Digital Commons Network^™

Patterns In Trash: Factors That Drive Municipal Solid Waste Recycling, Jared Starr

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Municipal recycling is driven by a variety of factors. Yet how these factors change over time is not well understood. I analyze a suite of contextual and program variable in multiple time periods, spanning 16 years, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Based on the models run, I reach the surprising conclusion that most program variables have an insignificant effect on recycling rates. These findings can inform municipal officials and waste managers as they seek new ways to increase municipal recycling participation.

An Assessment Of Environmental Dna As A Tool To Detect Fish Species In Headwater Streams, Stephen F. Jane

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Recent years have seen an explosion of interest in the use of freely available DNA present in aquatic systems, otherwise known as environmental DNA (eDNA), as a tool for monitoring aquatic organisms. However, much remains unknown about the behavior of eDNA over a range of environmental conditions. This is particularly true in high gradient headwater streams, which have received less attention than other types of water bodies. In the summer of 2011, a headwater stream system with well established species distributions was sampled using eDNA techniques. Though species were detected where known to be present, detections also occurred where traditional …

Movement Patterns And Catch-And-Release Impacts Of Striped Bass In A Tidal Coastal Embayment In Massachusetts, Heather M. Tyrrell

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

An investigation into the spatial ecology and effects of catch-and-release angling on the physiology and behavior of striped bass was conducted. Fine-scale behavior was assessed by tagging fish with acoustic transmitters equipped with pressure and tri-axial accelerometer sensors and tracking them within a fixed array (n=34 receivers) in a Massachusetts estuary. Activity space changed significantly over the course of the season and increased with water temperature. Striped bass most frequently exhibited low levels of locomotory activity representing 67% of total activity measurements, with occasional high activity and burst swimming, often within the upper 3 m of the water column. Depth …

"You Were Adopted?!": An Exploratory Analysis Of Microaggressions Experienced By Adolescent Adopted Individuals, Karin J. Garber

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Sue et al. (2007, p. 271) define a microaggression as: “Brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative…slights and insults towards [the marginalized group].” Microaggressions have not been used to analyze the experiences of adoptees in a bionormative society. A total of 156 interviews (males=75, females=81) and questionnaires of White adolescent adoptees in same-race families were analyzed using a mixed methods design. Study 1 used thematic analysis to discover 16 themes of microaggressions. Study 2 used the microaggression as the unit of analysis in chi squares to determine if …

Optimal Basis For Ultrasound Rf Apertures: Applications To Real-Time Compression And Beamforming, Sharmin Kibria

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Modern medical ultrasound machines produce enormous amounts of data, as much as several gigabytes/sec in some systems. The challenges of generating, storing, processing and reproducing such voluminous data has motivated researchers to search for a feasible compression scheme for the received ultrasound radio frequency (RF) signals. Most of this work has concentrated on the digitized data available after sampling and A/D conversion. We are interested in the possibility of compression implemented directly on the received analog RF signals; hence, we focus on compression of the set of signals in a single receive aperture. We first investigate the model-free approaches to …

Enhancement Of Lateral Flow Assay For The Detection Of Whole Viral Particle And Chlamydial Elementary Bodies, Jeffrey M. Grimes

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Chlamydia trachomatis accounts for 3.6% of blindness worldwide, and is the leading cause of bacterial-induced blindness in the world. With the subtle initial presentation of the disease and the difficulty in clearing the infection without the aid of antibiotics, C. trachomatis can spread rapidly following introduction into a population. This problem is further compounded in resource limited areas due to the lack of trained personnel (i.e. Medical Doctors, Nurses), equipment, and finances to test and treat large portions of the population. A testing method that is both cheap and easy to interpret is necessary. Lateral flow assays (LFA) have been …

Push-Pull Molecules: Models And Polymer Building Blocks For Organic Photovoltaic Applications, Raymond Devaughn

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Several fluorenone alkynyl based oligo conjugated molecules were synthesized and characterized. Most compounds exhibited UV-Vis absorption onset at ca. 500 nm and a PL emission onset of ~329-370 nm, with excimer emission suspected from most systems near ~530-560 nm. Experimentally determined E_HOMO and E_LUMO energies range from -6.02 to -5.73 eV and -3.47 and 3.55 eV, respectively, with the lowest experimental E_g lying at -2.26 eV for 2-(trimethoxyphenylacetylene)-fluorenone. Cyclic voltammetry indicates quasi-reversible reduction for all systems, with 2,7-bis(nitrophenylacetylene)fluorenone exhibiting a high reduction potential of -1.25 eV. Only 2,7-bis(trimethoxyphenylacetylene)fluorenone exhibited a quasi-reversible oxidation, due to electron rich methoxy …

The Effects Of Construction Activity On The Behavior Of Captive Rhesus Monkeys (Macaca Mulatta), Courtney A. Begnoche

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Previous studies have revealed insight into the effects of noises and vibrations on rodents, livestock, and zoo animals, but there is little information about such effects on non-human primates. This study aimed to assess the impact of construction activity on the behavior of animals in a non-human primate (rhesus macaque) facility. Construction activity and modified frequency behavioral data were divided into three phases: baseline (~3 months prior to construction), roof (construction on top of the animal facility), and honors (construction of 7 new buildings adjacent to the facility). We hypothesized that anxiety behaviors (scratch and yawn) would be increased during …

Free Wake Potential Flow Vortex Wind Turbine Modeling: Advances In Parallel Processing And Integration Of Ground Effects, Nathaniel B. Develder

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Potential flow simulations are a great engineering type, middle-ground approach to modeling complex aerodynamic systems, but quickly become computationally unwieldy for large domains. An N-body problem with N-squared interactions to calculate, this free wake vortex model of a wind turbine is well suited to parallel computation. This thesis discusses general trends in wind turbine modeling, a potential flow model of the rotor of the NREL 5MW reference turbine, various forms of parallel computing, current GPU hardware, and the application of ground effects to the model. In the vicinity of 200,000 points, current GPU hardware was found to be nearly 17 …

Perceived Norms And Classroom Ethnic Composition, Thomas Christopher O'Brien

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Students’ perceptions of normative support for positive intergroup relations from teachers and school staff have been linked to a number of positive intergroup outcomes (Green, Adams, & Turner, 1988; Jugert, Noack, & Rutland, 2011). Additional studies testing the effects of ethnic proportions in classrooms show evidence for positive and negative intergroup outcomes between ethnic majority and ethnic minority students (e.g., Durkin et al., 2011; Vervoort, Scholte, & Scheepers, 2011). Still, research has yet to test simultaneously the effects of ethnic proportions in a classroom in conjunction with students’ subjective perceptions of normative support for positive intergroup relations. With a sample …

Post Hoc Indoor Localization Based On Rss Fingerprint In Wlan, Hao Huang

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

In the investigation of crimes committed by wireless users, one of the key goals is to determine the location of the mobile device at the time of the crime. Since this happens during the investigative phase after the crime is committed, we term this the post hoc geographical localization estimation problem. In this thesis, we introduce the post hoc geographical localization estimation problem and present approaches for its solution based on radio frequency (RF) fingerprinting. Motivated by the goal of establishing a crime's location with enough accuracy to obtain a search warrant, our focus is on locating a criminal mobile …

Compressive Parameter Estimation With Emd, Dian Mo

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

In recent years, sparsity and compressive sensing have attracted significant attention in parameter estimation tasks, including frequency estimation, delay estimation, and localization. Parametric dictionaries collect signals for a sampling of the parameter space and can yield sparse representations for the signals of interest when the sampling is sufficiently dense. While this dense sampling can lead to high coherence in the dictionary, it is possible to leverage structured sparsity models to prevent highly coherent dictionary elements from appearing simultaneously in a signal representation, alleviating these coherence issues. However, the resulting approaches depend heavily on a careful setting of the maximum allowable …

Movement Patterns Of Brook Trout In A Restored Coastal Stream System In Southern Massachusetts, Erin L. Snook

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Populations of anadromous brook trout can be found from northern Canada into New England. It is believed that the extent of anadromy exhibited by coastal brook trout populations decreases with latitude, but the ecology and movements of the more southern populations are less studied. A 33-month acoustic telemetry study of anadromous brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) was conducted in a restored coastal stream and adjacent marine system in southeastern Massachusetts. Movement and migration patterns of 54 brook trout were investigated for individual differences and common features. Individuals exhibited a range of movement patterns. Some were more resident and only …

Towards Accessible, Usable Knowledge Frameworks In Engineering, Jeffrey Mcpherson

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

A substantial amount of research has been done in the field of engineering knowledge management, where countless ontologies have been developed for various applications within the engineering community. However, despite the success shown in these research efforts, the techniques have not been adopted by industry. This research aims to uncover the reasons for the slow adoption of engineering knowledge frameworks, namely ontologies, in industry.

There are two projects covered in this thesis. The first project is the development of a cross-domain ontology for the Biomesh Project, which spans the fields of mechanical engineering, biology, and anthropology. The biology community is …

The Role Of Er-Alpha And The Ovaries In The Enduring Altered Behavioral Response To Pubertal Immune Stress, Bethany Rappleyea

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Peripubertal immune stress alters adult responsiveness to estradiol (E₂) and progesterone (P). When female mice are injected with the bacterial endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) at six weeks of age, or during pubertal development, they display a decrease in response to ovarian hormones. In contrast, females ovariectomized prior to peripubertal immune stress display typical levels of sexual behavior following sequential injections of E₂ and P in adulthood. Additionally, intact females exposed to peripubertal immune stress display a decrease in estrogen receptor alpha (ER-α)-immunoreactive (ir) cells in the medial preoptic area (MPOA) and ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus (VMH) in …

Examining The Relationship Between Environmental Concern, Exercise Habits, And Fruit And Vegetable Intake, Dana M. Harrison

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

BACKGROUND: Recent epidemiological data indicate that one-third of the U.S. adult population is obese. As a result, healthcare professionals and policy makers are looking to identify creative methods to address this critical health concern. One way that may show promise to promote positive health changes is to convert mechanical energy produced through exercise into stored electricity via energy harvesting (EH) exercise. Previous research has linked pro-environmental attitudes with increased participation in sustainable behaviors. Other research has examined associations between consumption of fruits and vegetables and exercise participation. However, little research examines the association between exercise behavior and environmental concern. …

Effect Of A 10 Day Decrease In Physical Activity On Circulating Angiogenic Cells, Gayatri Guhanarayan

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Circulating angiogenic cells (CACs) are early predictors of cardiovascular health and are inversely proportional to related outcomes. Increased number and function of CACs is seen in healthy individuals compared with individuals with cardiovascular disease (CVD). Exercise increases CAC number and function in CVD populations, through a nitric oxide-mediated mechanism. Inactivity is a growing concern in industrialized nations; it is an independent risk factor for CVD and is linked to increased mortality. The purpose of this study was to understand the effect of reduced physical activity (rPA) on two CAC populations (CFU-Hill and CD34⁺) in highly active individuals. We …

A Comparison Of American, Canadian, And European Home Energy Performance In Heating Dominated – Moist Climates Based On Building Codes, Stephanie M. Berkland

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This research compares the energy performance of a code-built residential building within the moist climate zone classification in Canada, Europe, and the Northeastern United States. The primary objectives are to reveal how specific differences in code requirements in similar climates influence a building’s energy profile, offer a means to quantify and evaluate the extent of energy savings as a result of each requirement, and provide a comparison of each location’s building culture and how this affects the standards in place.

Using the building energy simulation tool, DesignBuilder EnergyPlus Simulation, a model single-family home was created and input energy code …

Adolescent Nutritional Status And Its Association With Village-Level Factors In Tanzania, Nozipho Maziya

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Adolescent Nutritional Status and its Association with Village-level Factors in Tanzania

Undernutrition is associated with multiple risk factors operating at different levels, from the individual level to household and community levels. Empirical research has shown that contextual or environmental factors influence nutritional status, but very few studies have examined association between these factors and undernutrition among adolescents. This cross-sectional study used a two-level hierarchical nonlinear model to investigate the association between village-level factors and undernutrition (BMI for Age < 5th percentile of the WHO reference) among a sample of adolescents, (n=670) from 28 villages in Kilosa District, Tanzania. Our hypothesis that contextual factors are associated with undernutrition was supported. The odds …

Prison Of The Setting Sun: A Translation Of Ono Fuyumi's Rakushō No Goku, Caitlin F. Orwoll

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

In this thesis, I have presented my translation of the novella Rakushō no goku (落照の獄) by Ono Fuyumi, preceded by a critical introduction. In this introduction, I have provided brief biographical information about the author, context for the story and its place in the Twelve Kingdoms series of novels, an analysis of the story's use of the death penalty as allegory, and an explanation for some of my choices in the translation.

In my introduction, my main purpose was to present the author, who has written multiple best-selling, award-winning novels that have received both popular and critical acclaim, yet has …

The Definite Article System In L1-English L2-Spanish Learners, Diego Ardura

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Previous studies on the acquisition of definite plurals in Child and Second Language Acquisition have found strong evidence on how transfer can affect the L2-acquisition of articles. Nevertheless, these studies presented some limitations. First, they failed to consider other variables that could interfere with transfer in the acquisition of the article system. And second, the methodology used to test the participants’ implicit knowledge of article system was very similar in all studies (Truth-Value Judgment Task). In order to fill these two gaps in the literature, the present study uses a listening comprehension task to test how the mass/count distinction …

Resource Allocation And Pricing In Virtual Wireless Networks, Xin Chen

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

The Internet architecture has proven its success by completely changing people’s lives. However, making significant architecture improvements has become extremely difficult since it requires competing Internet Service Providers to jointly agree. Re- cently, network virtualization has attracted the attention of many researchers as a solution to this ossification problem. A network virtualization environment allows multiple network architectures to coexist on a shared physical resource. However, most previous research has focused on network virtualization in a wired network en- vironment. It is well known that wireless networks have become one of the main access technologies. Due to the probabilistic nature of …

Predicting Social Behavior By Sound & Surface Appearance In Infancy, Ashley Lyons

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Our naïve theory of social behavior assumes that the positive and negative actions of others are caused by some underlying social disposition. Furthermore, adults automatically infer such traits in advance based upon whatever observable, even superficial, properties are available (e.g., how someone looks or sounds). The goal of the current study is to explore the developmental origins of this bias. We tested whether 12-month-old infants automatically infer a character’s social disposition (i.e., whether they ‘help’ or ‘hinder’ another character’s goal) based upon the superficial properties they display. Infants were habituated to two characters that possessed surface properties that were rated …

Bi-Directional Vector Variable Gain Amplifier For An X-Band Phased Array Radar Application, Arash Mashayekhi

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This thesis presents the design, layout, and measurements of a bi-directional amplifier with variable vector (in-phase / quadrature) gain control that will be part of an electronically steered phased array system. The electronically steered phased array has many advantages over the conventional mechanically steered antennas including rapid scanning of the beam and adaptively creating nulls in desired locations. The 10-bit bi-directional Vector Variable Gain Amplifier (VVGA) is part of the transmit and receive module of each antenna element where transmit and receive functionality is determined through a simple switch. The VVGA performs amplification of the IF IQ pair by an …

Core-House: A Proposal For Re-Inhabiting Underused Buildings, Thom P. Barry

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This thesis is an exploration of how small independent residential units added one at a time can offer old buildings and the cities they are in the opportunity to gradually grow and change – in a way that isn’t presented by the typical double-loaded corridor build-out.

The first component of this exploration is a modular unit that can be brought into existing buildings and assembled in a flexible layout. This House acts as a ‘Core’ that provides basic shelter, warmth, and a place to sleep and prepare food; the density of this unit allows the surrounding square footage to be …

The Use Of Multimedia Material In Teaching Chinese As A Second Language And Pedagogical Implications, Zhongyuan Williams

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

The use of Multimedia materials has been widely accepted as an useful and effective tool in the field of second language acquisition (SLA). Many studies and researchers have examined multimedia material’s effectiveness from a number of aspects, including four skills of language learning: listening, speaking, reading (including vocabulary comprehension) and writing. However, the effectiveness of multimedia material from the aspect of L2 grammar comprehension hasn’t been well explored.

This study examines the effectiveness of multimedia material in teaching second language grammar comprehension among beginning and intermediate-level Chinese learners. In particular, it investigates the relative efficacy of three different modes used …

Does Early Perceptual Experience Influence Later Perceptual And Neural Discrimination In Children?, Hillary R. Hadley

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

In infancy, the ability to tell the difference between two faces within a category (e.g., species, race) that is infrequently experienced declines from 6 to 9 months of age (Kelly et al., 2009, 2007; Pascalis et al., 2005; Pascalis, de Haan, & Nelson, 2002; Scott & Monesson, 2009). This decline in the ability to distinguish faces is known as "perceptual narrowing" and has recently been found to be absent when infants are given experience matching a face with an individual-level proper name between 6 to 9 months of age (Scott & Monesson, 2009). Additionally, individual-level experience between 6 and 9 …

The Role Of Parent Psychopathology In The Developmental Trajectories Of Preschool Children With Behavior Problems, Rosanna P. Breaux

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This study investigated associations among different parental psychopathology dimensions and child functioning. Mothers and fathers of preschoolers with behavior problems (n = 132) completed psychopathology questionnaires when children were 3 years old. Children’s externalizing, internalizing, and social problems, academic achievement, and cognitive ability were assessed at annual home visits from age 3 to 6. In general, maternal psychopathology symptoms were associated with mothers’ reports of externalizing, internalizing, and social problems at age 3 and 6. Additionally, paternal psychopathology symptoms were associated with fathers’ reports of externalizing and internalizing problems at age 3 and 6. Mothers with more elevated psychopathology …

Integration And Measurements Of A Ka-Band Interferometric Radar In An Airborne Platform, Rockwell B. Schrock

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

The Topographic Interferometry Mapping Mission (TIMMi) instrument is a unique millimeter wave interferometric radar system operating at 35 GHz (Ka-band). It was constructed in part to advance the technology readiness level of NASA’s Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission, a spaceborne platform that will globally map the altimetry of Earth’s water to gain insight into surface water interactions and dynamics. Previous ground deployments of TIMMi were successful in demonstrating the abilities of the system from a stationary platform. The next logical step was to move TIMMi closer to space by installing it on an airborne platform prove its capability …

Testing And Validation Of A Prototype Gpgpu Design For Fpgas, Murtaza Merchant

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Due to their suitability for highly parallel and pipelined computation, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and general-purpose graphics processing units (GPGPUs) have emerged as top contenders for hardware acceleration of high-performance computing applications. FPGAs are highly specialized devices that can be customized to a specific application, whereas GPGPUs are made of a fixed array of multiprocessors with a rigid architectural model. To alleviate this rigidity as well as to combine some other benefits of the two platforms, it is desirable to explore the implementation of a flexible GPGPU (soft GPGPU) using the reconfigurable fabric found in an FPGA. This thesis …