Digital Commons Network^™

Droughts, Floods, And Wildfires: Paleo Perspectives On Disaster Law In The Anthropocene, Ryan Stoa

Faculty Publications

Humanity’s impact on the earth has become so pronounced that momentum is building toward adopting a new term for the modern geological age — the “Anthropocene.” The term signifies that human activity has reached a scale that it is now a planetary force capable of shaping ecosystems and natural processes. And yet, anthropocentric natural resources management and environmental lawmaking in the United States reveals a lack of control in managing natural systems and fostering resilience to extreme events. These systems do not easily conform to the whims of reactionary environmental policies. Droughts, floods, and wildfires, in particular, are often conceptualized …

Association Between Toxocariasis And Cognitive Function In Young To Middle-Aged Adults, Bruce L. Brown, Lance D. Erickson, Shawn D. Gale, Andrew Berrett, Dawson W. Hedges

Faculty Publications

The ascarid nematodes Toxocara canis (Werner, 1782) and Toxocara cati (Schrank, 1788) may infect humans resulting in toxocariasis. A prior study associated species of Toxocara Stiles, 1905 with cognitive deficits in children. To determine if a similar association between toxocariasis and cognition exists in adults, we analysed a large dataset from the United States’ Center for Disease Control’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. We used linear-regression and multivariate models to examine the association between toxocariasis as assessed by the presence of anti-Toxocara IgG antibodies and three measures of cognitive function – simple reaction time (SRT), symbol-digit substitution (SDS) and …

Weed And Water Law: Regulating Legal Marijuana, Ryan Stoa

Faculty Publications

Marijuana is nearing the end of its prohibition in the United States. Arguably the country’s largest cash crop, marijuana is already legal for recreational use in Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Washington DC. Between now and election day 2016, an additional 14 states may place marijuana legalization initiatives on their ballots. In addition, 23 states and Washington DC have legalized medical marijuana, with up to seven states pending legislation. The era of marijuana prohibition is rapidly coming to a close.

At the same time, traditional doctrines of water law are struggling to cope with the modern realities of water scarcity. …

Utah’S Role In Protecting The Mormon Trail During The Civil War, Kenneth L. Alford Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

This chapter (from the 2015 book “Far Away in the West: Reflections on the Mormon Pioneer Trail” published by the Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center) sets the stage for Utah Territory’s role protecting the Mormon Trail during the Civil War by outlining the Utah War (1857-1858). This essay begins by comparing and contracting Washington, DC’s wartime interest in the trail with that of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Utah Territory. The essay then outlines the changing parties who were responsible for the trail between 1861 and 1865 – the U.S. Army (spring-summer 1861), no one …

Gentrification And Urban Public School Reforms: The Interest Divergence Dilemma, Erika K. Wilson

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Faces And Figures Of Fortune: Astrological Physiognomy In Tamburlaine Part 1., Vanessa I. Corredera

Faculty Publications

When articulating the relationship between man and the world around him (or her), George Peele imagines man as a canvas, a 'picture' of the universe, a microcosm whose makeup carries the 'face' or the viewable surface of the macrocosm. Peele's statement perfectly encapsulates the early modern belief in signatures and correspondences, in which 'Individual objects on earth...contain the signature of the heavenly bodies to which they supposedly correspond'. By envisioning man as a 'picture', Peele conceives of the universe as readily legible upon the human body. In his discussion of the history of signatures and correspondences in The Order of …

Local Spatial Structure Of Forest Biomass And Its Consequences For Remote Sensing Of Carbon Stocks, M. Réjou-Méchain, H. C. Muller-Landau, M. Detto, S. C. Thomas, T. Le Toan, S. S. Saatchi, J. S. Barreto-Silva, N. A. Bourg, S. Bunyavejchewin, N. Butt, W. Y. Brockelman, M. Cao, D. Cárdenas, J. M. Chiang, G. B. Chuyong, K. Clay, R. Condit, H. S. Dattaraja, S. J. Davies, A. Duque, S. Esufali, C. Ewango, R. H.S. Fernando, C. D. Fletcher, I. A.U. N. Gunatilleke, Z. Hao, K. E. Harms, T. B. Hart, B. Hérault, R. W. Howe, S. P. Hubbell, D. J. Johnson, D. Kenfack

Faculty Publications

© Author(s) 2014. Advances in forest carbon mapping have the potential to greatly reduce uncertainties in the global carbon budget and to facilitate effective emissions mitigation strategies such as REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation). Though broad-scale mapping is based primarily on remote sensing data, the accuracy of resulting forest carbon stock estimates depends critically on the quality of field measurements and calibration procedures. The mismatch in spatial scales between field inventory plots and larger pixels of current and planned remote sensing products for forest biomass mapping is of particular concern, as it has the potential to introduce …

The Economics Of Mitigation Of Water Pollution Externalities From Biomass Production For Energy, Naveen Adusumilli, Taesoo Lee, M. Edward Rister, Ronald D. Lacewell

Faculty Publications

© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. To fulfill the national bioenergy goals of the United States, conversion of marginal lands to intensive biomass crop production and/or application of greater amounts of nutrients to existing cropland could be expected. Such change in agricultural practices could produce unintended environmental consequences such as water quality degradation. Select Best Management Practices (BMPs) are evaluated for water quality mitigation effectiveness as well as for their relative cost-effectiveness, issues that are often ignored in evaluation of biofuels as a sustainable solution for energy demand. The water quality impacts of converting pastureland to intensive …

Ages And Magnetic Structures Of The South China Sea Constrained By Deep Tow Magnetic Surveys And Iodp Expedition 349, Chun Feng Li, Xing Xu, Jian Lin, Zhen Sun, Jian Zhu, Yongjian Yao, Xixi Zhao, Qingsong Liu, Denise K. Kulhanek, Jian Wang, Taoran Song, Junfeng Zhao, Ning Qiu, Yongxian Guan, Zhiyuan Zhou, Trevor Williams, Rui Bao, Anne Briais, Elizabeth A. Brown, Yifeng Chen, Peter D. Clift, Frederick S. Colwell, Kelsie A. Dadd, Weiwei Ding, Iván Hernández Almeida, Xiao Long Huang, Sangmin Hyun, Tao Jiang, Anthony A.P. Koppers, Qianyu Li, Chuanlian Liu, Zhifei Liu, Renata H. Nagai

Faculty Publications

© 2014. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. Combined analyses of deep tow magnetic anomalies and International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 349 cores show that initial seafloor spreading started around 33 Ma in the northeastern South China Sea (SCS), but varied slightly by 1-2 Myr along the northern continent-ocean boundary (COB). A southward ridge jump of ∼20 km occurred around 23.6 Ma in the East Subbasin; this timing also slightly varied along the ridge and was coeval to the onset of seafloor spreading in the Southwest Subbasin, which propagated for about 400 km southwestward from ∼23.6 to ∼21.5 Ma. The …

Co-Creating Value: Student Contributions To Smart Cities, Chetan S. Sankar, Barry A. Cumbie

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Shelamzion Alexander, Hyrcanus Ii, And Aristobulus Ii In The Dead Sea Scrolls, Kenneth Atkinson

Faculty Publications

The reign of Queen Shelamzion Alexandra (ca. 79-67 B.C.E.), commonly known as Salome Alexandra, marks a unique period in the history of the Hasmonean dynasty. She is not only the sole Hasmonean queen regnant, but a person whose reign is difficult to reconstruct. Josephus’ two accounts of her time in power in his War and Antiquities often differ. The latter of the two, moreover, is consistently more negative than the former work. Although the Rabbinic literature generally describes her in a favorable light, this material is quite late and is therefore of dubious historical value. Although some scholars have tried …

The Drivers Of Tropical Speciation, Brian Tilston Smith, John E. Mccormack, Andrés M. Cuervo, Michael J. Hickerson, Alexandre Aleixo, Carlos Daniel Cadena, Jorge Pérez-Emán, Curtis W. Burney, Xiaoou Xie, Michael G. Harvey, Brant C. Faircloth, Travis C. Glenn, Elizabeth P. Derryberry, Jesse Prejean, Samantha Fields, Robb T. Brumfield

Faculty Publications

© 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved. Since the recognition that allopatric speciation can be induced by large-scale reconfigurations of the landscape that isolate formerly continuous populations, such as the separation of continents by plate tectonics, the uplift of mountains or the formation of large rivers, landscape change has been viewed as a primary driver of biological diversification. This process is referred to in biogeography as vicariance. In the most species-rich region of the world, the Neotropics, the sundering of populations associated with the Andean uplift is ascribed this principal role in speciation. An alternative model posits that rather …

Mormonism In Europe: A Bibliographic Essay, J. Michael Hunter

Faculty Publications

“Mormonism in Europe: A Bibliographic Essay,” surveys studies useful to serious students and researchers interested in Mormonism in Europe. It focuses on scholarly books, articles, theses, and dissertations published prior to 2010 about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in Europe. Out of necessity it is selective. Works of a more popular nature are included only when they contain information valuable to researchers not found in other publications. The studies listed herein are generally categorized by region and country and fall in a somewhat chronological order by topic within those geographic regions.

American Dream In Flux: The Endangered Right To Lease A Home, Andrea Boyack

Faculty Publications

Homeownership in the US is on the decline and the percentage of the population that rents their residence is growing. Renters present a distinct demographic compared to owners, and most of the more vulnerable segments of society rent their homes. But the law prohibits renting a home in some neighborhoods. Occasionally, zoning provisions hamper the ability of would-be tenants and would-be landlords to rent. More typically, however, community restrictive covenants are what block rentals. Zoning prohibitions on rentals have been attacked as violations of property rights. But in condominiums and other privately governed neighborhoods, segregation of renters from owner occupants …

An Ntsb For Capital Punishment, Adam M. Gershowitz

Faculty Publications

When a fatal traffic accident happens, we expect the local police and prosecutors to handle the investigation and criminal charges. When afatal airplane crash occurs, however, we turn instead to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The reason is that air crashes are complicated and the NTSB has vast expertise. Without that expertise, investigations falter. We need look no further than the mess made by Malaysian authorities in the search for Flight 370 to see the importance of expertise in handling complicated investigations and processes. It is easy to point to a similar series of mistakes by local prosecutors and …

Relative Importance Of Environmental, Geographic, And Spatial Variables On Zooplankton Metacommunities, Tad Dallas, John M. Drake

Faculty Publications

© 2014 Dallas and Drake. Understanding the factors responsible for structuring ecological communities is a central goal in community ecology. Previous work has focused on determining the relative roles of two classes of variables (e.g., spatial and environmental) on community composition. However, this approach may ignore the disproportionate impact of variables within classes, and is often confounded by spatial autocorrelation leading to collinearity among variables of different classes. Here, we combine pattern-based metacommunity and machine learning analyses to characterize metacommunity structure of zooplankton from lakes in the northeast United States and to identify environmental, spatial, and geographic covariates associated with …

The Role Of Empathy And Sympathy In Character Education, Radhi Al-Mabuk

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this paper is to describe and highlight the role of empathy and sympathy in character education. More specifically, the bridging function of empathy and sympathy to civility and their role in promoting development in the context of forgiveness will be emphasized. The paper is organized in five major parts. The first one consists of an introduction and a brief historical overview of character education followed by a discussion of the aims of character education and the school’s role in nurturing it. In the second part, an argument is made for forgiveness as a means of promoting development …

The Lotic Intersite Nitrogen Experiments: An Example Of Successful Ecological Research Collaboration, Linx Collaborators, Walter K. Dodds, Jackson R. Webster, Chelsea L. Crenshaw, Ashley M. Helton, Jonathan M. O'Brien, Eugenia Marti, Anne E. Hershey

Faculty Publications

Collaboration is an essential skill for modern ecologists because it brings together diverse expertise, viewpoints, and study systems. The Lotic Intersite Nitrogen eXperiments (LINX I and II), a 17-y research endeavor involving scores of early- to late-career stream ecologists, is an example of the benefits, challenges, and approaches of successful collaborative research in ecology. The scientific success of LINX reflected tangible attributes including clear scientific goals (hypothesis-driven research), coordinated research methods, a team of cooperative scientists, excellent leadership, extensive communication, and a philosophy of respect for input from all collaborators. Intangible aspects of the collaboration included camaraderie and strong team …

North Versus South: The Effects Of Foreign Direct Investment And Historical Legacies On Poverty Reduction In Post-Đổi Mới Vietnam, Scott R. Sanders

Faculty Publications

This research examines the factors that account for variance in provincial poverty reduction rates between 2002 and 2008 in Vietnam. In particular, this paper uses spatial regression modeling to show that foreign direct investment (FDI) and the capitalist legacies of southern Vietnam significantly affected provincial poverty reduction during this time period. These findings suggest that although Vietnam as a whole has benefited from post-Đổi Mới economic reform and FDI, the historical capitalist legacies of the former Republic of Vietnam played a strong role in aiding provinces in the south in attracting FDI and subsequently reducing provincial poverty.

Getting Into The Meat Of The Word Of Wisdom, A. Jane Birch

Faculty Publications

Doctrine & Covenants Section 89 is known as the "health code" for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In verse 13 of this scripture, the Lord states, “it is pleasing unto me that they [flesh of beasts and fowls of the air] should not be used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine” (D&C 89:13). Judging from the variety of interpretations this single verse has inspired, it would appear to be deeply enigmatic. Interestingly, most interpretations have been put forward with little supporting evidence. This article is the first comprehensive analysis of the …

Organizational Structure And Knowledge-Practice Diffusion In The Mnc, Nathaniel C. Lupton, Paul Beamish

Faculty Publications

Purpose

This study aims to examine the interaction of formal and informal cross-border knowledge-sharing practices of four large multinational corporations (MNCs) in aerospace, software, IT services and telecommunications industries. The goal was to determine the manner in which coordination and control mechanisms facilitated knowledge transfer.

Design/methodology/approach

Case studies comprised secondary data and semi-structured interviews with corporate headquarters and subsidiary managers in large MNCs conducted in the USA, Canada, Mexico, China, India and Eastern Europe.

Findings

The primary finding of this study is that knowledge transfer mechanisms arise as a result of both formal and informal structures of the MNC. Formal …

Crisis Informatics, Christine Hagar

Faculty Publications

No abstract available.

Trial By Google: Judicial Notice In The Information Age, Jeffrey Bellin, Andrew Guthrie Ferguson

Faculty Publications

This Article presents a theory of judicial notice for the information age. It argues that the ease of accessing factual data on the Internet allows judges and litigants to expand the use of judicial notice in ways that raise significant concerns about admissibility, reliability, and fair process. State and federal courts are already applying the surprisingly pliant judicial notice rules to bring websites ranging from Google Maps to Wikipedia into the courtroom, and these decisions will only increase in frequency in coming years. This rapidly emerging judicial phenomenon is notable for its ad hoc and conclusory nature—attributes that have the …

Potential Of X-Band Images From High-Resolution Satellite Sar Sensors To Assess Growth And Yield In Paddy Rice, Yoshio Inoue, Eiji Sakaiya, Cuizhen Wang

Faculty Publications

The comprehensive relationship of backscattering coefficient (σ⁰) values from two current X-band SAR sensors (COSMO-SkyMed and TerraSAR-X) with canopy biophysical variables were investigated using the SAR images acquired at VV polarization and shallow incidence angles. The difference and consistency of the two sensors were also examined. The chrono-sequential change of σ⁰ in rice paddies during the transplanting season revealed that σ⁰ reached the value of nearby water surfaces a day before transplanting, and increased significantly just after transplanting event (3 dB). Despite a clear systematic shift (6.6 dB) between the two sensors, the differences in σ …

"Make Them Pay": Charting The Social Topography Of An Old Assyrian Caravan Cycle, Edward P. Stratford

Faculty Publications

With one foot on the Tigris and the other on the Anatolian plateau, Assyrian merchants conducted a brisk trade in tin, textiles, and silver in the late twentieth and early nineteenth centuries BCE. The structural aspects of the shipment and sale of tin and textiles in exchange for silver in caravan cycles have been the subjects of many excellent studies with methodologies including lexical studies and text-type studies. In addition, archival studies have been helpful in giving a sense of the variety of organization and involvement in the trade among different individuals. However, approaches that focus on structural activities like …

Water Relationships In The U.S. Southwest: Characterizing Water Management Networks Using Natural Language Processing, John T. Murphy, Jonathan Ozik, Nicholson T. Collier, Mark Altaweel, Richard B. Lammers, Andrew Kliskey, Lilian Alessa, Drew Cason, Paula Williams

Faculty Publications

Natural language processing (NLP) and named entity recognition (NER) techniques are applied to collections of newspaper articles from four cities in the U.S. Southwest. The results are used to generate a network of water management institutions that reflect public perceptions of water management and the structure of water management in these areas. This structure can be highly centralized or fragmented; in the latter case, multiple peer institutions exist that may cooperate or be in conflict. This is reflected in the public discourse of the water consumers in these areas and can, we contend, impact the potential responses of management agencies …

Conflict Translates Environmental And Social Risk Into Business Costs, Daniel M. Franks, Rachel Davis, Anthony J. Bebbington, Saleem H. Ali, Deanna Kemp, Martin Scurrah

Faculty Publications

Sustainability science has grown as a field of inquiry, but has said little about the role of large-scale private sector actors in socio-ecological systems change. However, the shaping of global trends and transitions depends greatly on the private sector and its development impact. Market-based and command-and-control policy instruments have, along with corporate citizenship, been the predominant means for bringing sustainable development priorities into private sector decision-making. This research identifies conflict as a further means through which environmental and social risks are translated into business costs and decision making. Through in-depth interviews with finance, legal, and sustainability professionals in the extractive …

Questioning The Comma In Verse 13 Of The Word Of Wisdom, A. Jane Birch

Faculty Publications

The 1921 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants included an additional comma, which was inserted after the word “used” in D&C 89:13: “And it is pleasing unto me that they should not be used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine.” Later authors have speculated that the addition of the comma was a mistake that fundamentally changed the meaning of the verse. This article examines this “errant comma theory” and demonstrates why this particular interpretation of D&C 89:13 is without merit.

Cultures Of Exile: Conversations On Language And The Arts, Eleni Bastéa, Walter Putnam, Mark Forte

Faculty Publications

The conference “Cultures of Exile: Conversations on Language and the Arts,” co-organized by Professors Eleni Bastea and Walter Putnam, was inspired by the music of Georges Moustaki (1934--2013), especially his song “Le Métèque” (1969). In “Le Métèque” Moustaki dealt with outsiders, strangers, and all those who do not share one homogeneous place of origin. What does it mean to be a “métèque,” an exile, an outsider today? Although often associated with loss and victimhood, exile can also foster artistic freedom, creativity, renewal, and empowerment. What is the role of the new place in the development of one’s artistic oeuvre? How …

“It Is Silly To Hide Your Most Active Patrons”: Exploring User Participation Of Library Space Designs For Young Adults In The United States, Anthony Bernier, Mike Males, Collin Rickman

Faculty Publications

This article advances the first attempt to collect and examine empirical data on young adult (YA) spaces in public libraries from institutions across the United States by surveying current practices in new and renovated buildings. Analysis of an online survey of 257 library and information science (LIS) professionals produced an innovative Youth Participation Index (YPI) used to document the relative intensities of youth involvement in the design and execution of YA spaces. Libraries claiming higher levels of youth participation reported significant quality service improvements across a wide range of outcomes. However, after several decades of advocating for youth involvement in …