Digital Commons Network^™

Knowing Me, Knowing You: The Role Of Personal Intelligence In Romantic Relationship Conflict Communication, Victoria Bryan

Doctoral Dissertations

People bring to their relationships a variety of personality traits that guide their interactions with others. However, an individual’s unique set of needs, preferences and skills can make conflict a near-inevitable part of most relationships. Personal intelligence is a promising new construct with implications for how couples communicate during conflict. Named in parallel with spatial, social, and similar intelligences, personal intelligence involves the ability to reason about the personality of oneself and others. People high in personal intelligence show an increased capacity to recognize the motives that guide other’s behavior, which they use to adjust how they approach their interpersonal …

Conditionally Automated Vehicles As A Safe And Productive Workspace, Nabil Al Nahin Ch

Doctoral Dissertations

Future automated vehicles will allow drivers to reclaim some of their driving time and perform personal or work-related activities while the car is in automated driving mode. However, traditional automotive user interfaces (UIs) are not designed to support such activities. For a vehicle to be considered a safe and productive workspace, we will have to explore how drivers can interact with emerging UIs in a car to engage in complex non-driving related tasks (NDRTs) and safely resume driving when needed. In the second chapter of this thesis, we present a user-elicitation study where we investigate how drivers would want to …

Acoustic Waveform Optimization For Three-Dimensional Object Geometries, Justin Ng

Doctoral Dissertations

In recent years, deep learning (DL) has become an increasingly important tool for many different types of classification, identification, and related problems including inverse radar and sonar applications. This thesis studies the degree to which radar and sonar systems may be optimized for DL algorithms in a theoretical setting. Most of the current existing literature found on using DL involve solving a full inverse scattering problem (ISP), that is to determine the properties and/or geometry of the scatter from nearly complete measurements of the scattered field. Methods suitable for use in two-dimensional space have been proposed and demonstrated with varying …

Essays On Immigration, Bikramjit Saha

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines the impacts of immigration on the domestic labor market in theUnited States and its interaction with international trade of goods by domestic industries. The dissertation contributes to two distinct strands of literature, literature on the welfare effects of immigration focusing on the changes in immigration in the United States since the election of President Trump, and the literature on immigration-trade linkages, focusing on the role of immigrants in the United States in absorbing adverse trade shocks to the economy as well as their role in generating positive trade for the economy. This dissertation offers sufficient support for …

Non-Equilibrium Multiphase Particle Morphologies: Synthesis, Functionalization & Modeling, Yung-Chun Lin

Doctoral Dissertations

Waterborne technology highlights the advantage of using water as the dispersed media to replace the need for organic solvents. Emulsion polymerization is one of the most important techniques to produce functional polymer colloids of industrial importance. Besides the choice of monomers in the reaction, composite particle morphology significantly influences the mechanical properties of the materials in the applications of architectural coatings, adhesives, printing inks, and impact resistant plastics. Generally, emulsion polymerization produces spherical particles in the presence of water due to surface tension forces. In seeded emulsion polymerization, composite particles containing two incompatible phases can lead to various anomalous structures …

Resiliency And Sustainability Of Drinking Water Systems Under Long Term And Emergency Contamination, Taler S. Bixler

Doctoral Dissertations

This PhD dissertation is dedicated to the understanding and enhancement of the sustainability of public drinking water systems, addressing both emerging contaminants and emergency contamination events. A key focus is placed on comprehending the tradeoffs encompassing public health, economic, and environmental aspects associated with different actions aimed at improving system resiliency. By providing drinking water authorities with the tools and methodologies to evaluate available options, this research aims to empower decision-makers in their efforts to strengthen their drinking water systems against a myriad of threats.

This dissertation commences by investigating the tradeoffs related to the treatment of PFAS-contaminated water. The …

Black Phosphorus/Carbon Nitride Heterojunctions For Solar Fuel Generation, Nicholas Pollak

Doctoral Dissertations

Solar fuel generation has garnered attention in recent years as a renewable source for syngas (hydrogen and carbon monoxide) evolution. Difficulty in designing one-pot systems that can generate tunable ratios of hydrogen and carbon monoxide gases has persisted. In this thesis, a photocatalytic system for the generation of syngas under simulated solar irradiance is described that satisfies these challenges using black phosphorus (BP) and carbon nitride loaded with Co2+ active sites (Co@C3N4) to form a heterojunction. This thesis will present the ability to tune the syngas ratio by controlling the %wt of BP in the heterojunction. The oxidative power of …

Effects Of Dietary Cation Anion Difference And Nicotinic Acid Supplementation On Jersey Prepartum Cows, Colostrum, And Calves And Creating A Model For The Prediction Of Colostrum Quality And Quantity In Jersey Cows From Performance In The Previous Lactation And Environmental Changes, Tess Catherine Stahl

Doctoral Dissertations

Two experiments were conducted. The objectives of the first experiment were to evaluate colostrum quantity, quality, nutrient composition, and bioactive compounds from Jersey cows fed two levels of dietary cation anion difference (DCAD; –40 or –80 mEq/kg) with or without 23 g/d unprotected nicotinic acid (NA) and its effect on cow and calf performance. The hypothesis is that both DCAD and nicotinic acid could improve colostrum quality, increase quantity and bioactive compound concentration, and improve calf intestinal development. Previous research indicated the benefits of supplementing NA in prepartum Holsteins towards improved colostrum quality, as well as enhanced feed efficiency (FE) …

Affecting Martensitic Transformation And Residual Stress Development Through Stress Superposition And Incremental Forming, Elizabeth Marie Mamros

Doctoral Dissertations

Stress superposition is defined as the incorporation of additional stresses into an existing manufacturing process during a single operation. In this thesis, experiments, simulations, and modeling of stress superposition in sheet metal deformation were investigated. Stress superposition can be used in manufacturing to reduce forming forces, increase material formability, and tailor the final part properties of products according to their intended applications, creating so-called functionally graded materials. Austenitic stainless steels (SS) were the focus due to their susceptibility to strain-induced phase transformation from austenite to martensite based on the stress state applied. In the first chapter, a novel cruciform specimen …

Robust Behavior Cloning For Multi-Step Sequential Task Learning By Robots, Mostafa Abdallah Mohamed Hussein

Doctoral Dissertations

This research is about learning high-level policies of multi-step sequential (MSS) tasks – such as activities of daily living – from demonstrations in a sample efficient manner. This research does not assume access to a simulator or an expert to provide more demonstrations. Learning a task policy in such a setting using state-of-the-art end-to-end approaches is sample inefficient due to a reliance on deep learning frameworks, which are known to require a large amount of data. Besides that, most imitation learning frameworks in robotics assume that a domain expert’s demonstration always contains a correct way of doing the task. Despite …

The Ecology, Biology, And Biogeography Of The Invasive Red Alga Dasysiphonia Japonica (Rhodophyta: Ceramiales) In The Southern Gulf Of Maine, Brandon Scott O'Brien

Doctoral Dissertations

Many coastal ecosystems are under threat from the combined pressures of climate change and introduced species. The Gulf of Maine is one such region under siege, being one of the fastest warming bodies of water in the world and being host to a variety of introduced species. In this dissertation, I investigate the invasion potential of the invasive red alga Dasysiphonia japonica in the Gulf of Maine and beyond through a combination of field, laboratory, and modeling studies. Despite being a recent introduction, Dasysiphonia has rapidly spread along the New England coastline. In areas where it has become established, Dasysiphonia …

Essays On International Trade And The Environment, Ziba Karjoo

Doctoral Dissertations

This research is an empirical and theoretical investigation into the effect of international trade on firms’ environmental performance. In the first chapter, I explore how exports affect energy consumption. One concern about international trade is its impact on the environment: when a firm expands its output, trade increases, and so does pollution. This concern would be mitigated if exporters use "cleaner'' technologies than non-exporters. Using Chilean data, I investigate whether exports drive firms to substitute fuel, a dirty technology, for electricity, a clean technology. While I do not find a significant difference between these uses when controlling for export status, …

Physiological And Biochemical Analysis Of The Nitrogen Metabolism And Lead Treatment In Hybrid Poplar Clone Nm6 (Populus Nigra L. X P. Maximowiczii A. Henry), Medini Weerasinghe

Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACTThe first objective of my Ph.D. research was focused on understanding the reasoning for changes observed in the physiology and metabolism of the poplar plants in response to foliar application of nitrogen. Increased use of nitrogen in the soil in agriculture, in the form of nitrogen fertilizers, has helped to promote high-yield agriculture over the past decades. However, a large fraction of nitrogen applied to croplands in the form of fertilizer and manure ends up entering the freshwater system causing degradation of the water quality and eutrophication of groundwater, rivers, lakes, and coastal and marine ecosystems. Chemical fertilization is also …

An Analysis Of Fine-Scale Structure Within Ion Upwelling Processes, Niharika Godbole

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation showcases the projects that I have been involved with since I joined the Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Research Laboratory (MIRL) at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) in August 2017, under the guidance of my research advisor, Marc Lessard. Chapters 1, 2, and 3 of this dissertation are intended to provide the science background necessary to discuss the research projects presented in Chapters 4, 5, and 6 respectively.

The system that this dissertation addresses is complex and interconnected. In the most general sense, the Sun interacts with the Earth through the highly conductive, magnetized plasma that it emits, which directly shapes …

Essays In Public Policy And Mental Health, Bryce Stanley

Doctoral Dissertations

In this work I examine how various public policies can influence mental health outcomes. As mental health issues can be created or exacerbated by numerous different factors, many types of public policy can have mental health implications, perhaps not always intended by policy makers. In many cases, these implications are ambiguous from a theoretical level, making empirical research in the area important. Specifically, I model how labor market policies with minimum wages and Earned Income Tax Credit, health policy with the Dependent Coverage Mandate aspect of the Affordable Care Act, and social policy with recreational cannabis laws impact mental health …

Building An Open Source Toolkit For Integrating Multiple Datasets For Seafloor Characterization And Habitat Mapping, Massimo Di Stefano

Doctoral Dissertations

Characterizing and mapping the seafloor and its features requires collecting and analyzing datasets of varied types and scales. Remotely-sensed data can increase our understanding of seafloor processes by providing insight into seabed geomorphology, substrate characteristics, etc., over large areas. Collecting direct observations or physical samples of the seafloor, also known as ground-truth data, holds the key to interpreting and validating remote sensing data. In this thesis, the case is made that by concurrently analyzing some or all of these datasets, knowledge about seafloor processes is gained more efficiently and I develop tools for seafloor habitat mapping.

In Paper I, I …

Securing Approximate Computing Systems, Pruthvy Yellu

Doctoral Dissertations

Approximate Computing (AC) techniques have been leveraged to improve computing performance and energy efficiency with minor degradation in accuracy. Different than conventional computing, AC allows the computation to deviate from the reference or deterministic execution behavior. Thus, AC has emerged as a new paradigm of computing systems, especially for the applications such as image processing, audio recognition, and artificial intelligence. The majority of research efforts on approximate computing focus on new approximation mechanism design and implementation, rather than examining the security vulnerabilities of AC systems. To fill this gap, we first analyze the potential security threats induced by the AC …

Non-Covalent Anchoring Strategies For Hybrid Electrocatalytic Systems, Peiyuan Zhao

Doctoral Dissertations

Global climate change, induced by increasing anthropogenic emission of heat trapping gases, has drawn great attention from scientists in recent decades. Reducing carbon emissions by decreasing the usage of fossil fuels and applying low/no carbon energy sources is a promising solution for a sustainable future. Electrocatalytic proton reduction to form hydrogen, using green electricity is a practical starting point.

Recent examples of heterogenized molecular catalysts have shown promise but stable anchoring to electrode surfaces is still a challenge. Heterogeneous electrocatalysis shows much more stability, but these systems lack the selectivity provided by a molecular system when more challenging reactions are …

Symmetry, Bifurcations And Transition To Turbulence, Pratik Prashant Aghor

Doctoral Dissertations

This thesis focuses on two wall-bounded shear flows, namely, plane Poiseuille flow, where a fluid is pushed between two infinite parallel plates and radially heated Taylor-Couette flow, where a fluid is sheared between two independently rotating cylinders maintained at different temperatures. An overarching theme of this thesis is understanding and exploiting the interplay between symmetries and dynamics.

Chapter 1 presents an overview of the field of transition to turbulence and introduces the dynamical systems viewpoint of turbulence. In particular, we discuss subcritical transition to turbulence, where flows are observed to be turbulent below critical thresholds predicted by linear stability analysis. …

Nonlinear System Identification And Motion Control System Design For Uncrewed Underwater Vehicles, Oguzhan Oruc

Doctoral Dissertations

Modeling and control of marine robotics have become a conspicuous research topic in the controlengineering community in the last decade. Remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) are deployed and used in commercial, military, and scientific areas for many different purposes such as inspection and maintenance of submerged infrastructure, underwater surveillance/maritime, security, and ocean floor mapping most of which cannot be achieved effectively by human operators. However, to be able to operate these vehicles, an effective controller must be obtained, and an accurate dynamic mathematical model of the vehicle from which to design the controller is necessary. Although conventional modeling approaches are …

Rapid Retreat Of A Marine-Terminating Margin Of The Laurentide Ice Sheet In The Seacoast Region Of New Hampshire, Usa, Julia E. Brazo

Master's Theses and Capstones

A better understanding of the transition of marine-terminating margins of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) to land-based termini is instructive for monitoring modern glaciers that are currently undergoing a similar transition and influencing sea-level. Expanded knowledge of regional ice retreat rates and the timing of deglaciation of the LIS also provides insight on mechanisms of ice sheet retreat and collapse. Here we reconstruct the style and timing of ice recession and attendant marine regression in coastal New Hampshire during the last deglaciation. Our approach involves geospatial analysis of glaciomarine deposits to assess regional marine limit variability combined with 10Be surface …

The Under-Appreciated Roles Of Spatial Scale, Individual Variation, And Nonlinearity In Spatial Ecology, David Heit

Master's Theses and Capstones

Spatial ecology is a central component of ecological inquiry. In an ever-changing world facing threats including climate change, human sprawl, and novel zoonotic diseases, understanding how animals use space and make habitat decisions can be invaluable to research, management, and conservation of animal species. The techniques and technology used in spatial ecology have advanced continuously over time to provide increasingly detailed data and analyses and mitigate potential statistical biases. However, there remain many potential biases that warrant further attention in the discipline of spatial ecology. This is especially true for conceptual biases, or biases inherent to the ways in which …

Homesteading In Maine: Motivations And Current Trends, Alexandrea Merchant

Master's Theses and Capstones

People in the United States who practice the alternative lifestyle of “homesteading” seek to live self-sufficient lives by growing food, building dwellings, and living with resolute autonomy. Great variation exists in the degree of self-sufficiency attained and desired by individuals engaged in homesteading. It was the purpose of this study to illuminate the motivations underlying adopting and engagement in this lifestyle in Maine homesteaders. Through interviews with 10 homesteaders in Maine and participant observation, I documented the narratives and elucidated the motivations of this under researched group. Common themes emerged. Participants expressed concerns about personal health, the environment, and institutions. …

Impacts Of Human Development On Mammalian Wildlife In An Exurban And Rural Landscape, Mairi Poisson

Master's Theses and Capstones

Urbanization is increasing worldwide, with over half the world’s population living in urban areas. Urbanization impacts wildlife by fragmenting habitat and restricting space use, which can in turn lead to a decrease in biodiversity, ecosystem services, and species abundance. In some cases, wildlife can adapt to land-use change present in urban areas and will respond positively to urbanization. In these cases, urbanization can create new niches and enhance niche partitioning. With increased urban growth, suburban and exurban sprawl has also increased. Globally, this “exurbanization” is the most rapidly developing land use type, though research into the impacts of exurban development …

Laboratory Techniques For Measurements Of A Dynamic Water Surface, Vivek Anand Bheeroo

Master's Theses and Capstones

The free surface at an air-water interface can provide information regarding bathymetriccomplexities, as well as the subsurface flow. This work covers an exploration of optical techniques that allow for non-intrusive measurements over a wide domain of the free surface. We present a comparison of the performance of two recent advances in light-based optical techniques for free surface measurements, Total Internal Reflection-Deflectometry and Moon- Glade Background Oriented Schlieren, with the more established method of Free-Surface Synthetic Schlieren. We make use of an optical flow algorithm over the more traditional Digital Image Correlation, in order to obtain higher spatial resolution data across …

Habitat Suitability Modeling Long-Term Growth And Healthy Cover Trends Of Staghorn Coral (Acropora Cervicornis) Outplants In The Lower Florida Keys, Glenna Dyson

Master's Theses and Capstones

In the Florida Keys Acropora cervicornis has been targeted for restoration due to its importance as a reef building stony coral. Habitat suitability models have been utilized within restoration ecology to identify potential locations for outplanting. To date, habitat suitability models have used coarse spatial data of large areas throughout the Florida Keys, resulting in recommended outplant sites that restoration groups have financial and logistical limitations to access and regularly monitor, due to being far away. Additionally, outplanting success can vary widely within a limited space, necessitating improved predictive abilities of coral outplant success within a restoration site. With the …

Stand Structural Diversity, Not Functional Traits, Drives Variation In Maximum Stand Density In Old-Growth Kauri (Agathis Australis) Dominated Forests, Heidi Isabelle Giguere

Master's Theses and Capstones

Old-growth kauri (Agathis australis) dominated forests are highly diverse and species-rich, making their survival critical to maintaining global biodiversity. The ability to accurately quantify stand density in such complex forests is difficult, but important to their effective management and protection. However, studying mature versions of these forests today is unlikely due to extensive historic logging efforts and the recent onset of the prolific kauri dieback. Fortunately, an opportunity presented itself in the uncovering and reconfiguring of historic data collected across 25 old-growth kauri dominated stands by Ahmed and Ogden (1991a,b). I successfully determined the maximum stand density of these complex …

Effects Of Perennial Forage Composition And Harvest Intensity On The Weed Seedbank Community, Lilly E. Hartman

Master's Theses and Capstones

Most arable weeds arise from a resident soil seedbank and are typically controlled with tillage and herbicides, each of which pose sustainability challenges to growers and consumers. However, agronomic management practices that reduce weed seed input to the seedbank and that accelerate mortality of seeds already in the soil could reduce the need for more conventional weed control. Previous research and farmer practice has demonstrated that rotation of annual crops with several years of perennial forage can reduce weed abundance and the need for chemical weed control. In perennial forage systems, crop species and harvest intensity may have important effects …

Associations Of Dietary Patterns With Brain Volume In The Boston Puerto Rican Health Study, Chris Guarino

Master's Theses and Capstones

Adherence to the MeD (Mediterranean Diet), MIND (Mediterranean-Dietary Approaches to Reduce Hypertension Intervention for Neurocognitive Delay), and other dietary patterns may benefit cognitive function among Hispanic/Latino adults. Greater regional and total brain volumetric measures are associated with an increased risk of dementia, but whether the MeD and MIND dietary patterns relate to brain volume among Hispanic/Latino adults remains unclear. The objective of the current study was to quantify the associations of the MeD, MIND, and empirically derived dietary patterns with brain volume among Hispanic/Latino adults. We used data from the longitudinal Boston Puerto Rican Health Study. Approximately 12.7 y from …

Multi-Level Barriers And Opportunities For Nutrition Access In New Hampshire Hispanic Communities, Brooke Kelleher

Master's Theses and Capstones

The US Hispanic population, which has doubled in size in New Hampshire (NH) over the last decade, experiences a high prevalence of cardiometabolic disease and food insecurity. Fiber intake, which can be protective against cardiometabolic disease, decreases in Hispanics after a period of living in US food environments. Multi-level approaches have been effective at addressing diet quality and cardiometabolic disease in vulnerable populations and are warranted in NH Hispanic communities. Using the Socioecological Model (SEM), this thesis examined the influences of the individual, setting, sector, and social/cultural SEM levels on access to nutritious foods in Hispanic/Latino communities in NH. Additionally, …