Digital Commons Network^™

The Influence Of Perceptual Narrowing On Emotion Processing During Infancy, Margaret W. Vogel

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

During the first year of life, infants’ capacities for face processing are shaped by experience with faces in their environment; a process known as perceptual narrowing. Perceptual narrowing has been found to lead to a decline in infants’ abilities to identify and differentiate faces of other races. In the current study, it is hypothesized that this decline may also lead to differential processing of emotion information in own- versus other-race faces. In the current research, we recorded electrophysiological data (Event-related potential; ERP) from 5- and 9-month-old infants while they were presented with paired emotion non-verbal sounds and faces. ERPs in …

Load Reduction Of Floating Wind Turbines Using Tuned Mass Dampers, Gordon M. Stewart

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Offshore wind turbines have the potential to be an important part of the United States' energy production profile in the coming years. In order to accomplish this wind integration, offshore wind turbines need to be made more reliable and cost efficient to be competitive with other sources of energy. To capitalize on high speed and high quality winds over deep water, floating platforms for offshore wind turbines have been developed, but they suffer from greatly increased loading. One method to reduce loads in offshore wind turbines is the application of structural control techniques usually used in skyscrapers and bridges. Tuned …

Techniques For Industrial Implementation Of Emerging Semantic Technologies, Jay T. Breindel

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Techniques for the industrial implementation of emerging semantic technologies are presented in this research. Every new design, project, and procedure within a company generates a considerable amount of new information and important knowledge. Furthermore, a tremendous amount of legacy knowledge already exists within companies in electronic and non-electronic formats. All of this generated knowledge results in the need for tools and techniques to represent, structure, and reuse this knowledge. Researchers have spent considerable time and effort developing semantic knowledge management systems, with anticipation that these tools will address these knowledge management needs. However, little has been done to implement these …

A Test Of The Hypothesis That Environmental Chemicals Interfere With Thyroid Hormone Action In Human Placenta, Katherine Geromini

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Thyroid hormone is essential for normal brain development and recognition of this has led to universal screening of newborns for thyroid function to ensure that circulating levels of thyroid hormone are within a range known to be supportive of normal growth and mental development. Environmental chemicals that interfere with thyroid function are known to inhibit normal growth and mental development. Work from our lab and from labs internationally demonstrates in animal systems that some industrial chemicals such as PCBs, PBDEs, and others may interact with the thyroid hormone receptor(s) in ways that are not predicted by changes in serum thyroid …

Food System Planning In Western Massachusetts: A Community Organization Assessment, Arianna R. G. Thompson

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Comprehensive planning for regional food systems is a relatively new focus in the planning field. Heightened national awareness of the economic, environmental and equity implications of our current food system has magnified the importance of planning engagement on food-system issues. While addressing food system concepts is relatively new to planners, community-based organizations have been historic players in the development of food-system programs and critical food-system policy, particularly with regard to food access and local food production. This thesis reviews the status of the regional food system in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts through an assessment of the efforts of …

The Economic Impacts Of Technical Change In Carbon Capture, Peter G. Rasmussen

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

There is a general consensus in the literature that carbon capture and storage (CCS), a technology that controls CO₂ emissions from fossil fuel power plants, figures to be a critical technology to reduce CO₂ emissions to CO₂ concentration stabilization levels prescribed in the literature. We completed three projects that advance the understanding of how technical change in carbon capture affects both near-future costs of CCS and the economy in the long term. First, we conducted a literature review of near-future capture cost estimates in order to get an idea of how expensive carbon capture will be in …

The Role Of Structural Stormwater Best Management Practices, Impervious Surfaces And Natural Factors On Base Flow In Massachusetts, Kimberly B. Klosterman

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This research conducted a GIS analysis of twenty-eight sub-watersheds in Massachusetts and considered five factors which the literature suggested influenced base flow. The literature suggested a positive relation between precipitation, forest cover and base flow and a negative relationship between impervious surfaces, soil drainage class, slope and base flow. A multiple regression analysis of the sub-watershed information confirmed the literature for two factors (soil drainage class and slope) and questioned it on three factors (impervious surfaces, precipitation, and forest cover). The resulting predictive equation indicated that imperviousness and precipitation were the most significant factors affecting base flow. The first derivative …

N3asics: Designing Nanofabrics With Fine-Grained Cmos Integration, Pavan Panchapakeshan

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Nanoscale-computing fabrics based on novel materials such as semiconductor nanowires, carbon nanotubes, graphene, etc. have been proposed in recent years. These fabrics employ unconventional manufacturing techniques like Nano-imprint lithography or Super-lattice Nanowire Pattern Transfer to produce ultra-dense nano-structures. However, one key challenge that has received limited attention is the interfacing of unconventional/self-assembly based approaches with conventional CMOS manufacturing to build integrated systems.

We propose a novel nanofabric approach that mixes unconventional nanomanufacturing with CMOS manufacturing flow and design rules to build a reliable nanowire-CMOS 3-D integrated fabric called N³ASICs with no new manufacturing constraints. In N³ASICs …

An Investigation Of Human-Error Rates In Wildlife Photographic Identification; Implications For The Use Of Citizen Scientists, Megan Chesser

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Rapid technological advancements in digital cameras and widespread public access to the internet have inspired many researchers to consider alternative methods for collecting, analyzing, and distributing scientific data. Two emerging fields of study that have capitalized on these developments are “citizen science” and photo-id in wildlife capture-mark-recapture (CMR) studies. Both approaches offer unprecedented flexibility and potential for acquiring previously inconceivable datasets, yet both remain dependent on data collection by human observers. The absence of rigorous assessment of observer error rates causes many scientists to resist citizen science altogether or to fail to incorporate citizen-collected data into ecological analyses. This same …

A Threat Vs. Challenge View Of Conflict In Romantic Relationships, Casey J. Debuse

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This research examined romantic partners’ stress reactivity to relationship conflict through the lens of a threat vs. challenge perspective. We assessed the DHEA-S to cortisol ratio (anabolic balance) as an index of 330 newlywed partners’ threat or challenge orientations to a conflict discussion with their spouse and then examined whether these orientations were predicted by their attachment styles. Consistent with predictions, anxious attachment predicted lower anabolic balance trajectories, compared to secure attachment. Results were decomposed into DHEA-S and cortisol components. DHEA-S levels were found to be more congruent with challenge, while cortisol levels were more congruent with threat.

Impact Of Manufacturing Flow On Yield Losses In Nanoscale Fabrics, Priyamvada Vijayakumar

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Reliable and scalable manufacturing of nanofabrics entails significant challenges. Scalable nano-manufacturing approaches that employ the use of lithographic masks in conjunction with nanofabrication based on self-assembly have been proposed. A bottom-up fabrication of nanoelectronic circuits is expected to be subject to various defects and identifying the types of defects that may occur during each step of a manufacturing pathway is essential in any attempt to achieve reliable manufacturing. This thesis aims at analyzing the sources of defects in a nano-manufacturing flow and estimating the resulting yield loss. It integrates physical fabric considerations, manufacturing sequences and the resulting defect scenarios. This …

Evaluating The Mebactive-Youth As A Measure Of Mental Toughness, Manneh Ghazarians

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

The obesity epidemic in youth is increasing, due to the decreasing levels of physical activity within the youth population. One variable that has never been examined as a correlate of physical activity is mental toughness. Mental toughness is a psychological trait characterized by determination, resiliency, and perform optimally regardless of the circumstances. In order to evaluate this trait the MeBActive-Youth was developed. The purpose of this study was to first, evaluate the psychometric properties of the newly developed measure and secondly, to assess the relationship of mental toughness, social support and self-efficacy to physical activity. Participants (N = 106) completed …

Secure And Energy Efficient Physical Unclonable Functions, Sudheendra Srivathsa

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Physical Unclonable Functions are a unique class of circuits that leverage the inherentvariations in manufacturing process to create unique,unclonableIDs and secret keys.The distinguishing feature of PUFs is that even an untrusted foundry cannot create a copy of the circuit as it is impossible to control the manufacturing process variations.PUFs can operate reliably in presence of voltage and temperature variations. In thisthesis, weexplorethe security offered by PUFs and tradeoffs between different metrics such as uniqueness, reliability and energy consumption.Benefits of sub-threshold PUF operation and the use of delay based Arbiter PUFs and ring oscillator PUFs in low power applications is evaluated. …

Simulations Of Non-Contact Creep In Regimes Of Mixed Dominance, Maija Benitz

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Improvement of high temperature applications relies on the further development of ultra-high temperature materials (UHTMs). Higher performance and efficiency is driving the need for improvements in energy conversion and propulsion systems. Rocket nozzles, gas turbine engines and hypersonic aircraft depend on a better understanding of a material's performance at high temperatures. More specifically, the characterization of creep properties of high temperature materials is required. Conventional creep testing methods are limited to about 1700 degrees Celsius. Non-contact methods have been developed, which rotate spherical samples up to 33,000 rotations per second. A load is supplied by centripetal acceleration causing deformation of …

Investigating The Mechanism Of Nur77-Induced Apoptosis In T Cells, Heather E. Fogarty

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Nur77 is a member of the orphan nuclear receptor family, where it is known to play an important role in apoptosis in both negative selection in T cells and in cancer cell lines. In the development of T cells, it is critical for the immune system to discriminate self from non-self by eliminating auto-reactive cells. It was originally thought that Nur77 initiated apoptosis by activating downstream gene targets. However, it is now clear that Nur77 has its own distinct role outside of the nucleus and the precise mechanisms by which Nur77 induces apoptosis in T cells still needs to be …

How Does Hydropeaking Alter The Hydrology Of A River Reach? A Combined Water Budget, Modeling, And Field Observation Study. Deerfield River, Massachusetts, Brian C. Yellen

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Hydroelectric releases on the Deerfield River in northwestern Massachusetts affect surface water-groundwater interactions there by daily reversing the head gradient between river and groundwater. Artificially elevated stage drives river water into the riparian aquifer. Water budget analysis indicates that roughly 10% of this bank-stored water is permanently lost from the river system in a 19.5 km reach, likely as a result of transpiration by bank vegetation.

Field observations as well as two-dimensional modeling results show that water losses are not uniform throughout the study reach. Riparian aquifer transmissivity in river sub-reaches largely determines the magnitude of surface water-groundwater exchange as …

Association Between Dietary Intake And Nutritional Status Among Adolescent Girls In Kilosa District, Tanzania, Shanshan Chen

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Underweight and stunting are highly prevalent public health problems in developing countries, particularly among populations exposed to food insecurity and chronic malnutrition. Underweight results from relatively recent malnutrition whereas empirical research has shown that early childhood malnutrition is a strong predictor of stunting. Dietary diversity has been recognized as an indicator of food security, with consumption of more food groups suggesting better nourishment. Greater dietary diversity has been associated with better nutritional outcomes and improved micronutrient intake. Zinc, an essential mineral, plays a critical role in child growth and development. A deficiency in Zinc may contribute to increased risk for …

On-Chip True Random Number Generation In Nanometer Cmos, Vikram Belur Suresh

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

On-chip True Random Number Generator (TRNG) forms an integral part of a number of cryptographic systems in multi-core processors, communication networks and RFID. TRNG provides random keys, device id and seed for Pseudo Random Number Generators (PRNG). These circuits, harnessing physical random variations like thermal noise or stray electromagnetic waves are ideally expected to generate random bits with very high entropy and zero correlation. But, progression to advance semiconductor manufacturing processes has brought about various challenges in the design of TRNG. Increasing variations in the fabrication process and the sensitivity of transistors to operating conditions like temperature and supply voltage …

A Quantitative Analysis Of The Impacts From Selected Climate Variables Upon Traffic Safety In Massachusetts, Katrina M. Hecimovic

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Current literature predicts that climate change may increase both the occurrence and severity of heavy rainfall events and winter precipitation in the Northeast United States. A potential increase in intense precipitation events related to climate change would theoretically also cause an increase in weather-related delays, increase in overall traffic disruptions, a substantive shift in travel behavior, and presumably a negative effect on safety and maintenance operations of highways. This current research study examines the existing impacts from both an operational and behavioral perspective of how weather events currently impact overall safety along routes in Massachusetts. A secondary objective of the …

Population Size, Habitat Use And Diet Of Kittlitz's Murrelets In Prince William Sound, Alaska, Andrew J. Allyn

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

During the summer of 2008 and 2009, we studied the ecology of the Kittlitz’s Murrelet (Brachyramphus brevirostris), a small diving seabird and candidate for the U.S. Endangered Species List, in Prince William Sound (PWS), Alaska. At-sea survey data suggests that the population significantly increased from 2001 to 2009, however there is limited evidence of reproductive success. Habitat use models showed individuals were observed in shallower waters, closer to glaciers, the shoreline, and further from moraines than the available habitat during the daytime. Finer extent sampling from 2008 suggests temperature-depth profiles also influence Kittlitz’s Murrelet daytime habitat use. The …

Varied Applications Of Work Zone Safety Analysis Through The Investigation Of Crash Data, Design, And Field Studies, Erica Swansen

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Work zone crashes and fatalities have been decreasing since 1994. Yet, according to Fatality Analysis Reporting System, 667 people were killed in highway work zone crashes in 2009. As the United States’ infrastructure ages and new roads and highways are constructed less frequently, the need for repairs and alterations to the nation’s roadways is continually increasing. This growth ensures that work zones will be a vital piece of design focus in the near future. In order to continue the decreasing trend in work zone crashes, and reduce the still significant number of work zone fatalities, work zones need to continually …

The Effect Of Menu Nutrition Labels On Consumers' Dietary Decision Making, Diane M. Lowe

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

To help combat the growing obesity problem in the United States, the Menu Labeling Act was passed in 2010 as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. However, little research has been conducted to determine the optimal format and content of the imminent label. A between-subjects experiment was conducted with a non-probability sample that was provided with three nutrition label treatments and surveyed to determine the labels’ effect on accuracy in dietary judgments and nutrition evaluations, level of certainty and confusion while completing those tasks, and perceived label comprehension and utility. The presence of a label had a …

The Pyrethroid Deltamethrin, Which Causes Choreoathetosis With Salivation (Cs-Syndrome), Enhances Calcium Ion Influx Via Phosphorylated Cav2.2 Expresssed In Xenopus Laevis Oocytes, Anna-Maria Alves

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Pyrethroids are insecticides used since the 1970s. They are favored for their low mammalian toxicity, improved environmental stability and insecticidal potency. Voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSCs) are a known target but in vitro evidence indicates that voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs) are also targets. Site-directed mutagenesis of Ca_V2.2 (N-type), altering threonine 422 to glutamate (T422E), produces a mutant channel that acts as if permanently phosphorylated. Deltamethrin increases peak current of T422E Ca_V2.2 compared to its antagonistic action on wild type Ca_V2.2 when expressed in Xenopus oocytes. Phosphorylation of wild type Ca_V2.2 is evoked by …

Synthesis Of Monomers For New Conjugated Polymers, Kedar Girish Jadhav

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

ABSTRACT

SYNTHESIS OF MONOMERS FOR NEW CONJUGATED POLYMERS

This dissertation addresses the problem of synthesis of different monomers for donor and acceptor polymers in photovoltaic applications. In general, functionalization of conjugated polymers and understanding of molecular packing of electron donors and electron acceptors are very important to produce efficient solar cells. As a result, it is important to design and synthesize novel monomers which will require making new π-conjugated donors and acceptors polymers and understand the influence of these new polymers in bulk heterojunction to design polymer solar cells. In this study, two different monomers were synthesized. The first monomer …

Implementation Of Dual-Polarization On An Airborne Scatterometer And Preliminary Data Quality, Jason Dvorsky

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

The Imaging Wind and RAin Profiler (IWRAP) is an airborne scatterometer system built and operated by University of Massachusetts Amherst's Microwave Remote Sensing Laboratory (MIRSL). The radar is seasonally deployed aboard one of the two National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) WP-3D Orion ``Hurricane Hunter'' aircraft based out of MacDill AFB in Tampa, Florida. IWRAP is a dual-frequency, Ku- and C-band, scatterometer that uses two conically scanning antennas to estimate the ocean surface wind vectors as well as intervening rain profiles. Data that is gathered with IWRAP is used to improve current Geophysical Model Functions (GMF) or to help derive …

The Effect Of Curcumin (Curcuma Longa) On Biofilm Formation And Surface Proteins Of Listeria Monocytogenes, Songsirin Ruengvisesh

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

The food-borne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes can attach to the environmental surfaces and develop biofilm which can cause food contamination in the food industries. Sortase A and surface proteins are involved in biofilm and virulence of L. monocytogenes. Curcumin was reported to inhibit sortase A and biofilm in gram positive bacteria. The overall objective of this study was to observe the effect of curcumin (Curcuma longa) on the biofilm formation and surface proteins of L. monocytogenes.

The antibiofilm effect of curcumin against the strain LM21 (wild type) and s22-11G (sortase A defective mutant) was studied using the …

Viscoelastic Flow Through Contraction Geometries, Ashwin Karthik Sankaran

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Contraction flow of viscoelastic fluids has been a benchmark problem in non-Newtonian fluid mechanics because it mimics flows occurring in a number of industrial applications. It is also of considerable interest to academia to gain fundamental understanding of factors that affect the evolution of vortices and a complete understanding of the dynamics for a simple polymeric fluid has not been achieved. In this two part study we investigate the effect of pre deformation of a Boger fluid in a contraction geometry and the flow of surfactants in a parallel contraction geometry.

Entry flow of a polymeric fluid results in the …

Citizens And Criminals: Mass Incarceration, "Prison Neighbors," And Fear-Based Organizing In 1980s Rural Pennsylvania, Erika Arthur

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Throughout the 1980s, the Citizens’ Advisory Committee (CAC), a grassroots group of “prison neighbors,” organized for tighter security at the State Correctional Institution at Dallas (SCID), a medium security prison in northeast Pennsylvania. Motivated primarily by their fear of prisoner escapes, the CAC used the local media to raise awareness about security concerns and cooperated with the SCID administration to acquire state funding for projects at the prison that they believed would improve security. Their work coincided with the widespread proliferation of “tough on crime” rhetoric and policies, and the inauguration of the most intensive buildup of prisons ever witnessed …

Vehicle Miles Traveled (Vmt) Fee Financing Alternatives: Lessons Learned And Future Opportunities, Ashley L. Costa

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) today are seeking financing alternatives so that transportation infrastructure investments can become less dependent on the amount of fuel U.S. drivers consume. Because the fuel tax is no longer viewed as a sustainable and stable option, other financing alternatives are being considered. One such alternative includes the vehicle miles traveled (VMT) fee. Examples of such VMT fee alternatives include: 1) collection using an onboard diagnostic system (OBD), 2) collection at the fuel pump using an OBD in conjunction with GPS technology, and 3) collection at a vehicle inspection station using the OBD.

This proposed research …

Effects Of Knowledge And Anxiety On Willingness To Screen For Alzheimer's Disease, Tessa S. Lundquist

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

While the prevalence rates of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are increasing, the screening rates for the disease are low. A major barrier to AD screening is older persons’ lack of knowledge about the disease (Ayalon & Arean, 2004). Older adults have anxiety about AD (Corner & Bond, 2004; Devlin et al., 2007), but less is known about how that anxiety may affect their screening behavior. The current study measured AD Knowledge and AD Anxiety and determined how these factors were related to Willingness to Screen for AD in a sample of midlife and older adults (N = 96, mean age …