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Scanning Probe Microscopy Studies Of Petroleum Chemistry: Substrate-Dependent Catalytic Properties Of Mos2 And Automating Scanning Probe Microscopy With Machine Learning, Steven Arias

Doctoral Dissertations

With the growth of the population, society’s energy demands are mostly reliant on petroleum products that come from the refining of crude oil. Most of these refining reactions have been developed through averaging spectroscopic techniques, but scientists do not know exactly what is happening in these processes at the nano and atomic levels. This information is crucial when designing an efficient refining process that produces petroleum products that emit fewer harmful gases when combusting. Scanning probe microscopy techniques have become a powerful tool to look into the chemical structures found in petroleum products, to understand catalytic reactions in refining processes, …

Embedding Explicit Metacognitive Instruction Into The General Chemistry Curriculum: Equipping Community College Students With 21st Century Stem Competencies, Sonja Gamby

Doctoral Dissertations

This work describes the development, implementation, and assessment of a curriculum- embedded metacognition instruction model. The Talking About Learning is Key (TALK) module, a 10-week, discussion-based instruction module was initially integrated into a general chemistry course at a community college in Spring 2020. This case study was assessed qualitatively using a thematic analysis to characterize student posts and replies to the Learning Management System discussion board. Course outcomes between Spring 2020 – Fall 2021 were analyzed to determine what effect participation had on course completion and final grade.Finally, the generalizability of the module was investigated using a focused case comparison …

“They Turn To Violence”: Active Shootings And The Convergence Of Hegemonic Masculinity, Race, And Perceived Injustice, Linda M. Fogg

Doctoral Dissertations

Public rampage shootings like Parkland, FL, the Las Vegas concert shooting, and Sandy Hook are a type of crime that captures national attention. As media covers these incidents and the perpetrators of them, they seek to explain why someone would commit such violence. Using active shooter data for incidents that occurred between 2000 and 2019, I examine shooter identity with particular focus on the shooter’s race, an often-unreported statistic. Finding 55.4% of active shooters are white men, interviews with 20 white men and 10 white women are analyzed for explanations for white men’s violence. These men and women describe active …

A Mixed Methods Approach To Social License To Operate For Aquaculture: Understanding How Broad Public Perceptions And Local Company Actions Influence Community Acceptance, Emily H. Whitmore

Doctoral Dissertations

With aquaculture development becoming increasingly important in meeting global food needs, understanding social dynamics of development is essential. Social license to operate (SLO), a concept that describes community acceptance and approval of incoming industry, offers a lens into these dynamics and possible strategies for successful development. Using a mixed-methods approach, this project aimed to investigate how broad public perceptions and local company actions influence social license to operate in aquaculture. First, a systematic literature review of SLO studies identified perceptions that would likely condition a community’s willingness to issue social license, independent of company actions. These predictors included environmental values, …

Examining Empathy During An Initial Nutrition Counseling Session Through Video-Cued Narrative Reflection, Kevin Joseph Pietro

Doctoral Dissertations

Empathy is considered critical to client-centered care within the broader nutrition profession. Through empathy, practitioners are said to recognize the individual experience better, support client/patient autonomy, and encourage collaboration in decision-making regarding treatment. However, the literature on empathy is fraught with conceptual disagreement and methodological misalignment, which has resulted in a limited understanding of the role and presence of empathy within a nutrition counseling session. Additionally, research conducted on nutrition undergraduate students using self-reported questionnaires may offer insight into students’ perceived/believed tendencies related to empathy but fail to provide evidence of empathy during a patient/client interaction. Given the current landscape, …

Characterizing New Hampshire Salt Marshes Using Geospatial Technologies, Michael R. Routhier

Doctoral Dissertations

Salt marshes are coastal wetlands flooded regularly by saltwater tides and terrestrial runoff. They are highly productive and dynamic ecosystems that provide many benefits to the environment and humans. These benefits are at risk by many natural and anthropogenic drivers that are affecting the distribution of their vegetation species. Previous research shows that salt marsh vegetation around New England has been shifting from less flood-tolerant species to more flood-tolerant species in recent decades. Monitoring these ecosystems can be helpful in providing policymakers with the information they need to promote mitigation and restoration efforts for these environments. Remote sensing is one …

Deep Learning Based Predictive Models For Performance Enhancement In Bio Medical Applications, Sajila Dimagi Wickramaratne

Doctoral Dissertations

The medical field produces large quantities of multidimensional, complex, and often unstructured data. The timely interpretation of medical data is crucial for medical diagnostics. Machine learning applications are increasingly becoming popular with the ever-increasing computational ability and data availability. Machine learning methods can potentially find complicated relationships that may not be apparent in traditional clinical decision rule systems used in medical applications. Models deployed in medical applications need to be reliable, time efficient, and easy to interpret, thus making working with biosignals challenging in some cases.

The first part of the dissertation focuses on building predictive systems using existing data …

Modernism On The Edge Of The Anthropocene: The Ecological Imagination Of Forster, West, Warner, Woolf, And Eliot, Leanna Jean Lostoski-Ho

Doctoral Dissertations

By reading modernist literature on the edge of the Anthropocene, I argue in this dissertation that modernist authors, through the experimental aesthetics of their works, are able to articulate the beginnings of anthropogenic climate change in the early-twentieth century. The early-twentieth century, and particularly the interwar period, in which British modernist authors such as E. M. Forster, Rebecca West, Sylvia Townsend Warner, Virginia Woolf, and T. S. Eliot were writing coincides with the early-twentieth-century ramp up period of human activity rising to the level of a geological force before the beginning of the Anthropocene. While this dissertation does not argue …

Type 3 Adenylyl Cyclase, Neuronal Primary Cilia, And Hippocampus-Dependent Memory Formation, Yuxin Zhou

Doctoral Dissertations

Primary cilia are microtubule-based cellular antennae present in most vertebrate cells including neurons. Neuronal primary cilia have abundant expression of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) and downstream cAMP signaling components such as type 3 adenylyl cyclase (AC3). The deflects of neuronal cilia is associated with many memory-related disorders, such as intellectual disability. Thus far, little is known about how neuronal primary cilia regulate neuronal activity and affect hippocampal memory formation. Episodic memory is thought to be encoded by sparsely distributed memory-eligible neurons in the hippocampus and neocortex. However, it is not clear how memory-eligible neurons interact with one another to form …

Cyclodextrin Impedimetric Biosensors For The Detection Of Hydrophobic Metabolites, Zahra Panahi

Doctoral Dissertations

Sepsis is a complicated medical emergency and critically ill patients suffering from infectious diseases are at a high risk for developing and dying from sepsis. According to a recent (2019) cohort study from six United States hospitals, suboptimal care (e.g., delay in antibiotics, inappropriate antibiotic therapy) is responsible for 22.7 % of in-hospital sepsis-associated deaths. In September 2020, the World Health Organization called on the scientific community to develop rapid, effective, and affordable tools to improve diagnosis, surveillance, and treatment of sepsis. Our long-term goal throughout this project is to develop a cyclodextrin (CD) impedimetric tongue that can provide early …

Gli3 Is Required For M2 Macrophage Polarization And M2-Mediated Waldenström Macroglobulinemia Growth And Survival, Ava J. Boutilier

Master's Theses and Capstones

The macrophage polarization paradigm has become at the forefront of cancer research in recent years; however, the effects of this phenomenon have yet to be investigated in Waldenström Macroglobulinemia (WM). WM is an indolent, B-cell lymphoma, characterized by increased IgM production and infiltration of the bone marrow niche by malignant cells. Macrophages may polarize to one of 2 phenotypes: M1, which is inflammatory or M2, which is inhibitory. While macrophage polarization is typically investigated as a singular point in time, it is important to understand that M2-type macrophages can switch to an M1 phenotype, or vice versa, based on environmental …

Unions As Gendered Institutions: The Effects Of Union Membership And Occupational Gender Composition On Parental Leave Access, Meghan Cormier-O'Leary

Master's Theses and Capstones

In the absence of a national universal paid parental leave policy, access to parental leave is stratified in the United States. While several states have implemented paid family leave policies, workers typically rely on their employers to provide such a benefit. Previous qualitative research demonstrates that the share of women in labor unions may influence the provision offamily-friendly benefits. I utilize two nationally-representative datasets—the 2017-18 American Time Use Survey and the 2013-2017 American Community Survey—to analyze the relationship between union membership, occupational gender composition, and their interaction on access to paid and unpaid parental leave. Using weighted logistic regressions, I …

Using Imagery Collected By An Unmanned Aerial System To Monitor Cyanobacteria In New Hampshire, Usa, Lakes, Christine Bunyon

Master's Theses and Capstones

With the increasing occurrence and growing public health concern that cyanobacteria blooms pose, it is crucial that we continue to explore ways to improve our ability to accurately, efficiently, and safely monitor water quality in impacted lakes. Also known as blue-green algae, cyanobacteria are naturally occurring in many waters globally. Cyanobacteria harmful algal blooms (CHABs) release various toxins which can cause skin irritations and dog fatalities while the effects of long-term exposure to the neurotoxins for humans has stirred additional studies. Although possibly harmful if CHABs are present, monitoring this biological component is nonetheless an integral factor when studying freshwater …

Sub-Canopy Path Planning For Snow Depth Remote Sensing Using Autonomous Multi-Uavs, Debarpan Bhowmick

Master's Theses and Capstones

NASA studies indicate that 68% of the Earth’s fresh water exists in the form of snow andice. As such, analyzing global snow fall patterns is a useful tool with which scientists can extract the quantity of fresh water present in both the atmosphere and on the ground at any given time. The goal of this research is to leverage autonomous Unpiloted Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to measure snow depth on the forest floor via sub-canopy flight. To enable such remote sensing missions, overhead Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) scans are used to aid in pre-determined UAV flight path planning. This results …

Right Neural Substrates Of Language And Music Processing Left Out: Activation Likelihood Estimation (Ale) And Meta-Analytic Connectivity Modelling (Macm), Lauren C. Keith

Master's Theses and Capstones

Introduction: Language and music processing have been investigated in neuro-based research for over a century. However, consensus of independent and shared neural substrates among the domains remains elusive due to varying neuroimaging methodologies. Identifying functional connectivity in language and music processing via neuroimaging meta-analytic methods provides neuroscientific knowledge of higher cognitive domains and normative models may guide treatment development in communication disorders based on principles of neural plasticity.

Methods: Using BrainMap software and tools, the present coordinate-based meta-analysis analyzed 65 fMRI studies investigating language and music processing in healthy adult subjects. We conducted activation likelihood estimates (ALE) in language processing, …

Quantifying And Modeling The Effects Of Internal Waves On Synthetic Aperture Sonar, Nicholas Anthony La Manna

Master's Theses and Capstones

Synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) is based on synthetic aperture radar, with a number of key factors increasing the complexity of data collection. One of the assumptions made with respect to SAS image reconstruction is the presence of a constant sound speed. As a nearfield imaging system, SAS is sensitive to the breaking of this assumption. The sound speed in the ocean varies with depth. Variations in sound speed can come in the form of internal waves. Internal waves propagating up the slope of the continental shelf are subject to breaking mechanisms that result in the propagation of boluses shoreward. Internal …

The Effects Of Hatchery Stressors On Growth, Aggression, And Cannibalism Of Juvenile Lumpfish, Shelby Perry

Master's Theses and Capstones

Due to the high demand for cleanerfish in salmonid ocean farming operations, increasing lumpfish hatchery production and rearing efficiency are of great importance. Juvenile lumpfish are cannibalistic which is controlled, to some extent, through frequent size grading of the fish, however, cannibalism still occurs. Understanding and mitigating factors that exacerbate aggressive behaviors in juvenile lumpfish, which can lead to cannibalism, would help achieve the goal of increasing juvenile production in the hatchery. We hypothesize that lumpfish cannibalism is linked to a specific ontogenetic period related to fish size rather than age and can be exacerbated by various stressors such as …

Legacy Effects Of Land Cover And Land Use On Painted Turtle (Chrysemys Picta) Populations Over A 20-Year Period In Southeastern New Hampshire, Benjamin Phillips

Master's Theses and Capstones

More than half of all freshwater turtles and tortoises are threatened with extinction. Human land use practices and land cover conversion often decrease adult turtle survivorship and dampen the reproductive potential of turtle populations. The ability to make informed conservation and management decisions depends on understanding the relative impacts of different landscape contexts on turtle populations, and the spatial extent over which they have an impact. We surveyed painted turtle (Chrysemys picta) populations along an urbanization gradient in southeastern New Hampshire, USA to assess the relative impact of land cover, land use, and chemical contaminants on population density and sex …

Cultivating Commitment: How Cultural Ecosystem Services Affect Visitor Loyalty In Parks And Protected Areas, Thomas James Robinson

Master's Theses and Capstones

Parks and protected areas (PPAs) provide essential ecosystem services to society, including both the material and non-material benefits obtained from healthy ecosystems. While research on this topic has mainly focused on material-based ecosystem services, limited attention has been given to the benefits of non-material cultural ecosystem services (CES) such as recreation, history, and culture. Visitor loyalty refers to an individual’s commitment and willingness to return to a PPA in perpetuity and is influenced by various factors, including the quality of the recreation experience and the ecological integrity of a natural resource. CES may significantly influence visitor loyalty in PPAs, as …

The Impact Of Thiamin (B1) And Its Precursors On Microzooplankton-Phytoplankton Interactions, Sara Smith

Master's Theses and Capstones

Phytoplankton, marine microalgae that are the base of the oceanic food web, significantly influence the flow of essential nutrients throughout marine ecosystems. In particular, phytoplankton have been implicated in the cycling of the vitamin thiamin (B1) and its components 4-methyl-5-thiazoleethanol (HET) and 4-amino-5-hydroxymethyl-2-methylpyrimidine (HMP). These compounds are essential to many marine microbes but are found in relatively small concentrations (<500 pM) throughout the earth’s oceans. Despite the importance of these vitamins in fueling marine microbial growth, very little is understood regarding their sources and sinks. To better understand the impacts of vitamins on phytoplankton growth and interactions with microzooplankton grazers, 20 dilution experiments spiked with additions of B1, HET, or HMP were conducted. These were performed across seasons, and examined changes not only in bulk chlorophyll concentration, but also in size-specific growth and grazing rates. No clear patterns in rate changes in response to additions of B1 or precursors were observed. Additionally, often vitamin addition resulted in compound-dependent significant changes in growth and loss rates. No significant changes in rates were found to correlate with starting phytoplankton abundance, suggesting that the composition of the starting phytoplankton community played a large role in mediating the response to vitamin addition relative to total abundance. Overall, these findings highlight the complexity and importance of understanding the sources and sinks of B1 and its components in the marine environment.

Advancing A Design For Trusted Community Bathymetry, Daniel Tauriello

Master's Theses and Capstones

The design for a Trusted Community Bathymetry (TCB) system, presented in Calder et al., 2020, demonstrates a data collection system capable of collecting precisely geo-referenced depth soundings from any navigational echosounder installed on a volunteer vessel. The TCB system is capable of autonomously determining any vertical installation offset with respect to the waterline, and provides sufficient guarantees of data quality to allow the soundings to be considered for hydrographic use.

This thesis presents two contributions to advance the original TCB system design. First, it capitalizes on the widespread availability of low-cost sidescan modules in the recreational sonar market by describing …

Alexandrium Spp. And Pseudo-Nitzschia Spp. Cohabitation In The Gulf Of Maine, Tiffany Winter

Master's Theses and Capstones

Globally, harmful algal blooms are a severe issue for marine ecosystems, animals, and humans both ecologically and economically. The Gulf of Maine is no stranger to harmful algal blooms, specifically the dinoflagellate, Alexandrium catenella, that has routinely been forming toxic blooms since the early 1970s. In 2016, a new species, the diatom Pseudo-nitzschia spp. formed a massive bloom and has had annual blooms since. Anecdotally, these two species do not bloom concurrently, suggesting there may be specific environmental conditions that promote bloom formation for each species. The intent of this research is to uncover potential parameters that are affecting bloom …

Characterization Of Arthropod Communities And The Environmental Variables That Influence Them, Christopher Ziadeh

Master's Theses and Capstones

Arthropods are active during the winter in temperate regions, and many use seasonal snowpack to buffer themselves from harsh ambient conditions in a refugium known as the subnivium, an area that occurs under the snowpack and above the soil. This thesis focuses on subnivium arthropod communities, how they differ from summer communities, and how silvicultural management influences these communities. Arthropods were collected using modified pitfall traps from the Second College Grant, a forested township in northern New Hampshire which has areas of land dedicated to the Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change study. In the first chapter of this thesis we …

Physiological And Biochemical Responses To Salt And Cadmium Stress And It’S Amelioration By Exogenous Application Of Polyamines In Hybrid Poplar (Populus Nigra X Maximowiczii, Clone Nm6), Sanchari Kundu

Master's Theses and Capstones

The importance of nitrogen metabolism in plants in response to abiotic stress is widely known. Plant growth is severely hampered by abiotic stress, and appropriate nitrogen supply helps in plant growth and improves stress tolerance. At the same time, the regulation of nitrogen metabolism depends on the stress intensity. Abiotic stress can occur due to natural calamities, improper use of hazardous chemicals from industries, and careless environmental dumping of these chemicals. Hence, soils contaminated with hazardous chemicals are a significant threat to the development and yield of plants. Plants are affected by various abiotic stresses, i.e., salt, drought, and heavy …

Improving The Sustainability Of The Channeled Whelk (Busycotypus Canaliculatus) Fishery: An Investigation Into Alternative Baits, Feeding Behavior, And Circadian Rhythms, Mary Munley

Master's Theses and Capstones

The channeled whelk (Busycotypus canaliculatus) is a large predatory marine gastropod that supports an important commercial fishery along the eastern coast of the United States. Channeled whelk fisheries are state regulated, with each state enforcing slightly different regulations. In Massachusetts, the fishery is regulated by the Massachusetts’s Division of Marine Fisheries (MA DMF). Massachusetts’ channeled whelk landings peaked in 2012 at 3.6 million lbs., valued at $6.2 million. Since 2012, landings have decreased, 766,975 lbs. were landed in 2021 worth $3.1 million. Catch per unit effort (CPUE; lbs per trap haul) has also steadily decreased, indicating the resource is likely …

Effects Of Tag Type And Environment On Migratory Success Of Sockeye Salmon (Oncorhynchus Nerka) Smolts Through A Counting Fence, Tyler Parent

Master's Theses and Capstones

Understanding behavior and quantifying survival is vital to the conservation of anadromous fishes. Sockeye Salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) are one of the most economically and culturally important fish in the world, but some populations are declining, particularly in the Fraser River watershed in British Columbia, Canada. Within the Fraser River basin, Chilko Lake is one of the most prolific Sockeye Salmon populations, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has operated a counting fence at the mouth of the river for several decades to enumerate outmigrating smolts. Previous studies identified the clear water landscapes immediately downstream of the fence as high-risk, with …

The Effect Of Hypoxia On Gli Expression And Their Downstream Effect In Waldenström Macroglobulinemia, Estefania Yzar-Garcia

Master's Theses and Capstones

Waldenström macroglobulinemia (WM) is a sub-type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma associated with excess secretion of immunoglobulin M (IgM) and the infiltration of the bone marrow by lymphoplasmacytic cells. There is a dynamic oxygen gradient consumption and diffusion in the tumor microenvironment, leading to regions of hypoxia (1-3% O2 concentration). GLI1, GLI2 and GLI3 are members of the family of Kruppel-like factors with highly conserved Zinc finger DNA-binding domains in mammalian cells. They signal trough the Hedgehog pathway which is a conserved pathway among species and is crucial in fundamental development processes and tissue homeostasis. They can also signal trough non-canonical pathways …

Quantitative Confidence, Sarah Schaier

UNH Today Archive

No abstract provided.

Empathy Meditation To Soothe Division, Kaley Lambert

Comm-entary

In that widespread lack of empathy and the presence of excess stress may be contributing factors toward harsh social division in the United States, programs to increase empathy and decrease stress may help to soothe these issues. Classrooms act as spaces which may be specially suited to trial and implement such programs. This research presents the foundational backing for such programs, and offers a detailed proposal for one set within the structure of a college level course.

Soundscapes And Seascapes, Nicholas Gosling

UNH Today Archive

No abstract provided.