Digital Commons Network^™

The Development Of The Process Mining Event Log Generator (Pmelg) Tool, Steven R. Hawkins, Jeffrey Pickerd, Scott L. Summers, David A. Wood

Faculty Publications

Process mining is an emerging technology that allows users to visualize all potential variations of business processes within an organization. It holds significant potential for impacting the field of accounting. However, training professionals and students in its use is challenging due to a lack of event data applicable to accounting and auditing scenarios. To address this issue, we developed an easy-to-use tool called the Process Mining Event Log Generator (PMELG) for generating process mining data files for the order-to-cash process. With the PMELG tool, users can create realistic datasets that incorporate key accounting and auditing concepts, such as segregation of …

Discussion Of "Why Can’T I Trade? Exchange Discretion In Calling Halts", Michael S. Drake

Faculty Publications

Liquidity is an important feature of well-functioning capital markets. While many market frictions exist that constrain liquidity, none are as dramatic as trading halts when trading is suspended altogether. Trading halts became a common feature of US securities markets in the aftermath of Black Monday (October 19, 1987). The hope of regulators was that system-wide trading halts, so-called market circuit breakers, would decrease the likelihood of dramatic sell-offs by allowing markets to cool off. Regulators further argued that security-specific trading halts implemented in advance of a material news release could also reduce volatility and help level the playing field between …

The Effect Of Patent Disclosure Quality On Innovation*, Travis Dyer, Stephen Glaeser, Mark H. Lang, Caroline Sprecher

Faculty Publications

The patent system grants inventors temporary monopoly rights in exchange for a public disclosure detailing their innovation. These disclosures are meant to allow others to recreate and build on the patented innovation. We examine how the quality of these disclosures affects follow-on innovation. We use the plausibly exogenous assignment to patent applications of examiners who differ in their enforcement of disclosure requirements as a source of variation in disclosure quality. We find that some examiners are significantly more lenient with respect to patent disclosure quality requirements, and that patents granted by these examiners include significantly lower-quality disclosures and generate significantly …

Check Your Attitude: An Examination Of Companies’ Adversarial Disclosures About Tax Enforcement, Hannah W. Judd, Sean T. Mcguire, Connie D. Weaver, Junwei Xia

Faculty Publications

This study examines companies’ voluntary disclosures of an adversarial stance toward tax enforcement in income tax footnotes, where companies express disagreement with tax authorities or a willingness to litigate unresolved audit issues. We find that larger companies, industry leaders, and companies in industries with high litigation risk are more likely to make adversarial disclosures toward tax enforcement, and companies’ tax planning activities do not solely determine such disclosures. We examine the implications of adversarial disclosures on future tax audit outcomes and find that future settlement outcomes are more unfavorable for companies with such disclosures relative to those without. Finally, our …

Auditing With Data And Analytics: External Reviewers’ Judgments Of Audit Quality And Effort, Scott A. Emett, Steven E. Kaplan, Elaine G. Mauldin, Jeffrey Pickerd

Faculty Publications

Audit firms hesitate to take full advantage of data and analytics (D&A) audit approaches because they lack certainty about how external reviewers evaluate those approaches. We propose that external reviewers use an effort heuristic when evaluating audit quality, judging less effortful audit procedures as lower quality, which could shape how external reviewers evaluate D&A audit procedures. We conduct two experiments in which experienced external reviewers evaluate one set of audit procedures (D&A or traditional) within an engagement review, while holding constant the procedures’ level of assurance. Our first experiment provides evidence that external reviewers rely on an effort heuristic when …

Corporate Political Activism And Information Transfers, Dane M. Christensen, Hengda Jin, Joshua A. Lee, Suhas A. Sridharan, Laura A. Wellman

Faculty Publications

Prior research suggests that: (1) politically active firms have an information advantage over firms that do not engage in the political process, but also that (2) politically active firms are more likely to disclose policy-related information. We examine whether there are externalities associated with the processing of political information by politically active firms. We study this question in the setting of intra-industry information transfers around earnings announcements. Measuring firms’ political activism using campaign contributions, we find stronger intra-industry information transfers from politically active firms to their industry peers. These information transfers are stronger when there is more discussion during conference …

Ethnic Minority Analysts’ Participation In Public Earnings Conference Calls, Rachel W. Flam, Jeremiah Green, Joshua A. Lee, Nathan Y. Sharp

Faculty Publications

We investigate ethnic minority and non-minority sell-side analysts’ participation in public earnings conference calls. We find that minority analysts are underrepresented in conference call Q&A sessions, and minority analysts who do participate on the calls experience lower levels of prioritization than do nonminority analysts. Minority analysts’ lower participation rates are partially but not fully mediated by characteristics such as experience, work environment, and stock rating favorability. Additionally, firm and conference call fixed effects mediate approximately half the magnitude of lower minority participation rates. Extroverted minority analysts participate at higher rates, but the negative association between minority status and conference call …

Managers’ Use Of Humor On Public Earnings Conference Calls, Andrew C. Call, Rachel W> Flam, Joshua A. Lee, Nathan Y. Sharp

Faculty Publications

Despite the prevalence and importance of humor in interpersonal communication, the disclosure literature is silent on the use of humor in the context of corporate communication. Using a sophisticated machine learning algorithm, we identify managers’ successful uses of humor during public earnings conference calls. When managers use humor on an earnings call, stock market returns and analyst forecast revisions following the call are more positive, primarily because of a muted response to negative earnings news. Consistent with managers’ successful use of humor being a favorable signal of future firm performance, we find no evidence of a return reversal over the …

The Spillover Effect Of Sec Comment Letters Through Audit Firms, Kenneth L. Bills, Ryan Cating, Chenxi Lin, Timothy Seidel

Faculty Publications

This study examines whether auditors serve as a conduit for disseminating Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) views on reporting and disclosure matters as the result of being privy to clients’ SEC comment letters. This examination is important because auditors’ involvement in, and private access to, clients’ comment letters can enhance the timeliness of dissemination and have a constraining influence on reporting or disclosure choices that diverge from SEC views. Among clients with a greater expectation of impaired goodwill that do not receive a comment letter with a goodwill-related comment, we find a greater likelihood of goodwill impairment when the audit …

Does Gender And Ethnic Diversity Among Audit Partners Influence Office-Level Audit Personnel Retention And Audit Quality?, Eric R. Condie, Ling Lei Lisic, Timothy Seidel, J. Mike Truelson, Aleksandra "Ally" B. Zimmerman

Faculty Publications

Motivated by prior literature on organizational identification and 23 semistructured interviews with a variety of U.S. audit partners and directors, we examine whether the gender and ethnic diversity of an office’s audit partners influences the retention of the office’s audit professionals and the quality of the audits conducted by the office. Using hand-collected data on U.S. audit partners, we find that greater levels of (or changes in) diversity in office audit partners’ gender and ethnicity are associated with lower (reduced) turnover among office audit professionals and higher (increased) office-level audit quality. To provide further insight into the audit quality results, …

Injuries And Abnormalities Of The Southwestern Pond Turtle (Actinemys Pallida) In The Mojave River Of California, Kristy L. Cummings, Jeffrey E. Lovich, Shellie R. Puffer, Sarah Greely, Christopher D. Otahal, James Gannon

Western North American Naturalist

The southwestern pond turtle (Actinemys pallida) is a semiaquatic turtle that occasionally spends time on land to bask, oviposit, make intermittent overland movements, and overwinter in terrestrial locations. Use of both aquatic and terrestrial environments exposes semiaquatic turtles to increased risk of injury or mortality from floods, predation attempts, and other environmental hazards (e.g., human activities such as vehicle strikes, etc.). We collected injury and morphological abnormality data from adult turtles at 3 study sites along the length of the Mojave River in San Bernardino County, California: 1 site on the upper half of the Mojave River (hereafter …

Front Matter, Vol. 82 No. 4

Western North American Naturalist

No abstract provided.

Front Matter, Vol. 14

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

No abstract provided.

End Matter, Vol. 14

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

No abstract provided.

A Review Of Arctomecon Californica (Papaveraceae) With A Focus On The Species’ Potential For Propagation And Reintroduction And Conservation Needs, Alexander Stosich, Lesley A. Defalco, Sara J. Scoles-Sciulla

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

Las Vegas bearpoppy (Arctomecon californica) occurrences have fluctuated during the past several decades, in part due to interannual variability in rainfall that influences recruitment and mortality events; yet, development in the Las Vegas Valley continues to threaten habitat supporting this species. Arctomecon californica was petitioned for listing under the Endangered Species Act in 2019 and is currently under review to determine whether listing is warranted (USFWS 2020). This review updates species information for A. californica and includes recent insights into the species’ seed ecology, habitat requirements and suitability models, propagation and reintroduction, and pollinator biology. We include information …

Effects Of Beaver Dams On Stream And Riparian Conditions On Public Lands In The United States’ Inland Northwest, Brett B. Roper

Western North American Naturalist

A before-after control-impact (BACI) design was used to simultaneously evaluate how stream habitat, macroinvertebrate communities, stream temperatures, and riparian conditions responded to beavers building dams within a stream reach. Summarized conditions describing beaver-dammed and undammed stream reaches suggested that 13 of the 18 evaluated metrics differed. After accounting for beavers’ selection of lower-gradient stream reaches with less forested cover, the number of stream and riparian metrics that differed significantly dropped to 5. Beaver dams increased pool area and depth, despite failing to increase the frequency of wood >10 cm in diameter. This suggests that beavers build dams utilizing pieces of …

Physical Habitat Complexity Partially Offsets The Negative Effect Of Brook Trout On Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout In The Peripheral Goose Creek Subbasin, Daniel C. Dauwalter, Michael A. Baker, Sarah M. Baker, Richard Lee, John D. Walrath

Western North American Naturalist

Nonnative Brook Trout Salvelinus fontinalis often reduce the long-term persistence of native Cutthroat Trout Oncorhynchus clarkii populations in the western United States. However, there are some instances where the 2 species have co-occurred for decades, and healthy and diverse stream habitat conditions have been suggested to facilitate sympatry. Our goal was to evaluate how habitat diversity may interplay in the negative interactions between Brook Trout and Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout O. c. bouvieri in the Goose Creek subbasin in the western United States. We determined that neither species was abundant when they occurred in sympatry. Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout were present at …

Factors Related To The Distribution And Abundance Of Westslope Cutthroat Trout In Central Idaho, Kevin A. Meyer, Curtis J. Roth, Brock A. Lipple, Paul K. Link

Western North American Naturalist

Native resident salmonids throughout North America have experienced population declines, and understanding factors that influence their contemporary distribution and abundance may help conserve and manage such species. We examined the influence of several environmental factors on the current distribution and abundance of westslope cutthroat trout Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi in central Idaho, based on snorkel survey data collected from 2010 to 2019. In total, 2758 snorkel surveys were conducted at 1000 sites; cutthroat trout were present during 1277 of the surveys, and their occupancy rate was higher if brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis were absent (0.48) than if brook trout were present …

End Matter, Vol. 82 No. 4

Western North American Naturalist

No abstract provided.

Main And Interactive Effects Of Mental Health, Parent Ethnic Socialization, Discrimination On Bipoc Teens' Ethnic Identity, Emily Takamasa, Ashley M. Fraser, Adam Rogers

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Research would suggest that BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) adolescents have the best developmental outcomes when strong, positive ethnic identity is acknowledged and embraced. This study investigated whether discrimination, internalizing symptomology, parent socialization, and/or interactions of these variables influenced adolescent ethnic identity, specifically in exploration, resolution, and affirmation to illuminate nuanced ways BIPOC youth can achieve positive ethnic identity. Recruited from third-party research panels, surveyed participants were adolescents (Mage = 15.28; 51.6% male) of diverse racial/ethnic groups and socioeconomic backgrounds from all regions of the U.S. Overall, the results showed that there were four significant main effects on ethnic …

Curiosities Of Street Literature, A Critical Edition, Lauren Maynes, Sydnie Poulsen, Drew Rigby, Sarah Schulzke, Zerin Wetzel, Emi Yamazaki

Student Works

Curiosities of Street Literature, compiled and edited by Charles Hindley, Sr. and published by Reeves and Turner in 1871, is a curiosity in every sense of the word. The volume contains over 200 Victorian broadsides (primarily ballads) reprinted from the cheap Seven Dials versions that flooded the streets of Great Britain before the advent of steam printing. Sold for a penny (or less) by “patterers” who sang the ballads to popular tunes to attract their typically working-class customers, these pieces of ephemera were never meant to be saved or remediated in book format. Street ballads appeared quickly and disappeared …

Women's Power In Hospital-Based Nursing: A Critical Qualitative Study, Kaitlyn C. George, Bret Lyman, Andy Pilarte Alcantara, Maya Stephenson

Faculty Publications

Aim: To understand the factors that affect power in hospital-based nursing and reveal how the female gender affects an individual's ability to feel empowered.

Design: Critical qualitative research design.

Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nurses working in inpatient hospital settings in Utah and New Mexico. Data were collected from February to March 2022. Interviews were analysed using thematic analysis.

Results: Sixteen participants were interviewed. Six themes were identified from the data, four of which related to nurses' power at work, and two of which specifically related to how gender affects a nurse's ability to use power and feel empowered. …

Surface Modification Of 3d Printed Microfluidic Devices For Controlled Wetting In Two-Phase Flow, Chandler A. Warr, Nicole G. Crawford, Gregory P. Nordin, William G. Pitt

Faculty Publications

Microfluidic devices (MFDs) printed in 3-D geometry using digital light projection to polymerize monomers often have surfaces that are not as hydrophobic as MFDs made from polydimethylsiloxane. Droplet microfluidics in these types of devices are subject to droplet adhesion and aqueous spreading on less hydrophobic MFD surfaces. We have developed a post-processing technique using hydrophobic monomers that renders the surfaces of these devices much more hydrophobic. The technique is fast and easy, and involves flowing monomer without initiator into the channels and then exposing the entire device to UV light that generates radicals from the initiator molecules remaining in the …

The Unexpected Effectiveness Of Strategically Sparse Cooperation, Neal D. Munson

Theses and Dissertations

In this work, we will show a result derived from a class of economically inspired multi-agent differential games. The result shows that in the class of games we present, only a sparse cooperation structure is needed by the agents to achieve an outcome that is in a particular sense "optimal". One may expect that to achieve such an outcome, a centralized control or full cooperation would be necessary; it is not. Not only is it not necessary - it is never necessary. We precisely characterize what kind of cooperation IS necessary to attain that kind of optimality. Only the sparsest …

Which Came First, The Money Or The Sex? Cross-Lagged, Indirect Associations Between Financial Management Behaviors And Sexual Satisfaction, Matthew Todd Saxey

Theses and Dissertations

Scholars have established cross-sectional connections between how married couples navigate their finances and their sexual relationship. For example, financial management behaviors have been shown to predict sexual satisfaction among newlywed couples. However, we know very little about the direction of the association between financial management behaviors and sexual satisfaction. Understanding which might predict the other, or if there might be a bidirectional association between the two, could provide direction on where to intervene to help newlywed couples with financial and/or sexual obstacles in their marriage. With three waves of dyadic data (N = 1,208 U.S. newlywed couples), I used structural …

Short-Range Magnetic Correlations, Spontaneous Magnetovolume Effect, And Local Distortion In Magnetic Semiconductor Mnte, Raju Baral

Theses and Dissertations

The antiferromagnetic semiconductor MnTe has recently attracted significant interest as a potential high-performance thermoelectric material. Its promising thermoelectric properties are due in large part to short-range magnetic correlations in the paramagnetic state, which enhance the thermopower through the paramagnon drag effect. Using magnetic pair distribution function (mPDF) analysis of neutron total scattering data, we present a detailed, real-space picture of the short-range magnetic correlation in MnTe, offering a deeper view into the paramagnon drag effect and the nature of the correlated paramagnetic state. We confirm the presence of nanometer-scale antiferromagnetic correlations far into the paramagnetic state, show the evolution of …

Going Cold Turkey? Changes To Faunal Subsistence In The Northern San Juan Region From Basketmaker Ii Through Pueblo Iii, Tenaya Gatrell-Bedard

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research in the Northern San Juan Region of the American Southwest has revealed a pattern of change in subsistence patterns from the Basketmaker II through Pueblo III periods. Jonathan C. Driver describes the pattern as: cottontail in Basketmaker III (500 to 750 CE) and Pueblo I (750 to 900 CE), deer in Pueblo II (900 to 1150 CE), and turkey in Pueblo III (1150 to 1350 CE). The transition from deer to turkey as the main subsistence has been recorded at several sites throughout the Northern San Juan Region and is thought to be caused by the overhunting of …

“Women Who Speak With The Power And Authority Of God”: The Role Of Women In The Northern Indian Mission, 1964-1973, Amber Miller

Student Works

Since the Church's founding in the early 19th century, numerous historians have chronicled the story of "Lamanite" Missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Most of these Indian Mission histories, however, mention little more about women than missionaries marrying Native women, and non-native women receiving blessings that they will one-day teach the "Lamanites." Although the continuing conversation of these historic missions covers a wide range of views and interpretations, the roles and contributions of women often take a subordinate position in the Indian Mission narrative. The Northern Indian Mission of 1964 to 1973 serves as a microcosm …

Variation In The M-Opioid Receptor (Oprm1) And Offspring Sex Are Associated With Maternal Behavior In Rhesus Macaques (Macaca Mulatta), Zachary Baron

Theses and Dissertations

A m-opioid receptor (OPRM1) single-nucleotide-polymorphism, found in both humans and rhesus macaques mediates the mother-infant attachment bond. Because mothers treat their sons and daughters differently, it is somewhat surprising that the role of infant sex has not been assessed in the context of a maternal-OPRM1-genotype-by-infant-sex interaction. The present study investigates the effect of maternal-OPRM1-genotype and infant sex on mother-infant behaviors. Over the first six months of offspring life, mother-infant behavioral data assessing attachment quality was collected twice weekly from a large number of rhesus monkey mother-infant pairs (N=161 dyads; n=64 female infants, n=97 male infants). Mothers were genotyped for OPRM1 …

The Influence Of Predation Environment On The Sensory Ecology Of Brachyrhaphis Rhabdophora, Alexandra Grace Duffy

Theses and Dissertations

Across the animal kingdom, predation is a ubiquitous and omnipresent selective agent for a variety of traits. I aimed to address gaps in our knowledge pertaining to how predation shapes animal behavior. Many species of fish naturally occur in drainages that differ in the density of predators and exhibit obvious population divergence, making them ideal study organisms to investigate predator-driven behavioral evolution. In Chapter 1, I conducted a systematic review of the literature. The purpose of this review was to determine if predation acted as a stronger or weaker selective agent on particular behavioral traits (e.g., foraging, mating, antipredator etc.) …