Digital Commons Network^™

Adapting The Auxin Inducible Degron (Aid) System To Danio Rerio, Benjamin Stubblefield

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Auxin-Inducible Degron (AID) system is a protein degradation system naturally occurring in plants. In the presence of the hormone auxin, plant proteins conjugated with the AID degron (a short amino acid sequence which signals for the protein’s degradation) are recruited via an interaction with the protein TIR1, into an E3 ubiquitin ligase protein complex. Following this interaction, AID-tagged proteins are ubiquitinated and sent for degradation. When auxin is metabolized or transported out of the cell through efflux transporters, the transcript of the protein of interest is translated without being degraded, allowing the concentration of the targeted protein to return …

Evaluating Effects Of Urban Growth Within The Greater Salt Lake Area On Local Meteorological Conditions Using Urban Canopy Modeling, Corey L. Smithson

Theses and Dissertations

The increasing urbanization of the greater Salt Lake City area (GSLA) has contributed to the development of an urban canopy over this area. This canopy refers to the effects of building profiles, varying land surface properties and anthropogenic heating on local meteorological conditions including temperature, humidity, and wind velocity. Urban Canopy Models (UCMs) can be used to represent these characteristics on a mesoscale without needing to develop models accounting for effects of individual buildings. One method used to classify urban areas are Local Climate Zones (LCZs), which assign different properties to different types of urban areas. A baseline model that …

Predictive Modeling The Impact Of Engineered Products In Dynamic Sociotechnical Systems: An Agent-Based Approach, Christopher S. Mabey

Theses and Dissertations

The impact of engineered products is a topic of increasing concern in society. The impact of a product can fall into the categories of economic, environmental, or social impact; the last category is defined as the effect of a product on the daily lives of people. Design teams lack sufficient tools to help improve the impact of products and understand the impact of products at scale in society. This dissertation aims to provide insight and methods for improving the social, environmental, and economic impact of engineered products. The majority of the research focuses on the prediction of product impacts on …

Affichage: Posters As A Powerful Tool Of Protest, Politics, And Propaganda In France, Brigit Cooper

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This article explores the importance of French political posters throughout history and how they reveal complex connections between the subjects of immigration, colonization, and racism in France. An overview of the history of immigration and colonization in France is offered, and the history of posters in France is covered briefly. Posters from World War I to the present day are then analyzed for their political content and social commentary. The specific case of the 1995 Ibrahim Ali murder committed by far-right National Front activists and the posters involved are also studied as a potent example of the power of posters …

Digital Habits Of Gen Z: A Qualitative Study On Why And How College Students Use Instagram, Josie Rackley

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper explores twelve Gen Z college students' usage of Instagram. Analyses of semi-structured and verbal think-aloud observations identified why and how participants use Instagram. Four quadrants of usage grew from participants’ data: Community-driven Creators, socially motivated Gardeners, Digital Scrapbookers, and enlightenment-seeking Observers. These usage quadrants structured the paper. Each quadrant had unique habits and motivations, yet, some themes spanned across all quadrants, such as the themes of mindless usage and The Boredom Paradox. Results have applications for social media marketing research as they relate to studying the nature of Gen Z Instagram usage for understanding young people’s lived experiences …

Less Friction, More Business—Graphite Connect Onboarding, David Storey

Instructional Psychology and Technology Graduate Student Projects

Graphite recently experienced four times the growth in a single quarter as the company has experienced in an entire year. Future growth projections are even higher, and the need for more rapid and effective onboarding is abundantly clear—our growth will outpace our ability to train and hire new employees and therefore slow down business.

This project provided new employees with an onboarding program consisting of eight learning modules.

Optimal Ordering To Maximize Mev Arbitrage, Granton Michael White

Theses and Dissertations

The rise of cryptocurrencies has brought with it new math problems with new sets of constraints. The MEV problem entails solving for the ordering of pending trades that maximizes a block creator's profit. In decentralized finance, time is a big constraint, so an exhaustive search of all possible orderings is impossible. I propose a solution to the MEV problem that gives a near optimal result that can be solved in a reasonable amount of time. I layout the method and the formulas required for my solution. Additionally, I test my solution on synthesized data to show that it works as …

Know Better, Do Better?: Parental Financial Socialization's Indirect Association With Couple Financial Communication Through Financial Self-Efficacy, Rachel M. Okamoto

Theses and Dissertations

Emerging adults find themselves in a time of great transition, especially related to finances and relationships. This study used a sample of 1,950 U.S. emerging adults currently in romantic relationships to investigate the role that parent financial socialization plays in the financial communication for emerging adult couples. This study also investigated if financial self-efficacy, in part, explained this association. Parent financial socialization was found to be positively associated with couple financial communication. In addition, financial self-efficacy was found to partially mediate this relationship. Individuals whose parents taught them effectively regarding finances had higher levels of self-efficacy regarding finances and had …

Semantic Memory And Decision-Making: An Fmri Study Regarding Covid-19 Vaccine Misinformation, Morgan Chase

Undergraduate Honors Theses

With the continued use and prevalence of social media, misinformation is likewise becoming more prevalent. Information about the COVID-19 pandemic was an example of the way misinformation spreads and presents challenges to society through polarization and discord. As people made decisions regarding whether to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, misinformation may have impacted their decision making. The goal of this study was to understand how misinformation and corrections to misinformation differentially activate the brain, in contrast to how correct information activates the brain, and how misinformation impacts decision making.

Interpreting Communally: How Service Learning Impacts Interpreting Proficiency, Breanna Michele Jones

Theses and Dissertations

Experiential learning programs, such as service learning, help students in Spanish medical interpreting classes to increase their interpreting proficiency, which includes their cultural understanding, linguistic performance, and professionalization (Rudvin & Tomassini, 2011). Currently, the Spanish Medical Interpretation class at Brigham Young University uses a community service-learning project in which students volunteer six hours of their time interpreting within the community. While largely beneficial, not all community partners offer the same learning opportunities. Some include training and shadowing programs, while others do not. This thesis seeks to determine the impact that shadowing opportunities and community partnerships have on interpreting proficiency and …

Qosqo: A Documentary Approach To The Preservation Of Andean Culture, Emma Wheeler Volz

Student Works

This thesis and creative project aspire to follow the well-worn path of documentary filmmaking. The written portion of this thesis includes background information on Incan history and the Southern Andean language of Quechua that informed and developed into my film, Qosqo. The short documentary is a hybrid between traditional and experimental non-fiction filmmaking, exploring Cusco, Peru’s spirituality through the sage perspective of a native Cusqueñan woman, Norma Sanchez de Incaroca.

The film is a personal reflection of Norma’s experience with the Quechua language, a historically marginalized and currently endangered language. Her reflections are framed within the context of Cusco’s …

Behavioral And Physiologic Relationships Between Sensory Processing, Attention, And Prediction In Autistic Children: An Eye Tracking Study, Courtney Hunter

Theses and Dissertations

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) prevalence has risen to one out of every 36 children born in the United States being diagnosed. Many individuals diagnosed experience sensory processing difficulties that make life challenging for them and their caregivers. However, there is no clear consensus on why sensory processing issues occur. Previous research has linked attention function to atypical sensory processing. Our study aimed to understand potential underlying mechanisms and correlates of this relationship. We theorized that prediction is a key contributing factor to how attention and sensory processing interact. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between sensory …

Hamiltonian Monte Carlo For Reconstructing Historical Earthquake-Induced Tsunamis, Jacob Paul Callahan

Theses and Dissertations

In many areas of the world, seismic hazards pose a great risk to both human and natural populations. In particular, earthquake-induced tsunamis are especially dangerous to many areas in the Pacific. The study and quantification of these seismic events can both help scientists better understand how these natural hazards occur and help at-risk populations make better preparations for these events. However, many events of interest occurred too long ago to be recorded by modern instruments, so data on these earthquakes are sparse and unreliable. To remedy this, a Bayesian method for reconstructing the source earthquakes for these historical tsunamis based …

A Structural Analysis Of The Simpson Mountains, Hyrum A. Briscoe

Theses and Dissertations

The Simpson Mountains have long been of economic interest and have renewed interest in their potential value. Field mapping of the project area redefined structural relationships between stratigraphic units. Geometric and kinematic analysis of structures in the Simpson Mountains show the range is deformed by the three most recent tectonic events: the Sevier Orogeny, the Laramide Orogeny, and Basin and Range Extension. Laramide structures define the range with a significant E-W normal fault and an E-W thrust fault, which are both likely related to Eocene-age igneous intrusions. Principal component analysis (PCA) of regional quartzite X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) data resulted in …

A Rhetorical Analysis Of Motivational Speeches In Sports Films, Brenna Seeman

Theses and Dissertations

This paper applies Aristotle's historic modes of persuasion, namely ethos, logos, and pathos, to the motivational speeches found in 20 popular sports films. Through this analysis, major themes concerning how coaches utilized persuasive tactics were found and used to compile a list of important characteristics of motivational speeches. This initial analysis found pathos to be the most effective form of persuasion among motivational speeches in sports films. Because of this finding, a deeper analysis took place with five of the speeches, focusing specifically on how the visual, sound and other thematic elements contributed to the overall pathos of those rhetorical …

The Effects And Reversibility Of Combination Inhaled Corticosteroids On Phonation Threshold Pressure (Ptp) And Phonation Threshold Flow (Ptf) In Ex Vivo Rabbit Larynges, Melanie Elizabeth Blauer

Theses and Dissertations

Although combination inhaled corticosteroids (ICs) are known to cause voice disorders in otherwise vocally healthy individuals, it is unknown whether those adverse effects can be reversed by the cessation of treatment. Quantitative aerodynamic measures such as phonation threshold pressure (PTP) and phonation threshold flow (PTF) can be used to identify the development of, and recovery from, vocal pathologies. We examined the effects and reversibility of ICs on laryngeal aerodynamics. This study was a mid-project investigation as part of a larger ongoing project. The 18 larynges were from rabbits that received ICs, a control condition, or no treatment. Experimental group rabbits …

Emotion, Sensory Processing, And Prosody In Neurotypical And Autistic Young Adults, Annika Henderson

Theses and Dissertations

There is a paucity of research regarding autistic adults, yet as autistic individuals grow to adulthood, they are often met with several barriers because of their differences from the neurotypical (NT) population. Given the demands of adult social interaction, some of the social difficulties experienced by autistic adults are likely related to emotion processing and prosody function. With sensory processing differences added as a diagnostic criterion for autism within the last decade, an investigation into its relationship with emotional processing, another marked difficulty for this population, is warranted. There are logical connections between sensory processing, emotion, and prosody, such that …

Exploring Posttraumatic Growth In Aphasia: A Qualitative Investigation, Camille Williams

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored posttraumatic growth (PTG) in people with aphasia and is the qualitative arm of a larger mixed-methods study. After an initial experimental session, 23 people with aphasia (PWA; 12 females and 11 males) completed a 60-minute semi-structured interview during which participants expanded on previously-given questionnaire responses and then answered five additional open-ended questions about communication in their daily life. Interviews were transcribed orthographically and coded using reflexive codebook analysis. A stakeholder with aphasia was consulted to gain insight from an insider's perspective about whether codes and themes captured the experiences of aphasia. Reflexive codebook analysis revealed two themes. …

The Impact Of Growth Mindset Training On Entrepreneurial Action Among Necessity Entrepreneurs: Evidence From A Randomized Control Trial, Shad Morris, W. Chad Carlos, Geoffrey Kistruck, Robert Lount, Tumsify Elly Thomas

Faculty Publications

Although entrepreneurship training programs are designed to help necessity entrepreneurs acquire skills and capabilities to take entrepreneurial action, participants in these programs often fail to do so. In partnership with a local government agency, we conducted a randomized field experiment involving 165 entrepreneurs in rural Tanzania where in addition to providing technical-skills training, approximately half of the participants also received ‘growth mindset’ psychological training. Those who received the growth mindset training displayed more entrepreneurial action in their business than those in the control group. Importantly, higher levels of entrepreneurial self efficacy mediated the positive impact on entrepreneurial action displayed by …

The Reversibility Of Effects Of Combination Inhaled Corticosteroids On Sustained Phonation Pressure And Flow In Ex Vivo Rabbit Larynges, Elisabeth Barlow

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the reversibility of the adverse effects of combination inhaled corticosteroids (ICs) on vocal fold health as part of a five-year study. This pilot study tested the hypothesis that the adverse effects of ICs may be induced and then reversed, using a benchtop model and rabbit larynges measuring sustained subglottic pressure and airflow. Eighteen rabbits were assigned randomly to 5 subgroups, including baseline, induction experimental, induction control, reversibility experimental, and reversibility control. Baseline rabbits did not receive any treatment. Both experimental groups, induction and reversibility, were administered Advair until visual-perceptual ratings were noted. …

Design Of A Transparent Cryogenic Silicon Carbide Probe Card With Tungsten Probe Tips, Ryan Beazer

Theses and Dissertations

DoD EO/IR applications continue to push imaging technology. Next generation advances require new material systems, novel device structures, as well as the improvement and development of read out integrated circuits. The common methodology used to assess devices and materials is to process test chip structures and focal plane arrays. Test chips have advantages over focal plane arrays; such as, variable area and stand alone devices and can be measured as a function of bias and temperature; however, focal plane arrays are the heart of the imager, but are measured through the read out integrated circuits, which can add complexity to …

Bringing The Analysis Of Electrodeposition Signals In Voltammetry Out Of The Shadows, Devin Rappleye, Ranon G. Fuller

Faculty Publications

Voltammetry studies of electrodeposition are growing rapidly. Yet, relations for the analysis of electrodeposition reactions in voltammetry remain relatively obscure in the literature. The existing cyclic and square wave voltammetry relations for electrodeposition and their limitations are discussed to increase awareness. A retrospective analysis is performed to demonstrate the impact of model selection in improving the analysis of electrodeposition behavior with voltammetric data. A repository for voltammetry models of electrodeposition is proposed to further increase familiarity and application of the most appropriate models, which would support a rapidly growing area of research and technological development.

Non-Tuberculous Mycobacterium Correlation With Geochemical Characteristics Of Soil And Basalt In Hawaii, Leeza Marie Wells

Theses and Dissertations

Non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) cause opportunistic lung disease though environmental exposure pathways. Among the United States, Hawaii has a significantly higher infection rate. Preliminary studies have shown certain environmental factors, such as phosphorus and other select soil geochemical characteristics, to be statistically significant to NTM occurrence. However, a model to predict NTM occurrence based on soil geochemistry had yet to be attempted. A selection of 40 NTM positive and 40 NTM negative soils from Oahu were selected for a geochemical analysis to search for possible correlations to mineralogy and elemental abundances that may promote, or inhibit, NTM growth in the environment. …

Microaggressions That Students From Underrepresented Groups Experience In Communication Sciences And Disorders, Samantha Berryhill

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored microaggressions that underrepresented students in Communication Sciences and Disorders experience. Phase I included a survey that was sent out to 276 undergraduate and graduate students at one university with 14 questions. Students were asked to identify with demographic variables, rate their sense of belonging, and discuss microaggressions they had experienced. Phase II comprised of individual interviews with six participants that further explored their experience as an underrepresented student in Communication Sciences and Disorders. Interviews were transcribed and coded using a content analysis. Across the two phases, quantitative, mixed-method, and content analyses were completed. Interviews were transcribed and …

Leasing Setup Preview, Amy Rogers

Instructional Psychology and Technology Graduate Student Projects

This article summarizes my IP&T design project.

Sex-Specific Variation In Deep Brain Shape Is Attenuated In Schizophrenia - An Enigma Consortium Meta-Analysis, Delaina Brooke Cimmino

Theses and Dissertations

Schizophrenia (SCZ) is characterized by a disconnect from reality that manifests as various clinical and cognitive symptoms, as well as consistent neurobiological abnormalities. However, unique sex-related differences have been observed regarding clinical presentation that imply separate brain substrates. The present study characterized deep-brain morphology using shape features to understand whether the neurobiology of schizophrenia varies as a function of sex. This study analyzed multi-site archival data from 1,579 male (M) and 836 female (F) participants with SCZ, as well as 1,934 male and 1,828 female healthy controls (CON) from twenty-four cross-sectional study samples from the ENIGMA Schizophrenia Workgroup. Harmonized shape …

Can Community Resilience Be Achieved? An Investigation Of Subjective Household Resilience, Place Meanings, And Individual Perceived Preparedness To Respond To Environmental Threats, Anh Minh Ly

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the effects of place meanings and perceived individual preparedness on subjective household resilience and socio-psychological community resilience. Earlier research has shown an active controversy of whether place meanings and individual preparedness could transform into the perception of household resilience and community resilience. Thus, while place meanings, in a transformative norm, perform like place attachment and may support adaptation to change and strengthen the perception of resilience, it can present in forms of place dependence or inflexibility which might be a barrier for household and community resilience. Similarly, individual preparedness is claimed to be essential but insufficient to …

Validating A Predictive Early Kindergarten Dynamic Assessment Of Word Level Reading And Language, Taylor Jordan Cena

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the preliminary psychometrics to revisions to the decoding subtest of the Predictive Early Assessment of Reading and Language (PEARL) dynamic assessment and to further examine the predictive validity of the language subtest of the PEARL. Specific aims were to (a) determine if kindergarten students made gains on the PEARL decoding subtest from pretest to a delayed standard posttest and to a delayed novel posttest, indicating that floor effects were mitigated, (b) to examine if there was variance in the delayed standard posttest and novel posttest scores, (c) to determine if there was …

Comparison Of The Unweighted Log-Rank And Weighted Prentice-Modified Wilcoxon Tests With Left-Truncated Data, Ellen Wight

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In survival analysis, there is a potential interaction between left-truncated data and rank test procedures for the difference between two groups that has not yet been investigated in depth. This study explores the effect of left truncation on the absolute and relative performance of the unweighted log-rank test and the weighted Prentice modification of the Gehan-Wilcoxon test. Resulting power from simulation study replications revealed that while left truncation does not affect which test performs better overall, it does affect the relative difference between the tests. It significantly worsens the individual performance of the Prentice-modified test, likely because of left truncation …

The Enduring Influence Of Emerson's Ideas On American Management Literature From The Lens Of Dale Carnegie’S How To Win Friends And Influence People, Taylor M. Dalton

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis considers how the essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson may be seen as an important precursor to Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People. Through a side-by-side analysis of four key topics—creativity, intention, action, and the idea of a non-hierarchal society—it becomes clear that the independent and creative mindset envisioned by Emerson in essays like “Self-Reliance” and “The American Scholar” finds a full and practical expression in the pages of Carnegie’s famous book. A close reading of these texts will reveal how Carnegie’s application of the philosophical ideas put forth by Emerson served as the foundation …