Digital Commons Network^™

Socialization And Volunteers: A Training Program For Volunteer Managers, Allison M. Sullivan

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The purpose of this project was to construct a training program for volunteer managers in nonprofit organizations that will aim to increase the retention of volunteers through better socialization practices. The training was developed using Beebe, Mottet, and Roach’s (2013) Needs-Centered Training Model, and volunteer manager and volunteer focus groups served as the needs assessment. The main topics that arose from the needs assessment included fostering a positive and supportive volunteer relational environment, helping volunteers see that they are needed, useful, and making an impact, and clearly communicating volunteer expectations. The need for better volunteer socialization can be seen from …

Alpine Experiments: The National Parks And The Development Of Skiing In The American West, Jeffrey T. Meyer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In 1886, the U.S. Army mounted cavalry soldiers on skis to patrol the winter landscape of Yellowstone National Park. Prior to Yellowstone's skiing soldiers, the U.S. government had no formal relationship with skiing. In Yellowstone, the Army initiated the U.S. government's intimate and enduring relationship with skiing in the American West. When the National Park Service (NPS) took over the management of Yellowstone, the government's involvement with western skiing transferred over to the NPS. Upon its creation in 1916, the NPS inherited a national park system primarily carved from the high western mountains and embraced the promotion of recreational skiing …

Morphing Myths And Shedding Skins: Interconnectivity And The Subversion Of The Isolated Female Self In Angela Carter’S “The Tiger’S Bride” And Margaret Atwood’S Surfacing, Sara M. Laskoski

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This project is an analysis of the utilization of mythmaking and human-animal relationships reflected in Angela Carter’s “The Tiger’s Bride” and Margaret Atwood’s Surfacing. Carter and Atwood show how societal restrictions can devalue the connections between the body, the mind, and the natural world. Through the theoretical lenses of primarily post-structuralism and ecofeminism, this project seeks to show how these two authors subvert isolated female identities through the use of the fairy tale element of the human-animal transformation. This subversion rejects dualistic tendencies of the dominant, patriarchal society, opening new ways of identifying the self through interconnections otherwise rejected or …

"Why Wait Until They Commit A Crime?": Moral Imbecility And The Problem Of Knowledge In Progressive America, 1880-1920, Chelsea D. Chamberlain

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Focusing on the forty-year period from 1880 to 1920, this thesis explores moral imbecility--the lack of a moral sense at birth--as a contested medical diagnosis that embodied many of modernizing America's greatest fears. It argues that moral imbecility played a pivotal role in facilitating the emergence of several hallmarks of modern America. The diagnosis legitimated medical experts’ far-reaching cultural authority, encouraged the rise of a surveillance society, and secured the growth of a medicalized bureaucratic state responsible for institutionalizing hundreds of thousands of people. As a potent medico-cultural threat based upon new and disputed knowledge claims, it became an important …

Gait Intervention For Improvements In Human Top Speed Running, Michelle Buechner

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Between individuals faster sprinting speeds are achieved by applying greater stance average forces against the running surface. Recent evidence further indicates that elite level performers also strike the ground with leg kinematics that differ from those of non-elites and that these leg movements act to enhance the force transients occurring in the milliseconds following foot-ground impact. I investigated whether sprint performance could be enhanced through a short term gait intervention, consisting of 3 laboratory training sessions wherein subjects (n = 6) completed 5 high-speed runs on an instrumented force treadmill at 90% of their measured top sprint. The subjects received …

Co2 And O2 Variability In The Partially Ice-Covered Arctic Ocean, Asm F. Islam

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Limited carbon cycle research has been conducted so far in the Arctic Ocean (AO) compared to many other open-ocean and coastal environments, with relatively few studies of the inorganic carbon cycle and air-sea gas exchange. Understanding these processes in depth and understanding the physical, chemical, and biological processes that control carbon dioxide (CO₂) and dissolved oxygen (DO) variability in the AO are crucial to predicting the future of the carbon cycle in the region and its impact on greenhouse gases and marine ecosystem processes, such as ocean acidification. To study the AO carbon cycle, in situ time-series data …

Thermodynamics Of Hhr23a Ubiquitin-Associated (Uba) Domains, Moses Joseph Leavens

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Ubiquitin-associated (UBA) domains have been discovered in several proteins within the cell, and at least one domain plays an important functional role in cellular phenomena such as NF-κB signaling. Mutations within the UBA(2) domain of the ubiquitin-binding scaffold protein p62 are frequently observed in patients suffering from Paget’s disease of bone. The human DNA excision repair protein HHR23A contains the UBA(1) and UBA(2) domains, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) structures depict their compact three-helix bundles. Moreover, the HHR23A UBA(1) and UBA(2) only share approximately 20% primary sequence identity. The p62 UBA(2) domain has been shown to contain quaternary structure in …

Politicized Climate Change Communication: An Integrative Complexity Analysis, Meredith A. Repke

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The vast majority of scientists agree that anthropogenic activities have caused the level of CO₂ in the atmosphere to rise at an unprecedented rate, and that the consequences of such a rise may very well be extreme. Despite these warnings, the American people do not possess, on average, the same level of concern towards climate change as scientists. The polarization of media in recent decades, the prevalence of selective exposure, and the general position on climate change of the two major political parties have led to liberals and conservatives consuming different information relevant to climate science. While evidence exists …

Instituting Collaborative Conservation In Federal Land Management: The Blm's Resource Advisory Councils As An Example, Benjamin D. Donatelle

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Collaborative Conservation is one type of Environmental Conflict Resolution (ECR) that, since the 1970’s, has proliferated throughout public land and natural resource management, especially in the Western United States. As the notion of collaboration has risen in the collective consciousness of public land management professionals, various efforts to capitalize on its use have been instituted through regulatory reforms and legislation. For twenty years the Resource Advisory Councils have fulfilled their regulatory responsibilities and exemplify policy mandated collaborative consensus-building process, yet little research has been conducted to understand what contributes to their effectiveness. This study investigates the effect of instituting or …

Perceptions Of Climate Change And Water Governance Vulnerability In The Aysén Region Of Chile, Michal I. Helman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

While the majority of Chile’s intact watersheds are located in the largely uninhabited southern Patagonia regions of the country, the majority of the Chilean population lives in the nation’s parched central regions. In the face of recent trends in climatic change, including dramatic decreases in snowpack, diminishing glaciers, and shifts in precipitation cycles and seasons, mountain contributions to local watersheds are predicted to continue dwindling as aridification worsens around the world and throughout Chile. Problems associated with aridification are further complicated by Chile’s water history, which has largely revolved around the nation’s fresh water caches subject to private claims and …

Rural Food Procurement Strategies And Attitudes Towards Food Sourcing: A Case Study Of Boulder Town, Utah, Jane R. Philips

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Today, while the United States continues to boast one of the highest standards of living in the world, rural communities suffer from an inability to acquire sufficient healthy food. Rural food systems have undergone a substantial transition over the last 50 years causing previously agricultural regions to now depend heavily on outside food sources. It should not be so hard to consume food produced within these rural communities, yet it is.

Researchers relying on secondary data analysis from national scale databases may identify rural areas as “low food access,” however, gaps in available records inhibit the development of a full …

Video Prompts For Self-Regulated Learning: Metacognition And Reflection Activity, Janet Sedgley

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study explored video metacognitive prompts as a method of engaging students in self-regulated learning. The study was completed in the naturalistic setting of fully online learning. Such learning environments imply a distance between faculty and students that makes student self-direction vital to success. However students are only infrequently practicing self-regulated learning skills.

Dna Methylation In Humans And Dogs: Evaluating The Impact Of Nutritional And Particulate Exposures, Luke Benjamin Montrose

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Asthma is among the most common chronic diseases in children, among the leading causes of hospitalization for children, and one of the leading causes of school absenteeism. Discovery of preventable factors and the underlying mechanisms that exacerbate asthma among prevalent cases is important for mitigating the health burden of this childhood disease. Environmental factors such as exposure to particulate matter (PM) or nutritional deficiencies can lead to poor respiratory health among susceptible children. Recent animal studies suggest that PM exposures and dietary nutrients may influence asthma pathways through epigenetic mechanisms. Epigenetic modifications are heritable changes that can regulate gene activity …

Insight Dialogue: Investigation Of A Relational Meditation Practice, Zed David Kramer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Contemporary psychology has shown a strong and growing interest in Buddhist psychological (BP) theory and practice, which has informed numerous clinical interventions, influenced psychotherapeutic approach, and increasingly been the subject of empirical investigation (Goyal et al., 2014, Keng, Smoski, & Robins, 2011, Neff & Germer, 2012). This widespread adoption and adaptation of BP concepts, including mindfulness, self-compassion, and compassion, has primarily focused on the development of individual skills and internal change. However, despite the critical role relationship plays in human development, in the experience of distress, and in healing, the development of these skills and qualities in an explicitly relational …

Bamboo Harvesting For Household Income Generation In The Ethiopian Highlands: Current Conditions And Management Challenges, Bridget L. Tinsley

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Bamboo is a renewable resource that has been advocated as a means to alleviate poverty and foster rural development throughout the world. Ethiopia holds 67% of continental Africa’s bamboo coverage and is gaining interest by international markets. Despite great speculation about Ethiopia’s bamboo market potential, foundational information regarding household utilization and income reliance is lacking. To understand how bamboo contributes to rural Ethiopian households, a quantitative household assessment was undertaken in this study. A questionnaire census collected data from 371 households. A quantitative assessment of household incomes and assets evaluated what factors influence bamboo harvesting.

The contribution of bamboo to …

A Case Study Tested Framework For Multivariate Analyses Of Microbiomes: Software For Microbial Community Comparisons, Eric M. Spaulding

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The study of microbiomes is important because our understanding of microbial communities is providing insight into human health and many other areas of interest. Researchers often use genomic data to study microbial organisms, demonstrating differences from one organism to the next. Metagenomic data is utilized to study communities of microbial organisms. The research described herein involved the development of a collection of computational methods.

This suite of computational methods and tools (written in the R and Perl languages) has become a framework used for metagenomic data analysis and result visualization. Multivariate analyses such as Linear Discriminate Analysis (LDA) are used …

Speaking For You: Positions Of Montana Ranching Organizations On Beef Market Concentration, Katie Marie Leblanc

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Beef market concentration continues to be a highly contentious issue; especially in the culture-­‐rich ranching industry of Montana. The agriculture industry, specifically the beef sector, has experienced a tremendous amount of integration and consolidation over the past 50 years. This amount of industry restructuring has crafted a beef backgrounding and processing sector with the highest rates of concentration ever witnessed, with a Concentration Ratio (CR4) reaching nearly 82%. This research aims to qualitatively investigate ranching organizational positions, on the topic of beef market concentration and potential impacts this has had on the organization and their members who are located and …

Remaking Nature In Montana: Topophilic Considerations Of Wolves And Wolf Trapping, Andrew Myers

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In 2011, after nearly forty years of federal protection, the gray wolf was removed from the Endangered Species List in Montana and its management entrusted to the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. The implementation of public trapping seasons in 2012 as a method to control wolf populations has further inflamed an already embroiled debate. The purpose of this research was to investigate how the presence of wolves and wolf trapping impacts human attachments to landscapes of “nature” in Montana by focusing on the following questions: What are the public’s social constructions of wolves? What are the public’s social constructions of …

Bilisshiissaannuua / To Go Without Water: The Importance Of Fasting Among The Apsaalooke, Aaron B. Brien

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The Apsaalooke nation of Montana is one of many tribes in the Great Plains that

practice the ritual of fasting (Vision Quest). In this document I will explain Apsaalooke

fasting also called Bilisshíissaannuua To Go Without Water. This will be done by explain

some core elements of Apsaalooke belief to give the reader a string knowledge base,

so that one can contextualize fasting with in Apsaalooke culture.

This documents also highlights the Dryhead Preservation and recordation project

during the summer of 2013, funding and conducted by the Bureau of Land

Management, Custer National Forest and The Crow tribal Historic Preservation …

The Effect Of Community Service Participation On Team Cohesiveness In Ncaa Division I Women's Volleyball Teams, Cara Jo Cocchiarella

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Despite the efforts of many to determine the best means for constructing and maintaining unified sports teams, leaders in the field continue to seek additional methods. This non-experimental quantitative analysis of NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball teams examined the value of community service participation as a team building activity. The purpose of this study was to determine the difference, if any, that exists between the amounts of cohesiveness on teams that employ different grouping strategies in community service work. Participants representing 74 different teams included a coach and a total of 442 players from those schools across the country. Mann …

"Spitting Positively Forbidden": The Anti-Spitting Campaign, 1896-1910, Patrick J. O'Connor

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

A Public Revolt Against Spitting: Education And Politics In The Progressive Era, Patrick J. O'Connor

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

The Tower Of Hanoi In Dynamic Creative Problem Solving, Lia Harrington

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Creativity and emotions are well-studied constructs, and there is much work on their interrelations. However the empirical application of dynamical systems analysis to them is still relatively rare. For these reasons, a study was conducted on the dynamics and interrelationships of creativity, emotion, and psychopathology using state space grids (SSG) in 33 young adult participants assessed for autism spectrum and negative schizotypy traits, using a computerized Tower of Hanoi (ToH) creative problem-solving task. An overview of the dual importance of convergent and divergent thinking styles to creativity is provided as a context for the experiment. The hypothesis that participants with …

Snip, Snap, Snout: This Tale Is Told Out, Crista A. Ames

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Mythology has shaped human thought and experience since before recorded history. Passed from one generation to the next, myths elevate and aggrandize realities that are difficult, complex or horrifying. This is what makes us human, an inspiring capacity toward metaphor and the ability to make beauty, lyricism and splendor—order from the chaos. Within mythology, the cause and effect of both misery and joy may be explored in their wholeness. In this act of imaginative translation, we may come to understand how misery and joy are naturally coexisting.

In my thesis exhibition this tale is told out, I use the layering …

The Occurrence Of Place-Based Narrative In U.S. Senatorial Campaign Advertisements, Brian K. Munis

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Narratives have been increasingly subject to study within social science disciplines. However, research pertaining to narrative within political campaigns is incomplete. For example, there has been a relative lack of attention in the literature to the symbolic discourse and imagery in many political campaign advertisements that—seemingly—exists in order to link candidates to specific geographic “places” within their constituencies. A more complete understanding of the association between narratives of place and political campaigns will allow us to more effective and accurately gauge how, when, and why candidates use this potential strategy; as well as its possible effectiveness in election outcomes. This …

An Analysis Of Socioeconomic Influences On Health Care Seeking Behavior In Humla, Nepal, Hannah Kuehl

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Mobile medical camps (MMCs) are common in Nepal, as well as other parts of the world. MMCs in Nepal provide health care resources that are not available through the government health system, due to Nepal’s weak health infrastructure. Although MMCs are problematic for a variety of reasons, they continue to play a role in health care delivery in remote settings the world over. Despite the fact that MMCs are increasingly common in many countries around the world, their patient populations and their health outcomes are poorly understood. This thesis is an analysis of socioeconomic influences within a select group of …

Diabesties: How Diabetic Support On Campus Can Alleviate Diabetic Burnout, Kassandra E. Martin

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The purpose of this study is to determine what types of supportive communication Type One diabetic students need when entering college to decrease diabetic related distress. A training program for students living with Type One Diabetes was created on the barriers they face to effective disease management on campus. This training plan was developed using Beebe, Mottet, and Roach’s (2013) Needs-Centered Training Model. The main issue that appeared from the Needs Assessment was that students are feeling high distress when it comes to keeping with a strict medical regimen. What they expressed interest in was a need for information from …

Against The Grain: Railroad Ramifications As Oil Crosses Wheat Country, Laura Scheer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Over the past two years, grain growers along Montana’s Hi-Line have experienced significant shipping delays because of heavy traffic on the railroads in the northern plains. The delays caused declines in wheat prices and many farmers had to build extra storage to house the crops they couldn’t get on the rails. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, the main railroad serving the Hi-Line, blames the congestion on harsh winter weather, a larger than average crop harvest and an increase in shipping demands across all sectors. Farmers say the railroad has favored increasing shipments of crude oil from the Bakken shale formation …

An Adventurous E-Reader For Non-Linear E-Books, Emily Palmieri

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Non-linear books are published in print format as sequential text or digitally as collections of documents linked together via hyperlinks. These publication methods are problematic for readers and authors alike. Readers are often presented with unintuitive interfaces that do not indicate critical contextual information; authors struggle to order non-linear content into linear formats or to create and distribute their work in resource intensive digital mediums. While standard e-books might be a convenient format for non-linear books, current e-readers used to view them are severely limited; they mimic the format of physical books and fail to solve problems inherent in displaying …

Assessment Of Avalanche Mitigation Planning For Developed Areas In The Rocky Mountain’S Of Colorado, Daniel Kozel

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.