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Epic Fantasy As A Postsecular Genre: The Stormlight Archive's Approach To Religion And Belief, Liz Busby Apr 2025

Epic Fantasy As A Postsecular Genre: The Stormlight Archive's Approach To Religion And Belief, Liz Busby

Theses and Dissertations

Epic fantasy as a genre has often been neglected due to its perceived conservative roots that clash with critical reading practices. This paper proposes that a postsecular lens may be more suitable to the critical study of epic fantasy and examines perhaps the most popular contemporary epic fantasy, Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive, through a postsecular lens, First, the paper examines how the Stormlight Archive combines the premodern, fantastical worldview with modern and post-modern concerns to reinvigorate its exploration of the religious "big questions" through a renewed focus on the spiritual nature of the individual. Next, it examines how Sanderson presents …


Assessing The Impact Of Internal Flow Dynamics On Detection Region Concentrations Of Low-Cost Optical Particle Counters, Livingstone Quarshie Apr 2025

Assessing The Impact Of Internal Flow Dynamics On Detection Region Concentrations Of Low-Cost Optical Particle Counters, Livingstone Quarshie

Theses and Dissertations

Particulate matter (PM) poses significant risks to human health and the environment, making accurate measurement essential for exposure assessment and regulatory decisions. While traditional reference methods provide reliable data, they are often bulky, expensive, and difficult to maintain. Optical Particle Counters (OPCs) offer a cost-effective alternative, commonly used in clean rooms, residential spaces, and personal exposure monitoring. These devices rely on light scattering to measure PM concentrations. However, low cost OPCs face challenges related to calibration and measurement accuracy, requiring careful performance evaluation. This study used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools, CONVERGE Studio and ANSYS Fluent, to simulate a simplified …


Harnessing Strengths Through Peer Coaching: Supporting The Well-Being Of Novice Esl Teachers, Joclyn M. Farrales Apr 2025

Harnessing Strengths Through Peer Coaching: Supporting The Well-Being Of Novice Esl Teachers, Joclyn M. Farrales

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the effects of strengths-based peer coaching on novice ESL teacher well-being. Language teachers often face challenges in job security, teacher and financial status, institutional demands, and burnout. Novice ESL teachers especially face concerns about balancing teaching and student roles, building knowledge of the realities of teaching, and scaffolding a support system. The Virtues in Action Inventory of Strengths (VIA-IS) was used to identify participants' strengths, and teachers were assigned a peer to collaborate with who shared similar strengths. These teachers met with their assigned peer coach eight times throughout the semester to discuss ways of implementing strengths …


In-Situ Void Formation During Liquid Composite Molding For Preformed Warp, Weft, And Alternating Orientation Rtm Samples, Tanner Cal Garrett Apr 2025

In-Situ Void Formation During Liquid Composite Molding For Preformed Warp, Weft, And Alternating Orientation Rtm Samples, Tanner Cal Garrett

Theses and Dissertations

Carbon fiber reinforced parts are utilized by the transportation industry due to being strong yet lightweight. The highest quality parts are made using carbon fiber (CF) pre-impregnated with resin processed in an autoclave to reduce void content. The autoclave process is expensive and takes up a large amount of space, so liquid composite molding (LCM) is a less expensive alternative. The parts produced using LCM can be manufactured to rival the mechanical performance of parts made with pre-preg in an autoclave, but concerns remain over voids. Most research pertaining to void formation has been done ex-situ by either micro-CT or …


The Conditioning Of Reservoir Computing And Ng-Rc For Forecasting And The Effects Of Temporal Overparameterization, Daniel Jensen Apr 2025

The Conditioning Of Reservoir Computing And Ng-Rc For Forecasting And The Effects Of Temporal Overparameterization, Daniel Jensen

Theses and Dissertations

Reservoir computing and "Next-generation reservoir computing" built on nonlinear vector autoregression are algorithms for predicting time series given past observations. Both algorithms have been successful in predicting some chaotic dynamical systems, but this success is not theoretically well understood. This paper considers the conditioning of both algorithms and the nature of the solutions found. With either algorithm, the least squares problem which is solved to give parameters as a function of the time series data is ill-conditioned, leading to parameter non-identifiability. Both algorithms fall into the class of "sloppy models." Standard practice to regularize either algorithm includes a bias towards …


Focus On Form: Perceptions Of Portuguese Immersion Teacher When Implementing The Capa Model, Priscila Isabel Rebicki Prestes Apr 2025

Focus On Form: Perceptions Of Portuguese Immersion Teacher When Implementing The Capa Model, Priscila Isabel Rebicki Prestes

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates Portuguese Dual Language Immersion (DLI) teachers' perceptions when implementing the CAPA Model, a structured Focus on Form Instruction (FFI) approach aimed at improving grammatical accuracy in content-based learning. While immersion students develop strong communication skills, research highlights persistent grammatical inaccuracies due to the emphasis on meaning-based instruction. The CAPA Model seeks to bridge this gap by integrating explicit grammar instruction, fostering metalinguistic awareness, and enhancing linguistic accuracy without detracting from content learning. Findings reveal that teachers recognize the model’s benefits but face challenges such as limited planning time, a lack of pre-adapted materials, and difficulties implementing all …


Surface-Texture Fabrication Of Zirconia-Toughened Alumina Using Focused Ion-Beam Machining, Kameron M. Woodruff Apr 2025

Surface-Texture Fabrication Of Zirconia-Toughened Alumina Using Focused Ion-Beam Machining, Kameron M. Woodruff

Theses and Dissertations

Focused ion-beam machining (FIBM), a precise form of micro-machining, was tested for feasibility in the manufacturing of microscopic dimples in zirconia-toughened alumina (ZTA), a wear resistant ceramic used in artificial joint replacements. The interaction between the ion-beam and the ceramic was characterized in terms of material removal rate (MRR), surface roughness, and notable irregularities (e.g. pitting, steps at vertical faces). These characteristics were used to design and machine patterns of microscopic dimples for tribological testing. The dimple size and pattern area were limited due to a slow MRR and high cost of milling. No significant difference in the coefficient of …


Investigation Of Temperature Control's Effects In Additive Friction Stir Deposition Of Al 7050-T7451, Jason Noah Glenn Apr 2025

Investigation Of Temperature Control's Effects In Additive Friction Stir Deposition Of Al 7050-T7451, Jason Noah Glenn

Theses and Dissertations

Additive Friction Stir Deposition (AFSD) is a friction stir based process that includes the addition of material extruding through a bore in the center of the rotating tool. The deformation of the material from the tool rotation and high pressures result in fully dense depositions printed at very high rates with forged like mechanical properties. While deposition properties of varying alloys have been increasingly published, little work has been done investigating control of the process and as with all additive processes, consistency and predictability are of significant concern before implementation can occur. One common control method implemented in Friction Stir …


The Most Beautiful Under Heaven: Selecting Views Of Modern China Through Travel Photography In Liangyou Huabao (The Young Companion), 1926-1937, Anne Marie Watson Apr 2025

The Most Beautiful Under Heaven: Selecting Views Of Modern China Through Travel Photography In Liangyou Huabao (The Young Companion), 1926-1937, Anne Marie Watson

Theses and Dissertations

Liangyou huabao (The Young Companion) was a prominent Chinese pictorial magazine, with 174 issues published monthly between 1926 and 1945. Liangyou entertained its Chinese audience with a variety of photographs documenting modern life. This thesis examines photographs of domestic travel photography in the magazine, arguing that editorial captions encouraged readers to associate images of China with allusions to traditional art and aesthetics. This occurred within a historical context where modernity was often associated with the pressures of Westernization, and where Chinese culture and civilization was sometimes characterized as outdated or irrelevant. By using travel photography to demonstrate how traditional culture …


Water Conservation For The Great Salt Lake: Measuring Success And Uncertainty In Utah's Efforts, Sarah E. Witney Apr 2025

Water Conservation For The Great Salt Lake: Measuring Success And Uncertainty In Utah's Efforts, Sarah E. Witney

Theses and Dissertations

The Great Salt Lake in Utah, United States is one of many saline lakes worldwide that is currently in decline. The shrinkage and collapse of global saline lakes is primarily caused by irrigated agriculture and other human consumptive uses, with secondary contributions from global climate change. Great Salt Lake's area has decreased by more than 50% relative to its long-term natural level. The decline of these lakes triggers serious and long-lasting socioeconomic consequences, including destruction of habitat, degradation of air quality, and damage to the economy. The Utah state government has instituted a variety of programs to conserve water to …


"She Could Worship Now Even In The Desert": The Monastic Life As An Escape To Higher Consciousness In The Works Of Henry James, Tabetha A. Madsen Apr 2025

"She Could Worship Now Even In The Desert": The Monastic Life As An Escape To Higher Consciousness In The Works Of Henry James, Tabetha A. Madsen

Theses and Dissertations

Stephen Koch has argued that Henry James is a writer that is deeply concerned with consciousness (93). Many critics acknowledge James's attention to the metaphysical. What fewer critics have observed is that the study of the metaphysical was not simply an intellectual process for James. Instead, James's study of consciousness often reads like the private experiences of the mystic. Much of the mysticism in James's work comes from his frequent use of monastic images and values. James's use of the monastic image--characterized by the qualities of obedience, silence, celibacy, and escape--explores the limitations and possibilities of consciousness in a more …


Gnn Convergence And Accuracy Analysis On Contextual Stochastic Block Models, Trevor Garrity Apr 2025

Gnn Convergence And Accuracy Analysis On Contextual Stochastic Block Models, Trevor Garrity

Theses and Dissertations

Contextual Stochastic Block Models (cSBMs) are simple generative graph models commonly used to benchmark the performance of Graph Neural Networks (GNNs). In this thesis, I prove how inducing symmetries on general, nonlinear GNNs improves their cross entropy on cSBMs, and I derive the limiting accuracy of linear Graph Convolutional Networks (GCNs) on cSBMs. I use these results to derive the functional form of cross-entropy optimal GCNs on cSBMs and compare them to accuracy optimal GCNs.


A Unique Light: The Presence, Salience And Portrayal Of Unique Religious Values On College Football Television Broadcasts, Joseph Bradford Hovey Apr 2025

A Unique Light: The Presence, Salience And Portrayal Of Unique Religious Values On College Football Television Broadcasts, Joseph Bradford Hovey

Theses and Dissertations

A mixed-methods content analysis case study of BYU football broadcasts (2023-2024), guided by agenda setting and framing theories, was conducted to determine to what extent the unique Latter-day Saint religious values of BYU were present and salient, as well as how they were framed, on BYU football television broadcasts. Using the university's 2024 brand messaging guide as a standard for topics indicative of such religious values, the 25 game broadcasts were analyzed and coded for presence or absence of religious values along with sentiment valence in each case. Frequency tests determined that 56% of games over the two seasons included …


Isolation Structure Simulation And Measurement To Reduce Transmit-Receive Coupling In Compact X-Band Fmcw Radar, Bruce E. Averill Apr 2025

Isolation Structure Simulation And Measurement To Reduce Transmit-Receive Coupling In Compact X-Band Fmcw Radar, Bruce E. Averill

Theses and Dissertations

Transmit-receive isolation in a compact X-band FMCW radar antenna system is critical for system performance. A set of candidate isolation structures are explored. In the process, performance of a commercial FDTD EM simulation software package is evaluated for antenna array modelling. Noise parameters of receiver electronics on a prototype radar processing front-end are tested. Improvements to the BYU Microwave Lab RF anechoic chamber are also reported, with a focus on measurement repeatability and antenna pattern angular resolution.


Exploring Representations And Inductive Bias For Machine Learning Tasks In Knot Theory, Nathaniel Driggs Apr 2025

Exploring Representations And Inductive Bias For Machine Learning Tasks In Knot Theory, Nathaniel Driggs

Theses and Dissertations

Knot theory is a branch of mathematics that studies embeddings of the circle in $\mathbb{R}^3$ that are equivalent up to ambient isotopy. A link is a knot with one or more component. Knots and links have invariants, or functions from each knot to a set such as the integers or a family of polynomials. Predicting invariants can help us approximate them, understand them better, and find useful ways of representing knots and useful models for other machine learning tasks in knot theory. I perform many supervised learning experiments, predicting signature on a large, wide-ranging dataset using 5 different models and …


Power Series Rings Over Noncommutative Rings: Symmetry, Reversibility, And Semicommutativity, Nolan Ison Apr 2025

Power Series Rings Over Noncommutative Rings: Symmetry, Reversibility, And Semicommutativity, Nolan Ison

Theses and Dissertations

Let R be an associative, unital ring. One topic of interest is to assert R has some property, then determine what properties the polynomial ring R[x] and the power series ring R[[x]] are guaranteed to have. There are many relaxations of commutativity in rings. For example, a ring is said to be symmetric if abc = 0 implies acb = 0 for all a, b, c ∈ R. We discuss a certain construction of symmetric rings that we hope will yield the existence of a symmetric ring R such that the set of nilpotent elements in the power series ring …


Testing The Feasibility, Acceptability, And Preliminary Impact Of A Brief Behavioral Sleep Intervention To Improve School-Aged Childhood Sleep Behaviors, Isabella Delores Wright Apr 2025

Testing The Feasibility, Acceptability, And Preliminary Impact Of A Brief Behavioral Sleep Intervention To Improve School-Aged Childhood Sleep Behaviors, Isabella Delores Wright

Theses and Dissertations

Objectives: Parent knowledge of what healthy sleep looks like in their children has scarcely been evaluated, and little is known as to whether improving child sleep through a brief behavioral intervention that emphasizes mastery, personalization, motivation, and modeling will enhance sleep outcomes in children. As a result, we designed this study with the following aims in mind: 1) determine existing parental knowledge of healthy child sleep practices of parents; 2) test the impact of a personalized, brief parental sleep intervention aimed at increasing parental self-efficacy and parent behaviors; and 3) determine preliminary feasibility, acceptability, and impact of this personalized intervention …


Sample Preparation And Acquisition Strategies To Improve Accessibility And Proteome Depth In Single-Cell And Low-Input Proteomics, Sara Madisyn Johnston Apr 2025

Sample Preparation And Acquisition Strategies To Improve Accessibility And Proteome Depth In Single-Cell And Low-Input Proteomics, Sara Madisyn Johnston

Theses and Dissertations

Proteins are responsible for important cellular functions and processes including regulation, structural integrity, signaling, transport, and immune functions. Proteomics directly identifies these proteins and enables deeper characterization of the dynamic cellular environment beyond the capabilities of genomics and transcriptomics. Single-cell proteomics further enhances this approach by capturing cellular heterogeneity, which bulk proteomics obscures due to averaging protein expression across large cell populations. Despite significant advances in single-cell proteomics, continued innovation is necessary to increase workflow accessibility and throughput, minimize peptide losses, and achieve comprehensive coverage of the proteome. This dissertation addresses these challenges by developing improved sample preparation methods, two-dimensional …


Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale And The Best, The Worst, And The Betwixt: The Intertwined Women Of Arthurian Literature And Victorian Society, Hannah Johansson Apr 2025

Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale And The Best, The Worst, And The Betwixt: The Intertwined Women Of Arthurian Literature And Victorian Society, Hannah Johansson

Theses and Dissertations

The late Victorian and early Edwardian artist Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale’s illustrations and paintings have been largely marginalized in the larger world of Arthurian art and criticism. This thesis argues that her work, focused on the illustration Enid, Guinevere, and Vivien, is impactful in its exploration between Arthurian characters and Victorian women. Critiquing with a feminist ideology, Brickdale attempts to break down Victorian stereotypes on women by visually breaking down the socially congruent labels placed onto the women of Camelot. In doing so, she both critiques Victorian society and artistically argues for a much needed social reconstruction.


In-Situ Rtm Videos, Tanner Garrett Apr 2025

In-Situ Rtm Videos, Tanner Garrett

ScholarsArchive Data

This data set contains videos of resin infusion experiments.


The Semantics Of Quedar And Quedarse When Used With Adjectives Or Participles To Express A State, Charlotte Joy Peterson Apr 2025

The Semantics Of Quedar And Quedarse When Used With Adjectives Or Participles To Express A State, Charlotte Joy Peterson

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on quedar and quedarse in Spanish when used with adjectives or participles to express a state. There are four main verbs of becoming in Spanish, namely hacerse, volverse, ponerse, and quedar(se), but quedar(se) is the only verb of becoming that can be used both intransitively and pronominally to express a state. This thesis seeks to understand the relationship between adjectives and participles when used in conjunction with quedar intransitively or pronominally, and how the semantics may change based on which form is preferred. There are two largely supported claims in the literature as to when one form …


Navigating Light And Darkness: The Intersection Of Space, Faith And The Psyche In Ana Plácido’S Luz Coada Por Ferros, Alondra V. Ramirez Herrera Apr 2025

Navigating Light And Darkness: The Intersection Of Space, Faith And The Psyche In Ana Plácido’S Luz Coada Por Ferros, Alondra V. Ramirez Herrera

Theses and Dissertations

Ana Plácido (1831-1895) was a Portuguese writer whose literary contributions remain largely overshadowed by her infamous trial for adultery and her relationship with Camilo Castelo Branco. Despite societal constraints on female authorship in the nineteenth century, Plácido used literature as a means of self-expression, autonomy, and intellectual freedom. This thesis employs spatial theory to analyze her collection of texts Luz Coada por Ferros (1863), written during her imprisonment, to explore the interplay between physical confinement and artistic freedom. By examining the symbolic and psychological dimensions of space in her work, this study highlights how Plácido navigated themes of female agency, …


Non-Destructive Testing Of Stressed Materials Using X-Ray Diffraction And Second-Harmonic Generation, Melissa Nguyen Lumogdang Apr 2025

Non-Destructive Testing Of Stressed Materials Using X-Ray Diffraction And Second-Harmonic Generation, Melissa Nguyen Lumogdang

Theses and Dissertations

A material in use, anywhere from a plastic bag to common infrastructure, will eventually fail from deformation. When strained, the material chemical structure can change, and that change is dependent on many factors, including the amount of strain and strain rate. Understanding the relationship between physical properties and structural changes due to deformation can allow structural manipulation to achieve the desired physical properties. Additionally, research into non-destructive testing (NDT) methods can be used as supporting evidence for replacing destructive testing methods and possible infield stress monitoring. In this dissertation, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and second-harmonic generation (SHG) are the main NDT …


Finding Patterns In Disturbance: Modeling Ecosystem Recovery Using A Machine Learning Approach, Paden D. Allsup Apr 2025

Finding Patterns In Disturbance: Modeling Ecosystem Recovery Using A Machine Learning Approach, Paden D. Allsup

Theses and Dissertations

Some of the most visible effects of Anthropogenic climate change are shifts in resource (water) availability, and disturbance regimes across the world. Ecosystems across the world are now being forced to adapt to amplified disturbances, or in some cases, completely new disturbance types. These shifts have major implications for ecosystem stability and functioning, and more broadly for nutrient cycling across the world. In the western USA, wildfire is playing a larger and more dramatic role than before, altering vegetation communities, landscape stability, and soil and stream chemistry. While fire has always played an important role in semi-arid ecosystems, the scale …


Homomorphisms Of Peano Continua To Berbered Peano Continua, Logan Kennedy Apr 2025

Homomorphisms Of Peano Continua To Berbered Peano Continua, Logan Kennedy

Theses and Dissertations

The study of wild spaces, Peano continua that contain points that are not semi-locally simply connected, has been of integral importance in the study of low-dimensional wild topology. Mainly investigated from the view point of algebraic topology, the fundamental group has been found to be an indespensible tool in describing these spaces, and their local behavior. In particular, using methods developed by Cannon, Conner, Eda, and Kent demonstrated that all maps from Peano continua to planar or one-dimensional Peano continua are determined uniquely up to homotopy class by their induced homomorphisms on fundamental groups, and that fundamental groups are a …


Aliases And Archetypes: A Spy's Dilemma In Tomás Nevinson, Silke Mckay Schnebly Apr 2025

Aliases And Archetypes: A Spy's Dilemma In Tomás Nevinson, Silke Mckay Schnebly

Theses and Dissertations

Tomás Nevinson is the last novel by Javier Marías. The themes of betrayal, deceit, and doubt that are apparent in his other works continue here as well. The meandering and philosophical narration guides the reader through Tomás' quest for self-discovery. This article uses literary onomastics (the study of names, their meanings and origins) to peel back the layers of the various characters in order to reveal the archetypes they represent. Through analyzing the names in Tomás Nevinson, the reader may come to recognize the archetypes associated with the novel's characters while also recognizing how Tomás interacts with archetypal others in …


Assessing Innovations In Wildlife Monitoring: Estimating Abundance And Inferring Parturition Of Ungulates With Technology, Elicia Cotcher Apr 2025

Assessing Innovations In Wildlife Monitoring: Estimating Abundance And Inferring Parturition Of Ungulates With Technology, Elicia Cotcher

Theses and Dissertations

Enhancements in technology are creating opportunities for novel methods of wildlife monitoring. Traditional methods of wildlife monitoring are often costly or time-consuming, and new technological advancements such as remote cameras and GPS collars are creating opportunities for exploration as these technologies become more accessible and reliable. We sought to assess the efficacy of two novel methods of ungulate monitoring. The first is an abundance estimation method using remote cameras termed Instantaneous Sampling (IS). IS seeks to estimate abundance using time lapsed remote cameras on a population of unmarked individuals. Our goal was to compare IS estimations against the true observed …


I Do, And I Will: Effectual Religiosity May Strengthen The Triad Chord Of Commitment To Promote Marital Flourishing For Women Of Faith, Tamara M. Chamberlain Apr 2025

I Do, And I Will: Effectual Religiosity May Strengthen The Triad Chord Of Commitment To Promote Marital Flourishing For Women Of Faith, Tamara M. Chamberlain

Theses and Dissertations

Although religiosity often associates with marital satisfaction in sociological studies, very few studies have examined religiosity strengthening marital commitment for women of faith. This study used an exemplary sample to explore how religious, heterosexual married women view religion strengthening their marital commitment. Interviews from 196 highly religious couples provided insight into the following themes and subthemes (1) personal commitment, (a) decision to marry, (b) religious beliefs and practices, and (c) requires effort and sacrifice; (2) moral commitment, (a) sexual relations before marriage, (b) promises made before God, friends, and family, and (c) fidelity and feelings about divorce; and (3) structural …


Innovations In Sample Handling Automation To Increase Accessibility Of Sample-Limited Proteomics, Nathaniel Ben Axtell Apr 2025

Innovations In Sample Handling Automation To Increase Accessibility Of Sample-Limited Proteomics, Nathaniel Ben Axtell

Theses and Dissertations

Innovation is the vehicle that drives scientific research forward in virtually every field. Advances in genome sequencing propelled the human genome project to completion in 2003 and set the stage for the era of proteomics. Now decades of innovation in liquid chromatography (LC) and mass spectrometry (MS) have improved sensitivity sufficiently to enable single-cell proteomics and other sample-limited studies. Single-cell proteomics reveal patterns of gene expression that are often obscured by bulk-scale proteomics, leading to the identification of new protein biomarker candidates. Sensitive targeted proteomics is the key to successful translation of low-abundance protein assays into clinical applications. With a …


Methods For Rotating Electrodes In High-Temperature Molten Salts, Ranon Fuller, Eloise Cluff, Edward Mercado, Carlos Mejia, Devin Rappleye Apr 2025

Methods For Rotating Electrodes In High-Temperature Molten Salts, Ranon Fuller, Eloise Cluff, Edward Mercado, Carlos Mejia, Devin Rappleye

Faculty Publications

In this paper, we describe and validate a custom apparatus for performing high-speed (250-3,500 rpm) rotating electrode and dilatometer density experiments in molten salts. The reported details can aid in decreasing the difficulty and increasing the quality of such experiments. We discuss the design challenges and the solutions identified. We investigate methods for accurately measuring the solution resistance using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), calculating the working electrode area using cyclic voltammetry (CV), and measuring the mass transfer-limited current of rotating electrodes using a series of chronoamperometry (CA) pulses. We further demonstrate the efficacy of our methods in producing accurate results.