Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Inter-Step Height Variation And Observations Of Fall-Related Events During Stairway Negotiation, Shandon Poulsen

Fall Student Research Symposium 2022

INTRODUCTION: Variation in step height within a stairway could negatively impact safe stairway negotiation by decreasing step height predictability, and consequently, increasing stair users' fall risk. Unfortunately, inter-stairway step height variability is common, particularly in older stairways, but its impact may be lessened by highlighting steps' edges using high-contrast stripes on the top front edge of each step. Such contrast enhancement may draw greater attention to the steps' edges and potentially enhance the precision of the edge's estimated location. PURPOSE: To determine (1) if fall-related events are associated with greater inter-step height variation, and (2) if such fall-related events are …

The Commercialization Of Space, Benjamin Weaver

Fall Student Research Symposium 2022

There have been many advances in space and its research recently. With the increase of rocket launches over the years and a more concrete emphasis in space reasearch. NASA has been planning on replacing once of its most influential satellites, the International Space Station, with Commercial Low-Earth-Orbit Destinations (CLDs) which plan on opening space to a greater commercial market. This study aims to understand whether this transfer to CLDs will be good. Research was conducted using library and internet resources to locate both primary and secondary research related to the International Space Station, CLDs, and the future plans that NASA …

Who Is Helping The Rural Poor?, Kylee Tidwell

Fall Student Research Symposium 2022

In the proposed qualitative study, investigators sought to understand the ways in which impoverished residents in rural areas with few nonprofits meet their basic needs (e.g., hunger, housing, utilities). The findings of the proposed study will identify potential social service gaps in rural areas, while also drawing attention to non-traditional organizations who are providing assistance outside of their specific missions.

Black Scholes Delta Hedge In Imperfect Markets, Mitchell Pound

Fall Student Research Symposium 2022

The Black-Scholes model for pricing European call options relies on continuous delta hedging with prices distributed log-normally with a known, constant volatility. This only works in a perfect, "frictionless" market. We simulate cumulative returns for a market maker using a discrete delta hedge with different time intervals between rebalancing the portfolio. A Julia package is developed by the authors to achieve this goal, which will be open source for the benefit of the public. Using the Julia package, we estimated the distribution of cumulative returns for a delta hedged portfolio by Monte Carlo analysis. This is done using both a …

False Confessions In The American Justice System, Emily Pruden

Fall Student Research Symposium 2022

False confessions occur when someone confesses to a crime they did not commit. These confessions can be voluntary, coerced-compliant, or coerced-internalized. This research focuses on the latter two types of false confessions. RESEARCH QUESTION: What causes false confessions, and what can be done to reduce their frequency and impact on court cases? METHODS: Research was conducted by finding, analyzing, and synthesizing primary and secondary sources. Sources were gathered from research journals and credible news sources. RESULTS: False confessions are detrimental not only to the lives of individuals, but also to our society. False confessions are frequently caused by faulty interrogation …

Please, Sir, Can We Have More? Suggestions For Teaching Creative Writing In Secondary Education, Amy Shaw

Fall Student Research Symposium 2022

The instruction of creative writing encourages students to engage in creative thinking. This leads to students using a variety of approaches to solve problems, analyze multiple viewpoints, adapt ideas, and arrive to new solutions. The purpose of this research is to identify ways educators can improve the incorporation and use of creative writing for secondary aged students. I surveyed students enrolled in creative writing class at USU about their previous school writing as well as interviewed former secondary school teachers about their experiences with creative writing in secondary school. In this study, I dive into some of the different lessons …

Disability Communication And How Society Needs To Be More Inclusive, Olivia Colton

Fall Student Research Symposium 2022

Historically people with disabilities have been discriminated against and oppressed by the dominant culture of "normal" people. During this project, I wanted to look more into how people with disabilities have been treated by society, are currently being treated in today's society, and how society needs to/should change to become more inclusive. For this project, my research was done using both library and internet sources to find both primary and secondary research. With this research, I was able to find and review both studies of people with disabilities and personal accounts and stories. After evaluating the sources I found that …

What Works In Reskilling?, Brenden Bodily

Fall Student Research Symposium 2022

Economies and technologies shift rapidly, which at times leaves workers behind with skills that are no longer as relevant as they used to be. Employers may also have difficulty finding employees who have the skills needed to take advantage of these new technologies. The result is a skills gap, meaning that there are lots of job openings in specialized fields and plenty of people looking for work, but they are unable to find a job because they do not have the skills to work in industries that are hiring. For example, the IDC estimates that the global shortage of web …

The Correlation Between Social Media And Body Image In Adolescent Girls, Molly Plummer

Fall Student Research Symposium 2022

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bHIFEXRrek

Love And Support Is All They Need!, Krysten Yoho

Fall Student Research Symposium 2022

What skills are needed to teach students with disabilities? Well, because I am going into the special education field for a career, I wanted to find some examples of skills to help me further expand my knowledge of needed skills. In my literature review, I was looking online at sources of previous special educators and their personal experiences and the skills they used in a special education classroom. After evaluating these sources, I found the most common and necessary skills needed to teach students that have disabilities are, love and unconditional support. Though there are many other skills that are …

Wild/Feral Horses: The Great Debate Between Freedom And Capturing, Jolee Lamoreaux

Fall Student Research Symposium 2022

Wild Horses have been around for as long as anyone can remember. However, there has been a great debate that these horses are harmful to the environment and they need to be taken care of either by rehoming or slaughtering. This study aims to determine why people think these horses are harmful and what has been done to try and solve the issue. I conducted my research mostly by researching keywords and evaluating my search results to examine credible sources. The three major claims that I wanted to make sure I addressed in my paper were the history and background …

The Many Cause Of Food Inflation, Jade Bird

Fall Student Research Symposium 2022

My research investigates the problems with inflation today, starting with questions about what is causing inflation in the first place and how this will affect the economy. What made me first question why inflation is rising was simply noticing the continuous rise in ice cream prices one of my favorite treats. I did research through the internet and library resources finding primary and secondary research. I found that Inflation has been affected by multiple conflicts or problems over the past years, like less production and struggles in commerce, but the biggest one currently is labor shortages. Some other events causing …

Schoolyard Activity Of Children At Risk For Communication And/Or Language Delays, Mason Widdison

Fall Student Research Symposium 2022

INTRODUCTION Low parental education, hearing loss, premature birth, and several developmental disorders put children at risk for communication and/or language delays, which adversely affect social development and academic readiness. Our purpose was to characterize the outdoor free-play behaviors of children who are at risk of such delays to ultimately inform changes to the schoolyard environment which promote physical activity, social interaction, and language development. METHODS Children (N=16) in preschool or kindergarten who are at risk for communication and/or language delays were observed for a single day, which included one or two 30-minute recess periods, depending on whether the child attended …

Childhood Sexual Abuse And Its Lasting Effects, Tessa Conrad

Fall Student Research Symposium 2022

According to the CDC, one in every six boys and one in every four girls are sexually assaulted before they are eighteen. While most everyone agrees that childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is extremely harmful and can really disrupt a child's development, what they don't realize is how long the effects can last. For many survivors, they struggle with the effects for most of their lives. Just as there is a wide range for what actions are sexual abuse, there is even wider range for the effects and challenges that are left behind after the incident. These challenges include mental, emotional, …

Developing And Piloting An Adventure-Oriented Confidence-Building Curriculum For Youth, Catherine Hansen, Melanie Dabb, Christina Pay, Cindy Jenkins, Eva Timothy, Andrea Schmutz, Lisa Schainker

Outcomes and Impact Quarterly

Youth are bombarded with a myriad of life stressors that impacts their self-esteem and ability to be resilient. Young people from diverse backgrounds across the state of Utah participated in a three-day camp structured around a newly developed confidence-building curriculum. Practical application and high-adventure activities reinforced the concepts taught in the curriculum.

Indigenous Citizens And Black Republicans: Continuities And Evolutions Of Subalterns’ Political Visions And Repertoires In Post-Independence Colombia And Mexico, James Sanders

History Faculty Publications

This essay focuses on how Indigenous peoples in Colombia and Mexico sought to create a distinct politics, in which they could protect their colonial identities and local customs, within the new independent and republican nation-states of the Americas. Indigenous communities succeed in combining universal republican citizenship and particular colonial identities, maintaining more of a connection with the past, but nevertheless creating innovative solutions to adapt to the republican present. In contrast, popular African-Colombian actors eagerly embraced the possibilities of citizenship in new republican nation states, seeking to abandon a colonial identity associated with slavery. Both Afro-Colombians and Indígenas adapted traditional …

The Evolution Of Banned Books Week, Olivia Samuels

Fall Student Research Symposium 2022

Give Us Back Our Books! An Analysis of Banned Books Week and Why 2022 Is Different Although many will argue that Banned Books Week is simply another event to spread awareness that occurs in a similar manner every year, this year seems to stand out. Throughout this research I strove to provide an overview of Banned Books Week and how it has arguably evolved up to this point. This argument is framed by analysis of texts surrounding this event that serve as secondary sources for its evolution. I also utilized interviews with professionals in the English field because they provide …

Understanding The Barriers To Carbon Farming On Private Lands, Harrison Naftel

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Climate change caused by manmade greenhouse gas emissions is one of the most important challenges facing society today. Through effective management for carbon sequestration private agricultural lands could become an important part of the solution to this problem. This paper explores the many different methods that farmers, ranchers, and landowners could use to implement sequestration on their land and examines the barriers to further participation in these projects by reviewing the challenges in the world’s current carbon offset markets and offering possible solutions.

Misinformation, Fact Checking, And Immigration Voting Preferences, Katherine Van Shaar

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Although misinformation is rampant in social media and society, there is not an extensive literature exploring the impact of misinformation and fact checks on people’s political preferences relating to immigration policies in the US. The purpose of this study is to examine the impacts of misinformation and fact-checking on people’s policy preferences about immigration. Using an experimental survey and a between-subject approach, we observe how anti-immigration politician’s statements (ranging from false to partially true) impact participants’ perceptions of hot-topic immigration issues with and without fact checks. We also study the correlation between people’s political affiliation and the impact of politicians’ …

A Welfare Comparison Of Historical Cost And Fair Value Accounting Regimes, Palmer Edholm

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

With ongoing controversy concerning fair value and historical cost accounting, existing accounting theory is focused on intra-firm decision making and is thus deficient in addressing the issue of maximizing social welfare. I propose models of historical cost and fair value accounting regimes which are embedded in models of monopoly and oligopoly. This allows for social welfare implications. I find that historical cost results in greater expected profits for both monopolists and oligopolists. However, if the market is elastic enough, a fair value regimes is welfare enhancing. Whereas, if the market is inelastic enough, historical cost is welfare enhancing.

The Monster Theory Of Relativity: Triggering Supernatural Monsters, Maggie Mercil

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Current monster scholarship examines monstrous bodies, how they represent our cultural fears, anxieties, or forbidden desires, and how monsters can guard, break, or blur the boundaries between us and Other. While examining the monsters themselves can provide a better understanding of ourselves and our culture, it is just as important to consider the conditions in which these monsters were able to manifest in the first place. This paper argues that it is through our own actions, whether intentional or not, that we effectively “trigger” the monsters into our narratives. There are three categories of “triggers” that this paper will explore: …

The Role Of Dysfunctional Beliefs And Attitudes About Sleep (Dbas), Rumination, Psychological Inflexibility, And Insomnia Among College Students, Guadalupe G. San Miguel

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of the study was to understand additional variables that play a role between insomnia and the inability to stay present with internal feelings/emotions (i.e., psychological inflexibility) among college students. These variables that were predicted to help explain this relationship include dysfunctional sleep-related cognitions and insomnia rumination. To do this, college students were surveyed online at the start of the study and one month later. In addition, to be included in the study they must have been enrolled in a 2- or 4-year university, have access to the internet, and not diagnosed with another sleep disorder. Participants (n …

Validation And Exploration Of The Multidimensional Psychological Flexibility Inventory With A Sample Of Adolescents, John Barr

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The current study attempted to further psychological flexibility literature by validating the Multidimensional Psychological Flexibility Inventory (MPFI) with a sample of adolescents (ages 16 and 17). This analysis also examined how the MPFI associates with other indicators of psychological flexibility, distress (depression, anxiety, somatic symptom severity and related distress, difficulties in emotion regulation) and well-being (subjective happiness, life satisfaction, self-compassion, emotional approach coping).

Results from this study suggested that psychological inflexibility as measured by the MPFI positively associated with a number of measures of distress, but generally did not inversely correlate with measures of well-being in a theoretically-consistent manner, which …

Bipartisn Bills From Caucus Collaboration: Solutions To Polarized Or Non-Polarized Issues?, Kaitlin Holden

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This paper investigates whether caucus members pursue bipartisan collaboration on bills related to polarized or non-polarized policy issues. The aim is to determine whether caucuses may be used to pursue bipartisan solutions to major policy issues in an increasingly polarized political environment. I model the effect that the presence of a women’s caucus has on bipartisan collaboration in increasingly polarized legislatures, depending on whether a bill’s title contains words related to polarized issues and its overall sentiment. Findings indicate that bipartisan women may be more likely to collaborate on polarized bills then non-polarized bills in legislatures with a women’s caucus …

Effects Of Obesity On Knee Extensor Structure, Function, And Gait: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Michael N. Vakula

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Obesity is a common, costly, and critical disease that increases the risk of disability and premature death. Most commonly, obesity is caused by an increased consumption of energy dense foods and decreased time spent being physically active. The greater weight with obesity interrupts normal musculoskeletal function which can lead to physical adaptations such as decreased lower-extremity muscle strength and abnormal walking patterns, both of which are among top risk factors for falls in older individuals. However, the effects of obesity on walking and lower-extremity muscle strength have not previously been examined by incorporating the results of all existing studies in …

Together, Our Voices Will Strengthen The Weaving: Using Autoethnography And Narrative Inquiry To Indigenize Sense Of Belonging In Higher Education, Devon S. Isaacs

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Native American students in higher education are often asked to find a sense of belonging in places and spaces that do not reflect their cultures or worldviews. This can lead to isolation and a feeling of having to choose between themselves and their identities as Indigenous peoples. This contributes to poorer mental health, loss of well-being, and decreased academic success. The purpose of this study was to ask seven Native American participants how they defined sense of belonging from their own worldviews. Participants were also asked about spaces and places in higher education that helped or did not help them …

Preference Reversals In Delay Of Gratification, Jeremy M. Haynes

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Intertemporal choices are decisions between outcomes occurring at different times. For example, people may choose to quit smoking cigarettes for the delayed health-related benefits associated with abstention, or they may continue to smoke for the immediate gratification associated with smoking now. Importantly, patterns of intertemporal choices among people are associated with a number of maladaptive behaviors (e.g., cigarette smoking). In the present set of studies, I examine a facet of intertemporal choice: preference reversals. Although there are multiple forms of preference reversal, I focus on those characterized by shifts in preference from a larger-later reward to a smaller-immediate reward after …

The Strategy Of Metallgesellschaft: A Sophisticated Catallactic Analysis, Janette Goodridge

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In the fall of 1993, German company Metallgesellschaft, Ag experienced a loss of over one billion dollars. This loss resulted from its hedging strategy, and was one of the largest losses of its kind at the time. Naturally this raised interest regarding what caused these huge losses, and called into question the events and circumstances surrounding and leading up to this disaster. There are two basic schools of thought regarding Metallgesellschaft's strategy. The first is that it was a good strategy and had the potential to be successful and profitable. The other is that its strategy was risky and speculative. …

Examining Geographic Variations In Disaster Preparedness Across The United States And Puerto Rico, Forest Kane Cook

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Disaster events, such as floods, wildfires, and earthquakes increasingly cause damage to livelihoods, the economy, and the environment. Preparing for these events to occur is an important part of increasing resilience, however studies have found that households are generally not prepared for these events to happen. When it comes to identifying where these households are, there is typically no related tool or series of maps that can indicate location. In order to fill this gap, we use public survey data from FEMA to create estimates of household preparedness across a number of actions, such as developing an evacuation plan or …

Shame-Proneness And Sexual Satisfaction Among Conservatively Religious Sexual Minorities, Sydney A. Sorrell

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study examined how various aspects of religiousness and sexuality were related to sexual satisfaction among conservatively religious sexual minorities and explored whether dispositional proneness to feeling shame changed these relationships. Analysis of survey data from 315 current and former members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints revealed numerous factors that were related to sexual satisfaction. Sexual minorities who attended more religious services and who were more religiously committed were less sexually satisfied. This may be a result of the conflict a religious sexual minority individual experiences when engaging in same-sex sexual behavior due to stigmatizing religious …