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Articles 4261 - 4290 of 8231

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Association Between Heavy-Metal Exposure And The Digit-Symbol Substitution Test In Us Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study, Parker Woody, Dawson Hedges Apr 2014

Association Between Heavy-Metal Exposure And The Digit-Symbol Substitution Test In Us Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study, Parker Woody, Dawson Hedges

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Heavy metals in the environment are a serious concern. One of the most widely known and studied neurotoxins is lead. For many years it was put into gasoline and paint in the US until it was discovered that it lead to developmental defects and affected cognitive functioning. There is a concern that other heavy metals could have adverse effects as well. Much research has focused on exposure to heavy metals in those exposed to abnormally high levels, such as those found in occupational exposures. Very little has been done examining heavy metal levels in the body such as those that …

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Word Quality And Memory, Marshall Roedel, Dr. C. Brock Kirwan Apr 2014

Word Quality And Memory, Marshall Roedel, Dr. C. Brock Kirwan

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Current memory theory suggests that two separate processes contribute to recognition memory. Recollection is when recognition is accompanied by contextual information regarding the encoding event. Familiarity is when recognition is only a companied by a vague sense of having encountered something previously.

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Does Money Matter? A Case Study Of The Effect Of Economic Disparity On Support For Separatist Political Parties, Paul Russell, Dr. Wade Jacoby Apr 2014

Does Money Matter? A Case Study Of The Effect Of Economic Disparity On Support For Separatist Political Parties, Paul Russell, Dr. Wade Jacoby

Journal of Undergraduate Research

I was awarded an ORCA grant to study the causes of support for separatist political parties in Belgium. In January of 2011, I had the opportunity to travel to Belgium as an intern for a political party at the European Parliament in Brussels. The grant that I received helped to make this possible and gave me the chance to see the conflict between northern Belgium (Flanders) and southern Belgium (Wallonia) first hand. During my time in Belgium – and for months afterwards – the country had no viable central government. Political parties from the two main regions were unable to …

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The Role Of Sleep In Accounting For Racial Gaps In Educational Achievement, Jonathan Stevens, Dr. Eric R. Eide Apr 2014

The Role Of Sleep In Accounting For Racial Gaps In Educational Achievement, Jonathan Stevens, Dr. Eric R. Eide

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Research has clearly shown that there is a gap in educational achievement between black and white middle and high school students. Thus far studies have focused primarily on family background and school inputs in explaining the achievement gap, however, the role of racial health differences is largely unexplored. Sleep is a health indicator that shows marked racial differences and as such, we examine how much sleep differences account for racial differences in student achievement.

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Helping The Disadvantaged: A Longitudinal Examination Of Club Participation On Behavioral Outcomes, John Whitney, Dr. Renata Forste Apr 2014

Helping The Disadvantaged: A Longitudinal Examination Of Club Participation On Behavioral Outcomes, John Whitney, Dr. Renata Forste

Journal of Undergraduate Research

This study was designed as a program assessment for school-aged youth attending Boys and Girls Clubs in the greater Salt Lake City area. The study focused on the relationship between length of membership at the club on behavioral outcomes particularly with the goal of a reduction of delinquent behaviors. The original study was designed to be a longitudinal study of club participants whereby the participant’s responses were recorded using their club ID. These IDs would be used to track how individual respondent’s attitudes and behaviors changed over the course of two years as a result of their club participation. Due …

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Returns On Time Investment: The Impact Of Family Social Capital On A Child’S Labor Market Outcomes, Elizabeth Warnick, Dr. John Hoffmann Apr 2014

Returns On Time Investment: The Impact Of Family Social Capital On A Child’S Labor Market Outcomes, Elizabeth Warnick, Dr. John Hoffmann

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The troubling trend of increasing economic inequality in the United States can be partially attributed to one’s background; every person in the United States is born with a degree of advantage or disadvantage. However, the extent to which this initial inequality affects labor market outcomes, such as income, has yet to be clearly defined. An individual’s background can be understood in terms of capital, which has been conceptualized in three ways: financial, human and social (Coleman 1988). Family financial capital is commonly measured by income, while human capital can be measured by parental education level. Social capital is a more …

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Academic Achievement Among Immigrant Youth: Does School Matter More Than Home?, Jessica Thompson, Dr. Mikaela Dufur Apr 2014

Academic Achievement Among Immigrant Youth: Does School Matter More Than Home?, Jessica Thompson, Dr. Mikaela Dufur

Journal of Undergraduate Research

As a research team at BYU we study academic achievement and delinquency among youth. Our goal is to provide a new portrait of how investment at home and at school results in returns to children and adolescents in these areas. There is currently increased pressure on schools to be accountable for student outcomes, and No Child Left Behind ties teacher compensation and funding for schools to student achievement. But given the complexity of the processes through which student achievement is realized, will this school-centered strategy actually work? Because families play such a crucial role in promoting academic achievement, could it …

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From Symbolic To Social Boundaries: The Utah Minuteman Project, Keaton Robertson, Dr. Charlie Morgan Apr 2014

From Symbolic To Social Boundaries: The Utah Minuteman Project, Keaton Robertson, Dr. Charlie Morgan

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Social movements, such as the Utah Minuteman Project (UMP) play an important role in shaping public opinion on critical immigration issues. Utah, regarded as a sanctuary state by antiillegal immigrant movements, is one of ten states that grant in-state tuition to anyone who graduates from a Utah high school without proof of residency. Furthermore, it was the first state to offer driving privilege cards to “Individuals who are unable to establish legal/lawful presence and who are ineligible for a US Social Security Number,” including undocumented immigrants. After the emergence of the Minutemen, numerous so-called “anti-immigrant” legislation has been proposed at …

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Factors Influencing Language Gains For Chinese Speakers During Study Abroad, Spencer Ring, Andrew Westover, Dr. Dan Dewey Apr 2014

Factors Influencing Language Gains For Chinese Speakers During Study Abroad, Spencer Ring, Andrew Westover, Dr. Dan Dewey

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In this project, we aimed to investigate factors that influence study abroad students’ development of linguistic proficiency in Mandarin Chinese. We decided to focus on Mandarin Chinese because, as Dewey (2007) observes, an understanding of what factors affect the development of proficiency in Asian languages is limited compared with European languages, which have received more research focus in second language acquisition studies.

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Modeling Home Market Value Using Remote Sensing Vegetation Indices, Carson Stam, Dr. Ryan Jensen Apr 2014

Modeling Home Market Value Using Remote Sensing Vegetation Indices, Carson Stam, Dr. Ryan Jensen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

As the principal habitat of the human race, urban areas require a high degree of attention and research. The United Nations has estimated that slightly over 50% of the world’s population now lives in urban areas. This number is projected to increase steadily in the coming decades. The ability to understand our habitat as a species is key to understanding our future. An important component of any urban area is the urban forest. McPherson and Luttinger (1996) stated that “[r]esearch is revealing that with proper management and care, urban forests can contribute to the economic vitality and the quality of …

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A Meta-Analytic Evaluation Of The Ern As A Biological Marker Of Depression And Anxiety, David Rackham, Dr. Michael Larson Apr 2014

A Meta-Analytic Evaluation Of The Ern As A Biological Marker Of Depression And Anxiety, David Rackham, Dr. Michael Larson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Anxiety and depression disorders have a high rate of prevalence in the adult U.S. population (anxiety 18.1%; depression 9.5%; “Mental Disorders,” 2010). Indeed, it is estimated that by the year 2020 depression will be the second most prevalent health concern worldwide for all ages and both sexes (“Depression,” n.d., para. 2). Many disciplines are seeking effective treatment options, as well as exploring potential preventative solutions for these disorders. One such preventative possibility is the elucidation of endophenotypes, which are unobservable characteristics that are linked with a behavior known to be a phenotype of the disorder. Research on the etiology of …

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Do Aid Donors Plant The Grassroots? Evidence From A Randomized Field Experiment In The Us And Uganda, Daniel Walker, Dr. Michael Findley Apr 2014

Do Aid Donors Plant The Grassroots? Evidence From A Randomized Field Experiment In The Us And Uganda, Daniel Walker, Dr. Michael Findley

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Recent literature dealing with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) claims that NGOs have little incentive to base their decisions and strategies on local needs and instead are governed largely by their current and prospective donors (McGann and Johnstone 2006; Prakash and Gugerty 2010; Bollen et al 2005). To test this claim, I used my ORCA grant to create a quantitative experiment in the US and Uganda in which organizations were randomly assigned to a control group or one of four treatment groups based on the main stakeholders of the NGO market—donors, local government officials, project beneficiaries, and NGO peers. In each group, …

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Ethnic Group Affiliation And Second Language Acquisition, Sarah Franklin, Dr. Wendy Baker-Smemoe Apr 2014

Ethnic Group Affiliation And Second Language Acquisition, Sarah Franklin, Dr. Wendy Baker-Smemoe

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Over the past forty years a significant amount of research has explored how to improve second language (L2) acquisition, most of which has examined factors that influence this ability. Little research, however, has examined how ethnic group affiliation (defined as how closely you feel attached to your native culture and language) affects this learning, especially in bilingual communities. It is hoped that the current research will not only help in understanding the many factors that influence L2 acquisition, but may also demonstrate how ethnic group affiliation can be used to preserve endangered languages throughout the world.

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A Study Of Second Language Acquisition Of Glottal Ejectives Through A Comparative Phonetic Analysis Of Mayan Q’Eqchi’ Native Speakers And English L2 Learners Of Q’Eqchi’, Karl Olaw Christian Wagner, Dr. Wendy Baker Smemoe Apr 2014

A Study Of Second Language Acquisition Of Glottal Ejectives Through A Comparative Phonetic Analysis Of Mayan Q’Eqchi’ Native Speakers And English L2 Learners Of Q’Eqchi’, Karl Olaw Christian Wagner, Dr. Wendy Baker Smemoe

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The research the grant from the Office of Research and Creative Activities has allowed me to perform has been a wonderful opportunity that has helped me to take my undergraduate work to a higher level. To be able to apply the linguistic knowledge I’ve gained in the classroom in real research, even research abroad at that has been of great worth to me. The entire process has been a learning experience and continues to be so as I finish my work on this project. This process, from the first rough sketches of a possible research project to the current work …

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Japanese Sentence Parsing In An Artificial Intelligence System, Nathan Glenn, Dr. Deryle Lonsdale Apr 2014

Japanese Sentence Parsing In An Artificial Intelligence System, Nathan Glenn, Dr. Deryle Lonsdale

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In this project, we created a Japanese sentence parser that functions within a cognitive modeling architecture known as Soar. It was created by modifying an existing English parser called XNL-Soar, which implements minimalist principles in syntactic parsing. Japanese lexical access is performed via GoSen and a Java interface to the Japanese WordNet, and syntactic and semantic processing is done within Soar. The ease with which the parser was modified to process Japanese input is extremely encouraging and lends support to its use as model of human sentence processing, as well as to the Minimalist Program in linguistics. The system is …

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Face Out: The Effect Of Book Displays On Collection Usage, Leticia Camacho, Andy Spackman, David Cluff Apr 2014

Face Out: The Effect Of Book Displays On Collection Usage, Leticia Camacho, Andy Spackman, David Cluff

Faculty Publications

Business librarians at Brigham Young University’s Harold B. Lee Library are confronted with considerable and consistent declines in usage of print books in business and economic disciplines. Inspired by commercial businesses, where in-store displays are commonly used to increase sales, business librarians decided to highlight the library’s business and economics collections by creating book displays. The study revealed that displays produced a substantial increase in circulation. Prior to the displays, featured books had an average usage of less than four times per year; after these books were featured in the displays, their usage per year increased by 58%

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Essay: An Observation On The Universal Significance Of Western Civilization, Laina Farhat-Holzman Apr 2014

Essay: An Observation On The Universal Significance Of Western Civilization, Laina Farhat-Holzman

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

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Robert D. Kaplan, The Revenge Of Geography: What The Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts And The Battle Against Fate, Laina Farhat-Holzman Apr 2014

Robert D. Kaplan, The Revenge Of Geography: What The Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts And The Battle Against Fate, Laina Farhat-Holzman

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

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James Demeo, Saharasia, The 4000 Bce Origins Of Child Abuse, Sex-Repression, Warfare, And Social Violence In The Deserts Of The Old World, Laina Farhat-Holzman Apr 2014

James Demeo, Saharasia, The 4000 Bce Origins Of Child Abuse, Sex-Repression, Warfare, And Social Violence In The Deserts Of The Old World, Laina Farhat-Holzman

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

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Quasi-Maximum Likelihood Methods In Truncated Models, Patrick Turley, Dr. James B. Mcdonald Apr 2014

Quasi-Maximum Likelihood Methods In Truncated Models, Patrick Turley, Dr. James B. Mcdonald

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Data truncation is the source of econometric problems in many economic datasets. Truncation occurs when all observations below or above a certain threshold are systematically removed or are unavailable. For example, campaign contributions below a certain level are not usually publicly available, so any contribution below that level would not be included in the dataset. When such data is used in standard ordinary least squares analysis, the results of the analysis are biased and inconsistent. Many methods have been developed to try to correct for truncation bias with varying degrees of success. In my research, I examined a new estimation …

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Close Spaces: Original Research On Attachment In Thai Orphans, Jenessa Halliday, Dr. Charles Nuckolls Mar 2014

Close Spaces: Original Research On Attachment In Thai Orphans, Jenessa Halliday, Dr. Charles Nuckolls

Journal of Undergraduate Research

This report evaluates attachment among twenty orphaned toddlers living in the Viengping Orphanage in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The report measures the attachment of the orphans towards their daily caregivers, using an adapted version of the Waters attachment q-set (AQS). Due to a correlation between orphans and insecure attachment, this report expected to find low levels of attachment between the children and their caregivers. Analysis of scores from the q-set test indicated that eleven of the twenty children experience insecure attachment.

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Stream Turbidity: A Variable To Co-Habitation Of Fish Predators And Prey?, Nicholas Davis, Dr. Ryan Jensen Mar 2014

Stream Turbidity: A Variable To Co-Habitation Of Fish Predators And Prey?, Nicholas Davis, Dr. Ryan Jensen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Global bio-diversity is being threatened by many different factors. Most of this is man induced. One of these factors is the introduction of non-native organisms to new locations. One hypothesis that explains why some non-native invasive organisms are so successful is that the native organisms have not evolved strategies to effectively interact with the new organism’s strategy (e.g. competition, predation impacts). Essentially, they are unprepared to defend themselves or deal with the novel threat.

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Advertising Ethical Products: Measuring The Effect Of Efficacy And Consumer Benefits In Ethical Advertisements, David Matthew Godfrey, Dr. John Davies Mar 2014

Advertising Ethical Products: Measuring The Effect Of Efficacy And Consumer Benefits In Ethical Advertisements, David Matthew Godfrey, Dr. John Davies

Journal of Undergraduate Research

As more and more brands attempt to position themselves as socially responsible, this research attempted to discover the impact of “ethical” advertising messages on sales. The world needs solutions to complex social problems and corporations can contribute, but can “ethical” branding increase profit by increasing purchases of “ethical” products?

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The Development Of Prosodic Structures In The Speech Of Young Children Establishing A Control Group, Darrell Matthews, Dr. Shawn Nissen Mar 2014

The Development Of Prosodic Structures In The Speech Of Young Children Establishing A Control Group, Darrell Matthews, Dr. Shawn Nissen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Acoustically, the speech characteristics of male and female speakers differ from one another. In adults, this variation is clearly caused by physiological differences between males and females. The size and shape of the vocal tract, as well as the length of the vocal folds have an impact on the sound of a person’s voice. Because adult males typically have a larger larynx and longer vocal folds than adult females, their voices tend to be lower.

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Melioration And The Behavioral Addiction Process, Joshua Kirton, Dr. Timothy Smith Mar 2014

Melioration And The Behavioral Addiction Process, Joshua Kirton, Dr. Timothy Smith

Journal of Undergraduate Research

This project was undertaken to evaluate how melioration explain behavior addiction more robustly than more conventional models such as maximization. Suboptimal behavior, including addiction, can be conceptualized as the consequence of a decision strategy called melioration that is utilized in choice situations in which the value of an alternative is affected by the rate of its availability (Hernstein & Vaughan 1980; Lowenstein & Elster, 1992). The higher the rate of availability of an alternative, the lower the overall value. Melioration can result in negative consequences that are not recognized by the individual until their cumulative negative effect becomes unavoidable (Bickel …

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Reporting Bullying In Middle Schools: Are Students Willing To Use A Website?, Erin Anderson, Dr. Betty Y. Ashbaker Mar 2014

Reporting Bullying In Middle Schools: Are Students Willing To Use A Website?, Erin Anderson, Dr. Betty Y. Ashbaker

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Negative incidents occur in schools every day, many of which go unnoticed by the schools administration and staff. While many teachers and administrators are oblivious to the negative incidents, such as bullying, students are very aware of the bullying and other negative incidents that occur at their school. This is SchoolTipline’s third year and the purpose of this study was to identify any changes in students responses to a questionnaire regarding their willingness to use a website to report negative school incidences, focusing on bullying. As well as to identify gender differences, or similarities that were expressed from the data.

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Establishing A Normative Base For Measures Of Auditory Processing, Amanda Fujiki, Dr. David Mcpherson Mar 2014

Establishing A Normative Base For Measures Of Auditory Processing, Amanda Fujiki, Dr. David Mcpherson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The term auditory processing disorder (APD) refers to a diverse collection of problems in the processing of auditory information. An individual with an APD may have hearing acuity within normal limits; that is, the middle ear (conductive) and inner ear (sensory) systems may function typically. The individual may demonstrate a breakdown occurring within the central nervous system, however, and this breakdown may limit the individual’s ability to understand, interpret, and use auditory information. Auditory processing disorders are thought to interfere with language development and literacy learning (Geffner, 2007, MacFarland & Cacace, 2009). The effects of APD may be highly variable …

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Advanced Learners Project: Strategies Professors Use To Read Their Academic Texts, Jordan Gilbert, Dr. Marné Isakson Mar 2014

Advanced Learners Project: Strategies Professors Use To Read Their Academic Texts, Jordan Gilbert, Dr. Marné Isakson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Transitioning from high school to college is a challenging task. The rigorous demands of college are far more than most students have met in K-12. College students often find themselves overwhelmed as shown by data from the BYU Counseling and Career Center indicating that among the top stressors are the heavy academic demands. To help students learn to read challenging academic texts well, a course has been created, Student Development 270. But what should students be learning in such a course? The purpose of this ORCA study is to research how accomplished learners study their texts so we can identify …

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Interpreting Standard Usage Empirically, Jacob F. Frandsen Mar 2014

Interpreting Standard Usage Empirically, Jacob F. Frandsen

Theses and Dissertations

Writers, editors, and everyday language users look to dictionaries, style guides, usage guides, and other published works to help inform their language decisions. They want to know what is Standard English and what is not. Commentators have been prescribing and proscribing certain usages for centuries; however, their advice has traditionally been based on the subjective opinions of the authors. Recent works have analyzed usage by relying wholly or partly on statistical and descriptive data rather than traditional opinion alone; however, no work has presented statistical usage data in a user-friendly and consistent format. This study presents a statistically based methodology …

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Diversity And Inclusion: An Analysis Of The Best Companies To Work For And Fortune 100 Companies' Websites, Emma Peckham Nordquist Mar 2014

Diversity And Inclusion: An Analysis Of The Best Companies To Work For And Fortune 100 Companies' Websites, Emma Peckham Nordquist

Theses and Dissertations

Corporate websites provide outsiders with a glimpse into organizations. 200 companies from among Glassdoor's "Best Companies to Work For" lists for 2013 and 2014, along with a list of Fortune 100 companies were analyzed through a textual analysis for how a company communicates diversity on their corporate websites. Findings revealed six suggestions for organizations on how best to communicate diversity on their corporate websites. The suggestions include: Be transparent, dedicate a single webpage, use testimonials, title the web page "Diversity and Inclusion," have diversity reach beyond the corporate website, and provide realistic pictures. Using Geertz and Pacanowsky's Cultural Approach to …

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