2021 Projects

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10217/234326

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Open Access
Chasing pavements: what causes insect outbreaks on city trees?
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021-11) Buenrostro, Jacqueline H., author; Hufbauer, Ruth A., author
Urban areas are expanding rapidly, with the majority of the global and US population inhabiting them. Urban forests are critically important for providing ecosystem services to the growing urban populace, but their health is threatened by invasive insects. Furthermore, insect abundance and damage are highly variable in different sites across urban landscapes, such that trees in some insect "hot spots" experience outbreaks and are severely damaged while others are relatively unaffected. To protect urban forests against damage from invasive insects and ensure subsequent ecosystem service delivery, we must first understand the factors that promote insect pest outbreaks across urban landscapes. We explored how a variety of environmental factors that vary across urban habitats influence abundance of invasive insects. Specifically, we evaluate how vegetational complexity, distance to buildings, impervious surface, and host host availability affect abundance of two co-occurring non-native defoliators of elm: the Elm Leaf Beetle (Xanthogaleruca luteola) and the Elm Leafminer (Fenusa ulmi). We found that local urban environments are associated with pest abundance, but direction and strength of associations are dependent upon insect life history. Results of this study can be used to inform future urban tree planting and pest management efforts in an era where globalization and climate change make the urban forest particularly vulnerable to attack.
Open Access
Cultural resource stewardship at Fishers Peak State Park
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021-11) Rose, Shaun, author
The following thesis comes from research undertaken on a contract with Colorado Parks and Wildlife to deliver a cultural resource stewardship chapter for park managers. Additionally, the scope of work called for three oral histories, two field surveys and four historic preservation inventory forms, GIS shapefiles, and interpretive recommendations. The project began as the major writing assignment for my graduate U.S. history Research Seminar and continued as a summer internship with CSU's Public Lands History Center (PLHC). I conducted initial research between February and April 2021 and drafted an article-length narrative by May. I continued research between May and August. We conducted fieldwork at Fishers Peak State Park, and I also spent a day at the Steelworks Center of the West archive in Pueblo. Despite the conflict and violence prevalent over the past 12,000 years in Southeastern Colorado, all peoples nevertheless shared an underlying trust that the land in this region was good for something, and that human ingenuity could unlock that value. Consequently, Fishers Peak's history is scarred from violence yet also decorated with examples of brief but meaningful collaboration. Because 19,200 acres surrounding Fishers Peak comprises Colorado's newest State Park with many recreational uses and subsequent potential for damage, it is more important now, than ever, to research, interpret, and delineate the space's cultural significance for its various inhabitants. The narrative history, interpretive recommendations, and maps we delivered through this project will help park staff effectively manage Fishers Peak's cultural resources into the indefinite future.
Open Access
An investigation of emerging music courses in Colorado secondary schools
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021-11) Cort, Madeleine, author
Emerging Music Courses (EMCs) are music classes for secondary students outside of traditional ensemble offerings and include courses in composition, music theory, music technology, guitar, piano, and general music. These classes are a growing trend and are an access point to music learning for students who play an instrument not offered in ensembles, are not enrolled in traditional ensemble courses, or have musical interests outside of ensemble performance. The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence of EMCs in Colorado's secondary schools, examine the learning activities used in EMCs, explore the beliefs teachers have about music learning in EMCs, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on these courses. Data for this study will be collected using a descriptive survey method and post-questionnaire interviews. The questionnaire will be administered to music teachers employed by a public secondary school in the state of Colorado during the 2021-2022 school year. Follow-up interviews will utilize a maximum variation sampling strategy to identify participants that teach EMCs in a variety of contexts and who represent a range of individual demographic differences. Data collection and analysis will be completed in January 2022. Expected results include a growth in the prevalence of EMCs in Colorado and evidence of a wide variety of learning activities that differ significantly from traditional ensemble courses. Teacher beliefs are likely mixed and will depend on independent situations and backgrounds. This study will help teachers and schools make informed decisions about their course offerings and illuminate best practices in EMCs.
Open Access
Is mindful partnering associated with physiological reactivity to marital conflict?
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021-11) Seiter, Natasha S., author; Lucas-Thompson, Rachel G., author
Research suggests that high physiological reactivity to marital conflict may serve as a source of chronic stress that leads to negative health outcomes (Wanic & Kulik, 2011), as well as divorce and lower marital quality (Gottman, 2014). Mindful partnering, a newly conceptualized construct to measure interpersonal mindfulness in the relationship with one's intimate partner, may be associated with lesser physiological reactivity to marital conflict, and we hypothesized such an association in this research. Seventeen couple pairs (N= 34) visited the laboratory to complete several tasks, including questionnaires and a conflict discussion in which they discussed the largest areas of conflict in their relationship. Participants had their Respiratory Sinus Arrythmia (RSA), a measure of nervous system activation, measured during the baseline period and conflict discussion. Participants completed the Mindful Partnering Measure (MPM) to measure the extent to which one demonstrates mindful partnering in their relationship with their romantic partner. Regression analyses suggested that MPM-Mindful Awareness significantly predicted partner’s greater RSA, indicating that 9% of the variance in RSA-R was accounted for by partner’s MPM- mindful awareness (a small effect), suggesting greater relaxation and a less pronounced stress response. These results suggest that when one’s partner is fully present and attentive, it may relieve the potential stress of marital disagreement. Being present with full attention in this way may soothe a partner's nervous system by creating a feeling of being fully listened to and understood in the context of conflict.
Open Access
Piecing together liberation: kintsugi as transforming reflection
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021-11) Sterling, Colette, author
Healing and Liberation fit together like pieces in a cracked ceramic bowl repaired with Kintsugi. Kintsugi is a Japanese traditional art form, dating back to the 15th century, of repairing ceramic or glass objects with a type of Japanese lacquer called Urushi (漆), which is then covered in gold, silver, brass, or other powdered metals. If done properly, a piece repaired with Kintsugi can last hundreds of years. What started as a mission to repair a broken glass pitcher passed along by a deceased loved one has turned into a greater metaphor for my work in the field of Student Affairs in Higher Education. Seeking knowledge on Kintsugi, itself a dwindling art in Japan, has also reflected on how I heal through the trauma inflicted on my salient identities, my historicity, and informs my future in social justice in higher education. The lenses of wabi-sabi from Japanese Buddhism, Lama Rod Owens's (2020) radical dharma of love and rage, and hook's (1994) Love as the Practice of Freedom inform this mixture of healing and self-reflection in action. Embedded in my relationship to this art is also Walsh and Lopes's (2009) Ethics of Appropriation, which acts as a decentering of my whiteness while providing a framework to ethically engage with cultural knowledge that is not my own.

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