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Politics Of Successful Development: Women And Panchayats In India, Anne Clayton, Dr. Donna Lee Bowen Aug 2013

Politics Of Successful Development: Women And Panchayats In India, Anne Clayton, Dr. Donna Lee Bowen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

All over the world women tend to suffer disproportionately in terms of poverty and the lack of access to education in comparison to men.1 Extensive development efforts have been put forth throughout the world to eradicate these problems. Some of them have been successful, while many have not. Identifying the factors that lead to successful development is crucial, so that those methods which are effective may be replicated in other areas. In recent years, women=s role in development has increasingly become recognized as vital to successful development.2 Focusing resources on women for development often yields greater levels of success due …

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Modified Á-Zeins Containing Lysine Inserts Will Interact With Ã-Zeins To Form Stable Protein Bodies In Transgenic Tobacco Endosperm, James Bird, Dr. Craig E. Coleman Aug 2013

Modified Á-Zeins Containing Lysine Inserts Will Interact With Ã-Zeins To Form Stable Protein Bodies In Transgenic Tobacco Endosperm, James Bird, Dr. Craig E. Coleman

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Maize is one of the most abundantly produced grains on earth and is widely used in human and livestock diets. 90% of maize protein is found in the endosperm portion of the seed in the form of small spherical aggregates called protein bodies. These protein bodies consist of four structurally distinct alcohol soluble proteins called á-, â-, ã-, and ä-zeins.1 Initial stages of protein body formation involve â- and ãzeins forming spherical accretions which later enlarge by the accumulation of á-zeins inside the â- and ãzein spheres.2 á-Zeins alone constitute 70% of the protein body and therefore make up a …

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Chemical And Taxonomic Analysis Of Archaeological Soils Of Piedras Negras, Guatemala, Fabián G. Fernández, Dr. Richard E. Terry Aug 2013

Chemical And Taxonomic Analysis Of Archaeological Soils Of Piedras Negras, Guatemala, Fabián G. Fernández, Dr. Richard E. Terry

Journal of Undergraduate Research

New research techniques used in other fields such as agronomy, geophysics, geochemistry, etc. are used by archaeologists at the present time. These techniques have the potential to give useful information about ancient human activities. The chemical and taxonomic analysis of soils can be a useful tool in recognizing different anthropogenic activity areas.

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Automatic Sensor And Action Selection, Charles Parkinson Fry, Todd Peterson Aug 2013

Automatic Sensor And Action Selection, Charles Parkinson Fry, Todd Peterson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Continuous state spaces can be quite useful in Q-learning. Many real world problems are simply not discrete. An attempt to represent continuous values using a discrete state space is inherently problematic, as the selected level of discritization will likely be imperfect and unable to adapt to change. Such problems thus favor a continuous representation of the state space. Continuous state spaces, however, introduce new difficulties. They are infinitely large, and Q-learning is no longer guaranteed to converge.

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Ceramic Typology Of Byu’S Egyptian Excavation Project, Audrey Crandell, Dr. Kerry Muhlestein Aug 2013

Ceramic Typology Of Byu’S Egyptian Excavation Project, Audrey Crandell, Dr. Kerry Muhlestein

Journal of Undergraduate Research

When I began my research with BYU’s Egyptian Excavation team, my chosen focus was to study the ceramics found at Fag el Gamous Cemetery. My original research intent was to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to read and understand the context of Egyptian ceramic pottery samples from the 200BC to 500AD / Greco-Roman Period as well as to create a new typology for the unique pottery found in Fag el Gamous Cemetery and compare it to the wider typology of the Egyptian Fayoum. I had planned to do this by a series of steps. I began my preliminary research …

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Repairing Workplace Relationships: The Salience Of Accounts And Circumstantial Moderators, Brian Reschke, Dr. Kristen B. Detienne Aug 2013

Repairing Workplace Relationships: The Salience Of Accounts And Circumstantial Moderators, Brian Reschke, Dr. Kristen B. Detienne

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Misunderstandings, breaches of trust, and unmet expectations are frequent in the workplace. Accounts, or explanations of behavior, are often deployed by alleged offenders to reshape others‟ attributions regarding conduct. In recent years, scholars have returned to the question of how rifts in workplace relationships are ameliorated through accounts such as apologies, excuses, and denials. This area is identified with the relationship repair research domain (Dirks, Lewicki, & Zaheer, 2009).

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X-Ray Diffraction Analysis Of Piezoelectric Material Pzn-Pt, Benjamin Frandsen, Dr. Branton Campbell Aug 2013

X-Ray Diffraction Analysis Of Piezoelectric Material Pzn-Pt, Benjamin Frandsen, Dr. Branton Campbell

Journal of Undergraduate Research

A wide variety of electronic devices, including microphones, acoustic transducers and high-powered microscopes, rely on a phenomenon called piezoelectricity. This is the property by which a crystal, when subjected to an electric field, experiences mechanical strain. Conversely, an applied mechanical stress produces voltage across the crystal. My research has focused on a piezoelectric material called “PZN-PT” (Lead-Zinc-Niobate Lead-Titanate), which exhibits the strongest piezoelectric response of any commercialized piezoelectric material and is currently being used for the development of next-generation electromechanical devices like those mentioned above1. The origin of the impressive properties of PZN-PT has been the topic of extensive scientific …

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Korean Language Acquisition And Syntax: Setting A Foundation For Korean Ei Testing, William Wilson, Dr. Deryle Lonsdale Aug 2013

Korean Language Acquisition And Syntax: Setting A Foundation For Korean Ei Testing, William Wilson, Dr. Deryle Lonsdale

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Accurate and reliable L2 testing (or second language testing) is something that many entities rely on, including educational institutions, business enterprises, and the government. Researchers over the last several decades have proposed new testing methods, and a particularly promising venue is Elicited Imitation (EI). Simply put, an EI test is a sentence imitation test. Test-takers hear a series of recorded utterances in the target language, repeat those sentences as exactly as possible, and then receive scores based on the accuracy of their repetitions.

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Veterinary Medicine, Jeffrey Tucker, Dr. Michael Mackay Aug 2013

Veterinary Medicine, Jeffrey Tucker, Dr. Michael Mackay

Journal of Undergraduate Research

It is not an overstatement to claim that the work Dr. Michael MacKay and I were able to conduct through the benevolence of the ORCA programme represents the cutting of history of medicine research. We have engaged a field that is strikingly underdeveloped, yet extremely relevant to early modern history. Within the last five years the World Association for the History of Veterinary Medicine has fostered new interests in veterinary history throughout this world. Our scholarship questions current interpretations of the emergence of veterinary science and demonstrates that through the creation of organized horse hospitals systematized veterinary medicine developed almost …

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Practical Cost-Conscious Active Learning For Data Annotation In Annotator-Initiated Environments, Robbie A. Haertel Aug 2013

Practical Cost-Conscious Active Learning For Data Annotation In Annotator-Initiated Environments, Robbie A. Haertel

Theses and Dissertations

Many projects exist whose purpose is to augment raw data with annotations that increase the usefulness of the data. The number of these projects is rapidly growing and in the age of “big data” the amount of data to be annotated is likewise growing within each project. One common use of such data is in supervised machine learning, which requires labeled data to train a predictive model. Annotation is often a very expensive proposition, particularly for structured data. The purpose of this dissertation is to explore methods of reducing the cost of creating such data sets, including annotated text corpora.We …

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The Role Of Nectin In Zyxin Localization, Jace Bullard, Dr. Marc Hansen Aug 2013

The Role Of Nectin In Zyxin Localization, Jace Bullard, Dr. Marc Hansen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

A major difficulty of treating cancer rises from its ability to metastasize. During metastasis, strong adhesions between cells break, allowing individual cells to separate and migrate to different locations in the body. Strong cell-cell junctions are formed by protein interactions between actin cables and cell junction proteins. Zyxin is an actin regulator that localizes at cadherin-based cell-cell adhesions. Our lab has shown that cells expressing constitutively active forms of zyxin lose the ability to completely detach from each other, a result of maintained actin-membrane associations. How zyxin is localized to the cell membrane is unknown. Given zyxin’s role in maintaining …

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Exploring The Mathematical Knowledge For Teaching Of Japanese Teachers, Ratu Jared R. T. Bukarau Aug 2013

Exploring The Mathematical Knowledge For Teaching Of Japanese Teachers, Ratu Jared R. T. Bukarau

Theses and Dissertations

In the past two decades there has been an increased effort to understand the depth to which mathematics teachers must know their subject to teach it effectively. Researchers have termed this type of knowledge mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT). Even though recent studies have focused on MKT, the current literature on the subject indicates that this area remains underdeveloped. In an attempt to further refine our conception of MKT this study looked at MKT in Japan. In this thesis I explored and categorized the MKT of three experienced Japanese cooperating teachers (CTs) by looking at the content of their conversations …

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Natural History Museums Of Early Utah Settlement, Leslie Evens Jul 2013

Natural History Museums Of Early Utah Settlement, Leslie Evens

Library Research Grants

No abstract provided.

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Reenvisioning Access Services: A Survey Of Access Services Departments In Arl Libraries, Duane E Wilson Jul 2013

Reenvisioning Access Services: A Survey Of Access Services Departments In Arl Libraries, Duane E Wilson

Faculty Publications

In spring 2012 a study was undertaken to investigate the current structure of Access Services in ARL Libraries and to understand current and future trends in departmental organization and cross-training. The survey determined that Access Services Departments in ARL Libraries typically contain a core set of services, though their structure is based on local needs. Most ARL Libraries have not experimented with combining reference and circulation functions and have only begun to consolidate traditional Access Services areas at single service points. The author recommends that Access Services be organized around a public services point instead of organizing the department around …

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Acceptance Of Disability In College Students, Brian Charles Carl Jul 2013

Acceptance Of Disability In College Students, Brian Charles Carl

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents the findings of a study examining the following questions: How do students in a particular disability group differ from students in other disability groups in the degree to which they accept their disability? How are level of functional impairment and acceptance related? How are an individual's view of disability as a defining characteristic and acceptance related? How are functional impairment and the degree to which disability is seen as a defining characteristic related? Analysis using ANOVA indicated that there was not a significant difference in the level of acceptance between disability groups. Three Pearson's r correlation analyses …

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Memory As Ecology In The Poetry Of Tomas Tranströmer, Richelle Jolene Wilson Jul 2013

Memory As Ecology In The Poetry Of Tomas Tranströmer, Richelle Jolene Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to explore how memory functions ecologically in the poetry of Tomas Tranströmer. The term ecology is useful because of its connotative associations with the natural world as well as its broader definition of being a network of relationships as they function within and relate to their environment. Throughout his oeuvre, Tranströmer positions memory as being an external presence with which he interacts primarily because he honors it as a living being and he feels a poetic responsibility to it. As such, he grapples with the challenges of representation, particularly the limitations of language. Ultimately, …

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Perceptions Of Elementary School Teachers, Counselors, And Principalsabout Bullying At Two School Sites In Utah And Mexico, Bernardo Villar Jul 2013

Perceptions Of Elementary School Teachers, Counselors, And Principalsabout Bullying At Two School Sites In Utah And Mexico, Bernardo Villar

Theses and Dissertations

Bullying is a serious issue that exists not only in the United States but in other countries as well. There are significant, and often devastating, implications for both the bully and the victim. This research focused on the perspectives of teachers, principals, and counselors related to bullying in two elementary schools in Utah and Mexico. Through semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions and archival records, this qualitative study explored different perspectives on bullying found in two schools exhibiting approximately the same student and teacher demographics. Interviews with teachers, counselors and principals allowed for comparison of differences and similarities between both locations. …

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Social Networks Of Children With Language Impairment, Serena Marita Louisa Mickelson Jul 2013

Social Networks Of Children With Language Impairment, Serena Marita Louisa Mickelson

Theses and Dissertations

Children with language impairment (LI) often exhibit social difficulties along with language issues that can affect their friendships with peers. This study sought to identify the self-reported social networks of children with LI and compare them to the self-reported social networks of children with typical language development. Sixteen children with LI (9 girls and 7 boys) between the ages of 5-11 years, and sixteen children with typical language development matched for age and gender were studied. Children were asked to name interactants in four social circles (Blackstone & Hunt Berg, 2003): family, friends, acquaintances, and paid interactants. A parent also …

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The Rise Of Humor: Hollywood Increases Adult Centered Humor In Animated Children's Films, Chelsie Lynn Akers Jul 2013

The Rise Of Humor: Hollywood Increases Adult Centered Humor In Animated Children's Films, Chelsie Lynn Akers

Theses and Dissertations

Children's animated films have held a lasting influence on their audiences since the rise of their popularity in the 1980s. As adults co-view such films with their children Hollywood has had to rewrite the formula for a successful animated children's film. This thesis argues that a main factor in audience expansion is adult humor. The results show that children's animated films from 2002-2013 are riddled with many instances of adult humor while earlier films from 1982-1993 use adult humor sparingly. It is clear that over the years the number of adult humor occurrences has consistently increased. Furthermore, this research shows …

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The Physical Theatre Of War: Language, Memory, And Gender In Black Watch And War Horse, Andrea M. Gunoe Jul 2013

The Physical Theatre Of War: Language, Memory, And Gender In Black Watch And War Horse, Andrea M. Gunoe

Theses and Dissertations

The public's perception of war is influenced by every media story they see, every account they read, and every story they hear. News telecasts and newspapers tend to lean towards a focus of the grand narratives of war such as political involvement and overarching strategy. Media such as books and film can tell a more personal narrative of the events of war and attempt to display how war "really is" through the use of written and visual language that focuses more on how things happened as opposed to simply what happened. Theatre provides a unique perspective on war as the …

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An Analysis Of The Provo River Decree And Its Current Application To Provo Area Water Rights, Karsten Eugene Busby Jul 2013

An Analysis Of The Provo River Decree And Its Current Application To Provo Area Water Rights, Karsten Eugene Busby

Theses and Dissertations

Water scarcity in the west has created a long history of conflict. When Utah was settled, laws were instituted (both officially and otherwise) that allowed water users to use streams and springs in efficient ways without causing harm to other users. The Provo River Decree is a physical example of local water law that has been in place for almost a hundred years. While many changes have arisen in its area of jurisdiction, it is still drawn upon to determine water rights. Ambiguity, rigidity, and overall changes to use patterns have limited the application of the decree to present situations. …

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Alignment Between Secondary Biology Textbooks And Standards For Teaching English Learners: A Content Analysis, Joseph H. Hanks Jul 2013

Alignment Between Secondary Biology Textbooks And Standards For Teaching English Learners: A Content Analysis, Joseph H. Hanks

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of the most recent science education reform movement in the U.S. is science literacy for all Americans. Science literacy among U.S. students remains low, however, as compared with students in other industrialized countries, and is lowest among English Language Learner (ELL) students. Although there are barriers to developing science literacy for all adolescent students, ELL students often experience additional barriers that make developing science literacy even more challenging without support. Because textbooks are often heavily relied upon by secondary science teachers, the opportunity for many ELLs to develop science literacy may depend upon the support for these students …

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Zofia Stryjeńska: Women In The Warsaw Town Square. Our Lady, Peasant Mother, Pagan Goddess, Katelyn Mckenzie Sheffield Jul 2013

Zofia Stryjeńska: Women In The Warsaw Town Square. Our Lady, Peasant Mother, Pagan Goddess, Katelyn Mckenzie Sheffield

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis I consider the unique position that Polish artist Zofia Stryjeńska (1891-1974) occupied during the interwar period. Lauded during her time as the most popular artist in Poland, the acceptance of Stryjeńska's female voice in representing a national vocabulary was unprecedented and deserves closer examination. I assert that Poland's history of oppression created a unique environment where women as archetypal figures often took on masculine roles. These 'transgressive types' were visible in the literature and art of the 19th and 20th centuries. Stryjeńska's art, as well as her behavior, capitalized on these transgressive traditions. Women played an important …

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Cheatgrass (Bromus Tectorum) Dominates Cheek Pouch Contents Of The Great Basin Pocket Mouse (Perognathus Parvus), Kristen A. Richardson, Stephen D. West, Robert A. Gitzen Jul 2013

Cheatgrass (Bromus Tectorum) Dominates Cheek Pouch Contents Of The Great Basin Pocket Mouse (Perognathus Parvus), Kristen A. Richardson, Stephen D. West, Robert A. Gitzen

Western North American Naturalist

Most of the native shrubsteppe habitat in the northern Columbia Basin of eastern Washington has been invaded by cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) or converted to agricultural lands. Therefore, ecological patterns and dynamics on native shrubsteppe and reestablished grasslands are of high conservation interest. We analyzed the cheek pouch contents of Great Basin pocket mice (Perognathus parvus) from 48 study sites in this region to quantify seed collection by this species and to determine the influence of habitat type on cheek pouch seed contents. In all 3 habitat types—newly established Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) lands, older CRP lands, …

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Prey Indices And Behaviors At A Gray Fox Den In San Mateo County, California, L. Mark Elbroch, Maximilian L. Allen Jul 2013

Prey Indices And Behaviors At A Gray Fox Den In San Mateo County, California, L. Mark Elbroch, Maximilian L. Allen

Western North American Naturalist

The gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) is an under-studied species in North America. Here we provide data gathered through observations over 17 d at a gray fox den in San Mateo County, California. We recorded prey indices through direct observation, as well as through indirect observation with photos recorded by motion-triggered cameras. The largest prey was a mule deer fawn, which we determined was killed by a gray fox. This finding is the first record of gray fox predation on mule deer. Lagomorphs and rodents formed the majority of prey items. We also recorded behavior that both contradicted and …

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Biogeography And Evolution Of Neotropical Small Mammals, With Emphasis On Hystricognath Spiny Rats Of The Genus Proechimys (Family Echimyidae), Rafael Do Nascimento Leite Jul 2013

Biogeography And Evolution Of Neotropical Small Mammals, With Emphasis On Hystricognath Spiny Rats Of The Genus Proechimys (Family Echimyidae), Rafael Do Nascimento Leite

Theses and Dissertations

The Neotropical region is the most biologically diverse region on the planet. The region encompasses a variety of ecosystems and has long been the target of researchers interested in patterns of species diversity and distribution. More recently, molecular data have been incorporated into methods for reconstructing the historical relationships among geographical areas and their biotas. Molecular phylogenetics has provided insights into diversification patterns and the influence of Late Cenozoic events on the evolutionary history of the region. Nevertheless, considering the vast extent and complexity of the region, more studies are needed to fully appreciate the patterns of biogeography and the …

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Parowan Valley Potting Communities: Examining Technological Style In Fremont Snake Valley Corrugated Pottery, Scott M. Ure Jul 2013

Parowan Valley Potting Communities: Examining Technological Style In Fremont Snake Valley Corrugated Pottery, Scott M. Ure

Theses and Dissertations

Defining the Fremont archaeological culture has challenged archaeologists for decades. There is still considerable debate about the origins of the Fremont, their eventual demise, their genetic relationship to modern Native American tribes, and myriad other issues. In nearly a century of Fremont research, socio-political, economic, and religious complexity remain elusive subjects. Examining technological style, the manifestation of socially influenced choices during each step of production as a means of passive communication, is one useful avenue to examine Fremont material culture to uncover the social patterns they may, or may not contain. I examine whether or not technological style in Fremont …

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Developmental Signaling Requires Inwardly Rectifying K+ Channels In Drosophila Melanogaster, Giri Raj Dahal Jul 2013

Developmental Signaling Requires Inwardly Rectifying K+ Channels In Drosophila Melanogaster, Giri Raj Dahal

Theses and Dissertations

Inwardly rectifying potassium (IRK/Kir) channels regulate intracellular K+ concentrations and membrane potential. Disruption of Kir2.1 causes dominantly inherited Andersen Tawil Syndrome (ATS). ATS patients suffer from cardiac arrhythmias, periodic paralysis, and cognitive impairment. These symptoms are consistent with current understanding of the role of ion channels in muscle cells and neurons. However, ATS symptoms also include craniofacial and digital deformities such as cleft palate, dental defects, wide set eyes, low set ears, and crooked or fused digits. These developmental defects were not consistent with current understanding of developmental signaling or previously described roles for ion channels. We found that phenotypes …

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Personhood And Cloning: Modern Applications And Ethics Of Stem Cell And Cloning Technology, Sariah Cottrell Mccarrey Jul 2013

Personhood And Cloning: Modern Applications And Ethics Of Stem Cell And Cloning Technology, Sariah Cottrell Mccarrey

Theses and Dissertations

Within many communities and religions, including the LDS community, there is some controversy surrounding the use of stem cells – particularly embryonic stem cells (ESC). Much of this controversy arises from confusion and misconceptions about what stem cells actually are, where they come from , and when life begins. The theology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has interesting implications for the last of these considerations, and it becomes less a question of “when does life begin” and more an exploration of “when does personhood begin” or “when does the spirit enter the body.” With no official …

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Greater Sage-Grouse And Natural Gas Development In Utah: Using Population Genetic Data For Conservation Efforts, Leah S. Breidinger, Karen E. Mock, Terry Allen Messmer Jul 2013

Greater Sage-Grouse And Natural Gas Development In Utah: Using Population Genetic Data For Conservation Efforts, Leah S. Breidinger, Karen E. Mock, Terry Allen Messmer

Western North American Naturalist

Population declines of Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) throughout the western United States have been attributed to the loss, degradation, and fragmentation of sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) habitats. Increased energy development may further fragment sagebrush habitat, isolating sage-grouse populations and resulting in genetic drift, inbreeding, local extinction, or rapid divergence. We conducted a genetic survey of 3 remote sagegrouse populations in northeastern Utah to assess mitochondrial diversity relative to other portions of the species’ range. We did not detect any unusual haplotype compositions in these populations. However, haplotype composition of the Anthro Mountain and Strawberry Valley reference populations differed …

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