Digital Commons Network^™

Wildlife Decomposition In West Central Montana: A Preliminary Study Conducted To Provide Field Investigation Material And Training For Wildlife Officers, F. Carleen Gonder

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

An issue with many poaching investigations is the discovery of carcasses in advanced stages of decomposition with little information to indicate time of death (TOD). To address TOD issues of carcasses found in a state of decomposition, and to provide training materials and field tools for investigating officers, this project was initiated to identify decomposition stages and to monitor decomposition rates for those stages in the west central area of Montana. A total of 15 carcasses were placed in electrified exclosures during various times of the year which provided seasonal variation and include: a pair of gray wolves (8 total) …

The Extravaganza Awaits, Kathryn Lorraine Rodriguez

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Abstract The Extravaganza Awaits This paper addresses ideas in my thesis work, consisting of a series of paintings which evolved into installation. My ideas concern notions of spectacle, consumption of information, and self-gratifying selection. I lighten these ideas with humor and treat them with a carnivalesque aesthetic, appropriate to the absurdity that I see characteristic of them. Painting places the issues in a narrative context, but the story remains open- ended to allow the viewer to bring personal associations to the work. I specifically selected images of friends and family unfamiliar to the viewer and a lexicon of personal symbols …

The Relationship Among Washington State County Commissioners Knowledge And Perceptions Of Washington State University Extension And Their Willingness To Fund Wsu Extension, James Hilmer Lindstrom

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The study determined the relationship between perceptions that the Washington State county commissioners' hold of WSU Extension and their knowledge of WSU Extension. In addition, the study determined whether their perceptions, knowledge, and/or understanding of Extension are related to and thereby may have predictability to their willingness to provide the essential local funding to continue the educational programs Extension delivers. The study addressed the interest Washington State county commissioners/county council members have in funding WSU Extension, which directly affects the critical element of maximizing Extension's impact on society. As a publicly funded educational organization, WSU Extension faces an uncertain fiscal …

Around The World And Back: A Discovery In India, Charlie L. Gaare

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The impetus for my journey was the desire to learn more about another culture, and pursue the idea of the old cliché: be the change I wanted to see in the world. This journey fulfilled the requirements of the project in multiple ways. It was a major risk to travel to another country with a language barrier on my own. The amount of work it took to prepare for the trip and face the challenges of the experience itself was very labor intensive. I had to do this because I needed to see that I could make a difference. I …

Evolution Of Roots, Robin Eileen Browning

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Browning, Robin, M.A., June 2008 Integrated Arts and Education Evolution of Roots Chairperson: Karen Kaufmann Committee Members: Jim Kriley and Dorothy Morrison Somewhere a seed was planted long ago. It grew, changed and developed. It was sheltered, nurtured, fed and pruned. This seed took form, evolving to become a tiny sprout. The sprout was exposed to warmth and rain, time and sometimes pain, a process lending to further maturation. This in turn, once again, changed the youngster to a young sapling. Education, unfamiliar concepts, and exposure to new and different areas and elements developed this young sapling into an adult …

Novel Roles Of The Endocannabinoid System In Modulating Synaptic Plasticity, Alicia Ninet Angell

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Learning and memory formation are invaluable processes in human life; however, the cellular mechanisms that control these phenomena are largely unknown. Synaptic plasticity, which is the ability of the synapse between two neurons to change in strength based on activity, is believed to be a key process in the formation of memories and learning. Endocannabinoids (eCB) have recently emerged as important modulators of synaptic plasticity but their precise roles and mechanisms are not well understood and many contradictions exist in the current literature. We have investigated the roles of eCBs and their primary receptor, the CB1 receptor, in the central …

Perceptions Of Borough Incorporation Held By Community Leaders In Delta Junction, Alaska, Michelle Albus Johnson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Regional governments exist in an overwhelming majority of the United States and are often considered a necessary and natural progression of a developing region. Alaska offers a unique opportunity to explore perceptions of regional incorporation, as it is the only remaining state in the Union to have unincorporated area. Thus, after a rural region of Alaska petitioned the state legislature to politically incorporate, I conducted qualitative in-depth semi-structured interviews with local community leaders to explore their perceptions of the proposed incorporation. Existing literature often refers to leaders as either elite, self-interested individuals or as functional, community-interested individuals. This study explored …

Pre- And Post-Copulatory Sexual Selection In The Tortoise Beetle Acromis Sparsa (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), Paula Alejandra Trillo

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Females in nearly all sexually reproducing taxa mate with multiple males. In these species, male fitness is dependent on traits used during both the pre-copulatory processes influencing mate acquisition, as well as the post-copulatory processes influencing fertilization. However, few studies have simultaneously examined pre- and post-copulatory sexual selection within a particular species, and we therefore have little understanding of how these processes interact to determine male reproductive success.

The objective of my study was to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the evolution of sexually selected traits by examining the interactions between pre- and post-copulatory processes in the tortoise beetle …

Probing Structural Differences Of Recombinant Prion Isoforms Using Fluorescence Spectroscopy, Jessica Louise Gilbert

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Conversion of prion protein (PrP) from its normal, cellular isoform, PrPC, to an infectious, misfolded, fibrillar isoform, PrPSc, is responsible for various neurodegenerative diseases in a variety of mammalian hosts. Although the structure of PrPC is well studied, the structure of PrPSc is not known. Obtaining structural information on the misfolded isoform of prion may lead to preventative therapies and treatments of prion diseases. In this study, six single-tryptophan mutants of recombinant PrP were expressed, purified, and refolded into PrPC or two misfolded isoforms of prion, PrPb and PrPF. Solvent accessibilities of the six tryptophan residues were probed among the …

Redeveloping A Montana Food Processing Industry: The Role Of Food Innovation Centers, Jessica Babcock

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Montana produces a staggering amount of food crops, yet the state struggles to enjoy the fruits of this abundance. The majority of Montana crops and livestock are shipped out of state as raw commodities, a practice that retains very little of the added value of the crop. Processing these crops within the state would help retain more of their value; however, Montana’s food processing industry has undergone changes that have resulted in decreased availability of food processing facilities and services to agricultural growers and producers. Over the past 70 years, there has been a simultaneous decline in decentralized food manufacturing …

Residential Development Patterns In Flathead County, Montana, Louis Anthony Jarvis

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Population growth in the Non-Metropolitan West has increased over the last two decades. Many researchers have argued that natural amenity concerns, the quality and diversity of the environment, and the rural nature of the non-metropolitan West are the chief factors influencing individuals’ decisions to settle. This research examines a single high-amenity county in Western Montana, Flathead County, and analyzes the factors affecting land values and the probability of residential development at the parcel level. This research develops spatial variables thought to affect land values in an ArcGIS 9.2 environment and develops a regression model that estimates land values based on …

Role Of Scavenger Receptor Marco In Particle Uptake And Lung Inflammation, Sheetal A. Thakur

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Alveolar macrophages (AM) form the first line of defense against chronic inflammation caused by occupational exposure to environmental particulates such as crystalline silica (CSiO2). The chronic inflammatory process triggered by CSiO2 is known to culminate into a fibrotic response called silicosis in the human lungs. Previous studies have indicated the role of membrane glycoproteins called scavenger receptors in binding of environmental particles. The scavenger receptors are classified into different classes (A-H) based on their structure and function. Class A scavenger receptors are critical in uptake of variety of ligands such as bacteria, acetylated lipoproteins and are typically found on macrophages, …

Material And Social Relations In Friedrich Von Hardenberg's Heinrich Von Afterdingen, Robert Earl Mottram

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In an attempt to widen interpretations, this study first explores the myths associated with Friedrich von Hardenberg, commonly known as Novalis, which have resulted in the neglect of material interpretations of his works. After an introduction to Hardenberg's theory of the Self and Karl Marx's theory of alienation, an analysis of Hardenberg's most widely read work, Heinrich von Afterdingen, demonstrates how Hardenberg was as concerned with the material and the social relations among human beings and their labor as he was with their spiritual endeavors. The self-development of Heinrich, the main character in Afterdingen, is chronicled in this study with …

Mobile Genetic Elements In Coxiella Burnetii: Friends, Foes Or Just Indifferent?, Rahul Raghavan

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The genome of the obligate intracellular pathogen Coxiella burnetii contains a large number of mobile genetic elements including two group I introns and an intervening sequence (IVS) that interrupt the 23S rRNA gene; an intein within dnaB (encoding replicative DNA helicase) and a homing endonuclease. The introns are self-splicing ribozymes and able to inhibit ribosome function and retard bacterial growth through internal guide sequence (IGS)-dependent and -independent mechanisms. The introns were found to be highly conserved in all eight genomic groups of C. burnetii, suggesting a role in C. burnetii's biology. It is not clear whether the introns are being …

El Milagro De Almeria, Espana: A Political Ecology Of Landscape Change And Greenhouse Agriculture, Robert Tyrell Wolosin

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate changes in the landscape of Almería in southeastern Spain, particularly in relation to the emergence of the 80,000-acre greenhouse sector. This thesis questions why the province of Almería has the highest concentration of greenhouses in the world and determines what processes led to this industry. The research focuses on local-global scale interactions and environmental history analysis within a political ecology framework. The methods for data collection included literature review of secondary sources and four months living in Almería conducting interviews and field observations. Located in Europe’s driest desert, the greenhouses of Almería …

Hierarchical Summer Habitat Selection By The North American Porcupine In Western Montana, Katie Ann Mally

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The North American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum) has continually been a species of low priority for research and conservation efforts in the western United States. While many porcupine populations have been studied in North America, little to no research has been done on porcupines in western Montana or habitats of similar composition. More recently it has been noted that porcupine sightings have become rare in western Montana is areas where sightings were once common. Due to the overall lack of information about western porcupine populations it is imperative to gather basic natural history information in order to make informed management decisions. …

Images As A Layer Of Positive Rhetoric: A Values-Based Case Study Exploring The Interaction Between Visual And Verbal Elements Found On A Rural Natural Resources Non-Profit Organization Website, Vailferree Stilwell Brechtel

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No Abstract.

Comparison Of Silica Polyamine Composites And Crosslinked Polystyrene Resins, Jessica Lee Wood

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The development of silica polyamine composites (SPC) was inspired by the need for more environmentally benign ways of extracting and recovering technologically important and environmentally dangerous metals from waste streams. These solid phase adsorbents are designed to endure the extreme conditions associated with environmental remediation and the metal processing industry. In order for the silica polyamine composites to be viable in industry, their performance must meet or exceed the current methods of metal extraction from aqueous media. A study was undertaken to compare three silica polyamine composites: WP-2, BPAP, and CuWRAM, with their closest crosslinked polystyrene resin analogs. The studies …

Comparisons In The Cranial Form Of The Blackfeet Indians: A Reassessment Of Boas' Native American Data, Jenee Caprice Gesler

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Franz Boas proposed almost one hundred yeas ago that cranial plasticity explained the differences in cranial form between European-born immigrants and their American-born children. Plasticity refers to the idea that the body responds to environmental forces during growth and development. If the environment does affect cranial growth and development, than differences should be seen in populations living under different ecological conditions. In this study anthropometric measurements will be used to test for differences in head and face measurements of members of the Blackfeet Nation using multivariate statistics. The tests are designed to detect differences between the three tribes of the …

Cottonwood Establishment In A Gravel-Bed River, Claudio Ivan Meier

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

I investigated the processes of establishment of the cottonwood Populus trichocarpa T.&G. along the pristine, 5th order, wandering floodplain of the gravel-bed Flathead River, Montana, USA. The focus of my research was to determine the mechanisms explaining successful recruitment on recently formed, unvegetated bars, covering a range of spatial scales from within-bar (~ 1 to 10 m) to across-reach (~ 1 to 10 km). Results are based on field observations and measurements over three growth seasons (2005 through 2007), as well as outdoor and laboratory experiments.

At the within-bar scale, I used a paired-plot sampling design to compare closely-located sites …

Demography And Ecology Of A Declining Endemic: The Olympic Marmot, Suzanne Cox Griffin

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Protected areas serve to conserve species, habitats, and ecological processes. However, biological systems within even large parks are increasingly affected by outside perturbations. The Olympic marmots (Marmota olympus) are ground-dwelling squirrel that inhabit high-elevation meadows almost exclusively within Olympic National Park Despite this protection, anecdotal reports in the 1990's of disappearances from historically occupied locations suggested that the species was in decline. I used demographic monitoring, habitat surveys, and non-invasive genetic sampling to evaluate population status of the species and consider the effects of several possible stressors. Olympic marmots disappeared from ~50% of well-studied colonies, and abandoned burrow complexes were …

Disruption Of 8-Hydroxy-2'-Deoxyguanosine Dna Glycosylase (Ogg1) Antioxidant Response Capacity By Sodium Arsenite, David Paul Cox

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine DNA glycosylase is the first step and rate-limiting enzyme involved in the removal of 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine via the base excision repair pathway. Transcriptional regulation of human Ogg1 is sensitive to redox changes via modulation of intracellular glutathione. In response to changes in glutathione, changes in hOgg1 transcription occur similar to genes regulated by the transcription factor Nrf2. It was determined that positions - 47 to - 44 in the hOgg1 promoter are necessary for basal transcription of Ogg1 determined by site-directed deletion. This region is capable of interacting with nuclear protein determined by binding assays. Furthermore, transcription factor Nrf2 is …

Zooxanthellae, Christine Bown

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Um Lands Two Prestigious Awards For Early-Career Scientists, University Of Montana--Missoula. Office Of University Relations

University of Montana News Releases, 1928, 1956-present

No abstract provided.

Quercetin Ingestion Does Not Alter Cytokine Changes In Athletes Competing In The Western States Endurance Run, David Nieman, Dru Henson, J. Mark Davis, Charles Dumke, Sarah J. Gross Gowin, D. Paul Jenkins, E. Angela Murphy, Martin D. Carmichael, John C. Quindry, Steven R. Mcanulty, Lisa S. Mcanulty, Alan C. Utter, Eugene P. Mayer

Integrative Physiology and Athletic Training Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to measure the influence of quercetin on plasma cytokines, leukocyte cytokine mRNA, and related variables in ultramarathoners competing in the 160-km Western States Endurance Run (WSER). Sixty-three runners were randomized to quercetin and placebo groups and under double-blinded methods ingested 1000 mg/day quercetin for 3 weeks before the WSER. Thirty-nine of the 63 subjects (n = 18 for quercetin, n = 21 for placebo) finished the race and provided blood samples the morning before the race and 15–30 min postrace. Significant prerace to postrace WSER increases were measured for nine proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory …

Monitoring Old Growth In Frequent-Fire Landscapes, Carl E. Fiedler, Peter Friederici, Mark Petruncio

Forest Management Faculty Publications

In this article, we discuss how to monitor the structural and functional attributes of old growth, as well as its associated plant communities and wildlife, both to determine the possible need for treatment and to assess post-treatment progress toward desired conditions. Monitoring can be used to detect conditions (or agents) that threaten existing old growth and also to document indicators of healthy, functioning old-growth systems.

Um Peers Group Nabs National Award, University Of Montana--Missoula. Office Of University Relations

University of Montana News Releases, 1928, 1956-present

No abstract provided.

Montana Kaimin, November 15, 2007, Students Of The University Of Montana, Missoula

Montana Kaimin, 1898-present

Student newspaper of the University of Montana, Missoula.

Montana Kaimin, November 14, 2007, Students Of The University Of Montana, Missoula

Montana Kaimin, 1898-present

Student newspaper of the University of Montana, Missoula.

Montana Kaimin, November 9, 2007, Students Of The University Of Montana, Missoula

Montana Kaimin, 1898-present

Student newspaper of the University of Montana, Missoula.