Digital Commons Network^™

Repairing Warranted Public Trust In Science Through Political Reconciliation, Anna Cat Jay Reely

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The ability of science-based policy to promote public welfare is contingent upon the presence of warranted public trust. However, as exposed by the case of COVID-19 vaccination efforts, public trust in the scientific community is not so readily attained. Many communities, particularly those who are systematically marginalized, have suffered severe harm in the name of scientific advancement. As a manifestation of tarnished rapport, individuals within these communities arguably engage in warranted distrust. While many scholars have attempted to articulate the conditions for warranted public trust in science, proposals have failed to account for the non-neutral state of the relationship between …

Service Learning, Sustainable Development, And The Tourism Sector In Conflict-Affected Bamyan, Afghanistan, Kelly Elizabeth Franklin

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Widespread consensus among the tourism and development studies literature suggests that higher education plays a key role in the achievement of sustainable tourism development. However, discussions on approaches to teaching sustainability in tourism at the higher education level are underdeveloped, especially in conflict-affected contexts. To address this gap, this study combines an examination of tourism stakeholders’ perceptions of inclusive and sustainable tourism development for a small tourism sector in Bamyan, Afghanistan, with an innovative approach to teaching sustainability in a tourism higher education program. Using mixed qualitative methods, this dissertation first examines tourism stakeholders’ perceptions of inclusive and sustainable tourism …

Hiding The Authentic Self: Concealment Of Gender And Sexual Identity And Its Consequences For Authenticity And Psychological Well-Being, James Michael Brennan

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Background: Concealment of gender and sexual identity is a reaction to societal stigma against gender and sexual minority (GSM) identities. Despite initially protecting against stigma, concealment has longterm psychological consequences. These consequences are potentially attributable to the psychological damage incurred from a reduced sense of authenticity among those who conceal their gender and sexual identity. Authenticity is compromised by concealment, serving to disrupt a person’s self-concept, as external behavior and an innate sense of self diverge. On top of that, an individual’s mental and emotional states may be impacted by these discrepancies. Additionally, concealment undermines the pursuit of intrinsically-motivated, goal-directed …

The Efficacy Of Art And Movement Treatment Modalities On An Individual With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Tristen Valentino

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Current statistics report 1 in 54 children have been identified with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), many of whom have co-occurring mental health disorders. However, minimal research has been conducted on adults with autism with co-occurring mental health disorders and the efficacy of art and movement therapy techniques. This is the case study by Tristen Valentino, clinical therapist, of a client, David Smith (who was given the pseudonym to maintain confidentiality), a 35-year-old, obese, single, cisgender, heterosexual, Caucasian, male. The implications of this case study are discussed relative to the diagnosis and treatment of adults with ASD who possess comorbid clinical …

Adult Perspectives Of Kaleidoscope Connect: A Social Emotional Program Aimed At Promoting Resilience Among Youth, Samantha Cody Russell

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Purpose. The current study explored the perspectives of adults who participate in Kaleidoscope Connect, and specifically, to understand how effective adults perceive the program in its attempt to promote resilience, school safety, and the psychological well-being of youth.

Background. Youth who encounter stressful life circumstances or experience trauma often experience negative life outcomes, such as lower academic achievement, mental illness, and perpetrating violence (Liu, Reed & Girard, 2016). Research, however, has demonstrated that some youth who have these experiences have more positive outcomes, including psychological health, strong academic achievement, and financial stability (Zolkoski & Bullock, 2012). Resilience is a dynamic …

Promoting Well-Being Among College Students: The Effects Of A Positive Psychology Course, Daniel Jm Salois

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

College students report high rates of mental distress, including depression, high stress, anxiety, lack of social support, and physical ailments. College campuses use a variety of approaches to address the well-being of students. However, existing interventions have mixed results and do not always reach all students who may need mental health support. Positive psychology courses and positive psychology interventions have shown promise in promoting well-being. In this quantitative, quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest archival study, I examined the effects of a semester-long happiness and positive psychology course (COUN 195) on students’ well-being and mental health. This innovative happiness course included didactic lectures, small …

Investigations On Novel Cyp26a1/B1 Inhibitor, Dx308: Using Atra Response As A Theraputic Target For Traumatic Brain Injury And Parkinson’S Disease, Jacob Morgan Leatherwood

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) take a wide spectrum of pathologies and have a tendency to present themselves later in life. Neurodegenerative diseases affect 6 million Americans annually with ~1 million currently living with Parkinson’s disease (PD). One of the greatest contributors to the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases is the occurrence of a traumatic brain injury (TBI) during life.

All-trans-retinoic acid (atRA) is the active metabolite of Vitamin A. The retinoic acid pathway is known to be activated following TBI and is reduced in PD patients. Previous studies found a decrease in inflammation and behavioral deficits following administration of Vitamin …

Conservation And Conversation In The Anthropocene, Brittany Alyse Garner

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The driving questions of this dissertation consider both the scientific and communicative understanding of conservation and extinction in the Anthropocene. Overall, this dissertation portfolio explores this topic via genetic and genomic data, international policy, big data analytics, human values, and the performing arts. Chapter 1 analyzes the use of genetics and genomics in conservation, finding multiple case studies within and outside of peer-reviewed journals. Chapters 2 and 3 quantify and describe the use of genetic principles and tools in a global species extinction risk assessment, the IUCN Red List, and finds low overall use but high potential for genetics to …

Identifying And Measuring Resilience Factors Among Children With Prenatal Substance Exposure In A Tribal Nation And In Association With Covid-19 Mortality, Helen Cecelia Russette

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Background: Historical and contemporary trauma among Native Americans is linked to disparate health outcomes across the lifespan including the very recent coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. Early and prolonged exposure to positive family-child engagement activities and the natural environment (greenspace) act as protective factors against a range of maladaptive development across the lifespan. Yet, little is known regarding specific activities relevant among high-risk families in Tribal Nations and no evidence exists in terms of measuring that impact of greenspace against risk of COVID-19 mortality.

Purpose: 1) Partner with a Tribal Nation to develop a study to identify resilience promoting factors in …

The Effect Of Test Difficulty On Perceived Memory Performance, Phoebe S. Bean

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Neuropsychological testing is a critical element of the assessment and treatment of a host of neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer’s Disease, stroke, and traumatic brain injury. Certain non-neurological variables may also affect an individual’s test performance. Such secondary factors may include current psychiatric issues, chronic pain, sleep, and the effort put forth during testing. Little is known, however, about the effect the testing process itself has on people’s actual and perceived cognitive abilities. For example, the process of undergoing memory testing may, through a variety of mechanisms, influence memory performance and impact the person such that their view of their …

Risk, Trust And Emergent Groups: Covid-19 Mutual Aid Networks, Allison M. Cutuli

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Throughout the world, thousands of local mutual aid networks (MANs) have emerged in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mutual aid involves exchanging resources, connecting people to services and building community. During the COVID-19 pandemic, mutual aid includes sharing COVID-19 information, social support, food and emergency funds in informal local networks. To learn more about these community networks and explore the perspectives and experiences of MAN participants around the United States, I conducted survey research. There are 101 individuals from 16 MANs in 11 states included in the survey sample.

There are two parts to this research. The first explores descriptive …

Understanding The Effect Of Community Resources On Disability Employment In The Mountain West, Arin James Leopold

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study examines the relationship between community resources and disability employment rate in the Mountain West. It draws on the five categories of Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) as defined by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) (2020) to select community resource variables. The determinants include: economic resources, health and health care, social and community context, infrastructure, and education. While there has been a good deal of work to understand how the SDOH can influence health outcomes, there has been little exploration of the influence that the SDOH has on employment outcomes for persons with disabilities (Frier …

Discourse Of Renewal: A Qualitative Analysis Of The University Of Montana’S Covid-19 Crisis Communication, Haley Renae Gabel

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be a public health crisis that has affected lives and impacted organizations across the world. The pandemic has interrupted student learning and threatened universities nationwide. Crises are trying times for organizations, and when faced with a crisis, an organization has an obligation to keep its members informed; therefore, it must carefully choose how to respond and communicate about the crisis. This study uses discourse of renewal theory as a lens to analyze the University of Montana’s communication about COVID-19, studying 37 pages of university emails and documents on the university website. Results indicate that …

Evaluating A Need For Somatic Access To Classical Objects In Public Museums, Jerod G. Peitsmeyer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Physical experiences with ancient art objects in museums are rare. Display paradigms in most public institutions continue to propagate systems of participant interaction that reinforces unequal power structures. The Montana Musuem of Art and Culture (MMAC) is the current custodian of an ancient, Rhodian wine amphora that provides an opportunity to examine a novel system of somatic participation. This proposal upends traditional gatekeeping practices and serves as a powerful and progressive, humanist touchstone; an olive branch extended to the general public from behind the walls of higher education and the ramparts of privileged scholarship. This study reimagines the amphora's future …

A Comprehensive Forensic Case Report For The Bonner County Coroner Case #20-100, Megan Copeland

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This report consists of an inventory of the skeletal remains of case #20-100, assessment of the minimum number of individuals (MNI), a biological profile if possible, and a literature review of ­­­the use of DNA in ancestry estimations. The skeletal remains are consistent with an MNI of one. The remains are likely from a male individual, and skeletal features display a mixture of European and Asian characteristics. The individual is estimated to be between of 25-35 years old with an estimated stature of between 5’1” and 5’6”.

All In Due Time: Multi-Trait Assessment Of Elk Acclimation To Translocation, Ellen Marie Pero

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Wildlife translocation – the intentional movement of animals – is a crucial conservation tool for restoring species and halting global biodiversity decline. However, this practice is challenging for wildlife, and animals must adjust to their release landscapes for restoration to be successful. The period following release is a vulnerable time for translocated wildlife and determining when and how animals eventually acclimate following releases allows researchers to efficiently tailor post-release management to each species’ needs, thus maximizing the success of translocations while minimizing costs of an already expensive conservation practice. In this dissertation, I investigate changes in the physiological, behavioral, and …

Policy And Collaborative Governance: Case Studies Of Three Wildlife Crossings, Nicholas Maya

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Over the last several decades, the number of wildlife-vehicle collisions in North America has significantly increased, driving substantial loss of human life and wildlife and economic costs. The most effective wildlife-vehicle collision mitigation is wildlife crossing structures (undercrossings and overcrossings), with some studies suggesting they can reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions by 97% when paired with wildlife exclusion fencing. However, cost, funding, jurisdiction, land ownership, and local support are limiting factors in constructing these crossing structures. This paper presents case studies of three crossing projects in Snoqualmie, Washington, Teton County, Wyoming, and Summit County, Colorado, to illustrate the similarities and differences in …

Using Formulation To Unlock Vaccine Adjuvant Efficacy For Toll-Like And C-Type Lectin Receptor Agonsts, Kristopher Kenneth Short

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Ligands for pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) have been isolated or synthesized for use as adjuvants in order to improve the magnitude and quality of the immune response of vaccines. In particular, basic research of toll-like receptor (TLR) and C-type lectin receptor (CLR) families has culminated in the production of novel ligands with agonist activity. To use these PRR agonists as vaccine adjuvants, it is necessary to properly formulate them in delivery systems to unlock their agonist activity. The objective of this work was to develop liposomal and oil-in-water (O/W) emulsion formulations for TLR4 and TLR7/8 agonists and to develop O/W …

Towards Evidence-Based And Data-Driven Recommendations Promoting Independence In Later Life: Gait Speed, Falls, And Activities Of Daily Living In Older Adults, Claire Elaine Adam

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Background: Falls in older adults are a significant public health challenge. Fall prevention as well as intervention after a fall both are critical to reduce the negative consequences and improve quality of life in older age.

Purpose: 1) Quantify the association between gait speed and fall risk in a cross-sectional analysis for older adults with and without cognitive impairment. 2) Determine if there is an association between change in gait speed and fall risk in a longitudinal analysis including older adults with and without cognitive impairment. 3) Quantify the association between falls and difficulty with activities of daily …

Size Matters: Nanoparticles, Biological Sex, And Lung Disease, Jessica Lynn Ray

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The majority of lung diseases occur with a sex-bias is prevalence and/or severity. However, due to the historical disregard for sex as a biological variable in basic and clinical research, there is a fundamental lack of understanding on when and why respiratory inflammation preferentially affects males or females. The inhalation of engineered nanomaterials (ENM; intentionally produced by anthropogenic means and defined as having one dimension as < 100 nm) are of particular concern when considering emerging threats to lung health. Due to their extremely small size, these respirable particles are capable of reaching the functional gas exchange region of the lungs, where they cannot be easily cleared and subsequently lead to persistent inflammation, decreased lung function, and susceptibility to the development of other respiratory diseases. Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) are an ENM of interest due to their widespread use in industrial, consumer, and medical applications, making them a potential hazard in both occupational and environmental settings. Alveolar macrophages (AMs) are the resident immune cells within the lungs that are responsible for phagocytosing and clearing inhaled xenobiotics, including ENM. However, typical AM clearance mechanisms are ineffective at removing persistent and pathogenic ENM such as MWCNTs, leading to the production of inflammatory mediators and the recruitment of other inflammatory immune cells. AMs have the ability to adopt a wide spectrum of functional phenotypes dependent upon endogenous and exogenous signals; these phenotypes ensure that the appropriate immune response is initiated in response to a given xenobiotic. However, when dysregulated, these phenotypes are also associated with different disease states. Interestingly, there is emerging data that sex steroid hormones (estrogen, specifically) impact AM phenotype development and inflammatory signaling, which may be, in part, responsible for the reported sex-biases observed in human lung diseases. The present research identifies sex-differences in MWCNT-induced lung inflammation, AM phenotype development, and one mechanism by which sex hormones impact AM function and subsequent inflammation.

School Mental Health Professionals' Perceived Efficacy Of Violence Prevention Programs And School Climate In Rural Schools, Jennifer Rotzal

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In the United States, incidents of school violence increased 113 percent during the 2017-2018 school year from the 2016-2017 school year (Klinger, 2019). This increase in violence in schools makes the current movement for safer schools all the more critical. Although high-profile school shootings often obtain media attention, school violence remains a significant problem in the United States. Further, aside from the tragic but statistically rare school shootings, school violence encompasses several forms of physical violence, such as assaults; sexual violence, such as rape and sexual harassment; varying forms of bullying, including cyberbullying, and bringing weapons to school. The increase …

Albuquerque, Suzanne Joy Garcia Pino

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This story is about living in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2017 as a mixed-race woman with Hispanic, European, and Indigenous Mexican and Puebloan ancestry. Albuquerque seeks to understand how marginalized cultures become subsumed and ultimately lost by the dominate culture. As a child of mixed heritage, I am interested in the internalization of this cultural disappearance, and all the subtle yet profound choices my ancestors have made: my grandparents refused to teach Spanish to their children so they would fit in better with the whites, my Indian great grandfather fled Mexico, leaving behind his tribe and culture, never to return. …

Tennessee Williams: The Characters Are The Playwright, Peter A. Philips

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Tennessee Williams was first and foremost a personage of the South, having been born, raised, and nurtured in the Mississippi Delta country. His early influences formed the concept of his “American Theatre.” He was a keen observer of people and places and wrote about the individuals he studied. He espoused the idea that as a homosexual he had the innate capability to write and appreciate various genders and sexualities, expressing himself as the character being developed in the moment of creation. Williams’s works, though containing moments of great humor, often trend toward darkness, becoming ever more pessimistic of human survival …

A Comparison Of Outcomes Of A Home-Based Cardiac Rehabilitation Program As An Alternative To Traditional Outpatient Phase Ii Cardiac Rehabilitation, Colton M.R. Crismore

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Phase II outpatient cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is an intervention offered to patients that have been diagnosed with heart disease, undergone various procedures such as stenting or valve replacement, or to those with claudication diseases. Home-based cardiac rehabilitation (HBCR) is an alternative approach to traditional outpatient phase II CR, that is an emergent area of study with preliminary evidence showing in some outcomes that it approximates traditional CR. As there is current interest in the study of HBCR, this paper examines outcomes of mortality, risk factor modification, exercise capacity, and cardiac function to determine the extent to which this intervention may …

A Reintroduction Retrospective: Comparative Fisher (Pekania Pennanti) Survival And Prey Habitat Use In The Cascade Mountains Of Washington State, Tanner S.T. Humphries

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Increasing human impacts on biodiversity highlight the global need for ecological restoration. For many wildlife species, reintroduction is necessary to re-establish populations in parts of their historic range where they have been extirpated. Reintroduction efforts are commonly used to help restore ecosystem integrity, but are often expensive, time consuming, and unsuccessful at generating self-sustaining populations. Thus, a more complete understanding of the factors affecting restoration success is important for ensuring successful outcomes and responsible stewardship. Fishers (Pekania pennanti) are one of the most commonly reintroduced carnivores in North America, but the success of such efforts is highly variable, …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of A Transgender-Affirmative Care Training On Healthcare Workers’ And Trainees’ Attitudes Toward And Knowledge Of Routine Care And Transition Support For Transgender Individuals, Oakleigh Marshall Reed

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Objectives: Transgender individuals, often highly stigmatized and discriminated against, face challenging barriers regarding seeking routine- and transition-related physical and mental health care (James et al., 2016). What has been consistent throughout time is that contact as an intervention (i.e., personal contact, contact with educational materials, and/or contact with general media outlets) has been found to be associated with improved attitudes toward and knowledge of marginalized communities (Braun et al., 2017; Click et al., 2019; Reed, 2018; Stroumsa et al., 2019). The aim of the current study was to explore the impact contact with a transgender-affirmative care training may have on …

Polya: A Tool For Adjudicating Competing Annotations Of Biological Sequences, Kaitlin Carey

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Annotation of a biological sequence is usually performed by aligning that sequence to a database of known sequence elements. When that database contains elements that are highly similar to each other, the proper annotation may be ambiguous, because several entries in the database produce high-scoring alignments. Typical annotation methods work by assigning a label based on the candidate annotation with the highest alignment score; this can overstate annotation certainty, mislabel boundaries, and fails to identify large scale rearrangements or insertions within the annotated sequence. Here, I present a new software tool, PolyA, that adjudicates between competing alignment-based annotations by computing …

Resilience, Childhood Trauma History, And Foster Care Experience In College Students, Ashlyn M. Kincaid, Ashlyn M. Kincaid

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Investigation Of Emissions And Chemistry Of Formic Acid And Acetic Acid In Wildfire Smoke, Catherine Elizabeth Wielgasz

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Formic acid (HCOOH) and acetic acid (CH₃COOH) are two of the most ubiquitous organic acids in the atmosphere. Chemical transport models consistently underestimate HCOOH and CH₃COOH concentrations in environments including fire smoke, implying our incomplete understanding of their global budget. Emissions and secondary production of HCOOH and CH₃COOH within complex mixtures in fire smoke is uncertain.

I used measurements from the NSF/NCAR C-130 aircraft during the Western Wildfire Experiment for Cloud Chemistry, Aerosol Absorption, and Nitrogen (WE-CAN) campaign to investigate emissions and photochemical production of HCOOH and CH₃COOH from smoke plumes. First, …

Ecotoxicological And Physiological Effects Of Salinity On Amphibians, Brian James Tornabene

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Salinity is a persistent anthropogenic contaminant that negatively effects freshwater species, communities, and ecosystems. High-salinity wastewaters from energy extraction (wastewaters) and road salts are major contributors to increased salinity (NaCl; sodium chloride), but most studies focus on effects of NaCl roads salts. Amphibians are particularly vulnerable to contaminants such as increased salinity because of their porous skin, dependence on freshwater, and poor osmoregulatory capacity. We investigated the relative effects of wastewaters and NaCl on three species of larval amphibians with acute toxicity experiments (Chapter 1). Effects of wastewaters on larvae were predominantly due to high concentrations of NaCl and both …