2014 Abstracts

Kyle Nelson, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences Most research on eye movement while reading has focused on native speakers reading in their own language. This has led to detailed characterizations of the differences between the eye movement of English and Chinese speakers when reading. However, there is a lack of research concerning eye movement differences when reading in a second language. It is expected that English speakers, reading simple letters, would exhibit different eye movements when reading Chinese characters, where words are commonly made up of one or two intricate symbols. Similar adjustments in eye movement are expected if a Chinese speaker tried to read English. Our study seeks to first measure how second language skill influences eye movement during reading and secondly, to distinguish eye movement behaviors that are controlled by either cognitive or visual factors. We hypothesized that as individuals increase in proficiency in their second language, their eye movements while reading a second language would begin to mimic a native speaker’s reading his own native language. Participants were native Chinese or English speakers selected from Chinese language courses and ESL courses taught at Brigham Young University. Participants were matched based on language proficiency and history of exposure to their second language. Native Chinese and English speakers read paragraphs in both Chinese and English while an eye-tracking machine recorded their eye movements. We measured such variables as fixation duration, Saccade amplitude, refixation probability and other important variables. These results will be analyzed to find the differences in eye movement that occur when reading in a second language compared to the participant’s native language. The results, strengths and limitations of the study and future research will be discussed. We believe our research will be beneficial in characterizing how individuals read in a second language, assessing language proficiency, and directing the development of language instruction methods.

Heather White, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences The purpose of this poster is to illustrate the use of storyboards in visually evaluating exhibits and the visitor experience in a narrative museum. Storyboards, a key tool used to develop a visual story, can be used in museums to provide unique insights into the dynamic experience of visitors as they move through exhibits. This poster focuses on how storyboards can be used post-installation to evaluate how visual elements and space effect the visitor’s engagement and experience within exhibits. This poster will present storyboards for three exhibits and the resulting analysis. I analyzed the storyboards by examining artistic elements (line, color, shape, space, etc.) and design principles (unity, balance, scale, proportion, etc.) as they are formed and reformed throughout the storyboard. These changes are only noticeable because of the temporal aspect of sequenced storyboard images. The results show how the visual and spatial visitor experience encourages or discourages engagement with the exhibits. These results can be used, in addition to written and oral evaluation methods, to critique and improve exhibitions to be more accessible and engaging for future visitors.

Lindsey Fields, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences For my senior thesis in anthropology, I conducted fieldwork in a small Hmong village in northern Thailand studying the process of religion conversion. Traditionally, Hmong people practice a mixture of spirit rituals and ancestral worship known as Dab Qhuas and classified as shamanism. Within the past fifty or so years, other religious groups have emerged in the village both Christian sects and Hmong messianic groups. Though many in the discipline of anthropology argue that conversion is a break from traditions of the past, I observe that Hmong of this village in Thailand undergo a much more syncretic type of conversion. Though they identify as either Christian or of a Messianic sect, much of their practices and ideology retain elements of their shamanist past. Though they stress their differences in doctrine and practice, much of the ontology permeating shamanism and Hmong culture is still very much present. In order to better examine this phenomenon, I will focus the beliefs and practices in both Is Nbis and Christianity that take on slightly different forms in each religious practice, yet, still maintain some of the same ideologies. Rituals merely shift in order to fulfill the same metaphysical needs. By studying new practices that retain much of the feel of old culture rituals, I hope to illustrate that these Hmong are not as far removed from their traditional roots as they imagine themselves to be.

Jason Lefrandt, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences Dominant behaviors frequently occur in both human and non-human primates. In the non-human primate world, high and low dominance rankings are rated through interactions recorded within the group, specifically, aggressive and submissive behaviors. Dominance within Rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) also tends to be governed by a matrilineal effect: meaning that if two monkeys are in the same family, than both monkeys will show similar rankings within the group. This current study looks into how genotypic variables correlate with overall behavioral expression in dominance. Utilizing archived dominance and genetic data from the National Institute of Health including serotonin, MAO-A, and rearing, we analyzed the correlations with social dominance rankings of rhesus macaques. In order to control for matrilineal effects within established groups, all subjects were placed in smaller, newly formed social groups. This was done in order to facilitate great analyses of genetic influences on dominant behavior. Our original hypothesis was that macaques with long homozygote serotonin for the long allele; were mother-reared; and have the MAO-A gene will have high social dominant rankings. On the contrary, our preliminary findings have shown that subjects who were reared by mothers who were not genetically their own tend to show more dominant related behaviors, and are subsequently rated much higher than those subjects who were mother-reared or peer-reared.

Jackson Bell, Brigham Young University Humanities Since a military coup in 2009, Madagascar’s low standard of living, political instability, and weak economy have worsened. One way to improve the situation in Madagascar is to improve English skills, which are import in the tourism, exports, financial aid, and international academic collaboration sectors. For example, a knowledge of the English language will give Malagasy people access to 45 percent of the world’s scholarly research journals. I recently published a Malagasy-English bilingual dictionary which aimed to meet this need. However, the dictionary is somewhat impractical because it is limited to simple, rigid definitions. It is insufficient for a complete understanding of either Malagasy or English because real-life usage of words often deviates from basic definitions.

Jacob Newman, Brigham Young University Humanities In ‘A New Approach to Assessing Strategic Learning: The Case of Self-Regulation in Vocabulary Acquisition’ Tseng et al. (2006) discuss their design of an instrument that measures learners’ self-regulatory capacity rather than use of specific learning strategies. Learning strategies include a variety of behaviors or activities that a learner does to help them during the learning process. This instrument (SRCvoc), designed as a questionnaire, aims to help learners discover their self-regulatory capacity and then apply personalized learning strategies that are beneficial to their own vocabulary learning. Vocabulary learning is essential in developing language skills. According to their research, SRCvoc ‘can serve as a diagnostic measure to identify and understand learners’ strengths and weaknesses in terms of the five areas of self-regulation in the area of (English vocabulary) learning’ (Tseng et al. 2006: 96). The goals of the study, per Tseng et al. (2006) were (a) to create an instrument that ‘measured learner trait of self-regulatory capacity rather than survey specific behavioral habits’ (b) to create ‘an instrument based on a theoretical construct.’ SRCvoc is based on self-regulatory strategy research from the area of educational psychology, with facets including commitment, metacognitive, satiation, emotion, and environmental control and (c) to design an instrument “in one particular learning domain only, that is vocabulary learning.” We replicated the administration of SRCvoc to verify that it is of value beyond the original context. With assistance from Dr. Neil Anderson and Dr. James Hartshorn, I administered the questionnaire through a Qualtrics survey to learners in the academic program at Brigham Young University’s English Language Center (ELC) to replicate the original administration of SRCvoc. I created and distributed self-regulatory profiles from the results of SRCvoc to the students. We examined the validity and reliability of SRCvoc through statistical analysis and learned more about training self-regulated learners.

Lauren Harding, Utah Valley University Humanities From the Classical world, the male nude has come to be one of the most recognizable symbols for Greek civilization. This nude is a protean and multifaceted entity that took on different meanings as Hellenic society progressed. Two binary forms of these nudes recur as archetypes, which in this paper are identified as (1) the Heroic/Athletic nude and (2) the Ephebic/Mythological nude. Within the new discursive framework of these two physiques, it is necessary to incorporate the recent research that has been produced after the large feminist and gender studies awakening that has swept through the Classical scholarly world. The field has been wonderfully enriched with this research, and as such a re-evaluation of the male form is in order. This investigation will reveal new and fascinating aspects of Greek sculpture that previously have not been studied, and will illustrate how the distinctions between the two nudes are more easily seen, or, in certain cases, how these distinctions are blurred. Through better understanding this complicated, omni-sexual world of Classical Greece, we will enrich the understanding of our own culture, which is more nuanced than the hetero-normative standard that many believe exists.

Echo Smith, University of Utah Humanities Since the publication, in 1995, of Jonathan Shay’s Achilles in Vietnam, an increasingly popular view of PTSD in soldiers holds that modern day combatants experience the horrors of warfare in much the same way as did ancient Greek and Roman soldiers and that PTSD must have been just as prevalent in the classical world as it is today.

Emily Simmons, Utah Valley University Humanities In Franz Kafka’s novel The Trial, the protagonist Josef K. is accused and ultimately punished for an unspecified crime of which he proclaims himself innocent. This paper examines Kafka’s novel through a religious studies approach—specifically, offering a reading of the Judeo-Christian myth of the fall of Adam and Eve, as exemplified in The Trial. I thus posit that K. is a type of post-fall Everyman who suffers the effects of the fall, attempts to restore himself to a Edenic state, but rejects the opportunity to be the fallen world’s savior and instead resigns humankind to continued suffering. To substantiate my argument I analyze four aspects of the novel. First, I examine K.’s conversation with the priest as they discuss the nature and origin of K.’s guilt. Next, I show that K.’s compulsive sexual behavior is his attempt to attain a spiritual completeness through sexual intercourse. Then, I find that as K. is suffering the effects of Adam’s fall, so too are the women suffering from the curse of Eve. Finally, I explore instances where K. exhibits similarities to the Biblical Jesus Christ, arguing that K. has the chance to perform a “savior” role but refuses. In addition to my analysis of the primary text, this paper also draws on contemporary scholars who discuss themes both Biblical and secular with an eye toward understanding K. and his relationship with women and the world around him. As a result of this analysis, I conclude that although K. is demoralized from the corrupt judicial system, maze of pointless bureaucracy, and hollow authority of the novel’s priest, he continues to seek, until the very minute of his death, salvation from the effects of the fall.

Sara Calicchia, Utah State University Humanities Successful writing, achieved by self-regulated writers, depends not only upon focus and content, but also the writing environment, including the physical and social setting, which varies greatly among writers. Just as musical tastes differ among individuals, there are strong preferences regarding the role of music in a writing setting. To better understand the environmental self-regulation of writers, I selected a group of twelve high-achieving writers with a range of musical interests, including nine professors and three undergraduate students across three academic fields. The results suggest that musical background impacts a writer’s preferred setting, and academic writers should strongly consider this impact when establishing a successful writing environment.

Cameron Sargent, Brigham Young University Life Sciences Although viruses present a potential solution for treating and studying many harmful diseases, they have yet to be utilized successfully, largely due to an overall lack of understanding of the interactions between viruses and their hosts. This study, however, demonstrates the efficacious usage of comparative genomics in further elucidating viral reproduction mechanisms, a step in overcoming this hurdle. Following the sequencing and annotation of genomes of the B4 subcluster of mycobacteriophage, a previously unstudied selection of viruses, comparative genomics analysis identified regions of proteins from these viruses that are highly conserved, or highly similar. One of these B4 phage proteins was then compared on the basis of its predicted folded structure and its amino acid composition to a protein with the same function from another phage, whose structure and DNA binding mechanism was determined via NMR spectrometry. Gene sequence alignments identified the region of highest conservation in the B4 phage. Protein folding then revealed that this region created a structure that was analogous to the functional region of the protein studied elsewhere, indicating that it too recognizes, binds to, and modifies DNA in the same manner. Furthermore, another DNA-binding motif with high conservation among B4 phage was observed in both the folded B4 proteins and the protein analyzed via NMR spectrometry. This comparison procedure not only further elucidated the function of an important gene in B4 phage but also displayed that comparative genomics, a resource-effective and computer-based approach, can successfully identify the critical functional regions of a protein. This study therefore provides a novel procedure for further understanding the mechanisms of virus-host interactions, which in turn facilitates the successful application of viruses in treating and studying diseases.

Preston Manwill, Southern Utah University Life Sciences Plants produce compounds, secondary metabolites, which can be harnessed for medicinal uses. Caryophyllene, a secondary metabolite produced by a variety of higher plants, has shown promise as an analgesic and anti-inflammatory. Caryophyllene synthase is the final enzyme in the biosynthetic pathway that produces caryophyllene. The gene and enzyme responsible for caryophyllene production have been observed in crop plants and model organisms, but few studies have investigated caryophyllene production in indigenous plants. We investigated the production of caryophyllene in Ericameria linearifolia (Narrowleaf goldenbush) because it is a shrub native to southwest North America. The first portion of this research examined sequence similarities between caryophyllene synthase gene orthologs in E. linearifolia and other plant genera. Genomic DNA was isolated from E. linearifolia leaves collected from plants growing in southern Utah. Literature reviews and database inquiries have provided DNA sequences for similar synthases, from which primers will be designed to copy and sequence the E. linearifolia caryophyllene synthase gene, confirming the orthologs presence. Following confirmation of the gene, mRNA will be extracted from leaf material and oligo(dT) primers used to synthesize cDNA. Subsequent cDNA amplification and cloning of products into a vector will allow for transformation into a protein-producing bacterium. These final steps make the downstream procedures of protein production, structure determination, and functional characterization of the protein possible. Comparison with enzymes that produce similar organic compounds may result as well, and would provide insight that could improve the biosynthesis of medicinal compounds.

Preston Manwill, Sourthern Utah University Life Sciences Plants produce myriad secondary metabolites (essential oil) that play a role in ecological interactions. Species evolve unique mixtures of organic compounds due to strong selective pressures that act on metabolic pathways. Few studies have investigated the antimicrobial properties of secondary metabolites that evolved against soil microbes associated with native plants. The essential oil of Mojave goldenbush (Ericameria linearifolia), a shrub native to the Intermountain West, was characterized and its bacteriostatic abilities against root associated and non-root associated bacteria morphs were examined in this study. We hypothesized E. linearifolia oil would act as a greater growth inhibitor against native soil bacteria with which it has evolved than against bacteria from non-associated soils. Secondary metabolites were extracted using steam distillation and analyzed with gas chromatography mass spectroscopy. A Kirby-Bauer assay tested presence, size and retention of inhibition zones (IZ) produced against soil bacteria. The essential oil of E. linearifolia contained twenty secondary metabolites, two of which, limonene and sabinene, constituted greater than fifty percent of the oil. Presence and retention of IZ produced by E. linearifolia metabolites varied significantly by community association and bacteria morph. The hypothesis was supported by IZ that were largest against bacteria cultures isolated from soil that surrounded Mojave goldenbush roots and least effective against cultures isolated from non-root associated soil. Our findings suggest that secondary metabolites of E. linearifolia have evolved to specifically prevent negative interactions with bacteria most associated with the plant.

Preston Manwill, Southern Utah University Life Sciences Members of Anthoxanthum (sweetgrass) have a history of ceremonial and medicinal use. Coumarin, a secondary metabolite produced by the grass, is an anticoagulant and antimicrobial agent. Antimicrobial properties of commercially available European A. odoratum metabolites have been nominally investigated, but no North American species have been studied. Additionally, European sweetgrass is purported to be available in both diploid and polyploid strains. Our research objectives were to: 1) determine if ploidy level strains do exist, and 2) investigate secondary metabolite production and evolution in commercial strains and A. hirtum, a Great Basin native. Using epidermal casts and fuschin staining, differences in guard cells and nuclei were surveyed. Secondary metabolites from the A. odoratum strains and A. hirtum were obtained through steam distillation and a vacufugation protocol that concentrated hydrosols. GC/MS analyses characterized and quantified secondary metabolites. The secondary metabolites coumarin, dihydrobenzofuron, and dihydroactinidiolide were identified, with the first and latter greatest in A. hirtum. Significant guard cell differences between strains, as well as species, were observed. Two ploidy strains of A. odoratum were suggested. A Kirby-Bauer assay tested presence, size and retention of inhibition zones (IZ) produced against soil bacteria. Gram-staining initially characterized bacterial morphs. Secondary metabolites from the diploid strain were most effective against all bacterial morphs, but polyploid metabolites also generated and retained IZ against diploid root associated and non-root associated morphs. The native sweetgrass produced IZ only against root associated bacteria with which it had evolved. Future work will include similar studies of other North American Anthoxanthum species.

Haylee Jones, Dixie State University Humanities Cesar Chavez, who experienced poverty and exploitation by way of labor practices as an adolescent, became a man who committed himself to making a positive impact on the working conditions for immigrant farm workers in America. He left a fading footprint that others have been reluctant to follow. This paper will examine various role models like Juana Estrada Chavez, Chavez’s mother, and Dolores Huerta, Chavez’s closest associate, who were big influences in Chavez’s decision to become a leader in the civil rights movements as explained by author Kathleen Krull. Authors Susan Ferriss and Ricardo Sandoval elucidated on many of Chavez’s achievements such as the organization of the United Farm Workers (UFW), a group created to unionize immigrants, and the orchestration of nonviolent strikes and marches to expose the unfair treatment of multi-ethnic farm workers. Although Chavez persuaded California to sign contracts that discriminated against biased pay and working conditions, many immigrants still work longer, more strenuous hours than the average American to receive only $2.00 an hour and live in beat down shacks they are forced to call home. Cesar Chavez had a vision that should be remembered and re harvested among Americans everywhere in order to continue improving working conditions of all citizens, no matter where they are from.

Bunny Christine Arlotti, Dixie State University Humanities The Rape and Incest National Network (RAINN) reports that over two-thirds of rapes in the United States are “completed” by someone the victim knows: “The rapist isn’t a masked stranger.” RAINN’s rape statistics contrast with Frank Norris’s depiction of rape in The Octopus: A Story of California (1901). Based on an historical event, The Mussel Slough Tragedy (ca. 1880), the novel’s main plot focuses on a group of San Joaquin Valley ranchers who band together to battle the Southern Pacific Railroad’s tyrannical land grab. But out of this epic clash between man and steel emerges a subplot centered on the rape and victimization of a young woman named Angèle Varian. This paper explores the Vanamee-Angèle subplot, examining how Norris stereotypes Angèle and blames her for her own victimization. By treating Angèle as an example of what Paula Hopkins and Kristina Brooks label the “fallen woman,” Norris attempts to arouse the reader’s sympathy, not for Angèle but for her boyfriend, Vanamee, who is also one of the rape suspects. I will support my findings by examining the following works: Stuart Burns in “The Rapists in Frank Norris’s The Octopus,” Maria Brandt in “For His Own Satisfaction: Eliminating the New Woman Figure in Mcteague,” Paula Hopkins and Kristina Brooks in “New Woman, Fallen Woman: The Crisis of Reputation in the Turn of the Century,” and Joseph McElrath in Frank Norris: A Life. Ultimately, from a feminist’s perspective, Norris’s underlying message about his rape victim says volumes about his endorsement of the Victorian perspective toward the “fallen woman”-they were not worth saving, helping, or hearing from ever again.

Megan Armknecht, Brigham Young University Humanities Transcendentalist writers such as Margaret Fuller, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Amos Bronson Alcott were highly influenced by the German Romantic philosopher, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Louisa May Alcott, one of the later transcendentalists, was also an admirer of Goethe’s work and philosophy. Although considerable research has been done on the influence of Goethe on Alcott’s later works, such as A Long and Fatal Love Chase, A Modern Mephistopheles, and “The Freak of a Genius”, there has been much less research done on the Goethean influence on Little Women, and none at all on the resonances between Jo’s love interest, the German professor Dr. Bhaer, and Goethe. This research will explore the connection between Louisa May Alcott, Dr. Bhaer, and the Goethean ideal as developed in Alcott’s writing. In my presentation, I will show the importance of this connection as it adds significant depth to Little Women.

Romy Franks, Brigham Young University Humanities Following the Second World War, the adventurous westerns of 19th-century author Karl May resurfaced in Germany as wildly popular pulp fiction and dime novels. In subsequent decades, May’s literature inspired several successful film adaptations in the West, followed by alternative “Indian films” in the East. Karl May and the contemporary phenomenon of the global Western film genre tapped into many themes central to Germany’s long, tortured quest for a national identity. Post-war Germans looked to Westerns as a means for “projecting” a new image of Germany to the world-one that could help overcome the stigma of Nazism.

Christopher Wiltsie, Utah Valley University Humanities Low racial diversity in Utah leads to common assumptions about the lack of racial tensions. This has resulted in a general disregard for the history of civil rights struggles, specifically in education, for people of color in Utah. In the US as a whole, the 1970s featured both legal and social reform in issues of race and its role in education, but accounts from minorities in Utah tell a different story. This project will be a comparative history, analyzing oral histories regarding educational experiences of people of color that lived in Utah immediately after 1968 until 1980, within the context of the trends at the time throughout the United States. Extensive interviews will provide documentation regarding racial tensions and their effects on educational experiences and achievement. The synthesis of these accounts will help fill in the gaps that exist within Utah’s historical record. Obstacles in education for people of color during the 1970s will be discussed and compared to successes and failures throughout the United States.

William Palomo, Westminster College Humanities While researchers have historically marginalized the literature of El Salvador, Alfonso Kijadurías (formerly Alfonso Quijada Urías) has earned an international reputation for his diverse and incisive poetic style. Contextualizing Kijadurías’ work within the Salvadoran literary tradition reveals the historical and political backdrop driving Kijadurías’ political stances and literary experimentation. Examination of the political, philosophical, and mystical obsessions in Kijadurías’ works demonstrates how his literary career has lived up to and outlasted La Generación Comprometida, a politically-charged literature and arts movement that revolutionized the Salvadoran arts scene during the 1950’s. His work challenges contemporary politicians and the philosophy of Deconstructionism in an attempt to guide the reader through a spiritual transformation that leads to the abandonment of the self and ultimately to freedom.

Lacy Culpepper, Dixie State University Humanities In the past century, women have made monumental progress in their presence and authority in American politics; unfortunately, print mass media outlets overall have not positively reflected those changes. In his work, On Rhetoric, Aristotle argues that a person’s character is the most effective method of persuasion, and as female politicians fall subject to the words of the media, their perceived character, and impact as a leader, depends heavily on the opinions of the writers and analysts of the various American print sources. Print media outlets tend to categorize notable female politicians into two categories: the bitch, who must abandon her well-rounded, understanding realm of femininity and adopt notions of an aggressive, haughty persona; or the ditz, who must heavily rely on the dated, stereotypical femininity that encourages beauty over brains and forsakes a hold of influence and legitimacy. This seemingly timeless application proves that, regardless of which category a female politician is assigned, such press pushes her politics aside and can have a serious negative impact on both her career and reputation. For this paper, I analyze the print treatment of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin during the 2008 presidential election to explain the rigid Bitch/Ditz classification of female politicians that sources including Time and People have assigned.

Daniel Howell, Utah Valley University Humanities Over the years research has proven again and again the important role that sexual satisfaction plays in marriage and relationships. Researchers have identified emotional safety, sexual frequency, sexual communication, sexual communion, sexual ability, and sexual arousal as elements that are important elements that influence sexual satisfaction. The aim of this study is to identify which of these elements are more effective in predicting sexual satisfaction and which ones are not. Using as a sample of 597 participants which primarily represented a white, LDS, middle class to upper class population. One of the questions that had to be asked was, are there differences between men and women in the variables and what are they? Another question that had to be asked was where do these factors rank in importance? Which factors are the most important? The study showed that when emotional safety, sexual frequency, sexual communication, sexual ability were increased, sexual satisfaction was increased. Sexual communion had a positive influence on sexual satisfaction as well. As long as the other partner focused on that individual. Another significant finding is that in sexual arousal played a more significant role in satisfaction for women than it did men. The goal of this study is to publish the results in scholarly journals and to implement the findings into the family life education program.

Ward Symes, Dixie State University Humanities Some people think a heavy blanket of intellectual darkness was thrown over Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire and not lifted until the Renaissance. Were the Dark Ages a time of total illiteracy when learning and education ceased to exist? Did the Dark Ages only end with the emergence of great milestones like the invention of Gutenberg’s movable type printing press and Martin Luther protesting the Catholic Church?

Michael Nielson, Dixie State University Humanities Character development is arguably the greatest driving force in fiction writing. But how does an author create a believable, complex character? Oftentimes, writers attempt to mimic characters they’ve encountered in literature. These characters repeated over time are generally known as character-specific archetypes; However, these archetypes delve deeper than writers simply copying other writers. The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms defines archetypes as a “symbol, theme, setting, or character-type that recurs in different times and places in myth, literature, folklore, dreams, and rituals so frequently or prominently as to suggest that it embodies some essential element of ‘universal’ human experience.” This paper will survey the effectiveness of writers consciously using character-specific archetypes—such as the hero, the sage, and the jester—drawing upon the expertise of Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell, and Victoria Schmidt with specific attention to J. R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of The Rings series and Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories. Ultimately, I will suggest that the best way to create a believable, complex character is through the conscious use of archetypes, which allows the reader full immersion into the fictional work and fosters the suspension of disbelief.

Nicholas Sheets, Brigham Young University Humanities This honors’ thesis analyzes a lesser-known drama by Jorge Ibargüengoitia, Llegó Margo (1956), by approaching historic social critiques in Mexico through dialogue, plot, and character development. Readers will approach this play through various elements of Marxist and historical criticism. Through this, higher significance to social themes develops when considered in the historical context of the semicentennial celebration of Mexico’s revolution of 1910. The play then falls into a broader national dialogue of Mexico’s social structures post-revolution. Research for this thesis includes the Ibargüengoitia papers at the Firestone Library, an interview with Joy Laville (the author’s widow), and travels to various locations in Mexico, ultimately resulting in the thesis’ higher awareness to historic social themes and a richness of Mexican ideals. Ibargüengoitia offers a critique of & for his own middle-class audience, calling attention to its hypocritical treatment of the poor as well as a hyper awareness to social traditions which ultimately maintain an unsympathetic class structure in Mexico.

Jordan Bracken, Dixie State University Humanities Of the many problems facing woman today, one of the more serious is the unrealistic standard of beauty and behavior that women are expected to achieve, maintain, and accept as normative. However, I will show how select works of fiction, including Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Birthmark and Edgar Allen Poe’s The Oval Portrait, exemplify the dangers of the male gaze; additionally, I will explicate non-fiction works such as Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique and Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, which explore the severe consequences of attempting to force women to conform to a gendered societal paradigm. These works demonstrate the destructive characteristics to both men and women which can be easily overlooked by those who believe that a cultural standard, any cultural standard, represents a natural or necessary state of gendered behavior. When the image of the perfect feminine is idealized and internalized it both pressures women to alter their true identities and expects men to hold women to an unattainable behavioral and physical standard.

Katherine Abarca, Westminster College Social and Behavioral Sciences The Hunger Games series has sold 50 million copies of the three books as of July 2012, has an impressive fandom, and has significant influence on popular culture. One of the many reasons for the success of the series is that its shocking story is set in a society eerily similar to the United States. The fictional country of Panem and its similarities to the United has caused it to gain interest in academia. Utilizing textual analysis, I examine how the fictional country of Panem is similar to present day United States in its inequality between classes and use of mechanisms of control. I also discuss how this cultural artifact affects our understanding of our society and how our society is reflected in the books. This research will expand the limited academic literature analyzing the Hunger Games. In addition, this research will focus on the different mechanisms of control in how they maintain inequalities between classes rather than stopping at analyzing the mechanisms themselves.

Bryson Pope, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences Purpose of the Project:

Conor Fishback, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in recent years has seen the majority of its neighbors fall into some kind of violent conflict. Throughout the Arab Spring and the years following, the Jordan state has been one of stability and peace. One possible reason for the stability of the country could be its level of religious tolerance. One way to look at religious tolerance is to look at the geographic landscape of where the religious buildings are located within the cities of that country. This study analyzed the specific location of Christian churches in relation to Muslim Mosques in five different cities with a significant Christian population. Specific points representing the different faiths were gathered using GPS and then analyzed using GIS software. The geographic situation was analyzed for each structure. Geographic situation in this case referred to Christian churches and their proximity to Muslim Mosques, as well as the number of Muslim mosques and how adjacent they are in relation to the Christian churches. Photographs were taken of every location to determine the level of overshadowing or dominance that was taking place in that specific site. Using GIS, the Christian quarters in each city was analyzed. The majority of the cities, including the Jordanian capital of Amman, showed little or no clustering of mosques in relation to churches as well as little evidence of building dominance by either sect. Only one out of the five cities studied showed serious clustering of mosques around the Christian areas. While this study only analyzed a small part of what makes up a country’s level of religious tolerance, it can be expanded to other countries as well – not only Muslim states that are tolerant to Christianity, but also Christian or Western states and their tolerance to Islam.

Rebecca Holland, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences Dialectical Quichua throughout Ecuador faces disappearance through the development of Quichua Unificado, a standardized form of Quichua used the bilingual school system. This form of Quichua was created in hopes that introducing a standardized orthography would help bilingual schools effectively address the Quichua language loss that is pervasive throughout the country. However, as the language steps beyond its intended bounds of being a written language and moves toward replacing dialectical Quichua as a spoken language, it is evident that this revitalization movement is progressing at a great cost. Original ethnographic research in the Napo Valley of Ecuador asserts that this movement is ineffectual at reversing the Quichua language loss in this area, and may in fact prove fatal to the future of spoken dialectical Quichua.

Chelsey Kenney, Utah Valley University Social and Behavioral Sciences The purpose of this study was to compare the stressors and supportive resources found between Utah emergency medical service personnel who divorced after certification to those who did not divorce.

Kent Hinkson, Utah Valley University Social and Behavioral Sciences PTSD has become increasingly more concerning to the mental health world over the past few decades. A plethora of events (both acute and chronic) that serve as a triggering moment in the lives of those afflicted by this potentially debilitating condition are beginning to be identified more consistently. Yet, it continues to remain an area of concern because of the manner in which it affects nearly every aspect of its victim’s life.

Cassandra Southam, Utah Valley University Social and Behavioral Sciences Recruitment and retention are two of the most salient issues in emergency medical services (EMS) today. The National Association of State and regional EMS leaders, has twice identified recruitment and retention as the most important issues facing rural EMS agencies across the nation. The purpose of this study was to predict how Utah EMS personnel reached a point of wanting to resign using a stress model; value of job, self and other harm, spouse satisfaction, formal support as independent predictor variables. This data was obtained from an IRB approved statewide survey of all EMS personnel during the Spring of 2010. Of the 7,000 current EMS employees, 668 completed the survey, resulting in a 9.5 percent response rate. Results. The linear regression model indicated that the model explained 28 percent of the overall variance. A brief explanation of the findings indicates that all the direct paths were significant at the .05 level. The more they harmed themselves and others, the more they wanted to resign (Beta coefficient of .31). The higher their levels of Past Call-related Stress, the more they wanted to resign (.21). The higher their levels of spouse satisfaction, the more they wanted to resign (.07). The more they found value in their job, the less they wanted to resign ( -.18), And finally, the more they valued formal support from the debriefing team, the less they wanted to resign (-.10). Administrators and agency leaders can use these indicators to intervene when an EMS employee reaches a difficult point from the stresses and hardships of the job. Education, training, and available support can be very useful in preventing trained, experienced, and valued EMS employees from leaving the field. Local EMS directors and policymakers may find the results and study methodology useful toward designing and evaluating programs.

Ty Martin, Utah Valley University Social and Behavioral Sciences The purpose of this study was to explore the marital and personal life outcome of couples who either had in-law troubles or did not. Using Gottman’s (1999) core principles, this study explored the complex challenges young married couples faced when trying to turn toward their spouse while problematic relationships with their spouse’s parents created a wedge. Data was obtained via a random sample of 3,000 current and 7,000 former UVU students. Of the 11 percent who responded, 488 were in their first marriage. Two types of statistical analysis were used to explore the relationship between the married student’s relationship to their in-laws and other personal and marital factors.

Steven Clements, Utah Valley University Social and Behavioral Sciences The purpose of this study was to test the impact of having been on a dangerous call to EMS employee’s well-being. Two hypotheses were tested: First, suffering psychological symptoms from a dangerous call had no impact on their well-being; and second, suffering physical symptoms from a dangerous call had no impact on their well-being. In 2010, 7,000 state EMS employees were surveyed, yielding 668 completed surveys for this study.

Jolysa Sedgwick, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences Traditionally the Hmong in Thailand have made their living through subsistence farming and poppy cultivation. This arrangement had placed familial ties and religious influences at the center of Hmong cultural identity. Today, however, increased globalization has also meant a shift in cultural identity and priorities for the rising Hmong generation. This change is clearly seen in Nan Province where the decision to migrate or relocate to urban centers (such as Chiang Mai) for work is frequent. In the past, cultural identity and life decisions were heavily tied to kinship and religious influences. However, with the onset of globalization, the Thai State and current popular culture are becoming increasingly important to Hmong cultural identity and are becoming increasingly higher priorities in the lives of the Hmong who leave their childhood villages to pursue economic advancement and other activities in urban centers. In order to investigate this cultural shift, I conducted an ethnographic field study among Hmong living in three rural villages in Nan Province and among Hmong individuals in Chiang Mai. Using ethnographic field methods, I collected and analyzed the stories of those who decided or are in the process of deciding to relocate to Chiang Mai. In this paper, I present findings that support a shift in cultural priorities for those participating in urban migration and how that shift is influenced by increased global technology and connectivity. I explain that this shift is integral to understanding what the future will hold for the minority Hmong population in Thailand.

Brooke Bradford, Utah Valley University Social and Behavioral Sciences Research in the area of sexuality indicates that females tend to be more flexible in their sexual behaviors than males.(Baumeister, 2000) Studies also seem to indicate that there is a more permissive and accepting attitude towards women’s bisexual behaviors than towards men’s bisexual behaviors(Lippa, 2006; Savin-Williams, 2006) The present experiment was created in order to measure the perceptions of bisexual behavior held by Utah Valley University students. One hundred students were asked to read brief descriptions of similar sexual behaviors participated in by men and women. Participants were asked to rate these sexual behaviors on a scale and indicate if they perceive the behavior as heterosexual, questioning, bi-curious, bisexual or homosexual. The participants were then asked to rate behaviors on a scale of acceptability as well as a scale of commonality. The questions consist of similar behaviors being engaged in by males and females in order to test for changes in perceptions of the sexual activity occur based on the gender of the actor in the scenario. It is hypothesized that the results of these surveys will support current research in this area and confirm that the scenarios featuring females will be rated as more acceptable, common and placed in the bisexual categories.

Jarrett Webster, Dixie State University Social and Biological Sciences This study sought to determine what type of influences a British accent has on Americans. It was predicted that American listeners would rate a British voice higher than an American voice across four traits: physical attraction, social attraction, credibility, and overall favorability. Participants were 197 undergraduate students from Dixie State University (68 men, 129 women). Participants were offered extra credit in return for participation and ranged in age from 17-60. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The experiment was designed as a between-subjects experiment. The control group heard an American voice and saw a picture of a man. The experiment group heard a British voice and saw a picture of the same man. Both groups were asked to answer questions that measured the four dependent variable traits. A multivariate analysis of variance was used to calculate results. The hypothesis was confirmed for all of the traits except credibility. These findings have ramifications in interpersonal relationships in business, educational, and social settings.

Zack Bjerregaard, Weber State University Social and Behavioral Sciences The research presented here will lay the groundwork for a larger project as part of iUTAH that will examine the interrelationships and feedbacks among hydroclimate and the ecological and human aspects of urban and montane landscapes in the Wasatch Range Metropolitan Area (WRMA). To assess how human systems and urban development patterns influence water sustainability, we developed a typology of neighborhoods in the WRMA based on sociodemographic and climate variables and built environment characteristics that previously have been found to affect water system dynamics. Using GIS and statistical analysis programs, variables were aggregated to census block groups (CBGs), which we determined were a satisfactory proxy for neighborhoods in most urban areas. Previous studies show that neighborhoods are an important level of measurement because of their influence on individuals’ behaviors. Only CBGs that had a recalculated population density of at least 50 people per square mile after subtracting areas of water and/or federally-owned land were included. A statistical factor/cluster analysis was performed on these variables, which returned a typology of neighborhoods and their spatial distribution based on water usage. The typology will be used by other members of the project to target a select number of each neighborhood type, where instrumentation and further data collection will be implemented to examine the impacts of urban development patterns on water sustainability and the wider ecological and physical hydroclimate.

Tanner Mortimer, Utah Valley University Social and Behavioral Sciences Surveys show that nearly half of all Americans reject evolution as an explanation of the origin and diversity of life on Earth, especially when concerning human evolution. (Gallup 2007). Furthermore, there is a correlation between the rejections of evolutionary science with a belief in a Christian God-creator (Gallup 2007).

Pratik Raghu, Westminster College Social and Behavioral Sciences Divided between India and Pakistan in multiple senses, Kashmir is home to the one of the world’s oldest yet least discussed civil conflicts. India and Pakistan continue to defend their claims to Kashmiri land, but most political thinkers agree that establishing an independent democratic state is the only way to ensure long term politico-economic stability in South Asia. However, what should this democracy look like?

Michael Christensen, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences Suicide is a major problem for students in Utah middle and high schools. Since adolescents spend a large portion of their time on social media like Facebook and Twitter, there is a wealth of information we can learn about their personalities, moods, and interests by exploring their online interactions with others and specifically the statuses and messages they post publicly. We have created a Facebook app to mine this data and report the mood of a logged-in user’s entire network based on the individual classification of community members’ posts. We contribute to the Public Health field by aggregating suicide-risk factors and facilitating intervention, the motivation being to help others better identify and help those who are at-risk for suicide based on their online behavior. We contribute to the Computer Science field by creating a machine learning algorithm that can classify text into one of several fine-grained mood categories, learning to identify more than just positive or negative sentiment. In addition, our algorithm has the ability to update online by receiving feedback from the users on how well or poorly it classified the text of their friends’ posts. We describe our algorithm and report on preliminary results about its performance on real-world data.

Rachel LaForce, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences On an island of 65,000 people, Guernsey’s Housing Control Law offers a two-tiered alternative to the free market system. In an attempt to more closely regulate the growing population of their limited area (approximately 25 square miles), the States of Guernsey implemented the Housing Control Law in the late 1940s. With a provision that allows it to be altered and updated every 10 years, there is a distinct change over time in its original purpose and its contemporary companion. This study is based on information gained by using ethnographic methods during a two month field study in Guernsey. Questions focused on how residents perceived the purpose of the law, and how they believe it achieved those purposes. Results suggest that residents accurately perceive the original purpose of the Housing Control Law as described by the States of Guernsey, hoping to preserve the majority of housing opportunities for the indigenous population. Although their view of the modern implementation is much more varied, most point to the benefits that attracting high net-worth individuals brings to the island’s economy and also justify the use of housing incentives for skilled individuals to fill a labor shortage. Resident perception aligns with the original purpose of the Housing Control Law. With change over time, Guernsey residents understand the necessity to increase economic activity and fill labor shortages which can be provided via housing incentives, especially a two-tiered housing market.

Chelsea Pineda Davey, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences Sense of community on the island of Guernsey is a cross between organic and mechanical solidarity. I argue that this sense of community is built and maintained through the island’s voluntary sector. The charities and volunteers help to preserve Guernsey’s sense of community and hold the society together. As I do this I use Durkheim and Mauss’s theories along with the McMillan/Chavis definition of sense of community to support my findings.

Natalie Blanton, University of Utah Social and Behavioral Sciences The rates of women interacting with the criminal justice system are increasing steadily—yet little is known about the experiences of these women with/within the system as well as the latent effects that follow them throughout their lives. With a sociological perspective, one comes to understand the immense impact of experiences, inequities, and health/wellness/opportunity disparities in individual’s lives—especially within the criminal justice system. This project takes a multi-pronged feminist perspective/approach to women’s interaction with such.

Kathi Beckett, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences The Kallari Association, a group of self-governed organic cocoa producers located in the Napo Province of the Ecuadorian Amazon, is creating sustainable income through cacao farming and the production of organic chocolate bars in Ecuador. Using interviews and participant observation, I conducted fieldwork with six different Kichwa cacao farmers from five different communities in the Amazon area of Ecuador during the summer of 2013. In my research, I focused on the farmer’s reasons for involvement in the Kallari Association, the local community cooperative. These farmers expressed that they were driven by a desire for an increase in profits, agricultural knowledge, and education. At the same time, their involvement in the cooperative seems to have created a dilemma for them. On one hand their participation strengthened the teaching of Kichwa cultural traditions, and increased their access to food and educational opportunities, while on the other hand, the increased educational opportunities appears to have contributed to a loss of Kichwa cultural traditions.

Brandon Hansen, Utah Valley University Social and Behavioral Sciences Measuring eye movements during reading is an effective and ecologically valid way to investigate dynamic changes in human cognition. The boundary technique (Rayner, 1975) is often employed during experimental reading research by changing text in real-time between eye movements—permitting subtle manipulations which are not obvious to the reader. Frequently, these manipulations include the replacement of a target word (beach) by words that are homophones (beech), semantically related (shore), orthographically related (bench), or by random letter masks (hxnzt). Understanding the differences between text in which the target word is available (beach) and denied (hxnzt) allows a deeper understanding of dynamic cognitive processes. In a real-world sense, such investigations yield findings that assists doctors, clinicians, and educators as they create interventions for those, for example, with learning disabilities such as dyslexia.

Quinn Linford, Utah Valley University Social and Behavioral Sciences Background: Mt. Timpanogos has been an attraction for the residents of Utah Valley and has become a center of recreation for much of Utah. For many years Mt. Timpanogos was the home of an annual hike hosting a daily crowd of approximately 18,000 people. After being designated a wilderness area in 1984, the annual hike was banned. However, the mountain remains an attraction for many residents of the surrounding valleys and visitors from around the world. Currently one- to two-thousand people hike the mountain on mid-summer weekends. This concentration continues to push the limits of the mountain’s ability to accommodate while balancing the opportunities for solitude and unconfined recreation.

Brendan Willis, University of Utah Social and Behavioral Sciences Most people at some point in their lives will encounter a situation where they witness, perpetrate, or fail to stop an action that seriously violates their moral beliefs, events that have recently been termed moral injuries. Litz and colleagues (2009) proposed a theoretical framework that suggests such moral injuries may interact with various protective and risk factors in order to result in either positive or negative outcomes. Negative outcomes could include feelings of guilt, shame, self-condemnation, and alienation. Positive outcomes could include individuals realizing that they have done something wrong, but accepting that they are not bad or evil and resolving to become a better person. A vital part of this framework is the concept of meaning making, the process by which individuals grapple with understanding and constructing meaning regarding their participation in events that violate their moral beliefs. The degree to which an individual is able to adaptively make meaning of a potentially morally injurious event is believed to serve as a mediator in the association between experiencing such an event and developing negative consequences. Specifically, the more adaptively an individual can make meaning of a morally injurious event, the less negative will be the outcomes. However, this mediational role of meaning making in the association between moral injury and psychological distress is a proposition of the theory that to date has not been empirically tested. Given its importance in the moral injury model, the purpose of this study is to empirically test whether or not this association exists. Understanding meaning making’s role in the moral injury model will help form a foundation of empirical work on which future research can build.

Megan Ward, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences Little research has been done on the effect of parental media monitoring on a child’s thoughts and behaviors. This dearth of research is evident when considering the effect of parental media monitoring for a child who consumes Disney princess media. Research suggests that committed parents who heavily monitor their child’s media use are more likely to have a child who uses less media. The aim of this study is to garner a deeper understanding of the impact of parental media monitoring on a child’s stereotypical behaviors. Initial analyses showed a very strong correlation between how much a child identified with a particular princess and the number of female stereotypical traits. Namely, parents who reported that their children more closely identified with a princess showed gender stereotypical traits related to the types of toys they played with, the types of activities they participated in, and types of characteristics they took part in. Our analysis found the correlations to be especially strong when parents also reported low monitoring of their child’s media use, compared to parents who reported higher monitoring. Implications of these findings could influence children’s relationships with others. For example, children with more stereotypical behaviors may be less open to sharing, empathizing, and playing with other children who do not fit the gender stereotypes as accurately.