Digital Commons Network^™

Coalescence: A Carnivore Coexistence Curriculum That Braids Indigenous & Western Ecological Knowledge Into A Relevant And Experiential Learning Opportunity For Youth, Stephanie Anne Barron

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

As grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horriblis) begin to reoccupy more of their historic range, and as humans and large carnivore populations continue to increase, incidences of human carnivore conflict are on the rise. A decolonial curriculum designed in collaboration with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe’s wildlife biologists stands to increase awareness of Indigenous ecological knowledge and teach youth about the importance of coexistence with carnivores. Additionally, this project could greatly influence youth perceptions of grizzly bears and other large carnivores. This research project examines the development and implementation of a carnivore coexistence curriculum for youth that is guided by …

Investigating Intellectual Diversity: A Critical Examination Of Academic Publishing Practices And Their Effects On Wildlife Conservation, Madeline M. Damon

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Academic publishing processes and standards play a fundamental role in communicating, reviewing, and expanding scientific knowledge in wildlife conservation. However, various publishing biases privilege some research perspectives and worldviews while limiting others. These biases directly impact intellectual diversity, or differences in ontology, axiology, and epistemology. This study aims to quantify intellectual diversity in the field of wildlife conservation and identify how publishing biases affect knowledge available to researchers and decision-makers worldwide.

The study employed a sample of 50,000 articles published between 2018 and 2022, collected from the Web of Science database. To analyze the vast amount of article records, natural …

Sodium Hyaluronate Based Drug Delivery To The Outer And Inner Ear, Emma Barrett-Catton

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

We have developed two projects using sodium hyaluronate (HA)-based systems for drug delivery to the ear. First, we investigated an HA-based hydrogel for use as a single use antibiotic treatment for otitis externa. Otitis externa, also known as outer ear infection, is a frequent affliction in both humans and animals. The most prevalent treatment for otitis externa is ear drops, but it is difficult to adhere properly to this treatment, causing poor patient compliance and the potential for complications. As a result, we have developed an HA-based hydrogel for use as a single application treatment for otitis externa to increase …

Between Tradition And Transformation: A Feminist Investigation Of The Role Of Pastoral Women Within Tanzania's Integrated Environment And Development Landscape, Kelli Erin Rogers

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Pastoral women hold pivotal social and environmental roles within their communities. Equally and actively engaging pastoral women in processes to conserve and sustainably use rangeland resources has therefore become an important focus for integrated environment and development intervention. In northern Tanzania, pastoral women find themselves at the center of gender equality efforts, which attempt to translate gender and environment theory into conservation action that elevates pastoral women’s historically unheard voices. Along the way, particular global narratives have positioned pastoral women alternately as passive beneficiaries or as powerful allies in biodiversity conservation and natural resource management. Although the importance of integrating …

The Resilience Of American Indian And Alaska Native Older Adults In The Context Of Major Health Disparities In Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Asthma, And Arthritis: A Narrative Review, Ennis Frank Vaile

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Background: Multiple major health disparities have been documented in Indian Country, including cardiovascular disease (Howard et al., 1999), diabetes (Acton et al., 2003), asthma (Mannino et al., 2002), and arthritis (Barbour et al., 2017). Prior research has shown that the prevalence rates of these conditions in American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) are among the highest in the United States. Given these health disparities, aging older adults in Indian Country may be especially vulnerable to the development of concurrent negative mental health outcomes, particularly depression (Garrett et al., 2015). Nonetheless, AI/AN older adults continue to age successfully and exhibit substantial …

Comedy, Camaraderie, And Conflict: Using Humor To Defuse Disputes Among Friends, Sheena A. Bringa

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study sought to examine the role humor plays in defusing conflict between friends from an evolutionary perspective. Although a vast amount of research exists on humor, friendship, and conflict, no single study connects all three of these concepts together. This study attempted to fill this gap by examining how different humor styles used between friends in times of conflict relate to friendship satisfaction and life satisfaction. Specifically, the hypotheses predicted that friends who use affiliative humor to deescalate conflict are more inclined to report higher relational satisfaction and improved individual well-being than friends who use maladaptive humor to deescalate …

“Should Wellbeing Be The Same As Perfection?” A Case Study On Student Wellbeing In Higher Mathematics Education, Marcelo Alonso Almora Rios

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Previous research has given the impression that reticent is our hunt for optimal teaching practices, educational goals, and nature of mathematical workings. In this regard, we have (seemingly) ended up with the following inquiries:

• What could the math classroom be for? and
• What has the math classroom been for?

These two questions touch on the scary horns of two other charged philosophical dandruffs. Namely:“What are the aims of teaching mathematics?” and “What should be our objectives in learning it?”

The term ‘positive education’ refers to an educational system engendering both the skills of positive wellbeing and traditional, academic achievement (Seligman …

Reterritorialization And Enclavic Tourism Development: A History Of Zoning And Its Impacts In Corbett Tiger Reserve Landscape, India, Rajiv Bhartari

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Zoning has become the sine qua non in protected area management around the world. Yet zoning as an assemblage of policies, practices and especially politics is not well understood, especially through a critical geographical/political ecology lens. In this research, I used the concepts of territorialization, reterritorialization and enclavization as a framework for examining the creation and impacts of zoning in the Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR) landscape over past five decades (1973-2023). The Corbett Tiger Reserve landscape has the largest wild tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) population in any protected area in the world. The framework helped to understand successive …

The Analysis Of Ancient Dna: From Mitochondria To Pathogens, Tre Joseph Marcus Blohm

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Ancient DNA (aDNA) is arguably one of the most difficult science fields to work in due to the constant battle against contamination and degradation; however, it is also one of the most rewarding. aDNA researchers have consistently garnered interest the world over with their findings and sparking the curiosity of many who wish to know more about who we are as Homo sapiens. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and pathogen DNA were used in this dissertation to understand more about where populations came from, how they moved, and what their environment was like through the identification of their maternally inherited mtDNA and …

Old Invisible Presence: Nonhuman Intelligence And Artificial Nature In A Coast Of Trees By A. R. Ammons And S*Perm**K*T By Harryette Mullen, Miles Jochem

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

A Multidisciplinary Approach To The Management Of A Non-Native Trout Species, Kaeli Alexis Davenport

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Non-native freshwater fish are considered a significant threat to the survival of native freshwater fish populations. Traditional management strategies for dealing with non-native fish such as chemical or mechanical removal have limitations and can be unsuccessful. A novel method for the removal of non-native fish is a technique where the addition of non-native male fish with a YY genotype (MYY) theoretically results in a shift of the population sex ratio towards all or mostly all males, driving population extirpation. However, many aspects that affect the success of this method have not been thoroughly tested. My doctoral research incorporated multiple disciplines …

In The Weeds, Bianca J. Jensen

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Governing Human-Elephant Conflict: A Critical Institutional Approach To Decolonizing Conservation In The Chobe Enclave Of Botswana, Jake Rayapati

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Within the largest population of African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) on the continent, Botswana’s Chobe Enclave is a group of agricultural communities bounded by protected areas and an international border. Human-elephant conflict (HEC) is a major concern for both Enclave residents and conservation practitioners. This research asked how institutional arrangements shape the governance of HEC in the Chobe Enclave. Previous research has shown that technical solutions to HEC must be complemented by integrating governance across local, national, and international levels to make elephant conservation and management more inclusive of people who live alongside elephants. This research employed a …

Impacts Of Eating Disorder Recovery On Communication Of Identity Through Food, Rosemary Willett Jeter

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Using the Communication Theory of Identity as a framework, the purpose of this thesis was to investigate how the experience of eating disorder recovery (EDR) impacts one’s communication of identity through and about food, and perceptions of others’ communication about and through food. Purposive sampling yielded 20 adult participants who self-identified as having been in EDR for at least one year. Results from a phronetic iterative data analysis of semi-structured interviews yielded several themes. When considering how EDR influences personal communication through food, main themes include: (a) the inability to share meals creates a gap between the enacted and relational …

Evaluating The Use Of Environmental Tracers To Reduce Conceptual Model Uncertainty Of Hydrogeologic Models, Andrew Nordberg, Jon Graham, W. Payton Gardner

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Environmental tracer concentrations for CFC12, SF6, and tritium are used in groundwater simulations to assess the ability of these tracers to reduce conceptual model uncertainty due to uncertainty of a site’s geologic and recharge characterization. The resulting groundwater simulations are characterized by site-specific hydrologic and geologic data, and with coordination from a field team with years of knowledge about the site. First-order (conceptual) uncertainty is directly addressed by using a stochastic modeling approach for spatial variability of the proposed subsurface configurations. Simulations of environmental tracer concentrations and water levels are used to assess six alternate conceptual models that are based …

Meta-Analysis Of Scent Detection Canines And Potential Factors Influencing Their Success Rates, Molly Marie Jaskinia

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Objective: This is a meta-analysis focused on the success rates of scent detection canines and potential factors that could influence their accuracy. A series of statistical analyses were conducted to determine if certain demographic factors, such as the dog’s gender, age, and breed, have an effect on a scent dog’s accuracy during a search. Or if more circumstantial factors, like the dog’s level of experience in scent work, the type of target scent, and their handler’s awareness of the target’s location, affect the outcome of the search.

Materials and Methods: A dataset was created from 37 different articles consisting of …

Negotiating The Sacred: Understanding Impacts To Iks And Itek From Use Of Remote Sensing And Gis Technologies Within Tribal Landscapes, Renelda R. Freeman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

How we see the world and ourselves in relation to it is largely achieved by the lens we are looking through and associated experiences within this relationship. This is additionally true when considering the acknowledged fact that Indigenous Knowledges are derived from natural and cultural sources and these assist in constituting the cultural identities of those Peoples associated with these sources. Presently there is a hunger for access and use of Indigenous Knowledges (IK) as never before seen in public ways, through a national Call for collaborative means to apply these knowledges to such as the issues we globally face …

An Examination Of The Food System, Foodscape, Dietary Patterns, And Accolated Health Outcomes Of Salish People Within The Confederated Salish And Kootenai Nation, Joshua William Brown

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Often an individualistic, consumerist strategy is promoted as the solution to decrease the growing prevalence of diet-related diseases. Unfortunately, this logic is ahistorical and apolitical while privileging pathological individualism, capitalistic consumerism, and prevalent diets within the United States. This reasoning fails to recognize diet construction across time by ideologies, policies, and practices. Such an outlook misses the reality that many people cannot escape the grip of the modern, pervasive, ultra-processed food system.

Several Native American populations find themselves plagued with high rates of diet-related diseases. Standard mantra shoulders these communities with their plight, often framing the discourse as personal responsibility …

Beaver Dam Analogs (Bdas) Alter Carbon Pools, Fluxes, And Concentrations Of Intermountain Headwater Streams, Hilary Schultz

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Beaver dam analogs (BDAs) have emerged as a climate adaptation and restoration strategy for water resource management in the drought-prone Western U.S., yet the focus has been on their influence on water quantity, overlooking effects on broader ecological components. By increasing water residence time and facilitating sediment retention, BDAs have the potential to influence carbon pools, fluxes, and concentrations. To examine the influence of BDAs on instream and riparian organic C and trace gases, we studied three intermountain headwater streams restored with BDAs two years after restoration during the summer of 2021. We found that there were subtle differences in …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Novel Biomaterials: The Use Of Hyaluronan For Otologic Applications And Silk Fibroin For Sensing Applications, Elizabeth Marie Arrigali

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

We have developed four projects using biomaterials including hyaluronan (HA) and silk fibroin (SF) for biomedical applications. First, we investigated an HA-antioxidant conjugate for topical application in sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). Drug delivery to the ear is very difficult. Systemic approaches usually result in low concentration to the ear and topical approaches are difficult with the two anatomical membranes of the ear: the tympanic membrane (TM) and the round window membrane (RWM). We have chosen an HA-based drug conjugate as HA has been shown to permeate through anatomical membranes like the skin. Our hypothesis was that an antioxidant like DMethionine …

Regulation Of Innate Immune Responses To Rift Valley Fever Virus Infection Through Alternative Splicing Of Riok3, Thomas Charles Bisom

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Work in this dissertation focuses on how innate immune responses are activated, dysregulated, evaded, and co-opted during Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) infection. To better understand how innate immune responses are affected during RVFV infection, we placed a particular emphasis on understanding the functions of the atypical kinase RIOK3 in innate immune responses. RIOK3 was previously shown by our group and other groups to be involved in the antiviral type 1 interferon (IFN) and the inflammatory NFκB innate immune responses, but its exact functions in these responses were not clear. Prior research in our group also showed that RIOK3 mRNA …

Traditional Ecological Philosophy, Michael J. Desrosier

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

A collection of creative essays that span a range of topics centered on Indigenous environmental wisdom.

Steady-State Regulation Of Secretory Cargo Export And Er Homeostasis By Inositol Trisphosphate Receptors And Penta-Ef-Hand Proteins, Aaron J. Held

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Constant protein degradation and turnover necessitates constitutive secretion that delivers the correct mix of nascent proteins to their appropriate subcellular destinations. Cells thus exhibit steady-state secretion and the additional ability to adjust secretory flux, though we lack a clear understanding of this critical process. During secretion, the COPII coat is responsible for providing a balance of actively and passively selected ER cargos to enter the secretory pathway. Furthermore, Ca²⁺ -binding proteins have been implicated in regulating this process in response to Ca²⁺ signals. In Chapter 1, we review the secretory pathway and vesicular trafficking, with a focus on …

Molecular Studies Of Human Fibronectin, Precious Ann Lleva Nepomuceno

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Fibronectin is an extracellular matrix glycoprotein that plays a major role in cell adhesion, cell growth and tissue organization. FN is comprised of three types of modular repeats – type I (FN1), type II (FN2), type III (FN3) – and a non-homologous variable region (V region) that can contain 0 to 120 amino acid residues depending on alternative splicing. Fibronectin contains several fibronectin type 3 (FN3) domains, which all have a β-sandwich structure composed of three-stranded (β-strands A, B and E) and fourstranded (β-strands C, D, F and G) β-sheets. FN3 domains are susceptible to mechanical unfolding, and it has …

Insights From The Environment: Unveiling Methodological Biases And The Impacts Of Beavermediated Environmental Variation On Amphibian-Parasite Dynamics, Leah Marie Fischer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Environmental variation plays an important role in shaping patterns of parasite and pathogen infections within ecosystems and populations. Effective management of wildlife diseases hinges on the detection of parasites and pathogens, followed by the identification of trends in infections that can be used for predicting their spread and implementing control measures. Beavers are ecosystem engineers and keystone species that serve as important sources of environmental variation. In North America, beavers are promoted for the conservation of imperiled taxa like amphibians which are facing declines driven by habitat loss, parasites, and pathogens. Beavers create diverse habitats that attract amphibians, but these …

Reinforcement Learning For Optimal Control In Simulated Greenhouses, Daithi Kahele Leilehua Martin

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Demands on agricultural systems will increase as the world population continues to grow. Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) is an old idea gaining more recent momentum due to advances in automation, lighting, and climate control. One of the fundamental challenges of CEA is optimal control of the growing environment. We present a method for optimal control in CEA utilizing Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL). DRL comprises a set of machine learning algorithms that optimize a user-defined reward function. We define this function such that the reward is high when the growing environment is ideal for crop production, and the reward is low …

Interactions Among Climate, Fire, And Ecosystem Processes Across Multiple Spatial And Temporal Scales In Rocky Mountain Forests, Kyra Diane Clark-Wolf

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Warmer and drier climate conditions over recent decades are contributing to widespread increases in fire activity across western North America. The combined impacts of changing climate and fire activity threaten to undermine the longstanding resilience of forest ecosystems to wildfires, potentially leading to ecological transformations. This context creates a pressing need to understand the direct effects of climate and wildfire on ecosystem processes, and how longer-term changes in climate, fire activity, and ecosystem processes interact to determine ecological trajectories.

This dissertation advances our understanding of the causes and ecosystem consequences of wildfire and changing fire regimes in northern Rocky Mountain …

Seeking A Common Theme: A Study Of Ceramic Effigy Artifacts In The Pre-Hispanic American Southwest And Northern Mexico Using Computer Image Pattern Recognition And Phylogenetic Analysis, Lee Roger Tallier Jr.

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Effigy artifacts are found throughout the Pre-Hispanic American Southwest and Northern Mexico (PHASNM), as well as in other cultures around the world, with many sharing the same forms and design features. The earliest figurines within the PHASNM were partial anthropomorphic figurines made from fired clay, dating to between A.D. 287 and A.D. 312 (Morss 1954:27). They were found in a pit house village of Bluff Ruin in the Forestdale Valley of eastern Arizona, and they appeared to be associated with the Mogollon culture. The temporal range of the samples examined in this study is from approximately 200 A.D. to 1650 …

Individual And Population Responses To Hydrologic Variability In A Headwater Stream Salamander, Madaline Cochrane

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Understanding how organisms respond to environmental variability is a central goal in ecology – a goal made even more pressing by the herculean challenge global climate change presents to all organisms. Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of floods and droughts, which will likely have disproportionate effects on freshwater organisms. Many stream-associated species have multi-stage life histories. However, we lack an empirical understanding of life history and movement responses of these organisms to hydrologic disturbances, and how these responses may influence demographic rates. In my dissertation, I used a combination of growth, developmental, movement, and demographic data to …

Umfc #12: A Comprehensive Forensic Analysis Case Report, Kaylee M. Hinds

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The University of Montana Forensic Case 12 (UMFC) is a human skeleton with an MNI of one that was recovered in August 1983 from an old schoolyard in Helena, Montana, by construction workers who were building a highway. The individual was given to the University of Montana Anthropology Department following the authority’s investigation. At the time, the University of Montana aided in the analysis of the skeletal remains and both departments had deemed the case as forensically insignificant and historic. The initial recoverers believed that the individual was a descendant of the Last Chance Gulch era and reflected Chinese ancestry, …