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: A Linguistic Autobiography; Essay published in Fall 2010 - Winter 2011 issued of Images.

: A Literary Exploration of Liberty: Using Young Adult Literature to Teach the American Revolution; Young adult literature has been growing in popularity over the last several years, but only more recently has it been gaining recognition as an influential and valuable genre of literature in today's society. Even adults have tuned into the market, devouring books such as J.K Rowlings' Harry Potter series, Stephanie Meyer's The Twilight Saga, and Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials at almost as rapid a rate as their teenage children. It is only logical that many of these great reads are finding their way into classrooms across the country. Historical fiction is a genre of young adult literature that has proven itself a great addition to a social studies classroom. As the genre continues to grow in both quantity and quality, history teachers of all grades are looking to young adult literature to add to their class quest for historical inquiry.

: A New Generation of Resilience: Analysis of the Challenges Facing Young Farmers in the West; Beginning farmers in the western United States are faced with multifaceted challenges that inhibit their access to management systems intended to subsist with the available resources. Water in this arid environment is at the root of most obstacles experienced by farmers, both psychological and soil-related. This research is intended to give a voice to those farmers involved in the dialogue of resiliency. Using a focus group and interviews conducted in the Southwest area of Colorado, I identified the concerns of beginning farmers and also sought out responses to potential solutions. I concluded that there is an urgency for policy makers to create more engagement and easier access to sustainability grant programs for small, beginning farmers. Additionally, the necessity to prepare a cooperative grant opportunity for beginning farmers is key to creating accessibility to proper funding due to their small size. Although beginning farmers are utilizing some of these support programs, the results are often short lived and don't suffice for sustainable continuity of farm and resource management. With this in mind, policy makers, agency staff, and other farm organizations must consider the requests of the beginning farmers who are facing these challenges and act on them promptly. In order to generate future food security in the West, the issues of beginning farmers must be addressed so their resiliency can be developed.

: A New Octahedral Cobalt(III) Complex as a Possible Anti-Cancer Prodrug: Synthesis and Characterization Studies in Solid-State and Solution; Coordination complexes with redox active metal centers are gaining interest for their potential uses in anti-cancer research. KP1019 and NAMI-A are two ruthenium(III) coordination complexes with indazole and dimethylsulfoxide ligands, respectively, that are currently in phase II clinical trials for their anti-tumor or antimetastatic properties. Utilizing a more abundant, less expensive cobalt metal center in place of ruthenium(III), we hypothesize that similar cobalt(III) complexes can be synthesized. A new solid, isolable complex was achieved using a ligand substitution reaction. The new product is an octahedral Co(III) coordination complex that contains indazole and labile dimethylsulfoxide ligands. The proposed structure of the Co(III) complex is supported by a variety of solid-state and solution characterization studies. This complex displays promise in utilizing a new metal center for expanding metal-containing pro-drugs. Further studies are in progress to determine the exact speciation in the solid-state and in solution, as well as investigating the efficacy of this new compound on cancer cell lines.

: A Petrologic and Petrochemical Investigation of Magmatic Phases in the Powderhorn Carbonatite Complex, Gunnison, Colorado; The Powderhorn Complex is composed of carbonatite and several varieties of alkaline ultramafic rocks that include ijolite, uncompahgrite, pyroxenite, and nepheline syenite. Sr and Nd isotope data and bulk rock geochemistry collected in this study were combined with data from previous studies to gain further insight into the magma source and history of the rocks in this complex. 87Sr/86 Sr ratios range from 0.703106 to 0.703632 and εNd values from Premo and Lowers (2013) range from 1.4-3.1. The bulk-rock isotope data, when combined with whole-rock geochemistry, indicate that parent magmas for these rocks came from a similar mantle source with minor heterogeneity or that there was minor crustal contamination during emplacement. All the rocks in the complex are LREEs (light rare earth elements) enriched with concentrations from 100 times more than compared to primitive mantle and chondrite. On a variety of discrimination plots, the data for the different rocks define distinct fields, and only the trends for the pyroxenite samples are consistent with crystal fractionation. There is no convincing evidence that fractionation of the pyroxenite generated the other lithologies, contrary to previous investigations. This is also supported by the distinct mineralogic assemblages for each rock type which are not easily explained by fractional crystallization. The Powderhorn Complex was formed by the generation of different magma compositions from a similar mantle source. Minor variations in source composition or different degrees of partial melting could explain the different compositions of the various rocks in the complex. It is also possible that these rocks were formed through a combination of these processes.

: A Physiological Comparison of Three Different Treadmill Protocols in Trained Runners; The purpose of this study was to determine the best of three treadmill protocols on the determination of VO2max, ventilatory threshold, and maximal lactate values for trained runners. The three protocols used were an increasing speed protocol (started at a self chosen speed increasing 0.5mph every minute with a constant 5% grade), an increasing grade protocol (self chosen speed that stayed constant and grade started at 0% increasing 1% every minute), and an increasing speed /grade protocol (started at a self chosen speed and increased 0.5mph every minute, and started at 0% grade increasing 1% every minute). VO2 max of seven volunteers (2 females, 5 males, mean age 28) was measured in each protocol by expired gas (vacuumed mini CPX gas analyzer). To better understand aerobic fitness, ventilatory threshold and blood lactates were also analyzed. Using a single factor repeated measures ANOVA , the results showed that there was no significant difference in VO2max (p=.51), ventilatory threshold (p=.27), and maximal lactates values (p=.20) between the different protocols. The tests concluded that since there were no significant differences, any of the three tests could be used to elicit valid VO2max results.

: A Picture of Kerouac; Poem by Sara Knight, published in the Fall 2010/Winter 2011 edition of Images.

: A Story (Once Upon a Time); Poem by Elaine Severson in Fall 2013 - Winter 2014 issue of Images.

: A Story of a Particular Kind; Short story published in the Fall 2010 - Winter 2011 issue of Images.

: A Study of Minette Lamprophyre Dikes in the Mount Wilson Quadrangle, Western San Juan Mountains, Colorado: Assessing a Possible Connection to the Navajo Volcanic Field; Swarms of middle Tertiary mafic dikes are exposed along the northern edge of the San Juan Basin in southwestern Colorado. The emplacement of mantle magmas that gave rise to these dikes was close in time and space to large-scale volcanic events in the adjacent San Juan Mountains. The dike swarms in the area reflect widespread incipient extension and invasion of mantle magmas that could have played an important role in regional magmatic events, but the history of these dikes is poorly documented and uncertain. Preliminary studies establish that middle Tertiary mafic intrusive rocks in the region vary from phlogophite-rich minette to pyroxene-rich gabbro. Some of these rocks were involved in the formation of diatreme centers at approximately 27 Ma on the northeastern edge of the Navajo volcanic field. A series of mafic dikes are hosted by Cretaceous to Tertiary plutonic and volcanic rocks near Mount Wilson. Prior descriptions of these rocks hinted that they are related to minette dikes in the Navajo volcanic field, but no detailed work had been conducted on these dikes to assess this possible relationship. In this investigation, detailed field and petrochemical studies were conducted to constrain the characteristics and signatures of these mafic dikes and attempt to place them within a regional context. Data collected in this study establish that mafic dikes in the Mt. Wilson area comprise two suites that have subtle differences in mineral compositions. Rocks from one of the suites were too altered to obtain geochemical data for, but the other suite has geochemical signatures similar to mafic rocks in the Navajo volcanic field. The dominant chemical signatures of mafic dike rocks in the northern San Juan Basin reveal similar alkaline-potassic and LREE-enriched affinities for parent-mantle melts. These trends are consistent with a melt source of metasomatized lithospheric mantle as proposed for magmas in the Oligocene Navajo volcanic field. A new Ar-Ar age determination indicates that the mafic dikes exposed in the study area were emplaced around 7 Ma which is roughly 20 million years later than dikes in the Navajo volcanic field. Taken collectively, the regional data suggest that the northern San Juan basin was a site of protracted (30 to 7 million years ago) mantle magmatism that probably played an important role in the creation of other regional magmatic events such as the San Juan volcanic field.

: A True Adventure: An Examination Into How Flow Can Be Attributed to Skiing and Snowboarding Experiences; The purpose of this project was to examine Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's "flow theory" in a context that can be applied to adventure educators for further research. The research was specifically designed to be applied towards skiers and snowboarders that are interested in the theory of flow. The hypothesis states that flow will be felt depending on: the emotional feelings felt by the participants, the difficulty of the ski run, and the perceived levels of risk that the participants felt. Subjects examined were either skiers or snowboarders who felt confident with their abilities to safely traverse down an expert level ski run at Durango Mountain Resort. In order to assess different levels of flow, subjects were asked to be of clear mind and sober. An informal screening of subjects assumed that the participants were alert and sober. Subjects were given four different surveys which examined three different levels of flow. The data were analyzed using a Chi-Square Test. The results showed that there was strong evidence in association with the alternate hypothesis. The greatest levels of flow were found in participants engaging with a ski run that was within their skill level, but still challenging. The highest levels of flow were found to be on a "blue" (intermediate) level ski run. Ranking in second place, "black" (expert) level ski runs were found to be more challenging, therefore placing participants in a panic-like stage. "Green" (easy) level ski runs were found to be too easy, and therefore participants were possibly feeling bored.

: Abstract in Color; Artwork by Matt Lay from Fall 2013 - Winter 2014 issue of Images

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