Simplicity in the Gospel - Getting Back to the Basics (revised)

Eleventh Annual BYU Religious Education Student Symposium
Simplicity in the Gospel – Getting back to the Basics

The theme for my essay will be the simplicity of the Gospel and the happiness that lies therein. My focus will be using doctrinal reminders to shed light onto the straightforwardness of the Gospel and the joy that results from these simple truths. As Latter-Day Saints, we are given pure and basic truths, and we tend to think “this is too easy, salvation should be difficult to achieve.” We corrupt these plain and simple truths with details, and we occasionally need reminders to simplify our lives and views on the Gospel. I will compile the advice and commandments given concerning the plain nature of the Gospel and plan of happiness. The paper will be based on the scriptures and words from modern day prophets, seers, and revelators (conference talks, ensign articles, etc.).

(Revised Abstract) Accuracy and predictor variables of listeners’ identification of male speaker body size, age, and ethnicity

While previous research has shown listeners' ability to determine age, ethnicity, and body size, sometimes based only on a single word, no known studies have explored the interaction of these variables in voice recognition.
To determine the factors involved, male speakers varying in ethnicity, height, weight, and age were asked to produce 5 monosyllable English words. These were analyzed for acoustic features (fundamental frequencies, formant frequencies, jitter & shimmer, voice onset time, etc.), then played for listeners asked to identify the four variables based only on that word.
Preliminary results show that listeners are most able to identify ethnicity and least accurate at identifying body size. Successful rating for Caucasian ethnicity was significantly higher than for other ethnicities. These results may have application in forensic linguistics in criminal identification.

HIV/AIDS in Senegal

Senegal’s differences in awareness, legislation, infrastructure, and previous programs have allowed its fight against HIV/AIDS more success than in similar countries. Levels of awareness of practices protective against HIV/AIDS among the general population exceeded 90% in the early ‘90s, with high-publicity educational campaigns. Legislation is also favorable: adultery is illegal in Senegal; in addition, polygyny requires consent (although this law is often not enforced, in favor of tradition) and prostitution was legalized in 1969, allowing for a unique infrastructure providing health care to sex workers.

Established in 1969, the Female Sex Worker Registry (FSWR) has been used since its creation for STD treatment and screening, encouraging registration by providing needed, affordable services; these services effectively outweigh the costs of some social stigma. The aforementioned other programs setting the stage for Senegal’s current fight against HIV/AIDS includes the STD control program administered through the FSWR, which was integrated into primary health care services and included cost recovery for reduced-cost STD treatments, allowing for sustainability.

Acknowledging these foundations in Senegal as part of the rapid response to the emergence of HIV/AIDS in Senegal in the 80s, this paper will examine the success of the fight against HIV/AIDS in Senegal by evaluating its structure and outcome and assessing the basic feasibility of its the most recent experimental project, ISAARV, in other western African countries. The ISAARV (Senegalese Antiretroviral Drug Access Initiative), launched in 1998, is the base of Senegal’s current Strategic Plan Against AIDS (PNLS) and is recognized as a possible framework from which to base other HIV/AIDS interventions in countries like Benin and Cameroon in western Africa.