Digital Commons Network^™

Disturbed Waters – A Montana Chemist Searches For The Source Of A Persistent Poison, Kindra Mcquillan

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In December 2008, when Montana's great Clark Fork River tested its historic banks for the first time in 100 years, a crowd of hundreds gathered to watch the removal of Milltown Dam at the confluence of the river with the Big Blackfoot. After a century of pollution from Butte's copper mines, the river was undergoing the nation's largest­yet restoration project, the Upper Clark Fork River Superfund Complex.

But in a windowless laboratory a mile away, University of Montana chemist Heiko Langner had troubling news. Toxic methylmercury flowed through the river at concentrations of concern, undetected and undermining the project. It …

A Multiple-Case Study On How Fifth Grade Students Experience Reading, Tiffany Tate

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The research from this study provides information for teachers, leaders, and administrators to review and analyze how fifth grade students experience reading. It will be important to adjust or change the strategies to promote reading and / or the curriculum for fifth grade students. Fullan (2011), a noted change theorist, identified five characteristics of effective leadership for change: (a) moral purpose, (b) understanding the change process, (c) strong relationships, (d) knowledge sharing, and (e) coherence, or connecting new knowledge with existing knowledge that served as the theoretical framework from which the data was viewed. The information from this study is …

An Environmental Toxic Model Of Parkinson's Disease: The Fruit Fly, Jennene Lyda

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder with no known specific cause; although genetic risk factors and/or environmental exposure are thought to be involved. The etiology of PD is currently unknown, although the combination of non-genetic components such as environmental exposures, the accumulation of exposure, and gene-environment interactions are thought to play a major role. However, despite this knowledge it is important to develop better models that parallel PD pathophysiology to further understand the mechanisms underlying dopaminergic neuron (DaN) damage. The use of mammalian models to study the degenerative processes in PD has been the most common …

The Effects Of Seed Source Health On Whitebark Pine Regeneration Density After Wildfire, Signe B. Leirfallom

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) is declining nearly range-wide largely from mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) outbreaks and the exotic pathogen Cronartium ribicola, which causes the disease white pine blister rust. With high mortality in cone-bearing whitebark pine, seed production may not be sufficient to support natural regeneration after disturbance such as wildfire. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between whitebark pine seed source health and whitebark pine regeneration density in adjacent, stand-replacing burns. I sampled regeneration patterns and seed source health and status in 15 burns within six national forests and …

Regulation Of Silica-Induced Pulmonary Inflammation, Rupa Biswas

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Inhalation of crystalline silica for an extended period of time results in inflammation in the lungs, which plays a pivotal role in the development of silicosis, a progressive, inflammatory and fibrotic pulmonary disease. Inhaled silica particles are encountered by alveolar macrophages (AM) in the lungs. Previous studies have indicated the role of scavenger receptors in binding of environmental particles and also demonstrated that AM recognize and bind silica particles through class A scavenger receptors (SRA) expressed on their surface. MARCO (Macrophage Receptor with Collagenous Structure) is a SRA family receptor and the predominant receptor for recognition and binding of silica …

The Impacts Of Removing Wildfire On Pinus Ponderosa Resistance Against Dendroctonus Ponderosae, Sharon Metzger Hood

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Disturbance and disturbance interactions drive multiple ecosystem processes over multiple spatial and temporal scales. I studied the role of frequent, low-severity fire in Pinus ponderosa (ponderosa pine) forests in altering the success of the irruptive insect Dendroctonus ponderosae (mountain pine beetle (MPB)). I had three overarching research questions: (1) What are the best predictors of ponderosa pine resin flow, a trait related to MPB attack success, and how do these predictors relate to tree growth?; (2) Are predictors of resin flow also predictors of MPB attack success and are they affected by changes to wildfire disturbance regimes?; (3) How do …

A Study Of Hydroclimatic Dynamics In Mountain Landscapes, Nicholas Loren Silverman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The hydroclimatic regime of mountain landscapes in the Pacific Northwest, USA plays a large role in collecting, storing, and distributing water throughout the greater United States. The complexities of the landscape, vegetation, and anthropogenic impacts within this region form a dynamic web of interactions that create unique challenges when quantifying hydrologic variables. This dissertation focuses on these challenges and introduces a new way of deciphering the driving mechanism of streamflow trends. The first project examines the differences between modeling techniques in mountain terrain. In this project, we use a physically-based regional climate model to dynamically downscale global climate estimates for …

Modeling Of Aqueous Equilibrium: Three-Dimensional Trend Surfaces (Topos), Mohammad Mainul Hossain

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This dissertation establishes a comprehensive approach to looking at aqueous equilibria phenomena over essentially all feasible compositions of two component solutions - acid-base titrations, metal-ligand complexation, oxidation-reduction couples and solubility of binary ionic compounds. Fundamental to this method is the definition of a composition grid above which numerous system properties can be plotted as three-dimensional trend surfaces to visualize important aspects of system behavior. These have been named "topos" because their appearance is similar to topographic maps. In each case Microsoft ExcelTM worksheets have been designed with embedded Visual BasicTM macros that provide an easy means for anyone to generate …

Tracking The Trackers, Does Citizen Science Help Or Hinder Rare Carnivore Research, Thomas Charles Kuglin

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Citizen science has gained a strong foothold in wildlife research in recent years. The quest for information about wildlife existing at the most extreme locations at the lowest densities requires more people than most research projects can pay for. Using volunteers for everything from wilderness monitoring to aquatic studies has become common practice in the face of budget short falls and efforts to gain public support. While reporting on citizen science used in small carnivore studies, I found a group of volunteers poised to help researchers learn about animals like wolverines, lynx, fishers, marten and wolves. Compelling people chasing captivating …

Testing Of High Speed Ground Reaction Force Treadmill For Kinetic Analysis For Running In Static And Dynamic Loading Conditions, Michael Ora Powell

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis proposal describes the design, fabrication, and testing of a high-speed force treadmill capable of measuring the vertical and horizontal ground reaction forces imparted to the bed during the stance phase of human running. Natural frequency, crosstalk, linearity, use of aluminum line shaft with flexible couplings, center of pressures, and comparison to over-ground running were investigated. The natural frequency of the treadmill bed was 113 Hz achieved in part through the use of the line shaft to remove the mass of the motor (36.8 kg) with negligible dissipation of imparted force to the treadmill. The linearity test results showed …

Psychological Abuse As A Predictor Of Trauma In Women Who Have Experienced Intimate Partner Violence, Marie Baca Villa

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a long-standing issue that has recently been investigated as a significant social and interpersonal problem. Research has suggested that psychological abuse is both more prevalent and more devastating to victims, as compared to physical violence. While there remains no true consensus as to the definition of “psychological abuse”, a current conceptualization typifies psychological abuse into four groups of acts that are meant to (a)denigrate and damage a partner’s self-esteem, (b) withhold nurturing and support, (c) both explicitly and implicitly threaten, and (d) restrict personal freedom. It is hypothesized that an analysis of existing measures of …

Missoula Historic Underground Project: Urban Archaeology, Landscape, And Identity, Nikki Manning

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The American West’s urban undergrounds are laced with mystique and lore. Well-known historic undergrounds exist throughout the American West in cities such as Portland, Pendleton, Seattle, Boise, and Butte. Tales exist of secret underground passages to houses of prostitution, Chinese opium dens, and Prohibition-era alcohol smuggling operations. While in some cases these stories can be based in fact, it appears that many underground spaces were less nefarious than imagination might suggest. In Missoula, Montana, a local, urban archaeological survey was conducted to see what evidence remained of the puzzling historic underground landscape. This study of Missoula’s subterranean archaeological features included …

Taking Physical Activity To The Streets: The Popularity Of Ciclovia And Open Streets Initiatives In The Us, J. Aaron Hipp

Brown School Faculty Publications

As a way to reduce chronic diseases associated with increasingly sedentary lifestyles, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advocates community-wide initiatives promoting physical activity. One such initiative gaining popularity in the US is the Ciclovía, or Open Streets initiative, where city streets are opened to residents for physical activity and closed to motorized traffic.1 Open Streets gained international prominence in Bogota, Colombia, and are viewed by policy makers and health and community advocates as being beneficial to social, environmental, and community health.2 The interest in initiatives is demonstrated by the increase in the number of events within and across …

The Accept Project: Social Justice Art And Education, Jackalynn Marie Snow

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The ACCEPT Project: Social Justice Art and Education Chairperson: Jillian Campana Co-Chairperson: Karen Kaufmann The ACCEPT Project is an entity that I created out of a need to use art, and specifically theatre, in a meaningful manner beyond entertainment. I found myself inspired by artists who were using their craft to induce social change, so I sought to do likewise. The ACCEPT Project stands for Acting/Art Creates, Challenges, and Enlarges Pro-Human Truths. The information that follows documents my journey to discover a means to the ends of art for social justice and the results which came from that action. As …

The Relationship Of Mindfulness And Existential Anxiety, Kira Geiger

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2010 - 2019

Adopting various mindfulness techniques has been shown to affect both psychological and physiological conditions within the body (Hill & Updegraff, 2012; Nyklícek et al., 2013). This experiment was conducted to explore the relationship between mindfulness meditation techniques and existential anxiety reported by participants. Existential anxiety has been defined within past research as “a deep concern over whether or not one is living a meaningful and fulfilling life” (Morse, 1998). Due to the nature of the concept of mindfulness, adopting mindfulness techniques was thought to lead to generally more meaningful experiences for an individual, which would decrease the individual’s report of …

Examination Of Natural And Captive Behaviors And Theirimplications On Mental Health In Octopus Vulgaris, Justin Odom

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2010 - 2019

In an attempt to better understand the effects of environmental enrichments on captive octopods, specifically Octopus vulgaris, as conducted by aquariums, attempts have been made to collect wild octopus from various sites in the Indian River Lagoon. Collected specimen would have been observed in captivity in order to compare their behavior with that of their wild counterparts based on the data collected by Kayes in 1973. The research conducted would serve to investigate if the environmental enrichments, institutionalized by aquariums, encourage octopods to behave more closely to the natural or wild type behaviors or if the enrichments encourage less natural …

Contribution Of Fear And Disgust To Spider Avoidance And Spider-Related Stroop Interference, Areti Vassilopoulos

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2010 - 2019

Emotional Stroop tasks are used to observe the effects of interference in colornaming performance when under high arousal. Participants in the present study completed the Spider Phobia Questionnaire, trait fear questionnaire and trait disgust questionnaire. Response latency data were collected by an emotional Stroop task with spider-related words. Although interference effects were not observed, it is possible that this is due to the suppression effects threatening stimuli evoke in high distress participants. Participants also took part in a Behavioral Approach Task (BAT) with a Chilean Rose-hair tarantula and a Chilean Rose-hair tarantula’s shed exoskeleton. There was not a significant difference …

Literature Search Strategy For Pain Management During In-Office Hysteroscopic Sterilization, Emily N. Schneider

Clinical and Translational Science Center Scholarly Output

No abstract provided.

A Congratulatory Note,, Frank H. Wu

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Communication Neutrosophic Routes, Florentin Smarandache, Ştefan Vlăduţescu

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

Any manifestation of life is a component of communication, it is crossed by a communication passage. People irrepressibly generate meanings. As structuring domain of meanings, communication is a place where meanings burst out volcanically. Manifestations of life are surrounded by a halo of communicational meanings. Human material and ideatic existence includes a great potential of communication in continuous extension. The human being crosses the path of or is at the intersection of different communicational thoroughfares. The life of human beings is a place of communication. Consequently, any cognitive or cogitative manifestation presents a route of communication. People consume their lives …

Communicative Universal Convertibility Matter-Energy-Information, Florentin Smarandache, Stefan Vladutescu

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

The research aims to reveal and prove the thesis of the neutral and convertibility relationship between constituent constructive elements of the universe: matter, energy and information. The approach perspective is a computationally-communicative-neutrosophic one. We configure a coherent and cohesive ideation line. Matter, energy and information are fundamental elements of the world. Among them, there is an inextricable multiple, elastic and evolutionary connection. The elements are defined by the connections between them. Our hypothesis is that the relationship between matter, energy and information is a neutral one. This relationship is not required by the evidence. At this level, it does not …

Towards A Practical Communication Intervention, Florentin Smarandache, Stefan Vladutescu

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

The study starts from evidence that several communication acts fail, but nobody is called to intervene and nobody thinks of intervening. Examining different branches (specialties) of the communication discipline and focusing on four possible practices, by comparison, differentiation, collating and corroboration, the current study brings arguments for a branch of the communication discipline that has as unique practical aim the communicational intervention, the practical, direct and strict application of communication research. Communication, as discipline, must create an instrument of intervention. The discipline which studies communication globally (General Communication Science) has developed a strong component of theoretical and practical research of …

Eccentricity, Space Bending, Dimension, Florentin Smarandache, Marian Nitu, Mircea Eugen Selariu

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

The main goal of this paper is to present new transformations, previously non-existent in traditional mathematics, that we call centric mathematics (CM) but that became possible due to the new born eccentric mathematics, and, implicitly, to the supermathematics (SM).

As shown in this work, the new geometric transformations, namely conversion or transfiguration, wipe the boundaries between discrete and continuous geometric forms, showing that the first ones are also continuous, being just apparently discontinuous.

New Operations On Intuitionistic Fuzzy Soft Sets Based On First Zadeh's Logical Operators, Florentin Smarandache, Said Broumi, Pinaki Majumdar

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

In this paper , we have defined First Zadeh’s implication , First Zadeh’s intuitionistic fuzzy conjunction and intuitionistic fuzzy disjunction of two intuitionistic fuzzy soft sets and some their basic properties are studied with proofs and examples.

New Results Of Intuitionistic Fuzzy Soft Set, Florentin Smarandache, Said Broumi, Mamoni Dhar, Pinaki Majumdar

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

In this paper, three new operations are introduced on intuitionistic fuzzy soft sets .They are based on concentration, dilatation and normalization of intuitionistic fuzzy sets. Some examples of these operations were given and a few important properties were also studied.

New Operations Over Interval Valued Intuitionistic Hesitant Fuzzy Set, Florentin Smarandache, Said Broumi

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

Hesitancy is the most common problem in decision making, for which hesitant fuzzy set can be considered as a useful tool allowing several possible degrees of membership of an element to a set. Recently, another suitable means were defined by Zhiming Zhang [1], called interval valued intuitionistic hesitant fuzzy sets, dealing with uncertainty and vagueness, and which is more powerful than the hesitant fuzzy sets. In this paper, four new operations are introduced on interval-valued intuitionistic hesitant fuzzy sets and several important properties are also studied.

New Operations On Interval Neutrosophic Sets, Said Broumi, Florentin Smarandache

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

An interval neutrosophic set is an instance of a neutrosophic set, which can be used in real scientific and engineering applications. In this paper, three new operations based on the arithmetic mean, geometrical mean, and respectively harmonic mean are defined on interval neutrosophic sets.

Neutrosophic Parametrized Soft Set Theory And Its Decision Making, Said Broumi, Irfan Deli, Florentin Smarandache

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

In this work, we present definition of neutrosophic parameterized (NP) soft set and its operations. Then we define NP-aggregation operator to form NP-soft decision making method which allows constructing more efficient decision processes. We also dive an example which shows that they can be successfully applied to problem that contain indeterminacy.

Further Generalization Of N-D Distance And N-D Dependent Function In Extenics, Florentin Smarandache

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

Prof. Cai Wen [1] defined the 1-D Distance and 1-D Dependent Function in 1983. F. Smarandache [6] generalized them to n-D Distance and n-D Dependent Function respectively in 2012 during his postdoc research at Guangdong University of Technology in Guangzhou. O. I. Şandru [7] extended the last results in 2013. Now [2015], as a further generalization, we unify all these results into a single formula for the n-D Distance and respectively for the n-D Dependent Function.

Neutrosophic Ideal Theory Neutrosophic Local Function And Generated Neutrosophic Topology, A. A. Salama, Florentin Smarandache

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

In this paper we introduce the notion of ideals on neutrosophic set which is considered as a generalization of fuzzy and fuzzy intuitionistic ideals studies in [9,11] , the important neutrosophic ideals has been given in [4]. The concept of neutrosophic local function is also introduced for a neutrosophic topological space. These concepts are discussed with a view to find new nutrosophic topology from the original one in [8]. The basic structure, especially a basis for such generated neutrosophic topologies and several relations between different neutrosophic ideals and neutrosophic topologies are also studied here. Possible application to GIS topology rules …