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This collection contains electronic copies of CSU theses and dissertations submitted since 2008. Theses and dissertations submitted before fall 2011 are sometimes available in electronic form here if an author or researcher requested that they be added to the repository. Please note that for works submitted since fall 2011, a small number of works are embargoed until the release date given, and others are restricted to the CSU community. Print copies of theses and dissertations submitted prior to 2008 are available in the Libraries.
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Theses and dissertations from 1980 to the present are linked to the author's respective CSU department or program; pre-1980 works are not linked to a department or program.
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Item Open Access 1 month effect of breaking up sedentary activity on insulin sensitivity and glucose homeostasis in free-living overweight/obese adults(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Schreck, Laura M., author; Hickey, Matthew, advisor; Bergouignan, Audrey, advisor; Broussard, Josiane, committee member; Melby, Christopher, committee memberSedentary behavior (SB) triggers an inability to adjust substrate use to substrate availability (low metabolic flexibility, MF), which may precede glucose intolerance in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance. We and others have shown that frequent interruptions in SB leads to improved glycemic control, however the underlying role of MF in this process is unknown. This study examined the effects of breaking up SB on MF and glucose metabolism in free-living overweight and obese adults. To distinguish effects of breaking up SB from being physically active, we also studied a group where participants performed a single energy matched continuous bout of exercise. Physically inactive, adults (12F/9M, mean±SD, age: 33±8 yr, BMI: 29.5±3.3 kg/m2) were randomly assigned to a 4 week intervention consisting of brisk walking for 5 min each hour for 10h, 5 d/wk (MICRO, n=10), or 4 weeks of an intervention consisting of one continuous 45 min bout of exercise per day, 5d/wk (ONE, n=9). Outcomes assessed at baseline and after each intervention included: MF (waking respiratory quotient, RQ, minus sleeping RQ as measured in a whole room calorimeter), insulin sensitivity (SI, IVGTT), 24h glycemia (continuous glucose monitor), 24h glucose oxidation (U13C glucose tracer), SB, time spent standing, time spent stepping (ActivPAL) and TEE (double labeled water). Groups were similar on all outcome variables at baseline. Linear mixed models evaluated intervention and intervention-by-group effects. MICRO and ONE decreased time sitting and increased time stepping with no significant changes in TEE. Compared to ONE, MICRO decreased 24h glycemic variability (p=0.06), improved the acute whole body insulin sensitivity (p=0.08) and acute insulin response to glucose (AIRg) (p=0.02) , maintained exogenous glucose oxidation (p<0.03) and improved MF (p=0.02). Independent of time sitting and stepping, breaking up SB improves glucose homeostasis and MF. The effects of such an intervention in persons with type 2 diabetes warrants further study.Item Open Access [1,3]-oxygen to carbon rearrangement for the construction of carbon-carbon bonds between adjacent rings and 1,3-dioxepines in synthesis(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2007) Frein, Jeffrey Daniel, author; Rovis, Tomislav, advisorSeveral methods for the stereoselective formation of carbon-carbon bonds between contiguous rings where a stereogenic center is already present have been examined. The approaches investigated were: a [1,3]-oxygen to carbon rearrangement of cyclic vinyl acetals; an intermolecular enolsilane addition into an in situ generated oxocarbenium ion; an intramolecular conjugate addition of tethered alkoxy enones; and epimerization of several α-pyranyl cycloalkanones. These routes have been found to be complementary in several cases and have enabled formation of both the traps: anti and cis:anti stereoisomers in good to excellent yields and varying diastereoselectivities. The C2-C2' relative stereochemistry of the carbon-carbon bond between the adjacent rings was proven via a chemical correlation. The versatility of 1,3-dioxepines as precursors to the formation of 1,4-diols and 1,2,4-triols has been examined. The rapid synthesis of unsymmetrical 1,3-dioxepines and the installation of a 4-acetoxy substituent as a synthetic handle for further functionalization has been realized. The Lewis acid mediated addition into in situ generated oxocarbenium ions has been developed for variety of different nucleophiles. Furthermore, a highly trans -diastereoselective Heck reaction has been performed on unsymmetrical 1,3-dioxepines and their synthetic utility as precursors to the formation of 2,3,4-alkyl substituted tetrahydrofurans and 2-methoxy-4,5-alkyl substituted tetrahydrofurans have been exploited.Item Open Access 2022 National Lamb Quality Audit: Phase I: Supply chain perceptions of the U.S. lamb industry. Phase II: In-plant survey of carcass characteristics related to quality and value of fed lambs and mutton(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Newman, Lauren, author; Stackhouse-Lawson, Kim, advisor; Place, Sara, committee member; Nair, Mahesh Narayanan, committee member; Garry, Franklyn, committee member; Finck, Jessica, committee memberThe U.S. sheep and lamb population has slowly declined over the last eight decades, from 56 million head in 1942 to five million head in January of 2023. Sheep, often referred to as mutton in the meat industry, are mature animals that have at least two permanent incisors, spool joints, and are typically over 24 months of age. Lambs are considered young animals that lack permanent incisors, have at least one break joint, and are usually less than 14 months (USDA,1992). The U.S. lamb industry faces competition from imported lamb from Australia and New Zealand that is less expensive. This imported product increases the lamb supply within U.S. wholesale and retail stores, which, along with increased production costs, has raised concerns about the future viability of the U.S. lamb industry. In response to this pressure, the lamb supply chain can prioritize attributes that both reduce production costs and promote consumer demand. The first step in this process is to measure data from production through lamb carcass quality characteristics, especially data captured in the manufacturing settings. Benchmarking is necessary to identify needs to drive quality enhancements and to ultimately drive improvement and profitability of the lamb industry. The current National Lamb Quality Audit (NLQA) seeks to fill this gap by capturing baseline data from broad scope of the supply chain through perception surveys and in-plant audits. This baseline information will inform the lamb value chain on the current perceptions and lamb quality characteristics that may aid in identifying attributes to reduce costs and increase consumer demand. The NLQA, conducted three times since 1992, assesses the industry's progress on various quality characteristics that ultimately affect consumer demand for lamb. The most recent audit, conducted in 2015, primarily focused on the foodservice segment of the industry. As sheep genetics, management practices, available resources, and consumers' needs and expectations constantly evolve, more frequent audits that capture the entire supply-chain should be considered. The 2022 NLQA audit is designed to repeat successful portions of the 2015 audit, including a new supply chain survey to assess perceptions about the U.S. lamb industry and in-plant carcass characteristics. In phase I, 155 surveys were conducted from May 2022 through September 2022 to understand and quantify perceptions of the U.S. lamb industry. The survey was administered using a software package (Qualtrics®, Provo, Utah) customized to develop a structured order of questions for each industry segment. The survey was distributed via in-plant visits, social media, and email. Survey respondents remained anonymous, each taking approximately ten minutes to complete. Statistical analysis was conducted in Microsoft Excel and the Qualtrics® software. Thirty-two states were represented, with 88 percent of respondents identifying as the owner/operator of their respective business or operation and 86 percent representing commercial breeding operations. Respondents were asked to rank topics based on importance to their operation from 1 (least important) to 10 (most important). Animal welfare (8.9), lamb quality (8.4), and sustainability (7.6) were of most importance to producers. Respondents were also prompted to rank significant challenges in the industry (1=most important and 10=least important). The most significant challenges identified were operation costs (3.04), market volatility (3.70), and labor (4.08). Open-ended responses for defining sustainability were sorted and narrowed in terms of descriptions to find commonalities between respondents. Central themes from respondents included environmental stewardship, profitability, and producing high-quality lamb products. Results from the survey will provide valuable insight to discern gaps and opportunities between producers' viewpoints and data collected in plants to develop educational material to improve lamb quality. For phase II, in-plant assessments were conducted in four of the largest U.S. commercial lamb processing facilities across six production days from June to September 2022. On each production day, 50 percent of carcasses harvested and chilled were surveyed. Both hide-on and hide-off carcasses (n=2,605) and chilled carcasses (n=2,464) were surveyed. On the harvest floor, trained auditors collected data on mud scores, breed type, presence of horns, sex, wool length, and physiological age indicator data. Additionally, hot carcass weight (HCW), measured fat thickness (MFT), and reported USDA yield and quality grades were collected in the cooler. The distribution and summary functions of JMP® Software were used to determine the frequency distributions, means, standard deviations, and minimum and maximum values. Data was analyzed using the Type III ANOVA procedure, and a pairwise comparison was analyzed for dependent variables by treatment using the least squared means procedure in the 'lsmeans' package, of R© with the Tukey HSD adjustment. Dependent variables were YG, calculated YG, HCW, and MFT. Significance was determined at P-value ≤ 0.05. Phase II used in-plant assessments to benchmark current carcass quality characteristics related value of the fed lamb and mutton industry in the U.S. Among the carcasses (n = 1,605) that were audited for sex, 63.2 percent were wethers, 31.5 percent ewes, and 5.3 percent rams. Two percent of the carcasses were presented with horns. Of the 2,604 carcasses evaluated, 40.2 percent were speckle-faced (white-face and black-face cross), 38.8 percent were white-faced, 18.3 percent were black-faced, 1.46 percent had natural characteristics, and 1.72 percent were hair sheep. The average mud score was 2.12, and the average wool length was 5.03 cm. Additionally, 87.1 percent of the 2,437 carcasses presented two break joints indicating lamb, 5.70 percent with one break joint indicating yearling mutton, and 7.18 percent with no break joints indicating mutton. The average HCW (n=2,464) was 39.9 kg, whereas the MFT was 0.97 cm. The USDA stamped yield grade was 2.71 and 68.5 percent graded choice (CH), 22.6 percent graded prime (PR), and 8.9 percent were not graded. The 2022 NLQA in-plant survey of carcass quality characteristics will provide a current benchmark for carcass characteristics of lamb processed in the U.S. The data from this study can help industry segments to understand and develop strategic initiatives to improve the quality of fed lamb and mutton.Item Open Access 250 years of climate-mediated ecological change in Santa Fe Lake, NM(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Shampain, Anna, author; Baron, Jill, advisor; Leavitt, Peter, committee member; von Fischer, Joe, committee member; Sibold, Jason, committee memberMountain lakes are sensitive indicators of anthropogenically driven global change. Lake sediment records in the western United States have documented increased percent carbon and nitrogen and heightened primary productivity indicative of eutrophication in mountain lakes. Recent paleolimnological studies suggest atmospheric nutrient deposition and warming underlie these changes. We analyzed a short sediment core from Santa Fe Lake, NM, the southernmost subalpine lake in the Rocky Mountain Range to investigate patterns in lake biogeochemical and algal biomarkers since 1747. Lake sediments were dated using 210Pb activities and analyzed for percent C and N, δ13C, δ15N, and algal pigments representative of total biomass, chlorophytes, cryptophytes, diatoms, and other primary producers from Santa Fe Lake. Throughout the 250-year sediment record from Santa Fe Lake, we observed changes in algal community composition alongside biogeochemical alterations. During the cold dry conditions of the Little Ice Age, there were greater proportions of cyanobacteria, diatoms, and sulfur bacteria. Total algal biomass increased under increased warming and climate variability with significant increases in chlorophytes and cryptophytes. Significant rates of change occurred concurrently with increases in regional N deposition in the mid-20th century. C, N, δ13C, δ15N remained relatively stable throughout the record, until the mid-20th century when C and N increased exponentially alongside depletions in δ13C, δ15N. Our results suggest climate-driven algal assemblage changes throughout the record with regional N deposition contributing to contemporary productivity increases. The timing and magnitude of these changes differ from other studied lakes. Our findings highlight the heterogeneity of lakes' responses to changing environmental conditions in the Anthropocene and call attention to the role of climate-induced ecological change in the absence of critical N deposition.Item Open Access 3-chloro-p-toluidine hydrochloride metabolism and detection of exposure in birds(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Goldade, David A., author; Marie, Legare, advisor; William, Hannemann, advisor; Gregory, Dooley, committee member; Gary, Mason, committee memberThe avicide 3-chloro-4-methylanaline hydrochloride (chloro-p-toluidine hydrochloride, CPTH, DRC-1339) is used to control pest bird species that damage agricultural crops. While it is theorized that CPTH is a nephrotoxin, no definitive assessment of the mode of action has been performed. Additionally, the metabolic pathway of CPTH in birds has yet to be elucidated. Radioactively labeled [14C]-3-chloro-4-methylaniline hydrochloride (250 µg per bird) was delivered to 21 red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) and 21 dark-eyed juncos (Junco hyemalis) via oral gavage, and the distribution and excretion of radioactivity were determined at 15 and 30 minutes and 1, 4, 8, 12, and 24 hours (n = 3 per time point). Direct measurement of radioactivity as well as measurement following combustion was accomplished using a liquid scintillation counter. Elimination from most tissues followed a two-compartment model, with very rapid elimination occurring between time 0 and 4 hours and a much slower elimination phase occurring after that. The average half-life of elimination for the initial phase in most tissues examined was 0.16 hours for juncos and 0.62 hours for blackbirds. The average for the slower second phase of elimination was 3.4 hours for juncos and 5.4 hours for blackbirds. The radioactivity in blackbird kidney tissues did not change significantly for the duration of the test, pointing toward the kidney as a possible site of action for this important agricultural chemical. To further explore the mechanistic toxicology of CPTH, sub-cellular preparations were made from the liver and kidney of various avian species. In-vitro metabolism experiments were performed using these preparations and the resulting metabolites were identified and quantified. Two metabolites were identified: 3-chloro-4-methylacetanilide (CAT) and N-[3-chloro-4-(hydroxymethyl)phenyl]acetamide (OH-CAT). A comparison of two methods was made for the analysis of CPTH and its metabolites. Due primarily to the solubility and volatility of the three compounds, CPTH and CAT performed well on gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (GC/MS/MS) and adequately on liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). Conversely, OH-CAT performed optimally on LC/MS/MS. LC/MS/MS was chosen as the technique for analysis of exposure data. Both methods generated residue values that demonstrated a high degree of variability between individuals. Despite the variability issues, the data showed that the primary chemical species present in the tissues of exposed birds was OH-CAT, and that the concentration of observed residue was related to the dose administered. In an effort to identify the target for tissue binding of CPTH or its metabolites in the kidney of exposed red-winged blackbirds, protein samples were extracted and digested with trypsin. Several chemical compounds were found to be significantly different between treated and control groups (α=0.05) and were subjected to tandem mass spectrometry to identify their chemical structure. Results from this analysis did not yield any identification of specific protein binding. Limitations of sensitivity and lack of sample enrichment likely led to this outcome.Item Open Access 316L stainlesss steel modified via plasma electrolytic oxidation for orthopedic implants(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Michael, James A., II, author; Popat, Ketul C., advisor; Li, Vivan, committee member; Sampath, Walajabad S., committee member316L stainless steel (SS) is widely used biomaterial for implantable devices and is estimated to the base material for 60% of implantable devices. However, one challenge of the material is the inhomogeneity of the surface morphology which may influence the adhesion process of host cells and bacteria. One method to create a uniform surface of 316L SS is plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO). PEO creates an oxide layer on the outer surface thus changing the surface topography on the microscale. PEO process on SS functions by anodizing the surface via direct current in electrolyte solution. Preliminary research found that a continuous direct current over a time manufactured undesirable samples, to overcome this challenge the use of pulse timings was utilized during fabrication. This research aimed to answer the questions how do PEO modifications effect cellular adhesion and viability, and how do PEO modifications affect bacteria adhesion and viability. PEO modified 316L SS surfaces were characterized and its effects on the adhesion, morphology, and differentiation of adipocyte derived stem cells, along with the adhesion and morphology of Staphylococcus aureus was investigated.Item Embargo 3D localization of cytoskeleton in mouse spermatids using stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Sunny, Reshma, author; Krapf, Diego, advisor; Nikdast, Mahdi, committee member; Prasad, Ashok, committee memberIt is estimated by the World Health Organization that globally 186 million individuals live with infertility. Studies have shown that cause of male infertility is unknown in 30 to 50% of the cases. Over the last several years teratozoospermias have been investigated and have been backtracked to events in spermatogenesis. The development of the acrosome and the manchette, protein and vesicle transport in spermatids, and sperm head shaping are crucial steps in the formation of healthy sperms. The cytoskeleton in spermatids plays a crucial role in shaping the sperm head. The acroplaxome exerts forces on the nucleus and gives the mammalian sperm head its species-specific shape, and also facilitates the proper attachment of the nuclear cap called the acrosome, containing the enzymes required for sperm penetration of the oocyte. The manchette should be intact and formed properly to have shortened diameter as spermatids differentiate so that it can constrict the base of the nucleus to shape the head, and also facilitate the transport of cargo to the base of the cell. Thus as studies have confirmed, the disruption in the organization of the cytoskeleton is a concern for infertility. Hence it is crucial to learn more about the cytoskeletal structures in spermatids. The goal of this thesis is to 3D localize these structures. The major structures we are interested in are the acroplaxome and the manchette. For this, we use a super-resolution microscopy method called Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy to image spermatid cytoskeleton. Our experiments confirmed the presence of α-tubulin in the manchette and that of F-actin in the manchette and the acroplaxome, as previously observed by researchers with 2D confocal images. We observed that the manchette reduces in diameter and progresses to the caudal portion of the cell at the later steps of differentiation and that the structure forms completely at step 10 and disassembles after step 14.Item Open Access 5-hydroxymethylcytosine and endonuclease G as regulators of homologous recombination(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Vander Zanden, Crystal M., author; Ho, P. Shing, advisor; Peersen, Olve, committee member; Di Pietro, Santiago, committee member; Fisk, Nick, committee memberHomologous recombination (HR) is a necessary biological process for all living organisms, and it is especially important for repairing damaged DNA. Improper HR results in DNA damage-related diseases, notably increased likelihood of cancer when HR regulators, such as the human BRCA1 gene, are impaired. HR is also a tool for biotechnology, giving scientists the power to easily delete or mutate genes and study the effects of those modifications. Recently, the epigenetically modified nucleotide 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) was found to regulate vertebrate HR via interaction with the protein endonuclease G (EndoG). In this dissertation, I use biochemical/biophysical methods to elucidate the interaction between 5hmC and EndoG, thus working towards understanding their roles as regulators of recombination. I find that 5hmC forms a unique hydrogen bond to stabilize Holliday junctions, the four-stranded DNA intermediate in HR. 5hmC also induces a global structure change to the junction, increasing protein access to the junction crossover and providing potential for either direct or indirect readout of 5hmC. Further connecting EndoG with recombination, we present the first evidence that EndoG preferentially binds and cleaves Holliday junction DNA, implicating a role for EndoG as a resolvase. I demonstrate that EndoG recognizes 5hmC in the junction context and observe unique cleavage products from EndoG interaction with 5hmC-junctions. These results suggest that EndoG may have a previously unrecognized junction resolvase function and, in this way, play a more direct role in recombination than simply creating double-stranded breaks in duplex DNA to initiate the HR mechanism. Finally, I present a unique structural feature of vertebrate EndoG that we hypothesize is the basis for 5hmC recognition. I present the structure of mouse EndoG and propose that a two amino acid deletion, conserved in vertebrate EndoG sequences, is associated with unraveling of an α-helix. This structural perturbation positions amino acid side chains to confer 5hmC-sensing ability to all vertebrate EndoG. I expect that these deletion mutations and resulting structural effects co-evolved with the appearance of 5hmC in vertebrate genomes to give EndoG an additional function of recognizing 5hmC in the cell. Overall this work is building onto the understanding of 5hmC and EndoG as markers and regulators of recombination.Item Open Access 5000 years at Crow's Roost in eastern Colorado(Colorado State University. Libraries, 1992) McDonald, Robert A., author; Jennings, Calvin H., advisor; Leyendecker, Liston, committee member; Zier, Christian, committee member; Theodoratus, Robert, committee memberMany areas on the high Plains of eastern Colorado have had little prehistoric research conducted on them. One of the areas where there is insufficient information about local prehistory is the area between the two major river drainages, the Arkansas and the Platte. Crow's Roost, a large sandstone cliff, located east of Colorado Springs, Colorado, is situated near this dividing line, known as the Palmer Divide. A series of prehistoric sites at Crow's Roost has been investigated over a period of five years by the Anthropology Department, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. These investigations indicate that there has been prehistoric occupation at this locality dating back at least 5400 years. This study presents an interpretation of the culture history, and of recent paleoclimatic fluctuations for this locality.Item Open Access 5MF6255: excavations at an early archaic basin house site in the Yampa River Valley, Moffat County, Colorado(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) Slaughter, Stephanie, author; LaBelle, Jason, advisor; Zeidler, James, committee member; Fiege, Mark T., committee memberMetcalf Archaeological Consultants, Inc., excavated site 5ME6255 in the late summer and early fall of 2006. The site had been discovered during the open trench inspection of Wyoming Interstate Company’s Piceance Basin Expansion Project pipeline. As observed in the trench, the site contained a dark cultural stain located about 1.6 m below bladed surface, which was identified as a possible basin house. Its stratigraphic position within a zone of heavy calcium carbonate deposits suggested an age of 7000 BP or greater, placing the site firmly within the Pioneer period of the Archaic era. Very few sites of this age have been excavated in northwestern Colorado, making 5MF6255 important for establishing basic information about this period of prehistory, regardless of whether or not it was a basin house. A total of 104 complete and partial 1 m by 1 m units were excavated in one large block to explore the contextual integrity of the feature, the nature of the stain, and search for any associated ancillary features. Results of excavation revealed the site consisted of three basin houses, one of which had two rooms, as well as 15 other pit features. A preliminary charcoal sample from the upper layers of the south end of the initially identified basin house was submitted for radiocarbon analysis and returned two intercept dates of 7935-8070 cal BP and 8084-8159 cal BP (2-sigma), dating the site to the early Pioneer Period of the Archaic Era. It is one of the oldest basin house known in the northern Colorado River basin area. Cultural material recovered from the site is described, and the research contributions resulting from these investigations are detailed, iii including its place in the chronology of northwestern Colorado, paleoenvironmental data obtained for the project as a whole is described, settlement and subsistence strategies are discussed, and finally, morphology of both the house features and pit features are detailed. A short comparison of this site to other Pioneer-era sites in the regions is also discussed, placing the site within the context of the larger early Archaic adaptive strategies of the region.Item Open Access A bacterial rotting of celery roots(Colorado State University. Libraries, 1927) Butler, Lowell Fairley, 1894-, authorItem Open Access A balance of design methodology for enterprise quality attribute consideration in System-of-Systems architecting(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Nelson, Travis J., author; Borky, John M., advisor; Sega, Ronald M., advisor; Bradley, Thomas K., committee member; Roberts, Nicholas H., committee memberAn objective of System-of-Systems (SoS) engineering work in the Defense community is to ensure optimal delivery of operational capabilities to warfighters in the face of finite resources and constantly changing conditions. Assurance of enterprise-level capabilities for operational users in the Defense community presents a challenge for acquisitions in balancing multiple SoS architectures versus the more traditional system-based optimization. The problem is exacerbated by the complexity of SoS being realized by multiple, heterogeneous, independently-managed systems that interact to provide these capabilities. Furthermore, the comparison of candidate SoS architectures for selection of the design that satisfies the most enterprise-level objectives and how such decisions affect the future solution space lead to additional challenges in applying existing frameworks. As a result of the enormous challenge associated with enterprise capability development, this research proposes an enterprise architecting methodology leveraging SoS architecture data in the context of multiple enterprise-level objectives to enable the definition of candidate architectures for comparison and decision-making. In this context, architecture-based quality attributes of the enterprise (e.g., resilience, agility, changeability) must be considered. This research builds and extends previous SoS engineering work in the Department of Defense (DoD) to develop a process framework that can improve the analysis of architectural attributes within an enterprise. Certain system attributes of interest are quantified using selected Quality Attributes (QAts). The proposed process framework enables the identification of the quality attributes of interest as the desired characteristics to be balanced against performance measures. QAts are used to derive operational activities as well as design techniques for employment against an as-is SoS architecture. These activities and techniques are then mapped to metrics used to compare alternative architectures. These alternatives enable an SoS-based balance of design for performance and quality attribute optimization while employing a capability model to provide a comparison of available alternatives against overarching preferences. Approaches are then examined to analyze performance of the alternatives in meeting the enterprise capability objectives. These results are synthesized to enable an analysis of alternatives (AoA) to produce a "should-be" architecture vector based on a selected "to-be" architecture. A comparison of the vector trade space is discussed as a forward work in relation to the original enterprise level objectives for decision-making. The framework is illustrated using three case studies including a DoD Satellite Communications (SATCOM) case study; Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) case study; and a satellite operations "as-a-service" case study. For the SATCOM case study specifically, the question is considered of whether a certain QAt—resilience—can best be achieved through design alternatives of satellite disaggregation or diversification. The analysis shows that based on the metric mapping and design alternatives examined, diversification provides the greatest SATCOM capability improvement compared to the base architecture, while also enhancing resilience. These three separate cases studies show the framework can be extended to address multiple similar issues with system characteristics and SoS architecture questions for a wide range of enterprises.Item Open Access A bewitching semblance of something to be desired: advertising nostalgia and product involvement's relative influence on attitudes and purchase intent among young adults(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014) Bray, Matthew T., author; Hallahan, Kirk, advisor; Long, Marilee, committee member; Donavan, Todd, committee memberDespite the recent rise of advertisements employing nostalgia, relatively few previous studies have investigated the effectiveness of nostalgic messages, especially as they might be applied to promote high- versus low-involvement products. Previous research has broadly conceptualized nostalgia without focusing on product-related or associational claims. This research used associational nostalgia where the nostalgic themes presented in the advertisements were not directly related to previous product usage. A quasi-experiment involving a convenience sample of undergraduates (n=201) in a large classroom setting was used to compare the effects of nostalgic versus non-nostalgic messages in ads for a fictitious high involvement product (laptop computer) and a fictitious low involvement product (paper notebooks). Participants were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions and read a single ad. Product knowledge for laptops and notebooks (and two distractor products) were measured in a pretest questionnaire; dependent measures in the posttest results were measured in terms of three dependent measures: attitude toward the ad, attitude toward the brand, and purchase intent. Additionally, because previous research has yet to determine how nostalgic advertising is most likely to be cognitively processed, open-ended cognitive response items were also included to further investigate the type of processing that is most frequently occurring. Gender was included as a possible moderating variable. The results provide mixed support for the hypothesized relationships between product involvement and nostalgic advertising themes. Findings suggest that females are particularly responsive, in terms of attitude toward the ad and attitude toward the brand, to associational nostalgic claims for the low involvement product (notebooks). Cognitive response-thought listing results suggest that when the primary thought elicited from the advertisement was nostalgic in nature, other references to the product or the ad itself decreased. Implication and practical considerations for content creators in advertising as well as future research suggestions are also discussed.Item Open Access A binary approach to the analysis of prehistoric bison distribution and paleoecology in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014) McKetta, Suzanne B., author; LaBelle, Jason M., advisor; Glantz, Mica, committee member; Cotrufo, Francesca, committee memberBison exploitation is at the heart of prehistoric hunter-gatherer subsistence on the Great Plains and can reveal robust information regarding patterns of migration, chronology, and variability in paleoclimate. However, despite association with human subsistence practices, bison population and distribution patterns across time and space are unclear. This thesis presents a study of prehistoric bison distribution and population ecology in archaeological and natural contexts in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming. Two methods are used here to reconstruct the diet and distributions of prehistoric bison populations. The first method involves identifying the known distribution of bison in archaeological and natural settings in the study area through an analysis of archival documentation. Cultural chronologies based on archaeological associations have long been valuable in regional research, but can be imprecise and of insufficient resolution for constructing detailed sequences of prehistoric events. Therefore, to expand knowledge of the regional archaeological distribution of bison, this research utilized a total of 272 archaeological sites containing faunal remains. In addition, 291 calibrated radiocarbon dates were used to compile and analyze bison presence and absence through sum probability distributions and statistical analyses. The second method explores the paleoecology of bison through the use of carbon (13C/12C) and nitrogen (15N/14N) stable isotopes analysis of bone collagen from 35 prehistoric bison specimens. Stable isotopes analysis helps to characterize bison distribution and ecology through reconstruction of bison dietary forage and is compared with paleoclimate data in order to identify trends in bison migration and population patterns. This study adds significant chronological information to the regional record of bison presence in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming and helps to correlate bison distribution patterns with the paleoclimate record.Item Open Access A binding deficit: value-directed remembering for item-specific vs. associative information(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) DeLozier, Sarah J., author; Rhodes, Matthew G., advisor; Davalos, Deana, committee member; Folkestad, James, committee member; Cleary, Anne, committee memberIn a series of four experiments I examined whether value enhanced memory for item-specific or associative information. Value indicated the importance of an item at study (i.e., 1 point = low importance, 12 points = high importance), with memory typically being enhanced for high-value information (e.g., Castel, 2008). Utilizing the feature-conjunction paradigm, in which recognition errors for conjunction lures provide a means of examining whether value-enhanced recognition is a result of recollection or familiarity, the Pilot Experiment revealed through increased conjunction errors that value enhanced memory only for item-specific information. In Experiment 1 participants were permitted to self-pace their study and made confidence learning judgments (CLJs) after each recognition judgment. Learners spent more time studying higher-valued words yet demonstrated a similar pattern of increased conjunction errors by value. In Experiment 2, participants were instructed to use either rote repetition or interactive imagery for all words at study. Under these controlled study strategy conditions, conjunction errors were similar across values. In Experiment 3, I examined the influence of value on feature lures. When both feature lures and conjunction lures were presented at test, learners' susceptibility to lures was similar across values, yet learners correctly recognized more high-value old words. Results indicated that both encoding processes and item-based familiarity may contribute to a deficit in binding components of high-value words. These findings are discussed in terms of the negative effects of value on memory for associative information.Item Open Access A biocultural examination of trauma from the Colorado State Insane Asylum skeletal collection, 1879-1899(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2011) Leavitt-Reynolds, Alissa Anne, author; Magennis, Ann L., advisor; Van Buren, Mary, committee member; Fiege, Mark T., committee memberThis thesis uses a biocultural approach to study skeletal trauma present in the Colorado State Insane Asylum (CSIA) Skeletal Collection from 1879 to 1899. The biocultural approach utilizes both the physical remains and historic documentary material present for this collection to connect the skeletal findings with the cultural environment in which the individuals lived and died. Of the 166 individuals present (both complete and incomplete), 69% in the collection show at least one instance of trauma, while 31% show no evidence of trauma. This trauma rate includes both fractures and dislocations, or acute trauma, in addition to chronic trauma (Schmorl's Nodes). Males have the highest traumatic injury rates, with 40% of the sample having one or more fractures or dislocations. Females show a rate of 29% for acute trauma, while indeterminate sex individuals have a rate of 38%. The trauma results were then compared with contemporary, mostly Euroamerican, skeletal collections from the Albany Almshouse and the Oneida Asylum in New York to reveal that while all three institutions show similar rates of chronic trauma, the CSIA Collection has much higher rates of acute trauma -- nearly double that of the other populations. Ultimately, the analysis of trauma as undertaken in this research provides yet another line of evidence to better understand and contextualize the health and health risks of individuals and populations from the nineteenth-century American West, and more specifically, those in institutionalized care during that time.Item Open Access A bioeconomic and general equilibrium framework to address fishery management and invasive species(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Apriesnig, Jenny L., author; Goemans, Christopher, advisor; Warziniack, Travis, advisor; Manning, Dale, committee member; Thilmany, Dawn, committee member; Johnson, Brett, committee memberFisheries management is a complex issue that involves the management of people, fish populations and habitat. There are many facets to fishery issues including ownership, regulation, and environmental change. I address all three of these facets in the following work. I develop a general equilibrium model that incorporates fish stock and present two applications of it. I evaluate the change of a fishery under a regulated open access regime to an individual transferrable quota system. I apply the model to the Lake Erie yellow perch fishery, and I account for the different allocations of the value provided by the fish stock, and the potential changes in efficiency. I find that the change to an individual transferrable quota system results in welfare improvements but only if the individual transferrable quota system induces improved catchability and efficiency in fishery effort choices. I also develop an integrated bioeconomic model with the general equilibrium framework to evaluate the joint responses of a regional economy and lake food web to an environmental shock. The model is unique in that there are feedbacks between the economy and food web. The bioeconomic model is used to evaluate a potential Lake Erie Asian carp invasion. There are two primary results from the analysis; the Asian carp invasion leads to welfare improvements, and when invasion impacts are estimated with only the ecological food web model, without the consideration of changes in human choice, the impacts to some fish populations are overestimated while others are underestimated. In both applications, I show that using a general equilibrium framework captures welfare impacts that would be missed by a partial equilibrium analysis.Item Open Access A biographical study of namesake John F. Tinker on the landmark legal case Tinker et al. v. The Des Moines Independent Community School District et al.(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2008) Wolfe-Dawson, Leigh, author; Harbour, Clifford P., advisorThe purpose of this biographical study was to understand the effect of the case Tinker et al. v. The Des Moines Independent Community School District et al. circa 1965-1969, on namesake John F. Tinker, circa 2008. John Tinker was involved in a landmark 1969 United States Supreme Court decision nearly 40 years ago. He was 15 years old when he wore a black armband to school to protest the Vietnam War; he is 57 now. In legal and educational environments, Tinker is known as a name on a school-related legal decision, but there is a person behind that name. While there is abundant information about his legal case, not much is known about the namesake. This study attempted to understand how Tinker experienced his legal case and how he understands its effect on his life. This study centered on John Tinker's own voice. Through in-depth, open-ended, one-on-one, face-to-face, voice-to-voice, and computer-to-computer conversations, an account of his life using his own words emerged. What was discovered was that Tinker is a multi-faceted person and the Tinker legal case is only one aspect of his full and unique life. This study is important because Tinker is a living being who as a teenager was involved in an activity that culminated in a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court. That legal decision holds today-40 years later-and affects every public school student in the United States.Item Open Access A biomechanical analysis of venous tissue in its normal, post-phlebitic, and genetically altered conditions(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2009) McGilvray, Kirk Cameron, author; Puttlitz, Christian M., advisorThe incidence of vein disease is very high, affecting more than 2% of the hospitalized patients in the United States; a number that is expected to increase. Post phlebitic veins, the result of chronic deep vein thrombosis, is considered to be one of the most important venous disease pathologies. Unfortunately, little information is currently available on the biomechanical effects of thrombus resolution in the deep veins. The aim of this research was to characterize the biomechanical response of both healthy and diseased venous tissue using a murine model. It was hypothesized that biomechanical response parameters derived from healthy and diseased tissue would give insight into the resultant clinical complications observed in patients following thrombus resolution. Biomechanical analysis revealed that statistically significant deleterious changes in vein wall compliance were observed following thrombus resolution. Data also revealed that matrix metallopeptidase 9 expression has a statistically significant effect on the biomechanical response of the tissue. These results indicate that clinical complications following deep venous thrombosis manifest from significant decreases in the compliance of the vein wall. Finite element analyses were also performed. Biomechanical data served as input material parameters for modeling. Finite element modeling was used to evaluate the response of the inferior vena cava under physiologic loads. The results indicate that peak stresses are generated in the circumferential direction of loading during luminal pressurization. Decreased dilatation was observed following thrombus resolution. The data indicates that deep venous thrombosis lead to increased vein wall stress in correlation with decreased luminal distensability.Item Open Access A biosensor system with an integrated CMOS microelectrode array for high spatio-temporal electrochemical imaging(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Tedjo, William, author; Chen, Thomas, advisor; Tobet, Stuart, committee member; Collins, George, committee member; Wilson, Jesse, committee memberThe ability to view biological events in real time has contributed significantly to research in life sciences. While optical microscopy is important to observe anatomical and morphological changes, it is equally important to capture real-time two-dimensional (2D) chemical activities that drive the bio-sample behaviors. The existing chemical sensing methods (i.e. optical photoluminescence, magnetic resonance, and scanning electrochemical), are well-established and optimized for existing ex vivo or in vitro analyses. However, such methods also present various limitations in resolution, real-time performance, and costs. Electrochemical method has been advantageous to life sciences by supporting studies and discoveries in neurotransmitter signaling and metabolic activities in biological samples. In the meantime, the integration of Microelectrode Array (MEA) and Complementary-Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) technology to the electrochemical method provides biosensing capabilities with high spatial and temporal resolutions. This work discusses three related subtopics in this specific order: improvements to an electrochemical imaging system with 8,192 sensing points for neurotransmitter sensing; comprehensive design processes of an electrochemical imaging system with 16,064 sensing points based on the previous system; and the application of the system for imaging oxygen concentration gradients in metabolizing bovine oocytes. The first attempt of high spatial electrochemical imaging was based on an integrated CMOS microchip with 8,192 configurable Pt surface electrodes, on-chip potentiostat, on-chip control logic, and a microfluidic device designed to support ex vivo tissue experimentation. Using norepinephrine as a target analyte for proof of concept, the system is capable of differentiating concentrations of norepinephrine as low as 8µM and up to 1,024 µM with a linear response and a spatial resolution of 25.5×30.4μm. Electrochemical imaging was performed using murine adrenal tissue as a biological model and successfully showed caffeine-stimulated release of catecholamines from live slices of adrenal tissue with desired spatial and temporal resolutions. This system demonstrates the capability of an electrochemical imaging system capable of capturing changes in chemical gradients in live tissue slices. An enhanced system was designed and implemented in a CMOS microchip based on the previous generation. The enhanced CMOS microchip has an expanded sensing area of 3.6×3.6mm containing 16,064 Pt electrodes and the associated 16,064 integrated read channels. The novel three-electrode electrochemical sensor system designed at 27.5×27.5µm pitch enables spatially dense cellular level chemical gradient imaging. The noise level of the on-chip read channels allow amperometric linear detection of neurotransmitter (norepinephrine) concentrations from 4µM to 512µM with 4.7pA/µM sensitivity (R=0.98). Electrochemical response to dissolved oxygen concentration or oxygen partial pressure (pO2) was also characterized with deoxygenated deionized water containing 10µM to 165 µM pO2 with 8.21pA/µM sensitivity (R=0.89). The enhanced biosensor system also demonstrates selectivity to different target analytes using cyclic voltammetry to simultaneously detect NE and uric acid. In addition, a custom-designed indium tin oxide and Au glass electrode is integrated into the microfluidic support system to enable pH measurement, ensuring viability of bio-samples in ex vivo experiments. Electrochemical images confirm the spatiotemporal performance at four frames per second while maintaining the sensitivity to target analytes. The overall system is controlled and continuously monitored by a custom-designed user interface, which is optimized for real-time high spatiotemporal resolution chemical bioimaging. It is well known that physiological events related to oxygen concentration gradients provide valuable information to determine the state of metabolizing biological cells. Utilizing the CMOS microchip with 16,064 Pt MEA and an improved three-electrode system configuration, the system is capable of imaging low oxygen concentration with limit of detection of 18.3µM, 0.58mg/L, or 13.8mmHg. A modified microfluidic support system allows convenient bio-sample handling and delivery to the MEA surface for sensing. In vitro oxygen imaging experiments were performed using bovine cumulus-oocytes-complexes cells with custom software algorithms to analyze its flux density and oxygen consumption rate. The imaging results are processed and presented as 2D heatmaps, representing the dissolved oxygen concentration in the immediate proximity of the cell. The 2D images and analysis of oxygen consumption provide a unique insight into the spatial and temporal dynamics of cell metabolism.