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Changes In Fire Season Precipitation In Idaho And Montana From 1982-2006 , Ann Marie Hadlow

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Abstract. Fire season precipitation trends were investigated using daily rainfall data obtained from seventy-six Remote Automated Weather Stations (RAWS) across Idaho and Montana for the period 1982 to 2006. Missing and erroneous values from each station were corrected with gridded data from the North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR), creating temporally consistent, comparable records. Monthly precipitation was then analyzed during the core fire season (July-Sept) and biweekly precipitation was analyzed for the start of fire season (June). The end of the season was examined using October precipitation data and through identification of season slowing rain events (SSE). These analyses reveal significant …

Materiality As The Basis For The Aesthetic Experience In Contemporary Art, Christina Murdoch Mills

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

A number of historical philosophical theories relate to materiality in contemporary art and the role of art objects as an extension of ontology, or the study of the nature of being. The Kantian idea of the “aesthetic experience” is the point of departure, tracing philosophical discourse of how art functions via its materiality through the writings of Ludwig Wittgenstein, Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre and Jacques Maritain to the post-modern considerations of David Hickey and Arthur Danto. The research for this thesis focuses on how contemporary art, in all its various forms, functions via art’s material qualities or materiality. The objective …

Cenozoic Evolution Of The Gold Creek Basin, Western Montana: Mapping And Documenting The Geology Of The Rock Creek Lake 7.5' Usgs Quadrangle, Chelsea Mcraven Feeney

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis presents results from 1:24,000 scale surface mapping and related analysis of geology within the Rock Creek Lake 7.5’ USGS Quadrangle in western Montana. The purpose of this study is to 1) document the Cenozoic structural evolution and sedimentary fill record associated with tectonic development of the northern Flint Creek Range and, in particular, the Anaconda metamorphic core complex and 2) determine the existence and extent of Pleistocene glacial deposition in the study area. Gneissic mylonitic granodiorite along the southeastern contact of the Royal Stock intrusion indicates the Anaconda metamorphic core complex detachment zone trends through the center of …

Curriculum Improvement: The Teacher Perspective On Change In The Classroom, Heather C. Davis

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study explored the curriculum change experiences of five social studies teachers, from three high schools within one school district located in a western Montana city, integrating an economics curriculum in their eleventh grade U.S. history classrooms for the first time. A review of the related literature on this topic revealed several areas of consideration regarding teachers' curriculum change experiences which guided the data collection and analysis process: commitment, workload, capacity, collaboration, and perception of the teaching profession. This qualitative, within case study was designed to add to the body of quantitative research on curriculum change. Data collection sources include: …

Heritage Learners Of Mexican Descent In Higher Education: A Qualitative Study Of Past And Present Experiences, Alicia Gignoux

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This is a qualitative interpretive study that explores the past and present experiences of heritage learners (HLs) of Mexican descent who were studying or had recently studied advanced Spanish in institutions of higher education. All of the participants had been exposed to Spanish in the home and began their studies in elementary or middle school in the United States. The population of HLs continues to grow and a need to understand this population exists. The statistics have shown that not all HLs of Mexican descent complete their studies in institutions of higher education and the reasons for this are not …

Engaging Community And Developing Leadership Through Adventure And Experiential Learning, Christopher Roland Maul-Smith

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

During this project seventh grade students and I collaborated to accomplish the goal of building a relationship between the seventh and fifth grades so the younger students could feel safe and welcome at our school. I used a teaching approach based on the elements of adventure and the experiential cycle of learning to help seventh grade students develop leadership skills. Team building activities and a community adventure brought the seventh and fifth graders together. The leadership role of the seventh graders during these events served as the catalyst for building a positive caring relationship between the two grades.

Forever Wild: Journeys Through The North Fork, Gregory Merrill Deschaine Peters

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The North Fork of the Flathead River runs for eighty-five miles, starting in southeastern British Columbia and ending in Flathead Lake in northwestern Montana. The river flows through a rugged valley that plays a vital role in the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem. In the United States, the North Fork is Glacier National Park’s western boundary. It is a National Wild and Scenic River and a critical migratory route for an amazing array of wild animals. There is no electricity on either side of the border except for the southernmost fifteen miles in the U.S., and the only access from …

Lithofacies And Microfacies Of A Fossil Hot Spring System: Mcginness Hills, Nevada, Bonnie Jean Ertel

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Ertel, Bonnie, M.S., Spring 2009 Geology Microfacies and Morphology of a Fossil Hot Spring System, McGinness Hills, Nevada Chairperson or Co-Chairperson: Dr. Nancy Hinman The Miocene McGinness Hills sinters are a well-preserved, fossil hot spring system in Nevada. The sinter in McGinness Hills is comparable with the fossil hot spring system in the Drummond Basin, Queensland, Australia (Farmer and Hinman, 1998), Artist Point in Yellowstone National Park (Hinman and Walter, 2005) and with modern systems in Yellowstone. Further The purpose of this study was to further our understanding microfacies preserved in hot springs systems after diagenesis thus facilitating the identification …

“No Hay Guerra Y No Hay Dinero” There Is No War, And There Is No Money: A Case Study Of The Organic Coffee And Ecotourism Programs Of Uca Miraflor, Nicaragua, Jeffrey Alan Gutierrez

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In the face of persisting unequal relations between the global North and South, what strategies can rural Southern peasants use to ensure the protection of their livelihoods and resources? The Union of Agribusiness Cooperatives (UCA) in Miraflor, Nicaragua has developed and implemented organic coffee and ecotourism programs designed to sustain local peoples’ land and the health of the population as well as providing long-term economic diversification. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of these programs in providing actual long-term economic, ecological, and social benefits, as well as regular income, to members involved in the organic coffee and ecotourism programs. Through in-depth …

Palestinian-Levantine Dialect Diaspora:Exploring Its Role In Maintaining Palestinian Cultural Heritage & Identity, Samir Ibrahim Bitar

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Cultural Geographers have written extensively on Diaspora, heritage, identity and their contributions greatly discuss how these theories integrate. The majority of what is available does not address the Palestinians specifically, hence my study fills a void in that it empirically addresses the Palestinian people and the role of their dialect and how it ties to Palestinian Diaspora, heritage and identity. Most of the literature has not viewed Diaspora, heritage, and identity thru the lens of language or language as a major player, an important one or perhaps vital. To produce these findings will contribute to the knowledge base on the …

Perception & Role Of 3-D Visualizations In Planning: A Case Study Of The Northwest Passage Scenic Byway's Viewshed Protection & Visualization Project, Kyle Balke

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The use of sophisticated visualization tools and methods, in particular 3-D modeling, has seen a considerable rise in planning throughout the last decade due to continued advancements in 3-D technology, computer hardware, and the internet. The rapid increase in the use of 3-D visualization is supported by the belief that visualizations which imitate human experience help relieve many of the communication problems that exist between experts and lay persons during the planning process and help engage a broader cross-section of the public. However, little understanding exists to support these claims. This research provides a comprehensive investigation of stakeholder perceptions concerning …

Because We Have The Power To Choose: A Critical Analysis Of The Rhetorical Strategies Used In Merck's Gardasil Campaign, Brittney Lee Buttweiler

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In June of 2006, Merck gained FDA approval for Gardasil, a human papillomavirus vaccine. Shortly before, Merck also launched a large campaign to advertise the vaccine, which has continued through today. Because of the vast number of women the vaccine has the potential to affect, the product has become socially significant. Therefore, this study examines the Gardasil campaign and how it is persuasive. More specifically, this paper studies the rhetorical appeals Merck uses and explores the ethical strengths and limitations of the advertisements. The study explores how the Gardasil campaign blends elements of an informative Campaign with an advertising campaign, …

The Development And Testing Of A Relational Model Of Competence In The Context Of Nature-Based Tourism, Christine Marie Oschell

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Communication competence is a framework that has been used in many disciplines to understand communication events and their success or failure in achieving objectives. The model most often used to describe competence is the relational model proposed by Spitzberg & Cupach (1984) which includes three elements: knowledge, knowing what behavior is best suited for a given situation; skill, having the ability to apply that behavior in the given context; and motivation having the desire to communicate in a competent manner. This study used the model of relational competence to understand the communication process between guide and client in a nature-based …

The Effect Of Imagined Interactions On Secret Revelation And Health, Adam Stephens Richards

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study examined the influence of imagined interactions on the decision to reveal secrets and some health outcomes. Recent research has only begun to investigate how individuals decide to reveal or conceal secrets. It is accepted that people base decisions to reveal on predictions of expected outcomes of revealing/concealing (Caughlin, Afifi, Carpetner-Theune, & Miller, 2005). Imagined interactions, the imagined cognitive rehearsal of potential conversations, are proposed to serve as a mechanism for making predictions, which influences the decision to reveal. Particularly, imagined interactions where hypothesized to influence one’s expected outcomes and increase one’s confidence in feeling like they can communicate …

A Methodology For Planning Road Best Management Practices Combining Wepp: Road Erosion Modeling And Simulated Annealing Optimization, James Anderson Efta

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Erosion from forest roads is a known problem in mountainous terrain. To abate these negative consequences, physical Best Management Practices (BMPs) are implemented, sometimes with no knowledge of erosion hot spots. With the need to minimize water quality impacts while at the same time accounting for multiple considerations and constraints, road BMP planning at the watershed scale is a difficult task. To assist in this planning process, a methodology is presented here that combines WEPP: Road erosion predictions with simulated annealing optimization. Under this methodology, erosion predictions associated with BMP options for a segment comprise the objective function of an …

Cumulative Effects Analysis In U.S. Forest Service Decision-Making, Courtney Allison Schultz

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This dissertation investigates the U.S. Forest Service's (USFS) implementation of the cumulative effects analysis (CEA) requirement under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The CEA regulation requires federal agencies to provide an analysis of environmental effects, with consideration of past, present, and foreseeable future actions by both public and private parties, often on broad geographic scales. Studies in the late 1990's found that compliance with CEA requirement was highly variable across agencies. Of late, judicial enforcement of the CEA requirement has been on the rise with the USFS the focal agency in the majority of decisions.

This study investigates USFS …

Reinvention In The Line Of Death: A Reconsideration Of Geoffrey Hill's Commemorative Verse, Michael Christopher Bartch

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This paper considers the embodied ethics of Geoffrey Hill’s poetic practice. Hill stages his engagement with poetry through the idioms, images, tropes, and diction of the literary tradition. Through this pragmatic rehearsal of the language of the dead, Hill’s poetry projects the tradition into the present. Hill resists the ethical entrapments of appropriative poetry through his insistence upon the brute physicality of atrocity and through a rigorous (for both poet and reader) formal difficulty. Hill’s practice refuses to console after the models of Peter Sacks, Jahan Ramazani, or John Vickery. Instead, concerned with modernity’s disconnectedness, Hill’s poetry returns us to …

Collaborative Zoning In The Rural Rocky Mountains: A Process Analysis Of Two Counties, Kassidy Renee Kern

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study seeks to evaluate the merits of collaborative zoning in rural areas by juxtaposing a case where zoning efforts failed to one where zoning was successfully passed by the community. While zoning practices vary greatly in different parts of the country, this study is focused entirely on rural zoning in the Rocky Mountains. There are specific obstacles and challenges when undertaking land-use planning in the West--and rural areas in particular--and this paper extracts and presenting the lessons learned in both communities.

Communicative Strategies Used In The Introduction Of Spirituality In The Workplace, Matthew Alan Condon

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Many organizational leaders and employees have become increasingly interested in implementing some form of spiritual practice or orientation into the fabric of the workplace. A burgeoning field of research and practice has emerged in the past two decades that attempts to address this growing interest. This field is diverse and identified with various titles, the most common being “spirit at work,” “spirituality in the workplace,” “faith at work,” and “faith in the workplace.” Because any cognates of the words “spirit” and “faith” are universally associated with religion, implementing any form of spiritual practice or orientation into a workplace setting comes …

Rational Number Fluency: A Prerequisite For Success In High School Mathematics Courses?, Renae Walter Seegmiller

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This dissertation examined high school students' skill with rational numbers and compared that skill level with the skill level of middle school students by testing 147 high school seniors with 16 rational number word problems released from the National Assessment of Educational Progress assessments. The questions included equal amounts of fraction and money problems. The seniors were grouped by gender and by whether they had completed only beginning algebra and geometry or had more mathematics than geometry.

The findings of this study replicated the high school seniors' low rational number skill level seen in other studies with various age groups. …

Talk About “Hooking Up”: How College Students‟ Accounts Of “Hooking Up” In Social Networks Influences Engaging In Risky Sexual Behavior, Amanda J. Olson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The study focused on how narratives told among social network participants can create a “culture of encouragement” surrounding risky sexual short-term relationships. The study adopted a social network approach to examine the “hookup” culture and risky sexual behavior. Specifically, this study examines who students are talking to, how frequently they discuss sexual experiences, and the specific accounts they discuss in connection with the hookup culture. Two research questions were asked to understand participants‟ personal definitions of hooking up and what factors lead to engaging in a hookup. The researcher also hypothesized that network closeness, frequency, and range would influence an …

The Politics Of The Real: Jazz, Hip Hop, And Satire - Conceptions Of Consciousness In The Twentieth Century African American Novel, Peter Thomas Clavin

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In the African American experience of the twentieth century, cultural modes of expression became the primary outlet for a politics of resistance, a politics of fulfillment, and a politics of transfiguration within the context of a modem Western nation-state that marginalized and discriminated against the African American subject through ideology and cultural hegemony. This collective African American experience is one based on a reality of life-threatening racial violence that has plagued African Americans from the earliest days of the New Republic.

The Influence Of Sibling Support On Children's Post-Divorce Adjustment: A Turning Point Analysis, Kimberly Ann Jacobs

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Most previous research on children’s adjustment following the divorce of their parents has focused on the consequences of parents’ actions and communication choices. Relatively little is known about the impact that sibling relationships have on post-divorce adjustment. The current study was designed to explore the relationship between sibling social support (emotional, instrumental, and informational support) and adjustment. Data was collected from 34 participants using the Retrospective Interview Technique (RIT). Participants identified key turning points in their adjustment process and used those points as an interview guide to talk about support from and communication with their siblings. Numerical questionnaire data was …

Spatio-Temporal Dynamics Of Biomes In The Northwestern United States (9000 Ybp To The Present), Christopher Caleb Stump

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The goal of this study was to quantitatively analyze and map the vegetation composition of forest, grassland, and steppe ecosystems in the northwestern United States in the present and through the last 9,000 years. The modern analysis used canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) on pollen percentages from recent sediment cores reflecting modern vegetation assemblages and climates to evaluate the amount of influence of selected environmental variables on present species distributions. The fossil analysis used non-metric multi-dimensional scaling (NMDS) on a merged database containing relative pollen percentages from the last 9000 years. A predefined list of environmental parameters and floristically and ecologically …

Territoriality And Habitat Selection Of Feral Pigs On Fort Benning, Georgia, Usa, William Deroche Sparklin

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Feral pigs are one of the most successful, widespread, economically and environmentally damaging invasive mammalian species worldwide. I conducted a study of feral pig sounders (female social groups) on Fort Benning, Georgia to test our hypotheses that feral pigs were territorial at the sounder level and that territoriality was a key factor influencing habitat selection of feral pigs. I used Global Positioning System (GPS) location data from 24 individuals representing 18 sounders combined with mark-recapture and camera trap data to evaluate evidence of territorial behavior at the individual and sounder levels by comparing the degree of overlap between home ranges. …

The Elusive "Poem Of The World": The Task Of The Reader And The Problem Of Knowledge In Heinrich Von Kleist's Novellas "Die Marquise Von O..." And "Das Erdbeben In Chili", Lindsey Brandt

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The literary works of Heinrich von Kleist (1777–1811) have long been an important influence on thinkers and writers interested and engaged in the German cultural tradition, particularly due to the enigmatic and highly problematic nature of his narrative approach. In recent years, however, there has been a notable surge of interest in Kleist’s works, which has led to the production of several articles, papers, and even entire conference panels dedicated to the investigation of his oeuvre from various angles. Why does Kleist still fascinate his readers so much, and what is it about his texts that allow for such a …

The House That Smokey Built: The Forest Service Management Of Historic Structures In Wilderness, Molly Michelle Ryan

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Ryan, Molly M., M.S., 2009 Recreation Management The House That Smokey Built: The Forest Service Management of Historic Structures in Wilderness Committee Chair: Dr. Perry J. Brown Debates about the appropriateness of historic structures being present and preserved in wilderness are not new issues. In some form or another, this topic has surfaced, been debated, then simmered, but never properly addressed or resolved. The purposes of this paper are to identify management gaps within the Forest Service administration regarding the management of historic structures within wilderness areas and to recommend how these gaps can be filled. Data were collected from …

Water Quality And Waterborne Disease Along The Niger River, Mali: A Study Of Local Knowledge And Response, Ashley Lauren Williams

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This paper presents the findings of a study to assess patterns in local knowledge of and response to water quality and waterborne diseases in relation to seasonal changes in the Niger River Inland Delta. The study draws on field data collected in four villages along the Niger River in the Mopti district of Mali during September 2008. The major findings suggest: (1) water use behaviors and diarrheal disease management are influenced by the tremendous seasonal fluctuations in the riverine environment; (2) local awareness of the relationship between poor water quality, oral-fecal disease transmission, and waterborne disease is low; (3) interventions …

A Case Study Investigation Of The Physical Activity Levels Of Disabled Students At A Small Missoula, Montana Middle School, Chelsea Marie Bond

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Bond, Chelsea, M.S. July 2009 Health and Human Performance, Health Promotion Title: A case study investigation of the physical activity levels of disabled students at a small Missoula, Montana middle school. Chairperson: Dr. Annie Sondag Introduction: One of the major goals for the nation, described in the Surgeon General’s Report Healthy People 2010, is to promote the health of people with disabilities, prevent secondary conditions, and eliminate disparities between people with and without disabilities in the U.S. population (World Health Organization, 1997). Children with disabilities have lower physical activity participation rates, lower levels of fitness, and more frequent participation restrictions …

A Taxonomy Of Rules: Authority, Dangers, And Possibilities, Muriel Rebecca Friedman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Rules, originally a means toward group solidarity, are the alternative to the need for ongoing physical dominance. Seemingly omnipresent in modern life, rules can be overt or subtle, explicit or tacit, rigidly enforced or overlooked. They may clash with our autonomy. This thesis names and explores different functional types of rules: safety, personal, socio-cultural, legal-religious, and technical. Rules in general are discussed from social and ethical theoretical viewpoints and using ideal type methodology. Understanding that there are different types of rules and the authority behind them makes it easier to determine one’s obligations to follow them, especially with the notion …