Digital Commons Network^™

Breeding Bird Communities Of Major Mainland Rivers Of Southeastern Alaska, Jim A. Johnson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Because of the scarcity of information for bird communities at the major mainland rivers of southeastern Alaska, the main objective of this study was to provide baseline information including distribution, status, and habitat associations of breeding birds.

I conducted a meta-analysis of all known reports (including the current study) conducted at major mainland rivers during the breeding season. I described bird species composition, distribution, abundance estimates, status, habitat associations, and guild membership for all birds recorded at 11 major mainland rivers. Based on incidental observations, 170 species were recorded by all studies. Of these, 134 species were known or suspected …

Outcomes And Presurgical Correlates Of Lumbar Interbody Cage Fusion, Rick Lacaille

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Rates of lumbar fusion surgery have been increasing with an estimated 192,000 procedures performed annually. However, satisfactory outcomes of lumbar fusion vary considerably and often emphasize technical success, such as arthrodesis, rather than Ill functional and quality of life outcomes. Interbody cage fusion was recently developed and touted as a superior alternative to existing lumbar fusion procedures. There is, however, a paucity of research to support these claims, particularly with regards to functional and quality of life outcomes. Moreover, predictive correlates of outcomes for interbody cage fusion have not been given adequate attention in the literature. The aims of this …

The Foraging Behavior Of A Solitary Bee, Diadasia Nigrifrons (Hymenoptera: Anthophoridae) On Sidalcea Oregana, Ssp. Oregana, Kimberly A. Kuta

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Foraging studies have established that bees typically obey a set of movement rules when foraging on vertical inflorescences: they begin foraging at the bottom of an inflorescence, move upward, visit a fraction of the available flowers, and leave before reaching the top of the inflorescence. These behaviors are purported to maximize bee foraging efficiency by concentrating their efforts on the most rewarding flowers and minimizing flower revisits. Bees also increase their efficiency by selecting inflorescences with many flowers, visiting more flowers per inflorescence, and remaining in resource-rich areas. To test these hypotheses on plants with more complicated flower arrangements, I …

Simulation Of Wind Dispersal Of Tree Seeds, Tree Colonization, And Growth Of Bottomland Hardwood Reforestation Sites Of The Mississippi Alluvial Valley, Timothy James Nuttle

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Tree community composition in bottomland hardwood reforestation sites is considerably less diverse than natural bottomland hardwood forests. This study sought to understand the mechanisms behind failure to develop diverse tree communities. First, I developed a mechanistic model of seed dispersal by wind in spatially variable environments. Second, I developed a spatially explicit simulation model of forest dynamics that includes this wind-dispersal model to investigate whether diversity is limited by dispersal or interactions among species and individuals. Finally, I performed model experiments to determine if manipulations of stand structure might help improve conditions for colonization of various species, thus enhancing diversity …

Species Pairwise Associations Over Nine Years Of Secondary Succession: Assessing Alternative Explanations And Successional Mechanisms, Lara R. Rozzell

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The importance and mechanisms of species interactions are undetermined in most successional systems. I used correlations and null modeling to detect pairwise species associations between 33 plant species in the first nine years of secondary succession after logging and burning in a western Oregon Cascade forest. I tested for correlations between each species and soil nutrients, nonvegetative ground cover, and surrounding vegetation. More positive than negative associations were found at all sampling times. The proportion of positive associations decreased and negative associations increased through time. Up to 42% of associations at a sampling time were explicable by shared positive correlations …

Catastrophic Wildfire Hazard Assessment In Pinyon-Juniper Woodlands Utilizing A Managerial Paradigm, Benjamin D. Baldwin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The impetus for this research was the increasing threat of catastrophic wildfires resulting from the accumulation of fuels across the West. Guided by the priorities, goals, and guiding principles outlined by the national fire plan (NFP), the objective was to identify those areas within a pinyon-juniper woodland-dominated landscape with the highest hazard of catastrophic wildfire. The intent was to help managers prioritize proactive fuels management efforts outside of the wildland urban interface (WUI). Based on a management paradigm, constraints were placed on the data collection, analysis, and model development. A geographic information system (GIS) was used to create a hazard …

Using Immune Modulators To Ameliorate Aleutian Disease In Mink, Kie Hoon Jung

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Aleutian disease of mink (AD) is an immunopathological disorder induced by persistent infection with AD virus. Many breeds of mink seem to have a high susceptibility to AD. Interestingly, the primary feature of AD in susceptible adult mink is a chronic, fatal immune complex-mediated glomerulonephritis comparable to that seen in human diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus. Because of its comparative aspects to human diseases and the substantial economic loss to the fur industries in the world, classical AD and the nature of the virus has been studied extensively for three decades. Currently no therapies are available and vaccination has …

Nature Writing And Healing: Recovering The Wild Soul, Denice H. Turner

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In this study, I explored how nature writing could be seen as healing text. I described some common problems associated with the construction of trauma and grief narratives and examined how nature writers dealt with them. The study began with my frustration at being unable to write a healing narrative for myself and progressed as I integrated research that informed my own writing.

The literature I read included a variety of perspectives, from Jungian and traditional psychotherapy to current writing theory. I used the theory to comment on the nature writing texts as I discovered them. Using the words and …

The Ground Beneath Her Feet: “Third World" Feminisms, Vasuki Nesiah

Journal of International Women's Studies

This paper advances the argument that third world feminism calls for a re-orienting of our critical energies from merely taking sides in a debate, to questioning the material and ideological lens that interpolates the debate, i.e., the habitus from which we make our stand. Constituted by the tension between “finding the ground on which we make our stand” and the struggle with whether “we are mostly given that territory,” third world feminisms pursue political agendas interpolated by the cracks and fissures of post-colonial nationhood and internationalized feminisms. The ground of struggle is varied – working conditions and economic self-determination, family …

Seeing Battle, Knowing War: Feminist Re-Visioning In Hortensia Papadat-Bengesçu’S “The Man Whose Heart They Could See”, Jon Dietrick

Journal of International Women's Studies

As an exploration of the themes of disillusionment and the failure of language, Romanian writer Hortensia Papadat-Bengesçu’s “The Man Whose Heart They Could See” would seem to share much with better-known men’s writing on the war such as Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms or Henri Barbusse’s Le Feu: Journal d’une Escouade. But a careful reading of the text reveals some crucial differences from these works. Treating the subject of war not in terms of an easily definable “scene of battle” or “war front” but instead as a deeply entrenched cultural logic in which varied aspects of society are both …

The Gender Blindness Of Good Theorists: An Israeli Case Study, Henriette Dahan Kalev

Journal of International Women's Studies

In this article I use Swirski’s book as a sounding board for a theoretical discussion about issues of marginality and gender in Israeli society. My aim is to discuss a number of issues connected with gender blindness that are prevalent in sociological studies about Israeli society. Namely: (1) What is the sociological manifestation of the phenomenon referred to as gender blindness? (2) Why is it that women are often excluded in theoretical analysis? (3) Why is it that women are marginalized either intentionally or accidentally? (4) What are the causes of women’s invisibility? I explain why Marxist analysis of the …

What The People Think: Glacier National Park And Vicinity, Norma P. Nickerson

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

This report brings together many studies and articles written over the years about people and places in and around the Flathead Valley area of Montana. The report was written for the National Parks Conservation Association for use in their report, "Gateway to Glacier, the Emerging Economy of Flathead County." The NPCA report can accessed at

Comparison Of Native Brushland, Replanted, And Unaided Secondary Succession Plant Communities In The Lower Rio Grande Valley Of Texas, Mitchell Allen Sternberg

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Biology)

Agriculture and urban development have destroyed 95% of native brushland habitat in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) of south Texas. Therefore, habitat restoration is an important issue in the LRGV. Since 1982, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been replanting areas in the LRGV to native brushland species to establish a wildlife corridor along the lower reach of the Rio Grande. Vegetation composition of a mature brushland, a replanted habitat and an unaided secondary succession site (fallow field) were examined at one locale in the LRGV in 1999. The mature brushland edge plot had the highest species richness …

Loss Count, Sonya Corin Russomanno

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

My prints encompass themes of loss of past experiences, poetics, repetition, and feeling. By remembering facts from past experiences, one can recall how a particular moment felt. My intention when producing a piece of work is to generalize themes of loss, time, and memory by using visual features of pattern, space, and repetition of forms to exemplify feelings in relation to loss, time, and memory. This thesis statement will first address themes of loss, time, memory, and the visual devices that are employed with one intention, that they exemplify features crucial in my work. In addition, I will address the …

Enhancing The Effectiveness Of The Utility Energy Supply Chain In Integrated Steel Manufacturing, Girish Sudhir Bhave

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The iron and steel industry is energy intensive. The steel industry accounts for 2--3 of total US energy consumption. The energy costs account for 12--15% of the total cost of manufacturing steel. Cogeneration is done by most of the integrated steel producers for on-site electricity generation. The steel industries use different utility systems, and 90% of the industry uses standard steam boilers, steam turbines and BOP (Basic Oxygen Process). The boilers produce steam which is used for power generation and production processes. The system consumes oil, natural gas and blast furnace gas (BFG) to produce this steam and electricity. It …

Inhalation Exposure System For Diesel Exhaust Particulates, Jay Michael Sherman

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The objectives of this research were twofold. First, a Hazelton 2000 Inhalation Chamber was modified to minimize the amount of diesel exhaust particulate (DEP) needed for animal inhalation exposures. Second, instrumentation was evaluated for aerosolizing DEP, monitoring the mass concentration and size distribution, and determining the uniformity of the aerosol.;The Jet-O-Mizer jet mill produced a single mode DEP mass median diameter (MMD) of 0.33 mum while maintaining a relatively steady mass concentration of 10 mg/m3. The uniformity of a carbon black aerosol was found to vary from 9.9 mg/m3 in the front part of the chamber, to 10.4 mg/m3 in …

Reinforcement And Punishment During Programmed Instruction, Stephen C. Scherer

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Recommendations for improving answer accuracy during programmed instruction have included the use of punishment to decrease the rate of students' responding and to prevent careless mistakes. The effects of punishment during programmed instruction, however, have not been clearly identified. There is evidence that punishment increases attention and decreases response rates during learning tasks, but other effects on student responding, including escape from the learning task, have not been systematically examined. The present study was designed to systematically examine the effects of punishment as well as extinction during programmed instruction. Four college students were recruited to earn money while working on …

Dietary Factors Influencing Iron Status Among Wic Participants Ages 6--24 Months, Marci Stayner Cannon

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Iron deficiency is a nationwide concern. Dietary strategies issued by national organizations, aim to help prevent childhood iron deficiency. This study examined the relationship of dietary factors with iron status in WIC participants 6--24 months. This was a cross-sectional study of 50 rural infants and toddlers.;Iron deficiency was determined from one blood sample analyzed for serum ferritin (SF) and transferrin saturation (TS). Iron deficiency was defined as SF ≤ 15 ug/dL and TS ≤ 15%. Two, 24-hour dietary recalls were collected. Stepwise logistic regression was used to evaluate factors predictive of iron status.;Thirteen children (26%) were iron deficient. Iron status …

Cellular Specializations For Sound Localization, Kevin C. Rowland

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

One of the key elements in auditory perception is the localization of sounds in space. The major cues used for localizing sounds in the azimuthal plane have long been recognized as interaural differences in time of arrival of a sound and amplitude differences between the two ears (Rayleigh 1907; Thompson 1878). High frequency sounds are reflected by the head and thereby produce interaural level differences (ILDs) that are used for localization. The head does not reflect low frequency sounds and so interaural timing differences (ITDs) are used. One of the cell groups of the auditory brainstem, the medial superior olive …

Outbreak Of Sars, Ambreen Shakil, Muhammad Imran Omar, Saba Sohail

Department of Radiology

No abstract provided.

Pastoralism Under Pressure: Tracking System Change In Southern Ethiopia, D. Layne Coppock, Solomon Desta

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

While economic development has proven elusive in African pastoral systems, change is pervasive. The Kajiado Maasai, for example, have endured declines in terms of per capita livestock holdings and other aspects of human welfare over the past 50 years. Activity diversification has occurred in Maasailand as the population copes with pressure from human population growth. We surveyed up to 317 Borana households during the late 1990s to see if similar patterns occurred in southern Ethiopia. Once viewed as an example of sustainable pastoralism, the Borana system now confronts numerous challenges. Decline in per capita cattle holdings has spurred household-level diversification …

For Pastoralists The Risk May Be In The Drinking Water: The Case Of Kargi, N. Kenya, D. Layne Coppock, William A. Shivoga

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

Inadequate quantity of water is a common problem for pastoral people in East Africa. For the Rendille community of Kargi in northern Kenya, however, water quality has also been identified as a critical issue. Residents report that water-borne diseases commonly affect human health in dry seasons, and livestock may die soon after drinking water from some of the older, deep wells. We collected water samples from four key wells and one earthen dam to analyze physiochemical and bacteriological quality. Preliminary results indicated that the centrally located, oldest wells tested far below technical quality guidelines in several respects. Especially notable were …

Chorionic Morphology Of Mayfly (Ephemeroptera) Eggs Of The Lower Rio Grande Valley, Maria D. De Leon

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

External egg morphology of ten species of Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) mayflies are compared using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and a taxonomic key to the eggs is provided. The eggs of five species are described here for the first time. Preserved female adults or subadults were critical-point dried using liquid CO2 . The eggs were removed and placed on metal stubs for sputter coating with gold/palladium. The coated eggs were then observed and photographed by SEM. The morphological features described were the chorionic sculpturing, polar caps, accessory attachment structures, and micropyles. This is the first mayfly egg comparison and …

An Investigation Of Pre-Nursing And Second-Year Baccalaureate Nursing Students' Perception Of Spirituality, Jacquelyn Kay R. Williams

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This pilot study investigated whether spiritual care education is a part of the baccalaureate nursing curriculum at a south Texas university. This study used two standardized scales to compare the pre-nursing students' and senior baccalaureate nursing students' attitude about spirituality at different levels in the nursing program. Two quantitative questionnaires were used to investigate the nursing students' personal spiritual involvement and beliefs and their opinions about the spiritual role of the nurse in meeting patient spiritual needs. No statistically significant differences in the two group's personal spiritual involvement and beliefs were found. Statistically significant differences were found in the opinions …

Wglt Program Guide, May-June, 2003, Illinois State University

WGLT Program Guides

This guide details programming for WGLT, a public radio station owned by Illinois State University.

Will That Be First Class, Business Class, Or Pet Class - Changing Legal Trends For The Traveling Pet, Judith R. Karp

San Diego International Law Journal

This Article discusses the recently enacted British and European Union legislation that eases the restrictions on pet travel from the United States and Canada to European countries and its effect on the ailing airline and travel industries.

Seasonal Movement And Macro-Habitat Use Of Largemouth Bass (Micropterus Salmoides) In An Ohio River Navigation Pool, Jason Gregory Freund

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Largemouth bass provide an important recreational fishery in the Ohio River. Our objectives were to determine critical over-wintering and spawning habitats of largemouth bass in the Belleville Pool of the Ohio River. We surgically implanted radio-transmitters in 39 adult largemouth bass and tracked them over a 23-month period. Our results demonstrate the importance of off-channel habitats in the life history of largemouth bass in large river systems. Sedimentation, resulting in a loss of embayment quality and surface area, is an important problem and thus merits increased attention. Restoration and protection efforts to improve largemouth bass fisheries in large river systems …

Movement Patterns In The Big Brown Bat (Eptesicus Fuscus), W. Adam Phelps

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Temperate insectivorous bats have historically used such structures as hollow trees, slabs of loose bark, foliage, and caves as roosts. With the advent of modern man in North America, human-built structures have become available to bats. Eptesicus fuscus is one of only two species of bats in the eastern United States that regularly utilize human structures as roosts, and the only one that regularly hibernates there. Individual ~- fuscus utilizing the attic of a church on the campus of St. Mary-of-the-Woods College (SMWC) were implanted with passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags. The electronic tag reader was placed near the only …

Female Sexual Arousal And Race: A Comparison Study, Katrenia Y. Reed Hughes

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1986) suggests that individuals differ in sexual behavior according to societal expectancies. Therefore, there may be differences in sexual responsiveness between African American and European American females, particularly to different sexual stimuli. However, few studies have investigated female sexuality and virtually none have investigated African American female sexuality. The present two-part study assessed African American and European American women's subjective sexual arousal to erotic films that vary in the ethnicity of the actors. Study one assessed participants' willingness to engage in interracial relationships, levels of sex guilt, and levels of sensation seeking. One hundred and twenty-one …

2003 May, Office Of Communications & Marketing, Morehead State University.

Morehead State Press Release Archive, 1961 to the Present

Morehead State University press releases for May of 2003.