Digital Commons Network^™

Juvenile Arthritis, Body Image, And Disordered Eating: An Exploration Of Experiences, Katelyn Ann Melcher

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This qualitative study examined eating and body experiences among youth with juvenile arthritis (JA). JA, an autoimmune condition affecting nearly 300,000 youth in the United States, poses significant challenges including chronic pain, disability, and psychological concerns such as anxiety and depression. Adolescence is a critical developmental time for body image and disordered eating concerns to emerge. However, no qualitative research has explored the interactions of JA, body image, and eating behaviors among youth. Twelve youth with a JA diagnosis participated in a semistructured qualitative interview examining their experiences with JA and their feelings about their bodies and food as they …

College Athlete Workload Management To Improve Performance, Brody Reid

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Load management is an often used and misunderstood term within the realm of sport science. It has been described as the reason behind numerous soft tissue injuries as well as being the reason star athletes sit on the bench for games. This review aims to synthesize the existing literature regarding the workload management paradox within sport. Seminal work in this topic has been gathered mostly by Tim Gabbett in the paper “The Injury Prevention Paradox” where a relationship between fitness gain and fatigue accrued is outlined. This theory was first proposed by Roger Bannister in 1975. This paper …

Love At First Words: A Communication Competency Approach To Romantic Relationship Initiation, Grace E. Wiegand

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Initial interactions are essential to romantic relationship formation, and both parties must desire a second interaction after an initial encounter for the relationship to advance. Many studies have explored the communication styles and tactics that are effective in a person desiring a second interaction from a dating initiation scenario. However, existing research has yet to explain why some communication strategies do or do not result in second interactions. The current study seeks to examine this phenomenon further, testing the extent to which perceived partner communication competence influences a person to want to see another again after an initial interaction. In …

Testing The Hefner (2009) Ancestry/Population Affinity Estimation Method On Japanese Bioarchaeological Populations And Observing Changes In Trait Frequency Distribution Over Time, Tristan Charnock Hershberger

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Population affinity is the most controversial aspect of the biological profile to assess for forensic anthropologists due to an array of factors, both historical and in application. This has led to many calls for the abandonment of this type of estimation, however, many have challenged this by arguing for the category’s importance in the death investigation process. While the abandonment of population affinity estimation is unlikely, that does not mean that current approaches to population assessment should not be reassessed. This study attempts to reevaluate the category by applying an evolutionary lens to population affinity assessment. This project applied a …

Utilization Of Sprint Interval Training In Intermittent Sports, Marcus David Garcia

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Sprint interval training (SIT) is a powerful training method that involves short, maximal sprint efforts followed by brief recovery periods. This modality shares similar physical demands of intermittent sports, where athletes repeatedly transition between maximal exertion and submaximal efforts or rest. The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of SIT on key performance metrics in intermittent sports, such as sprint speed, repeated sprint ability (RSA), aerobic capacity, and anaerobic power. SIT not only enhances anaerobic performance but also promotes adaptations like faster phosphocreatine resynthesis, increased glycolytic enzyme activity, and shifts in muscle fiber composition. These adaptations contribute …

The Devil In The Bakken, Kennedy Lorraine Delap

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In 2008 the oil boom hit North Dakota. The oil brought wealth and human health concerns to the state and specifically, the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. In July of 2024 the largest Clean Air Act Settlement of its kind happened on the reservation due to Marathon Oil emitting thousands of tons more pollutants that regulations outlined. This story dives into the human health effects, advocacy and the difficulty in balancing health and wealth on the reservation.

An Exploration Of Resilience In Native American Older Adults, Georgie Victoria Ferguson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Native American older adults remain underrepresented in psychological research. The unique cohort of participants in this study (born 1924 - 1957) possesses experience and knowledge that can greatly enhance the knowledge base and contribute to the overall understanding of culturally embedded resilience. Participants contributed to the identification of Spirituality and Humor as positive, culturally embedded coping factors through a set of qualitative interviews, and the present study further investigates those specifically identified coping processes using quantitative measures. This research explores how these constructs (measured by the Spiritual Well-Being and Multidimensional Sense of Humor Scales) might counteract (main effect) or buffer …

Comparative Bioinformatic Methodologies In Paleogenetic Pathogen Identification In The Casas Grandes, Victoria Lynne Giovannangelo

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The application of metagenomic tools to further elucidate ancient DNA (aDNA) holds promise in paleopathology, particularly for inferring disease patterns in ancient populations, especially in those that are understudied. This study conducts a comparative analysis of the efficacy of taxonomic pipelines--Kraken 2, HOPS/MALT, and HAYSTAC--in detecting pathogens within highly degraded aDNA samples extracted from 22 Medio Period Paquimé individuals from the Casas Grandes archaeological site in Northwest Mexico. The taxonomic results from the pipelines are compared with contamination detection program mapDamage, although concerns arose about the latter program’s ability to work with prokaryotes. Additionally, the findings are compared against prior …

College Of Health & Human Services : Policy On Office Space Allocation

Academic Affairs – Policy Library

No abstract provided.

Graduate School : Thesis Manual

Academic Affairs – Policy Library

No abstract provided.

A Novel Positive Allosteric Modulator Of Glun1/3 Nmda Receptors, Samuel A. Galindo

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The GluN3-containing (GluN1/3) N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors are glycine activated ligand-gated ion channels that are members of the family of excitatory ionotropic glutamate receptors. Compared to the glycine/glutamate-activated GluN2- containing NMDA receptors (GluN1/2), which have been extensively studied, the GluN1/3 receptors are poorly understood, but are implicated in neuronal processes related to synaptic maturation and plasticity. GluN1/3 receptors are also implicated in a variety of neurological diseases. In addition to their poor understanding, we lack proper pharmacological tools for the study and modulation of these GluN1/3 receptors. In this study, we evaluate the activity and mechanism of action for AIMS-129 as …

Linking Empirical Data And Numerical Simulation To Characterize Dynamic Fire Behavior Associated With Interacting Firelines, Marta Sergeevna Jerebets

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Understanding fuel pattern-fire process relationships is key for predicting fire behavior and effects with follow-on benefits to proactive fire management and model validation. To characterize dynamic fire behavior, this thesis leverages empirical data and numerical simulation through two complementary studies.

In the first study, longwave thermal sensors aboard unmanned aerial systems (UAS) were used to capture fine-scale fire behavior in two experimental grass burns. A novel paired design was used to quantify the effects of fuel arrangement on fire behavior with 3.66 m diameter treatments cut to a height of 0.15 m. The treatments ephemerally reduced fire rate of spread …

Cullet, Celia Alice Easton Koehler

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

“Cullet” is an industry term for the refuse and smashed-up glass added to new material in the process of making new glass. It is related to the word “cull” from the old french “to collect” or gather. This collection of poems picks up the term as a framework for investigating the piece-meal of daily life, tracing relations between the individual and collective, and also tracing vantage and scale; shifts of where and how the speaker directs their gaze. The poems are invested in assembling an ethos of the domestic that recasts “the domestic” to include more public sites of daily …

Indigenous Access And Use On Private Land: A Toolkit For Heart Of The Rockies Land Trust Members, Ian James Craighead

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Ai And Personal Finance: Evaluating Rules Of Thumb Generated By Chatgpt, Jing Jian Xiao, Kexin Meng

Human Development and Family Science Faculty Publications

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to evaluate the information quality generated by ChatGPT on rules of thumb in personal finance.

Design/methodology/approach – Prompts were developed to ask ChatGPT questions regarding rules of thumb in personal finance. After several iterations, we selected seven rules of thumb and asked ChatGPT to provide more in-depth information. The information was evaluated by checking its accuracy and validity based on relevant peer reviewed journal articles.

Findings – We found both advantages and limitations of using ChatGPT for information search. The advantages include its speed of information generation, width of topic generation, adaptivity …

Applying Neuroscience To A Brief In-Class Activity: A Trauma-Informed Quick Fix To Support Students Through Sensitive Content, Jessica Cless

Human Development and Family Science Faculty Publications

College students frequently encounter stress both inside and outside the classroom. In courses that utilize sensitive or trauma-related content, emotional reactions are common and may interfere with students’ readiness to learn by disrupting attention, working memory, and flexible thinking under stress. Instructors often want to support students’ regulation and engagement, but need strategies that are practical and adaptable across disciplines. The Three R’s check-in, based on neuroscience principles outlined by Bruce Perry, prompts students to regulate, relate, and reflect in a brief routine that can be used before or after encountering sensitive material. This Quick Fix outlines how instructors can …

Financial Resilience: A Scoping Review, Conceptual Synthesis, And Theoretical Framework, Jing Jian Xiao

Human Development and Family Science Faculty Publications

Purpose: Financial resilience is becoming increasingly important in socioeconomic environments, yet research on the topic remains in its early stages and is subject to debate. This study aims to provide an overview of the existing literature on financial resilience and develop a heuristic map.

Methodology: A four-step scoping review was conducted to extract data on research features, measures, determinants, outcomes, and definitions from 44 empirical studies on financial resilience across five academic databases.

Findings: Most studies have examined financial resilience over the past five years utilizing cross-sectional secondary data from specific countries. The included studies have used various …

Prospective Use Of Detection Dogs As A Screening Tool For Mycoplasma Ovipneumoniae In Bighorn Sheep (Ovis Canadensis), Michele C. Lovara

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae is a bacterium that can spill over from domestic sheep (Ovis aries) to bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis), with effects in bighorn sheep ranging from low to no lamb recruitment to whole-herd all-age die-offs from resulting pneumonia. Fast and reliable pathogen or disease detection is essential for managing outbreaks in bighorn sheep and emergences in affected populations. Detection dogs are increasingly being enlisted to close gaps and further complement various disease, pathogen and virus research and response efforts. This thesis explores the use of conservation detection dogs as a potential tool for M. ovipneumoniae surveillance in bighorn sheep through …

Development Of Food Preservative Hydrogel Using Bioactive Compounds Extracted From Canola Meal, Kayla Christopherson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With an ever-growing population comes the need for a greater food supply. Yet land and other agricultural resources put a limit on the availability of food production. As farmers strive to optimize higher produce yields, society must turn to greener, more sustainable food preservation techniques to reduce food spoilage. The inclusion of extracted bioactive compounds found in canola meal into a food preservative hydrogel is such a solution for food spoilage reduction. In this thesis, extraction parameters of glucosinolates were examined along with their inhibition of E. coli DH5αZ1 when incorporated into 2 developed hydrogels: gelatin A Schiff-base and agar-agar. …

Remote Sensing - Based Mapping And Analysis Of Winter Cover Crop Adoption For Sustainable Agriculture, Minnehaha County, Belinda Buechler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Winter cover crops planted by farmers such as cereal rye, crimson clover, radishes, hairy vetch, and winter wheat are used to conserve and protect the soil during winter. These crops offer numerous benefits such as improving soil health, reducing erosion, fixing nitrogen, increasing carbon sequestration, and weed suppression. Over time, winter cover cropping has been recognized as a sustainable agricultural practice and has gained attention from Federal and State conservation programs, farmers, and non-governmental organizations. Due to their vital benefits, agencies such as the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Natural Resources Conversation Services (NRCS) have partnered with cost-share programs …

Understanding Relationships Among Fish And Environmental Conditions To Guide Adaptive Fisheries Management, Madalyn K. Siller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Phytogenic Feed Additives Pre- And Post-Calving And Effects Of Substituting Ddgs With Soybean Meal On Protein Metabolism In Beef Cattle, Grace H. Jardon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The objective of these studies was to evaluate nutritional strategies to improve beef cattle productivity through targeted supplementation and protein source manipulation. The first study investigated the effects of a phytogenic supplement (PHYT; a blend of turmeric, capsicum, and black pepper oleoresin) on colostrum yield and composition, calf passive immunity, and cow–calf performance. Twenty-three Angus-based cows were assigned to either a control group or received 250 or 500 mg/head/day of PHYT from 30 days pre-calving to 60 days post-calving. Supplementation with PHYT linearly increased colostrum fat and calf serum IgA concentrations. Milk fat, calf serum IgG, and colostrum IgM tended …

Effect Of Six-Day Germination On Chemical Composition, Functional, And Nutritional Properties Of Pea Varieties, Hojjat Abdollahikhamene

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Pulses, particularly peas, have long been a crucial source of protein in vegetarian and cost-effective diets worldwide. They have gained popularity in Western diets as more people turn to plant-based proteins as alternatives to animal products. Peas are known for their high protein content; however, their use in food products has been limited due to factors like poor solubility and digestibility. Germination improves the nutritional profile of peas by enhancing protein content and digestibility. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of six days of germination on the nutritional composition and functional properties of different varieties of …

Biopolymer-Induced Soil Ductility Enhancement: Mitigating The Effects Of Desiccation Cracks, Rabindra Prasad Bohara

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study addresses the formidable challenges of expansive clayey soils, notorious for their swelling-shrinkage characteristics, which often lead to ground instability and structural damage. While effective in mitigating soil swell-shrink potential and enhancing strength, traditional calcium-based stabilizers can react with higher sulfate content to form ettringite, causing volumetric changes and infrastructure distress. To assess the impact of stabilizing sulfate-rich soils and determining the various engineering properties, samples of both control and stabilized soils were prepared using lime, biopolymer (guar gum), and lime with guar gum at concentrations of 2% and 4% lime only, 0.5%, 1% and 1.5% guar gum only, …

Evaluation Of Strip-Tillage And Banded Phosphorus And Potassium Fertilizer For Corn Production In Eastern South Dakota, Charles N. Tesch

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In South Dakota, the adoption of no-till and other conservation tillage practices has grown in recent years. However, conventional tillage is still a common practice in the eastern third of the state, negatively affecting soil health and the environment. Strip-tillage has gained interest in this region as a way to transition to conservation tillage while retaining some benefits of conventional tillage. Strip-tillage also provides the ability to subsurface band nutrients, particularly phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) fertilizers within the tillage strip, potentially improving nutrient accessibility and recovery while reducing environmental risks. This study aimed to investigate (i) the effects of …

Investigating The Ruminal Metagenome Of Grass And Forage-Fed Bison To Uncover Metabolic Activities That Impact The Efficiency Of Plant Fiber Utilization, Anlly Fresno Rueda

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the ruminal microbiome of American plains bison (Bison bison) to uncover the metabolic activities that enable efficient utilization of plant fiber, with a particular focus on bacterial composition and functional capabilities in response to forage quality. Using both 16S rRNA gene sequencing and metagenomic approaches, this research provides a comprehensive view of microbial diversity and metabolic potential in the rumen of bison, offering insights into their ecological resilience and efficiency in nutrient extraction. Chapter 2 focuses on the metabolic potential of bacterial communities in the rumen of bison fed a grass-based diet. Using high-throughput sequencing and metagenomic …

Identification Of Gut Bacterial Symbionts From Atlantic Salmon That Are Involved In Metabolizing Feed Ingredients Derived From Soybean Meal, Emily Fowler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the aquaculture industry, plant-based protein sources have emerged as an economically and environmentally sustainable replacement for traditional animal protein sources. Yet, due to reduced digestibility, the presence of anti-nutritional factors, as well as an increased risk of inflammation of the digestive system, the inclusion of plant-based protein ingredients must be limited, especially in the diets of carnivorous fishes. To gain further insight on how to adapt the fish digestive tract to more effectively utilize or tolerate plant-based protein ingredients, slurry from cultured Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) was used as a proxy in an in vitro model system to identify …

Development Of A Collagen-Based Bioink For 3d Printing Biomimetic Tendon-To-Bone Tissue Grafts For Rotator Cuff Repair, Samiul Nibir

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study presents the development of a collagen-based bioink for 3D printing tendon-to-bone tissue grafts, specifically designed for rotator cuff repair applications. Three different bioink formulations were developed: (i) 5.1% (w/v) collagen I, (ii) 5% (w/v) collagen I and collagen II, and (iii) 4.5% (w/v) collagen I combined with β-TCP. The bioink containing collagen I and collagen II was prepared by mixing the two components in a 1:1 ratio, while the collagen I plus β-TCP formulation was made by incorporating 20 wt % β-TCP into the collagen I solution. These formulations were developed to replicate the natural tendon-to-bone complex interface …

White Coats And Scrubs: Bridging The Gaps In Accommodation, Tristan Stauffacher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Effective communication between nurses and physicians is critical for patient safety, yet these interactions often occur within hierarchical structures that can hinder open dialogue and collaboration. This study explores nurse-physician communication through the lens of Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT), specifically focusing on how nurses accommodate their communication using the framework’s strategies. Drawing on qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with registered nurses, this study identifies key themes including convergence, organizational silence, and maintenance as strategies that nurses engage in. The findings of this study reveal that accommodation choices are not solely motivated by intrinsic goals but can be motivated by external …

Foundational Grounding And Four Sources Of Contingency, Kenneth L. Pearce

Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers

No abstract provided.