Digital Commons Network^™

Does Revlon Matter? A Empirical And Theoretical Study, Matthew D. Cain Ph. D., Sean J. Griffith, Robert J. Jackson Jr., Steven D. Solomon

Faculty Scholarship

We empirically examine whether and how the doctrine of enhanced judicial scrutiny that emerged from Revlon and its progeny actually affects M&A transactions. Combining hand-coding and machine-learning techniques, we assemble data from the proxy statements of publicly announced mergers between 2003 and 2017 into a dataset of 1,913 unique transactions. Of these, 1,167 transactions were subject to the Revlon standard, and 553 were not. After subjecting this sample to empirical analysis, our results show that Revlon does indeed matter for companies incorporated in Delaware. We find that in Delaware, Revlon deals are more intensely negotiated, involve more bidders, and result …

The New Tax Legislative And Regulatory Process, Rebecca Kysar

Faculty Scholarship

This paper compares the enactment and implementation process for the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) to prior tax reform acts, as well as situates it within other developments in the legislative process more generally. It details how the 2017 enactment process solidifies reconciliation as the primary vehicle for the enactment of major tax measures, a trend nearly two decades in the making. The ambitious scope of the TCJA, as well as the rushed and partisan reconciliation process by which it was enacted, has led to ambiguities and instability in the legislation. These features have, in turn, posed an …

Criminal Histories And Criminal Futures, Youngjae Lee

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The “Welfare Queen” Goes To The Polls: Race-Based Fractures In Gender Politics And Opportunities For Intersectional Coalitions, Catherine Powell, Camille Gear Rich

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Perceived Threat And Left-Wing Authoritarianism: The Effect Of Framing On Persuasive Messages, James Donald Mcfarland

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Past research reveals a strong connection between feeling threatened and Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA). This relationship is considered to be an integral part of authoritarianism and the nature of its presence in the left-leaning populace is still being fully explored. This study examined the relationship between perceived threat and Left-Wing Authoritarianism (LWA) through the framing of persuasive messages. Participants (n = 256) were recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and given a list of reward- or threat-framed statements concerning the possible ramifications of voting in future elections and then asked to rate the quality and persuasiveness of the respective statements. …

Son Of Red Earth Or The George Story: Novel Excerpt, Callie Ann Atkinson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Digitizing The Corporeal: The Affect Of Mediatized Elements In Theatrical Performance, Kurtis Layne Hassinger

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This paper explores the affect of digital media in live performance. The research is generated from work with integrated digital media in Carol Ann Duffy's 2015 adaptation of Everyman as well as Samuel Beckett's radio play Cascando. Through experimentation and implementation of motion tracking digital elements and actor-manipulated sonic and visual digital media achieved with MIDI and OSC mapping, I explore the embodiment of performances by actors when their various characters are represented on the physical as well as the digital stage simultaneously.

The research interrogates digital media in storytelling when actors can manipulate imagery and language in real time …

Enhancing The Impact Of Behavioral Activation Via Prospection, Chelsey M. Maxson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

"Black Colorism And White Racism: Discourse On The Politics Of White Supremacy, Black Equality, And Racial Identity, 1915-1930", Hannah Paige Mcdonald

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The following study unravels how Garveyite black nationalists, black integrationists, and Virginian white supremacists understood the race problem and its solution between 1915 and 1930. The racial identity and experiences of these three distinct groups, each informed how they understood the race problem and its solution. The divergent notions about the source of and solution to the race problem coalesced with colorism, sowing seeds of intraracial and interracial conflict and cooperation between the Garveyite black nationalists, black integrationists, and Virginian white supremacists as they navigated how to redress white supremacy and black equality. According to black integrationists and Garveyite black …

"A Pressure Not To Be Resisted Or Evaded": Military Occupation, Reform, And The Incorporation Of Northern Montana, 1879-1916, Hayden Nelson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis explores Fort Assinniboine’s role as an extension of the federal government’s military arm in the Northern Plains. It argues that the military occupation of northern Montana served to incorporate the northern borderland region and peoples into the American mainstream as a part of the national reconstruction processes following the Civil War into the twentieth century. In a period of half a century, north-central Montana transformed from a Native American common hunting ground lacking any major white settlement to a rapidly developing agricultural region. Fort Assinniboine played a central role in this transformation, hastening the economic collapse of the …

Generating Peptide Mass Spectrometry Ground Truth Data, Jessica L. Henning, Rob Smith

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Very few quantitative evaluations exist for precursor mass spectrometry data due to the lack of tools for enabling the manual feature finding necessary to generate this data. Other lacks the ability to capture, edit, save, and view precursor mass spectrometry data. We present JS-MS 2.0, a software suite that provides a dependency-free, browser-based, one click, cross-platform solution for creating precursor ground truth. The software retains the first version’s capacity for loading, viewing, and navigating MS1 data in 2- and 3-D, and adds tools for capturing, editing, saving and viewing isotopic envelope and extracted isotopic chromatogram features. The software can also …

Self-Compassion As A Protective Factor Against Minority Stress For Lgbt Individuals, Morgan Christine Bowlen

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Objectives: Research has found that anxiety, mood, and substance use disorders are more prevalent in LGBT individuals than heterosexual individuals (Fergusson, Horwood, & Beautrais, 1999). An explanation for these differences has been put forward by Meyer (2003), the Minority Stress Model, which is a theoretical framework that proposes that individuals who occupy a stigmatized minority status, such as LGBT individuals, may experience increased stress on the basis of stigmatization associated with this status. Results from multiple studies support the relationship between mindfulness and coping skills, life satisfaction, and positive health outcomes for LGBT individuals (Crews & Crawford, 2015; Gayner …

Preliminary Investigation Of An Aphasia-Friendly Version Of The Patient Health Questionnaire – 8 (Phq-8) Compared To Other Patient And Proxy Reported Outcome Measures Of Depression, Kaylee Marie Walter

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Persons with aphasia (PWA) experience post-stroke depression more frequently than stroke survivors who do not have aphasia. Currently, no patient reported outcome measures that screen for depression have been created specifically for PWA or modified to be aphasia friendly for PWA. The purpose of this preliminary study is to modify the Patient Health Questionnaire- 8 (PHQ-8) to an aphasia friendly format and to assess the feasibility of administering the modified assessment compared to other patient-reported and proxy-reported outcome measures used to screen depression. This retrospective analysis examined pre- and post-treatment outcome measures of depression for seven stroke-survivors with aphasia. The …

The Treatment Female Administrators Receive From Female Followers And The Relationship And Affect It Has On Their Positions, Jennifer Rae Burnett

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The barriers and support between female subordinates and female administrators are crucial elements in a successful administrative career. While much research has been conducted on men versus women in leadership positions as well as the treatment subordinates receive from their supervisors, there is little research on the subordinate’s treatment of the leader and how it affects their position.

The purpose of this non-experimental mixed methods study was to ascertain the relationship among female administrators and the support and barriers they experience from female subordinates, as well as how it affects their experience and longevity in their leadership positions. Participants included …

Handing Down The Heritage: Preserving Irish Diasporic Identities In The Festival City Of Montana, Margaret Mary Walsh

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Butte, Montana is a tough, historic industrial town in western Montana known for its mining, its Irish, and strangely, its festivals. The city boasts countless parades and community events each year for a variety of holidays as well as for showcases of traditions and ethnic pride. Three celebrations in particular, St. Patrick’s Day, Fourth of July, and An Rí Rá, attract visitors from all over the country – and world – who seek to experience the enthusiasm and splendor of these celebrations. So, what can these popular celebrations in Montana’s Festival City, Butte, reveal about the Irish community living there? …

Biotic And Abiotic Drivers Of Acyclic Snowshoe Hare Population Dynamics In A Spatiotemporally Complex System, Alexander Vishvamitra Kumar

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Although periodic fluctuations in species abundance have long fascinated society (e.g. lemming mass migrations and locust plagues in Egypt), it was not until 1924 that Charles Elton brought cycles to the attention of the scientific community. Following his work, cycle dynamics have remained an enigmatic area of ecology with many cyclic species exhibiting dampened and even acyclic dynamics across space (i.e. portions of their range) or time. One such species, snowshoe hares, exhibit drastic population fluctuations in the northern boreal, but are thought to exhibit dampened cyclic or acyclic population dynamics in the southern portion of their range with quantification …

Linking Health Behavior Theory And Interventions To Increase Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Uptake, Gretchen Elizabeth Neal

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted disease in adults in the United States (US). Persistent HPV infection can cause several cancers, including cervical, oropharyngeal, and anal cancer. To prevent these cancers, the U.S. Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends that all adolescents start the HPV vaccine series at ages 11-12 years. Despite the safety and efficacy of available HPV vaccines, vaccine uptake rates remain lower than public health goals. In the US, only 51.1% of eligible adolescents have completed the vaccine series, a rate lower than the Healthy People 2020 goal of 80% coverage for series completion. …

Programmatic Desensitization Of The Cough Reflex In Patients With Refractory Chronic Cough, Emma Bozarth Dailey

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Aim: The purpose of this blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled pilot clinical trial was to determine the potential of treating refractory chronic cough (RCC) using a progressive desensitization model paired with behavioral cough suppression.

Methods: Twelve adults with chronic cough who had failed behavioral cough treatment enrolled in and completed the study. Participants were randomly assigned to a treatment (n=8) or placebo group (n=4). The study consisted of three phases. During Phase I, participants completed baseline testing, including cough sensitivity testing with capsaicin, the Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ), urge-to-cough-testing, and 24-hour cough frequency testing. During Phase II, participants practiced behavioral cough suppression …

A Policy Analysis Of Lead Paint Disclosure Implementation In Residential Homes In Missoula Montana, Marissa Lein Lehner

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Using Weimer and Vining’s (2017) framework and interviews with key actors, this policy analysis evaluates the implementation of federal lead paint disclosure requirements in Missoula Montana. Lead based paint was commonly used in homes built prior to 1978. Disclosure requires landlords and any persons selling a home to disclose known lead-based paint hazards to buyers and renters. The policy was enacted to promote informed decisions to avoid or reduce the risk of lead paint exposure. Lead paint disclosure serves a critical purpose to inform citizens of risk of lead paint in older housing, because any lead exposure is particularly detrimental …

The Space Between Points And Their Navigational Reference, Darla Pienciak

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

“The path of self-fulfillment means “pushing oneself beyond oneself”, in a relationship with the community where generosity, giving and the search for the common good are included and cultivated in everyday life.” (Menditto, 2014)

The Space Between Points and Their Navigational Reference represents specific points in time as well as all the moments that take place between those points. Each point is a person or a specific moment in time; they are individual people or noteworthy memories which, for one reason or another, have left a significant imprint in the memory of the individual or of society. The space between …

College Athletes And Alcohol Use: The Need For Effective Prevention/Intervention Programs, Paige M. Craig

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The literature review investigates the relationship between alcohol and college athletes. College athletes are a high-risk drinking group; alcohol use amongst collegiate athletes is a major concern due to the consequences associated with use. It is important to review student-athlete behavior and influences that contribute to alcohol use in order to design a program that effectively prevents use and intervenes use when it occurs. Results from original articles were used to support the need for effective prevention/intervention programs for this population based on the severity and frequency of use, negative effects of alcohol, and lack of effective prevention/intervention programs. Coaches, …

Synchrony: An Aspect Of The Abilities Of Steppe Horse Archers In Eurasian Warfare (525 Bce – 1350 Ce), Chris Hanson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Animals moving in unison as a group are quite intriguing to observe. Horses can run across terrain and change directions without jostling each other. They appear to move as if they know how to avoid crashing into others and run fluidly through their environment. This ability to maneuver without hindering herd is called synchrony and also extends to other animals including fish in schools and birds in flocks. Humans, on the other hand, need to create orderly formations in battle to move without interfering with adjacent warriors. For example, the Romans, Greeks, Persians, Chinese, and Byzantines trained their infantry and …

Characterizing Burn Severity Of Beetle-Killed Forest Stands Leveraging Google Earth Engine-Derived Normalized Burn Ratios, Sofronio Catalino Propios Iii

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Following numerous studies, a general consensus on burn severity in forests affected by bark beetle outbreaks has not yet been achieved. The purpose of this study is to characterize burn severities in forest stands affected by mountain pine beetle (MPB) outbreaks, especially in relation to “time since outbreak”, vegetation cover, and topographic factors. This study focuses on wildfires that occurred in the northern Rocky Mountains of Idaho and Montana during the 2012 fire season within forested areas that had previously experienced prior MPB outbreaks. Remote sensing techniques were used to quantify and compare the burn severities of MPB-outbreak stands with …

Learning From Wilderness Fire: Restoring Landscape Scale Patterns And Processes, Julia Kittleson Berkey

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Wilderness areas, because they are managed to be “untrammeled by man,” often offer the best approximation of intact, undisturbed ecological patterns and processes. In the case of wildland fire, this means that wilderness areas often provide the only landscapes where fire has been managed to play an active, ecosystem role. As a result, these wilderness areas offer unique lessons both in terms of wildland fire management as well as the ecological consequences that result from this management approach. For these reasons, an in-depth history of fire management in the wilderness areas of the Northern Rocky Mountains is provided to highlight …

Collaborative Conservation: A Philosophical Analysis Of The Efficacy And Commensurability Of Tek And Western Science, Anne M. Belldina

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis seeks to explore the similarities and differences between traditional ecological knowledge and Western science as a way to address long-held misconceptions about the efficacy of traditional ecological knowledge, or TEK. The motivation for this project arose from a deep desire to investigate the historical injustices toward Indigenous peoples in the name of conservation. The goal of this analysis is to illustrate that effective collaboration between Indigenous knowledge holders and Western scientists is not only possible, but desirable. I outline three major barriers from which I draw out three minimum criteria which much be met if collaborative conservation efforts …

Food Web Effects Of Lake Trout (Salvelinus Namaycush) Invasion In Northwestern Montana, Charles Wainright

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Around the turn of the 20th century, lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) were widely introduced in several lakes and reservoirs outside their native range in western North America. Since then, lake trout have become problematic in many lakes where they were introduced, causing significant declines in popular sport fishes and native species, most notably federally protected bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus). Despite evidence that invasive fish can cause cascading trophic effects in aquatic communities, the impacts of lake trout introduction / invasion on aquatic food webs remain poorly understood. Moreover, native fish restoration programs tend to focus on suppression …

Diet-Breadth Analysis In The American Southwest: Metabarcoding Method With Coprolites, Paige Nicole Plattner

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Molecular analysis of coprolites is proposed as new means of studying bio-archaeological remains that aids in the ability to capture diet breadth from past populations. This research utilizes the targeted PCR method, known as metabarcoding, to study dietary elements preserved in the coprolites from three greater Southwest sites. The Illumina MiSeq technology was used to sequence the samples after multiple rounds of targeted PCR using two primers (16s and 12s) proven successful for taxonomic identification with animal DNA and one primer specific to plant DNA (Rias et al 2011).

The sequencing data was then run through two different bioinformatics pipelines …

Electrospun Fibers With Smart Delivery Of Therapeutic Agents, Zahra Mahdieh

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Electrospinning is the most widely studied technique of producing fibers. Delivery of nanoparticles and therapeutic agents from electrospun fibers have potential uses in various fields including drug delivery, filtration, and cosmetics. However, controlling the delivery rate remains the main challenge. In the current study, core-shell structure fibers were developed with zinc oxide nanoparticles applied in the shell composition to improve the pore structure (release pathway) and mechanical stability. Fine-tuned delivery rates were achieved via loading different sizes of silver nanoparticles (Ag NP) inside the fiber core. In vitro drug release assays showed fast, slow, and intermediate delivery rates of 20 …

Down The Deer Path: Reflections On The Future Of Hunting In America, Jackie A. Bussjaeger

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This collection of chapters delves into the dramatically shifting landscape of hunting sports from a personal perspective of a young hunter. As older hunters age out of the sport, hunter-funded conservation initiatives are in danger of losing support. This work examines the nature of relationships between hunters, their prey, and their worldview, as well as the elements of hunting that appeal to new hunters, and the challenges they may face as they become the hunters of the future.

Organizational Influence On Knowledge Co-Production, Evora Dakota Glenn

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches are needed to effectively address the challenges facing our complex social-ecological systems. To meet this need, many approaches, including co-production, have been proposed to overcome the difficult relationship between science and governance, often termed a ‘gap’, which can continue to impede natural resource problem solving. Co-production is an iterative process that engages scientists, managers, and community members in knowledge creation and problem solving. Evidence indicates that participants are more likely to view co-produced knowledge as more salient, legitimate, and credible, and that they are more likely to use it. Evidence also indicates that this iterative and …