Mountain Scholar (Digital Collections of Colorado and Wyoming)
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Susto: poems
Surreal yet earthbound, orphaned yet mothered more than most, comforting yet disturbing- Tommy Archuleta's Susto surveys many settings: the body, the soul, the terrain the soul encounters upon leaving the body. But the setting is also the high desert landscape that is the poet's northern New Mexico home, a land whose beauty today is as silencing and brutal as was the colonization of the region and her Anasazi descendants by Archuleta's Spanish antipasados. In Susto, loss is everywhere to be found, though this work is not merely a concerted meditation on lament. Rather, it is part unearthed family album; part unlocked diary; part ode to motherhood and her various forms; part manual on preparing for a happy death; and part primer on the ancient art of curanderismo, whereby plants and roots are prepared for treating all manner of ills a mind and body might face.--Provided by publisher
Emma Mourfield: capstone
2023 Spring.Colorado State University Art and Art History Department capstone project.Capstone contains the artist's statement, a list of works, and images of works.The artist's statement: Clay is a material that has a strong connection to the body, making it important for me to emphasize process and hand work within my practice. Because clay is inherently malleable, each touch creates a physical memory of the artist's hand. This bodily connection is shown within my work through focus on small details and finishings, instilling an intimate sense of personal touch in each piece. In order to further the personal connection between the medium and self, I often reflect my own style and autobiographical narrative into the pieces that I create. Using stoneware, porcelain, and casting slip, my work ranges from traditional wheel thrown pottery to slip casted sculptures. Within my body of work, I touch on subjects of form, beauty, design, self reflection/image, control, irreverence, humor, and play
Rain and RELAMPAGO: analysis of the deep convective storms of central Argentina
Includes bibliographical references.2023 Spring.When, where and how much precipitation falls are fundamental questions to research interests spanning the weather to climate spectrum, yet are difficult to solve. The various methods used to answer "how much" each have sources of error, making it important to obtain knowledge about the characteristics of an individual dataset. This is especially true for rare events such as extreme precipitation. IMERG, TRMM 3B42, MERRA2 and ERA5 precipitation datasets were regridded to the same resolution and compared for 3-hourly heavy rainfall (99th and 99.9th percentile) in subtropical South America, which has some of the strongest convective storms on Earth. Seasonal and dirunal distribution are compared, with similar seasonal distributions between the datasets but at the diurnal scale MERRA2 and ERA5 show more afternoon events than TRMM and IMERG. Thermodynamic environments were compared with MERRA2 events tending to occur in more marginal environments than TRMM 3B42 and ERA5 environments over much of the analyzed region. Overall the satellite datasets showed the highest amounts. Brief case studies are included to illustrate these differences, which reinforce that choice of dataset can be an important factor in precipitation research. How the precipitation falls is also addressed using a case study from the RELAMPAGO field program in Argentina. Many observations are available of this case, which occurred during the mobile operations period of the field program. Mobile surface stations, increased temporal resolution from fixed sounding sites, and six mobile sounding systems provide a high level of detail on the evolution of this storm system. Additionally, a trove of radar data and a GOES mesoscale sector are available. This case is demonstrative of a common occurrence in the region: a strong MCS (Mesoscale Convective System) over the Sierras de Córdoba mountain range. The extent of the backbuilding observed with this MCS was not predicted by the operation convective allowing models used for field program forecasting. To study this event two simulations are presented: one in which backbuilding of the MCS occurs and one where such backbuilding does not occur. The difference between these simulations is the number of vertical levels used in the model which impacts moisture availability upstream of the system via the effect of mountain wave downslope winds
Gender performance and the hyper-feminized cowgirl: a CTDA analysis of the @wprarodeo Tik Tok
2023 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.This study evaluates the Women's Professional Rodeo Association TikTok as a social media platform that uses video to represent rodeo culture and portrays the cowgirl identity. This representation is centered within a male-dominant sport that falls under the agriculture industry and is rooted in other agriculture practices and history. It is important to understand how this androcentric experience in professional rodeo functions on social media through the @wprarodeo TikTok because social media representation in different forms is used to construct and reconstruct culturally situated identities. Using CTDA (Critical Technocultural Discourse Analysis) this study found three cultural ideologies including: the cowgirl appearance, athletic performance, and women empowerment through collective identity, which are present on the @wprarodeo TikTok as a representation of female narratives in professional rodeo, which are bolstered through Tik Tok's affordances. Tik Tok in an increasingly integrated digital space with highly intuitive user-based content and interaction
Lifecycle assessment modeling and encouraging reuse in the corrugated packaging industry using persuasion and operant conditioning
Includes bibliographical references.2023 Spring.Greenhouse gas emission is a major contributor to climate change and global warming. Many sustainability efforts are aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. These include recycling and the use of renewable energy. In the case of recycling, the general population is typically required to at least temporarily store, and possibly haul, the materials rather than simply throwing them away. This effort from the general population is a key aspect of recycling, and in order for recycling to work, some investment of time and effort is required by the public. In the case of corrugated cardboard boxes, it has been observed that there is less motivation for the general population to recycle them. Also, the manufacturing of a product such as a corrugated cardboard box (CCB) includes the extraction of a variety of raw materials in addition to supply chain efforts to get the raw materials to the industry. The extraction of raw material and its supply chain as well as the unproper end of lifecycle phase can significantly impact the carbon emission of a product over its lifecycle. This research explores different means of motivating people to reuse, and not just recycle, with different types of incentives. It addresses the use of persuasion techniques and operant conditioning techniques together to incentivize the general population to adopt sustainable efforts. Further, this study makes an attempt to segment the general population based on age, gender, persuasion preferences, operant condition preferences, personality types, awareness of environment/climate change as well as current recycling effort of the participants to use different forms of incentives and motivational work unlike any approaches found in the literature review. Four types of persuasion techniques and four types of operant conditioning are combined to give 16 different types of incentives. Three online surveys are conducted, and their data are analyzed (using entropy, Hamming distance, t-test, chi-square, and ANOVA). The results indicate that "positive reinforcement + ethos" is a cost-effective way to incentivize the general population. This study also conducts a Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) that gives the carbon emission of each phase of the product and a quantitative estimate of the overall product carbon footprint and its effect on the environment. This gives impetus to recommendations for improving the phases of the lifecycle to minimize carbon emissions. This research uses LCA to evaluate the carbon emission in each phase of the lifecycle of a typical 1 kg corrugated cardboard box in the United States. Carbon emission for the proposed "reuse" phase is also calculated, and the results are compared. To examine if the incremental cost of reusing the CCBs is less than the environmental and economic cost of reducing the extraction and supply chain of raw materials, this study explores the economic feasibility of the proposed "reuse" method that incentivizes the general population to reuse the CCBs instead of recycling or landfilling them. Economic tools such as willingness-to-pay vs. marginal cost curves and benefit-cost analyses are used to evaluate economic feasibility. The results indicate that the "reuse" method for CCBs is economically and environmentally feasible. It also supports the approach of using analytics, economics, and LCA to create a model that can be used for other products and processes as an evaluative process to determine if businesses can benefit from the reduction (or removal) of material extraction costs from the supply chain. The results of this study can be applied to a wide range of applications such as solar panels, incentives for vaccination, and other areas wherein sustainability-centric behavior is encouraged
Abigail Howshar: capstone
2023 Spring.Colorado State University Art and Art History Department capstone project.Capstone contains the artist's statement, a list of works, and images of works.The artist's statement: As a graphic designer, I am passionate about creating visually compelling designs that effectively communicate a message or tell a story. Being born and raised in Colorado my work is deeply influenced by the natural beauty and the environment. I am constantly inspired by the colors, textures, and patterns found in the mountains and cities that surround me. My goal is to create designs that not only look beautiful but also serve a functional purpose. Whether it's a logo, a website, or a print advertisement, I strive to create designs that capture the essence of a brand or project and resonate with its intended audience. I believe that design is about connecting people on another level. I approach each project with attention to detail and a deep understanding of the principles of design. I first begin my process by researching trends and topics as well as the target audience. Then I define my project by sketching and creating mood boards. Next, I create, refine, and present my final production while leaving room for review and evaluation. Each project and client are unique, and it is my job to ensure that their vision is brought to life. Ultimately, my goal as a graphic designer is to create designs that inspire and engage people, while also helping clients and businesses achieve their goals. Whether it's through typography, color, or composition, I strive to create designs that leave a lasting impression and make a positive impact. I am constantly exploring new techniques and always learning. No matter where my work takes me, I will always be rooted in my love of nature that Colorado has raised me with
Public archaeology and geophysics: searching for unmarked human burials in rural Colorado
2023 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.Rural communities in Colorado are often left in control of lands that potentially contain unmarked burials. Two such communities in Colorado, Gould and Wray, are interested in examining the possible existence of unmarked burials on public lands. The land near the Gould Community Center was used to house prisoners of war during the final year of World War 2 and the community believes mostly fallen concrete markers (one still stands) found at the site may be related to burials from that time. Wray, CO in Yuma County is home of the East Yuma County Cemetery Board (EYCCB), which manages the Kingston and Evangelical Lutheran Cemeteries. The EYCCB took over management of these properties after periods of abandonment and the burial records are lost, this has the left them with potential unmarked burials at each of these sites. The expense and ethical concerns related to accidental disinterment provide rural communities an incentive to locate any unmarked burials on land they manage. I combined four geophysical methods with historical information provided by community partners to determine what areas at the respective sites were most likely to contain unmarked burials. The four methods I employed include: ground-penetrating radar (GPR), electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), electromagnetic induction (EMI), and magnetometry. Using these methods, I was able to locate numerous geophysical anomalies and geolocate them in the mapping software of ArcGIS Pro. In Gould I was unable to determine the source of the geophysical anomalies found due to the wide variety of uses the site has had in the past as well as the lack of historical evidence for burials. Historical evidence of previous burials at the Kingston and Evangelical Lutheran Cemeteries allowed me to make the argument that these anomalies were potentially related to burials. At Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery I concluded the cemetery is likely to contain unmarked burials throughout the southern half of the site. However, the lack of geophysical markers suggests that the soil in the northern quarter of the site is largely undisturbed and likely does not have burials. I concluded that Kingston Cemetery is expected to contain burials in the south and west of the site. Additionally, the part of Kingston Cemetery that is least likely to contain unmarked burials is the northeastern corner of the site, with a strip along the northern boundary that possibly contains burials
Metabolic engineering interventions for sustainable 2,3-butanediol production in gas fermenting Clostridium autoethanogenum
2023 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.Gas fermentation provides a promising platform to turn low-cost and readily available single-carbon waste gases into commodity chemicals such as 2,3-butanediol. Clostridium autoethanogenum is usually used as a robust and flexible chassis for gas fermentation. Here, we leveraged on constraints-based stoichiometric modeling and kinetic ensemble modeling of the C. autoethanogenum metabolic network to provide a systematic in silico analysis of metabolic engineering interventions for 2,3-butanediol overproduction and low carbon substrate loss in dissipated CO2. Our analysis allowed us to identify and to assess comparatively the expected performances for a wide range of single, double, and triple interventions. Our analysis managed to individuate bottleneck reactions in relevant metabolic pathways when suggesting intervening strategies. Besides recapitulating intuitive and/or previously attempted genetic modifications, our analysis neatly outlined that the interventions - at least partially - impinging on by-products branching from acetyl-CoA and pyruvate (acetate, ethanol, amino acids) offer valuable alternatives to the interventions focusing directly on the specific branch from pyruvate to 2,3-butanediol