Digital Commons Network^™

Chasing Soot Across The Sea: The Fate And Transport Of Particulate Black Carbon In The Equatorial Atlantic, Samuel D. Katz

Open Access Dissertations

This study investigated BC in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean and Congo River outflow, aiming to elucidate its origins, distribution, fluxes and understand methodological differences in BC quantification. Sediment and atmospheric samples were collected from the Equatorial Atlantic and Congo River outflow. For the sedimentary analysis, the chemothermal oxidation at 375°C method was primally used, while different BC quantification methods were employed with the Congo core, together with stable and radiogenic carbon isotope measurements, to trace BC sources and age. BC air samples were quantified using the thermal optical transmission method, air mass back trajectories, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) diagnostic …

Evaluation Of Environmentally Friendly Products For Use Against Ixodes Scapularis And Amblyomma Americanum Ticks (Acari: Ixodidae), Chantal Sengsourinho

Open Access Master's Theses

Ticks are vectors of diseases and are a significant public health concern in the United States. Over the last several decades, two medically important species, the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis) and the lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum) have rapidly expanded their geographic ranges. As the number of ticks increase, so does the chance for disease incidence - especially in areas where ticks were not previously present. Together, these two species carry multiple pathogens that can cause serious diseases including Lyme disease, ehrlichiosis, babesiosis, anaplasmosis, and several viral infections.

One of the most common methods for preventing …

Enhancing Forest Monitoring And Management In Southern New England Through Gis Analysis, Remote Sensing, And Predictive Models: Assessing Tree Mortality And Enhancing Infrastructure Resilience, Liubov Dumarevskaya

Open Access Dissertations

Forests have immense economic value, contributing to industries such as timber production, nontimber forest products, and ecotourism (Wang et al., 2022). Additionally, forest ecosystems play a crucial role in mitigating climate change by acting as carbon sinks (Yingchun et al., 2012). However, forests also pose hazards to humans and infrastructure. Fallen trees, limbs, and contact of tree branches with power lines create numerous hazards to public safety, property damage, and substantial economic losses from power outages. Studies report that the total cost of storm-related power outages in the United States range from $20-150 billion annually (Campbell et al., 2021; Swaminathan …

Industrial Education 4.0: The Role Of Human, Technology, And Data Literacy, Suparno Suparno, Dedi Purwana, Agus Wibowo, Bagus Shandy Narmaditya

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This study aims to confirm the effect of industrial education 4.0 on data, technology, and human literacy among postgraduate students in Indonesia. The research adopted covariance-based structural equation modeling by employing AMOS 25 to examine the relationship between variables. The model estimation was performed using confirmatory factor analysis as a standard model for measuring industrial education 4.0 and involved structural model analysis to confirm the hypotheses. The population in this research paper was 2.958 postgraduate students in 32 study programs, while the sample was 312 respondents, which was determined using the proportional random sampling technique. This study tested the three …

Hantu Laut: The Ghosts Of Colonialism In Indonesia’S Marine Conservation, Nara Wisesa

Graduate Student Scholarship

In this paper, I investigate the enduring influence of Dutch colonial legacies on contemporary marine conservation governance in the Indonesian archipelago. Using Banu Subramaniam’s concept of interdisciplinary haunting and Bruno Latour’s Black Box metaphor, I critically examine how historical power structures established over three centuries of colonial rule shape present-day environmental policies. The analysis begins with my critique of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) definition of conservation, highlighting inherent ambiguities regarding equity that may have enabled global power imbalances and the uneven distribution of costs and benefits. I continued by tracing the evolution of marine resource governance …

Usage Statistics: Project Counter R5 Tr_J1 Report Fy2023 - Journal Requests (Excluding Oa_Gold) By Title, Andrée J. Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Project COUNTER R5 Report TR_J1 for the University of Rhode Island for the period from July 1, 2022 - June 30, 2023. The TR_J1 report is defined as "Journal Requests (Excluding OA_Gold)." This report presents an annual total only and only includes those platforms successfully configured for automated harvesting via SUSHI.

File for download is Excel spreadsheet generated by Alma Analytics.

Results:

Total Item Requests - 836,365

Unique Item Requests - 625,288

Usage Statistics: Project Counter R5 Dr_D1 Report Fy2023 - Database Search And Item Usage, Andrée J. Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Project COUNTER R5 Report DR_D1 for the University of Rhode Island for the period from July 1, 2022 - June 30, 2023. The DR_D1 report is defined as "Database Search and Item Usage." This report presents an annual total only and only includes those platforms successfully configured for automated harvesting via SUSHI.

File for download is Excel spreadsheet generated by Alma Analytics.

Results:

Searches Automated - 101,532

Searches Federated - 10,516

Searches Regular - 1,059,387

Total Item Investigations - 519,728

Total Item Requests - 219,645

Usage Statistics: Project Counter R5 Tr_B1 Report Fy2023 - Book Requests (Excluding Oa_Gold) By Title, Andrée J. Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Project COUNTER R5 Report TR_B1 for the University of Rhode Island for the period from July 1, 2022 - June 30, 2023. The TR_B1 report is defined as "Book Requests (Excluding OA_Gold)." This report presents an annual total only and only includes those platforms successfully configured for automated harvesting via SUSHI.

File for download is Excel spreadsheet generated by Alma Analytics.

Results:

Total Item Requests - 118,197

Unique Title Requests - 46,803

First Records Of The Pacific Sleeper Shark Somniosus Cf. Pacificus In The Western Tropical Pacific, Louw Claassens, Brennan Phillips, David A. Ebert, Denley Delaney, Brad Henning, Victor Nestor, Adrian Ililau, Jonatha Giddens

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Technological advances have enabled the expansion of ocean exploration to include the deep ocean, providing new species observations. Here, the authors present two new observations, captured by deep-sea cameras, of the sleeper shark Somniosus cf. pacificus from the Solomon Islands and Palau. This presents the first observation of S. cf. pacificus in the western Pacific tropics and extends its range about 2000 nautical miles south. The observations presented here provide much-needed information on the range of this species which can help guide future management and conservation actions.

Polar Oceans And Sea Ice In A Changing Climate, Megan D. Willis, Delphine Lannuzel, Brent Else, Hélène Angot, Karley Campbell, Odile Crabeck, Bruno Delille, Hakase Hayashida, Martine Lizotte, Brice Loose, Klaus M. Meiners, Lisa Miller, Sebastien Moreau, Daiki Nomura, John Prytherch, Julia Schmale, Nadja Steiner, Letizia Tedesco, Jennie Thomas

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Polar oceans and sea ice cover 15% of the Earth’s ocean surface, and the environment is changing rapidly at both poles. Improving knowledge on the interactions between the atmospheric and oceanic realms in the polar regions, a Surface Ocean-Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS) project key focus, is essential to understanding the Earth system in the context of climate change. However, our ability to monitor the pace and magnitude of changes in the polar regions and evaluate their impacts for the rest of the globe is limited by both remoteness and sea-ice coverage. Sea ice not only supports biological activity and mediates …

Minoritized Scientists In The United States: An Identity Perspective To Science Communication, Leilane Rodrigues, Bruno Takahashi, Leigh Anne Tiffany, Sunshine Menezes, Evelyn Valdéz-Ward

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

This study investigates how tenure-track faculty from historically marginalized groups in the environmental sciences approach science communication based on their self-identities. A thematic analysis of 28 in-depth interviews with U.S.-based participants using the Communication Theory of Identity and Border-Crossing Theory was conducted to explore the interrelation of layers of identity, the identity gaps participants experience, and their communication practices. The results show that communication merges fragments of identity not to form a fixed identity, but to create an evolving consciousness about who you are and how you communicate. Implications for science communication training are discussed.

Adults' Subjective Experiences Of Exploitation In South Africa, Fatiema Benjamin, Rachel Chinyakata Dr, Edna Grace Rich Professor, Erica Koegler Professor, Nicolette Vanessa Roman Professor

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

The exploitation of people in the environments in which they live and work continues to be a challenge globally despite efforts by stakeholders at national and international levels to bring this to a halt. Exploitation has both short-term and long-term impacts on the lives of the survivors. Attention should be given to preventing new incidents and addressing ongoing exploitation. However, there is a lack of research that focuses on the subjective experiences of different forms of exploitation within the Western Cape, South Africa. Therefore, this paper explores individuals’ experiences of being exploited, focusing on the types of exploitative situations participants …

Subcellular Proteomics For Determining Iron-Limited Remodeling Of Plastids In The Model Diatom Thalassiosira Pseudonana (Bacillariophyta), Kristofer M. Gomes, Brook L. Nunn, P. Dreux Chappell, Bethany D. Jenkins

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Diatoms are important primary producers in the world's oceans, yet their growth is constrained in large regions by low bioavailable iron (Fe). Low-Fe stress-induced limitation of primary production is due to requirements for Fe in components of essential metabolic pathways including photosynthesis and other chloroplast plastid functions. Studies have shown that under low-Fe stress, diatoms alter plastid-specific processes, including components of electron transport. These physiological changes suggest changes of protein content and in protein abundances within the diatom plastid. While in silico predictions provide putative information on plastid-localized proteins, knowledge of diatom plastid proteins remains limited in comparison to well-studied …

Better Together? Lessons On Sociality From Trichodesmium, Meri Eichner, Keisuke Inomura, Juan José Pierella Karlusich, Yeala Shaked

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

The N2-fixing cyanobacterium Trichodesmium is an important player in the oceanic nitrogen and carbon cycles. Trichodesmium occurs both as single trichomes and as colonies containing hundreds of trichomes. In this review, we explore the benefits and disadvantages of colony formation, considering physical, chemical, and biological effects from nanometer to kilometer scale. Showing that all major life challenges are affected by colony formation, we claim that Trichodesmium's ecological success is tightly linked to its colonial lifestyle. Microbial interactions in the microbiome, chemical gradients within the colony, interactions with particles, and elevated mobility in the water column shape a highly dynamic microenvironment. …

Multi-Year Time Series Reveals Temporally Synchronous Diatom Communities With Annual Frequency Of Recurrence In A Temperate Estuary, Diana N. Fontaine, Tatiana A. Rynearson

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Diatoms are among the most abundant phytoplankton that inhabit coastal ecosystems, forming large blooms that fuel coastal food webs. Although diatoms are often large and morphologically distinct, many are small or morphologically cryptic making it difficult to understand the temporal dynamics of whole diatom communities and the environmental factors that drive them. Here, we investigated diatom diversity and its environmental correlates using 6 yr of monthly surface water samples from the Narragansett Bay Plankton Time Series to investigate the seasonal and annual variability of diatom species occurrence. High-throughput amplicon sequencing of filtered biomass yielded 658 diatom amplicon sequence variants (ASVs), …

Microplastics Distribution Within Western Arctic Seawater And Sea Ice, Alessandra D’Angelo, Nicole Trenholm, Brice Loose, Laura Glastra, Jacob Strock, Jongsun Kim

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Microplastic pollution has emerged as a global environmental concern, exhibiting wide distribution within marine ecosystems, including the Arctic Ocean. Limited Arctic microplastic data exist from beached plastics, seabed sediments, floating plastics, and sea ice. However, no studies have examined microplastics in the sea ice of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and Tallurutiup Imanga National Marine Conservation Area, and few have explored Arctic marginal seas’ water column. The majority of the microplastic data originates from the Eurasian Arctic, with limited data available from other regions of the Arctic Ocean. This study presents data from two distinct campaigns in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago …

White Male Privilege, Diversity-As-Deficit, And Tokenism In The North American University: Reflections On Netflix’S The Chair, Annamma Joy

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

Ji-Yoon, an Asian-American woman, is the newly appointed chair of the English department at Pembroke University, a lower-tier Ivy League school. Most of the department’s faculty are older and white and male, but do include a female white professor, Joan Hambling, clearly suffering from marginalization. There is also a young black faculty member named Yasmin McKay, whom Ji-Yoon wants to make the university’s first black tenured professor in the English department. Yaz, as they call her, has published in the top journals and is loved by her students, who flock to take her courses. There are other story dynamics dealing …

Acquisitions Unit Annual Report 2022-2023, Andrée J. Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Annual Report of the Acquisitions Unit, University Libraries, University of Rhode Island for FY2023. Covers personnel, work flow, special projects, and serial, monograph, and e-resource acquisitions. Supplemental files include data on library materials expenditures by a number of variables as well as important working documents from the year.

Levels Of Persistent Organic Pollutants (Pops) In The Antarctic Atmosphere Over Time (1980 To 2021) And Estimation Of Their Atmospheric Half-Lives, Thais Luarte, Victoria A. Gómez-Aburto, Ignacio Poblete-Castro, Eduardo Castro-Nallar, Nicolas Hunneus, Marco Molina-Montenegro, Claudia Egas, Germán Azcune, Andrés Pérez-Parada, Rainier Lohmann, Pernilla Bohlin-Nizzetto, Jordi Dachs, Susan Bengtson-Nash, Gustavo Chiang, Karla Pozo, Cristóbal J. Galbán-Malagón

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are synthetic compounds that were intentionally produced in large quantities and have been distributed in the global environment, originating a threat due to their persistence, bioaccumulative potential, and toxicity. POPs reach the Antarctic continent through long-range atmospheric transport (LRAT). In these areas, low temperatures play a significant role in the environmental fate of POPs, retaining them for a long time due to cold trapping by diffusion and wet deposition, acting as a net sink for many POPs. However, in the current context of climate change, the remobilization of POPs that were trapped in water, ice, and …

Alma Link Resolver Subject Report 2022-2023, Andrée J. Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Statistics for 2022-2023 on the number of OpenURL requests by Library of Congress classification code made to the Ex Libris Alma link resolver for items held by the University of Rhode Island Libraries.

Information provided includes Classification Code, Classifications, Number of Requests, Number of Clicked Requests, and % Clicks from Requests.

Alma Link Resolver Title & Issn Report (Top 500) 2022-2023, Andrée J. Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Statistics for 2022-2023 on the total number of OpenURL requests by journal title and ISSN made to the Ex Libris Alma link resolver for items held by the University of Rhode Island Libraries. Includes only the top 500 journals.

Information provided includes journal Title, ISSN, EISSN, Number of Requests, Number of Clicked Requests, % Clicks from Requests.

Evaluation Of New And Net Community Production Estimates By Multiple Ship-Based And Autonomous Observations In The Northeast Pacific Ocean, Alexandria K. Niebergall, Shawnee Traylor, Yibin Huang, Melanie Feen, Meredith G. Meyer, Heather M. Mcnair, David Nicholson, Andrea J. Fassbender, Melissa M. Omand, Adrian Marchetti, Susanne Menden-Deuer, Weiyi Tang, Weida Gong, Philippe Tortell, Roberta Hamme, Nicolas Cassar

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

New production (NP) and net community production (NCP) measurements are often used as estimates of carbon export potential from the mixed layer of the ocean, an important process in the regulation of global climate. Diverse methods can be used to measure NP and NCP, from research vessels, autonomous platforms, and remote sensing, each with its own set of benefits and uncertainties. The various methods are rarely applied simultaneously in a single location, limiting our ability for direct comparisons of the resulting measurements. In this study, we evaluated NP and NCP from thirteen independent datasets collected via in situ, in vitro, …

Erratum: Author Correction: Heterogeneous Nitrogen Fixation Rates Confer Energetic Advantage And Expanded Ecological Niche Of Unicellular Diazotroph Populations (Communications Biology (2020) 3 1 (172)), Takako Masuda, Keisuke Inomura, Naoto Takahata, Takuhei Shiozaki, Yuji Sano, Curtis Deutsch, Ondřej Prášil, Ken Furuya

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Amino Acid Carbon Isotope Fingerprints Are Unique Among Eukaryotic Microalgal Taxonomic Groups, Angela R. Stahl, Tatiana A. Rynearson, Kelton W. Mcmahon

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Eukaryotic microalgae play critical roles in the structure and function of marine food webs. The contribution of microalgae to food webs can be tracked using compound-specific isotope analysis of amino acids (CSIA-AA). Previous CSIA-AA studies have defined eukaryotic microalgae as a single functional group in food web mixing models, despite their vast taxonomic and ecological diversity. Using controlled cultures, this work characterizes the amino acid δ13C (δ13CAA) fingerprints—a multivariate metric of amino acid carbon isotope values—of four major groups of eukaryotic microalgae: diatoms, dinoflagellates, raphidophytes, and prasinophytes. We found excellent separation of essential amino acid δ13C (δ13CEAA) fingerprints among four …

Interactive Effects Of Nutrients And Temperature On Herbivorous Predation In A Coastal Plankton Community, Gayantonia Franzè, Stephanie I. Anderson, Joshua D. Kling, Paul Wilburn, David A. Hutchins, Elena Litchman, Tatiana A. Rynearson, Susanne Menden-Deuer

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Marine microbial communities in coastal environments are subject to both seasonal fluctuations and anthropogenic alterations of environmental conditions. The separate influences of temperature and resource-dependency on phytoplankton growth, community, and ecosystem metabolism are relatively well understood. However, winners and losers in the ocean are determined based on the interplay among often rapidly changing biological, chemical and physical drivers. The direct, indirect, and interactive effects of these conditions on planktonic food web structure and function are poorly constrained. Here, we investigated how simultaneous manipulation of temperature and nutrient availability affects trophic transfer from phytoplankton to herbivorous protists, and their resulting implications …

Electro-Mechanical Joints For An Ocean Sensor Payload, Connor Mancini, Samuel Hayden, Alberto Intieri, Jamie Davis, Joseph De Luca

Mechanical Engineering Capstone Design Projects

Mikel Undersea Warfare Systems is a NAVY defense contractor who has presented the group with a need for an underwater joint. This joint is to provide a waterproof seal for electrical connections within the payload. This joint is to allow for easy assembly, shipping and handling of a submarine navigation system as well as withstand pressure and drag forces at the bottom of the ocean. A final spring actuated button system was to be the final design for this problem. After many redesigns of the geometry of the button, a 1 cm in diameter circular button was the final design. …

Attitudes Towards Gluten Free Foods And Celiac Disease In Italy, Joellyn Speredelozzi

Senior Honors Projects

This project addresses the perception and realities of living with Celiac’s Disease in Italy. I combine a literature review with my own anecdotal experiences as an individual with Celiac’s Disease who has lived and studied in Italy. In my paper, I first describe the high awareness of gluten-free living that I noted the first time I studied abroad, being the impetus of this project. I follow this with the history and science of Celiac’s Disease for those who may be unaware of this serious chronic medical condition. I then continue to describe personal experiences I had while living in Naples, …

Memory In Motion: Dance And Movement Therapy In Older Adults With Alzheimer's And Related Dementia, Ashley Picard

Senior Honors Projects

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia and is caused by progressive neurodegenerative changes in the brain that alters one’s memory, attention, and language. As cognitive function decreases, people with dementia experience deficits in mobility, resulting in muscle stiffness and rigidity that debilitates their personhood. Therefore, an appropriate approach that creates a stimulating, pressure-free environment to encourage those with Alzheimer’s to move can help them have a renewed quality of life, positive behavior changes, and decreased anxiety. More specifically, incorporating dance-based exercises that utilize rhythmization, cognitive integration, social inclusion, and improvisation can be a holistic and practical approach …

Sociosexual Behaviors Of Chimpanzees Vs. Bonobos: Are They The Key To Explaining Human Sociosexual Behaviors?, Libby Ware

Senior Honors Projects

We share 99% of our DNA with bonobos (Pan paniscus) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), which are also very closely related to each other, sharing a last common ancestor about one million years ago. Both of them are more closely related to humans than either of them is to gorillas or orangutans. Because of our close evolutionary connections, chimpanzees and bonobos serve as models for our ancestors, and as windows into our ancient past and “human nature.” Other than being similar in appearance, chimps and bonobos are very social, living and cooperating in groups. But their differences have long been emphasized. …

The Effects Of Mental Health And Burnout In Medicine In Relation To The Wilson Model Of Leadership, Kevin Beck

Senior Honors Projects

The purpose of this project is to determine the effects that burnout and poor mental health can have on the ability of health care professionals to effectively do their job and lead others in medicine. Burnout, as defined by Merriam Webster, is “the exhaustion of physical or emotional strength or motivation usually as a result of prolonged stress or frustration.” This is a self-reported quantitative study analyzing information acquired via a survey to determine if there is a relation to burnout and poor mental health in medicine and the ability to effectively lead others and complete work tasks and this …