Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Front Matter

Intuition: The BYU Undergraduate Journal of Psychology

No abstract provided.

Brigham Young University Police And The Campus Community, Martha J. Harris

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Police Departments have become increasingly common on college campuses. In this creative thesis project, I explore Brigham Young University’s Police Department through a journalistic lens and examine what has happened since the department was almost decertified by the Utah Department of Public Safety. I do so by interviewing experts and community members, analyzing public records and data, and synthesizing my findings in a long-form audio story. I begin this paper with brief literature reviews of both crime on college campuses and the podcast medium. I then include the transcript of my podcast. Finally, I discuss my experience during this project …

Ethnic Differences In Lbms Structure, Lisa M. Johnson

Faculty Publications

This poster reports on structural correlations between low back vowel merger/position and front lax vowel lowering/retraction (Low-Back-Merger Shift or LBMS). Based on analyses of word list recordings from two groups of Utah teens (Pacific Islanders and Euro Americans), I argue that the position of BOT affects the front vowels in the two ethnic groups differently: while the F1 of EA front vowels is inversely correlated with BOT F1, PI front vowels appear to be more sensitive to BOT F2. These results highlight the structural complexity of LBMS and the importance of recruiting ethnically diverse groups of participants for such studies.

Postseptic Cognitive Impairment And Expression Of Apoe In Peripheral Blood: The Cognition After Sepsis (Cass) Observational Pilot Study, Samuel M. Brown, Sarah J. Beesley, Chris Stubben, Emily L. Wilson, Angela P. Presson, Colin Grissom, Colin Maguire, Matthew T. Rondina, Ramona O. Hopkins

Faculty Publications

Background: Cognitive impairment after sepsis is an important clinical problem. Determinants of postseptic cognitive impairment are not well understood. We thus undertook a systems biology approach to exploring a possible role for apolipoprotein E (APOE) in postseptic cognitive impairment.

Design: Prospective, observational cohort. Setting: Intermountain Medical Center, a tertiary referral center in Utah.

Patients/Participants: Patients with sepsis admitted to study intensive care units. Interventions: None.

Methods: We obtained peripheral blood for deep sequencing of RNA and followed up survivors at 6 months with a battery of cognitive instruments. We defined cognitive impairment based on the 6-month Hayling test of executive …

Economic Sanctions And The Future Of The North Korean Nuclear Program, Drew Horne

BYU Asian Studies Journal

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), or North Korea, has proven to be a stumping issue for policymaker and academic alike. Dubbed “The Impossible State” by Victor Cha (2012) and the quintessential “Hard Target” by Haggard and Noland (2017), North Korea’s unique mix of autarkic authoritarianism, stubbornly resilient socialist system, and burgeoning nuclear capability, all situated in perhaps the most geopolitically fraught region in the modern world, has led journalists, academics, policymakers, and even thrill-seekers (think Dennis Rodman) to try to understand this enigmatic, what Lankov (2013) calls, “political fossil.” Within the myriad issues presented by North Korea, two …

President Trump’S 2018 Tariffs On Steel, Davis Forster

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

In the aftermath of the Great Recession, much of the United States working and middle class found themselves struggling. The factory, manufacturing, and metalworking jobs they had been doing for decades continued to move overseas, where others could do it cheaper and faster. The US steel industry, in particular, had been contracting steadily since the 1990s with no signs of stopping, despite several previous government revitalization efforts, such as Bush’s steel tariffs in 2002 (York 2018). As the 2016 election approached, America’s middle and working classes were looking for someone who would bring their jobs back.

Table Of Contents

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Christopher I. Beckwith. Empires Of The Silk Road: A History Of Central Eurasia From The Bronze Age To The Present Day. Princeton And Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2011., Constance Wilkinson

Comparative Civilizations Review

Empires of the Silk Road is an ambitious work that fulfills its stated ambitions, fully. Written with boldness and authority, it packs many punches and pulls few. Author Christopher I. Beckwith manages to cover ~5,000-years-worth of Central Eurasian history in this single volume; he sees those events differently than your common or garden-variety Central Eurasian historian/philologist and demonstrates patiently and precisely why he does so in a way that is rich and insightful. Beckwith’s work is both complex and concise. It is provocative and persuasive. It is frequently captivating, often surprising, occasionally perplexing, and sometimes slightly weird 1 (not that …

Mamikon Airapetian. World Civilizations And Economic Cycles: A Comparative Historical Analysis. Part 1. Concepts And Determinants Of World History. Moscow: Editorial Urss Publishers, 2020, Vlad Alalykin-Izvekov

Comparative Civilizations Review

The author of scholarly materials under review is a prominent Russian scholar, Doctor of Economics Prof. Mamikon S. Airapetian, the Leading Researcher of the Department of Macroeconomic Forecasting and Planning of the Financial University (FinU), Moscow, Russia.

In his book entitled World Civilizations and Economic Cycles: A Comparative Historical Analysis (Airapetian, 2020) Dr. Airapetian introduces an original, fundamental paradigm of global history. In order to substantiate and present his ideas, the author turns to a vast array of classical and contemporary scholarly sources as well as introduces a significant number of new concepts, such as, for example, the notions of …

Call For Papers/Abstracts And Announcement Of The 2022 Iscsc Conference The Future Of Civilization(S)

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Reading Rate Gain In A Second Language: The Effect Of Unassisted Repeated Reading And Intensity On Word-Level Reading Measures, Grant Eckstein, Krista Rich, Ethan Lynn

Faculty Publications

Repeated reading is a popular intervention used to help struggling readers by exposing them to the same text multiple times. While the approach has been effective in L1 and some EFL settings, little research has explored its effectiveness compared against a control group or among ESL learners. Our study examined reading rate gains using words per minute and four eye-tracking measures with 46 mid-intermediate ESL learners grouped into three 14-week treatment groups: a control group that read 26 text passages (about two per week) just once through, another that read the same passages twice in each sitting, and a third …

Table Of Contents

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

No abstract provided.

End Matter

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

The Blocks Of History: A Step-By-Step Model For The Evolution Of Civilizations, Shuai Wang

Comparative Civilizations Review

The Pattern Recognition algorithm in Artificial Intelligence has been applied to many fields and proven to be very effective when seeking out patterns that arise from huge amount of raw data. As world history has evolved, it has revealed the shift of hegemony from one civilization to another, for example, from the Spanish Empire to the Kingdom of France, from the Kingdom of France to the British Empire, and from the British Empire to the United States. As historians have shown, the relevant eras are the Spanish Golden Age, the Age of Enlightenment, Pax Britannica, and Pax Americana. Since the …

Ottomanism: A Transition From Byzantinism To Balkanism, Blagoj Conev Phd

Comparative Civilizations Review

Ottomanism as an ideology and way of life is nothing but a pale copy of Byzantinism. Ottomanism is the direct successor of the Eastern Roman Empire (the Byzantine Empire), which is the legal and sole successor to the only Roman Empire. But Ottomanism itself has not been sufficiently studied because much more attention has been paid to the way the Ottoman Empire was governed than to the identities that it sought to define as its own, which were in fact nothing more than a faint copy of Byzantinism before 1204.

Ottomanism can be defined as the imperial identity of the …

Poll Booth Proximity, Tribal Id, And Bilingual Accessibility: Three Provisions To Increase Native American Turnout In The Native American Voting Rights Act Of 2019, Grant Baldwin

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

On March 12, 2019, Senator Udall (D-NM) and Representative Lujan (D-NM- 3) introduced the Native American Voting Rights Act of 2019 (S.739; HR 1694) to both chambers of the United States Congress as a proposed solution to problems concerning low voter turnout among Native Americans and Alaska Natives. (While I recognize there are notable differences between Native American groups and Alaska Native groups, for the remainder of this analysis I use the terms Native, Native American, American Indian, and Alaska Native interchangeably.) If enacted, the bill would provide voting assistance to Native communities by bringing poll booth and voter registration …

Violence Against Refugee Women In The Mena Region, Genevieve Cole, Harriet Huang

Ballard Brief

Refugee women of the Middle East North Africa (MENA) Region are exposed to violence in a variety of ways along their refugee journey. Once within refugee camps, refugee women face high risk spaces for violence, inhibited privacy, as well as unequal gender based power relations between themselves and predominantly male staff. Outside of refugee camps, lack of and improper implementation of cross-border policies allow trafficking networks, authority figures, and other perpetrators of GBV to harm refugee women without fear of repercussions. Victims of GBV can experience a variety of short and long term physical and mental health concerns that can …

Prevalence Of Tuberculosis In Sub-Saharan Africa, Brooke Heaton

Ballard Brief

Tuberculosis is an endemic problem for much of the sub-Saharan African region. High infection rates, caused by high population density and the infrastructure of the living environment, contribute to high infection rates, as well as compromised immune systems from diseases such as HIV/AIDS and health issues like malnutrition . The insufficient infrastructure of medical care and the underutilization of such also contribute to the perpetuation of the disease. Tuberculosis negatively affects the physical health of infected individuals, whose effects can be long-lasting and decrease quality of life. It can also lead to the social rejection of those infected and place …

Lack Of Access To Maternal Healthcare In Sub-Saharan Africa, Sierra Flake

Ballard Brief

Maternal healthcare provides essential care to keep women and newborns healthy during pre-birth visits, delivery, and after birth. In Sub-Saharan Africa, factors inhibiting women from receiving quality maternal care include distance, poverty, quality of maternal healthcare, family dynamics, and cultural beliefs. Lack of access to maternal healthcare has led to severe maternal and neonatal mortality, morbidity, and lack of family planning in Sub-Saharan Africa. Though lack of maternal healthcare is still an issue, significant improvement has been made since 2000 due to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Midwifery and mobile outreach services for family planning are prime examples of practices …

Green Energy Usage In The United States, Chad Hyer

Ballard Brief

Greenhouse gas emissions are the largest contributor to climate change. Green energy solutions prove a promising approach to remedying these emissions, but major economic reliance on fossil fuels, complacent and dismissive attitudes towards climate change, and political polarization and gridlock have encouraged inaction regarding the adoption of green energy in the United States. Such inaction has led to a host of consequences that are detrimental to the United States's environment, economy, and international image. Some efforts by NG0s and for-profit companies have helped remediate such inaction. This brief aims to address the context, contributing factors, and consequences of this inaction …

Lack Of Quality Civic Education In Public Schools In The United States, Sydney Ward

Ballard Brief

A lack of quality civic education affects nearly every K-12 student in the United States. The content and methods of civic education curriculum focus on memorization, lecture, and textbook learning, creating an ineffective learning method for students. Teachers are met with polarized classrooms and communities, creating hesitancy to approach political topics while inequity in funding between states and districts leaves schools without consistent resources or emphasis on civics. legislative policies and nonprofit organizations have dictated some of civic education's most recent standards and practices, though this federal approach has not been universally adopted in local classrooms. As a result of …

Wash Practices In Mozambique, Karsyn Britsch

Ballard Brief

Although there has been improvement over the years, Mozambique severely lacks basic access to WaSH facilities. WaSH is a collective term for water, Sanitation and Hygiene - which refers to access to clean water, improved sanitation facilities, and basic hygiene materials like soap for handwashing. WaSH is an issue in Mozambique due to a declining number of natural water sources, a high amount of contaminated water resources, a lack of proper toileting facilities, and issues with governmental corruption hindering individuals from having access to clean water resources. These hindrances result in water-borne diseases. unsafe drinking water, bacteria ridden agriculture, and …

Xinjiang: Uyghur Nationalism And Prc Economic Ambitions In The Region, Erin Kitchens Wong

BYU Asian Studies Journal

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has maintained a long and strenuous history of relations with its western-most province of Xinjiang (Xīnjiāng, 新疆). Relations with ethnic minorities in the region have been significantly influenced by changes in both domestic and foreign policy. Since the founding of the new Chinese state under Mao Zedong, the Uyghur (Wéiwú’ěr, 维吾尔) population of Xinjiang have seen vicious swings to and from radical domestic policy.

Child Labor In Myanmar, Alyssa Augustus

Ballard Brief

In Myanmar, there are approximately 1.1 million children between the ages of 5 to 17 involved in child labor. Domestic demand, familial poverty, Myanmar's education system, government laws, and filial piety perpetuate the employment of children. Child laborers suffer from physical health issues, are more likely to drop-out of school, and stall the growth of a skilled labor force in Myanmar. Focusing on educating child workers and re-funding the Myanmar Program on the Elimination of Child Labor can eliminate the number of children involved in the employment sector.

Sexual Abuse Of Children In The United States Foster Care System, Abigail Hessing

Ballard Brief

Foster care is a long-running and relatively commonplace system in the US: however, in 2019 there were an estimated 400,000 children in foster care, leaving the system overwhelmed and at its peak capacity. Of those children, it is estimated that up to 40% of them had experienced some type of abuse within the system. Looking at sexual abuse specifically, vulnerable children are often targeted by sexual predators, and when grouped together in a system underequipped to provide adequate protection, foster care children can become easily accessible targets for sexual abuse. Caretakers who are undersupported and households that are overfilled create …

Censorship Sensing: The Capabilities And Implications Of China’S Great Firewall Under Xi Jinping, Emily Quan

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

Totaling over 989 million users at the end of 2020, Chinese Internet users interact with unprecedent amounts of data, communication, and media (Xu 2020). It is a far cry from 1987, when the first email was sent from China to the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. The message in the email, later popularized on QQ desktops, was this: “Across the Great Wall, we can reach every corner of the world” (越过长城，走向世 界, Yuèguò Chángchéng, Zouxiàng Shìjiè) (Internet Archive 2013).

A Wolf In Sheep’S Clothing: Christian Nationalist Belief And Behavior In The United States, Tommy Nanto

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

Christian nationalism is a buzzword in American politics, but insufficiently researched in the intersection of politics, religion, and psychology. In a country where individual Christian practice is declining, why is this strand of nationalism seemingly on the rise? Through an original study, I establish an empirical link between Christian nationalism and racial resentment, finding that racial resentment is the single greatest predictor of Christian nationalist beliefs. I frame Christian nationalist beliefs separately from behavior. I find initial empirical evidence that racial resentment and Republican partisanship predict both belief and behavior, but religiosity does not predict Christian nationalist behavior.

Covid-19 Isolation Mandates Decrease Out-Group Hostility In The Mena Region, Annie Gold

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on the global economic landscape, leading to unprecedented unemployment spikes, supply chain standstills, and small business shutdowns. From a healthcare perspective, national governments have struggled to provide sufficient care and vaccination to citizens, often requiring strict curfews to remedy the lack of available healthcare provisions. The MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region has especially suffered during the pandemic. However, despite the challenging fiscal climate and underprovision of healthcare services, results from the 2021 Arab Barometer survey indicate that citizens’ tolerance of different ethnic and religious groups has increased since the onset …

Party Institutionalization And Public Confidence, Blake West

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

Confidence in America’s government institutions has continually decreased over the past decade. In the year 2020, this growing lack of public confidence in government became apparent as the government failed, in the public’s eye, to solve numerous problems over the course of the year. The 2020 election showcased suspicions and fears directed at the American electoral system and the validity of America’s constitutional institutions. In recent polling data by the Hill, it was revealed that 33% of United States citizens believed that the Presidential Election in 2020 was unfair (The Hill 2021). Within the Republican Party alone, Forbes magazine …