Digital Commons Network^™

Searching For Nooks And Crannies: Geometric And Mechanistic Perspectives On Transformer Language Model Interpretability, Anna Marbut

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Large language models (LLMs) have demonstrated remarkable linguistic capabilities, but the internal mechanisms driving their performance and behavior remain poorly understood. This dissertation investigates the interpretability of transformer-based language models from two complementary perspectives: the geometric organization of model internals in encoder-only models, and the mechanisms underlying safety behavior in decoder-only generative models.

In Part I, we address the challenge of measuring geometric properties in high-dimensional latent spaces, proposing and evaluating alternative measures of data spread that improve upon commonly used metrics. We then apply these measures alongside quantization-based metrics to examine the relationship between latent space geometry and downstream …

Lake As Body: Ecofeminism And Animacy At The Great Salt Lake, Shae Barber

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Water shapes cultural, social, and ecological systems. Yet, dominant economic, political, and academic frameworks often treat water as a backdrop or passive resource, ignoring it as an active participant in meaning-making and relationship-building. Viewing water as “nonliving” obscures how it participates in and co-creates relationships, limiting understanding about impacts of and responses to climate change and environmental degradation.

This thesis takes a mixed-methods and participatory approach including semi-structured interview, photovoice, and participatory mapping to examine relational practices between environmental advocates and the Great Salt Lake, a desiccating saline lake in Utah, U.S. As the lake continues to decline, dominant Western …

Continental Violence And The "Oregon Question": George Frederick Ruxton And The Nineteenth-Century Pacific Northwest, Rory Orion Johnson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This paper builds on recent efforts to depict Indigenous polities across North America in their international relations with European and Euro-American colonists and their centralized governments. It examines George Frederick Ruxton, a private English citizen and former army lieutenant, as he developed his response to the U.S.-British Oregon dispute while living in London in early 1846. He concluded that continental warfare was imminent and took overt steps to influence British policy, which he believed could halt U.S. expansion and definitively resolve the “Oregon Question.”

Race, Sexual Danger, And The Moral Logic Of Punishment In The Registry Era, Edith Meade

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Sex offender registries represent one of the most expansive and punitive criminal justice interventions in modern American history, yet public support for these policies remainsunderi nvestigated. Scholarly debate has questioned whether punitive attitudes toward sexual offenders reflect principled moral judgments, racial threat perceptions, or both. This study addresses that question by examining how offender race, offender age, offense severity, victim age, and offender-victim relationship shape public attitudes toward sexual offenders in the contemporary registry era. Drawing on theories of racialized sexual threat, group position, and retributive impulses, the study uses a nationally representative conjoint survey experiment administered through YouGov (N …

Legal Semiotics, Political Ontology, & Merging Chronotopes Of Identity Through The Federation Of Aboriginal Nations Of The Americas, Kevin T. Inglesby

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This dissertation studies the concept of self-determination related to a confederation known as the Federation of Aboriginal Nations of the Americas. It addresses three main questions: How does FANA represent an institution of legal cooperation? In what ways does cultural capital become reproduced? And what are key principles for the Federations’ code of unity? Self-determination is a core principle of international law and may be identified through treaties and social conventions like Wunnandry. The study explores an interdisciplinary approach to American Indian selfdetermination through a focus on applied anthropology, cultural heritage, and Peircean legal semiotics to problematize some historical approaches …

Adults With Dyslexia: Experiences Accessing And Using Reading Strategies And Assistive Technology, Brenda Rosalie King

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Dyslexia is a specific learning disorder of neurobiological origin characterized by persistent difficulties with accurate and/or fluent reading, word recognition, spelling, and decoding. Although dyslexia is widely recognized as a lifelong learning difference, the majority of research has historically focused on children and adolescents, with less attention given to adult experiences. The purpose of this study was to explore how adults with dyslexia access and use reading strategies and assistive technologies to support reading comprehension and independence across contexts. The study also examined barriers and supports influencing access to these tools, as well as the emotional experiences associated with their …

Expectations In The Preservation Of Dna And Bacterial Organisms In Differential Montana Burials, Kaylee M. Hinds

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study investigates patterns of decomposition and biomolecular preservation in domestic pig (Sus scrofa domesticus) proxies under varying burial conditions in a cold, seasonal climate. Conducted at the Lubrecht Experimental Forest in western Montana, the project aims to evaluate DNA degradation, microbial activity, and environmental influences across shallow, deep, surface, and secondary burial contexts. Three pigs were placed in distinct burial treatments (surface exposure, partial burial, and full burial), with a fourth site later added following bear disturbance and carcass relocation. Environmental monitoring included temperature, and soil sampling before and throughout the decomposition process. Systematic sampling of bone, soft tissue, …

An Ecology Of Small Sorrows: Small Animals And The Fragile Ecosystems Inside Us, Haley H. Yarborough

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In An Ecology of Small Sorrows, Haley Yarborough uses a series of personal essays to explore how encounters with small life shape her understanding of herself. This collection is inspired by many talented writers — Lucy Cooke’s insights into animal biology, Andy Weir’s humor and knack for explaining complicated topics, Ben Goldfarb’s insightful exploration of the overlooked, and Sabrina Embler’s beautiful, poetic reflections on the natural world.

These essays touch on how small animals serve as mirrors for us, through our experiences with illness, loss, insecurity, and survival. While a lot of modern media emphasize larger, charismatic species to tell …

Advancing Understanding Of Lived Experience Of Unhoused People To Reduce Social Stigma And Promote Community Health: A Theoretically-Guided Photovoice Study, B-Rad Stephen Applegate

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Homelessness is a persistent public health challenge shaped by structural inequities, stigma, and exclusion from social and health systems. Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) has increasingly been used to center the knowledge of people who are unhoused, yet limited attention has been given to the theoretical frameworks guiding this work across disciplines. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine theories and methods used in CBPR with unhoused populations and to explore the extension of Margaret Newman’s Theory of Health as Expanding Consciousness from a nursing-focused theory to a public health framework for understanding lived experience.

Using a scoping review methodology …

Embodied Women’S Health In The Pacific: Biocultural Pathways Of Hormones, Immunity, And Reproduction, Courtney Callidora Manthey

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This dissertation examines women’s health through a biocultural framework that integrates biological anthropology, medical anthropology, and public health, with a central focus on the Pacific. It advances embodiment theory as a unifying approach for understanding how lived experience becomes biologically incorporated across the life course, shaping reproductive, endocrine, and immune outcomes. Grounded in research in Sāmoa and situated within broader comparative contexts in the United States and Amazonian populations, this work argues that women’s health cannot be fully understood through biomedical indicators alone, but must instead be interpreted within historically, culturally, and environmentally embedded Pacific contexts and beyond. The dissertation …

Promoting Hope And Resilience: Measuring The Psychological Effects Of An Undergraduate Climate Change Education Course, Clare Bridgett Maguire

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The psychological effects of climate change are increasing, which has led to an increase in advocacy to research these effects. Current literature has included a focus on categorizing and understanding the psychological impacts, creating psychometrically sound instruments to measure the effects, and education as a tool to enhance coping strategies. However, limited research exists on measuring the emotional outcomes for students who engage in climate change education at the post-graduate level.

This dissertation explores the effects of an undergraduate-level climate change course on participants’ experiences of eco-anxiety, ecological grief, resilience, and hope to better understand the psychological effects of climate …

Ghostly Grieving In Theatre’S Now Also The Dramaturgy Of Perception And The Body In Contemporary American Ghost Plays, Jacob Mann Christiansen

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

“Ghostly Grieving in Theatre’s Now Also” explores how contemporary American plays and playwrights stage the dead as a way of understanding theatre’s unique language for dealing with the shared, complex human experience of grief. Focusing on theatrical ghosts and other “impossible” presences, I articulate how these figures function as dramaturgical devices. I also argue that theatre’s ghosts “set the stage” (as it were) for communicable meaning-making by inviting audiences into the tasks of creation and mourning.

My work draws on performance theory (especially phenomenological accounts of theatrical storytelling), on dramaturgical analysis, and on grief studies. In this dissertation project, I …

Á’Po’Taki Iiyika’Kimaa Work/Try Hard For Such A Time As This, Misamsai’Piaakíí Longtime Charging Woman Kimberly Lynn Paul

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This body of work adds to a recent shift in the academic landscape, valuing interdisciplinary research and Indigenous worldview. Predominant is the reversal of extractive research norms within Indigenous populations and the biosystems they steward, instead claiming Piikani (Blackfeet) led community-needs-based research valuing Indigenous data sovereignty, research methodologies, ethics, equity, and Indigenous empowerment. This research proffers requisite historical information providing the ‘why’ context, followed by three of the author’s studies: in toxic dumping, food sovereignty, and Piikani well-being. Under an environmental justice framework, the first study presents a cursory investigation of decades-long illicit toxic waste disposal reports linked to observed …

Hidden Wounds: Exploring Moral Injury In Childhood Exposure To Domestic Violence, Megan Elizabeth Denny

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The profound impacts of Childhood Exposure to Domestic Violence (CEDV) have been documented extensively, revealing long-term psychological effects such as the potential development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and increased likelihood of future victimization or perpetration of violence. Yet, the concept of moral injury (MI) traditionally explored in military and healthcare contexts, remains significantly underexplored in populations exposed to CEDV. This study examines the relevance of MI among individuals who experienced domestic violence (DV) during their youth. The research focused on two primary aims: (1) to describe the level and variability of moral injury-related distress among adults with histories of …

Characterizing Regional Human Necromicrobiome Communities In A Semi-Arid Desert To Inform Postmortem Interval (Pmi) Estimation, Georgia Rane Swelstad

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Accurate estimation of the postmortem interval (PMI) remains challenging in forensic anthropology, particularly in arid and high-elevation environments where decomposition processes and insect activity are highly variable. Postmortem microbial succession has emerged as a promising alternative framework for PMI estimation. However, the effects of climate and elevation on microbial decomposition dynamics remain insufficiently characterized.

This study examines skin-associated microbial succession in human remains decomposing at the Forensic Investigation Research Station (FIRS) in western Colorado, a semi-arid, high-elevation environment. Microbial samples collected from five anatomical sites during the early postmortem interval are analyzed using 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequencing, and …

The Subadults Of Casas Grandes: A Bioarchaeological Study, Holli Kaye Mcdonald

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Across the span of nearly eight hundred years, from AD 700-1450, the societies of the Casas Grandes region waxed and waned and left an astounding representation in the archaeological record. Best-known through the temporally older site of Convento (occupied during what is known as the Viejo Period) and the later site of Paquimé (occupied during the Medio Period), gradual cultural expansion and florescence across this period are witnessed through a variety of findings across decades of anthropological investigation.

Along with the artifacts and architecture unveiled during initial excavations at Paquimé and Convento, remains of 654 individuals were catalogued as well. …

The Forensic Implications Of Hydrochloric Acid (Hcl) Exposure On Dna Preservation In Human Teeth, Shaelyn Lee Zimmerman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Identity is a human right, and forensic anthropological methods are often aimed at returning identity to decedents. Three main pathways are used for the identification of human remains: fingerprints, dental records, and DNA analysis. Identification efforts may be hindered when perpetrators attempt to obscure the victim’s identity. In cases where corrosive substances, such as hydrochloric acid (HCl) are used, dental comparison and fingerprinting often fail and genetic analysis becomes the best chance of achieving personal identification.

Previous studies have shown teeth are an excellent source of DNA. Large, multi-rooted teeth, such as molars, are often preferred because they contain the …

Skeletal Dna Mapping Of The Post-Cranial Skeleton For The Identification Of Human Remains In A Modern Forensic Context, Mykala Denise Ward

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Human identification is a central goal of forensic anthropology and forensic molecular anthropology, particularly when remains are skeletonized, fragmented, degraded, or otherwise visually unidentifiable. Although skeletal elements such as teeth, the petrous portion of the temporal bone, and major long bones are commonly prioritized for DNA sampling, they are not always available, intact, or suitable for destructive analysis. This dissertation evaluates DNA preservation across the post-cranial skeleton to determine whether anatomical location, biological sex, and age-at-death influence DNA quantity and downstream forensic genetic success.

Surface cortical bone samples were collected from predetermined anatomical locations across four modern skeletonized individuals. DNA …

“An Extremely Dangerous Institution:” The Cultures And Controversy Of Public Social Dances In Montana, 1900-1930, Danielle Allison Brown

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This paper explores public social dances east of the Continental Divide in Montana from 1900 to 1930. Rural social dances in schoolhouses and urban dances in dance halls created two different dance cultures. The relaxed nature of rural dances preserved the traditional values of nineteenth-century social dances, which reinforced community and family ties. Urban dances reflected the modern fads of the roaring twenties and challenged traditional values with sexual suggestiveness. Progressive Era moral reformers concerned about the possibility that social dance promoted illicit sexuality participated in an anti-dance movement and pushed for regulations of social dances. The anti-dance movement in …

Unmuted: An Augmentative And Alternative Communication User’S Experience In Accessing And Engaging In Mental Health Care, Kanbi Faith Knippling

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Communication accessibility is a critical yet underexamined factor influencing access to and engagement in mental health care for individuals who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Existing literature suggests that AAC users experience significant barriers to obtaining communication-accessible mental health services, including limited provider preparation, communication-related assumptions, and broader structural inequities. Despite growing recognition of these concerns, little research has explored how AAC users experience and navigate mental health counseling or how communication accessibility shapes participation in care.

This single-case study explored communication accessibility within the context of an adult AAC users' experiences accessing and engaging in mental health counseling. …

An Institutional And Policy Analysis Of Climate Adaptation In Dhaka, Bangladesh: An Examination Of Urban Heat Island Mitigation Strategies, Tamanna Binte Mesbah

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis examines the institutional capacity for Urban Heat Island (UHI) mitigation in Dhaka, Bangladesh, focusing on governance structures, institutional arrangements, and implementation effectiveness. An analytical framework is applied to assess the capacity of key urban institutions including Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK), Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), and the Department of Environment (DoE) across dimensions of leadership, resources, coordination, and learning capacity. The study also examines governance dynamics such as inter-agency coordination, knowledge exchange, and mobilization capacity as they relate to the planning and implementation of heat mitigation strategies. Through semi-structured expert interviews the research …

High Algal Biomass Is Decoupled From Metabolism In The Gallatin River, Cora Mae Steinbach

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Assessing eutrophication in rivers is difficult compared to lakes and coastal waters, because most algal biomass occurs on the riverbed and flows interact and co-vary with production (Biggs and Close, 1989; Bernhardt et al., 2018). Riverine eutrophication is typically assessed using algal biomass and water column nutrients (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2000), but biomass is highly variable and labor-intensive to measure, while nutrient concentrations often underestimate enrichment due to rapid biological uptake (Dodds and Smith, 2016). Reach-scale river metabolism can help evaluate long-term functional change in rivers recovering from nutrient enrichment (Arroita et al., 2019; Jankowski et al., 2021; Diamond …

Building Trust Through Partnership: A Community Advisory Board Self-Evaluation Within A Blackfeet Nation Community-Based Participatory Research Collaboration, Lauren Dupuis

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Community Advisory Boards (CABs) are frequently used within community-based participatory research (CBPR) to promote community engagement, shared decision-making, and cultural responsiveness. Although CABs are widely utilized in Indigenous research partnerships, relatively few studies have evaluated CAB function from the perspectives of Indigenous community members. Our study describes the development of a CAB established through a collaborative partnership between the University of Montana and the Blackfeet Nation and evaluates the quality and impact of the partnership from the perspectives of CAB members. We conducted a mixed-methods partnership self-evaluation with members of a CAB supporting an Indigenous healthcare research initiative. Three of …

Growing Agroecology: Two Case Studies From The U.S. Student Farm Movement, Amelia B. Armstrong

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Scholars and activists identify agroecology as a crucial science, practice, and movement to move towards more just, equitable, and sustainable agriculture and food systems. Yet, the exploitative industrial food system, that deepens inequalities like food insecurity (Clapp et al., 2025), reduces farmer autonomy (Rotz, 2015), and contributes to increased carbon emissions (Lin et al., 2011) and biodiversity decline (Rotz, 2015), still dominates. Understanding and mobilizing the different spaces that teach agroecology, then, is a crucial step in challenging the dominant industrial food system. Agroecology education in university settings is an important domain to investigate as potential contributors to this movement, …

"More Boldly I Shall Go:" Jacobites, Hanoverians, And The Fabrication Of Nostalgia, 1745-1766, Jacob Louis Shropshire

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study investigates how Jacobites and Hanoverians constructed competing forms of nostalgia, identity, and political meaning in the decades after the rebellion of 1745. Although the defeat of Prince Charles Edward Stuart at Culloden ended any realistic hope of a Stuart restoration, it sparked a cultural struggle in which both supporters and opponents of the Stuarts depicted the Highlander as a symbol of heroic resistance or barbarism. A psychic struggle emerged as a result, and the Highlander became beloved by Jacobites and loathed by Hanoverians. These representations circulated through paintings, engravings, clothing, glassware, newspapers, pamphlets, and verse, which became central …

Thistlebloom Moondog, Gary W. Jensen

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

An aging grieving artist decides to write a memoir as part of a self-healing process, using samples of song lyrics from his extensive collection of original Americana songs as narrative prompts.  Steeped in wanderlust, aspiration, paradox and dysfunction, his is a tale of vexing sub-clinical troubles rooted in the mire of developmental and religious trauma.

The Experience Of A Single Parent Participating In Child-Parent Relationship Therapy: An Instrumental Single-Case Study, Matthew Nicholas Schramm

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Traditional family structures in the United States have shifted significantly, with single-parent households facing systemic barriers that increase parental stress and strain the parent-child relationship. As this bond is critical for healthy child development, accessible mental health support is essential for these families (Parache et al., 2023).

Child Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT), a ten-week evidence-based program, strengthens this bond by training caregivers to use play as a therapeutic tool (Landreth & Bratton, 2020). This instrumental single case study (Stake, 1995) examined one single-parent's experience of CPRT delivered in a condensed four-week telehealth format, addressing the limited representation of single-parent households …

Empowering Rural Lgbtq2s+ Parents: An Exploration Of Perinatal Social Support And Perinatal Mental Health, Tess Alexandra Carlson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs), which include depression and anxiety symptoms occurring during pregnancy and up to one year postpartum, are highly prevalent and frequently untreated, severely impacting family health. The immediacy of this issue is backed by CDC data showing mental health issues as the leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths. Improved methods for identifying PMADs, connecting parents to care, and understanding the broader social factors that shape perinatal mental health are critical. Guided by ecological systems theory, this dissertation research explores informal and formal social support and perinatal mental health among LGBTQ2S+ parents in Montana, contributing knowledge of …

Real-Time Immersive Wildfire Simulation: A Game Engine Approach, Jake Bova

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Wildfires are growing in frequency, size, and severity, placing escalating demands on firefighting resources and putting lives, property, and ecosystems at risk. Accurate prediction of fire behavior is critical to suppression planning, evacuation decisions, and firefighter training, yet the operational models that fire managers rely upon face a persistent tradeoff. High-fidelity physics-based models capture fire–atmosphere interactions faithfully but are computationally expensive, often running far slower than real time on CPU hardware, while faster empirical models sacrifice the dynamic coupling between a fire and the wind field it generates. Furthermore, most existing tools produce abstract, two-dimensional outputs that offer limited visual …

Spatiotemporal Dynamics Of Mountain Front Recharge Flow Paths And Their Contribution To Alluvial Aquifer Water Supply, Mikaela Bollag-Miller

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Mountain Front Recharge (MFR) is a critical recharge source for alluvial basin aquifers throughout the Intermountain West, yet the spatial and temporal dynamics of distinct recharge pathways remain poorly constrained. This study investigates the seasonal and spatial dynamics of MFR pathways and evaluates their impact on the Missoula Aquifer, a sole-source alluvial aquifer in western Montana, USA. MFR includes both surface-water inflows from mountain areas and Mountain Block Recharge (MBR), the groundwater contribution to the basin aquifer. A valley-scale water balance was employed to estimate first-order contributions and temporal fluctuations of MBR flow paths. A three-layer steady-state MODFLOW groundwater model …