Digital Commons Network^™

Rural Subdivision Planning In Missoula County, Montana: A Planner's Perspective, John Michael Newman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Missoula County, Montana, located in the western portion of the state along its border with Idaho, consists of the City of Missoula and a number of unincorporated population centers extending outward from the urban area. The former benefits from typical urban services and faces land use planning issues typical of city locales, including public transportation, brownfields and infill development, and enhancement of the urban core. The latter areas, by virtue of their rural nature, are the subject of an entirely different series of land use planning conversations. The unincorporated areas of the county, in towns such as Seeley Lake, Florence, …

School-Based Gay-Straight Alliances As A Protective Factor For Sexual Minority Youth, Nicholas Christopher Heck

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Sexual minority youth have been found to be at-risk for engaging in negative health behaviors and for experiencing at-school victimization (Bontempo & D’Augelli, 2002). Specific benefits of attending a high school with a gay-straight alliance (GSA) have recently been published (e.g., fewer suicide attempts; Goodenow, Szalacha, & Westheimer, 2006). However, it is unclear whether GSAs have any impact on substance use behaviors. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of attending a school with a GSA on sexual minority youths’ high school experiences, mental health, and substance use behaviors. A total of 103 heterosexual and 145 sexual …

Simple Two-Sided Rational Vector Spaces Of Rank Two, John Walker Hart

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The purpose of this thesis is to find sufficient conditions under which a non-commutative version of the polynomial ring in two variables exists. The non-commutative rings we construct are non-commutative symmetric algebras over a two-sided vector space. After reviewing the definition of a two-sided vector space and giving some examples, we briefly recall the theory of simple two-sided vector spaces. We then assume k is a field of characteristic zero and t is transcendental over k and we find sufficient conditions under which a simple k-central two-sided vector space V over k(t) has left and right dimension two. Given such …

The Influence Of Sparc On Collagen Deposition In Asbestos-Induced Pulmonary Fibrosis, Aubrey Meghan Smartt

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Pulmonary fibrosis involves the invasion of lung tissue with fibrotic, scar tissue and affects roughly five million people total worldwide. Fibrotic development in the lung has several causes, including chronic inflammatory diseases, infections, medical compounds, and environmental agents. There is no known cure for the disease, but only therapies to improve quality of life. Scar tissue formation must be targeted in order to begin to provide any type of cure for fibrotic diseases. In this study, asbestos was used to induce pulmonary fibrosis in a mouse model and gene expression studies were then performed to identify potential candidate genes involved …

Changes In Fire Season Precipitation In Idaho And Montana From 1982-2006 , Ann Marie Hadlow

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Abstract. Fire season precipitation trends were investigated using daily rainfall data obtained from seventy-six Remote Automated Weather Stations (RAWS) across Idaho and Montana for the period 1982 to 2006. Missing and erroneous values from each station were corrected with gridded data from the North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR), creating temporally consistent, comparable records. Monthly precipitation was then analyzed during the core fire season (July-Sept) and biweekly precipitation was analyzed for the start of fire season (June). The end of the season was examined using October precipitation data and through identification of season slowing rain events (SSE). These analyses reveal significant …

Materiality As The Basis For The Aesthetic Experience In Contemporary Art, Christina Murdoch Mills

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

A number of historical philosophical theories relate to materiality in contemporary art and the role of art objects as an extension of ontology, or the study of the nature of being. The Kantian idea of the “aesthetic experience” is the point of departure, tracing philosophical discourse of how art functions via its materiality through the writings of Ludwig Wittgenstein, Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre and Jacques Maritain to the post-modern considerations of David Hickey and Arthur Danto. The research for this thesis focuses on how contemporary art, in all its various forms, functions via art’s material qualities or materiality. The objective …

Cenozoic Evolution Of The Gold Creek Basin, Western Montana: Mapping And Documenting The Geology Of The Rock Creek Lake 7.5' Usgs Quadrangle, Chelsea Mcraven Feeney

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis presents results from 1:24,000 scale surface mapping and related analysis of geology within the Rock Creek Lake 7.5’ USGS Quadrangle in western Montana. The purpose of this study is to 1) document the Cenozoic structural evolution and sedimentary fill record associated with tectonic development of the northern Flint Creek Range and, in particular, the Anaconda metamorphic core complex and 2) determine the existence and extent of Pleistocene glacial deposition in the study area. Gneissic mylonitic granodiorite along the southeastern contact of the Royal Stock intrusion indicates the Anaconda metamorphic core complex detachment zone trends through the center of …

Spatial Population Dynamics Of Recolonizing Wolves In The Western Alps, Francesca Marucco

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The wolf recolonized part of its former habitat in the South-Western Alps through dispersal from the Apennines beginning in the late 1990s. Prioritization of conservation actions and effective management of this species relies on estimates of wolf population trend, survival rates, occupancy parameters, and on the development of a spatially explicit population model. These estimates were lacking in Italy and Western Europe, and accurate and cost effective methods to assess these parameters have not been implemented.

I used genetic capture-mark-recapture techniques with long-term fecal genotyping data and applied open-population models to estimate survival rates and assess trend in abundance of …

Study On Regional Responses Of Pan-Arctic Terrestrial Ecosystems To Recent Climate Variability Using Satellite Remote Sensing, Ke Zhang

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

I applied a satellite remote sensing based production efficiency model (PEM) using an integrated AVHRR and MODIS FPAR/LAI time series with a regionally corrected NCEP/NCAR reanalysis surface meteorology and NASA/GEWEX shortwave solar radiation inputs to assess annual terrestrial net primary productivity (NPP) for the pan-Arctic basin and Alaska from 1983 to 2005. I developed a satellite remote sensing based evapotranspiration (ET) algorithm using GIMMS NDVI with the above meteorology inputs to assess spatial patterns and temporal trends in ET over the pan-Arctic region. I then analyzed associated changes in the regional water balance defined as the difference between precipitation (P) …

The Distribution Of /S/ In Blackfoot: An Optimality Theory Account, Ryan Denzer-King

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In this thesis I propose that the distribution of /s/ in Blackfoot can be explained by positing that /s/ is inherently moraic in Blackfoot, and explore this hypothesis via two proposals about moraic /s/. The first is that /s/ in complex onsets, e.g., stsiki, ‘another’, is extrasyllabic, and that a moraic /s/ reduces the markedness of these extrasyllabic segments. The second is that because /s/ is moraic, it can act as a syllable nucleus, which explains why the distribution of geminate /ss/ is more similar to long vowels than to geminate consonants. In Blackfoot, clusters of more than two consonants …

The Effects Of Federal Land On Rural Population, Employment, And Income In The Rocky Mountain West, Stephen Michael Cleverdon

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

There is controversy over the role that federal land plays in shaping rural counties in the Western United States. Some argue that the restrictive policies imposed on federal lands harm rural economies because the extractive industry is not allowed to operate at its potential. Others believe that those restrictions benefit rural economies because households and firms are attracted to beautiful areas with minimal industry. A lagged adjusted model is used to estimate the effects of Bureau of Land Management (BLM), United States Forest Service (USFS), and National Parks Service (NPS) lands on population, employment, and income. The study focuses on …

Independence Compliance : Checklists And Tools For Complying With Aicpa And Gao Independence Requirements, Catherine R. Allen, Karin Glupe, Robert Durak, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants

Guides, Handbooks and Manuals

No abstract provided.

Aicpa Technical Practice Aids As Of June 1, 2009, Volume 1, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants

Guides, Handbooks and Manuals

No abstract provided.

Forensic Accounting For Divorce Engagements : A Practical Guide, Ezra Huber, Donald A. Glenn

Guides, Handbooks and Manuals

No abstract provided.

Further Delineation Of The Role Of The Amygdala In Face Processing And Racial Categorization, Osman Afzal Chowdhry

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

DNA exonerations in the legal system have increased steadily since 1989 from one or two per year to an average of 21 per year since 2001. A disquieting number of these exonerations originated from wrongful convictions following cross-racial identifications. Explaining the prevalence of erroneous cross-racial identifications centers on the Cross Race Effect (CRE), a phenomena whereby recognition for one's own race greatly outweighs recognition ability for other-race faces. Forty years of research in this area has produced a number of competing explanations. Recent neurological evidence has demonstrated separate neural regions for the processing of same-race and other-race faces as well …

Electron Microscopy And Optical Characterization Of Cadmium Sulphide Nanocrystals Deposited On The Patterned Surface Of Diatom Biosilica, Timothy Gutu, Debra K. Gale, Clayton Jeffryes, Wei Wang, Chih-Hung Chang, Gregory L. Rorrer, Jun Jiao

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Intricately patterned biosilica obtained from the shell of unicellular algae called diatoms serve as novel templates for fabrication of optoelectronic nanostructures. In this study, the surface of diatom frustules that possessed hierarchical architecture ordered at the micro and nanoscale was coated with a nanostructured polycrystalline cadmium sulphide (CdS) thin film using a chemical bath deposition technique. The CdS thin film was composed of spherical nanoparticles with a diameter of about 75 nm. The CdS nanoparticle thin film imparted new photoluminescent properties to the intricately patterned diatom nanostructure. The imparted photoluminescent properties were dependent on the CdS coverage onto the frustules …

"It's Personal:" Does Disclosure Of Family Circumstances Influence Organizational Response To Employee's Requests For Flexibility?, Julie M. Rosenzweig, Eileen M. Brennan, Anna M. Malsch, Katherine J. Huffstutter

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

PDF version of a presentation given at the Community, Work and Family III International Conference, Utrecht, Netherlands, April 2009.

Stigma And The Cycle Of Avoidance: Why Young People Fail To Seek Help For Their Mental Distress, Lucy Biddle, L. Kris Gowen

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Illness behavior is the set of purposeful actions taken by someone when faced with being unhealthy. According to Dingwall,3 the three stages of illness behavior are: evaluating symptoms, deciding to act, and monitoring the effects of the chosen actions. Although presented in a linear fashion, these stages are in fact cyclical, as reassessment occurs when symptoms change or unsuccessful actions require new approaches.

However, it is common that people never act, or delay acting, on their symptoms; this is especially true for people experiencing mental distress. Young people in particular are unlikely to seek professional care for mental health concerns—it …

Literacy Leadership In Secondary Schools: A Case Study Of Teaching And Learning In Two School Districts, Gregory Berry

Dissertations and Theses

Improvement in literacy learning in secondary schools requires a dual focus: a district and school organizational leadership approach, and a classroom- and instruction-focused approach. To help close the achievement gap and improve learning for all students, whole school reform efforts must be focused on literacy. Elements of whole school reform may include professional development programs such as professional learning communities, peer coaching, and literacy coaching. The sociocultural contexts that these approaches incorporate can help improve the learning of both teachers and students and can bring about significant secondary school reform and academic improvement.

This dissertation study is a qualitative, collective, …

Classical Search And Quantum Search Algorithms For Synthesis Of Quantum Circuits And Optimization Of Quantum Oracles, Sazzad Hossain

Dissertations and Theses

We observe an enormous increase in the computational power of digital computers. This was due to the revolution in manufacturing processes and controlling semiconductor structures on submicron scale, ultimately leading to the control of individual atoms. Eventually, the classical electric circuits encountered the barrier of quantum mechanics and its effects. However, the laws of quantum mechanics can be also used to produce computational devices that lead to extraordinary speed increases over classical computers. Thus quantum computing becomes a very promising and attractive research area. The Computer Aided Design for Quantum circuits becomes an essential ingredient for such emerging research which …

Reactions: Natsu Taylor Saito's 'Colonial Presumptions: The War On Terror And The Roots Of American Exceptionalism', Lama Abu-Odeh

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Is the word "civilization," evoked by Bush in contemporary times, the direct genealogical descendant of the mission civilatrice evoked by his Anglo Saxon predecessors to justify their onslaught on the native inhabitants of the land they have chosen to settle and appropriate? Is the contemporary project by the current political elites of the US to "spread democracy in the Middle East" the same as and co-equal with the mission to civilize the "beast" in the lands where "beasts" wandered two centuries ago? If the ethno/race of the old mission was Anglo Saxon, what is its contemporary ethnic/race today? Does the …

Dynamic Task Prediction For An Spmt Architecture Based On Control Independence, Komal Jothi

Dissertations and Theses

Exploiting better performance from computer programs translates to finding more instructions to execute in parallel. Since most general purpose programs are written in an imperatively sequential manner, closely lying instructions are always data dependent, making the designer look far ahead into the program for parallelism. This necessitates wider superscalar processors with larger instruction windows. But superscalars suffer from three key limitations, their inability to scale, sequential fetch bottleneck and high branch misprediction penalty. Recent studies indicate that current superscalars have reached the end of the road and designers will have to look for newer ideas to build computer processors.

Speculative …

The Relationship Of Group Support, Majority Status, And Interpersonal Dependency In Predicting Intimate Partner Violence, Mary Elisabeth Gray

Dissertations and Theses

One of the most common community responses to intimate partner violence is batterer intervention programs (BIPs), which are aimed at ending perpetrators' violent behavior. Unfortunately, however, the success rates of BIPs are questionable (Aldarondo, 2002; Gondolf, 2002) and we do not know what factors of the program facilitate decreases in abusive behavior when this does occur. Specifically, it is unknown whether and how individual characteristics interact with intervention group dynamics to facilitate change. To better understand this gap in the literature, this study investigated the relationship between social support, group majority-minority status, and interpersonal dependency in predicting intimate partner violence. …

Assuming Personal Responsibility For Improving The Environment: Moving Toward A New Environmental Norm, Hope M. Babcock

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

There is general agreement that we are nearing the end of achieving major gains in pollution abatement from traditional sources, that a significant portion of the remaining environmental problems facing this country is caused by individual behavior, and that efforts to control that behavior have either failed or not even been made.

The phenomenon of individuals as irresponsible environmental actors seems counterintuitive when polls show that people consistently rate protecting the environment among their highest priorities, contribute to environmental causes, and are willing to pay more to protect environmental resources.

This article is the author's second effort at understanding why …

Concert Recording 2009-04-05, Jennifer Dolkos, Allison Rasche, Chelsea Williams, Tony Collins, Helena Miller, Michael Lutz, Marie Erickson, Catalina Ortega, Ronda Mains, Katie Smith, University Of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Flute Studio

Concert Recordings & Programs

Hyper Hare and Tortise / J. Aesop -- "Hey Tony" -- Russian Dance / Upsidedownsky -- "Hey Tony" -- Valse ignoble / L. Gearhart -- "Hey Tony" -- Cavort / Cessog -- "Hey Tony" -- The Adams Family theme / Vic Mizzy ; arr. Chris Potter -- Loony Tunes theme / Chris Stalling ; arr. Michael Lutz

Substituent Effect On The Electronic And Assembling Properties Of Asymmetric Phenazine Derivatives, Bin Cao

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Currently, one-dimensional (1-D) nanostructures have drawn much interest because of their potential applications for nanoscale optoelectronic devices. Self-assembly (SA) based on π-conjugated systems through various intermolecular interactions has been widely used to produce 1-D nanostructure. Morphology of the assembled structures can be modified by incorporating substituents, which provide additional secondary interactions. Meanwhile, those substituents also influence the electronic properties of the molecules. Previous studies have made little effort to systematically study subsistent effects on both electronic and SA properties.

The primary objective of this research is to generate controllable 1-D structures through SA, and to provide a fundamental understanding of …

A Comparison Of Face-To-Face And Online Learning Environments To Prepare Teachers To Use Technology, Ashley Janel Addis

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study investigated the similarities and differences in the implementation of face-to-face and online versions of an undergraduate educational technology course for elementary teacher candidates. A common course project, the Innovations Mini-teach , was the focus of the investigation. Twenty-four students participated in the face-to-face section, 22 were enrolled in the online section, and the instructor was the same for both classes. Through this investigation, similarities and differences were identified in the nature of the learning experience as well as student outcomes. Similarities included how the project was introduced, structured, and facilitated. Key differences pertained to the nature of collaboration …

Direct Observation In High School Physical Education, Nicole Jennifer Smith

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to analyze existing data collected using direct observation in a high school setting in order to understand more about the quality and contribution of physical education to public health goals. The System for Observing Fitness Instruction Time (SOFIT) was utilized to collect data related to student activity levels, lesson contexts, and teacher promotion of physical activity behavior. Two cross-sectional samples were observed in the spring 2005 and spring 2007 from seven high schools in a large urban school district in the eastern United States. In total, 164 lessons were observed yielding over 75 hours …

Notions Of Distance: Communication Constraints In Long-Distance Dating Relationships, Jenny Marie Farrell

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study addressed communication constraints perceived by individuals in long-distance dating relationships (LDDRs) and how these constraints are managed. Internal constraints are identified within the boundaries of the individual or relationship and external constraints are those that originate from outside the boundaries of the individual or relationship. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 27 participants; ages ranged from 18-35. Participants reported perceiving 11 internal constraints (mediated communication, avoidance, talk habits, physical absence, emotions, view of outsiders, uncertainty and expectations, effort, notions of distance, visits, and miscellaneous) and five external constraints (schedules, social network, finances, and technology, miscellaneous). Participants reported managing …

Examining Compressed Speech Listening Measure With College Students Who Are Visually Impaired Or Blind, William J. Marks

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Psychological assessments are a way of gaining some understanding of an individual in order to help make informed decisions (Sattler, 2001). These assessments offer potentially important and valuable information that can assist individuals with impaired vision in learning additional skills, improving deficient abilities, and in providing diagnostic information for future research. In addition, psychological assessments are frequently used to diagnosis a variety of psychological and learning disorders. Assessing individuals with impaired vision presents a variety of challenges from those encountered with the general population.

The current study provided an investigation into the relationship of the results of the compressed speech …