Digital Commons Network^™

The Impact Of Short Sleep On Food Reward Processes In Adolescents, Kara Mcrae Duraccio, K. N. Krietsch, N. Zhang, C. Whitacre, T. Howarth, M. Pfeiffer, D. W. Beebe

Faculty Publications

Short sleep has been linked to adolescent obesity risk, but questions remain regarding the dietary mechanisms by which this occurs. We tested whether mildly shortening sleep influences how rewarding and appealing healthy adolescents find several kinds of foods. Eighty-eight healthy adolescents completed a within-subjects crossover sleep experiment comparing 5 days of Short Sleep (6.5 hour sleep opportunity) vs. 5 days of Healthy Sleep (9.5 hour sleep opportunity). Following each condition, adolescents completed measures of food appeal and reinforcing value of food across five food types: sweets/desserts, fruits/vegetables, lean meats/eggs, fast food entrees, and processed snacks. Adolescents averaged 2.2 hours/night longer …

Preventing A Permanent Underclass: Why In-State Tuition For Daca Students Just Makes Sense, Christian Bowcutt, Eliza Allen

Brigham Young University Prelaw Review

In the landmark 1982 Supreme Court Case "Plyler v. Doe", the right to a free education was guaranteed to undocumented students. One of the reasons for this was to "prevent a permanent underclass". Today, we have a similar opportunity to lift our fellow peers by passing legislation to guarantee in-state tuition to DACA recipients. DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) is a program that grants temporary citizenship to qualifying children and youth who are brought to the United States with their parent(s) or guardian(s). Currently, the majority of states have not guaranteed this right to DACA students. With tuition rates …

Addressing Abuse In Drug Cases: Violence As A Mitigating Factor In Safety Valve Sentencing, Samantha Louise Burton

Brigham Young University Prelaw Review

Our current criminal justice system does not adequately consider the effects of abuse on drug crime offenders during the process of determining their sentences. Despite the fact that abuse has very real scientifically corroborated effects on a defendant’s culpability, judges sometimes misinterpret how abuse suffered by (predominantly female) defendants affects their participation in a drug crime. Furthermore, the safety valve—a provision that allows downward departure on a sentence for low-level nonviolent drug offenders who meet certain conditions—does not account for abuse at all. This paper proposes adding a qualification to the safety valve that prompts judges to consult with mental …

Left At The Borders: Addressing The Issue Of Inclusivity For Female Immigrants, Elizabeth S. Castillo, Brooklyn Bird, Abby Forrest, Editor

Brigham Young University Prelaw Review

The United States laws, regulations, and political discourse surrounding migration is rife with varying sensitivities. These include but are not limited to the physically, emotionally, and mentally exigent circumstances that cause women and girls of many ages and nationalities to flee their home countries for the United States. Because of the structure of American immigration law and the impactful measures taken by the Trump administration, we argue the language found in the Immigration and Nationality Act neglects to address gender-specific persecution, which renders the already difficult process of seeking asylum still more challenging for women hoping to migrate to the …

Beyond #Metoo: Addressing Workplace Sexual Misconduct Cases And The Targeted Use Of Non-Disclosure Agreements, Taylor Percival, Lane Gibbons

Brigham Young University Prelaw Review

Recent allegations against prominent figures have brought the targeted use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in sexual misconduct cases to public knowledge. NDAs have historically been used in a variety of ways in such cases, but situations of coercion and uneven power dynamics often leave victims with no real choice, and they end up losing their right to speak publicly about their experiences. This paper discusses the history of NDAs in sexual misconduct cases, explores when and why their enforcement is unlawful, and proposes the adoption of federal legislation like the BE HEARD Act to limit the inappropriate use of NDAs.

Religious Rites And Property Rights; Intersectionality In United States Case Law, Rachel Miner

Brigham Young University Prelaw Review

Religious liberty and property remain two cherished human rights protected under Constitutional law in the United States. While the precedent for both rights include robust protection frameworks, religious liberty is increasingly threatened through a weakening in case law precedent. Property law offers valuable nuances and insights for how the religious liberty legal framework might be strengthened in theory and in practice. Human rights are inherently bundled, therefore, there is significant benefit to analyzing the intersectionality of religious liberty and property law both historically and currently in United States case law.

Internet Censorship In The Time Of A Global Pandemic: A Proposal For Revisions To Section 230 Of The Communications Decency Act, Sarah Cheng, Harriet Norcross

Brigham Young University Prelaw Review

During the era of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, social media sites have justified removing inflammatory opinions pertaining to COVID-19 in attempts to protect and promote public health and safety by automatically categorizing such opinions as misinformation. While the intention of such censorship is noble, it raises the question of whether social media sites and internet service providers in general have too much power when it comes to controlling information. In an age where social media has become intrinsic to the dissemination and formation of opinion, the free exchange of ideas on the Internet is of prime importance, and any threat …

Using Geospatial Tools To Assess Changes To Marine Ecosystems In Small Island Developing States Following Hurricane Disturbances: A Case Study Of Dominica After Hurricane Maria, Ryan J. Shields

Theses and Dissertations

Seagrass meadows, like coral reefs, are in decline globally but are often neglected in marine policy and conservation despite their equally critical ecosystem services. Both habitats can be heavily impacted by wave surges, rainfall-induced earth movement and flooding, changes to water temperature, salinity, and acidity, and increased levels of turbidity—all occurring at increased rates due to a changing global climate. We demonstrate that multispectral satellite imagery, geospatial tools, and classification techniques can be used to inform management by identifying and quantifying changes in seagrass distribution and the presence of sediment-related threats. Results from Dominica indicate near-shore seagrass habitat area increased …

Full Issue

Brigham Young University Prelaw Review

No abstract provided.

The Book Of Mormon: A Powerful Model For Distance Education, Adam R. Jardine

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many within the Church Educational System to participate in online delivery for classroom instruction. Success has varied, and many teachers have faced not only the difficulties of a new and possibly unfamiliar delivery method but also the challenge of becoming online course designers. The realities of COVID-19 forced educational systems, both secular and religious, to pivot their educational strategy, causing online delivery to become the primary educational delivery method in many areas. What many educators initially experienced during the pandemic was not regular online delivery, but rather “emergency remote teaching.” Though the COVID-19 pandemic produced …

Scripture Note: Alma’S And Helaman’S Priestly Blessings, Jesus’S Divine Acts In 3 Nephi 19:25, 30, Matthew L. Bowen

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

A few years ago, Matthew J. Grey drew renewed attention to the language of 3 Nephi 19:25 as reflecting the language of Numbers 6:24–27,2 a text sometimes called the Priestly Blessing. As far as I am aware, no study has thus far examined the influence of the Priestly Blessing in the Book of Mormon beyond 3 Nephi 19. Nevertheless, it appears that such influence exists. In this brief study, I examine how the influence of the Priestly Blessing in the Book of Mormon extends beyond Mormon’s description of Jesus’s priestly ministration at the temple in Bountiful to at least three …

Accomplishing The Will Of The Father: A Historical And Theological Examination Of Doctrine And Covenants 19, Ryan H. Sharp, Aaron Mark Coombs

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

The year 1830 was an exciting time in the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Five thousand copies of the Book of Mormon had just rolled off of the press in March, the first conference was held in April wherein the Church was officially organized, and the early members were thrilled that the Lord was again speaking to them through a chosen seer. The Doctrine and Covenants captures the revelations being poured out and the excitement, as well as the challenges, of early Church leaders. One of the early Saints who was immersed in these events, …

Entrenching A Fundamental: Use Of The First Vision In General Conference, Ryan S. Gardner

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

When President Gordon B. Hinckley declared in the October 2002 general conference that the strength of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints “rests on the validity” of Joseph Smith’s First Vision, most people in the congregation likely felt that he was only affirming a basic tenet of the Restoration—but this unique theophany was not always so prominent. Not until the mid-1960s did scholars and historians affiliated with the Church begin a more thorough exploration of the historical emergence of Joseph Smith’s 1820 theophany, now known as the First Vision, and its subsequent elevation in the spiritual consciousness and …

Teachings Of Church Leaders On Christ’S Final Seven Statements, John Hilton Iii, Megan Cutler, Emily K. Hyde

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

In 1929 Reverend James Reid wrote about the Savior’s directive from the Sermon on the Mount to “pray for them that despitefully use you” (Matthew 5:44). Although many might feel this is an impossible task, Reid offers a reminder: “Yet the words stand, and challenge us today, because He who spoke them passed His own test, and passed it triumphantly. . . . For, as [Luke] tells us, when they crucified Him, and had done their devilish work on his poor body. . . . His first word [on the cross] was a literal prayer for His enemies, ‘Father, forgive …

Full Issue

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

No abstract provided.

Clogs And Shawls: Mormons, Moorlands, And The Search For Zion, Amy Harris

BYU Studies

Born in turn-of-the-century Bradford, Yorkshire, the eight Whitaker sisters were raised as Latter-day Saints, all eventually immigrated to Utah, and all remained members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints throughout their lives. Their lifelong faithfulness was an important cornerstone of their family story, a story Ann Chamberlin, a granddaughter of one of the sisters, situates within a larger narrative about their family culture—both its positive and negative elements and the parts that tipped into becoming family mythology.

Full Issue

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Mezuzah On My Doorpost, Heather Thomson

BYU Studies

When my husband and I moved across the city into a Jewish community in Montreal four years ago, we discovered the previous owners of our newly purchased home had left their mezuzah on the front doorpost. I don’t remember now if I’d noticed it when we first stepped through the doorframe of the mid-century, red-brick bungalow on a Friday evening—so unused to the rhythms of Jewish religious observance were we then that we’d unwittingly requested a showing that fell just before sunset, the beginning of Shabbat. But we did see the mezuzah when we moved in a month later, on …

Lengthy Minimum Parole Requirements: A Denial Of Hope, Heather Walker

Brigham Young University Prelaw Review

Using the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, the Supreme Court has made sweeping changes to juvenile sentencing in the last fifteen years. The Court has stated that mandatory life sentences without the possibility of parole and life sentences without the possibility of parole for non-homicide offenders are unconstitutional. Nevertheless, there are still unanswered questions in juvenile sentencing. One under-researched aspect of this is the role that lengthy minimum parole requirements play in the constitutionality of juvenile sentencing. This type of sentencing lacks express legislative support, it does not have a legitimate penological justification, and it denies juveniles …

Mercy, Elizabeth Smith

BYU Studies

I merge into surging highway wind, my backseat baby babbles to the Tim-Tams macaroni yogurt burger cookies and bananas, and a crackling alto announces the world this hour: buildings burst in a distant port, scoundrel stabs doctor in a clinic past the mountains, furious inferno feasts on trees, towns just south of here.

How Many Ways Can You Vocalize Emotion? Introducing An Audio Corpus Of Acted Emotion, Logan Ricks Kowallis

Theses and Dissertations

Emotion recognition from facial expressions has been thoroughly explored and explained through decades of research, but emotion recognition from vocal expressions has yet to be fully explained. This project builds on previous experimental approaches to create a large audio corpus of acted vocal emotion. With a large enough sample size, both in number of speakers and number of recordings per speaker, new hypotheses can be explored for differentiating emotions. Recordings from 131 subjects were collected and made available in an online corpus under a Creative Commons license. Thirteen acoustic features from 120 subjects were used as dependent variables in a …

Adopting And Adapting In Our Teaching, Scott C. Esplin

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

“We first adopt, then we adapt,” President Dallin H. Oaks once observed when answering a question about the balance in pursuing a prepared lesson and following a prompting to change from what may have been planned. “If we are thoroughly grounded in the prescribed lesson that we are to give, then we can follow the Spirit to adapt it.”

The Process And Power Of Hope, Kevin J. Worthen

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Welcome to the new school year—one unlike any other we have experienced. As we start the year, we face some challenges and problems that have never been encountered before on this campus, as evidenced by the unique setting for this devotional. The circumstances in both the world and in our personal lives sometimes seem daunting and difficult, especially in the midst of a pandemic. Each of us may wonder from time to time why we have to deal with such challenges and problems.

Raised Unto Eternal Life: The Principle Of Ascension In The Revelations Of The Restoration, William Perez

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

The Prophet Joseph Smith taught, “When you climb up a ladder, you must begin at the bottom, and ascend step by step, until you arrive at the top; and so it is with the principles of the gospel—you must begin with the first, and go on until you learn all the principles of exaltation.” This step-by-step ascension is both literal and symbolic. Ascension was woven throughout ancient scripture and climaxed in Jesus Christ’s physical ascension into heaven. What does ascension represent for Latter-day Saints? How are we to understand its implications in our own salvific journey? The answers to these …

“Thou Wast Chosen Before Thou Wast Born”: An Egyptian Context For The Election Of Abraham, Stephen O. Smoot

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Arguably the most important doctrinal contribution of the Book of Abraham is its teaching about the premortal existence of humankind. As John Gee has recognized, “The largest effect that the Book of Abraham has had on Latter-day Saint thought is its concept of the premortal existence and the purpose of life. Although other Latter-day Saint scriptures discuss the premortal existence, the Book of Abraham provides the clearest explanation of this key Latter-day Saint doctrine.” The importance of the Book of Abraham’s teaching about the premortal existence is confirmed by surveying the LDS Scripture Citation Index, which reveals that General Authorities …

The Haifa, Israel, Missionary Graves And The Byu Jerusalem Center, Kent P. Jackson

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Many Latter-day Saints have heard the story that graves of Latter-day Saint missionaries who died and were buried in Haifa, Israel, made possible Brigham Young University’s Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies. The story goes like this: The graves of missionaries who died in the 1890s provided evidence of a Latter-day Saint presence in the Holy Land before the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, which evidence was required for the Church to be recognized in Israel and/or for BYU to obtain approval for the construction of the Jerusalem Center.

The story is not true.

Use Of Flash Flaming Technology To Improve Seed Handling And Delivery Of Winterfat (Krascheninnikovia Lanata), Mitchell Grant Thacker

Theses and Dissertations

Ecological restoration of rangelands using wild-collected seeds can be challenging due to low seed quality, inconvenient seed anatomy, and poor plant establishment. In North America, the half-shrub winterfat (Krascheninnikovia lanata) is a valuable protein-rich forage for wildlife and livestock. Seeds of this species are contained in one-seeded fruits enclosed in four fluffy, silky bracts. While the seeds can be removed from the bracts, it is not recommended as the bracts are thought to help protect the seed and aid in germination and seedling growth. However, bracts of winterfat make it difficult to incorporate this species within a seed mix because …

Coal Pyrolysis Models For Use In Massively Parallel Oxyfuel-Fired Boiler Simulations, Andrew Perry Richards

Theses and Dissertations

Accurately modeling key aspects of coal combustion allows for the virtual testing and application of new technologies and processes without the need for investments in lab- and pilot-scale facilities, since such facilities may only be used for a few small tests. However, modeling of subprocesses must not only be accurate but computationally efficient. Modeling of coal devolatilization reactions and processes are one of the important parts of large-scale simulations of coal combustion systems. The work presented here details efforts to improve the modeling of coal devolatilization processes in massively-parallel simulations of coal combustors, including: (1) devolatilization rate/yield models, (2) modeling …

Fourier Decompositions Of Graphs With Symmetries And Equitable Partitions, Darren Scott Lund

Theses and Dissertations

We show that equitable partitions, which are generalizations of graph symmetries, and Fourier transforms are fundamentally related. For a partition of a graph's vertices we define a Fourier similarity transform of the graph's adjacency matrix built from the matrices used to carryout discrete Fourier transformations. We show that the matrix (graph) decomposes into a number of smaller matrices (graphs) under this transformation if and only if the partition is an equitable partition. To extend this result to directed graphs we define two new types of equitable partitions, equitable receiving and equitable transmitting partitions, and show that if a partition of …

"Arguing The Point" In Marryat's Midshipman Novels, Jessica Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

Rebels haven’t always been sexy. In fact, throughout history “fighting the power” has often revealed the ugliest side of human nature. Of course, sometimes rebellion is necessary, even if it isn’t pretty, but it should never be considered lightly. So, under what circumstances is rebellion against authority—particularly a governing authority—morally sound? Is mutiny ever justified? Such questions are difficult, perhaps impossible, to answer, but literature can be a powerful tool for dissecting them. Captain Frederick Marryat (1798-1848), often called the father of naval fiction, used his novels to air these and other morally ambiguous questions for an early Victorian readership. …