Digital Commons Network^™

Avian Scavenging, Mummification, And Variable Micro-Environments As Factors Affecting The Decomposition Process In Western Montana, Teresa Ann White

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The purpose of this research study was to empirically study the temporal order of events of postmortem changes in Missoula, Montana utilizing pig (Sus scrofa) cadavers as human proxies by documenting postmortem changes and rate of soft tissue decomposition of three pigs over the course of one year and 19 days. The data from this study will be compared and contrasted to studies that have occurred elsewhere. A full understanding of the postmortem changes and rate of soft tissue decomposition in this area will help forensic anthropologists better understand why the postmortem interval (PMI) may be different in western Montana …

The Shadow Of Polaris: Understanding Sound And Place, Burke Travis Jam

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Jam, Burke, M.F.A Spring 2013 The Shadow of Polaris: Understanding Sound and Place Chairperson: Associate Professor Brad Allen The Shadow of Polaris examines perception, perspective, and place. My research investigates a critical theory of sound as phenomenon and art object. The phenomenon of sound informs our perception and perspective of place. It articulates questions about how we experience and interact with the physical world. My intention is to create an experiential understanding of the physical and, more specifically, the natural world. Nature’s ephemeral cycles are symbiotic with the human experience of life. Examining this relationship illuminates how we perceive, experience, …

Color/Shape/Form/Space, Brett James Hargesheimer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Color/Shape/Form/Space begins at its title. The show is named with the same directness that I want the work to have: accessible, ready for consumption. Stripped of unnecessary information, the exhibition’s title needed to match the work itself, which expresses minimalistic tendencies, avoiding the superfluous. Everything needed to be consciously put together to operate as a well-designed whole. Simple and clear. It is the age that we live in that prompts me to be so forthright. Our present is defined by attention deficit digital connectivity. Accessibility and information sharing are rampant. With the possibilities being seemingly endless, it is an exciting …

The Effect Of A Cannabinoid Receptor 2 (Cb2) Agonist On Allergic Airway Inflammation In A Mouse Model Of Asthma, Soram Hong

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Allergic asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease that affects approximately 300 million people worldwide. The health problem is compounded by the fact that the prevalence of the disease is increasing in the Western world. Thus, there is a continued need for new and improved therapies for the disease. Recently, it has become evident that cannabinoids have immunosuppressive properties and can be used as therapeutics for various inflammatory diseases. The main aim of this study was to explore the anti-inflammatory effects of CB2 agonists on allergic airway inflammation using a mouse model of asthma and resolve any mechanisms that underpin the …

Nearing The End: Reef Building Corals And Bivalves In The Late Triassic And Comparing Corals And Bivalves Before And After The End-Triassic Mass Extinction Using A Taxonomic Database, Hannah Morgan Elliott Shepherd

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

One of the most important tenants in geology is that the present is the key to the past, but it can also be said that the past is the key to the present. The five great extinction events are some of the key events that can help us to understand how changes in climate and sea chemistry can cause great changes in the ecology of our planet. Today the increase in atmospheric CO2 is causing ocean acidification, which has also been proposed as part of the system that caused the end-Triassic mass extinction. Ocean acidification can be greatly detrimental to …

Annual Report Of The Town Of Albany, New Hampshire For The Fiscal Year Ending December 31, 2012., Albany Town Representatives

Albany, NH Annual Reports

This is an annual report containing vital statistics for a town/city in the state of New Hampshire.

Executing And Teaching Science--The Breast Cancer Genetics And Technology-Rich Curriculum Professional Development Studies Of A Science Educator, Regina Evarn Wragg

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents my explorations in both molecular biology and science education research. In study one, we determined the ADIPOQ and ADIPORI genotypes of 364 White and 148 Black BrCa patients and used dominant model univariate logistic regression analyses to determine individual SNP and haplotype associations with tumor or patient characteristics in a case-case comparison. We found twelve associations between individual SNPs and patient or tumor characteristics that impact BrCa prognosis. For example, the ADIPOQ rs1501299 C allele was associated with ER+ tumors (OR=4.73, p=0.001) among White women >50 years of age at their time of diagnosis. Also, the A …

The Relationship Between Traffic Signals And Pedestrian, Bicyclist And Transit User Exposure In Urban Areas, Courtney Natasha Slavin

Dissertations and Theses

Improving the efficiency of traffic operations along arterials is currently a priority for many agencies as their roadway infrastructure is built out to the largest possible capacity within the urban environment. Many advanced systems are being implemented to optimize traffic signal timing. Air quality is typically not a consideration when these decisions are made. The relationship between exposure to air pollution and traffic signal timing has not been fully explored by other researchers. This study is the first research effort to combine detailed traffic signal timing data (at 5 second intervals) and air pollutant exposure data. Results show that longer …

Thermal Infrared Imaging: Instrumentation And Method Development, Wayne O'Brien

Theses and Dissertations

A recently development thermal infrared camera system was improved by designing new components to downsize physical aspect and improve the instrument's performance. A new thermal infrared light source was developed and characterized. It is designed from a custom-made Macor backpiece that holds an alumina screw. High resistance wire is coiled around the screw. The coiled wire is covered with an alumina coating. Most light sources have a spectral emissivity similar to that of a blackbody emitter. This source has a spectral irradiance profile that is not similar to a blackbody source. Thus, the lamp has an improved efficiency in the …

Nfib V. Sebelius: Proportionality In The Exercise Of Congressional Power, David Orentlicher

Scholarly Works

With its opinion on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the U.S. Supreme Court sparked much discussion regarding the implications of the case for other federal statutes. In particular, scholars have debated the significance of the Court's recognition of an anticoercion limit to the Spending Clause power.

When it recognized an anticoercion limit for the ACA's Medicaid expansion, the Court left considerable uncertainty as to the parameters of that limit. This essay sketches out one valuable and very plausible interpretation of the Court's new anticoercion principle. It also indicates how this new principle can address a long-standing problem …

Digital Technology: The Modern Medium For The Art Classroom, Linda Sue Al-Hanna

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Digital technology is an important tool teachers can utilize in the art classroom for the purposes of instruction, lesson planning and student interaction. The computer has been around for many years, and has been a key factor in globalization in the educational setting. More and more students are connecting with others around the world and learning with the computer in more diverse ways than ever. Digital art has been quickly expanding since `Sketchpad' was developed in the late 1960's by Ivan Sutherland. Students today have been born into a digital world and it has become imperative that teachers make the …

The Mediating Role Of Dietary Patterns On The Relation Between Acculturation, Psychosocial Factors, And Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors In The U.S. - Mexico Border, Ximena Burgos

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Chronic diseases affect both, developed and developing countries around the world. In the U.S., cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of death for all groups including Hispanics (Heron, 2009). Hispanics are disproportionally affected by CVD and experience risk factors at higher rates than non-Hispanic whites (Swenson, 2002). Although CVD are among the most expensive and widespread health problems, they are among the most preventable. Evidence shows that diet plays a very important role in the development of chronic diseases; current dietary changes are partially responsible for the increasing epidemic of chronic diseases worldwide. It is well established that the …

Optimization Of Bioprinting Process Using Design Of Experiments (Doe) And Taguchi Method, Maria Veronica Gonzalez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

At this time there is a need for new fabrication techniques for engineering complex biological structures related to regenerative medicine, in vitro tissue analysis, and pharmaceutical testing with the purpose of placing specific cells in specific target locations. Right now, there is no enough conventional cell seeding methods that can achieve it. In order to achieve it, bio-fabrication, which is a delivery mechanism capable of placing biomaterials, cells, and bioactive macromolecules in specific target locations, comes to play an important role in this area. Among different approaches, bioprinting is one of the most useful processes that use drop-on-demand delivery mechanisms …

Effect Of Cover On Small Mammal Abundance And Movement Through Wildlife Underpasses, Hayley R. Connolly-Newman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Crossing structures enable wildlife to safely cross highways by physically separating wildlife and vehicles. Most wildlife underpasses and overpasses are designed to accommodate a wide variety of species. Their suitability for individual species, however, varies by location (surrounding habitat), structure type (e.g. underpass or overpass), and dimensions (height, width, length). For some taxa, the habitat immediately adjacent to and inside an underpass or on top of an overpass is critical. For instance, small mammals, reptiles, amphibians and many invertebrates may avoid open areas because they require cover (e.g., live vegetation, tree stumps, branches, or rocks) to reduce predation risk and …

Evaluating And Role Of Standards And Guidelines In National Forest Planning, Emily E. Schembra

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

There is longstanding conflict related to planning standards and guidelines (S & Gs) used by the U.S. Forest Service to guide and constrain National Forest System land management. The role these prescriptions have played in the past in forest management, and the role they ought to play in the future, is often disputed. However, the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) and the new 2012 NFMA planning regulations require S & Gs, so they must be included in forest plans in the future. The goal of this research was to provide a common understanding of how planning S & Gs were …

Exploring Detracting Elements And Coping Mechanisms Reported In Four Trails Along The Going-To-The-Sun Road Corridor In Glacier National Park, Diana Maritza Bedoya

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The results of the ongoing study to monitor visitors use, and the shuttle experience in Glacier National Park demonstrate that use levels in the park have increased considerably. Thus, it was pertinent to evaluate to which extent the conditions on the trails are so undesirable or unexpected for visitors that they would usually employ coping responses to deal with those situations. This research was structured to provide a description of the salient setting attributes and personal factors associated with the identification of the detracting elements of the recreational experiences, and types of coping mechanisms usually used. The study reported here …

Salmon & Steelhead Hatcheries: Conservation Or Condemnation?, Samuel Hunter Lungren

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Wild salmon and steelhead are as fundamental to the Pacific Northwest as evergreen trees and rain. For thousands of years ecosystems and economies have relied on the bountiful marine nutrients annually running inland from the Pacific Ocean in the form of large, silver fish. Even today, the chance to tangle with one of these wild gems is one of the greatest gifts the Northwest has to offer. Early settlers of the West Coast witnessed seemingly infinite salmon abundance. But as time passed and humans increasingly exploited both salmon and their ecosystems, they found out just how finite salmon really were. …

Paying To Play: Supply Management In Montana's Dairy Industry, Laura Ginsburg

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Montana’s dairy industry is unique among US states because of its supply management program, which allocates quota to limit how much fluid milk can be produced and sold within the state. The amount of quota is set and price varies with market conditions; therefore, quota adds to a farm’s production costs. This paper presents findings from in-depth interviews with 17 dairy farmers to learn how quota has affected on-farm decision-making and how they perceive the impacts of quota on the statewide industry. Farmers tend to be spilt between those who think it affected their on-farm decisions and those who felt …

Performing At The Block: Scripting Early Modern Executions, Jennifer Lillian Lodine-Chaffey

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis explores the executions of noble men and women in Tudor and early Jacobean England and the theatrical representations of executions that mirrored real life spectacles of deadly punishment. Historical scaffold confessions followed a formulaic pattern and condemned traitors performed their final moments before a crowd of witnesses with the power to judge the quality of the actor’s deportment, costuming and words. As a public stage, the scaffold allowed the traitor a chance to assert and define his or her own individuality in the face of death and formulaic requirements, which I outline in the first chapter. Dramatic representations …

Pristine Places And Passive People? Responses To Neoliberal Development And Maoist Conflict In Nepal's Northwest Himalayas, Catherine Lee Sanders

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In Humla District, Nepal, agro-pastoralists' confrontations with forces of change in the last generation have altered villagers' abilities to gain access to scarce resources. Development efforts and Nepal's recent armed conflict, in particular, introduced novel technologies and ideologies that affected Humli vulnerabilities. This dissertation is based on field research comparing two Hindu villages in northwest Nepal during 2009 and 2010. One village had more extensive ties to development than the other, and these villagers and other change agents co-created transitional contexts of vulnerability in the post-conflict setting of rural Nepal. An armed conflict dominated the political landscape in Nepal for …

Queer Panic In Native American Literature, Theodore Cecil Decelles

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Indigenous American sexual minorities and alternatively gendered voices went underground due to Eurowestern sexual colonization from the time of the conquistador invasions of the early 16th century to the political campaigns of cultural homogenization of the mid-20th century. A cultural distortion still exists in the postcolonial era. In the past many North American indigenous nations had culturally specific sexualities and genders that reflected the cultural heterogeneity of the Americas. Today cultural assimilation negatively affects queer Native Americans, and culturally imported attitudes of homophobia are reflected in Native American literature. An interdisciplinary approach must be used to study the cultural distortion …

Costs And Benefits Of An Extended Phenotype: Chambers Made By Manduca Sexta Larvae, Jonathan Cooley Sprague

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Extended phenotypes can serve interesting physiological functions and their externality provides ready opportunity to manipulate and examine their functions and costs. One such set of extended phenotypes are below-ground pupation chambers made by a wide range of insects and whose function is unknown and costs unquantified. We use a series of lab and field experiments to examine the cost and benefit of chambers made by the hawkmoth, Manduca sexta (Sphingidae), whose larvae lose up to 60% of their body mass during chamber construction. Our study shows that these chambers provide critically important free space in which individuals transition from larvae …

A Molecular Genetic Investigation Of The Regulation Of Outer Surface Protein C In Borrelia Burgdorferi: Identification And Characterization Of The Novel Regulatory Protein Bbd18, Beth Hayes

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Lyme disease, caused by Borrelia burgdorferi, is the most prevalent arthropod-borne disease in the U.S. In nature, B. burgdorferi is maintained in an enzootic cycle between Ixodes ticks and mammalian hosts. In order to cause infection in mammals, B. burgdorferi spirochetes within a feeding tick sense environmental changes and subsequently alter their gene expression and protein profiles. As part of this adaptation, spirochetes within the tick midgut downregulate outer surface protein (Osp) A and upregulate OspC. Although OspC is an essential B. burgdorferi virulence factor needed for early mammalian infection, it is also a target for the mammalian acquired immune …

Defining Postmortem Changes In Western Montana: A Longitudinal Study Of The Rate And Sequence Of Surface And Burial Decomposition, Tory Nicole Huey

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Estimating time since death is difficult because of the multitude of factors that can alter postmortem change. Initial research conducted in western Montana indicates that decomposition does not follow the patterns found in other geographic locations. The purpose of this study is to better define how western Montana’s unique environmental factors affect the rate and pattern of decomposition of surface remains and buried remains. In May 2012 one mature pig (Sus scrofa) was placed on the surface and a second pig was buried. Throughout a nine-month period the following variables were monitored for the surface pig: rate and pattern of …

Defining Postmortem Changes In Western Montana: The Effects Of Climate And Environment On The Rate And Sequence Of Decomposition Using Pig (Sus Scrofa) Cadavers, Jessica R. Spencer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The rate and sequence of human decomposition permits forensic anthropologists to estimate time since death for remains from the forensic context. Preliminary research conducted in western Montana indicates that decomposition does not follow the patterns found in other geographic locations. The purpose of this study is to better define western Montana’s unique environmental factors that affect the rate and pattern of decomposition by documenting changes in mature pigs (Sus scrofa) employed as human proxies. The pigs were deposited during the cold months of October and December and analyzed by comparing the rate and sequence of decomposition with climatological and environmental …

Developmental Stress In Birds: Phenotypic And Fitness, Ondi L. Crino

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The environment animals experience during development can have important effects on phenotype, performance, and fitness across multiple life-history stages. Environmental cues experienced during development can provide information to animals about the environment they will soon inhabit and promote phenotypic changes which affect fitness. Increasing evidence suggests that physiological stress may be one such cue that conveys environmental information to developing animals. Here, I explore the short- and long-term consequences of developmental stress in captive and free-living birds. In chapter one, I explore the effects of developmental stress on body size and physiological stress responses across life-history stages in zebra finches …

Differentiation-Induced Changes In Antioxidant Capacity And Antioxidant Response In Sh-Sy5y Cells: Role Of Nrf2, Akua Afriyie Karikari

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Organisms are exposed to reactive oxygen species from internal metabolism and environmental toxicant exposure, which have been linked to the initiation and progression of many neuronal diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Exposure to reactive oxygen species are counterbalanced by antioxidant defense systems such as the Nrf2-ARE pathway, the primary regulator of endogenous antioxidant response. Whereas neuronal cells are post-mitotic and are particularly susceptible to oxidative stress because of high oxygen consumption, astrocytes are mitotic and rely more on glycolytic metabolism. In this study, the difference in antioxidant response and capacity in mitotic and post-mitotic cells were investigated using …

4-Isoxazolyl-1,4-Dihydropyrirines Bind The Multidrug-Resistance Transporter, Scott Steiger

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The development of multidrug resistance in tumor cells has been recognized as a major obstacle to successful cancer treatment. Tumor cells in vitro and in vivo can develop multidrug resistance (MDR) to the lethal effects of a variety of cytotoxic drugs used to treat cancerous tumor cells. The over expression of multiple drug resistance gene 1 has been correlated with the expression of multi drug resistance protein 1(MDR1, also known as P-glycoprotein or P-gp). MDR1's role in altering uptake, distribution and bioavailability is considered a significant factor when examining drugs for clinical administration, and represents a viable drug target for …

Acceptance Of Wildlife Crossing Structures On Us Highway 93 Missoula, Montana, Jeremiah P. Purdum

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Wildlife and humans have always interacted on the landscape. However, growing transportation infrastructure and its associated use are causing a large increase in direct and indirect effects on wildlife populations. Humans can also directly be affected, for example, through wildlife-vehicle collisions that impact human safety and lead to economic costs for individuals and society. In some cases transportation and wildlife agencies have implemented substantial mitigation measures along roadways in an attempt to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions and to provide for safe crossing opportunities for wildlife. Wildlife-specific crossing structures are now increasingly considered in road construction. Reconstruction projects and a range of …

Attitudes And Perceptions Of Community Councils On The Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program And The Southwestern Crown Collaborative Forest Restoration Projects, Jimmie Mckay

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This paper is designed to give the reader basic in-sight to the different attitudes and perception that local residents have in regards to the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program and the Southwestern Collaborative's ability to accomplish their mission.