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All Master's Theses

Theses/Dissertations

2018

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Talking About How: Variation In The Use Of How And Its Definition, Maili Jonas Jan 2018

Talking About How: Variation In The Use Of How And Its Definition, Maili Jonas

All Master's Theses

This study identified the patterns that represent the unconventional ways that students used how in academic essays, determined the frequency of each pattern, and for the sake of comparison, searched for those patterns in the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), in both the spoken and academic written registers. The results showed that a sample of first-year students at Central Washington University (CWU) used the complementizer how as that in their essays, a usage more common in spoken registers. However, there was some evidence of how as that in academic COCA searches, showing that the usage may be in the …

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Coloration, Camouflage, And Sexual Dichromatism In The Northern Pacific Rattlesnake (Crotalus Oreganus), Jefferson Brooks Jan 2018

Coloration, Camouflage, And Sexual Dichromatism In The Northern Pacific Rattlesnake (Crotalus Oreganus), Jefferson Brooks

All Master's Theses

In some viperid snakes, natural selection has shaped coloration and patterning to match local habitats, and for males to show greater warning coloration than females due to a less sedentary lifestyle. The Northern Pacific Rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus) is likely the most abundant ambush predator in eastern Washington, yet little is known about its color variation, how color patterns interact with their habitats, and if male and female snakes show differences in patterning or color. To explore how snake color might interact with the colors of their environment, I used standardized digital photography to record both snake and substrate coloration. …

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Data Visualization And Classification Of Artificially Created Images, Dmytro Dovhalets Jan 2018

Data Visualization And Classification Of Artificially Created Images, Dmytro Dovhalets

All Master's Theses

Visualization of multidimensional data is a long-standing challenge in machine learning and knowledge discovery. A problem arises as soon as 4-dimensions are introduced since we live in a 3-dimensional world. There are methods out there which can visualize multidimensional data, but loss of information and clutter are still a problem. General Line Coordinates (GLC) can losslessly project n-dimensional data in 2- dimensions. A new method is introduced based on GLC called GLC-L. This new method can do interactive visualization, dimension reduction, and supervised learning. One of the applications of GLC-L is transformation of vector data into image data. This novel …

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Life In The Dirt: Factors Influencing The Behavior And Distribution Of Spea Intermontana In Eastern Washington State, Corey Brumbaugh Jan 2018

Life In The Dirt: Factors Influencing The Behavior And Distribution Of Spea Intermontana In Eastern Washington State, Corey Brumbaugh

All Master's Theses

I divided my thesis into two major studies focusing on the Great Basin Spadefoot Toad, Spea intermontana, at the Beverley Dunes (Beverley, WA). The first study explored the effects of temperature and water level on the rate of metamorphosis. We gathered data on rates of development, survival, body mass, snout-vent length, and hind leg length of metamorphs under 4 treatments: 20C x High Water, 30C x High Water, 20C x Water Loss, and 30C x Water Loss. These data show that temperature has a stronger effect on the overall rate of metamorphosis of Great Basin Spadefoot Toads. The second …

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Geographic Classification Of Wines Using Their Elemental And Water Isotopic Composition; Special Emphasis On Washington State, Usa, Shirley Orellana Jan 2018

Geographic Classification Of Wines Using Their Elemental And Water Isotopic Composition; Special Emphasis On Washington State, Usa, Shirley Orellana

All Master's Theses

The frequency and scope of wine fraud cases have increased worldwide, leaving wineries vulnerable to damage in reputation and potential lost revenue. In the United States of America, Washington State (WA) is the second-largest premium wine producer where wine fraud could have a significant impact on the industry. In an effort to reduce this risk, advanced analytical instrumentation and statistics were employed to chemically characterize, and thus geographically classify, 118 wines from 4 major wine producing regions located on 3 continents, including 64 wines from WA. Focus was on the analysis of inorganic and chemically stable tracers that are conserved …

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Attitudes Toward Anonymous Public Nudes, Marianna Wendt Jan 2018

Attitudes Toward Anonymous Public Nudes, Marianna Wendt

All Master's Theses

While technologically-mediated expressions of sexuality have been previously studied, there is very little research regarding anonymous public nudes (APNs). APNs are nude photographs which are taken or cropped so as not to include the face or other identifying characteristics, and posted on the Internet. This differs from sexting in that the photographs are meant to be seen by an audience of strangers online, rather than one or a few trusted individuals. The purpose of this study was to examine perceptions of APNs. Sixty-seven male and 160 female students over the age of 18 were recruited from Central Washington University to …

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Comparisons Of Captive Gibbons’ (Hylobatidae) Intrapair Behaviors Indicative Of The Pair Bond, Samantha Jones Jan 2018

Comparisons Of Captive Gibbons’ (Hylobatidae) Intrapair Behaviors Indicative Of The Pair Bond, Samantha Jones

All Master's Theses

I aimed to better understand captive gibbons’ pair bonds by studying behaviors that may indicate the relationship’s quality. I completed this research at The Gibbon Conservation Center (GCC) in Santa Clarita, California and observed four species: eastern hoolock (Hoolock leuconedys), Javan (Hylobates moloch), and pileated (Hylobates pileatus) gibbons; and a siamang (Symphalangus syndactylus). I conducted research from 19 April- 29 May 2017 using scan and focal animal sampling. I focused on nine pairs, and recorded gibbons’ grooming bouts, affiliative/agonistic/play behaviors, mating, behavioral synchrony, locomotion, and proximity. Previous researchers focused on duetting in …

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Effects Of Pre-Exercise Ice Slurry Ingestion On Physiological And Perceptual Measures In Athletes With Spinal Cord Injuries, Alexis Moore, Kelly Pritchett, Robert Pritchett, Elizabeth Broad Jan 2018

Effects Of Pre-Exercise Ice Slurry Ingestion On Physiological And Perceptual Measures In Athletes With Spinal Cord Injuries, Alexis Moore, Kelly Pritchett, Robert Pritchett, Elizabeth Broad

All Master's Theses

Athletes with spinal cord injuries (SCI) have an impaired ability to thermoregulate during exercise, leading to an increased core temperature (Tcore) due to a decrease in sweat response. Elevated core temperature may result in premature onset of fatigue and decreased athletic performance. Therefore, precooling techniques that decrease Tcore before exercise may increase the storage capacity for metabolic heat production, thereby improving exercise performance. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of pre-exercise ice slurry ingestion as a precooling method in elite athletes with SCI during a match simulation. Employing a field-based, counterbalanced-design, subjects were …

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Determination Of The Oxidative Capacity Of Soot Toward Gsh And Characterization Of Soot Physicochemical Properties, Kaylee Troth Jan 2018

Determination Of The Oxidative Capacity Of Soot Toward Gsh And Characterization Of Soot Physicochemical Properties, Kaylee Troth

All Master's Theses

Fine atmospheric particulate matter (PM2.5) emitted during the combustion of fossil and biomass fuels is known to adversely affect human health. While the underlying mechanisms are thought to be driven by the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), specific particle characteristics responsible for this detrimental effect are not well understood. In this research, the quantitative determination of the biologically relevant antioxidant, glutathione (GSH), was optimized for use as an indicator of oxidative stress to shed light on relevant particle characteristics. This was accomplished via fluorescent spectroscopy for GSH determination by way of reaction with o-phthalaldehyde (OPA), a …

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Tsunami Excitation Estimation From Real-Time Gnss, Catherine Jeffries Jan 2018

Tsunami Excitation Estimation From Real-Time Gnss, Catherine Jeffries

All Master's Theses

Tsunami early warning systems currently comprise modeling of observations from the global seismic network, deep-ocean DART buoys, and a global distribution of tide gauges. While these tools work well for tsunamis traveling teleseismic distances, saturation of seismic magnitude estimation in the near field can result in significant underestimation of tsunami excitation for local warning (Wang et al., 2012). Moreover, DART buoy and tide gauge observations cannot be used to rectify the underestimation in the available time, typically 10-20 minutes, before local runup occurs. Real-time GNSS measurements of coseismic offsets may be used to estimate finite faulting within 1-2 minutes and, …

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Your Thoughts Projected: Television Comedies, Economic Content, And American Economic Attitudes, 1949-1990, Cody J. Lolos Jan 2018

Your Thoughts Projected: Television Comedies, Economic Content, And American Economic Attitudes, 1949-1990, Cody J. Lolos

All Master's Theses

This study analyzes the relationship between American television audiences and television comedies in the latter half of the twentieth century. The driving questions are how did television comedies depict economic content and how was that content related to American audiences' economic perceptions? By analyzing eight television comedy programs, this study asserts that not only did television comedies contain a substantial amount of economic content, including consumption, thrift, employment, and other significant and relevant economic factors, but the economic content found in television comedies accurately reflected Americans' economic attitudes over time. As a result, television comedies' economic content further correlated with …

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Hypertension Prevalence Trends Among Mexican-Americans: Nhanes 1999-2016, Sandra S. Valencia Jan 2018

Hypertension Prevalence Trends Among Mexican-Americans: Nhanes 1999-2016, Sandra S. Valencia

All Master's Theses

Hypertension is a grave health issue affecting millions of adults in the United States (US). Uncontrolled hypertension can lead to cardiovascular disease, including stroke, heart attack, and heart failure. Current National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2015-2016 data reports that 29% of US adults above the age of 18 have hypertension. The objective of this project was to determine current and past hypertension prevalence trends among Mexican Americans (MAs) and non-Hispanic whites (NH-Whites) using NHANES data from 1999 to 2016, as well as the current American Heart Association (AHA) and American College of Cardiology (ACC) blood pressure guidelines of …

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Stream Water And Soil Water Chemistry After The Table Mountain Wildfire, Washington, Usa, Vincent J. Roccanova Jan 2018

Stream Water And Soil Water Chemistry After The Table Mountain Wildfire, Washington, Usa, Vincent J. Roccanova

All Master's Theses

Analyses of major and trace elements, major ions, and nutrient concentrations were made to investigate how stream water and soil water chemistry changed over 16 months following the Table Mountain wildfire. Sites with different burn severity were also compared. The fire occurred in 2012 in Kittitas County, north of Ellensburg, Washington. Samples were collected at severely burned, moderately burned, and unburned field sites from within and adjacent to the wildfire perimeter. Total nitrogen concentrations increased in the second year after the fire in both the severely and moderately burned sites. In contrast, total phosphorus was variable at all three sites …

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Rock Features Of The Upper Klamath Basin: An Integrated Approach To Identification, Roman Jakien Jan 2018

Rock Features Of The Upper Klamath Basin: An Integrated Approach To Identification, Roman Jakien

All Master's Theses

Rock features are human-made rock structures, often created by native peoples in the past and currently recorded as archaeological sites. In the Upper Klamath Basin of Oregon/California, these features are often difficult to identify. As a result, some features are left unrecorded and unprotected from land management activities. To help protect these sites, a rock feature recordation system was developed, formatted to help archaeologists identify, classify, determine an origin, and assign a general age to rock features discovered in the field. This guide includes a series of dichotomous keys and recordation forms, supplemented with original illustrations and contextual data gathered …

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Variation In Past Counterfactual Constructions, Victoria Zencak Jan 2018

Variation In Past Counterfactual Constructions, Victoria Zencak

All Master's Theses

The two past counterfactual constructions under investigation in this study are the past counterfactual conditional (Type 3) and the past counterfactual wish complement clause (PCWCC). Each of these has both a standard and variant form. The verb in the standard forms is had + past participle; the verb in the variant forms is would have + past participle. Although reference books and textbooks acknowledge variant forms, generally describing them as informal or conversational, they have not received serious scrutiny. It was the goal of this study to see whether variant forms are currently common in usage and to understand more …

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Spatial And Temporal Characterization Of The Petrified Springs Fault, Central Walker Lane, Nevada: Documenting Middle Miocene Dextral Slip, Andrew Hoxey Jan 2018

Spatial And Temporal Characterization Of The Petrified Springs Fault, Central Walker Lane, Nevada: Documenting Middle Miocene Dextral Slip, Andrew Hoxey

All Master's Theses

The Central Walker Lane, NV is an active dextral shear zone superimposed on the western boundary of the Basin and Range extensional province. Approximately 25% of dextral shear along the Pacific-North American plate boundary accommodated in the Walker Lane, a NW-striking, intracontinental dextral fault system in eastern California- western Nevada. In the Central Walker Lane, shear is accommodated on five major NW- striking faults, one of which is the Petrified Springs fault, with poorly constrained slip magnitudes, slip rates, and initiation ages. We completed new detailed geologic mapping, combined with structural studies, and 40Ar/39Ar geochronology document offset …

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A Zooarchaeological Analysis Of Hole-In-The-Wall Canyon (45kt12) And French Rapids (45kt13) Sites: Ginkgo State Park, Washington, Matt Johnson Jan 2018

A Zooarchaeological Analysis Of Hole-In-The-Wall Canyon (45kt12) And French Rapids (45kt13) Sites: Ginkgo State Park, Washington, Matt Johnson

All Master's Theses

A taxonomic and taphonomic faunal analysis was completed for the entire zooarchaeological collection (n=5,354) for two prehistoric archaeological housepit sites, Hole-in-the-Wall Canyon (45KT12) and French Rapids (45KT13). Both sites are located near Vantage, Washington, within the inundated area of the Wanapum Reservoir. Work focused on compiling site records, projectile point analysis, and radiocarbon dating in order to study site chronology, as well as the faunal analysis itself. Site 45KT12 includes at least two occupations; one occurring around 2000 cal B.P., and one beginning around 1100 cal B.P. and continuing at least through 650 cal B.P. A single analytical unit was …

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Comparing Mothers’ And Fathers’ Helicopter Parenting As Predictors Of Self-Efficacy Among Emerging Adults In College, Jineui Kim Jan 2018

Comparing Mothers’ And Fathers’ Helicopter Parenting As Predictors Of Self-Efficacy Among Emerging Adults In College, Jineui Kim

All Master's Theses

This study examined the association between helicopter parenting and self-efficacy among emerging adults in college. While some existing research revealed that emerging adults could benefit from helicopter parenting, previous studies identified a wide range of negative outcomes of helicopter parenting on emerging adult’s psychological well-being. Also, previous research has shown that mothers and fathers play different roles in parenting. This study adds to understanding of this phenomenon by comparing the salience of mothers’ and fathers’ helicopter parenting as a predictor of self-efficacy among emerging adults in college. Data were collected from 175 participants between the ages of 18-24 by using …

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Sign Modulation By Chimpanzees To Produce Interrogatives, Kailie Dombrausky Jan 2018

Sign Modulation By Chimpanzees To Produce Interrogatives, Kailie Dombrausky

All Master's Theses

Native signers of American Sign Language produce interrogatives by holding signs for an extended duration while employing the questioning look. The questioning look is defined as raised eyebrows, a tilted head, and direct eye contact maintained for the duration of the utterance. Chimpanzees who communicate using signs have demonstrated modulation of signs including held sign, raised brow, and eye gaze. The present study used archived video data to compare the duration of signs when the chimpanzees did or did not employ the questioning look. In both single and multi-sign utterances, the chimpanzees held their signs for a mean of 0.6 …

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Water Demand, Adaptive Capacity, And Drought: An Analysis Of The Upper Klamath Basin, Oregon And California, Patricia Snyder Jan 2018

Water Demand, Adaptive Capacity, And Drought: An Analysis Of The Upper Klamath Basin, Oregon And California, Patricia Snyder

All Master's Theses

Freshwater demand and scarcity issues are an issue of global concern, in particular for the American West as global climate models suggest precipitation regime changes and an increase of drought. This research conducts a case-study of the Upper Klamath Basin, located in south-central Oregon and northern California, a microcosm of the arid and semi-arid American West that experienced an economically, socially, and ecologically impactful drought in the early 2000s. Through a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods this research: 1) identifies key stakeholders, their goals and key policies; 2) conducts an adaptive capacity assessment of water management within the basin; …

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Variability In The Debitage Of The Early Holocene Lithic Assemblages Of The Sanders (45kt315) Site, Alexis Dyson Jan 2018

Variability In The Debitage Of The Early Holocene Lithic Assemblages Of The Sanders (45kt315) Site, Alexis Dyson

All Master's Theses

This thesis applies an analytic strategy based on a Darwinian evolutionary theoretical framework to measure variation in the cost and performance of stone tool manufacture and use at the Sanders (45KT315) site over time. Using this model, this thesis identified the selective conditions present in the technological organization of stone tool assemblages at the Sanders site. These conditions were identified by measuring variability in the debitage using mutually exclusive paradigmatic classifications. The classifications measure technological, functional, and raw tool stone material property dimensions. This thesis identifies the extent that debitage could be used to address variability between the Lower Lithic …

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Criminological Self-Efficacy: Increased Or Hindered From Crime Tv Shows, Dorothy Moore Jan 2018

Criminological Self-Efficacy: Increased Or Hindered From Crime Tv Shows, Dorothy Moore

All Master's Theses

There is an age-old question that surrounds whether or not media have an effect on its viewers. There is substantial evidence that supports the claim that violent content in media may increase relational, physical, and/or overall aggression levels. The aim of the current study is to explore the relationship between several factors that may be related to one’s belief in one’s ability (self-efficacy) to commit and get away with murder. These factors are the amount of crime TV a person watches, aggressive tendency, recklessness tendency, and potential protective factors. It is hypothesized that the more crime TV watched, the higher …

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Confidence In Academic Testing: The Effect Of Induced Checking And Anxiety On University Students' Emotional Responses To, And Performance In, Academic Challenge, Elijah Bruner Jan 2018

Confidence In Academic Testing: The Effect Of Induced Checking And Anxiety On University Students' Emotional Responses To, And Performance In, Academic Challenge, Elijah Bruner

All Master's Theses

Academic tests such as the American College Testing (ACT), Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), and National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) have been used to assess academic aptitude. Research suggests that both test anxiety and test emotions (positive and negative) influence academic performance. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of test anxiety and uncertainty (i.e., re-checking items) on performance and test emotions. It was hypothesized that induced checking and participant anxiety would negatively predict performance and positive testing emotions, and positively predict negative testing emotions. It was also hypothesized that induced checking and anxiety would interact, with …

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Geomorphic Consequences Of Hydroelectricity And Transportation Development Near Celilo Falls, Lower Mid-Columbia River, Washington, Noah I. Oliver Jan 2018

Geomorphic Consequences Of Hydroelectricity And Transportation Development Near Celilo Falls, Lower Mid-Columbia River, Washington, Noah I. Oliver

All Master's Theses

Along the Columbia River, hundreds of miles of transportation infrastructure and over sixty hydroelectric dams have been constructed. This altered a rich cultural landscape with evidence of 10,000 years of continuous occupation. Researchers have attempted to understand the impacts of anthropogenic factors on the Columbia River, focusing on the riverine environment. However, the effect of transportation and hydroelectricity developments to eolian landforms on the floodplains and adjoining slopes have not been studied. Focusing on 2,800 acres near Celilo Falls, this study 1) establishes a baseline condition of eolian landforms from 1805 to 1900; 2) conducts an air photo increment analysis …

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Ecological Effects Of Overwater Structures On Subtidal Kelp, Northern Puget Sound, Washington, E. Jhanek Szypulski Jan 2018

Ecological Effects Of Overwater Structures On Subtidal Kelp, Northern Puget Sound, Washington, E. Jhanek Szypulski

All Master's Theses

There are more than 9,000 overwater structures in the Puget Sound casting an estimated 9 km2 of anthropogenic created shade to the seafloor. Subtidal kelp, over 20 species in total, are abundant in the Sound but little data exists on how they are impacted by these overwater structures. The purpose of this research is to quantify various overwater structures’ impacts on the productivity and distribution of subtidal kelp beds and to create a subtidal kelp monitoring protocol. Three sets of floating docks and paired controls were sampled twice during the summer of 2017 for subtidal kelp distribution, biomass, photosynthetically …

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An Examination Of The In-Group Hypothesis In Facial Expression Inferences Using American And Indian Samples, Scott Lehrman Jan 2018

An Examination Of The In-Group Hypothesis In Facial Expression Inferences Using American And Indian Samples, Scott Lehrman

All Master's Theses

The relationship between culture and evaluations of facial expressions were assessed using American and Indian participants. Based on Ekman (1972) and others’ (cf. Elfenbein & Ambady, 2002) research that supports general cross-cultural agreement of facial expression evaluation, it was hypothesized that participants will be able to accurately evaluate a smiling face as happy and a scowling face as angry and that American participants would be more accurate overall due to the In-Group Hypothesis (Elfenbein & Ambady, 2002). Results showed that both cultures were able to accurately assess both facial expressions, although American participants had stronger evaluations across personality traits.

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Two Post-Glacial Sagebrush Steppe Fire Records At The Wildland-Urban Interface, Eastern Cascades, Washington, Dusty Pilkington Jan 2018

Two Post-Glacial Sagebrush Steppe Fire Records At The Wildland-Urban Interface, Eastern Cascades, Washington, Dusty Pilkington

All Master's Theses

Recent increases in large fires in the rapidly developing wildland-urban interface (WUI) areas of central Washington, where development intermixes with wildland fuels, contribute to federal firefighting costs exceeding of $1 billion annually. In addition, cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) invasion and anthropogenic-caused warming shorten fire return intervals while lengthening fire seasons. These climatic, ecological, economic, and social factors combine with fuel accumulation resulting from historic fire suppression to threaten lives and property in the WUI. To plan for safe growth in WUI areas, long-term fire histories are needed to expand understanding of past fire regimes in an understudied ecosystem, sagebrush …

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Evaluating Floodplain Hydrologic Connectivity, Yakima River, Wa, Cristopher Morton Jan 2018

Evaluating Floodplain Hydrologic Connectivity, Yakima River, Wa, Cristopher Morton

All Master's Theses

River side-channels provide habitat for threatened fish, and restoring such habitats is a goal of resource managers. Resource managers use side-channel reconnection projects to increase the quality and quantity of aquatic floodplain habitat, and evaluating the effectiveness of reconnection is a crucial and often neglected part of these projects. The purpose of this research was to collect baseline data to determine if and how floodplain connectivity affects water quality and quantity in side-channel habitat on the Yakima River. This research compared seasonal differences in habitat quality between connected and disconnected channels by evaluating bi-weekly measurements of surface water quality and …

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The Effects Of Moral Message Framing On Political Ideology, Matthew Christiansen Jan 2018

The Effects Of Moral Message Framing On Political Ideology, Matthew Christiansen

All Master's Theses

There is disagreement as to whether and to what extent the American public is becoming more polarized, but certain issues such as climate change have been found to be polarizing. However, ideologically congruent moral message framing has been shown to moderate attitudes towards climate change and may provide a method to reduce polarization and moderate extreme attitudes. The current study attempted to broaden previous findings to investigate whether moral message framing could result in not only shifting relevant attitudes, but political ideology as a whole. Operating under Moral Foundations Theory (Haidt & Graham, 2007) two proenvironmental messages were constructed using …

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Farmers Market Education With Supplemental Voucher Improves Farmers Market Awareness In Elementary Children, Ali Papendick Jan 2018

Farmers Market Education With Supplemental Voucher Improves Farmers Market Awareness In Elementary Children, Ali Papendick

All Master's Theses

Purpose:The purpose of this pilot intervention study was to provide farmers market (FM) education coupled with FM voucher to assess FM awareness, attendance, and voucher use. Methods:Kindergarten through 3rdgrade students attending a summer school program participated in this three-week FM pilot intervention study. A pre/post intervention questionnaire was distributed to students to assess FM awareness and attendance. In addition, an $8 FM voucher was provided to children for purchases of fruit and vegetables at the local FM. The voucher was valid for two weeks and fruit and vegetable purchases were recorded each week. Results:This study …

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