determining if the pause was filled, silent, or a combination of both. Results found a significant difference in the frequency of pauses as a function of location, pause type, and neurological status. As expected, combination pauses were the …

Perception Of Prosodic Speech Patterns Of Autistic Individuals, Rebecca Lunt

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the perception that neurotypical individuals have of autistic individuals’ speech, including their speech prosody. Speech samples were collected from four neurotypical and four autistic young adults as they answered interview questions. Then, 50 neurotypical listeners (28 female, 22 male) were recruited to listen to the speech samples and rate the speech on visual analogy scales on their likeability and ability to communicate. Participants were told prior to listening to the speech samples whether or not the speaker had autism; however, there were both deceptive and truthful listening conditions, with some autistic speakers …

Precision Acoustofluidics For High-Throughput Mechanobiology In Suspension Cells, Kaichun Yang, Ruoyu Zhong, Ke Li, John Mai, Pengzhan Liu, Ye He, Joseph Rich, Ying Chen, Janna Wang, Zhiteng Ma, Zhiteng Ma, Xianchen Xu, Qian Wu, Tony Jun Huang

Faculty Publications

Mechanomodulation, the process of altering cellular behavior through applied mechanical forces, plays a critical role in physiological processes and has substantial implications for cancer therapy, immunology, and drug development. However, precise and efficient stimulation of nonadherent cells remains a major challenge, limiting the investigation of mechanotransduction pathways and the development of targeted therapeutics. Here, we developed an acoustofluidic platform named Suspension-cell Targeted Response to Excitation via Acoustofluidic Mechanomodulation (STREAM) to enable precise, high-throughput stimulation of suspension cells. STREAM accomplishes this using 101.14-megahertz high-frequency surface acoustic waves to deliver controlled mechanical stimulation at a throughput of 500,000 cells per minute. STREAM …

The Hallyu Hexagon:, Katherine Linton

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

From the opening credits, Crash Landing On You1 captured the attention and adoration of millions. The show follows a South Korean chaebol heiress, Yoon Se-ri, who crash lands into the North Korean side of the Demilitarized Zone. She is discovered by North Korean soldier, Ri Jeong Hyeok, who mercifully decides not to kill her on the spot. Over the course of 16 episodes and 23 hours, as Ri Jeong Hyeok betrays loyalty lines by evading the North Korean Military Police and helping Yoon Se-ri return to the south, the two’s fateful meeting evolves into a cross-border romance.

Korean dramas are …