Digital Commons Network^™

How Failures Cascade In Software Systems, Barbara W. Chamberlin

Theses and Dissertations

Cascading failures involve a failure in one system component that triggers failures in successive system components, potentially leading to system wide failures. While frequently used fault tolerant techniques can reduce the severity and the frequency of such failures, they continue to occur in practice. To better understand how failures cascade, we have conducted a qualitative analysis of 55 cascading failures, described in 26 publicly available incident reports. Through this analysis we have identified 16 types of cascading mechanisms (organized into eight categories) that capture the nature of the system interactions that contribute to cascading failures. We also discuss three themes …

Playable Case Study Content Management System, Mitchell Stevenson Cross

Theses and Dissertations

Educational simulations can help mitigate the natural gap between traditional education styles and the current professional world. Researchers at BYU have developed an educational simulation solution called Playable Case Studies (PCSs). PCSs are simulations that expose the user to real world scenarios and problems within a pre-built environment. With rising demand and use of these educational simulations, there is a need for easy and inexpensive ways to develop these simulations or Playable Case Studies (PCSs). We propose a content management system (CMS) that is tied to a system that utilizes dynamic modules that make up these simulations. We present a …

Student Perspectives On Feedback In A Spanish Medical Interpreting Course, Allison Rebecca Brimhall

Theses and Dissertations

Medical interpreter education is a fast-growing field in which learners sometimes receive inadequate feedback to help them improve their interpreting skills (Sultanić, 2021). This qualitative study focused on students’ perspectives on the different types of feedback given in a university Spanish medical interpreting course. Interviews and written reflections were analyzed to investigate what students personally considered to be the outcomes of the class and how feedback given in the course was associated with their development of interpreting skills and self-efficacy. Students reported that they found the most meaningful improvement through (1) guided self-assessment to discover gaps in their abilities, (2) …

The Perception Of At-Risk Students On Caring Student-Teacher Relationships And Its Impact On Their Productive Disposition, Brittany Hopper

Theses and Dissertations

The importance of a positive, caring relationship with students in the classroom is under-researched in mathematics education. Research shows that a positive student-teacher relationship can have many long-term positive results for the student. Many of these results directly impact a student's productive disposition towards mathematics. At-risk students are in greater need of positive relationships and an increase in productive disposition. Using Joan Tronto's (1993) elements of care, I examine the student perspective of these kinds of relationships and how the student sees development of their own productive disposition.

A Permutation-Based Confidence Distribution For Rare-Event Meta-Analysis, Travis Andersen

Theses and Dissertations

Confidence distributions (CDs), which provide evidence across all levels of significance, are receiving increasing attention, especially in meta-analysis. Meta-analyses allow independent study results to be combined to produce one overall conclusion and are particularly useful in public health and medicine. For studies with binary outcomes that are rare, many traditional meta-analysis methods often fail (Sutton et al. 2002; Efthimiou 2018; Liu et al. 2018; Liu 2019; Hunter and Schmidt 2000; Kontopantelis et al. 2013). Zabriskie et al. (2021b) develop a permutation-based method to analyze such data when study treatment effects vary beyond what is expected by chance. In this work, …

A Multidimensional Convolutional Bootstrapping Method For The Analysis Of Degradation Data, Jared M. Clark

Theses and Dissertations

While Monte Carlo methods for bootstrapping are typically easy to implement, they can be quite time intensive. This work aims to extend an established convolutional method of bootstrapping to work when convolutions in two or more dimensions are required. The convolutional method relies on efficient computational tools rather than Monte Carlo simulation which can greatly reduce the computation time. The proposed method is particularly well suited for the analysis of degradation data when the data are not collected on time intervals of equal length. The convolutional bootstrapping method is typically much faster than the Monte Carlo bootstrap and can be …

Biophysical Factors Control Invasive Grass Hot Spots In The Mojave Desert, Tanner Corless Smith

Theses and Dissertations

The social, economic, and ecological costs of plant invasions are vast, through their ability to alter ecosystem structure and function. Invasive annual grasses are a nuisance in the American Southwest through promotion of the grass-fire cycle. Annual grasses such as Bromus rubens, Bromus tectorum, Schismus barbatus, and Schismus arabicus have invaded the Mojave Desert and increased fire occurrence, thus it is important to identify and characterize the areas where persistent invasion has occurred and subsequently fire risk is increased by understanding the distribution of these invasive grasses. Previous plot and landscape-scale research has revealed anthropogenic and biophysical correlates with the …

Blood, Tears, And Wounded Eyes: Holy Effluvia And The Compassion Of The Virgin In Early Modern Flemish Visual And Devotional Culture, Katharine Grace Davidson Bekker

Theses and Dissertations

Images of the Mater dolorosa, the weeping Mother of God mourning over her dead son, are plentiful art of Northern Europe during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and often foreground the shedding of effluvia—blood, sweat, and tears—in their depictions of the holy pair. This paper explores the visual themes of tears, blood, eyes, and wounds as vital actors in images that require close, meditative, and affective looking and engagement. Such image formats include small-scale pairings of the Man of Sorrows and Mater dolorosa as well as books of hours. In these contexts, the holy fluids and their bodily sources expand …

Using Movement To Infer Critical Life History Events In Mule Deer: Parturition And Natal Dispersal, Tabitha A. Hughes

Theses and Dissertations

The advent of GPS tracking technology has revolutionized the field of wildlife research. The ability to obtain fine-scale location data from collared animals allows for increased understanding of life-history events that have previously been difficult to research. An excellent candidate species for telemetry-based research is mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus). Mule deer are an important species economically due to their position as a harvested species. Additionally, they play an important role in the ecosystems they occupy; therefore information regarding important life history events would improve conservation and management efforts for this species. Our objectives were to use GPS tracking technology to …

Localized Heat Therapy Improves Mitochondrial Function In Human Skeletal Muscle, Erik D. Marchant

Theses and Dissertations

Physical activity results in various types of stress in skeletal muscle including energetic, oxidative, and heat stress. Acute exposure to stress impairs skeletal muscle mitochondrial function. In contrast, chronic intermittent exposure to mild stress through exercise training results in increased mitochondrial content and respiratory capacity. While oxidative and energetic stress have received much attention regarding their long-term effect on skeletal muscle mitochondria, heat stress is not well understood. The purpose of this work was to investigate the effects of localized heat therapy on human skeletal muscle mitochondria, and to compare these effects to those of high-intensity interval exercise training. To …

A New Approach For 3d Printed Microfluidic Device Design Based On Pre-Defined Components, Cassandra Ester Slaugh

Theses and Dissertations

3D printing for microfluidic device fabrication has received considerable interest in recent years, in part driven by the potential to dramatically speed up device development by reducing device fabrication time to the minutes timescale. Moreover, in contrast to traditional cleanroom-based fabrication processes that require manual production and stacking of a limited number of layers, 3D printing allows full use of the 3D fabrication volume to lay out microfluidic elements with complex yet compact 3D geometries. The Nordin group has successfully developed multiple generations of high resolution printers and materials for microfluidic devices that achieve this vision. However, because of the …

Math Achievement Opportunity For American Mexican Children In Mexico: A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis Using Multilevel Data, Jimmy E. Hernandez

Theses and Dissertations

Since the U.S. Recession of 2008, more Mexicans are leaving than coming to the United States. Many Mexican families return to Mexico with their U.S.-born--or American Mexican--children and youth. Approximately 700,000 American Mexican children and youth are now living and attending K-12 schools throughout Mexico (Gándara & Jensen, 2021; Jacobo-Suárez, 2017; Jensen et al., 2017; Passel et al., 2012). They are part of a broader category of students who have educational experiences on both sides of the border often referred to as transnational students. Return migration to Mexico presents both challenges and opportunities that affect their adaptation to Mexican schools. …

Inhibition Of Cell Adhesion And Actin Localization During Migration Upon Protective Antigen Mutant Ligand Binding To The Capillary Morphogenesis Gene 2, Sai Lun Lee

Theses and Dissertations

Capillary Morphogenesis Gene 2 protein (CMG2) is a type 1 transmembrane receptor known as the anthrax toxin receptor 2 (ANTXR2). While it is documented that the cell surface receptor CMG2 mediates anthrax toxin entry into the cell via endocytosis, the physiological role of CMG2 is not well understood. Others have suggested that CMG2 may have a role in mediating ECM homeostasis and angiogenesis. Additionally, both anthrax protective antigen (PA) and a furin protease-resistant mutant, PASSSR, inhibit corneal neovascularization in a mouse model, and interestingly PASSSR has a greater affinity to CMG2 receptor. PASSSRalso has a more potent antiangiogenic effect than …

The Reciprocal Relationship Between Group Therapeutic Relationships And Group Member Symptom Improvement: An Archival Analysis, Aileen Marie Rands

Theses and Dissertations

Researchers and clinicians have long recognized that therapeutic relationships play a fundamental role in client symptom change during treatment. At the same time, it has been proposed that improvement in client symptoms is associated with improvement in therapeutic relationships. To date, very few studies have investigated this reciprocal relationship; even fewer have examined group therapeutic relationship factors. The present study is an archival analysis on Group Questionnaire (GQ) (i.e., positive bond, positive work, and negative relationship) and Outcome Questionnaire (OQ-45) data that aims to analyze the reciprocal relationship between group therapeutic relationships and client symptom change. More specifically, this study …

Settler-Author Allyship In Centering Indigenous Ecologies: Communal Will Through Collective Environmental Guilt In This Tender Land And Caleb's Crossing, Elena Marie Arana

Theses and Dissertations

The January 2021 edition of PMLA housed an entire cluster on "Indigenous Literatures and the Anthropocene," in which at least four of the eight non-Indigenous contributors directly addressed and supported a call for learning from and collaborating with Indigenous voices. The unanimity of the discussion dissolves somewhat drastically when considering exactly how this should be done, leading Melanie Taylor to voice one of the framing questions of the cluster: "If it is increasingly clear that not all members of Anthropos are equal drivers of the Anthropocene, and that not all are uniformly compromised by its havoc, how can we begin …

The Protective Potential Of Family Relationship Strength As It Relates To Suicidal Thoughts And Behavior In Ace-Exposed Adolescents And Emerging Adults, Collin Wright

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Introduction: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are known to cause higher incidences of Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors (STBs) in young people. Family Relationship Strength (FRS) is a known protective factor against STBs. However, there is little research on the protective nature of FRS once ACEs have been experienced by a young person. The aim of our analysis is to examine whether the strong protective nature of FRS holds true even in ACE- exposed youth.

Methods: A sample of 139 patients at the Brigham Young University Comprehensive Clinic (aged 12-25) was obtained from the BYU Marriage and Family Therapy Practice Research Network. …

Physics-Guided Machine Learning In Ocean Acoustics Using Fisher Information, Michael Craig Mortenson

Theses and Dissertations

Waterborne acoustic signals carry information about the ocean environment. Ocean geoacoustic inversion is the task of estimating environmental parameters from received acoustic signals by matching the measured sound with the predictions of a physics-based model. A lower bound on the uncertainty associated with environmental parameter estimates, the Cramér-Rao bound, can be calculated from the Fisher information, which is dependent on derivatives of a physics-based model. Physics-based preconditioners circumvent the need for variable step sizes when computing numerical derivatives. This work explores the feasibility of using a neural network to perform geoacoustic inversion for environmental parameters and their associated uncertainties from …

The Proposal For The Development Of A Minimal Viable Product (Mvp) Repository Website Containing Authentic Texts In Video Format For The Use Of Language Teachers In The Twenty-First Century, Rute Maria Baptista

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis project proposed the building of a website as a repository of authentic texts in video format for teaching foreign or second languages. The project planned the building of a minimal viable product or MVP with authentic videos both in English and Spanish, organized by the ACTFL levels with particular attention to the Intermediate level. Data were collected from a survey of 42 respondents in the United States and 89 combined from Spain and Mexico. The responses collected suggest that there is a need for this MVP. Additionally, the data indicated which features were most wanted by these teachers. …

Cambios En Las Actitudes Estudiantiles Por Medio De Implementación De La Enseñanza Intercultural En Clases De Español, Ana Victoria Madrigal

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, research in the pedagogical field has focused on the relationship between linguistic and intercultural competence. Through various studies, the connection and interdependence that exists between the teaching of language and culture as part of foreign language classes has been recognized. The following action-research study focuses on the implementation of cultured based instruction as well as the learning and teaching of Latin American culture through specific, clear, and direct cultural lesson plans and assignments. The cultural lesson plans and assignments helped activate a more explicit cultural pedagogical instruction. The cultural lesson plans and assignments implemented in the study …

Mutants, Sentinels, And Cerebro: Messages About Technology And Society In Science Fiction Films, Paige Marie Lee

Theses and Dissertations

Technology plays a significant role in society and in entertainment. People hold an ambivalent attitude about technology that is often illustrated in science fiction films. Much like myth telling stories to teach a lesson, science fiction films caution viewers of the effects of powerful technology usage in culture today. This thesis examines X-Men to show how relevant principles found in myth continue to be relevant to media consumption. Using media ecology to inform the reader about the technological environment (Mumford, 1944), this analysis of technology portrayed in X-Men shows the implications real world technology, such as radiation, weapons, and artificial …

Returning Thanks To God And Others: The Relational, Prosocial, And Emotional Consequences Of Transcendent Indebtedness, Jenae Marie Nelson

Theses and Dissertations

Gratitude and indebtedness facilitate cooperative relationships and altruism. Although most of the world endorses some belief in God, gratitude and indebtedness to God have not received adequate empirical attention. The "Gratitude to God" research initiative was created to address this gap, of which the current project is an appendage. This project encapsulates a multiphase research proposal, including three parts; a pilot study and two experimental studies. The purpose of the pilot study (N = 475) was to create and test experimental manipulations for the two experimental studies. Experiment 1 (N = 659; highly religious emerging adult sample) was a 3x2 …

Monitoring Of Foraging Sites For Ungulates Within Alpine Plant Communities And Establishment Of Long-Term Monitoring Plots For Rare Castilleja Parvula Var. Parvula In The Tushar Mountains, Utah, Heather Shipp

Theses and Dissertations

The Tushar Mountains of Utah provide essential alpine habitat to a variety of flora and fauna, including 27 endemic plant species and several ungulates (mountain goats, deer, elk, cattle). These ungulates were observed throughout two growing seasons and field analyses were conducted to assess foraging selection. Overall, most ungulates, especially large nursery herds, tended to prefer foraging amongst alpine regions within the Bullion volcanic of the Tushars, which is characterized by denser vegetation than the Belknap volcanic region. Mountain goats and deer were most frequently observed foraging within the Tushar alpine habitat; however, elk and domestic cattle were also observed. …

Positive Psychology Interventions In An Sla Context: A Semester-Long Study Of The Impact Of Positive Psychology On The Well-Being And Language Development Of English Language Learners, Carolee Rogers

Theses and Dissertations

This article reports on a study investigating the effectiveness of positive psychology interventions (PPIs) in an Intensive English Program (IEP) for non-matriculated university students. Interventions based on the PERMA model for wellbeing (positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment) were implemented through weekly 65-minute lessons and short daily activities. Each lesson introduced an aspect of the PERMA model such as positive emotion or achievement. Along with this focused instruction, students concurrently engaged in language learning activities. Teachers also provided short daily activities for reinforcement throughout the week. Six classes received these interventions, while three classes served as a control group …

Is This A Line? Visual Literacy, Visual Inquiry, And Visual Communication In The Elementary School Years, Connie J. Broadbent

Theses and Dissertations

As a mother and public elementary school art teacher, I recognize the impact images have in the lives of children. Our culture is image rich and often image saturated. I believe I can do more to prepare my students to become discerning consumers and creators of images. Art teachers are uniquely qualified to teach visual literacy and visual inquiry. If grade school children can be taught to think more deeply and critically about their visual world, they will be better prepared for responding to it in a healthy, empowering way. This research describes an elementary school curriculum based on teaching …

The World, Rebecca Dawn Billings

Theses and Dissertations

A poem comes into the world when an obsession takes hold of a person who must write about it. These twenty-eight original poems are products of obsession and pleasure.

New Distributional Data For The Northern Forestfly, Lednia Borealis Baumann And Kondratieff, 2010 (Plecoptera: Nemouridae), In Washington, Usa, Candace E. Fallon, Emilie Blevins, Michele Blackburn, Taylor B. Cotten, Derek W. Stinson

Western North American Naturalist

The northern forestfly, Lednia borealis Baumann and Kondratieff, 2010 (Plecoptera: Nemouridae), is a rare montane stonefly that until recently was thought to be endemic to Washington State. It is one of 4 described Lednia species in the western United States and Canada and the only member of its genus known to occur in Washington. All 4 Lednia species are associated with cold-water habitat in alpine and subalpine habitats; because of this, they may be especially vulnerable to threats associated with climate change. However, L. borealis is rarely targeted in species inventories or survey efforts, and more information is needed about …

Trachelipus Rathkii (Brandt, 1833) In Alberta, The First Report Of A Terrestrial Isopod From The Prairie Provinces, Canada (Isopoda: Oniscidea), Weichun Li

Western North American Naturalist

Terrestrial isopods have received scant attention in Canada, especially in the Prairie Provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Prior to this study, terrestrial isopods have yet to be reported from the Prairie Provinces. In this work, Trachelipus rathkii (Brandt, 1833) is reported from Alberta for the first time. The descriptions and illustrations of the species are provided in detail.


Los isópodos terrestres han recibido poca atención en Canadá, especialmente en las provincias de las praderas de Alberta, Saskatchewan y Manitoba. Antes de este estudio, no existían reportes acerca de la presencia de isópodos terrestres en las provincias de las praderas. …

Explicit Instruction In Second Language Self-Assessment: Exploring The Potential For Improving Calibration Through Training, Rachael Reynolds

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the effect of an explicit training module on improving language learner ability to accurately self-assess second-language proficiency. There was a total of 409 intermediate and advanced level participants across six languages: French, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. Most of the participants had extensive immersion backgrounds. The Language Ability Self Evaluation Resource (LASER) was used to measure the perceived proficiency of the participants (self-assessed language ability). The Oral Proficiency Interview – Computer (OPIc) was used to measure the actual proficiency of the participants (rater-assessed language ability). The participants were randomly assigned to either the control or experimental …

Physical Place And Online Space: Permeability, Embodiment, And Gender In Two Online, Synchronous Critical Multicultural Teacher Education Courses, Elizabeth Finlayson Harris

Theses and Dissertations

This semester-long microethnography explores how the emotional geography in two online, synchronous critical multicultural education courses are shaped by online interactions and infrastructures as well as social frames. Using a microethnographic approach, video data, interviews, and open-ended questionnaires revealed patterns of interactions suggesting an online emotional geography characterized by a duality of physical place and online space. Key findings suggest that the levels of permeability in student and instructor's physical location influence how online participants gave or received emotion gifts and performances in online spaces. This study further supports emergent research suggesting gender frames as relevant in students' level of …

“If I Could Do This, I Feel Anyone Could:” The Design And Evaluation Of A Two-Factor Authentication Manager, Garrett D. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Two-factor authentication (2FA) is a strong defense against account compromise. However, usability studies reveal challenges with 2FA setup. The process to manually setup and remove 2FA methods differs across websites. We present a system design for a 2FA manager to automatically setup and remove 2FA methods. Potential benefits are reduced time, fewer mistakes, consistent terminology, a single workflow for users to learn, and the ability to rapidly transition to a new 2FA method—e.g., when replacing a lost 2FA method. We create two proof-of-concept implementations of our design, one as a browser extension and one integrated as a feature in an …