Digital Commons Network^™

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. …

Relational Transgressions In Romantic Relationships: How Individuals Negotiate The Revelation And Concealment Of Transgression Information Within The Social Network, Melissa A. Maier

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study examined how individuals negotiate the revelation and concealment of information following an act of infidelity within the social network. Research has shown that individuals experience a tension when deciding to reveal and/or conceal information regarding a relational transgression (Baxter, 1994, Baxter & Braithwaite, 2007). Drawing on dialectical tensions (Baxter, 1990), relational transgressions (Roloff & Cloven, 1994), and support networks (Cutrona and Suhr, 1992; Klein & Milardo, 2000), this project posed a number of research questions. Interviews were conducted with 22 participants regarding their communication following the discovery of an act of infidelity. Participants were asked to discuss who …

Attachment, Personality, And Conflict Behaviors In Romantic Couples: Examining Vulnerability To Depression, Elizabeth Anne Harwood

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Major Depressive Disorder has been conceptualized from a number of theoretical perspectives. The present study aims to provide a theoretically integrated understanding of depression vulnerability. Cognitive and interpersonal theories of depressive vulnerability were considered simultaneously in a sample of undergraduate research participants. Study procedures included an attachment elicitation exercise, which was preceded by completion of a self-report measure of depressive and anxious affect. The attachment elicitation exercise was followed by self-report measures of relationship behavior, adult attachment style, cognitive vulnerability, depressive symptomatology, and additional self-report measures of affect. Results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that the effects of insecure …

Change And Recovery From Substance Misuse: Native American Perspectives, Stacy Miller

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This qualitative study investigated the constructs of change within the action and maintenance stages of the Transtheoretical Model of Change (TMC) and balance within the domains of the Medicine Wheel (MW). The guiding questions addressed: a) point of focus in sobriety and recovery phases within the domains of the MW, b) specific mechanisms at work, c) support systems, tools, temptations, motivating factors, maintenance, gains, losses, and personal reasons for change, d) spiritual component, e) connection between tribal culture and recovery, and f) distinction between sobriety and recovery.

Eight adult Native Americans in sobriety or recovery for a minimum of 3 …

A Cheerio Tastes Like The Body Of Christ: A Memoir, Steven Joseph Schwab

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Schwab, Steven, M.A., Summer 2008 Integrated Arts and Education A Cheerio Tastes Like the Body of Christ: A Memoir Chair: Dr. James Kriley, Committee member: Dorothy Morrison Committee member: Karen Kaufmann This memoir documents my personal spiritual journey from childhood to present day. I have selected six events from my history that illustrate this theme. The memoir describes my family’s strong connection to the Roman Catholic religion, my participation in following the dogma of the Church, a rejection of the religion and the search for a philosophy that satisfied my needs. The settings for the pieces are in Idaho, Oregon, …

The Role Of Brownfields Redevelopment In The Rejuvenation Of An Older Industrial City: A Case Study Of Two Successful Brownfields Reuse Projects In Baltimore, Maryland, Gregory William Lewis

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The industrialized world is littered with tens of thousands of acres of vacant, decaying, and often contaminated industrial and commercial sites. These sites, commonly referred to as “brownfields,” scar the landscape of communities, expose citizens to possible health risks, deteriorate surrounding land values, and erode the tax base of municipalities. Vacant and abandoned industrial sites are present in every state, but the blight associated with brownfields is worst in America’s “rustbelt,” the chain of once great industrial cites and towns stretching along historic canals and rail lines from Baltimore to Boston, and west to Milwaukee. This thesis investigates federal and …

Lessons To Learn From All Out Invasion: Life History Of Brown Trout (Salmo Trutta) In A Patagonian River, Sarah Louise O'Neal

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Brown trout (Salmo trutta) are widely introduced throughout Patagonia, though their distribution and impact in the region remain poorly documented. Life history flexibility, and particularly partial migration play a major role in the ability of this species to adapt to Patagonian rivers. Consequently, this study explored habitat, distribution and life history of a partially migratory population of brown trout in the Rio Grande in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. It described what is known of the history of the invasion. Physical, chemical, and biological habitat data were collected for comparison between sites supporting resident fish with those supporting anadromous fish. Additionally, …

1. Geodetic Constraints On Slip Rates Of Large Central Asian Faults 2. Earthquake Emergency Education In Dushanbe, Tajikistan, Solmaz Mohadjer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

1. Geodetic constraints on slip rates of large Central Asian faults Deformation throughout the Hindu Kush-Pamir-South Tien Shan section of the Alpine-Himalayan collision, as measured with GPS, shares characteristics in common with neighboring regions in Iran and Tibet, particularly the presence of numerous large faults with relatively low slip rates and large areas of distributed high elevation, suggesting similarities in regional dynamics. The convergence rate between India and Eurasia across this region is 27 ± 2 mm/yr, accommodated over more than 500,000 km2 on thrust faulting north of the Peshawar Basin, the Hindu Kush, and within the Pamir (12 ± …

The Leadership Role In Online Support Programs For Beginning Teachers, Nancy K. Gagen Clouse

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

As distance learning opportunities foster a wide array for online mentoring, program administrators are in need of research supporting the successful development and management of such efforts. This qualitative research examined the leadership perspectives, skills, and strategies involved in developing and administering an online support program (also referred to as electronic mentoring) designed to help beginning teachers transition into the profession and improve their retention (National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, 2003). The population was comprised of all known programs established to date in the United States. Interviews were conducted of 28 program administrators representing 20 online programs for …

Henry Meloy: The Portraits, A Narrative Of The Exhibition, Kathryn Lorraine Rodriguez

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The Montana Museum of Art & Culture (MMAC) exhibited the portraiture of Montana modernist painter Henry Meloy in July and August of 2007. As curatorial intern, I assisted in the mounting of this exhibition and researched the biography of and portraits created by Meloy. The professional paper describes the process of mounting the show from the acquisition of the permanent loan of the Meloy collection by the MMAC through exhibiting and and shipping the work. This description is supplemented with biographical information and critical assessment of the portraits, which show stylistic developments in visual arts in the United States between …

Learning Communities, Achievement And Completion: Exploring Relationships In Southern Alberta Secondary Schools, Corrienne Janet Beres

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Longitudinal studies carried out by Statistics Canada and Human Resources Development Canada (Bowlby & McMullen, 2002) identified that dropout rates are high in Canada in relation to other developed nations. In 2003, Alberta's Commission on Learning found that one quarter of Alberta's high school enrollees were not completing high school. The Commission proposed the formation of learning communities as one way to increase the achievement of students in Alberta, with the intention that this would then increase the number of students completing high school. This research was undertaken to ascertain how mature the learning communities were in the high schools …

An Analysis Of Alberta's First Nations, Metis, And Inuit School-Community Learning Environment Project, Kelly Burke Thomas

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The First Nations, Métis, and Inuit School-Community Learning Environment Project was one of the programs through which the Aboriginal Branch of Alberta Education attempted to increase the academic success rate of First Nation, Métis, and Inuit students. Sixteen school jurisdictions in Alberta were asked to choose one school within their district on which to focus the resources offered by the Project. These resources included a large amount of money and print materials prepared by the Aboriginal Branch. The schools were asked to consult with the school community and area residents, including elders, to prepare strategies they believed would fulfill the …

Kings And Courtesans: A Study Of The Pictorial Representation Of French Royal Mistresses, Shandy April Lemperle

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis explores the development in the pictorial representation of four important French royal mistresses. It looks at works depicting Agnès Sorel, mistress to Charles VII; Diane de Poitiers, mistress to Henri II; Gabrielle d’Estrées, mistress to Henri IV; and Madame de Pompadour, mistress to Louis XV. By placing the portrayals of these women within a historical context, it becomes apparent that there are links between the strength of the crown and the depictions of the mistresses. This thesis traces the development of the imagery associated with these women and demonstrates that as the crown became more and more powerful, …

Student Academic Performance In Skills-Based Technology Courses Delivered Through Different Scheduling Formats, Shaun Eric Scott

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This descriptive study investigated student academic performance in skills-based word processing courses taught in two different scheduling formats at one small rural western United States university over the period of several years. One scheduling format followed a more traditional approach where courses were taken at the same time as at least one other course and in a time frame more resembling a typical semester. This distributed practice model, or cohort approach, required a prerequisite beginning level course or appropriate substitute course before enrolling in an advanced word processing course, thus spreading the instructional time over a longer timeframe. The other …

Cyber Bullying And Victimization: Psychosocial Characteristics Of Bullies, Victims, And Bully/Victims, Delia Carroll Campfield

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study explored cyber bullying and victimization. The use of technology as a vehicle for peer victimization is increasing and is associated with a risk of psychosocial maladjustment (Finkelhor, et al., 2000; Wolak, et al., 2006; Ybarra & Mitchell, 2004a, 2004b). It is thought to peak during middle school (Harris & Petrie, 2002); thus, the sample included 6th, 7th, and 8th graders who identified themselves as cyber bullies, victims, or bully/victims. Hypotheses were as follows: face-to-face bullies and victims would also be involved in cyber bullying and victimization, with females being more involved than males; cyber bullying and victimization would …

Design, Synthesis And Biological Evaluation Of A Family Of Excitatory Amino Acid Transporter 3 (Eaat3) Preferring Inhibitors, Terri Lynn Mavencamp

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This work describes the synthesis and initial characterization of the biological activity of a family of EAAT3 preferring inhibitors, L-β-benzyl aspartate (L-β-BA) and L-β-BA derivatives. L-β-BA and derivatives were initially synthesized in an approximate 2:1 ratio of diasteromers (threo:erythro), using base promoted enolate addition. Kinetic analysis of 3H-D-aspartate uptake into C17.2 cells expressing the hEAATs demonstrated that L-threo-β-BA is the more potent diastereomer (Ki values of 9 µM for EAAT1, 10.0 µM for EAAT2 and 0.8 µM for EAAT3), acts competitively, and exhibits a 10-fold preference for EAAT3 compared to EAAT1 and EAAT2. Electrophysiological recordings of EAAT-mediated currents in Xenopus …

Landslide Susceptibility Zonation Gis For The 2005 Kashmir Earthquake Affected Region, Benjamin Growley

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The October 8, 2005 Kashmir earthquake triggered several thousand landslides throughout the Himalaya of northern Pakistan and India. A spatial database, which included 2252 landslides, was developed and analyzed using ASTER satellite imagery and geographical information system (GIS) technology. A multi-criterion evaluation was applied to determine the significance of event-controlling parameters in triggering the landslides. The parameters included lithology, faults, slope gradient, slope aspect, elevation, land cover, rivers and roads. The results were broken down into four classes of landslide susceptibility. The results indicated that lithology had the strongest influence on landsliding, particularly when the rock is highly fractured, such …

Geodatabase Design For Resource And Land Management Gis: Missoula Field Office Blm Case Study, Mark English

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is in the process of improving their geographic information system (GIS). The main intention is to upgrade their data and present their employees with the geospatial means necessary to accomplish their resource and land management responsibilities. Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI„µ) designed the geodatabase model, which provides multiple advantages in organization, management, and maintenance of geographic data. The geodatabase model implements advanced relationships between geospatial features and database tables, creates platforms available in organization and editing, and instills GIS functionality to ensure data integrity. The main goal of this work is to investigate the …

A Qualitative And Quantitative Analysis Of The Key Leadership Skills And Characteristics Of Selected Head Collegiate Women's Basketball Coaches, Cara Jo Cocchiarella

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Cocchiarella, Cara, M.S., Spring 2008 Health and Human Performance A Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of the Key Leadership Skills and Characteristics of Selected Head Collegiate Women’s Basketball Coaches Chairperson: Dr. Charles Palmer Researchers and practitioners alike have long been interested in those key skills and characteristics that a leader must possess in order to be successful in his or her chosen field. Countless studies have been undertaken and books written in business, military, and athletic domains, all trying to determine which of these attributes are the most important for a leader to hold. For coaching applications, an understanding of these …

Exploring The Experiences Of The Certified Athletic Trainer And The Athlete Post-Surgery, Sarah G. Cummings

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

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Implementation Of An Xml-Based User Interface With Applications In Ice Sheet Modeling, Daniel Ross Lande

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The scientific domain presents unique challenges to software developers. This thesis describes the application of design patterns to the problem of dynamically changing interfaces to scientific application software (GLIMMER, which performs ice sheet modeling). In its present form, GLIMMER uses a text configuration file to define model behavior, set parameters, and structure model input/output (I/O). The creation of the configuration file presents a significant problem to users due to its format and complexity. GLIMMER is still under development, and the number of changes to configuration parameters, parameter types, and parameter dependencies makes devel-opment of any single interface of use only …

Independent Internationalism And Nationalistic Pragmatism: The United States And Mexico Relations During The 1920s, Rodolfo Villarreal-Rios

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Villarreal Ríos, Rodolfo, M.A., Autumn 2008 History Independent Internationalism and Nationalistic Pragmatism: The United States and México Relations during the 1920s. Chairperson: Michael S. Mayer During the 1920s, relations between the United States and Mexico revealed the extent to which the U.S. actively engaged in foreign affairs and demonstrated the process by which México defined a new era of its international relations while facing a reconstruction in internal politics. Decades ago, William Appleman Williams refuted the stereotype of American isolationism, arguing that the administrations of Presidents Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover engaged in diplomacy, even where they conducted diplomacy through public …

Development Of The Secondary Conditions Among Adolescents With Disabilities (Scaad) Instrument: An Exploratory Study, Marie Middleton

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The purpose of this study was to develop a measure of secondary conditions, explore the reliability and validity of the measure, and explore the relationship between secondary conditions and participation among adolescents with disabilities. This research collected ratings of limitation due to secondary conditions, and ratings of participation for 24 adolescents with Intellectual/Developmental Disability. Data show that the participants experience an average of 11 secondary conditions during a three-month period as reported by families. The inter-rater agreement between parents and Family Support Specialists was .73 on a point-by-point comparison, and .85 when comparing whether or not limitation was a concern. …

Understanding Parental Motivation To Home School: A Qualitative Case Study, Nolen Ben Olsen

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Comparatively little educational research has focused on home schooling. Since most students are educated in public schools, parents’ choice of other educational alternatives is often perceived as a deviation from the societal norm. Friends and neighbors of parents who home school rarely understand their motivation for doing so. This study addresses the following question: why do parents remove their children from traditional, public school programs to initiate home schooling, and how well do public school personnel understand this motivation? Using qualitative case study methodology, the researcher confined the study to a specific concentrated population of home schooling families. Phenomenological data …

Le Laboratoire Épistolaire Dans Les Oeuvres Scientifiques De La Marquise Du Châtelet, Arianne Nicole Margolin

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In the eighteenth century, three camps of scientific thought appeared within the French scientific community: the Cartesians, the Newtonians, and the Leibnizians. According to the accepted physics argued by Fontenelle, Descartes, Malebranche, and Mairan, momentum, not force, was the essential quantity of motion. While Newtonians and Leibnizians agreed upon the significance of gravity and force, they bitterly disagreed with respect to momentum as the essential measurement of force. According to Newton, momentum and gravity were the main type of forces essential to movement; as with Cartesian mechanics, Newtonian momentum was given by the product of the mass and velocity. For …

Gifford Pinchot's Photographic Aesthetic, Carlie Shaw Magill

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Gifford Pinchot’s aesthetic developed in childhood and combined the pictorial considerations of the Hudson River School with the use philosophy of early landscape architecture and the format of early western survey photographers. Pinchot and photography came of age during the American industrial revolution; at a time when medium and man seemed to encompass both art and science. Gifford Pinchot used photography to ask the questions what is the proper course? what is the appropriate plan of use?

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 …

Enlightening Leadership: A Phenomenology, Kevin M. Mays

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The mechanistic, seventeenth century paradigm that has informed the leadership of our organizations has evolved into the quantum realm. This scientific renaissance is revealing a depth of knowledge that is stirring a new found interest in wisdom traditions as the truths of modern science appear to mirror knowledge found in ancient philosophic and meditative practices. Such Eastern spiritual practices have entered into the American mainstream and are becoming validated from a scientific perspective.

Continuing research on meditation has revealed its effectiveness in producing many of the characteristics deemed essential in the field of transformational leadership. Congruently meditation centers are proliferating, …

Movie Making: The Integration Of Art And Business, Jennifer Rae Sanderson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

I am enrolled in two very different master programs: The Creative Pulse and Media Arts. Some questioned the load of working toward both graduate degrees simultaneously. Fortunately the programs married each other well and one aided the other. Skills adopted in both were critical to the project foot printed in this paper. Both degrees had a focus in art but The Creative Pulse combined interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences with leadership taught in groups that changed the way I processed information. We were challenged to use risk and rigor in all endeavors. This was not a suggestion but mandatory. Intense group …

The Life History And Ecology Of Riverine Sockeye Salmon (Oncorhynchus Nerka) In A Large Floodplain River, Tyler Huntley Tappenbeck

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The productivity and life history diversity of salmonids is linked to the complexity of habitat in large floodplain rivers. Dynamic floodplain processes are driven by flow, sediment transport, cut and fill alluviation, woody plant succession, and ecosystem engineers, notably beavers, that create dynamic and biophysically complex off-channel rearing and spawning habitats. Sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) display some of the most variable life history traits of all Pacific salmon, using lake and river rearing strategies throughout rivers of the northern Pacific Rim. However, sockeye management has primarily focused on the lake-type life history with minimal regard to the importance of the …