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Characterization of the Neural Codebook in an Invertebrate Sensory System: Author: Aldworth, Zane Nathan; Date: 2007-12-15; Program: Neuroscience; Abstract: An outstanding problem in neuroscience is to describe the relationship between various stimulus sources in the environment and how they are represented by patterns of activity in nervous systems, a problem generically referred to as 'neural coding'. Most previous methods developed to address this problem have assumed a linear relationship between environmental stimuli and neural responses, and generally relied on measures of the mean state of the environment preceding neural activity to characterize the stimulus-response transformation. The goal of this thesis is to develop new methods of char...; Download File | View full details

Studies of Peptide Mimicry of the Group B Streptococcus Type III Capsular Polysaccharide Antigen: Author: Pomwised, Rattanaruji; Date: 2007-12-15; Program: Microbiology; Abstract: Capsular polysaccharide (CPS) of Streptococcus group B (GBS) is a poor immunogen and functions as T cell independent antigen, eliciting low IgG antibody with deficient immunologic memory. We previously identified a peptide, S9, which mimics CPS of type III GBS. Here we have taken steps to develop the mimetic peptide as a vaccine against GBS group III. We enhanced the immunogenicity of the peptide by presenting it on the coat protein of Cowpea Chlorotic Mottle Virus (CCMV). And we searched for better mimetic peptides by constructing a secondary phage display library. To accomplish the first goa...; Download File | View full details

Evaluation of Distribution and Fish Passage in Relation to Road Culverts in Two Eastern Montana Prairie Streams: Author: Rosenthal, Leo Richard; Date: 2007-12-15; Program: Fish and Wildlife Management; Abstract: Road culverts can restrict passage of fish migrating between seasonal habitats. The development of new roads, as well as the repair and upgrade of existing roads, has led to research addressing the effects culverts have on fish populations. The majority of this research has focused on salmonid species, and the effect of culverts on movements of small-bodied, weak swimming species is largely unknown. Fish passage within a assemblage of prairie fishes was examined in two tributaries of the lower Yellowstone River having a variety of culvert types. Passage restriction at culverts was determined u...; Download File | View full details

Population Viability of Arctic Grayling (Thymallus arcticus) in the Gibbon River, Yellowstone National Park: Author: Steed, Amber Christine; Date: 2007-12-15; Program: Fish and Wildlife Management; Abstract: The fluvial Arctic grayling Thymallus arcticus is restricted to less than 5% of its native range in the contiguous United States and was listed as Category 3 under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) until a 2007 ruling removed its protection. Fluvial grayling were thought to be restricted to the Big Hole River, Montana, where abundances were declining. Although fluvial grayling of the lower Gibbon River, Yellowstone National Park (YNP) were considered extirpated by 1935, anglers frequently reported catching grayling throughout the river since 1980. My goal was to determine if a viable population...; Download File | View full details

An Economic History of the United States Sugar Program: Author: Wiltgen, Tyler James; Date: 2007-12-15; Program: Applied Economics; Abstract: The United States Sugar Program has utilized tariffs, import quotas, domestic processor marketing allotments, and a non-recourse loan program to raise U.S. sugar prices. The intent of the program has been to increase the incomes of U.S. sugar beet and sugarcane producers and processors. This thesis analyzes world and domestic sugar market conditions surrounding major changes in the sugar program. A theoretical model is developed in which sugar beet processors are depicted as monopsonist purchasers of sugar beets as inputs into sugar production. This model suggests that incentives exist for sug...; Download File | View full details

Development of a Novel High Performance Electrolyte Supported Solid Oxide Fuel Cell: Author: Gentile, Paul Steven; Date: 2007-12-15; Program: Mechanical Engineering; Abstract: High power solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stacks are based on the planar design concept to yield high specific power densities. The key engineering challenges to planar stack reliability and robust operation is attaining low resistance interconnection of individual cells in series and hermetic sealing of interconnects. While stack design and contact paste development is paramount to address this issue, the basic design of the fuel cell introduces limitations. State-of-the-art anode supported cells (ASC) yield high power densities due to low ASR thin electrolytes, however, the asymmetrical design...; Download File | View full details

Meditations upon Durations: Author: Alexander, Justin Matthew; Date: 2007-12-15; Program: Architecture; Abstract: The content of this thesis confirms my belief that architecture is able to create remarkable effects upon human emotion. It is my opinion that human emotion becomes apparent when two opposing states of reality are intensified within time and space. Today in the Western Culture we live upon two opposing states of time. One is mechanized and ridged, and the other is sequential and durational. The first seeks to break things down into parts and understand them as they relate to a human scale. The other seeks to find the potential in what exist in the in-between and around. Together each of them f...; Download File | View full details

Identification and Characterization of a Novel Transcription Factor that Regulates NCF2 Expression via the TNF-alpha Responsive Region: Author: Anderson, Mary Cloud Bosworth Ammons; Date: 2007-12-15; Program: Veterinary Molecular Biology; Abstract: The multicomponent NADPH oxidase is an essential enzyme complex found in professional phagocytic cells that mediates innate immune defence against multiple pathogens through the production of reactive oxygen species. The vital and functionally limiting cytosolic component of the NADPH oxidase, p67phox, is transcriptionally regulated by TNF-α at the TNF-α Responsive Region (TRR) in the intragenic region of Neutrophil Cytosolic Factor 2 (NCF2), the gene which codes for p67phox. The aim of this dissertation is to identify and charaterize the factor(s) that binds the TR...; Download File | View full details

Chemical Sensors and Instrumentation Powered by Microbial Fuel Cells: Author: Angathevar Veluchamy, Raaja Raajan; Date: 2007-12-15; Program: Chemical Engineering; Abstract: The use of microbial fuel cells to power electronic devices is inhibited by their low voltage and current outputs, therefore they cannot be used directly to power electronic devices without appropriate power management. The goal of the thesis is to power chemical sensors but currently there are no available sensor circuitries which can be operated at the low potential and current delivered by a microbial fuel cell. In this thesis, novel sensor circuitry and power management circuitry have been developed. The sensor circuitry can be programmed to operate any generic amperometric sensor and the ...; Download File | View full details

An Assessment of Losses of Native Fish to Irrigation Diversions on Selected Tributaries of the Bitterroot River, Montana: Author: Bahn, Leslie; Date: 2007-12-15; Program: Fish and Wildlife Management; Abstract: Withdrawals of surface water for irrigation and stock water leave the Bitterroot River and its tributaries chronically dewatered during the irrigation season. These water withdrawals affect local trout populations by entraining migratory trout into irrigation diversion canals at multiple life stages, and through the loss and degradation of available habitat for aquatic species. Irrigation losses may be responsible in part for the low abundances and restricted distributions of migratory native westslope cutthroat trout Onchorhyncus clarkii lewisi and bull trout Salvelinus confluentus in this sy...; Download File | View full details

A Review of Market Orientation Practices for Selected Public Carnegie High Research Activity Institutions: Author: Beck, Carina Niedermier; Date: 2007-12-15; Program: Higher Education Administration; Abstract: While many authors (Washburn, 2005; Newman, Couturier, Scurry, 2004; Kirp, 2004; Bok, 2003; Wolff and Bryan, 1999) have written about their belief that American higher education is moving toward a market orientation, limited studies have been published citing the actual practice or success/failure of an institution(s) demonstrating market orientation qualities. The purpose of this study was to determine if two selected public Carnegie High Research Activity institutions were utilizing market orientation practices (Jaworksi and Kohli, 1993; Narver and Slater, 2000) as evidenced in their organiz...; Download File | View full details

Management Options for Producers who Traditionally Plant Barley for Grain or Forage: Author: Boss, Darrin Lewis; Date: 2007-12-15; Program: Plant Sciences; Abstract: The objective of the experiment was to evaluate barley management options by varying seed band width, seeding rates, and harvest endpoint under dryland production conditions in Northern Montana. The experimental design was a randomized complete block with a factorial arrangement and was conducted for three years. Treatments consisted of two cultivars (‘Harrington’ and ‘Haybet’), two band widths (125 mm and 193 mm), and three seeding rates (140, 184 and 226 seeds m-2). Year effects were significant. All established plant populations were lower than planned. Band ...; Download File | View full details

The Boarding School Legacy: Ten Contemporary Lakota Women Tell Their Stories: Author: Bowker, Kathie Marie; Date: 2007-12-15; Program: Education; Abstract: The purpose of this study is to understand the impact of boarding schools on the lives of Lakota women through their lived experiences as children, adolescents, and adults. The participants related their experiences through a series of open ended questions. The first interview established information about and initial impressions of the boarding school, including everyday activities and how the women felt about being away from home. The second interview allowed the women to describe the impact the boarding school had on their emotional growth and maturation. The final interview discussed how t...; Download File | View full details

Collidial Suspension Flow and Transport Behavior in Small Channels by Magnetic Resonance Microscopy: Author: Brown, Jennifer Ruth; Date: 2007-12-15; Program: Engineering; Abstract: The research presented addresses colloidal transport issues in small channel systems using Magnetic Resonance Microscopy techniques. In transport phenomena, the interaction between convection or deterministic motions and diffusion or random motions is important in many engineering and natural applications, especially relating to multiphase flows. Magnetic Resonance methods have the ability to separate coherent from incoherent motion, as well as measure spatially resolved velocity, probability distributions of displacement, and microstructure on the pore scale, even within a multiphase colloida...; Download File | View full details

Sound Design for Non-fiction Film and Video: A Discussion of Methodology, Perception, and Ethics: Author: Burge, Eric William; Date: 2007-12-15; Program: Science and Natural History Filmmaking; Abstract: Traditional documentary films, particularly science and natural history works, presume to authentically or legitimately convey accurate representations of historical events that actually occurred at a prior time. Factual and convincing representations are not necessarily congruent, and a film's merit of authenticity is often based on the perceived validity of the visual content represented. While visual imagery dominates a presentation's general delivery, a film's sound design is a fundamental structural element that is often overlooked or less scrutinized with regard to factual or accurate re...; Download File | View full details

Applications of Quantum Field Theory in Curved Spacetimes: Author: Calderon, Hector Hugo; Date: 2007-12-15; Program: Physics; Abstract: While there is as yet no full theory of Quantum Gravity, some computations can still be performed in the regime where both gravitational and quantum effects are appreciable. These types of calculations, all of them perturbations, are performed in the hope they would provide guidance for the development of the full theory. This dissertation presents work related to three calculations using Quantum Field Theory in Curved Spacetimes. Primarily, the stress energy tensor of vacuum states is computed near Big Rip singularities, sudden singularities and in presence of a Schwarzschild-(anti) de Sitter...; Download File | View full details

An Investigation of Acoustic Impulse Response Measurement and Modeling for Small Rooms: Author: Chen, Zhixin; Date: 2007-12-15; Program: Engineering; Abstract: Room impulse response modeling has been a subject of interest to acousticians, musicians, and architects for many years. Room impulse response modeling can help to predict the acoustical characteristics of the new finished concert halls, to create a virtual studio effect for music production without building the actual studio room, and to compare the effect of different absorbing materials and treatments in architecture. The goals of this dissertation are to obtain a better match between the simulation and the measurement results of small room impulse responses, and to understand why the model...; Download File | View full details

Mosquito Populations in the Powder River Basin, Wyoming: A Comparison of Natural, Agricultural and Effluent Coal Bed Natural Gas Aquatic Habitats: Author: Doherty, Melissa Kuckler; Date: 2007-12-15; Program: Entomology; Abstract: Coal bed natural gas development in northeastern Wyoming has increased surface water in ranching and agricultural areas over undeveloped land. This increase of water increases larval habitat for mosquitoes, potentially increasing adult populations of West Nile virus vector mosquitoes. I compared adult and larval mosquito populations in four different habitat types in the Powder River basin including agricultural, natural, CBNG and upland sagebrush steppe. Adult mosquitoes were sampled weekly (2004) or bi-weekly (2005) using CDC miniature black-light traps baited with dry ice. A fixed-effect mi...; Download File | View full details

How Documentaries Can Help Shape How Society Copes with Death: Author: Garton, Katy-Robin; Date: 2007-12-15; Program: Science and Natural History Filmmaking; Abstract: We live in a society that fears, denies, and attempts to conquer death. This dominant cultural attitude towards death is detrimental to everyone involved in the dying process. There is a collective of people comprised of doctors, therapists, parents, spouses, nurses, and children who believe in the human capacity to die well. This group of individuals has a vision for transforming how we die in our country. At the center of that vision is an effort to effectively communicate to the general public that there is a crisis surrounding end-of-life experiences. Moreover, this group of individuals di...; Download File | View full details

Precession Damping in Itinerant Ferromagnets: Author: Gilmore, Keith; Date: 2007-12-15; Program: Physics; Abstract: Precession damping in metallic ferromagnets had been assumed to result from the spinorbit interaction. While several theories of spin-orbit damping had been postulated, no convincing numerical comparisons to data existed. We selected one promising theory and performed first-principles numerical calculations of damping for bulk iron, cobalt, and nickel. Comparison of minimal calculated and measured damping rates demonstrated a 70 % agreement for nickel, 60 % for iron, and 40 % for cobalt. We then relaxed the initial constraint of a universal electron-lattice scattering rate by allowing the scat...; Download File | View full details

Gradients of Predation Risk Affect Distribution and Migration of a Large Herbivore: Author: Grigg, Jamin Lyle; Date: 2007-12-15; Program: Fish and Wildlife Management; Abstract: Few studies have placed wildlife behavioral responses to human disturbance and hunting pressure within the larger ecological context of predator-prey theory. Given that large herbivores respond behaviorally to the presence of wolves and other predators, we should expect similar adaptive behavioral responses when large herbivores are presented with risk in the form of human disturbance and hunting pressure. One index of human access, disturbance, and thus potential predation risk to large herbivores from hunters are road and trail networks bisecting large herbivore ranges. I evaluated the effec...; Download File | View full details

The D Detroit in the New Millennium: Contemplating a Post-Post-Modern City: Author: Halsey, Douglas William; Date: 2007-12-15; Program: Architecture; Abstract: The connection between Detroti and the American automobile industry is indisputable. Perhaps no other city in the world is as connected with a single industry as Detroit. For seventy years Detroit enjoyed the prosperity that the booming auto industry created. Between 1900 and 1950 the Detroit population swelled from 285,700 to nearly two million. By 2000 that number had fallen to less than a million. has created a modern shrinking city. The gradual decline has created a ghost town of sorts, with much of its building stock deserted and awaiting demolition. Crime plagues the city; poverty and il...; Download File | View full details

Fish Screen Efficiency and Effects of Screened and Unscreened Irrigation Canals on the Downstream Movement of Westslope Cutthroat Trout Juveniles in Skalkaho Creek, Montana: Author: Harnish, Ryan Alexander; Date: 2007-12-15; Program: Fish and Wildlife Management; Abstract: Fish screens were installed in three of seven irrigation canals that divert water from Skalkaho Creek, a tributary of the Bitterroot River, in 2003 to prevent the loss of fluvial-adfluvial westslope cutthroat trout to irrigation canal entrainment. A study conducted in 2003 and 2004 established that fish screens were effective at reducing the loss of adult and age-0 westslope cutthroat trout. The efficiency of fish screens at preventing the loss of age 1-4 juveniles, the effect of screening on age-0 westslope cutthroat trout downstream movements, and the magnitude of entrainment at unscreened c...; Download File | View full details

Visualizing the Minimization of a Deterministic Finite State Automaton: Author: Kshatriya Jagannath, Rajini Singh; Date: 2007-12-15; Program: Computer Science; Abstract: The minimization of deterministic finite state automata is one of the challenging concepts that students of an introductory theory of computation course must master. The minimization algorithm identifies redundant states that may occur in any deterministic finite state automaton and combines them in order to minimize the total number of states. Traditional textbooks provide a static presentation of this process. The average student seems to grasp the process better if it is presented dynamically. In this thesis we visualize every step of a minimization algorithm in sequence through a Java appl...; Download File | View full details

Map-based Tests on Controls of Anabranch River Character on the Lower Yellowstone River: Author: Jenkins, Patricia Ann; Date: 2007-12-15; Program: Earth Sciences; Abstract: Processes responsible for the formation of anabranched river systems are poorly understood. The Yellowstone River, Montana, is a major unimpounded river with over 800 km of anabranched channel. There are from one to seven channels per reach. Current literature identifies at least seven variables that may influence anabranch river character: tributary junctions, bedrock lithology, vegetation, sediment pulses, debris/ice jams, water loss from stream (to groundwater or irrigation withdrawal) and tectonism. Two variables, tributary junctions, bedrock lithology (measured by relative bedrock hardnes...; Download File | View full details

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