Digital Commons Network^™

Evaluation Of Geospatial Features For Forecasting Parking Occupancy Using Social Media Data, Johannes Riedel

Open Access Master's Theses

Urbanization and growing individual mobility are globally active trends that intensify the needs for transportation in cities. In this context, parking space has become a scarce resource. Drivers searching for open parking spots cause about one third of the total traffic in urban areas. This creates significant fuel consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and time loss. Intelligent Transportation Systems with particular focus on parking are a promising approach to overcome the information asymmetry and lead drivers directly to available parking spots. This requires highly accurate occupancy data for parking areas on a geographically extended scale.

The ultimate goal of this thesis …

A High-Resolution Reconstruction Of Late-Holocene Relative Sea Level In Rhode Island, Usa, Rachel B. Stearns

Open Access Master's Theses

To investigate spatial and temporal variability of relative sea-level (RSL) changes in southern New England, USA, we reconstructed ~3,300 years of RSL change in lower Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island. We applied a regional-scale, foraminiferal-based Bayesian transfer function to foraminiferal assemblages contained within a ~3.4 m salt-marsh peat sequence recovered at Fox Hill Marsh. To develop the chronology, we obtained 30 accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates from plant macrofossils and identified historical chronological markers of known age using ¹³⁷Cs, heavy metals, and lead isotope ratios. We combined our geologic reconstruction with local tide gauge measurements from Newport, Rhode Island …

Diet Quality Of Preschool Aged Children In Family Child Care Homes, Maggie You Ming Tsai

Open Access Master's Theses

Background: Although family child care homes (FCCH) are the second most utilized form of non-relative child care in the US, little is known about what children eat in this setting.

Objectives: The primary objective is to assess the quality of meals and snacks consumed by children aged 2-5 in FCCH compared to the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA 2015). The secondary, exploratory objective is to explore the association between childcare provider acculturation and dietary consumption of children in FCCH.

Design: This cross-sectional study used baseline data from an ongoing cluster randomized controlled intervention trial in FCCH.

Participants/setting: Family …

Extracting Parking Areas From Remote Sensing Imagery And Spatiotemporal Traffic Data, Julian Glaab

Open Access Master's Theses

The increasing world-wide demand for mobility caused urban parking space to become a scarce resource. Searching for parking is not only annoying to drivers, it also represents a serious cause of urban traffic. A previous study found that vehicles searching for parking contribute as much as 30 percent to the total traffic [1]. To solve this problem, a comprehensive Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) is necessary to supply drivers directly with information about open parking spaces in their surrounding area, so they do not need to “go and look” themselves.

However, in order to create an ITS for urban parking, a …

Variety Trials And Production Methods For Vegetable Amaranth In The Northeast, Sarah Schweig

Open Access Master's Theses

This study investigated the production of amaranth (Amaranthus spp.) as a leafy green in the northeastern temperate climate. Amaranth is a productive and resilient crop with cultural, economic, and nutritional significance to many cultures around the world. Growing ethnic crops in the northeastern U.S. is an opportunity for growers to expand into new and diverse markets. Amaranth’s pervasiveness in global foodways and tolerance of many biotic and abiotic stresses make it a promising option for growers to engage with the ethnic produce market and diversify production. However, intensive production research for vegetable amaranth is lacking, especially in temperate climates, …

Conserving Milkweed: The Effects Of Environmental Change And Viral Prevalence On Asclepias Syriaca, Courtney Devoid

Open Access Master's Theses

Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus L.) undergo a cross-continental migration each year, depending on the presence of common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca L.), both as a food source and for breeding purposes. The past two decades have seen a marked decline in monarch populations. These declines are partially attributed to a loss of milkweed plants in agricultural areas. To prevent monarch butterfly extinction, conservation efforts are working to increase milkweed prevalence.

Common milkweed is able to grow in a variety of habitat types and environmental conditions; however, the plants response to environmental change has not been extensively studied. …

Simulating Thermal Stress In Rhode Island Coldwater Fish Habitat Using Swat, Britta Marie Chambers

Open Access Master's Theses

Climate studies have suggested that inland stream temperatures and streamflow will increase over the next century in New England, thereby putting aquatic species sustained by coldwater habitats at risk. To effectively aid these ecosystems it has become ever more important to recognize historical water quality trends and anticipate the future impacts of climate change. This thesis uses the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to simulate historical and future streamflow and stream temperatures within three forested, baseflow driven watersheds in Rhode Island. The results provide a site-specific method to fisheries managers trying to protect or restore local coldwater habitats.

The …

Investigating Lateral Line Canal Morphogenesis As A Bone Remodeling Process In Lake Malawi Cichlids, Julia W. Johnstone

Open Access Master's Theses

The lateral line (LL) system is a key non-visual sensory modality founded in all fishes and larval and adult aquatic amphibians. In bony fishes, the LL system consists of series of superficial neuromasts (on the skin surface) and canal neuromasts (housed in bony canals). Differences in LL canal phenotype have consequences for LL sensory capabilities, and, as such, could contribute to speciation. The LL system develops with a process of neuromast patterning followed by the genesis of canals from dermal bone around a subset of neuromasts. This study used histochemical methods to describe canal morphogenesis by assessing osteoblast (OB, bone …

Density-Based Clustering Heuristics For The Traveling Salesman Problem, Matthew Agostinelli

Open Access Master's Theses

The Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) is one of the most ubiquitous combinatorial optimization problems. Given a set of cities, the objective of the TSP is to generate a solution that ultimately minimizes the total distance traveled and ensures that each city on the tour is visited exactly once. The TSP is classified as NP-hard, which implies that there is no polynomial time algorithm to solve the problem to optimality. Consequently, exact algorithms cannot be utilized to generate solutions in reasonable computing time. Metaheuristics have drawn much attention in recent years and many advancements have been facilitated by hybrid approaches …

Hibernal Phenology Of The Eastern Box Turtle, Terrapene Carolina Carolina, Margarete Walden

Open Access Master's Theses

The eastern box turtle, Terrapene carolina carolina, is a terrestrial ectotherm that is vulnerable due to sustained population declines across its range in the Eastern United States. Where this species uses managed fields, conservation measures could be implemented to restrict field mowing until the local population enters into hibernation, and such mowing restrictions could be adjusted each year only if the precise timing of the entry into and emergence from hibernation could be predicted based on proximate environmental conditions. I monitored twenty turtles each winter over two years to determine movement and activity patterns at the William Floyd Estate, …

Biocontrol Of Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis Disease (Ahpnd), Jason Laporte

Open Access Master's Theses

Acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) causes mass mortalities in farmed penaeid shrimp and has proven difficult to control using typical disease control measures. The causative agent of AHPND has been identified as Vibrio parahaemolyticus strains possessing the 69 kbp plasmid pVPA3-1 containing genes homologous with Photorhabdus insect-related (Pir) toxin-like genes (pirA- and pirB-like). Probiotics have been used successfully in shrimp aquaculture to control disease outbreaks caused by pathogenic Vibrio, but there are currently no probiotics available that have been proven to control AHPND. The goal of this study was to screen and characterize marine bacterial isolates …

Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Biological Nutrient Removal During Wastewater Treatment, Elizabeth Quinn Brannon

Open Access Dissertations

Since the 1900s, humans have been altering the global nitrogen (N) cycle by industrially fixing N for fertilizer production. This reactive N is often released back to coastal environments through many mechanisms, including wastewater treatment, where it can lead to numerous consequences such as fish kills and algae blooms.

In many locations, wastewater treatment effluent is one of the largest sources of excess N to coastal environments. Although regulations limiting N loads in wastewater effluent in the U.S. were first developed in the 1970s, stricter regulations started to emerge in many states in the 2000s. In order to meet new …

Aquaculturists' Perceptions Of Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (Imta), Heather Kinney

Open Access Master's Theses

Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) has been proposed as a potential strategy to reduce negative impacts of traditional monoculture and improve the domestic seafood trade market in the US. Views from the aquaculture industry on incentives for IMTA adoption and continuation are crucial for understanding the likelihood of IMTA reaching a commercial scale; however, studies on aquaculturists’ perceptions of IMTA are limited.

The objectives of this study are: 1) to explore different methods of IMTA being used in the US by aquaculturists; 2) to determine how US aquaculturists’ perceptions of IMTA affect the adoption and continuation of IMTA; and 3) to …

Social Outcomes Of Coastal Ecosystem Management: The Role Of Stakeholder Values And Norms, Lauren I. Josephs

Open Access Master's Theses

With human use of coastal ecosystems at an all-time high, a current challenge for conservation is to integrate social factors into management. Studies with this aim have focused primarily on monetary valuations of ecosystem functions, overlooking the psycho-social motivations underlying conservation and management. Our study leverages a values-beliefs-norms framework of environmental attitudes in interviews with residents and tourists of Martha’s Vineyard (MA). Specifically, we assess the role of human values, perceptions, and preferences in evaluating what constitutes social viability in coastal ecosystem management. Our results show that situational constraints to public understanding of conservation initiatives can undermine support even among …

Identifying Regional Climatic And Human Influences On Dengue Fever Transmission In Puerto Rico, Emily A. Serman

Open Access Master's Theses

Worldwide, approximately 2.5 billion people live in regions that are vulnerable to dengue fever. Dengue is primarily transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes who prefer urban habitats where they can live in close proximity to humans, their preferred source of blood meals. There is no cure for dengue fever and vaccines are still in early stages, years away from mass distribution. As a result, effective control of dengue is reliant on our ability to understand the complex relationship between humans, vectors, and the environment.

The purpose of this study is to assess temporal and spatial patterns of dengue transmission in Puerto …

Determination Of Age And Size At Sexual Maturation Of Yellowfin Tuna (Thunnus Albacares) In The Nw Atlantic Ocean, Chelsea Roy

Open Access Master's Theses

This report examines sexual maturation of yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares; YFT) above 35° North in the western Atlantic Ocean. The majority of samples were collected near Oregon Inlet, North Carolina with additional samples from New England to determine if there is a difference in maturation with latitude. Maturation was determined by gross classification of gonads as well as histological examination.

Data were compiled based on sex and fish length to elucidate trends. Females collected at lower latitudes were found to have a lower GSI and gonad weight than those from higher latitudes. Males in both locations had a …

Organellar Genome Evolution In Red Algal Parasites: Differences In Adelpho- And Alloparasites, Eric Salomaki

Open Access Dissertations

Parasitism is a common life strategy throughout the eukaryotic tree of life. Many devastating human pathogens, including the causative agents of malaria and toxoplasmosis, have evolved from a photosynthetic ancestor. However, how an organism transitions from a photosynthetic to a parasitic life history strategy remains mostly unknown. Parasites have independently evolved dozens of times throughout the Florideophyceae (Rhodophyta), and often infect close relatives. This framework enables direct comparisons between autotrophs and parasites to investigate the early stages of parasite evolution. Parasitic red algae have traditionally been defined as either ‘adelphoparasites’, which infect hosts within their same family or tribe, or …

The Effects Of Tca Cycle Mutations On The Virulence Of Vibrio Aguillarum Strains M93sm And Nb10sm, Edward Spinard

Open Access Dissertations

Vibrio anguillarum is an extracellular bacterial pathogen that is a causative agent of vibriosis in finfish and crustaceans. Mortality rates range from 30% to 100% and systemic infection usually causes fish to die within 1-4 days of initial infection. The primary routes of infections are through the skin, gills and intestines. Chemotactic motility and the metalloprotease EmpA have been shown to be important virulence factors during the invasion stage while the siderophore anguibactin, flagellin subunits and lipopolysaccharides were shown to be important for persistence in the host during the post-invasion stage. Three secreted proteins that are cytotoxic against epithelial cells …

High Throughput And Mechanistic Analysis Of The Hrd Motif Of Src Protein Tyrosine Kinase, Yixin Cui

Open Access Dissertations

Protein tyrosine kinases (PTK) play essential roles in cell signal transduction pathways. PTKs are associated with numerous diseases and promote oncogenic cell signal transduction in unregulated forms. Thus PTKs represent a large group of potential targets for anticancer drug discovery. Src was the first identified oncogene and has been intensively studied for decades. The work described in this dissertation studied the structure-function relationships of Src, to build a knowledge base for the function of conserved residues in the kinase domain. To accomplish this, the first focus of this dissertation was to develop a high throughput screening method to identify kinase …

Characterization Of A H4k20me2 Methyl-Binding Domain In The Fanconi Anemia Protein Fancd2, Karissa Lynn Paquin

Open Access Dissertations

Fanconi anemia (FA) is a rare genetic disease that results on early onset bone marrow failure, congenital defects, and increased cancer susceptibility. It is caused by mutation in any one of twenty two genes, whose protein products work in conjunction as part of the FA-BRCA pathway, a DNA repair pathway that specifically repairs DNA interstrand crosslinks (ICLs). One of the key steps in pathway activation is the monoubiquitination of the FANCD2 protein. Upon pathway activation, FANCD2 is recruited to sites of DNA damage, where is interacts with downstream repair protiens to promote DNA repair via homologous recombination (HR). How FANCD2 …

Characterization Of Cellulose Synthesis Complexes In Physcomitrella Patens, Xingxing Li

Open Access Dissertations

Due to the enormous economic value and significance of cellulose in human consumption and plant cell walls, production of cellulose microfibrils is considered to be one of the most critical biochemical processes in plant biology. In the past decades, cellulose biosynthesis has been extensively studied in vascular plants. More and more fundamental questions related to this key process are being answered. One such question is: What are the protein components of the enzymatic complex for cellulose synthesis? In seed plants, membrane-embedded rosette Cellulose Synthesis Complexes (CSCs) producing cellulose microfibrils are obligate hetero-oligomeric, being assembled from three functionally distinct and non-interchangeable …

Evaluating The Role Of Personality Trait Information In Social Dilemmas, Todd Guilfoos, Kenneth J. Kurtz

Environmental and Natural Resource Economics Faculty Publications

We investigate whether cooperative behavior in social dilemmas is conditional on information about a partner's personality traits. Using a repeated one-shot continuous strategy Prisoner's Dilemma (two person Public Goods game), we test how information on personality traits of partners influences cooperative actions. Before each game we provide subjects with the rank-order of their partner (relative to all subjects in the session) on one of the personality traits of the Big Five Inventory. Using a within-subjects design we find that subjects are more cooperative when informed that their partner is more ‘Agreeable’ or ‘Open to Experience’. The primary reason for more …

Fto Genotype And Weight Status Among Preadolescents: Assessing The Mediating Effects Of Obesogenic Appetitive Traits, Jennifer A. Emond, Alison Tovar, Zhigang Li, Reina K. Lansigan, Diane Gilbert-Diamond

Nutrition Faculty Publications

Polymorphisms in the Fat Mass and Obesity Associated (FTO) gene are robustly associated with overweight and obesity among children, although the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. We tested if appetitive traits partially mediated the association between FTO genotype and increased BMI among a sample of US preadolescents. Data were from 178 unrelated 9–10 year olds who participated in an experimental study between 2013 and 2015. Children's DNA was isolated from buccal swabs, and the rs9939609 SNP in the FTO gene was genotyped. Children's age- and sex-adjusted BMI z-scores were computed using height and weight measured at the laboratory. …

Tools For Anti-Microbial Peptide Editable Database, Sunandha Sharma Acharya

Open Access Master's Theses

The goal of this thesis is to create tools for Anti-Microbial Peptide Database AMPed, developed by Professor Lenore Martin’s microbial peptide research group at University of Rhode Island. The database is for Researchers and Biologists, as they will be the main users. To develop a functioning and efficient database there should be tools that are relevant to the users of the database. In our case, the primary users are biologists, needing to calculate specific results or to visualize their data. The tools that are developed as a part for this thesis are the MIC (Minimal Inhibitory Concentration) and MLC (Minimal …

Agronomic Characteristics Of Birdsfoot Trefoil (Lotus Corniculatus L.) In The Northeast, Sarah Ferguson

Open Access Master's Theses

Tanniferous forages, such as birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.), are a potential control for the parasitic nematode Haemonchus contortus (barber pole worm). Gastrointestinal parasites cause huge economic loss in small ruminant production. Tanniferous forages have been shown to reduce counts of parasite eggs in feces of small ruminants. Currently the tanniferous forage Lespedza cuneate L. is used in the southern United States in control of gastrointestinal nematodes of small ruminants. It is not a viable option in the Northeast due to insufficient winter hardiness. Birdsfoot trefoil is adapted to the Northeast and may be a viable option as a …

Investigating Rhode Island Town Beaches Litter Policies, Sara Benson

Open Access Master's Theses

Marine litter in coastal areas creates environmental, social and aesthetic problems. Environmental effects of marine debris include choking animals, entanglement of marine mammals and killing marine life through the leaching of chemicals. Marine debris can negatively impact humans and the economies of coastal communities. The issues pertaining to marine debris are so expansive it is difficult to assess where to start mitigating the issue. Focusing on beaches is a small, yet significant start to solving the overall marine debris issue. Many turn to beach or ocean cleanups; however, controlling litter before it enters the marine environment will be more effective …

Predictors Of Infection In Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients Using Anti-Tumor Necrosis Factor Agents, Tasia Liu

Open Access Master's Theses

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an incurable autoimmune disease that can cause permanent joint damage and loss of function. Anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) agents inhibit the function of tumor necrosis factor (TNF), which leads to a reduction in the progression of joint damage due to inflammation. However, an increased risk of serious infections in RA patients using anti-TNF agents has been observed in previous studies. This increased risk may be due to the immunologic disturbance of the RA disease process itself, the immunosuppressive properties of anti-rheumatic drug therapies, or co-existing risk factors for infection present in RA patients. Herein, our …

Receptor-Protein Interactions Mediated By The Fourth Transmembrane Of D2r Can Be Altered By Treatment With Antipsychotics, Craig Michael Irving

Open Access Master's Theses

The treatment of psychological diseases like schizophrenia has depended on the use of antipsychotic drugs many of which were created as far back as the 1970’s. These drugs typically act on the D2 dopamine receptor (D2R) to antagonize its signaling and alter the signaling of the mesolimbic and mesocortical dopaminergic pathways in the brain. Several studies have indicated that it may be more important to identify the specific receptor-protein interactions which could prove to be more beneficial drug targets for the treatment of schizophrenia (Magalhaes, Dunn, & Ferguson, 2012). In this study we identified that the fourth transmembrane motif in …

Assessment Of Fluid Imaging For Determination Of Diatom Assemblage Composition And Biometrics Of Southern Ocean Sediment, Neil Redmond

Open Access Master's Theses

Diatoms are important ecologic indicators whose assemblage, chemistry, and valve features are reflections of their original environmental conditions. Fossil diatom biometrics are an emerging measurement introduced to supplement our understanding of the hydrographic history of the Southern Ocean. Here, we present a novel method to simultaneously measure fossil diatom assemblage and biometrics using a FlowCam, an instrument combining features from a flow cytometer and microscopic camera. It offers, computerized automatic identification to supplement manual, visual identifications, leading to increased counts and biometric measurements. To assess the viability of the FlowCam as a paleoceanographic tool, a FlowCam measured data set was …

The Exploration Of Young Audiences And Identity Development Through Social Media Platforms, Sara L. Benn

Open Access Master's Theses

Past research found that messages in popular television promote fame as a top value, while social media allows anyone to reach broad audience. Adolescents ages 11-17 are more likely to value fame, wealth, and image over community, affiliation, and self-acceptance. Teens may become addicted to the peer connection and affirmation they are able to get via social media. As a result, young audiences may be highly influenced at this stage of development and their value system may be influenced negatively by their use of social media? Despite this research, some researchers see adolescent social media use well within normal socialization, …