University of Idaho Library Digital Initiatives
Not a member yet
54971 research outputs found
Sort by
Privy to the Details: Biographies of the Teagar/Weimer Site (45SN409) in Arlington, Washington
No full textThis thesis examines the historical and archaeological traces of European American settlers at the confluence of the Stillaguamish River in Washington State as a representation of settler-colonial interactions in the Pacific Northwest from the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries. I use a privy assemblage originally excavated through cultural resource mitigation in 2008 in conjunction with archival research to construct a biographical picture of the Teagar, Lovelace, and Weimer families who occupied the site between 1890 and 1940. My use of the biographical approach weaves together narratives of landscape, humans, and objects to challenge and critique prevailing narratives of frontier and the mythos of the American West. The mechanisms of biography are a combination between objects’ lives before being brought to their final deposition in the privy, the meanings constructed around multiple cultures and families interacting with the privy, and the larger shifting social, economic, and geographic landscape. I demonstrate that the biographical approach to material culture analysis is uniquely suited to collections-based research. It also adds nuance to frontier histories due to its incorporation of complex and sometimes conflicting multivalent meanings of artifacts.masters, M.A., Culture, Society & Justice -- University of Idaho - College of Graduate Studies, 2023-0
Corrosion Behavior in Friction Stir Processed Austenitic Stainless Steel
No full textChloride induced stress corrosion cracking (CISCC) is particularly deleterious to 300series stainless steels. Examples of CISCC have been reported on the surfaces of Type 304, 304L, and 316L stainless steel components in a variety of environments where chloride is present. Localized pitting generally precedes CISCC, and therefore improving the pitting resistance of a material generally improves resistance to CISCC. Friction stir processing is a proposed technique to repair and mitigate material chloride induced stress cracks by adding molybdenum to the base material. Molybdenum improves pitting resistance and that is why it is used in this experiment. Friction stir processed samples were made by adding 316L and molybdenum powder to 304L stainless steel via friction stir processing. By using electrochemical techniques, an evaluation of the friction stir processed samples was performed to evaluate corrosion resistant qualities of the material. Cyclic polarization results suggests that the addition of the molybdenum through FSP was not beneficial to pitting resistance of the samples. The FSP 304L sample had a pitting potential around 0.3342 V where as the FSP 304L+Mo sample only had a pitting potential of around 0.2872 V. Friction stir processing was beneficial in decreasing the corrosion current and in the case of the FSP 304L+Mo increasing the linear polarization significantly. U-bend samples were also made and tested in an open circuit potential and a 0.2 V static potential. The FSP 304L+316L and FSP 304L+Mo were more noble than the 304L in the open circuit potential analysis and did not fail in the u-bend test yet the surface crack density was higher in the FSP samples. The expirement was terminated at 2472 hours and the FSP 304L+316L and FSP 304L+Mo were removed from the 2.5 M sulfuric acid + 0.5 M sodium chloride solution with no failure. By contrast, the 304L base u-bend sample had a low surface crack density yet failed at 267.5 hours. The potentiostatic analysis revealed that the FSP 304L+Mo sample had improved passivation kinetics.masters, M.Engr., Nuclear Engr & Industrial Mgmt -- University of Idaho - College of Graduate Studies, 2023-0
Feed-based Protocols for Mitigating Soybean Meal-Induced Enteritis (SBMIE) in Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchhus mykiss)
No full textAs the world population continues to show exponential growth, wild fish stocks are becoming stagnant causing a shortfall in capture fisheries and increasing the price of fish meal as a source of protein. Thus, different combinations of raw materials, including plant-derived ingredients, need to be considered to fulfil the increasing demands of the aquaculture industry and maintain cost-effectiveness. Soybean meal became a preferred source of protein in aquafeeds, however, it has typically encountered a variety of challenges at high inclusion levels, especially in piscivorous and carnivorous species like rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Despite the adequate protein content and amino acid profile of SBM, the presence of antinutritional factors such as phytate, saponins, lectins, etc., has historically led to significant repression of growth performance. In addition, the inflammation of the distal intestine, referred to as soybean meal-induced enteritis (SBMIE), is a noteworthy sign of reduced tolerance to SBM, and it is related to poor nutrient absorption in the intestine, ultimately impacting other organs such as the liver. Nowadays, the use of feed additives in fish feed formulations has become a popular approach to enhance feed utilization while providing additional benefits, including affordability of the feed, and boosting immunity. Attenuation of SBMIE will make it possible to increase SBM inclusion levels in practical formulations while maintaining the health status of farmed fish and reduce risk for disease. The overall goal of this thesis was to gain insight into the evolution of SBMIE in the long-term and attempted to identify biomarkers associated to SBMIE. In addition, this research evaluated the suitability of glutamine, bile acids and vitamin D as dietary supplements in mitigating said pathology in rainbow trout. Three feeding trials were carried out to study each additive over a period of thirty, eighteen, and ten weeks, respectively. This research further aimed to investigate the potential detrimental effects that either a prolonged exposure to dietary bile acids or extra high vitamin D doses (i.e., > 10 mg Kg-1) could have on this species. Results from this work confirmed the occurrence of SBMIE when feeding SBM at 30% and 40% inclusion levels and that these effects are maintained throughout >18 weeks. In addition, the supplementation of high level SBM diets with either 2.0% glutamine or 1.5% bile acids had the potential to reduce intestinal inflammation. The research detailed herein also demonstrates the capacity of dietary bile acids in reverting hypocholesterolemia derived from 40% level SBM diets. Moreover, no apparent bile-associated cytotoxicity was detected over the long-term, further validating bile acids as an additive for use in aquafeeds. A significant increase in growth performance was observed from the supplementation with 2.0% glutamine in combination with vitamin D. The data obtained here are, however, insufficient to determine the potential benefits derived solely from dietary vitamin D. Future research will be required to gain in-depth understanding of molecular markers that can shed light on underlying SBMIE mechanisms, which will allow continuing improvement of mitigation approaches as well as developing monitoring tools that can be used in farm operation.doctoral, Ph.D., Animal, Vet & Food Sciences -- University of Idaho - College of Graduate Studies, 2023-0
Existential Coaching Education: A Pedagogical Pathway to Alleviate Anxiety and Increase Coping Skills of Collegiate Female Swimmers
No full textAbstract Division I athletes are consistently exposed to daily stressors and how to cope with increased anxiety and depression. The win-at-all-costs nature of elite-level athletics produces an environment focused on performance rather than the person, increasing levels of stress and anxiety. The creation of a twelve-week systematic coaching intervention based on an existential philosophical framework focusing on the subjective lived experience of athletes was designed to assist female Division I swimmers with a phenomenological reduction aimed at alleviating trait anxiety and increasing athletic coping skills. The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to examine the effect of a twelve-week systematic coaching education on the mental health and well-being of athletes as measured by levels of trait anxiety and athletic coping skills. The quasi-experimental design was a two-group pre/posttest design. Participants were NCAA female swimmers. Treatment group (n=23) and the control group (n=27) completed pre and posttests using the SAS-2 (trait anxiety) and ACSI-28 (coping skills). The treatment group received twelve reflection modules consisting of readings, discussions, and journaling. Research has argued that phenomenology can be utilized as a methodology to better understand the subjective experience of athletes (Allen-Collinson & Hockey, 2010; Allen-Collinson & Hockey, 2015; Breivik, 2013; Burton et. al, 2006; Cronin & Armour, 2015; Dale, 1996; Hockey & Collinson, 2007; Hughson & Inglis, 2002; James, 2017; Purser, 2018; Wacquant, 2004; Wharton, 2004). Utilizing phenomenology as the philosophical foundation, the construction of this intentional coaching pedagogy was based on Gill’s theoretical approach to learning (1993); Garrison’s reliance on passion, intuition, and vulnerability (1997); Lickona’s emphasis on role-modeling and storytelling (1991); and the ability to ask the correct questions to lead athletes to a be understanding of their personal experience in sport (Reimer et. al, 1983; Stoll, Beller, & Hahm, 2004). Most importantly, the intentional coaching pedagogy was constructed on a philosophical basis of Husserl’s phenomenological reduction (Husserl, 1962, 1975), Merleau-Ponty’s postulate of body-subject (1962, 1964) and Heidegger’s notion of authentic existence (1953, 1996). In all the treatment group wrote close to 188 pages of phenomenological reflections totaling close to 100,000 words of first-person reductions of their subjective lived experiences. A significant difference was found with the interaction of Time X Group on trait anxiety scores Wilk’s Lambda F (1, 48) = 8.39, pdoctoral, Ph.D., Education -- University of Idaho - College of Graduate Studies, 2023-0
Controlling annual grasses in sagebrush communities with higher resistance and resilience is crucial to prevent fire risk and invasion expansion
No full textInvasive annual grasses, such as cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), pose a significant threat to western rangelands by outcompeting native plants and increasing the frequency and intensity of wildfires. Frequent fires have reduced or eliminated native shrubs as annual grasses have invaded rangelands. This research aimed to quantify three aspects of the management of cheatgrass-invaded rangelands: (1) control of annual grasses, native plant community response, and modeled fire behavior after an aerial application of the herbicide indaziflam, (2) flammability of cheatgrass and two native perennial grasses, and (3) classification of shrub canopy volume with structure-from-motion photogrammetry techniques.Invasive annual grasses pose a significant fire risk and can quickly expand, even in low elevation mountain big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp. vaseyana) plant communities that have naturally high resistance to invasion and resilience to disturbance. Reducing the impact of annual grasses requires an effective tactic for annual grass control. The chosen tactic must minimize any negative effects and be maintained long enough to reduce plants emerging from the soil seedbank. One potential solution is the use of indaziflam, a new pre-emergent herbicide that has demonstrated promising results in reducing annual grasses for at least three years in natural areas throughout the western United States. The first chapter of this dissertation evaluated the efficacy of indaziflam in reducing annual grass foliar cover and its impact on native plant foliar cover and fuel continuity in mountain big sagebrush plant communities near Hailey, Idaho. A total of 19 ha were treated with indaziflam in September 2020, and 32, 900 m2 permanent assessment plots were established within treated and untreated areas. Foliar cover and fuel continuity were measured one and two years post-treatment along 3, 30-m long transects per plot. To better understand the potential impact of control measures on fire behavior, customized fuel beds based on field measurements were developed to model fire behavior across the treated and untreated areas under three different environmental scenarios. The results showed that indaziflam treatment significantly reduced annual grass foliar cover across all plant community types, while not affecting fuel continuity or native perennial plant foliar cover, even in areas with dense shrub cover. Mean untreated annual grass foliar cover was 11% and 38% one- and two-years post-treatment, while treated cover was 4% and 10%, respectively. Total and herbaceous fuel loading did not differ by indaziflam application, and shrubs contributed the most to total fuels. Indaziflam treated areas had slightly lower modeled rates of spread, flame lengths, and reaction intensity than untreated areas, but these differences were only present in areas with low shrub cover. These findings suggest that indaziflam application is an effective tactic for controlling annual grasses with minimal impacts to resident native plants in high resistance and resilience sagebrush communities for at least two years. Cheatgrass increases fire risk and alters plant communities in the sagebrush steppe grasslands of the Great Basin (USA) and adjacent sagebrush steppe areas, yet no studies have contrasted its flammability to native perennial grasses. The second dissertation chapter focused on the flammability of cheatgrass compared to two native perennial grasses, Columbia needlegrass (Achnatherum nelsonii) and bluebunch wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata), across a range of fuel moistures. Cheatgrass increased overall mass consumption, flaming duration, and flame length when combined with the two perennial grass species. The extent of flammability increase was influenced by the proportion of cheatgrass in the mixture, with flaming duration and thermal dose being particularly sensitive to cheatgrass fuel moisture. Maximum temperature and flame length during perennial grass combustion remained similar, regardless of the presence of cheatgrass. Furthermore, the flammability of Columbia needlegrass was higher when burned with cheatgrass than anticipated based on the flammability of each species alone. Cheatgrass may pre-heat Columbia needlegrass, leading to increased mass consumption, flaming duration, and thermal dose. This study provides experimental evidence supporting previous qualitative observations of cheatgrass altering fire behavior and increasing fire risk. Cheatgrass increased flammability of these two native perennial bunchgrasses throughout a range of fuel moistures and should be considered in fire management decisions. Shrub canopy volume is an important ecological indicator in rangeland ecosystems and is closely related to biomass, fuel loading, wildlife habitat, site productivity, and ecosystem structure. Traditional field techniques for estimating shrub canopy volume are tedious and time-consuming and pose challenges that alternate methods may alleviate. The third dissertation chapter explored the suitability of using drone-collected data to estimate shrub canopy volume for seven dominant shrub species within mountain big sagebrush plant communities in southern Idaho, USA. First, height and canopy widths of 103 shrubs of eight species was measured in the field. Then, canopy volume for each individual shrub was re-estimated using two techniques (allometric or volumetric) from a 3D representation of the study area which was created using structure-from-motion photogrammetry. The volumetric method, which involved converting point clouds to raster canopy height models, outperformed the allometric method and was more reproducible and robust to user-related variability. Drone-estimated volume closely matched field-estimated volume (R2 > 0.9) for three larger shrub species: A. tridentata subsp. tridentata, A. tridentata subsp. vaseyana, and Purshia tridentata. These findings demonstrate that drone-collected images can be used to assess shrub canopy volume for at least five upland sagebrush steppe shrub species and support the integration of drone data-collection into rangeland vegetation and fuels monitoring. Additionally, the study demonstrates the potential for automating canopy volume estimates using point cloud-based automatic shrub detection algorithms. The research presented here provides compelling evidence of the threat posed by invasive annual grasses in sagebrush plant communities with naturally high resistance and resilience. The presence of cheatgrass increases the flammability of two native perennial grasses across various fuel moisture levels. The interaction across fuel types (grasses and shrubs) emphasizes the importance of low cost, accurate assessment of shrub canopy volume through use of unmanned aerial systems. Rangeland condition, fuel abundance and fuel distribution are important parameters measured with this drone-based technique. Mitigating the risk of annual grasses is imperative, and indaziflam is an effective tool for controlling them for at least two years, with minimal impact on native species.doctoral, Ph.D., Plant Sciences -- University of Idaho - College of Graduate Studies, 2023-0
K–12 Educator Advocacy for the Education Profession
No full textThis three-article dissertation presents a perspective of K–12 educator advocacy for the education profession within the context of the United States. Each article involves educators’ perceptions of advocacy for the education profession. The first article is a systematic scoping review. This article analyzes the literature written on educator advocacy, which includes information on teacher perceptions and attitudes. The second article, a phenomenological study, qualitatively explores K–12 education union leaders’ perceptions of advocacy for the education profession. The final article quantitatively investigates K–12 educators’ individual interest in advocacy for the education profession by developing an instrument to measure this construct.Keywords: advocacy, education, education profession, educator advocacy, EFA, scoping review, survey development, systematic review, textual narrative synthesis, uniondoctoral, Ph.D., Curriculum & Instruction -- University of Idaho - College of Graduate Studies, 2023-0
Gravity Compensation and Design Modification of a Scapulohumeral Exoskeleton Joint
No full textThis thesis investigates the design of PRISM (Parallel Rotation mechanism for the Inclusion of Scapulothoracic Motion) for the exoskeleton BLUE SABINO (BiLateral Upper-extremity Exoskeleton for Simultaneous Assessment of Biomechanical and Neuromuscular Output). PRISM (previously known as PANDORA) is the portion of BLUE SABINO that is responsible for providing shoulder protraction/retraction and elevation/depression, known as scapulohumeral rhythm. Shawn Trimble performed the original design work (Trimble, 2016). A key function of PRISM is gravity assistance. The joint responsible for shoulder elevation/depression must lift the entire exoskeleton. A gravity assistance mechanism should reduce torque requirements, maintain actuator placement, consider ergonomics, and improve safety. This process is split into two portions: designing spring attachments and selecting an appropriate spring. Thousands of springs are evaluated to discover the single spring that minimizes the change in force as PRISM actuates, minimizes the spring length, and maximizes the potential force in the spring. A structural goal of most exoskeletons is to minimize both mass and deflection. Components within PRISM that contribute to both mass and deflection (parts 2004, 2009 and 2010) were redesigned and evaluated through FEA within SolidWorks. The best design has a deflection of 0.2415 mm and a mass of 14.086 kg. This a 39% decrease in deflection and a 3% increase in mass with respect to the original design.masters, M.S., Mechanical Engineering -- University of Idaho - College of Graduate Studies, 2023-0
The Ecological Implications of Body Size: Insights from an African Large Herbivore Assemblage
No full textVariation in body size—6 orders of magnitude in mammals alone—is a defining feature of the animal kingdom and governs biological processes across levels of organization. Body size has pronounced effects on everything from rates of heat exchange to vulnerability to predation, and thus studies of scaling relationships have yielded many powerful insights into species’ responses to environmental variation. Scaling relationships between body size and behavior, however, have received comparatively little attention, despite the fact that behavioral plasticity is typically the first line of defense in the face of environmental change. I first investigated how body size modulates behavioral and physiological strategies used by two closely related antelope (bushbuck, Tragelaphus sylvaticus and greater kudu, Tragelaphus strepsiceros) to cope with diminishing water availability during the austral dry season. Surface water dependence is generally considered to scale positively with body size, but using a diverse suite of data streams I found the opposite in my study species: bushbuck, the smaller species, consumed more preformed water, spent more time drinking, and strengthened their selection for surface water later in the dry season more than kudu. These results support the contention that body size alone is insufficient for predicting surface water dependence, and that interspecific differences in surface water dependence could have important effects on the distribution and composition of large-herbivore communities as temperatures warm and droughts become more frequent and severe. Next, I evaluated how key components of individuals’ niche space (e.g., diet composition, habitat use and movement patterns) differ between male and female bushbuck, kudu, and a third congener, nyala (Tragelaphus angasii), that all exhibit pronounced sexual size dimorphism. I found considerable variation among species in the axes along which males and females partitioned their foraging behaviors, and this variation appeared to be driven by factors other than size dimorphism. Bushbuck, the smallest species, showed the greatest sex-dependent difference in diet quality. Nyala showed the greatest difference in habitat use, and kudu, the largest species (~4× larger than bushbuck), showed the greatest difference in movement behavior. This variation suggests that sex-dependent niche partitioning, and ultimately sexual segregation, is influenced by a suite of ecological factors that do not all covary with sexual size dimorphism in ungulates. Finally, I investigated whether foraging behavior differs between tusked and tuskless female African elephants (Loxodonta africana) in a population where tusklessness evolved rapidly in response to intensive poaching pressure. Elephants are a keystone species, and they are responsible for landscape-scale changes in vegetation structure and composition via their destructive foraging behaviors, at least some of which involve the use of tusks (e.g., stripping bark, toppling trees). I found that tuskless females showed stronger selection for grassland habitat than tusked females; however, both tusk morphs selected woodland habitats more strongly than grassland regardless of season. These results suggest that intensive poaching for ivory could have consequences for savanna ecosystems that are mediated by elephant behavior.doctoral, Ph.D., Natural Resources -- University of Idaho - College of Graduate Studies, 2023-0
How Access to Definitions Influences the Representations and Conceptual Insights Used in Student Arguments
No full textThis study sought to explore whether access to definitions and general representations influences the construction of general direct arguments. Data was collected in college mathematics courses for prospective elementary school teachers. Participant arguments were analyzed along two variables: the generality of the representations and the viability of the conceptual insight they included. Participants were given one of three proving tasks. One task included no definitions, one task included definitions in the conceptual register, and the third task included definitions in the symbolic register. A randomized block design was used to explore the relationship between the definitions and the two variables. Qualitative methods were used to explore how participants intended their arguments. This study found that: 1) the inclusion of definitions on proving tasks does not have a substantial influence on the generality of the arguments or the viability of the conceptual insight used and 2) examples and algebraic representations were used as placeholders to demonstrate a procedure and to stand for the domain as a class of objects. The findings also indicate that the manner in which students are generalizing about the domain of the claim determines the structure of the domain they attend to, the conceptual insights available to them, and thus their ability to construct a viable argument. Future research is needed to connect the existing understanding of actions that support student generalization to supporting students in developing viable general direct proof.doctoral, Ph.D., Mathematics & Statistical Sci -- University of Idaho - College of Graduate Studies, 2023-0
EXAMINATION OF NONCOGNITIVE SKILLS IN IDAHO STUDENTS PARTICIPATING IN STATE FFA EVENTS ACROSS THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
No full textNoncognitive skills including grit, locus of control, self-efficacy, and optimism are associated with increased individual success in education. The three-circle model of agricultural education allows students to develop and practice these noncognitive skills outside of normal class time. This study was a cross-sectional descriptive study that allowed us to examine the noncognitive skills of Idaho FFA students who were competing in state level CDEs and LDEs across the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, grit, locus of control, general self-efficacy, situational self-efficacy, and optimism are described for the population and then these noncognitive skills are examined for differences based on the population’s demographics. Results indicate differences between grit and event type, locus of control and sex, locus of control and event type, general self-efficacy and sex, general self-efficacy and year in school, situational self-efficacy and year in school, situational self-efficacy and GPA, and situational self-efficacy and event type. The researchers make recommendations for future research as it relates to agricultural education.masters, M.S., Agricultural Ed, Ldrshp & Comm -- University of Idaho - College of Graduate Studies, 2022-0