Digital Commons Network^™

Assessing And Improving The Reliability And Security Of Circuits Affected By Natural And Intentional Faults, Hoda Pahlevanzadeh

Doctoral Dissertations

The reliability and security vulnerability of modern electronic systems have emerged as concerns due to the increasing natural and intentional interferences. Radiation of high-energy charged particles generated from space environment or packaging materials on the substrate of integrated circuits results in natural faults. As the technology scales down, factors such as critical charge, voltage supply, and frequency change tremendously that increase the sensitivity of integrated circuits to natural faults even for systems operating at sea level. An attacker is able to simulate the impact of natural faults and compromise the circuit or cause denial of service. Therefore, instead of utilizing …

The Rate, Spectrum And Effects Of Spontaneous Mutation In Bacteria With Multiple Chromosomes, Marcus M. Dillon

Doctoral Dissertations

Despite their essentiality for evolutionary change and role in many diseases, spontaneous mutations remain understudied because of both biological and technical barriers. Prokaryotic mutation biases are especially understudied and no studies have been conducted on bacteria with multiple chromosomes, leaving major gaps in our understanding of the role of genome content and structure on mutation. The application of mutation accumulation lines to whole-genome sequencing offers the opportunity to study spontaneous mutations in a wide range of prokaryotic organisms. Here, we present a genome-wide view of molecular mutation rates and spectra in Burkholderia cenocepacia, Vibrio fischeri, and Vibrio cholerae, three bacterial …

Patient Portal Use In A Community Medical Group: A Healthcare Improvement Project, Pamela S. Kallmerten

Doctoral Dissertations

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 included the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) to provide stimulus for the provision of electronic access for consumers as a way to improve patient engagement. As described by the act, meaningful use of a tethered personal health record called a patient portal was theorized to improve patient engagement and result in improved clinical outcomes, reduced cost and increased patient satisfaction. Accordingly, financial incentives and penalties were to be awarded the eligible provider (EP) demonstrating meaningful use according to various stages with corresponding deadlines. A community medical …

The Effects Of Encouraging Student-Faculty Interaction On Academic Success, Identity Development, And Student Retention In The First Year Of College, Katerina Karaivanova

Doctoral Dissertations

The study presented in this dissertation was designed to investigate the effects of a brief intervention encouraging student-faculty interaction among college students on their academic achievement, college adjustment and intent to withdraw. Additionally, the effects of identity style on academic achievement, college adjustment, and student-faculty interaction were examined. Two hundred and five first year students participated in a four-part study, measuring the frequency and quality of student-faculty interaction, college adjustment, and identity development at three different time points. Students were randomly assigned to one of three experimental groups; only one group received the advice to meet with faculty outside of …

The Role Of Social Agency In Student Learning, Michael C. Melville

Doctoral Dissertations

Although the pedagogical strategy known as the personalization principle has received considerable support in the laboratory, there is little work examining its generalizability, ecological validity, and potential for statistical mediation and moderation. In 5 experiments, these topics are examined in the laboratory as well as in a real classroom setting. Experiment 1a provides evidence for moderation of the effect of the personalization principle by the learner’s score on the need to belong scale. Experiment 1b shows support for a variable that measures subjective perceptions of the learning material mediating the effect of the personalization principle on learning outcomes. Experiments 2 …

Cellular Coding Properties Of Goal Directed Behavior In The Mediodorsal And Intralaminar Nucleus Of The Rat: Comparisons To Prefrontal Cortex, Rikki Lou Ann Miller

Doctoral Dissertations

The mediodorsal (MD) and rostral intralaminar (IL) nuclei of central thalamus interact with prefrontal cortex (PFC) through multiple pathways to control goal directed behavior. The initial purpose of this dissertation was to characterize cellular coding properties of these nuclei in central thalamus using electrophysiological measures in awake, behaving rats performing a dynamic delayed non-match to position (DNMTP) task. Two major aims were developed. The first of these was based on the strong reciprocal connections between central thalamus and PFC. Therefore, the current data was compared to data previously collected in prefrontal cortex (Onos et al., 2015). The second was that …

Mechanisms For Orientation In Low Energy Ion Beam Assisted Tialn Thin Film Growth, Paul Vincent Aliotta

Doctoral Dissertations

The effects of off-normal ionized vapor bombardment on the orientation and structure of off-normal sputter deposited TiAlN thin films has been investigated with the goal of better understanding the mechanistic pathways in ion beam assisted thin film growth for better control of film properties during deposition. The effects of incident angle for ion bombardment has been investigated as a potential variable during deposition and a comprehensive comparison to current theories of thin film orientation development has been made.

It is shown that for low levels of ion energies and rates, films develop (220) orientation with a near amorphous zone 1 …

The Swift Water Place: Water Quality, Fish Ecology, And Hydropower In The Merrimack River Since The Time Of Thoreau, Timothy Melia

Doctoral Dissertations

The Merrimack River and its landscape reflect the priorities that have shaped the stream for two centuries. When Henry David Thoreau and his brother John put their dory into the Merrimack in September of 1839, they were paddling into a landscape that was shifting towards water-powered industries and mill cities. The legal transformation of water and the completion of the Great Stone Dam at Lawrence in 1847 spelled the end of the anadromous fish runs that had populated the Merrimack for centuries. Salmon restoration proceeded for three decades after the Civil War until fish passage failed. Later, water filtration plants …

Energy And Protein Efficiency Of Lactating Dairy Cows Fed Ground Peas, Canola Meal And Rumen-Protected Amino Acids, Andre De Barros Duarte Pereira

Doctoral Dissertations

Forages as conserved silage or grass cannot supply enough nutrients and energy as required by lactating dairy cows. As a result, supplementation with grains is needed to provide animals with enough nutrients to be healthy and produce milk being profitable (NRC, 2001). High producing cows need protein supplementation from sources other than forages in order to maximize milk protein production, with emphasis on replenishing requirements for specific amino acids. Excessive protein in the diet or deficiency of an essential amino acid can reduce productivity and increase excretion of N to the environment, causing pollution. Research must be conducted to help …

Nonlinear Evolution Of Mirror Instability In The Earth's Magnetosheath In Pic Simulations, Narges Ahmadihojatabad

Doctoral Dissertations

Mirror modes are large amplitude non-propagating structures frequently observed in the magnetosheath and they are generated in space plasma environments with proton temperature anisotropy of larger than one. The proton temperature anisotropy also drives the proton cyclotron instability which has larger linear growth rate than that of the mirror instability. Linear dispersion theory predicts that electron temperature anisotropy can enhance the mirror instability growth rate while leaving the proton cyclotron instability largely unaffected. Contrary to the hypothesis, electron temperature anisotropy leads to excitement of the electron whistler instability. Our results show that the electron whistler instability grows much faster than …

Linearly Extended Pyrylium Salts (Leps) And Linearly Extended Thiopyrylium Salts (Lets) As Organic Semiconductors, Jianyu Zhao

Doctoral Dissertations

Research focused on the development of a new class of n-type organic semiconductors called linearly extended pyrylium salts (LEPS) and linearly extended thiopyrylium salts (LETS). While a lot of progress has been made on p-type organic semiconductors over the last decade, less attention has been paid to n-type organic semiconductors. Pyrylium and thiopyrylium cations are aromatic structures akin to benzene but with one methine carbon (CH) replaced by either a positively charged oxygen or sulfur atom, respectively. This makes these aromatic π-systems very electron-deficient. With pentacene-like backbones, LEPS and LETS compounds combine linearly conjugated π-systems of acenes with the highly …

Liberation Through Listening: Learning From Student Veterans In The Composition Classroom, Sarah Beth Franco

Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, I employ a qualitative study to explore experiences of student veterans in introductory writing classrooms. Drawing on the theories of feminist standpoint (Harding, 1986) and rhetorical listening (Ratcliffe, 2005), I describe the current cultural divide between members of the military and civilians (Pew Research Center, 2011) and identify several ways teachers of college level introductory writing classes can bridge this gap to more effectively connect with student veterans at the classroom level and raise awareness about the unique situations of student veterans at the institutional level. Survey data inquiring into student veterans’ experiences in writing classrooms was …

Using The Plasma Free Amino Acid Dose Response Method To Determine Metabolizable Protein Concentrations Of Lysine And Methionine In Rumen Protected Supplements, Nancy Lee Whitehouse

Doctoral Dissertations

Balancing diets for lysine (Lys) and methionine (Met) in dairy rations is becoming a regular practice in today’s industry. In order to be able to use rumen-protected AA (RPAA) in those diets a method to assess the efficacy and bioavailability needs to be proposed. The objective of the following studies was to propose the acceptance of the plasma free AA dose-response technique as a standardized methodology for evaluating RPAA in lactating dairy cows. Thirteen dose-response Latin square studies using ruminally-cannulated multiparous Holstein cows were conducted. Regression analysis of the slopes against the difference between plasma Lys concentration of basal and …

Overcoming Violations Of Real-World Knowledge In A Fantasy-World Text, Erinn K. Walsh

Doctoral Dissertations

Fantasy-text is a genre in which events routinely violate the rules we know to be true in the real-world. In six experiments I explored the inherent conflict between unrealistic fictional events and general world knowledge (GWK) to examine these competing sources of information within the context of extended fantasy-narrative. Experiments I-III demonstrated that fantasy-unrelated violations caused measurable disruption to the comprehension of an extended fantasy narrative despite an abundance of contextual support for real-world impossible events that violate GWK. Experiments IV and V demonstrated that fantasy-related violations caused measurable disruption when they occurred at the local level and the fantasy-context …

On Tensor Autoequivalences Of Graded Fusion Categories, Ian Swenson Marshall

Doctoral Dissertations

Fusion categories generalize the representation theory of finite groups. The simplest examples of fusion categories come from finite groups, their representations, and their cohomology. In general, it is useful to examine group theoretical features of fusion categories such as groups of (isomorphism classes of) tensor invertible objects, and gradings by finite groups. Indeed, every fusion category has a maximal pointed subcategory (generated by tensor invertible objects) and a universal grading by a finite group. We use such features to study tensor autoequivalences.

Pointed fusion categories: categories for which all simple objects are tensor invertible, provide our prototype for graded fusion …

Channeled Whelk (Busycotypus Canaliculatus) Ecology In Relation To The Fishery In Vineyard And Nantucket Sounds, Massachusetts, Shelley Ann Edmundson

Doctoral Dissertations

Channeled whelks (Busycotypus canaliculatus) are predatory marine gastropods that support lucrative commercial fisheries along the east coast of the United States, with areas around Massachusetts supplying the largest landings. In the absence of a more thorough and comprehensive understanding of channeled whelk biology, it is unclear how to sustainably manage their fisheries. Within this dissertation, various aspects of whelk ecology were investigated to determine how to protect this species, while effectively managing the local fishery.

Early life history experiments revealed channeled whelk egg strings may incubate for 8 to 9 months in MA water temperatures. Incubation period decreased with increasing …

Computationally Efficient Specifications Of Spatial Point Process Models And Spatio-Temporal Gaussian Models: Combining Remote Sensing Drivers With Geospatial Disease Case Data To Enhance Geographic Epidemiology, Beth Louise Ziniti

Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, the flexibility of Bayesian hierarchical models specified using a latent Gaussian Markov Random Field (GMRF) are evaluated for use in analyzing large complex spatial and spatio-temporal data with the goal of contributing to an interdisciplinary effort of developing an eco-epidemiological model that quantifies the relationship between remotely sensed water quality and the incidence of ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s Disease) over large areas such as Northern New England (NNE).

In particular, a Log-Gaussian Cox Process (LGCP) specified by the logarithm of a GMRF on a regular lattice is shown to allow for simultaneous estimation of …

Passive Microwave Satellite Snow Observations For Hydrologic Applications, Carrie Micheline Vuyovich

Doctoral Dissertations

Melting snow provides an essential source of water in many regions of the world and can also contribute to devastating, wide-scale flooding. The objective of this research was to investigate the potential for passive microwave remotely sensed data to characterize snow water equivalent (SWE) and snowmelt across diverse regions and snow regimes to improve snowmelt runoff estimation. The first step was to evaluate the current, empirically-based passive microwave SWE products compared to NOAA’s operational SWE estimates from SNODAS across 2100 watersheds over eight years. The best agreement was found within basins in which maximum annual SWE is less than 200 …

Essays In The Economics Of Long-Term Care Utilization, Jonathan Robert Hurdelbrink

Doctoral Dissertations

This research examines three factors – macroeconomic conditions, the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, and inter-vivos transfers – that influence both the availability of long-term care services and the use of these services. The first essay explores how changes in the macroeconomy, specifically the 2007-2009 “Great Recession,” affect the utilization of paid and unpaid long-term care services. It is theoretically unclear how long-term care use should be affected by such downturns, as an individual’s health status, wealth, insurance coverage and access to care are all likely to change during a significant downturn such as the “Great Recession.” Using data from …

"Smoking-Gun" Observables Of Magnetic Reconnection: Spatiotemporal Evolution Of Electron Characteristics Throughout The Diffusion Region, Jason Shuster

Doctoral Dissertations

How does magnetic reconnection happen in a collisionless plasma? Knowledge of electron-scale dynamics is necessary to answer this outstanding question of plasma physics. Based on fully kinetic particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations of symmetric reconnection, the spatiotemporal evolution of velocity distribution functions in and around the electron diffusion region (EDR) elucidates how electrons are accelerated and heated by the cooperating reconnection electric and normal magnetic fields. The discrete, triangular structures characteristic of EDR distributions rotate and gyrotropize in velocity space as electrons remagnetize, forming multicomponent arc and ring structures. Further downstream, exhaust electrons are found to exhibit highly structured, time-dependent anisotropies that …

Dynamics Of A Submersible Mussel Raft, Tobias Dewhurst

Doctoral Dissertations

The dynamics of a submersible mussel raft were analyzed using wave tank testing, numerical modeling, and full-scale field tests. When submerged, the raft’s pontoons are flooded, and it is held vertically by lines attached to surface floats and horizontally by a spread mooring. This submerged configuration is used to reduce wave forcing and to avoid contact with floating ice during winters in northern waters. During the prototype design process, numerical modeling in the program Aqua-FE™ indicated that the submerged configuration exhibited significantly less heave (vertical) and pitch (rotational) motion than the surfaced configuration. Subsequent 1/10 Froude-scaled wave tank testing validated …

Transport Of Heat And Momentum In Non-Equilibrium Wall-Bounded Flows, Alireza Ebadi

Doctoral Dissertations

Transport of momentum and heat in non-equilibrium wall-bounded flows is studied analytically and experimentally to better understand the underlying physics, transition dynamics, and appropriate flow scaling in non-equilibrium flows. Non-equilibrium flows, in which the mean flow time scales are comparable to turbulent flow time scales, do not exhibit universal behaviors and cannot be characterized only in terms of local parameters. Pressure gradients, fast transients and complex geometries are among the sources that can perturb a flow from an equilibrium state to a non-equilibrium state. Since all or some of these perturbation sources are present in many engineering application relevant flow …

Ipm2.0: Precision Agriculture For Small-Scale Crop Production, Matt Wallhead

Doctoral Dissertations

In order to manage pests impacting New England crop production integrated pest management (IPM) practices should be reevaluated or updated regularly to ensure that effective control of crop pests is being achieved. Three fungal taxa, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, C. acutatum, and Glomerella cingulata, are currently associated with bitter-rot of apple (Malus domestica), with C. acutatum typically being the dominant species found in the northeastern United States. However, a recent phylogenetic study demonstrated that both C. gloeosporioides and C. acutatum are species complexes with over 10 distinct species being recovered from apple between the two studies. Based on this recent information, the …

Reasons For Revealing And Concealing Interpersonal Trauma, Sidney Bennett

Doctoral Dissertations

Prior research has documented the role that revealing and concealing interpersonal violence has on health outcomes for victims (e.g., Ullman, 2010). The present paper aims to add to the existing research by presenting a new model, The Revealing and Concealing Process Model for Interpersonal Trauma, to describe the process that occurs when victims reveal or conceal interpersonal violence. The second stage of the model (i.e., reasons for revealing/concealing interpersonal violence) was tested by: 1. Creating a measure to assess the reasons for revealing and concealing interpersonal violence and 2. Identifying whether getting goals met for revealing/concealing is related to health …

A Mixed Methods Study Of The Effects Of Family-­‐Centered Transition Planning On The Quality Of Transition Individualized Education Plans Of Youth With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Alan James Kurtz

Doctoral Dissertations

Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) have typically experienced poor outcomes as they have transitioned from school to adult life. Quality school-­‐based transition planning has been found to improve outcomes for youth with disabilities in general. This mixed-­‐methods study was designed to examine the effects of a family-­‐ centered transition planning project on the transition Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) of youth with ASD. Thirty-­‐nine youth with ASD and their families were randomly assigned to either an intervention group or control group. Pre-­‐ and post-­‐intervention IEPs were collected for each youth. The IEPs were analyzed to determine differences in changes to …

Using Your Mind To Train Your Body: An Experimental Autobiographical Memory Intervention For Adolescent Physical Activity, Mathew Biondolillo

Doctoral Dissertations

Developmentally, physical activity levels tend to decline from adolescence to early adulthood. Adolescent physical activity programs have been largely ineffective, leading to a call for new low-cost interventions. This study examined the effects of an autobiographical memory intervention on adolescent physical activity. Over six weeks, students (N = 558) in a New England middle school completed questionnaires and were timed weekly in physical education classes while training for a school-wide race. During Week Three, some students were asked to provide a positive motivational physical activity memory and others a control memory. Students indicated their intentions to be physical active, completed …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Silver Nanowire Suspensions For Printable Conductive Media, Shohreh Hemmati

Doctoral Dissertations

The focus of this study is on synthesis of silver nanowires (AgNWs) for conductive inks suitable for economical screen printing of conductive grids on solar panels. AgNWs were synthesized by a polyol process in both batch and continuous reactors, and a reaction mechanism was described. The morphology, diameter, and length of silver nanostructures were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The polyol synthesis was optimized by implementation of a parametric study and Design of Experiment (DoE) procedure to maximize the yield of AgNWs. AgNWs with high aspect ratio and high quality were also synthesized by the polyol process in a …

Quantifying The Role Of The Seed Population In Radiation Belt Dynamics, Alexander Boyd

Doctoral Dissertations

The dynamics of the radiation belts depend on a delicate balance of source and loss processes. One such source process that has been shown to be effective is local acceleration, where 10s-100s keV seed electrons are accelerated via wave-particle interactions up to energies >1 MeV. Historically, much of the focus of radiation belt research has been on the dynamics of these >1 MeV electrons, and the role and importance of the seed electrons has been largely overlooked. In this thesis, we use phase space density calculated using data from the Van Allen Probes, to directly investigate seed population for a …

What Is Self-Potential And How Does It Relate To Personal Intelligence?, Bonnie Ann Barlow

Doctoral Dissertations

Intelligence is an important ability that we use in our everyday lives to understand people, such as choosing the best partner to work with on a project. Personal intelligence is the ability to “reason about personality and its processes, as applied to one’s self and others” (Mayer, Panter & Caruso, 2012). The Test of Personal Intelligence (TOPI) was developed to test this important ability. If the TOPI measures people’s ability to understand their own and other’s personality, as personal intelligence increases so should a person’s level of self-potential. This idea was tested in two studies by conducting correlations between the …

Modular And Dynamic Approaches To The Formation Of Single-Chain Polymer Nanoparticles, Bryan Tyler Tuten

Doctoral Dissertations

The methodology towards the creation of nanoscale polymeric objects by way of the folding of single polymer chains has been enjoying success in the field of polymer chemistry and materials science. By synthesizing polymer chains with built in functionality either through functional side groups, or direct incorporation into the polymer backbone, polymer chemists are able to fold single polymer chains onto themselves through a broad range of covalent and non-covalent interactions in dilute solution. These compact, nano-sized objects can now be used in a wide arrange of functions and applications.

The aim of this dissertation is to provide first, a …