Digital Commons Network^™

Nutritional Needs In Collegiate Female Soccer Athletes, Alysa M. Brown

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Brown, Alysa, ATC, Spring 2017 Athletic Training

Nutritional Needs in Collegiate Female Soccer Athletes

Chairperson: Dr. Valerie Moody

Many times, athletes do not have enough time to meet their nutritional needs. They are busy going to school, attending meetings, lifting weights, receiving treatments and attending practices and may forget to eat or simply do not have enough time. Several studies suggest nutritional knowledge and habits directly impact how well an athlete will perform. Due to the rigorous training regimen of a collegiate athlete, they should be fueling their bodies throughout the day to maximize their performance. The Women’s soccer team …

How Should We Conceptualize Moral Disagreements About Animals?, Kristian Cantens

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

I intend this paper as a sort of philosophical reflection on my experiences as an animal activist. In my three years of doing outreach on college campuses, I came to an increasing appreciation for what Murdoch referred to as “the difficulty and complexity of the moral life and the opacity of persons” (Murdoch 1998d, 293). This appreciation came in turn at the cost of an increasing disappointment with many of the philosophers I admired at the time – namely, Peter Singer and Tom Regan. What I came to understand is that many of these contemporary moral theories were in fact …

Molecular Diversity Of Foliar Fungal Endophytes In Relation To Defense Strategies And Disease In Whitebark Pine, Lorinda Bullington

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

An invasive fungal pathogen, Cronartium ribicola (the causative agent of white pine blister rust) infects and kills whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) throughout the western US. Blister rust has decreased whitebark pine populations by over 90% in some areas. Whitebark pine, a keystone species, has been proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act in the U.S., and the loss of this conifer is predicted to have severe impacts on forest composition and function in high elevations. Hundreds of asymptomatic fungal species live inside whitebark pine tissue, and recent studies suggest that these fungi can influence the frequency and …

Archaeology For The Living: How Studying The Past Is Helping Native Alaskans’ Future, Madison A. Dapcevich

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This professional paper highlights a project in southcentral Alaska in collaboration with the Cook Inlet Tribal Council, the US Forest Service, Kenaitze Indian Tribe, Fish, Wildlife and Parks, and Applied Archaeology International. The area is a case study in a relatively new lens of looking at archaeology – a collaborative, community-based approach that helps to better inform the science an benefit affected communities.

At the Crescent Creek Complex near Cooper Landing, Alaska the team discovered various evidences of an ancient Denai’na village complex. What makes this project unique, however, is the collaboration between field school students and Kenaitze interns to …

An Investigation Of The Relations Between Stress And Prospective Memory, Brandon T. Stewart

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Prospective memory (PM) is a future-oriented memory system that entails “remembering to remember” intentions, or to perform actions in the future. People spend significant portions of their day-to-day lives forming and acting on intentions, and the ability to successfully generate, retain, and complete these intentions has important implications for one’s daily functioning and quality of life. Another common human experience is stress, whether that be short-term, acute stress, or long-term, chronic stress. Despite the significance and ubiquity of both PM and stress, the research base documenting the relations between them is sparse. This topic area necessitates additional research to delineate …

A Vision To Serve The Community: A Grounded Theory Approach Examining Educational Persistence Among American Indian Graduate Students, Karla D. Bird

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to examine the process of educational persistence among American Indian graduate students attending non-Native colleges and universities in Montana. Specifically, a grounded theory approach was used to generate a theory to describe persistence, using the concepts derived from participant interviews. Participants were American Indian graduate students currently enrolled at the following Montana institutions: University of Montana-Missoula, Montana State University-Bozeman, Montana Tech-Butte, Montana State University-Billings, and Montana State Northern-Havre. This study explored the following central research questions: What is persistence in the context of the American Indian graduate student experience? Why and how …

Coupling Biophysical Complexity And Forest Metabolism In A Floodplain Landscape, Peter Davis

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Floodplains are biophysically complex systems that are considered among the most productive and biodiverse ecosystems on Earth. Until recently, quantitative assessment of the relationship between complexity and terrestrial production has been constrained by technological limitation. To address how floodplain biophysical complexity and ecosystem function are related, I employed remote sensing, GIS, and spatial analyses to quantify and couple metrics of complexity and terrestrial production, as well as explore the relationship among complexity, vegetation structural diversity, and terrestrial primary productivity. The study site is a 6.75-km by 1.75-km portion of the Bitterroot River floodplain near Carlton, MT upon which 551 sample …

Fertility And Reproduction's Niche: Human Sexual Diversity, Samuel W. Austin

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Abstract: Biologically exploring the origins and forms of human sexuality is of paramount importance. Scientific research has indicated that homosexuality was linked to reproduction, fertility, and adaptive child caring strategies, traits that seem to display cross-cultural similarities. This suggests that sexual diversity may be one of human’s earliest adaptations. While most of the previous research has been on individuals of European descent, little research on Native American populations has been completed to test whether these patterns continue in their population.

The research presented here tests the Sexually Antagonistic Hypothesis for Male Homosexuality, Fraternal Birth Order Effect, and childhood atypical gender …

Performing Whale-Watching In Juneau, Alaska, Chelsea Karthauser

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Nature-based tourism activities provide special contexts for human-wildlife interaction. In Juneau, Alaska, summertime tourists seek encounters with humpback whales, hundreds of which feed seasonally in Southeast Alaska’s coastal waterways. Tourists support a thriving whale-watching industry in the region. Voices in nature-based tourism studies, departing from prior rigid conceptualizations of tourism, have identified the need to investigate activities using innovative frameworks to address the tourism experience as an ongoing and fluidly constructed phenomenon. The purpose of this study is to construct a new understanding of nature-based tourism using a performance metaphor. The flexibility provided in a metaphorical approach allows for a …

The Prescribed West, Evan M. Hauser

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Predicting Habitat Distribution For Five Rare Plant Species Within The Blackfoot Swan Landscape Restoration Project, Annalisa Suzan Ingegno

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study predicted rare-plant habitat at the landscape scale. Using the Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) algorithm, relationships to and between each environmental variable were quantified for five species in the Blackfoot Swan Landscape Restoration Project (BSLRP) study area in western Montana. This project is part of a greater vegetation assessment for BSLRP that utilizes remotely sensed products for planning and management purposes. The five rare plant species studied in this analysis were common camas (Camassia quamash), clustered lady’sslipper (Cypripedium fasciculatum), western pearlflower (Heterocodon rariflorum), Howell’s gumweed (Grindelia howellii), and crested shieldfern (Dryopteris cristata). Rare plant models typically do not address dispersal …

Dispersal, Genetic Structure, Network Connectivity And Conservation Of An At-Risk, Large-Landscape Species, Todd Bartholomew Cross

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Wide-ranging species face many threats to genetic connectivity. In light of these threats, one major challenge is the efficient use of scarce resources for the conservation of these species. Setting conservation priorities for landscapes and connectivity can be informed using molecular genetics, and can ensure the efficient use of scare resources to maximize returns in biodiversity conservation.

The greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hereafter sage grouse) is a species of conservation concern that spans eleven state boundaries, land managed by multiple agencies, and one international boundary. Across the species’ distribution, the threats to the genetic connectivity range from agricultural conversion to …

Set The Net: The Heritage Significance Of Fish Camp And Wild Salmon In Bristol Bay, Alaska, Sarah Jane Braund

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In over 10 years of environmental and socioeconomic studies surrounding the controversial Pebble Limited Partnership mine project design and permitting, commercial salmon fishers’ voices in Bristol Bay, Alaska remain unheard. To meaningfully participate in cultural resource management decision-making that affects them, communities need to speak, yet fisher communities rarely have an established voice. This dissertation uses critical collaborative ethnography and Indigenist research paradigms to describe how the recognition of living heritage communities can be facilitated through the identification of ethnographic landscapes. Such landscapes reflect the meaningful relationship of culture and place, concepts that are currently under-represented in Alaska. Not only …

Linking Landscape Pattern To Population Processes For A Carnivorous Mammal, Keith Michael Slauson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

As a taxonomic group, carnivores are amongst those with the highest conservation concern due to the combination of wide-ranging behavior, typically slow reproductive rates, and low density. The Pacific marten (Martes caurina) is a carnivore species of conservation concern throughout much of its southern range in the U. S. The Pacific marten (marten hereafter) is considered a habitat-specialist, due to its association with late-successional forest habitat which provide specific elements, such as cavities in large-diameter trees for denning, to meet a variety of its life history needs. Across its range, threats to marten persistence range from timber harvest, wildfire and …

A Case For Theatre-Based Programming In Early-Childhood And Elementary Education, Tina M. La Plant

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This paper seeks to answer the question, How can I use my professional experience developing a theatre-based curriculum for early-childhood and elementary students as a platform to advocate for the importance of theatre-based curricula in early and elementary education? The subject of this research project is a Pre-Kindergarten through Fifth Grade theatre-based education program founded by the author. The program was developed over the past 20 years at the Bertschi School, an independent PK-Fifth elementary school located in Seattle, Washington. For the purposes of this paper, the program itself will serve as a proving ground to explore and define primary …

Does Shape Matter? Breeding Habitat Use And Reproductive Performance Of Gray Catbirds (Dumetella Carolinensis) In Two Western Woodland Habitats, Sharon Fuller

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

The Inflammatory Effects Of Natural And Engineered Airborne Particulate Matter In The Lung, And Related Cellular Mechanisms Of Immunity, Sophia Tracy Carvalho

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Asthma, defined as a complex, chronic inflammatory disease of the airways, affects approximately 300 million individuals worldwide and is the single most common chronic disease among children. Airway inflammation is the defining characteristic of asthmatic pathophysiology; and as asthma increases in severity, the airways become more susceptible to environmental insults, including air pollutants. Wildfires and prescribed burns are significant sources of airborne particles, as well as gaseous pollution, which can temporarily increase the overall levels of air pollution over hundreds or thousands of square miles. Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) are increasingly used in a broad range of applications, including medical …

Cationic Latex Nanoparticles In Electrokinetic Chromatography: Synthesis, Characterization, And Application To The Separation Of Explosives, Julie Rebecca Mcgettrick

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Electrokinetic chromatography (EKC) is a powerful analytical technique that uses the instrumentation of capillary electrophoresis (CE) and the principles of chromatography to separate ionic and neutral analytes. A capillary is filled with background electrolyte (BGE), and when a voltage is applied ionic species migrate to the electrodes. Neutral compounds have no mobility, so a pseudo-stationary phase (PSP) is added to the BGE that consists of an ionic group to provide mobility and a hydrophobic group to interact with analytes. Analytes interact with the PSP which changes their apparent mobilities, leading to a separation. It is possible to coat the negatively …

Integrated Stress And Community Perceptions: Toward An Understanding Of Human-Cougar Tolerance, Lara Brenner

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Evidence suggests that cougars (Puma concolor) are beginning to recolonize their traditional range in the Midwestern and Eastern US, returning to a landscape and a social environment that have changed drastically in a century of absence. Any hope of the cougar’s persistence depends on both human tolerance of their presence and on cougar tolerance of disrupted habitat. In this thesis, we took advantage of diverse cougar policy in place in the Western US to explore variation in human attitudes and acceptability of cougars and in the cougar stress response. We validated a process to identify and extract cortisol …

Student Satisfaction With A Student-Written Textbook In An Introductory College Biology Course, Greg Peters

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Textbooks are ubiquitous tools in college classes, particularly in the sciences. Regular use of textbooks to complement science coursework can foster academic achievement and scientific literacy. Textbooks are chronically underused in college study due to high costs, challenging and time-intensive content, and perceived low value. In response, professors are increasingly using textbook alternatives including open textbooks, etextbooks, and wikis. Each has unique strengths and weaknesses.

Student-written textbooks are a less common, but growing, resource used to offer a low-cost alternative to publisher textbooks using collections of student research and writing. Student-written textbooks carry the possible benefits for students of supporting …

Moving Toward A Holistic Menstrual Hygiene Management: An Anthropological Analysis Of Menstruation And Practices In Western And Non-Western Societies, Sophia A. Bay

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Educating girls is not only their human right, but also proposed as one of the best investments for improving quality of life in developing countries (Montgomery et al. 2016, 2). Although menstruation is a universal, biological process, it is fraught with cultural stigmas and taboos throughout Western and non-Western societies. Menstrual-related absenteeism is believed to be a primary cause of missed attendance and early dropout rates, so the developing field of menstrual hygiene management (MHM) is seeking to understand and evaluate what factors are contributing to these findings. After the analyzation of the current literature, a more holistic, nine-pronged approach …

Vision 2017

Vision

No abstract provided.

A Place To Call Home, Ian Strahn, Kurt Nickolas Secrest, Mckennah Andrews, Jessie Seiler, Emily Eaton, Erika Hidem

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Individuals across the globe do not relate historic migration patterns with current conflicts, which is a problem that encompasses both historic and current migrations. Ironically, individuals who likely descend from immigrants themselves may highlight differences rather than similarities among newcomers while perceiving them as outsiders, and perhaps even exhibiting discrimination toward them. Our group sought to provide an international and historic perspective about migration by paralleling the issues that immigrants --specifically refugees-- face while encouraging individuals to look inward at their own family’s migratory roots. This was accomplished through a three-pronged approach: (1) obtaining profiles of historic and modern ‘refugees’; …

Why Did The Walleye Cross The Reservoir? Explaining Adult Walleye Use Of The Missouri River Upstream Of Canyon Ferry Reservoir To Toston Dam, Tanner M. Traxler

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Over the last decade, walleye (Sander vitreus) have been increasingly using the Missouri River upstream of Canyon Ferry Reservoir to Toston Dam, and Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks wants to understand why these walleye are moving upstream and how it could impact the existing fish community in the river. To understand if this expansion of habitat could be associated with spawning and/or foraging, we examined the composition and distribution of juvenile fish in the area. Specifically, the presence of juvenile walleye would indicate that adult walleye were using the river to spawn and/or if there were abundant prey …

Defining An Agency: Animals, Fire, And The U.S. Forest Service, Ellen A. Ipsen

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Today, the United States Forest Service has established itself as an enduring authority on federal lands management. However, in 1905 when the federal government established the agency, its fate was far from secure. Prior to 1905, people living in the West had unchecked access to public land resources and many disapproved of an expansion of federal power. It was the issue of forest fire fighting that gained public support for the agency, and animals, in large part, helped them succeed. Horses and mules were used for transportation, scouting missions and trail building before adequate technology existed. Every ranger was required …

Satirical Perspectives: A Cross-Cultural Comparison, Mariah Johnson

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

This paper proposes a cross-cultural examination of the societal satire of the countries of America and Soviet Russia by way of comparison of two satiric novels. Sinclair Lewis’s Babbitt satirizes the business values of capitalist America and the materialism perceived in an economic system based on the mass production and mass consumption of goods. Yurii Olesha’s Envy uses Babbitt in intertextual conversation to perform a similar critique of the Soviet Russian society and values of the same time period. Satiric theory provides a framework for understanding and relaying how each novel performs its parody of the respective society, while historical …

Factors Influencing Mountain Lion Kill Rates Across Three Ecosystems In The Americas, Steven Cross

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Kill rate, defined as the number of prey killed per predator per unit time, is a key component to understanding predator-prey dynamics. A multitude of factors may affect kill rates, including, variation in age, sex, weight, or presence of offspring of either predator or prey species (intraspecific variation) and events such as the theft of a kill made by another animal (kleptoparasitism). These factors may influence the time a predator spends locating prey (search time) and the pursuing, killing, and consumption of prey (handling time). The sum of search time and handling time may be measured as the time between …

Decreasing Net Primary Production Due To Drought And Slight Decreases In Solar Radiation In China From 2000 To 2012, J. Wang, J. Dong, Y. Yi, G. Lu, Jared Wesley Oyler, W. K. Smith, Maosheng Zhao, J. Liu, Steven W. Running

Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group Publications

Terrestrial ecosystems have continued to provide the critical service of slowing the atmospheric CO₂ growth rate. Terrestrial net primary productivity (NPP) is thought to be a major contributing factor to this trend. Yet our ability to estimate NPP at the regional scale remains limited due to large uncertainties in the response of NPP to multiple interacting climate factors and uncertainties in the driver data sets needed to estimate NPP. In this study, we introduced an improved NPP algorithm that used local driver data sets and parameters in China. We found that bias decreased by 30% for gross primary production …

The Russian Mission: Seventh-Day Adventism, Bolshevism, And The Imminent Apocalypse, 1881 - 1946, Garett B. Tree

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The first Adventist missionaries made their way into Russia in the late 1880’s, where they experienced imprisonment, exile, and sometimes both. The scope of my thesis concerns the Seventh-Day Adventist Church and how Adventist missionaries and leaders endeavored on the Russian Mission. Using the writings, letters, and correspondence of these missionaries, as well as the myriad Adventist periodicals, I explain and analyze the evolution of the Mission from its inception to the end of the Second World War. In what ways did Adventist missionaries or Adventist media outlets abroad understand, explain, or justify the Russian Mission and its hardships? What …

Selene, Sarah Justice

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

My MFA Thesis Exhibition, Selene (Greek goddess of the moon), is an autobiographical journey through self- discovery, recognizing the power of my past seductive and destructive behavior surrounding sexuality. This current body of work serves as a metaphor for “moth to a flame” analogy and “if you are not careful the flame can burn you”.

My journey through personal healing from past traumatic events has taught me that my vulnerability is what breeds my strength. Ways that people navigate life being vulnerable and how they heal from wounds stemming from abuse, addictions, broken hearts, and loss varies among people. I …