Digital Commons Network^™

The Birth Of Afghanistan: From Ancient Persia To A Modern-Day Multiethnic And Linguistic Country, Tyler A. Worm

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis offers a comprehensive historical analysis of the formation and evolution of Afghan identity from antiquity through the early medieval period, emphasizing the region’s role as a dynamic crossroads of civilizations. It traces the origins of Afghan populations to Indo-Iranian pastoralist migrations and examines the successive influence of major imperial formations, including the Median and Achaemenid Persian empires, the conquests of Alexander and the Seleucid period, and the rise of the Kushan, Parthian, and Sasanian states. Through this longue durée approach, the study demonstrates how Afghanistan’s geographic position facilitated continuous cultural interaction, economic exchange, and political contestation, producing a …

Heart Of Stone: Geomorphization Through Stone-Oriented Affects, Grace F. Foster

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis draws from the work of geologist Marcia Bjornerud to bring a scientific (specifically geologic) understanding of humanity’s relationship to our home planet to bear in a literary context. I employ Bjornerud’s term “geomorphization” to expand from inter-species kinship to inter-substance kinship and to establish stone as an active, lively subject without relying on anthropomorphization. Geomorphization as I define it refers to recognizing similarity between ourselves and stone/Earth on the basis of our stoniness rather than stone’s human-ness. Geomorphizing ourselves entails what Bjornerud calls “timefulness,” a geologic perspective on temporality that sees the past as continually acting in the …

A Culture-Centered Approach To Exploring The Impact Of Culturallyappropriate Communication On Patient-Provider Communication Satisfaction For Blackfeet Patients With Type 2 Diabetes, Zita K. Ottersbach

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study explores how culturally appropriate communication influences perceived quality of care and communication satisfaction among patients with T2D. Grounded in the Culture-Centered Approach (Dutta, 2008), this study explores how cultural identity, systemic structures, and communication practices shape the ways that Amskapi Pikuni individuals navigate their care, and seeks to ask: How, if at all, does a provider’s culturally competent communication influence a Blackfeet patient’s management of their T2 Diabetes? This project is based on in-depth, qualitative interviews with 13 Blackfeet participants, most living within the exterior boundaries of the Blackfeet reservation and receiving their primary healthcare at the local …

Space Use, Habitat Selection, And Flight Behavior Of Eagles Across Northwestern North America, Stephen Bernard Lewis

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Understanding how behavioral strategies shape movement, space use, and risk exposure is essential for conserving long-lived raptors. In this dissertation, I use high-resolution GPS telemetry from bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) to examine how behavioral state, environmental context, and temporal dynamics structure raptor ecology across Alaska, British Columbia, and the western United States.

Chapter 1 used random forest classification of movement data from 43 bald eagles and 94 golden eagles to identify territorial, nesting, and floater seasons with high accuracy. Floaters comprised roughly one-third of all seasons in both species, and many individuals exhibited consistent state-specific …

Water Scarcity In The Bitterroot Valley, August W. Guenthner

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Water scarcity in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley is an increasingly urgent issue, driven by the dual pressures of climate change and rapid population growth. Since 1970, the Bitterroot has been the fastest-growing region in the state, with much of this growth occurring in low-density rural subdivisions that rely on individual groundwater wells. Simultaneously, climate change has reduced snowpack levels, leading to diminished springtime recharge of surface water systems that are vital for both ecological and agricultural needs. For the Valley’s agricultural producers, adapting to decreasing water availability will be essential for sustaining their operations. This research project was designed to better …

Seahorsedad: A Study Of Metaphors In Transmasculine Birther’S Instagram Posts, Alexa Anne Runnion

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Dominant notions of pregnancy frame gestation as a solely female process. However, the experiences of transmasculine birthers challenge this assumption, demonstrating that pregnancy is not inherently tied to womanhood but is instead shaped by social and cultural narratives and representations. This paper explores the unique pregnancy and parental exercises of transmasculine birthers by examining public social media posts under the hashtag #seahorsedad on Instagram. Utilizing metaphorical criticism, I aim to uncover how transmasculine birthers, known within the community as “seahorse dads,” both uphold and resist traditional notions of gender, pregnancy, and parenting through a combination of textual and visual metaphor. …

Increasing Nature Connection And Decreasing Climate Change Distress In An Indigenous Population: The Development Of A Traditional Ecological Knowledge Intervention Framework, Olathe Antonio

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Research suggests that nature connection is positively correlated with pro-environmental behaviors, concern for the climate, general wellbeing, and subjective levels of climate change distress. Few research studies have examined how to increase nature connectedness without increasing psychological distress. Such research is especially important for those who are disproportionately affected by climate change such as Indigenous Peoples. To address this discrepancy, we developed a culturally-grounded psychological intervention framework based in traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) for Indigenous populations and offered an adapted example for a Navajo population. The intervention was created in collaboration with TEK experts to conceptualize key psychologically-relevant TEK principles, …

Indigenous Placemaking, Colonial Placetaking, And Indigenous Data Sovereignty: Implications Of Environmental Data Collection On Tribal Lands, Paige Nizhonii Kya'iyo Johnson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This project investigates how Indigenous Data Sovereignty protocols apply to environmental data collected on Tribal lands by federal and state entities. The 2011 and 2014 flooding of the Missouri River and a need for further soil moisture data led the United States Army Corps of Engineers Omaha District to implement a Mesonet weather station monitoring network across the Upper Missouri River Basin (UMRB). Historically, the Army Corps of Engineers has not included Indigenous perspectives into their decision-making, and this has caused Tribes to be distrustful of partnerships with them. The UMRB monitoring network will span across the Upper Missouri River …

Hormonal Decay After Death: Evaluating Dhea-S As A Potential Molecular Marker For Postmortem Estimation, Marisa Lydia Novak

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Post-mortem interval (PMI) estimation is a central component of forensic anthropological investigation, but traditional methods for estimating time since death lose accuracy after ~72 hours. Recent research indicates that some steroid hormones may undergo predictable degradation patterns after death, offering potential use as biochemical clocks for PMI estimation beyond this threshold. Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), and its sulfate form (DHEA-S) are of particular interest due to their metabolic stability, systemic influence, and association with trauma. This study investigates whether DHEA-S hormonal degradation patterns correlate with time elapsed since death and body temperature, evaluating their potential as biochemical PMI markers. 160 mL of …

Federal Dust, David R. Phares

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

These are fragments of my work. None of the pieces in here are complete. They are horizons and guide posts.

Small Mammal Population Dynamics And Torpor Use In A Changing Subnivean Environment, Derik Butts

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Despite global temperature increases, winter soil surface temperatures in some northern regions might actually be getting colder due to diminishing snowpacks exposing the soil surface to ambient winter conditions. Small mammal species in northern temperate areas often utilize a microclimate beneath the snow, known as the subnivium, to escape harsh winter conditions. Exposure to winter conditions without the subnivium as a buffer could cause small mammals to experience physiological stress and population declines. In this thesis, I explore the impacts of a declining subnivium from two complementary perspectives. In chapter 1, we used a structural equation model (SEM) to test …

Slaying The Windigo: Fear And Faith In The Anthropocene, Daniel J. Irwin

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis examines the changing affect of fear in the environment and how it is influencing writing in the Anthropocene. Chapter one lays the groundwork for the present moment of ecocriticism, examining how the relationship with the environment has changed throughout the history of ecocritical writing. The second chapter examines how fear has been an intrinsic element of environmental storytelling, starting with the romantic ideas of the sublime. With the recognition of the impact that humanity has had on Earth over the past several centuries, and the accelerating acceptance of the idea of the Anthropocene since the turn of the …

Social Connection And Disability: A Longitudinal Experimental Study Of Intervention Effectiveness And Moderators, Krys Standley

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Background: Social disconnection is an epidemic-level problem that is exacerbated for people with disabilities. There is a pressing need for theory-based research to illuminate the factors that contribute to effective interventions for improving social connection in this population.

Objectives: The objectives of this study were 1) to test the hypothesis that the Peer Collective, a six-week, online, group-based intervention centered on social support topics, would result in increased levels of social connection among community-dwelling adults with any types of disabilities and 2) to examine potential moderating effects in this hypothesized relationship.

Method: A longitudinal intervention study design with random assignment …

Taking God's Country: The University Of Montana, Morton J. Elrod, And Allotment On The Flathead Reservation, Dylan Tate Yonce

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In the early decades of the twentieth century, the University of Montana (UM) developed from a small frontier college into an influential research institution. During its maturation process, the University relied on the acquisition of land to expand. In addition to its main campus in Missoula, the university sought land for research and recreation. When Congress passed the Flathead Allotment Act (1904), UM became one of many non-Native beneficiaries of federal land dispossession policy in the United States. Existing scholarship has largely homed in on “land grant” universities established through the Morrill Act (1862), which effectively dispossessed ten million acres …

Comparative Bioinformatic Methodologies In Paleogenetic Pathogen Identification In The Casas Grandes, Victoria Lynne Giovannangelo

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The application of metagenomic tools to further elucidate ancient DNA (aDNA) holds promise in paleopathology, particularly for inferring disease patterns in ancient populations, especially in those that are understudied. This study conducts a comparative analysis of the efficacy of taxonomic pipelines--Kraken 2, HOPS/MALT, and HAYSTAC--in detecting pathogens within highly degraded aDNA samples extracted from 22 Medio Period Paquimé individuals from the Casas Grandes archaeological site in Northwest Mexico. The taxonomic results from the pipelines are compared with contamination detection program mapDamage, although concerns arose about the latter program’s ability to work with prokaryotes. Additionally, the findings are compared against prior …

Workable Seams, Jackson Mills Smith

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In Jackson Mills Smith’s Workable Seams, readers encounter the stories, landscapes, and lives of rural Knox County, Indiana, from the oscillating vantage of a Hoosier boy raised with a Cajun sensibility. After relocating from Louisiana to the river bottoms of the crossroad state at a young age, the speaker gradually uncovers a local history only previously understood in fragmentary shards and fading glimpses.

Alternating between semi-lyrical embodied experiences and memories, documentary pieces in conversation with the state’s historical archive, and the retelling of exaggerated local yarns, poetry is a means of inquiry in Workable Seams. Topics range from …

There's Still Time To, Lily Kip

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

There's Still Time To is a body of work composed of 51 photo-derived oil paintings. Each piece illustrates a relational situation which resists straightforward interpretation and generates infinite narrative possibilities. My source images come from my adolescent engagements with smartphone photography and social media, but the painted results are not focused on "photography" as a subject. Instead, I paint the photo to re-tread old memories and old relationships. The ambiguity of each figurative situation reflects the lived experience of relating to others and also serves as an invitation to the viewer who must base any assumptions about the painting on …

A Novel Positive Allosteric Modulator Of Glun1/3 Nmda Receptors, Samuel A. Galindo

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The GluN3-containing (GluN1/3) N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors are glycine activated ligand-gated ion channels that are members of the family of excitatory ionotropic glutamate receptors. Compared to the glycine/glutamate-activated GluN2- containing NMDA receptors (GluN1/2), which have been extensively studied, the GluN1/3 receptors are poorly understood, but are implicated in neuronal processes related to synaptic maturation and plasticity. GluN1/3 receptors are also implicated in a variety of neurological diseases. In addition to their poor understanding, we lack proper pharmacological tools for the study and modulation of these GluN1/3 receptors. In this study, we evaluate the activity and mechanism of action for AIMS-129 as …

Cullet, Celia Alice Easton Koehler

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

“Cullet” is an industry term for the refuse and smashed-up glass added to new material in the process of making new glass. It is related to the word “cull” from the old french “to collect” or gather. This collection of poems picks up the term as a framework for investigating the piece-meal of daily life, tracing relations between the individual and collective, and also tracing vantage and scale; shifts of where and how the speaker directs their gaze. The poems are invested in assembling an ethos of the domestic that recasts “the domestic” to include more public sites of daily …

Indigenous Access And Use On Private Land: A Toolkit For Heart Of The Rockies Land Trust Members, Ian James Craighead

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Umfc #132: A Comprehensive Forensic Case Report, Allison Paige Mitchell

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This case report of an individual designated as University of Montana Forensic Case 132 (UMFC 132) serves to partially fulfill the requirements for the Master of Arts (MA) degree in Forensic and Biological Anthropology. UMFC 132 is a complete human skeleton, used as part of the teaching collection in the University of Montana Forensic Anthropology Laboratory. The minimum number of individuals (MNI) of UMFC 132 is 1. The analysis of UMFC 132 was conducted according to bioarchaeological and forensic anthropological standards of skeletal assessment. UMFC 132 was estimated to be a mid-adult, between the ages of [30-40 years] of age …

Organization Of Lithic Technology At 48ye240 Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming: Bifaces As Indicators Of Environmental Predictability, Hunter Alan Watry

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

48YE240 within the Hayden Valley of Yellowstone National Park is a pre-contact hunter-gatherer site recorded on two separate terraces along the Yellowstone River. This site and the two terraces are divided by the Grand Loop Road. The higher terrace is west of the road, while the lower terrace is east of the road, adjacent to the Yellowstone River. The lower terrace was excavated in 1999 and included a hearth feature dating to the Middle Archaic. The higher terrace was excavated in 2020 and contained intact cultural deposits. This thesis presents a lithic analysis of the assemblage recovered from the higher …

An Acceptable Time, Crystal Mccallie

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This scholarly work is my interpretation of the art in the exhibition, An Acceptable Time, which ecompasses a diversity of media that varies as much in material and process as the span of my life as mother, a steward of the domestic home, and a spiritual child-at-heart myself. At the center of the work is a contemplative beauty inviting the viewer to linger with the art and reflect upon the echoes of the past as they might affect the present. The formal delivery of illustrative realism, a mirage of pattern, and abstract layering draws out major themes of memory, nostalgia, …

Grizzly Bears Moving Onto The Great Plains, John A. Stember

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

High up a coulee on the Montana prairie, Seth and Jennie Becker look over the windswept landscape with binoculars and point out three grizzly bear dens along the rim of a canyon. The couple, who own Stick Leg Ranch, estimate there are eight grizzly bear dens on their property. After their nine-year-old son nearly came face to face with a grizzly, they decided they needed to find a solution.

Over the last five years, grizzly bears have been expanding further and further east onto the Montana prairie. For example, in October 2023, a grizzly bear was caught on game camera …

Pathways And Places: Mobility And Lithic Use At 48ye238 In The Late Archaic And Late Prehistoric Yellowstone, Jacob Q. Wilmoth

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Through the lens of Central Place Foraging Theory, an analysis of lithic remains from 48YE238, a medium to high-density archaeological site in the Hayden Valley of Yellowstone National Park, has provided insight into both material value and decision-making among Late Archaic and Late Prehistoric hunter-gatherers of the Hayden Valley. First, an examination of lithic materials and the stages of bifacial reduction, in relation to sourced lithic materials, offers insight into changing ideas of material value between these two periods. This is especially evident when considering the cultural and societal changes that influenced regional residence during the Late Prehistoric period, compared …

"A Changed Understanding Of Our Present": Moby-Dick As Prophetic Ecological Activism, Katie Ann Schini

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Moby-Dick: Or, The Whale is a classic of American literature, spanning multiple genres and remaining culturally relevant nearly 175 years after its original publication. Though on the surface Moby-Dick reads as an adventure story of a man who experiences the whaling industry firsthand, Herman Melville’s text continues to invite new generations of readership through the framework of the twenty-first century climate crisis.

In this thesis, I position Moby-Dick as a text that can be used to understand our modern society’s current dispositions of ecological grief. My thesis operates at the intersection of three main literary critical theories: ecocriticism, affect, and …

Tenaciously Curious, Joe Mark Taylor

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In this thesis paper, I will outline the journey I’ve taken throughout my graduate studies at the University of Montana and how it has culminated in my thesis exhibition, Tenaciously Curious. I’ll begin with an Introduction that speaks to the importance of finding ways to connect to nature, and the benefits we gain by recognizing our bodies as extensions of the organic world.

In the following section, Influences, Theory and Lineage, I’ll explore the themes that drive my research, highlight artists who have influenced my work, and discuss why this inquiry feels vital within our contemporary moment.

In the section …

Ineligible Partners: Tribal Nations And Cooperative Federalism In The Historical Development Of National Forest Law And Policy, James H. Baker

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Lands within the National Forest System (NFS), like all federal public lands, are rooted in Aboriginal Title and were once exclusively inhabited by Indigenous peoples and communities. Through the process of treaty-making, the federal government amassed millions of acres of ceded Tribal lands, many of which are now managed by federal public land agencies, including 194 million acres managed by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). Several Tribes reserved various use and property rights on these lands that are protected by the U.S. Constitution’s Treaty and Supremacy Clauses. The federal government also has an overarching trust obligation to Tribes – a …

Nonactin And Salinomycin Fragment Scaffold Derived Synthesis For Antibiotic Drug Discovery, Evelyn Amelia Schwartz

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Antibacterial drug discovery is an important necessity across all medical practices in both treatment and prevention of antimicrobial resistance. Infections with antimicrobial resistant pathogens are likely to increase over the years, and new classes of antibiotics can address this issue directly. Traditional screening of natural product libraries unfortunately has exhausted these resourceful compounds so that few easily accessible medical drug candidates remain. Natural products have often been recognized for their unique and complex structures that are attributed to their biological activity. This esteemed trait also is linked to cytotoxic activity and difficult synthetic modifications. A fragment of the natural product …

Investigating Non-Invasive Survey Methods And Building A Predictive Occupancy Model For Harlequin Ducks (Histrionicus Histrionicus) In Western Montana And Northern Idaho, Holli Ann Holmes

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Harlequin Ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus; HADU) are an imperiled sea duck that breeds along white-water mountain streams, but challenges in surveying them have made it difficult to understand population trends in their Northern Rocky Mountain breeding population. In this study we had two objectives: (1) evaluate non-invasive survey methods for detecting HADU on their breeding grounds in Western Montana and Northern Idaho, and (2) develop an occupancy model to predict potential breeding stream use for HADU across the region. First, we assessed the efficacy of ground-based foot surveys (GBS), environmental DNA (eDNA), and camera traps to detect breeding HADU during …