Mountain Scholar

Mountain Scholar is an open access repository service that collects, preserves, and provides access to digitized library collections and other scholarly and creative works from Colorado State University and the University Press of Colorado. It also serves as a dark archive for the Open Textbook Library.

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Colorado State University, Fort Collins 27004
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Open Textbook Library Archive 25
A limited number of titles are available here. To see all OTL titles, please visit the Open Textbook Library at https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks. Only Open Textbook Library staff have access to all OTL Archive titles held in Mountain Scholar.
University Press of Colorado 1067
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Recent Submissions

Access status: Open Access ,
Predictors of work injuries: a quantitative exploration of level of English proficiency as a predictor of work injuries in the construction industry
(2004) McConnell, C. William, author; Gilley, Jerry, advisor; Gloeckner, Gene A., advisor; Schwebach, Robert, committee member; Gilley, Ann, committee member
As evidenced by the literature review, there are both labor shortages and language barriers present in some areas of the construction industry. These issues translate into the higher than average accident and death rates seen among workers of Hispanic origin. Because of the increase in the Hispanic portion of the workforce, as indicated by reviewing census data, many Spanish-speaking individuals are taking jobs where they may not understand job hazards. In order to address these concerns, an instrument was developed to identify level of English proficiency. This was then linked to the injuries sustained on the job in the last 30 days as indicated by the body diagram. Participants were ranked on their level of English proficiency, and then divided into two groups. The middle group of predominately bilingual individuals was removed in order to maximize the differences between the two groups. There were a total of 191 participants in this study. The two groups were then compared based on the different independent variables identified in the research questions, as well as other possible relationships of interest as identified in the auxiliary findings section. The overall findings of this research indicate that there is not a significant difference in work injuries when based on level of English proficiency. In fact, in relation to this study, the more English proficient individuals were, the more likely they were to experience more injuries. This finding contradicts some areas in the literature that identify Spanish speaking individuals as having a higher accident rate than their more English speaking counterparts. Although no significant difference was identified between the two groups, based on level of English proficiency, there were many significant findings in both the primary research questions, as well as the auxiliary findings. Additionally, qualitative data obtained by the instrument provided insight into concerns that workers had relating to air quality that were not identified by looking just at the quantitative data. The body diagram also provided valuable information regarding frequency and location of injuries which will be beneficial in taking proactive actions toward reducing work injuries.
Access status: Open Access ,
Fish fauna homogenization of the United States, life-history correlates of native extinctions and non-native invasions in the American Southwest, and the bi-directional impacts of dams in the American Southeast
(2004) Olden, Julian David, author; Poff, N. Leroy, advisor; Angermeier, Paul L., committee member; Douglas, Michael E., committee member; Fausch, Kurt D., committee member
The conservation of biodiversity and preservation of biological integrity are at the forefront of scientific thought and research. An important aspect of the current biodiversity crisis is the manner by which the compositions of biological communities are changing in time and space, and the specific mechanisms responsible for these changes. In the first section of my doctoral dissertation I explore the process of biotic homogenization, by which formerly-distinct native communities become more similar as a result of native species extinctions and the establishment of cosmopolitan, nonnative species. I identify three forms of homogenization (genetic, taxonomic and functional) and explore the immediate and future impacts of each on ecological and evolutionary processes. Next, I present a conceptual model that describes a number of potential scenarios by which species invasions and/or extinctions can lead to various trajectories of biotic homogenization or differentiation (i.e., decreased community similarity). I use a simulation approach to explore the model's predictions and then validate the model using empirical data for freshwater fish faunas in the United States at three spatial scales: the entire continent, zoogeographic provinces in California, and watersheds within these provinces. In the second section of my doctoral dissertation I examine the fish faunas of the Colorado River Basin, where environmental degradation and the proliferation of nonnative fish species threaten the endemic, native faunas, making them especially susceptible to biotic homogenization. Using fish occurrence data for the past 160 years I quantify long-term changes in fish distributions and use a comprehensive suite of morphological, behavioural, physiological and life-history traits to identify specific life-histories strategies that are associated with the greatest loss of native species and spread of non-native species. In the third section of my doctoral dissertation I report on research conducted in the Upper James River Basin that considers one of the primary causes of native extirpations and non-native introductions in aquatic systems; namely the regulation of rivers by dams and diversions. Specifically, I examine how environmental disturbance gradients that occur below a flood-control dam structure (i.e., altered flow regime, water temperatures, substrate composition, and macroinvertebrate biomass) influence the structure of downstream fish assemblages.
Access status: Open Access ,
Web-based distance education and Native professional communities: social and cultural constraints
(2004) Le Febre, Sonya Jean, author; Woodmansee, Roberg G., advisor; Rittenhouse, Larry R., committee member; Pickering, Kathleen, committee member; El Hakim, Omnia, committee member
The use of distance education is one means of increasing educational opportunities in rural Native communities. Studies indicate that educational outcomes can be similar for face-to-face courses and distance courses, although distance students are less likely to persist. Native American students tend to be unsuccessful in meeting their educational goals on mainstream campuses, primarily due to the cultural conflict they encounter. If distance and face-to-face courses from mainstream universities yield similar outcomes, Native American students can expect to perform poorly at each. This study used an anonymous survey to assess the level of cultural and social conflict experienced by working professionals in a Native setting taking an on-line graduate level course from a mainstream university. The reasons cited by potential students for taking or not taking the course were also examined to assess the obstacles to and motivations for participating in distance courses. Students reported experiencing no instances of cultural conflict. Most students (88%) cited lack of time and a busy schedule as the biggest obstacles they encountered. This was true of both students that finished the course and those that did not. Persistence was not high: 36 people expressed an interest in the course and ten registered. Of those ten, one dropped, three were non-starts (did not participate and did not drop), four received incompletes, and three finished. Of those that expressed an interest in the course but did not register, 75% reported lack of time and a busy schedule as reasons for not taking the course. These findings are in keeping with other studies of distance students. Of the total survey population (students and non-students), 92% said they would consider taking a distance course in the future and 71% said their employer would support their efforts to take a distance course. The ability to fit a course into a busy schedule was the most commonly cited reason for taking a distance course in the future (46%), followed closely by remote accessibility (42%). Affordability was the most commonly cited priority (67%), followed by the level of credit (54%; most are interested in graduate credit) and content (50%).
Access status: Open Access ,
Regional evapotranspiration and pan evaporation: complementary interactions and long-term trends across the conterminous United States
(2004) Hobbins, Mike, author; Ramírez, Jorge A., advisor; Brown, Thomas C., committee member; Loftis, Jim, committee member; Parton, William J., committee member
Long-term observations of pan evaporation and water budget-derived evapotranspiration across the conterminous United States provide the first observational evidence supporting the hypothesis of a complementary relationship in regional evapotranspiration, in terms both of the evaporation rates themselves and of long-term trends in their component dynamics. The conjectured relationship has now become an observational fact. To establish a baseline for the study of climate change and/or variability, a complementary relationship model estimates spatially distributed actual evapotranspiration across the conterminous US on a monthly basis over a recent 42-year period. This is used to examine two advective calibration approaches, and trends in actual evapotranspiration and its components as to their direction, magnitude, statistical significance, and spatial distributions. In observations of trends in ETa and in its two component trends—the radiative energy and regional advective dynamics—it is shown that, contrary to previous conclusions that have been predicated on questionable and restrictive assumptions over near-continental scales, trends in the components must be examined concurrently within the context of the complementary relationship to explain trends in regional ETa. It is further shown that only by examining spatially concurrent observations at smaller spatial scales can good conclusions be drawn about the "strength" of the complementary relationship, specifically, and ET trends in general. The two most problematic data sets used in the analysis are improved: solar radiation, which suffers from the effects of local topography; and pan evaporation, which bears the effects of anthropogenic heterogeneities inherent in a variously sourced data set. A procedure is developed to mitigate the confounding influence of rugged terrain on the analysis of the short-wave radiative balance, producing a long-term, high-resolution, topographically corrected net radiation data set. Twelve years of missing diffuse radiation data are replicated based on their historical relationships to coincident, contemporaneous direct normal and global radiation. A monthly topographic correction factor is derived to account for the incidence of direct solar radiation on arbitrarily oriented ground surfaces at any latitude throughout the diurnal and annual cycles. The factor is applied to spatially interpolated surfaces of monthly direct solar radiation which, when added to surfaces of diffuse radiation, provide the total incident solar radiation input to an existing energy budget. This yields the net surface radiation that may then applied in evapotranspiration models. Pan evaporation observations are gathered from two data sources for 228 pans across the conterminous US toward an examination of long-term trends in annual and warm-season totals. The data are characterized by their incompleteness and, more importantly, non-homogeneity that, unless accounted for, can introduce spurious biases into analyses of long-term trends. However, what scant metadata are available are elliptical. The need to retain climatically driven trends after homogenization requires a technique that resolves understandings of both the physical dynamics and the statistical properties of the data by combining objective rigor with subjective judgment. Using the t-test to indicate statistically significant abrupt shifts in each pan's time-series, 172 pans are adjusted at a total of 326 abrupt data-shifts, adjusting 43% of the annual data and 55% of the warm-season data. Comparing trend results from pre- and post-adjustment data across all pans, some differences are noted in the details, but they are not together significant enough to change the conclusions of the trend analysis. Pan evaporation has decreased at 64% of the year-round pans in the conterminous US over the past half-century. The so-called "Pan Evaporation Paradox" is shown to be no more than a manifestation of the natural complementarity between actual and potential evapotranspiration. An examination of trends in the radiative energy and regional advective components of basin-derived actual evapotranspiration shows that both components must be considered together to explain the relationship between actual and potential evapotranspiration. Actual evapotranspiration is modeled using a regional, seasonal Advection-Aridity approach to create a spatially distributed, monthly time-series for a 42-year period at a 5- km resolution over the conterminous US. Formulations of both dynamics in the evaporative process are improved with respect to the applicability of the model across large topographic and climatic variations. The radiative input is the aforementioned topographically corrected data set. The advective input is improved by analysis of two regional calibrations of the wind function: first such that modeled actual evapotranspiration matches basin-derived evapotranspiration at 655 basins across the conterminous US; second such that potential evapotranspiration matches point observations of pan evaporation across the southern tier of states. Each calibration invokes different assumptions and limitations on its applicability in the temporal and spatial domains. The parameter sets of the derived wind functions are similar in value, but the first is noisier while the second bears less significant functional relationships to wind speed. The modeled annual evapotranspiration data are verified against observed water budget-derived actual evapotranspiration. The basin-derived calibration of the wind function performs the best, while the pan evaporation-based calibration under-estimates evapotranspiration. In purely statistical terms, the basin-derived calibration is preferred, but the performances of both calibrations bear functional relationships to the precipitation, basin-derived evapotranspiration, and wind speed in the areas of application. In terms of long-term trends over the modeling period WY 1953-1994, for the conterminous US as a whole, a 4.2% decrease in modeled annual actual evapotranspiration is observed for the basin-derived calibration, a trend significant at the 69% confidence level according to the Mann-Kendall test. Over the southern tier of states, a 3.1% decrease in modeled annual actual evapotranspiration is observed for the basin-derived calibration (significant at 62%), and a 2.1% decrease in modeled annual actual evapotranspiration for the pan evaporation-derived calibration, (significant at 47%). Reducing the spatial scale of trend-analyses—from the continental US through the nested component 18 Water Resource Regions and the further-nested 334 Accounting Units to the 655 relatively undisturbed basins across the continental US—allows for clearer identification of areas with significant trends, and the breakdown into component dynamics shows that trends in actual evapotranspiration can be determined to originate in either energy or water fluxes, or both.
Access status: Open Access ,
A quantitative comparison of two different college success course formats on freshmen at a four-year college
(2004) Horstman, William A., author; Timpson, William M., advisor; Morgan, George A., advisor; Banning, James H., committee member; Lehmann, Jean, committee member
For first time students, arriving at college can be an overwhelming experience. Compared to high school, college is a different world and new students are strangers in a strange land. Higher education is a symbiotic relationship, one in which colleges need students and students need colleges. Keeping the two together is becoming a challenge. Schools have implemented college success courses; often called Freshman Seminars, as a way to acclimate students to college, and in doing so, retain students at their initial college. In order to add to the data about the relationship between such courses and academic success; six hypotheses were investigated. Two questions considered the impact of a college success course on specific groups of students. Two questions dealt with gender and ethnic differences for students who took the college success courses. One question examined the relationship of final college success course grades to academic success. The final question delved into academic indicators that show which group "needed" a college success course the most. Data from traditionally aged first year, first time students was analyzed in order to find possible relationships between college success courses and academic success. Data relating to retention to the sophomore year, cumulative GPA, and accumulated credit hours was considered in terms of college success course length, taking or not taking a colleges success course, gender, ethnicity, course grade, and Colorado Commission of Higher Education Index Scores Several research projects have found statistically significant relationships between similar courses and academic success. Results from the majority of questions within this project reflect previous findings, but lack the statistical significance of those investigations. However, two findings are worth noting. First, it does not appear that freshman with similar academic preparedness faired better academically due to completion of either a one-week or a sixteen-week college success course. Second, final course grades in the college success course were found to be statistically significant in terms of predicting academic success. There are indications in the data that suggest that completion of a college success course may help retain students who start college with low standardized test score and/or low GPAs.