2015 Abstracts

Samantha Falde, University of Utah Humanities The purpose of this paper is to closely examine the legacy of the policies and actions taken by the Soviet Union during the Cold War in order to determine its contributions to current levels of small arms and light weapons (SALW) proliferation around the globe. This examination confirms as reality the perception of the Soviet Union as the primary propagator of indiscriminate small arms proliferation in the post-Cold War era. As such, the Soviet Union was a chief contributor to the current situation of global insecurity perpetuated by the creation of extensively armed and violent societies known commonly as Kalashnikov Cultures. In examining the impact of Soviet policies on SALW proliferation, this paper utilizes the concept of the ‘‘Non-State Threshold’’ at which, when intact, small arms and light weapons are effectively segregated between legitimate state and illegitimate non-state actors, and when breached, indiscriminate spread occurs. The Non- State Threshold will be applied to the years during and immediately following the Cold War to determine under which conditions indiscriminate SALW proliferation occurred, and to facilitate a clearer understanding of how Soviet policies and actions allowed for the permeation of the Threshold by increasing the availability, ease of acquisition, and appeal of SALW to non-state actors and illegitimate groups. This paper demonstrates how the legacy of Soviet policies has facilitated the creation of dangerously armed, rogue societies, supporting the claim that it is the actions of the Soviet Union specifically that have disproportionately contributed to the creation of Kalashnikov Cultures.

Daniel Cox, Dixie State University Humanities Community correctional professionals stand between offenders and their potential relapse into criminal behavior, i.e., recidivism. These officers are expected to monitor conduct and use evidence-based practices for rehabilitation. However, this important dual-role is too often distorted. Researchers have noted that training for officers about the use of evidence- based practices filters through officers’ attributions (their values and professional orientation), thereby impeding implementation of these practices (Whetzel et al. 2011). In this presentation, I argue that training of this sort often fails apparently because its delivery does not address officers’ attributions, especially regarding stereotypes of psychology and organizational support. I plan to suggest that recidivism, as well, will drop when training accounts for how and to what extent attribution biases interact with efforts to implement evidence-based practices. These preliminary findings are drawn from a study I am leading that assesses 50 officers throughout the State of Utah, utilizing surveys provided by researchers Mario Paparozzi (University of North Carolina– Pembroke) and Jennifer Skeem (University of California– Berkeley), about their attributions prior to and after training to measure for positive change in using evidence-based practices. The study also evaluates officers’ use of evidence-based practices during interactions with offenders with evaluation tools provided by researchers Peter Raynor (Swansea University) and Faye Taxman (George Mason University). The intent of the study, ultimately, is to determine if and to what extent attribution-based training for evidence-based practices will cause positive organizational change, the outcome of which is likely not only to influence the manner in which correctional professionals are trained but also the manner in which their training manuals are written.

Andy Mickelson, Brigham Young University Humanities The infancy narrative in the Gospel of Luke is one of the most popular passages of Christian scripture: the story of Jesus’ birth has been recited and depicted in Christmas celebrations for centuries. Yet modern readers are far removed in time, language, and culture from the first-century world in which Luke was composed. Because of this distance, our traditional understanding of this text may differ from what Luke intended to convey. One particular misunderstanding of the text centers on an ambiguous Greek term used in Luke 2:7. Most English translations of this verse state that Mary, after delivering Jesus, “laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” However, the term translated as “inn” in this passage—κατάλυμα—had a wide variety of meanings in Hellenistic Greek. Even within Luke itself the term is translated differently: the “upper room” in which Jesus shares his last meal with his disciples is, in Greek, a κατάλυμα (Luke 22:11). Properly understanding κατάλυμα profoundly impacts how we read Luke’s infancy narrative: were Mary and Joseph turned away from a crowded inn on the eve of her delivery? Or does a nuanced translation of κατάλυμα change the circumstances of Jesus’ birth?This paper philologically examines how κατάλυμα is used by other Hellenistic Greek authors: Xenophon, Polybius, Diodorus Siculus, and others. Their writings created the literary milieu in which the Gospel of Luke was composed; their use of this term may have influenced Luke as he crafted his account. Based on this philological context, κατάλυμα here most likely means “guest room,” and infers that Joseph and Mary were staying with another family (possibly relatives) in Bethlehem. This reading, though nontraditional, brings us closer to approaching the text as Luke’s original audience would have understood it.

Latrisa Garcia, Dixie State University Humanities Statistics show that in 2013, the US population was 313.9 million people, while the number of active cell phone subscriptions was 345.2 million, which translates to 110% of the US population having active cell phones. As more people connect to the world through cell phones they become less aware of the physical world which surrounds them, known as Inattentional Blindness. This paper asks the question: Does the increased use of cell phones impair college students’ perceptions about the actual amounts of crime that occurs on campus, and if so are students under or over estimating the amounts of crime? It is hypothesized that the majority of students will under estimate the amount of crime that occurs on a college campus because of their reduced awareness of the real world. This study uses a convenience sample acquired through a web based survey conducted on a college campus of approximately 10,000 students in the southwest region of the United States. Study results will be finalized in the coming weeks. Early results suggest that cell phone use and inattentional blindness may not be as prevalent on campus as originally hypothesized.

Kelsey Jetter, Dixie State University Humanities Thousands of advertising messages that are created by the media bombard the general public on a daily basis. An aspect of media that is seldom recognized is how sexuality is represented. The fight for sexual equality has been progressing over the last few years, the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans*, and Queer) community has been fighting for equality in marriage, housing, and employment—successfully utilizing many forms of media such as news networking and social media. Though successful, the community’s fight fails to recognize bisexuality as its own form of sexuality. Bisexuality is misinterpreted, misunderstood, and discriminated against in heteronormative and homosexual media—bisexuality’s representation is skewed and perpetrates the myths that are assumed about bisexuality. Some of the myths including that bisexual people are confused, unnatural, and promiscuous. Through the analysis of how bisexuality is both negatively and positively reflected in media such as the music by Frank Ocean, the television show Doctor Who, and the political figure Kyrsten Sinema, this piece finds how the media represents bisexuality, people who identify as bisexual, and how it is reported to the public.

Miranda Roland, Southern Utah University Humanities Voluntourism (volunteer tourism) is the action of using personal vacation time to assist in volunteer service usually in foreign countries. Voluntourism has recently received negative connotation as research has deemed them “non-beneficial” or even “harmful” due to the short duration spent and overall adverse effect caused unintentionally by the project. This research was conducted to determine what participants of the temporary medical clinics hosted by the Global Medical Training program really think of the provided service. This information can deem if the alternative breaks taken by pre-medical and medical volunteers are beneficial to the areas they serve and if future breaks should be considered, if not strongly encouraged. The surveys were completed verbally to the patient with the aid of a Spanish translator. Surveys contained questions that addressed the influence of how they receive medical attention due to these clinics and satisfaction of attention received during the clinic. All of the surveys (100%) signified that these Global Medical Training clinics do influence how they receive medical care with additional comments of “beneficial to the low class economy”, “traveling to us is very helpful”, and “appreciate the advice given”. 98.08% signified that they are satisfied with the medical attention received through the clinics. As demonstrated through these results many communities are satisfied with the service provided and they wish to see more clinics of this set-up as it relieves the cost financially and time-wise of traveling to the nearby medical center. Upon conclusion, the trips taken by pre-medical and medical students through the Global Medical Training program are deemed beneficial to both the volunteers and the recipients of their service. These trips should not be demoted by the negative connotation of voluntourism but instead should be strongly encouraged if a volunteer desires.

Rachel Sharich, Dixie State University Humanities Non-traditional students face innumerable challenges during the course of their studies but can find a successful balance if they have the proper tools and a determined mindset. Going back to school after a decade or more is a daunting task when considering work and bills, kids and dinner, laundry and car repairs. In 2007, I attempted to describe my city-girlturned- agrarian-survivalist efforts in self-reliance after gutting my extra rooster and cooking him for dinner. Then, my life changed. I became a full-time college student and after a few semesters, I realized that my knowledge of grammar and punctuation had grown significantly since my rooster-killing musings. I re- learned comma rules, proper use of semi-colons, and the difference between a dash and a hyphen. Although storytelling is a personal strong suit, I now see many flagrant errors in my past writing. Comma splices are scattered throughout email, journal entries, and even handwritten notes. I overburdened any sense of idiosyncratic expression with abundant stylistic fragments. I attach my success or failure as a human being to the letters on my report card; I have always been an ‘A’ student. College cannot be the top priority for most non-traditional students. I strive for some sense of lop-sided equilibrium each day and encourage other potential students to realize their own dream of earning a college degree, no matter their circumstances. I enjoy assisting other students in correcting their own writing errors. I am content with any passing grade because I am seeing my work, and my life, change for the better.

Jordan Kerns, Dixie State University Humanities In my creative compilation, I explore four different classifications of the word blood in four flash non-fiction pieces. I utilize the writing technique of compression, so none of my stories exceed 400 words. Flash pieces give information to the reader through the techniques of inference and understatement. Throughout my stories, I show readers my relationships with other people, my thoughts about myself, and my opinions about certain possessions through the use of flash methods and with an underlying theme of blood. The first story, “Cremation,” illustrates my relationship with my brother through a cryptic conversation we had about death—its tie to the theme being our blood relation. The next piece, “Blood Lines,” describes a pair of sweatpants I stole from my father with subtle clues that hint at the bad blood left between him and my mother and my mother and me. The third flash, “Blood and Frosting,” is a second-person narrative about the process the narrator takes to make red velvet cupcakes for her friends and family. The last work, “Syrup and Sky,” is another descriptive paragraph about a picture I drew in high school of a poorly-drawn wolverine covered in the blood of his kill. I aim to connect with my readers through these simple moments of life, make them feel either happy or sad or anything in-between, and make them see the beauty and complexity in mundane things.

Matthew Dye, Snow College Humanities Many Native American reservations in the United States are increasingly relying on casinos and other forms of gambling to bolster local economies. However, since the state of Utah does not allow gambling on tribal lands, Native Americans in Utah must rely on other activities to bring tourism to their communities. Many resources that are available to tribes across Utah, including pow wows and other cultural events, have become central economic activities and means for increasing tourism to tribal lands. These cultural events serve two purposes, as they serve as a means of cultural education to the larger public, in addition to providing a mechanism for increasing tourism. For this project, I will focus on how the different Native American tribes in Utah use their own unique cultures to attract tourism, and its accompanying economic benefits, to their communities.

Lyndsey Craig, Christy Fiscer, RonJai Staton, Michelle Hammon, Deborah Decker, Tina Boren,

Conor Hilton, Brigham Young University Humanities The narrator of Washington Square strongly colors the account of events that we receive. However, this information is tainted by the narrator’s treacherous behavior, seeming to be very polite, but hiding a heavy dose of irony and distaste behind the polite exterior. It is difficult to fully understand and interpret the events of the novel given the narrator’s heavy involvement in relaying the events of Catherine and Dr. Sloper’s interactions. The text must be interrogated, questioning the motives of the narrator and the reliability of the narrative that he presents. If the narrator is a friend to Catherine, then he likely is undermining Dr. Sloper. Yet, if the narrator is a friend of Dr. Sloper’s, as his intimate knowledge of the Doctor’s past and perspective suggests, then it seems unlikely that he is also a friend of Catherine’s. Perhaps the narrator is unsympathetic towards all of the characters, seeking to undermine their actions and words regardless of who they are or what they are striving to do. The narrator hides his biting asides behind a mask of the most formal politeness, but upon reading between the lines the narrator’s kindness and friendship for each of the characters is called into question. Understanding that the narrator is no friend to the characters in the story he is telling, the reader must question all interpretive comments made regarding the events of the novel. Stripping away the bias of the narrator is also essential to understanding the true nature of the characters of James’ novel, primarily Catherine and Dr. Sloper.

Marcos Camargo, Dixie State University Humanities Since Europeans began to settle in the Western Hemisphere, Native-Americans faced a prolonged and painful voyage of dispossession. Traditionally historians look at the cultural, demographic, and political losses faced by Native Americans, rarely addressing the geographic aspect of the loss of natural resources. In the early period of the Cold War, uranium because a very precious commodity for both Americans and Soviets in the production of nuclear weapons. Since the best sources for uranium in North America were located primarily on Navajo lands in Utah, Arizona, and Colorado, the US Federal Government was forced to form a new relationship with Navajo leaders. These political advances undercut egalitarian traditions in Navajo governance, facilitating a new hierarchical structure where individual tribal members could exploit the American demand for uranium for their own personal profit. Through institutions like the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the US government did their best to hand-pick tribal officials who would acquiesce to their intensified desire for Navajo resources. This paper will investigate tribal reactions to the Navajo leadership’s complicity with US uranium policy and corporate profiteering. Only when the tribal government acted in the interests of the tribal community as a whole, through regulations that protected the Navajo homeland, were the wrongs perpetrated by outside forces able to be mended.

Michael Jurgensmeier, Dixie State University Humanities The voyage of slaves from Africa to the Americas is a part of Atlantic World history that is infamous for its brutal treatment of human cargo. The recorded history of men, women and children placed in cargo ships, chained together, lying in the same spot, often for months at a time without seeing the light of day, has been met with a mix of horror and shock. The specific details of the slave trade have been well recorded and the role of the human cargo has been emphasized in the majority of records that fill history books. What about the role of the slave trader? When a person takes into account all the added stress and special-needs of carrying a ship filled with human cargo, one can’t help but ask, from an economic perspective, was it worth it? Was it exceptionally profitable? In answering that question perhaps a light will be shed on the motivation of one of history’s iniquitous periods. This paper will give a few, short examples of what slave traders had to consider and the types of problems they may have had to overcome in order to be successful.

Missy Jessop, Dixie State University Humanities I moved from the suburbs of Salt Lake City to southern Utah just about four years ago, and the land continues to evoke fear and reverence in me as it did when I first arrived. Moreover, the desert has worked itself into my writing. Not only do my conflicted feelings about this place surface in both my prose and my poetry, but images of the landscape, as well as its animals and climate, appear over and over. The desert, I would argue, functions as an objective correlative, directly complementing and indirectly commenting upon the actions, images, people and scenarios that comprise this work. As such, I have begun to agree with Wordsworth’s observation that “a large portion of every good poem…must necessarily, except with reference to the metre, in no respect differ from that of good prose.” In this presentation, I plan to share “flash” works of prose and poetry that problematize the alleged divisions between different literary forms. In support of my findings, I will draw upon the ideas of such writers and critics as David Lee, Sarah Kay, and W.B. Yeats. It is my hope that the audience will be reminded of the connection between nature, landscape, and artistic expression, and how this connection can be tangibly observed by individuals in their own creative lives.

Wendy Stabler, Dixie State University Humanities Injuries to the brain, scalp, and skull are considered to be head injuries. In recent years, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) has become the “silent epidemic,” leaving survivors to fend for themselves in most aspect of their lives. A massive lack of knowledge and understanding with regard to TBI besets the community and Dixie State University (DSU) in particular. As a result TBI students do not receive the services, resources, and empathy they need for scholastic success. In order to ensure that TBI students can thrive on campus, DSU’s Disability Resource Center, administrators, and instructors need to implement new programs that support TBI students and educate the general campus population about the effects and learning styles associated with TBI. Some of these new programs (i.e., better accommodations, a TBI support group, DSU training on TBI) may be extensive and difficult to incorporate at the University, but they are critical for TBI students. Drawing upon published data and statements provided by TBI students and educators, with this paper, an exercise in rhetoric, I will demonstrate how more knowledge and information on this campus will empower instructors as well as TBI students, potentially yielding higher graduation rates for TBI students. Once the recommendations are implemented, DSU will in turn be a leading university in TBI student support. The hope is that these findings and arguments can be used to help TBI student communities in other higher-education settings.

Aaron E. Palmer, Dixie State University Humanities While traditional storytelling revolves around the story and setting, video game mechanics include all game rules and options for interaction in and with a game. Due to this, a pair of critical questions arises: how do video game mechanics— such as functions on a controller—influence the production of meaning within video game narratives, and have these mechanics progressed or expanded upon the ways stories can be told? I argue that mechanical elements have expanded, enriched, and altered storytelling. Using N. Katherine Hayles’ Writing Machines as a guide, I compare conventional literary artifacts, such as novels, to video games vis-à-vis Hayles’ theories regarding “Literary texts … [as having] bodies, an actuality necessitating that their materialities and meanings are deeply interwoven into each other.” My research reasons that playing narrative-driven games is creative rather than solely reactive. The following video games are included in my research: Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, and The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. For millennia, humans have painted caves, etched steles, and carved hieroglyphs onto walls in order to communicate important stories. The evolution of media from stone to parchment to newer media such as computers exposes the role that gaming mechanics play in contemporary storytelling.

Lyndsey Craig, Christy Fiscer, RonJai Staton, Michelle Hammon, Justin Nuckels, Tina Boren,

Matthew Halverson, University of Utah Humanities Adults learning second languages typically exhibit a great deal of difficulty discriminating the sounds of the new language. For example, the English R and L sounds (as in ‘lead’ vs. ‘read’) are difficult for native speakers of Japanese to discriminate because there is no such sound contrast in Japanese. Despite these difficulties, some research indicates that there are cognitive benefits of being bilingual. For example, Bialystock et al. (2003) found that bilingual children performed more accurately on tasks testing phonological awareness (a measure of sound-related skills) in English when compared to monolingual English speakers. Antoniou, Best, and Tyler (2013) found that Greek-English bilinguals were better at discriminating contrastive word-initial consonants in the language Ma’di than English monolinguals—but that they performed worse than Greek monolinguals. We thus see that the apparent bilingual advantage may be confounded with the particular language backgrounds of participants in these studies. The present study attempts to tease apart the contributions of language background and bilingualism. Spanish-English bilinguals were compared to English monolinguals in their ability to discriminate Thai sounds. The predictions were that if Spanish-English bilinguals performed better than English monolinguals, it would indicate that bilingualism was responsible for the advantage. On the other hand, if there was not a significant difference or the Spanish-English bilinguals performed worse than English monolinguals, the results could be attributed to language background. We found that there was not a significant difference between how the Spanish- English bilinguals performed compared to English speakers. We note that the study, however, is limited due to a lack of a Spanish monolingual group, thus we were unable account for a possible effect of language background.

Ashley Smith, Brigham Young University Humanities The author argues that attitudes towards cross-caste marriage in Visakhapatnam, India are changing due to women who have attained a degree in higher education. Attitudes towards cross-caste marriage in India have always brought about turmoil for families whose children decided to marry someone outside of their caste. While cross-caste marriages are now legally allowed in India, it is still so socially taboo that even those that do participate in cross-caste marriage do not like to tell others that they are part of a cross- caste marriage. But times are continuing to change. The author’s research in Visakhapatnam, India concerning cross-caste marriages, and marriages in general, have brought to light data that may show that attitudes towards cross-caste marriage are changing in the light of higher education. Those interviewed by the author who were willing to talk about their own cross-caste marriage, or their son’s or daughter’s cross-caste marriage, have stated that or made mention to the fact that those who were well-educated were more willing to participate in cross-caste marriage as well as speak of being in a cross-caste marriage. It’s how people speak of it though that makes the author’s research interesting. They speak of their cross- caste marriage through education. It was either their mothers or themselves that mentioned that they have had higher education, usually at a university that the attitudes they grew up with about cross-caste marriage are softened.

Savannè Bohnet, University of Utah Humanities The University of Utah attracts students from all over the world. Many international students serve as graduate teaching assistants, and in doing so, contribute to the teaching mission of the University. International Teaching Assistants (ITAs) experience a number of challenges associated with their teaching duties, most noticeably communication difficulties that are typically attributed to their non-native accents. In recent studies on accent adaptation we have seen that native English speakers are in fact able to quickly and accurately adapt to unfamiliar or new accents; however, most of these studies have been conducted in highly- controlled laboratory contexts. In the present work, we have examined the ability of actual University of Utah undergraduate students to adapt to the speech of actual ITAs, with the goal of understanding how to harness this accent adaptation ability to improve communication and learning in the classroom. As a starting point in achieving this long-term goal, we are investigating how individual students vary with respect to this adaptation ability. We conducted an experiment where native English-speaking University of Utah students were asked to listen to recordings of ITAs producing running speech during an adaptation phase. Following the adaptation phase, these students were asked to perform a transcription task with individual words produced by the same ITAs. More accurate performance on the transcription task is interpreted as greater adaptation to the ITAs’ speech. We found not only that different ITAs exhibited different levels of intelligibility to students, but also that individual students varied widely in their adaptation ability, which means that the intelligibility of non-native speech depends on characteristics of the listener.

Keiran Presland, Dixie State University Humanities A nonfiction narrative essay, “Blood and Ink” chronicles a moment during which I experienced a rite of passage. I had a quill pen wrought on my forearm to remind me every day that the act of writing is an essential and permanent component of my life and my identity. This essay employs structural and thematic principles articulated by theorists like Vivian Gornick and Dinty W. Moore. In addition, it reveals the stylistic influence of the essayists E. B. White and Annie Dillard. With “Blood and Ink,” in short, I exploit my past and utilize my intellectual training to produce a work that at once is deeply personal and technically sound.

Jacob Oscarson, Dixie State University Humanities In 1971 the New York Times printed sections of a classified Department of Defense report known at the Pentagon Papers. The papers were a detailed history of the Vietnam War from its very beginning in the 1940s when Ho Chi Minh and the Vietminh were officially considered US Allies against Japan. One phenomenon that the papers reveal quite clearly is that while President Roosevelt was dedicated to a policy of support for national liberation movements, that others within his administration did not hold the same view. This is clearly portrayed in the discrepancy between internal documents of the US Secretary of State in August, 1940 that are in clear contradiction to the Atlantic Charter that President Roosevelt promoted one year later. Throughout the history of the Vietnam War, such discrepancies between internal views and public statements were quite common. In the final days of President Johnson’s administration, he had Daniel Ellsberg collect a detailed report on all aspects of the conflict in order to shape a better policy. When the Nixon administration ignored Ellsberg’s expertise, he leaked partial elements of the documents to the New York Times. In the last decade, the US Government has now released the full details of the report for the general public. This paper will discuss the beginnings of the war during the Roosevelt and Truman administrations in regards to new information provided in the complete Pentagon Papers report.

Jamie Slade, Utah Valley University Health Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are gaining in popularity. Unfortunately, this increase is occurring at a time when we lack a definitive understanding of the health hazards. It is important for professionals to understand e-cigarette users’ experiences and satisfaction with the devices in order to determine what may entice users to begin and continue using these devices.

Daisha L. Cummins, Kodey Meyers, and Breanna E. Studenka, Utah State University Health Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) exhibit rigidity of motor plans and difficulties planning and executing movements (Eigsti et al., 2013). Those with ASD may also have difficulty formulating new or switching between different motor plans. In typically developing individuals, sequential actions exhibit hysteresis, a phenomenon where a specific motor plan is influenced by recent, similar motor actions. We sought to determine if hysteresis was stronger in children with ASD. A rotation motor task measured the rigidity of motor planning (hysteresis) of five ASD children, and 5 control participants. A stick was placed in one of 24 different orientations around a circle. The researcher moved the stick counterclockwise or clockwise in subsequent trials. A participant grasped the stick and returned it to the home position. Researchers measured the position at which the child switched from a thumb up to a thumb down grasp in each direction. The peak counterclockwise switch occurred later for children with ASD. The grasp also changed less frequently for the ASD than for the control group. Our results suggest that changing a grasp was more costly than being comfortable, and that hysteresis was more prevalent in children with ASD than in the control group.

Abigail Harris, Brigham Young University Health Purpose:

Tianne Pierce, Utah Valley University Health Since Mario and Zelda (Nintendo video games), video interactive games have been a favorite babysitter for the past two generations of children, simulation is no stranger to this population. Portions of this population became nursing students. Simulation in health care is second to none in the ‘hands on’ teaching of skills; thus, it would be the natural order of things to include interactive figures and scenario during teaching and learning in nursing. Utah Valley University’s nursing department employs the use of human simulators in the delivery of content to the students. It is no surprise that these students relate well to simulation in the classrooms. The purpose of the research study will be to compare students’ responses to learning in a teaching environment void of simulation vs. a teaching environment which uses simulation. Although simulation has long been used in aviation and the military, it has become more integrated in the health care profession over the last 20 years. These study results were congruent with national and international landmark studies where the use of simulation in nursing has been supported by the world of healthcare.

Diana Carter, Brigham Young University Health Purpose:

Ashley Havlicak and Joanna Beachy, University of Utah Health Background:

John Rossi, Julie Valentine, Leslie Miles, Linda Maybe, and Julie Melini, Brigham Young University Health The purpose of this study is to explore the effects of sexual assault on memory and consciousness in 314 victims in a Mountain West community using retrospective chart review. Altered mental awareness and/or loss of consciousness during a sexual assault are widely unexplored phenomena. A majority of assaulted individuals experience a varying degree of loss of consciousness during an assault – resulting in memory loss and conflicting evidentiary reports creating challenges during an investigation and prosecution. Statements written by a forensic nurse based on patients’ telling of the sexual assault (analyzed in Nvivo10) were placed within the following categories: memory loss; decreased feelings of mental alertness or awareness; symptoms of tonic immobility; detachment from self, environments and/or situation; reports full loss of consciousness; and/or awoke to assault. Quantitative data from patients’ answers to questions related to their memory of the nature of the assault was analyzed through descriptive statistics in SPSS, resulting in the following statistics: 58.3% reported having a loss of consciousness or awareness, 54.2% reported “unknown” to 1 or more questions about the nature of the assault, 37.8% reported “unknown” to 4 or more questions, 17.3% reported “unknown” to all questions. Additionally, a Chi square test for independence found patients with memory loss/altered consciousness were associated with the following variables: patients with mental illness and/ or use of psychotropic medications (p=0.025) and use of alcohol prior to assault (p=0.000). Medical teams, law enforcement, and judicial representatives must understand the impediments associated with a victim suffering from altered mental status caused by neurobiological and psychophysical effects of sexual trauma; thus, creating an atmosphere that avoids re- traumatizing a patient and providing for optimal care. This research will supplement other studies focusing on neurobiology/sexual assault trauma and foster greater understanding of the effects of sexual assault on memory and consciousness.

Kalene Mears, Brigham Young University Health The purpose of this project is to compile a learning history for a hospital unit, documenting patterns of past adaptation within a clinical microsystem that can be magnified to help the system continue to improve. The goal in healthcare is to create an adaptable system, where changes are continuously made as problems are identified to prevent harm from care. Through a learning history, a hospital unit can identify how they have already solved problems in the past and identify patterns of adaptation that can be replicated to increase reliability within the organization. This project has the potential to help a hospital unit improve its reliability in providing quality patient care and reduce preventable patient harm. To obtain the information about the unit’s history, key team members will be interviewed using an appreciative approach to identify strengths and patterns of successful adaptation. Interviews will highlight positive features of this team to foster feelings of success and achievement, promoting desire to continue improvement. Clinical data will supplement the interviews to show a full picture of how the unit adapted to its situation. The transcribed interviews will then be distilled to highlight the critical, meaningful points in the plot line where learning and adaptation took place. This resulting manuscript is the tangible learning history. Internal dissemination will involve sharing the learning history with the organization and facilitating group discussions about the findings with members of the organization. Through this process, we anticipate the unit will be able to promote more effective interventions to improve patient care.

Trey Esplin, Alathia Burnside, Sean Madill, Marquelle Funk, Sean Kiesel, Kaisey Margetts,

Cody Craig and Charles Yeager, Snow College Health Logically, a rise in income should lead to a healthier population. Diseases like malaria, cholera, and HIV/AIDS are associated with poverty, low rates of education, and poor infrastructure in many parts of the world. In populations with higher per capita income (or “wealth”), these diseases are not as common. However, while our higher socioeconomic classes have fewer poverty linked diseases, is the overall health of people across Utah as high as we might expect it to be? Diseases like obesity, heart disease, and diabetes (known as diseases of affluence) are becoming more and more common, even though advanced health technology and healthcare availability increase. This project will examine the relationship between income level, diseases of poverty, and diseases of affluence. Data will be aggregated from a number of sources and mapped using a geographic information system. A regression analysis will be conducted to determine if variables are positively or negatively correlated with diseases of poverty and affluence in Utah.

Whittni O’Brien, Dixie State University Health St. George residents are currently at risk from poor indoor air quality. The objective of this study was to provide citizens with simple solutions to purify their indoor air and avoid the side effects of pollution. The rising threats include benzene, formaldehyde and trichloroethylene. These carcinogens are directly linked to heart disease, birth defects, asthma and premature deaths in individuals. The study was conducted to see just what could be done to combat these hazards and provide the necessary information to resolve the levels of indoor air pollution to residents. A standardized questionnaire was issued to find out how educated locals were about the pollution levels and air quality within the community. Questions covered a variety of aspects including exactly what the threats were to specific methods of indoor air purification. To reduce the number of carcinogenic related health issues, participants were provided with a pamphlet including easy to follow steps to cleaner indoor air and outdoor air pollution. The objective result yielded plants to be the best solution. Aloe vera plants are not only grown locally, but are easy to propagate. These plants are known for their ability to remove formaldehyde from the air and therefore an inexpensive and readily available resource that will assist residents. Other solutions found included greenery such as moth orchids, snake plants and the ficus tree. All of these plants are easy to maintain with local climate conditions. By providing residents with the proper education and resources, the overall health of the population will rise. The conclusion of the study offers vital knowledge to the community and a progressive approach to cleaner indoor air for a healthier living space.

Rebekah Goodrich, Leenalitha Panneerseelan Bharath, Ting Ruan, Tetyana Forostyan, Ashot Sargsyan,

Erika Brown and Stacie Hunsaker, Brigham Young University Health Health care professionals are often challenged with starting an intravenous (IV) line in patients who are dehydrated, have suffered trauma, or are in shock. Nurses and physicians can become frustrated by the multiple attempts and patients can lose valuable time. An alternative route to deliver the needed fluids and medications to these critical patients can be achieved by accessing the blood supply inside the bone. Intraosseous (IO) access is a safe, rapid, and an effective alternative method to deliver medications and fluids to these critical patients (Hunsaker and Hillis, 2013). I was mentored in the practice of qualitative research and interview process in a study related to difficult IV access. A qualitative research study was performed at Hospital Luis Vernaza in Guayaquil, Ecuador, to determine the complications faced in providing timely care to critical patients, and to assess their knowledge and use of IO therapy. Interviews were performed, and, because of my fluency in the Spanish language, I was the primary interviewer. These interviews were analyzed to assess the need of interventional IO therapy. Through the interviews, preliminary results demonstrated a need for an organized IV algorithm in this large hospital. The difficult IV algorithm has been developed and will be presented to the health care professionals at Hospital Luis Vernaza in the spring of 2015 on a Brigham Young University College of Nursing Global Health stay in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

Delena Hanson, Dixie State University Health Debate in diagnostic imaging over the effectiveness of shielding the patient from the incident (primary) beam compared to shielding from the scattering beam once it has hit the image receptor is ongoing. Because radiation in any amount can cause long term effects, it is the ethical obligation of those in the profession to keep the dose of radiation to the patient as low as reasonably achievable. Backscatter is radiation that goes through the patient, contributes to the diagnostic image, then still has enough energy to hit the image receptor and scatter back toward the patient. While previous studies indicate that dose to the gonads from the primary beam during chest x-ray exams are low, this additional research assesses the amount of backscatter that happens during a chest x-ray to determine at what point patient size is a factor that increases patient dose. As more technique must be used for larger patients, increased interactions will occur and therefore present a higher probability of backscatter that can add to the patient’s gonadal dose. This research quantifies whether and at what point placing a lead shield between the patient and the image receptor will reduce dose to the patient by measuring the thickness of a patient receiving chest x-ray and using a pocket dosimeter to measure the amount of radiation scattering back from the patient to compare with data from the incident beam.

Paydon Newman and Joseph Rebman, Dixie State University Health Several studies (Shepley, 2012; Sherman-Bien, 2011; Walch, 2010) have found that sunlight has a stress-reducing effect on those who are exposed to it. An innovative new design of artificial lighting known as RaLight is proposed to reflect light with a color rendering index nearly identical to natural sunlight. This study will examine the relationship between exposure to RaLight (as a substitute for sunlight) and levels of stress. RaLight is predicted to decrease levels of stress in test subjects. In a commercial call center setting, test subjects will consist of an estimated 50 employees both male and female with ages ranging from 18 to 30 years. This research is designed as a single subject experiment (ABA). The initial control condition will be the common indoor environment which exposes patients to standard fluorescent lighting. Replacing light fixtures with RaLight will then establish both the second phase of the experiment and the independent variable. A follow up re-installment of the initial fluorescent lighting will be conducted post-RaLight phase. Throughout each phase, questionnaires regarding the overall well-being of employees will be completed.

Frank Robertson, Diego Flores, Marcia Ventura, Jordan Sgro and Veronica Taite, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences Behavioral research has often focused on the impact of reinforcers on behavior. Punishers are occasionally used alongside reinforcers, and the relative strength of the two is a question of major importance in behavioral psychology. The matching law is a mathematical formula that attempts to evaluate the relative influence of two sets of reinforcers and punishers. The generalized matching law contains two parameters, sensitivity, which indexes how quickly participants respond to differences between reinforcement frequencies, and bias, which indicates how much one reinforcer is preferred over another. We have developed a new method for data analysis in situations containing both reinforcers and punishers, which expands the generalized matching law by a single parameter. The new parameter is punishment bias, where a value between 0 and 1 indicates the relatively greater effect of reinforcers (versus punishers) on behavior. A value greater than 1 indicates that behavior is impacted more by punishers. If this variation on the generalized matching law is valid, it would provide a simple metric for use in situations where negative and positive events both occur. Ten participants were asked to play a video game in which they moved a submarine around obstacles and collected coins. They could choose to do so on either the left or right side of the screen. Variable- interval reinforcement schedules were operative on both sides of the screen and changed every six minutes. Punishers were added to the left-side reinforcers in half of these schedules. We recorded each participant’s mouse clicks on each side, as well as the reinforcers and punishers they received. We analyzed this data using both the new method and the generalized matching law. We found that the new version fit the data better than the standard version and present it as a possible tool for future studies of the joint use of reinforcers and punishers.

Jessica Andrus, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences The Himba, a traditional-living tribe in Namibia, have only recently been introduced to formal education. Formal education has a tremendous influence on their culture, as it is starting to drastically efface their traditional way of life. As they are increasingly sending more and more of their children to school, it appears that their traditional culture is becoming less practiced and more of a conceptualized object, or as I call it: formalized. By formalizing it into this conceptualized object, they are able to hold on to their traditional culture and embrace education at the same time, but they have to forsake many of the regular everyday practices of their traditional culture. As the Himba are striving to maintain their traditional culture and embrace formal education they are transforming their traditional culture into this formalized object.

Rachel Schwartz, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences Within the field of economic development, specifically microfinance institutions, research has suggested that women are safer economic risks than men due to gender cultural differences. In Latin America, this stems from the “machismo” stereotype stating that men are irresponsible and selfish. I seek to prove the cultural stereotypes of “machismo” as an incorrect perception of Paraguayan male culture in Asuncion. Studies have been conducted in Asuncion stating that young Paraguayan males do not identify themselves with the “machismo” culture. Fleming (2013) found that this stereotype was given to men “due to social and cultural expectations and not to actual male identity.” This is of particular interest in showing how Hispanic notions of masculinity may contradict the gendered ideologies implicit in these types of organizations and within their own society and culture. I am finding within my own research findings that this perception is incorrect, and if so, can be used to dispute the notion that male entrepreneurs are bad investments. I conducted in-depth formal and informal interviews and vignettes with 10 male and female business professionals. I created a map of store types and the gender of the store owner of two prominent business locations, Mercado 4 and Avenida Eusebio Ayala. I conducted participate observations at various locations including: the businesses of the informants I interviewed, local hospitals, church schools, bus stations and families (in and out of their home environments).

Arthur Wardle, Matthew Crabtree and Melissa Funk, Utah State University Social and Behavioral Sciences The 18th amendment arose out of a larger temperance movement in which alcohol was commonly viewed as the root cause of a litany of social problems. However, following the passage of the 18th amendment, neither alcohol consumption nor the related social problems dissipated, demonstrating the failure of the amendment, and eventually leading the U.S. to the 21st amendment, undoing the prohibition. Interestingly, the 18th amendment took effect only one year before the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints made the “Word of Wisdom,” a church scripture which, among other things, bans the consumption of alcohol, an absolute requirement for full participation in the religion. This religious prohibition enjoyed far greater success than the legal prohibition of the 18th amendment. We analyze the quantitative differences in the efficacy of each prohibition, as well as the various incentive changes caused by each institution. To do this, we will examine historic drunkenness arrest records in both the U.S. as a whole, and Utah specifically, which has been demonstrated by previous research to be an accurate way of estimating alcohol consumption. Then, by taking a look at historic documents, we will examine the incentives of changing behavior, and discuss the efficiency of legal versus non-legal restrictions when attempting to change behavior. We will also examine the contrast in reactions to external regulation stemming from the government, and regulation stemming from a religious organization, and the powerful social implications that follow a restriction that is both external and internal. We find that a religious organization, with its ability to alter the basis of a group’s value system, can change a group’s behavior more easily than legal regulation alone.

Anthony F. King, Zackary Bjerregaard, Matthew Booth, Shannon Clugston, Miles Dittmore, Stephen

Mira Reynolds, Craig Bryan and AnnaBelle Bryan, University of Utah Social and Behavioral Sciences Objective:

Emily Hartung, Sarah Higbee, Jordan Sgro, Sarah Hanni, Wendy Kohlmann, Maija Reblin,

Samantha Chandler, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences Families are a key element in helping children develop into properly functioning members of society. The relationships that individuals have with the members of their family will greatly influence them throughout their lives. Past work highlights the roles families, and siblings in particular play in the development of antisocial behavior, but it is also important to consider the ways in which the intensification of antisocial behavior (i.e., the initiation of substance use) in adolescence changes and alters trajectories of siblings’ relationships with one another. Thus, in the current study we are examining the longitudinal links between antisocial behavior and adolescents’ sibling relationships. Data for our study come from the Flourishing Families Project, a seven phase longitudinal study of 700 families. Both parents and adolescents reported on the adolescent’s antisocial behavior and adolescents’ reported on their relationship with their closest aged sibling. We are using SAS to conduct growth curve models of sibling relationships over time as moderated by patterns of antisocial behavior. Preliminary analysis suggests that in many cases antisocial behavior is linked to less sibling warmth (r = -.11, p < .01) and greater sibling conflict (r = .22, p < .001). In conclusion we anticipate that our analysis will support the notion of the complexity of family life and that the choices and behavior of an individual family member may have implications for the development of family relationships.

RonJai Staton, Lyndsey Craig, Christy Fiscer, Michelle Hammon, Deborah Decker, Tina Boren, Zac Olson,

Devin Petersen, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences A previous meta-analysis conducted by Holt-Lunstad, Smith, and Layton (2010) indicates that social relationships have an inverse association with risk for mortality. The more friends and family that surround any particular person, the smaller their risk of mortality and the longer they live. Unfortunately, not everyone has a rich social network to draw on. The purpose of the current meta-analysis is to inquire as to whether certain social interventions might be utilized to prolong life expectancy and whether some social interventions result in better outcomes than others. We searched a number of major databases including Medline, Psycinfo, CINAHL, Medic, Social Work Abstracts, Family and Society Studies Worldwide, Alt Health Watch, and Google Scholar using specific search strings to search for articles with social intervention mortality data. Articles were excluded if they did not contain mortality or social support, if the social support was not implemented, if mortality and social support were not compared, or if they contained suicide/violent death data. Review/qualitative studies were excluded, as were studies with non-human subjects, and articles not in English, Spanish, Portuguese, or French. Several smaller meta-analyses that we have come across suggest that social interventions do not significantly increase survival time. However, these studies on average draw from under 10 studies, our meta-analysis analyzes of 50 articles. Our preliminary findings suggest that there is substantial variability in findings across studies. Although the overall average indicated a mild benefit from the social support interventions (OR = 1.44, p < .01), the heterogeneity of effect sizes was substantial. Under some circumstances the intervention actually was associated with increased rates of mortality, even though on average, odds of survival increased 44% relative to control groups. This meta-analytic review provides support for the general use of social intervention groups.

Spencer Waters and Hannah Page, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences Variations in the μ-opioid-receptor (OPRM1) gene have been shown to affect most mammalian species mother-infant relationships and more recent studies show it may also modulate it in at least some primates Macaca mulatta (rhesus monkeys). Research shows that variation in the OPRM1 SNPs in rhesus macaques (C77G) is linked to relational behavioral differences, specifically within mothers and infants. Individuals homozygous for the ancestral C allele exhibit more “normal” behaviors, attachment, and oxytocin (OT) levels, whereas individuals heterozygous for the G allele exhibit greater variation in OT levels, as well as the type and quality of bonding1. Behavioral data was collected by the National Institute of Health (NIH) between 1996 and 2005. Individual monkeys in the study were genotyped for the previously characterized OPRM1 genotype. Repeated measures analyses were run using weekly measures of mother-infant behaviors across the first 24 weeks of the infants’ lives, using the mother’s genotype and infant’s sex as between-subject factors. A second series of analyses were performed using the infant’s genotype and infant sex as between-subject factors. Leave by mother (LVMO) and Reject by mother (REJM) was associated with mother genotype and infant sex at p<0.05. Passivity (PASS) was associated with infant genotype and infant sex at p=.04. Four other behaviors (Restraint, receive groom by mother, receive groom by infant, and approach by mother) were found to be nearly significant (p> 0.05<="" a="" allele="" and="" at="" behavior="" behavioral="" bonding="" by="" compared="" copy="" div="" environment="" evidence="" female="" g="" gene="" genotype,="" greater="" her="" infant="" infants="" infants,="" infants.="" infant’s="" influenced="" interact="" interaction.="" is="" least="" lower="" male="" more="" mothers="" mother’s="" of="" one="" our="" positive="" quality="" results="" sex,="" show="" specifically,="" tend="" that="" the="" their="" these="" to="" toward="" treatment="" variability,="" with="" x=""> .entry-content 2015-UCUR-Abstracts

Scot Sweet, Dixie State University Social and Behavioral Sciences Imagine a world where a revolutionary model of healthcare was created at an affordable cost offering higher quality care. This niche can be filled with a concierge approach. The concierge medical model allows patients 24/7 physician access by paying physicians a monthly retainer fee. In turn, physicians are able to take on fewer patients and spend more quality time with them. This research examines innovative approaches needed in order to successfully market and standardize the concierge model. Because many potential clients and companies seeking health insurance plans for their employees are unfamiliar with the concierge model; educational marketing strategies are required to achieve the paradigm shift in health care delivery modes. Successful marketing of the concierge model relies on the customers understanding of their ability under the concierge model, to be proactive instead of passive when it comes to their health. Taking the time to teach them to utilize a concierge model allows them to believe in a system built around the patient’s needs. This model has been successfully marketed to business owners with 5-15 employees. By educating owners on the cost savings combined with quality service. Offering a free trial allows the skeptics to understand the model. In current healthcare systems physicians treat patients from a legal perspective. Government regulations and third party insurance billing controls the services patients receive. This perception can be broken when people understand that insurance is used for big catastrophic accidents, not day-to-day needs.

Sydney Willis, and Caren Frost, University of Utah Social and Behavioral Sciences Thousands of refugees come to the United States each year. As they become accustomed to life in the United States, immediately they face a new challenge, the health care system. There are not many accessible resources for refugee women when they first arrive, so women’s healthcare, specifically, family planning gets forgotten. It is one of the most important aspects of reproductive health; it impacts the mother, the current family members and the future family members. The current family planning curriculum is not comprehensive for refugee women of every demographic because each culture has different needs and background. Working with two refugee populations, Congolese and Somali, in Salt Lake City and incorporating the seven domains of women’s health, we created a cumulative family planning curriculum that will increase accessibility to services and positively impact the women and their family’s health. This curriculum will give the state of Utah a culturally cumulative family planning curriculum that will positively affect the health of all members of refugee families and help improve the healthcare of Utah as a whole. Curriculum outlined: Offers a wide selection of planning methods that are accessible to all, Reflects high standards of medical practice, Remains sensitive to cultural ideals and conditions. Provides sufficient information about proper use or possible side effects, Addresses women’s other reproductive health needs, Emphasizes benefits and importance of family planning. Curriculum aims: Have a full range of services and education available in a safe environment. Enhance information and acceptance among communities. Strengthen referral system for follow up and improve long term care. Train local women to be family planning advocates for educators and advocates: Refugee profiles, Staff training, Community education maps, Clientele follow up charts, Outline of supply chain system.