Digital Commons Network^™

Individual Differences In Sensitivity To Homophony In Visual Word Recognition, Henry George Wolf Vii

Master's Theses

Most research involving division of labor and visual word recognition has focused on the typical reader. More recently, there has been a shift toward research involving individual differences in division of labor between readers. While the imageability effect has been established as a measure of individual differences in use of the semantic pathway, a measure of the phonological pathway has yet to be established. The current study investigated the homophone effect in a semantic categorization task as one such possible measure. Data was also collected regarding imageability, wordlikeness, and pseudohomophony in a lexical decision task. Additionally, participants completed a battery …

Entap: Software To Improve The Quality And Functional Annotation Of De Novo Assembled Non Model Eukaryotic Transcriptomes, Alexander Hart

Master's Theses

EnTAP (Eukaryotic Non-Model Transcriptome Annotation Pipeline) was designed to improve the accuracy, speed, and flexibility of functional gene annotation for de novo assembled transcriptomes in non-model Eukaryotes. This software package addresses the fragmentation and related assembly issues that result in inflated transcript estimates and poor annotation rates. Following filters applied through assessment of true expression and frame selection, open-source tools are leveraged to functionally annotate the translated proteins. Downstream features include fast similarity search across three repositories, protein domain assignment, orthologous gene family assessment, and Gene Ontology term assignment. The final annotation integrates across multiple databases and selects an optimal …

The Role Of Bmp Signaling In Mediating Stimulatory Effects Of Fgf-Fgfr Signaling On Odontoblast Differentiation In Dental Pulp, Karen Sagomonyants

Master's Theses

Odontoblast differentiation is dependent on multiple signaling molecules, including growth factors stored in the extracellular dentin matrix. Our previous studies have demonstrated that Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 (FGF2) exerted stage-specific effects on odontoblast differentiation in primary dental pulp cultures. FGF2 stimulated differentiation of functional odontoblasts expressing high levels of Dmp1 from early progenitors but inhibited the terminal differentiation of functional odontoblasts to fully differentiated odontoblasts expressing high levels of Dspp. These stimulatory effects involved activation of FGFR and ERK1/2, and increased levels of expression of Bmp2, Runx2, and Osx (components of BMP signaling) suggesting the involvement of …

Development Of An In-Situ Passive Sampling Device For Munitions Compounds And Sulfate, Joseph K Warren

Master's Theses

Passive sampling is a novel method of analyte concentration from the environment that strives to bring greater ease to field sampling regimes than traditional liquid-solid phase extractions (SPE). It is easier to deploy than a Niskin bottle or CTD rosette, and easier to recover than hoisting up dozens of liters of water. Passive sampling also offers the opportunity for wider exploratory studies, as compounds can be selectively extracted back in lab, rather than having to select a particular phase SPE and follow phase-specific elution methods. In this study, Ethylene Vinyl Acetate copolymer (EVA) was used as a marine sorption and …

Force-System Generated By Rigid Archwires With V-Bends: A 3-D Analysis Of Varying Activations, Meenakshi Vishwanath

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Rank Aggregation Of Feature Scoring Methods For Unsupervised Learning, Tara N. Yankee

Master's Theses

The ability to collect and store large amounts of data is transforming data-driven discovery; recent technological advances in biology allow systematic data production and storage at a previously unattainable scale. It is common for biological Big Data to have an order of magnitude or more features than samples. Feature scoring with selection is therefore an essential pre-processing step to finding meaningful clusters in these data. Many feature scoring algorithms have been proposed; they are based on dramatically different ideas about what constitutes a “good” or “important” feature. Motivated by studies in data classification, we use a rank aggregation (RANKAGG) method …

Privacy Leakage Via Write-Access Patterns To The Main Memory, Tara M. John

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Removal Of Nitrates From Stormwater Using Nanoclays, Rubia Siddiqi

Master's Theses

Creeks and rivers are often polluted as a result of stormwater runoff that carries various contaminants in to open water bodies, causing adverse environmental and health effects. Low impact development (LID) techniques are currently employed to treat this runoff prior to discharge. Nitrate, however, is not consistently removed by these LID techniques. This study analyzed the ability of several nanoclays to remove nitrate in runoff and determined the feasibility of using them as a soil supplement for LID implementation. Six different nanoclays and HCl-treated clays were compared (pre-modified trimethyl stearyl ammonium nanoclay, pre-modified dimethyl dialkyl amine nanoclay, unmodified hydrophilic bentonite, …

The Differential Expression Of Gene Cohorts Over The Course Of Development In Type I And Type Ii Layer V Pyramidal Neurons Of The Mouse Medial Prefrontal And Primary Somatosensory Cortex, Ryan Shaun Pevey

Master's Theses

Two of the most challenging problems in neuroscience may be the characterization of different neuron types and determining the various decision points over the course of development that defines those different cell types. Part of the problem is that for the clear majority of neuron types, no single gene so far has been shown to act as a type marker. Instead it seems that signatures involving multiple genes are necessary to define each type. The identity of the genes in these signatures remains an important gap in our knowledge. However, recent developments in bioinformatics have produced population level transcript sequencing …

For King And Country: Reconsidering The Great War Soldier In Britain, 1914-1945, Nicholas John Schaefer

Master's Theses

In the postwar period historians argued that the horrors of the First World War created an irreparable disconnect between soldiers’ pre and postwar lives. Scholars led by Paul Fussell and Eric Leed presented the Great War as a futile waste of life for a meaningless cause. This historiography argues that the generation which survived the Western Front returned to Britain as jaded shells of their former selves unable to relate to their old lives and families. Bitterness and apathy replaced belief in cause and country. In contrast, recent historiography asserts that British soldiers maintained belief in their country’s cause and …

The Effects Of Plickers As Response Cards On Academic Engagement Behavior In High School Students, Morgan G. Mccargo

Master's Theses

Multiple studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of increasing student opportunities to respond for increasing academically engaged behavior. The use of response cards has held the most efficacy in terms of increasing opportunities to respond, yet no research has been done with the addition of a technology component. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the utility of technology-based response cards on increasing academically engaged behavior of students in three high school general education classrooms. It is hypothesized that the use of Plickers® will increase academically engaged behavior classwide and decrease disruptive behavior across students in all three classrooms.

The Classroom Password: An Independent Group Contingency Targeting Academic Engagement And Disruptive Behaviors In High School Classrooms, Kayla E. Bates-Brantley

Master's Theses

The classroom password, an independent class-wide group contingency, was implemented in a high school setting in effort to determine its effects on academically engaged behaviors, disruptive behaviors and passively off-task behaviors. This was done using a reversal design across three classes. The focal point of this study was to determine if the classroom password would increase academic engagement. The classroom password was implemented by having the teacher select a word of the day that was then incorporated into the classes lecture. The students were given the word for the day before the lectures began and were required to code each …

Black And Blue: Competing Social Constructions Of Police On Instagram And Twitter, Mary Frances Thornhill

Master's Theses

Mass media outlets newspapers and television were traditionally where individuals gathered their news information; however, with the growth of new media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, individuals are now co-producers of the content that is seen by the public. Previous research indicated that media-generated images of the police influence public perception and that new media outlets are becoming increasingly influential, particularly in regards to social and political conflicts. This means that research on the role of new media outlets in socially constructing reality is essential, though not much of this research has yet been completed. This current analysis fills …

Conformation Of Transmembrane Segments Of A Protein By A Coarse Grain Model, Sunita Subedi Paudel

Master's Theses

The human voltage-gated proton channels (hH_V1) are critical in many physiological functions and control proton conduction in the cell. This process is governed by the cooperative response of different transmembrane segments of the protein. It is believed that the two subunits of the C-terminal dimer provide independent proton channel pathways through the membrane where the conformations of both monomers and dimer are key for selective proton transport. Conformational response of these transmembrane segments of the protein hH_V1 is studied by a coarse-grained model as a function of temperature where structural detail of a residue is ignored …

Eignefunctions For Partial Differential Equations On Two-Dimensional Domains With Piecewise Constant Coefficients, Abdullah Muheel Momit Aurko

Master's Theses

In this thesis, we develop a highly accurate and efficient algorithm for computing the solution of a partial differential equation defined on a two-dimensional domain with discontinuous coefficients. An example of such a problem is for modeling the diffusion of heat energy in two space dimensions, in the case where the spatial domain represents a medium consisting of two different but homogeneous materials, with periodic boundary conditions.

Since diffusivity changes based on the material, it will be represented using a piecewise constant function, and this results in the formation of a complicated mathematical model. Such a model is impossible to …

Textural Analysis Of Historical Aerial Photography To Determine Change In Coastal Marsh Extent: Site Of The Present-Day Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (Gbnerr), Mississippi, 1955-2014, Heather Michelle Nicholson

Master's Theses

Coastal marshlands are among the world’s most highly productive ecosystems but they have diminished greatly in the past several decades owing to sea-level rise and direct anthropogenic influences. An effective means of quantifying loss or gain in marsh area is through the use of aerial image data, which offers synoptic views of the landscape at decadal-scale sampling frequencies. However, a potential problem with older panchromatic, or black-and-white, imagery is the absence of multispectral information that might be used otherwise in remote identification of vegetation types. Nevertheless, the analysis of horizontal variability in image brightness values, or image texture, can be …

A Close Encounter With Death: Narration In Markus Zusak's The Book Thief, Erin M. Gipson

Master's Theses

While critics have discussed Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief (2005) in terms of the Holocaust, its generic hybridity, and its crossover readership for child and adult audiences, I offer the first narratological reading of its unusual narrator: Death. This reading focuses on the rhetorical strategies underlying Death’s contradictory narration, which is at once anthropomorphized and constitutively nonhuman. Scholars of The Book Thief often assume the narrator’s omniscience, but I find that Death is crucially not omniscient; rather, he merely performs omniscience to mask his humanlike limitations. Since current terminology falls short of describing Zusak’s narration, I propose the new classification …

Potential Of Ozone And Hydroxyl Radicals To Degrade Emerging Organic Contaminants, Lisa Elaine Vance

Master's Theses

Advanced water treatment processes are necessary for the treatment of emerging organic contaminants. Traditional treatment processes do not filter or treat these contaminants causing humans and animals to come into contact and ingest them, both causing illness. Advanced oxidation processes are a good alternative method, but are cost and time intensive.

Previous research on ozone and hydroxyl radicals leads to the conclusion that they might be a vial option for advanced water treatment processes. To test the effects of ozone and hydroxyl radicals on the destruction of algae, ozonated phosphate buffer was mixed with Anabaena and modified BG11 culture media …

Exploitation Of Land And Labor In Appalachia: The Manipulation Of Men In Ann Pancake's Strange As This Weather Has Been, Britani W. Baker

Master's Theses

Ecofeminism is traditionally interested in the relationship between patriarchal domination of women and nature. Ann Pancake’s novel Strange As this Weather Has Been critiques the way the coal mining industry has affected the Appalachian people and land. The novel reflects natural ecofeminism, which views the connection between women and nature in essentialist terms. This outdated mode of ecofeminism leads to a reinforcement of gender stereotypes and a misrepresentation of the relationship between gender, nature, and culture. This study of Pancake’s novel employs a material ecofeminist approach to both critique and develop the novel’s gender politics. Material ecofeminism, even as it …

Effects Of A Function-Based Peer Management Intervention With Middle-School Students With Adhd, Kate A. Helbig

Master's Theses

Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is characterized by impairment in functioning due to inattention, hyperactivity, or impulsivity, as well as difficulties in school with social rejection and academic underachievement (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a peer-mediated non-contingent reinforcement (NCR) intervention informed by functional assessment data to decrease disruptive behavior for students with a special education classification of OHI-ADHD. Participants included three student dyads in a middle school setting located in the Southeastern United States. An A/B/A/B withdrawal design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of this intervention. The primary dependent variables …

Comparison Of White Spot Lesions Among Clear Aligners, Self-Ligating Brackets And Conventional Brackets - A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial, Hussin Alshatti

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Neurophysiological Characteristics Of Magnetic Seizure Therapy Vs. Electroconvulsive Therapy In Geriatric Patients With Severe Depression, Monica T. Ly

Master's Theses

Objective: Magnetic seizure therapy (MST) is under development as an alternative to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), as it offers reduction in depression symptoms with fewer adverse cognitive effects. This study examined the feasibility and efficacy of MST versus ECT in a randomized trial of geriatric patients with severe depression, then compared the neurophysiological characteristics of seizures induced by MST or ECT and investigated potential links between seizure expression and therapeutic response.

Method: Six patients (mean age: 64.8) with severe depression were randomized to receive MST (n=3) or ECT (n=3) until maximal antidepressant effect (mean number of sessions: 14.67). Depression symptoms were …

Force And Fatigue Development Following Electrical Stimulation: The Effect Of Frequency And Fiber Type, Maria Vromans

Master's Theses

Functional electrical stimulation (FES) has been used broadly during rehabilitation and sport injuries to expedite tissue and muscle recovery. More recently, attention has been given to the use of electrical stimulation at the cellular level for muscle regeneration. One of the challenges, however, is understanding the optimal FES characteristics to stimulate a muscle without causing fatigue or adverse injury to the muscle. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the effect of different FES frequencies (10, 35, and 50Hz) on the onset of skeletal muscle fatigue, defined by a drop in muscle force. Further, to evaluate the electrical activity …

Two-Implant Supported Maxillary Overdentures: One-Year Assessment Of Patient-Centered Outcomes., Florian R. Kernen

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Iota: Internet Of Things Assistant, Brandon M. Okumura

Master's Theses

The Internet of Things is the networking of electronic devices, or “Things”, that enables them to collect and share data, as well as interact with their physical surround- ings. Analyzing this collected data allows us to make smarter economic decisions. These interconnected networks are usually driven by low-powered micro-controllers or cheap CPUs that are designed to function optimally with very little hardware. As scale and computational requirements increase, these micro-controllers are unable to grow without being physically replaced.

This thesis proposes a system, IoTA, that assists the Internet of Things by pro- viding a shared computational resource for endpoint devices. …

Temporal And Spatial Impacts Of Water Control Structures On The Benthic Infaunal Community Of A Tidally Restricted Wetland In Elkhorn Slough, Ca, Christine Marie Mann

Master's Theses

North Azevedo Pond in Elkhorn Slough, CA is a partially tidally restricted wetland that underwent an experimental ponding manipulation which increased inundation and tidal mixing within the system. This wetland has two spatially significant infaunal microsystems, south and north. Benthic cores taken before and after the manipulation showed that both the south and north infaunal communities remained dominated by the same major taxa, respectively. Both systems, however, experienced species shifts following the ponding manipulation. In the South, the non-native bivalve, Gemma gemma, declined from an average of 19,103 to 385 individuals (m2)-1 whereas the native clam, Nutricola tantilla, increased from …

Network Traffic Anomaly-Detection Framework Using Gpus, Meera Ramesh

Master's Theses

Network security has been very crucial for the software industry. Deep packet inspection (DPI) is one of the widely used approaches in enforcing network security. Due to the high volume of network traffic, it is challenging to achieve high performance for DPI in real time. In this thesis, a new DPI framework is presented that accelerates packet header checking and payload inspection on graphics processing units (GPUs). Various optimizations were applied to GPU-version packet inspection, such as thread-level and block-level packet assignment, warp divergence elimination, and memory transfer optimization using pinned memory and shared memory. The performance of the pattern-matching …

Convolutional Neural Network Acceleration On Gpu By Exploiting Data Reuse, Sindhuja Gopalakrishnan Elango

Master's Theses

Graphical processing units (GPUs) achieve high throughput with hundreds of cores for concurrent execution and a large register file for storing the context of thousands of threads. Deep learning algorithms have recently gained popularity for their capability for solving complex problems without programmer intervention. Deep learning algorithms operate with a massive amount of input data that causes high memory access overhead. In the convolutional layer of the deep learning network, there exists a unique pattern of data access and reuse, which is not effectively utilized by the GPU architecture. These abundant redundant memory accesses lead to a significant power and …

Recombinant Expression And Potential Autocatalysis Of Aedes Aegypti Trypsin-Like Serine Proteases (Aaspii And Aaspiv), Diane Francine Eilerts

Master's Theses

Aedes aegypti mosquitoes can be found globally in tropical and subtropical urban areas and spread Zika, Dengue fever, yellow fever, and Chikungunya viruses. Current vector control methods are limited and nonspecific. The female Ae. aegypti mosquito uses blood meal proteins to obtain nutrients required for oogenesis; inhibition of the midgut trypsin-like serine proteases responsible for blood meal digestion may provide a novel method of vector control. Ae. aegypti blood meal digestion is complex and the role of uncharacterized serine proteases in blood digestion is unclear; specifically, a group of trypsin-like serine proteases (AaSPII–V) is expressed at constant levels before and …

Using Stable Isotope Analysis To Infer Breeding Latitude And Migratory Timing Of Juvenile Pacific-Slope Flycatchers (Empidonax Difficilis), Emily Bailey Moffitt

Master's Theses

Effective conservation of migratory species is hindered by a lack of knowledge of population links between breeding, wintering and stopover habitats. The Pacific-slope flycatcher (Empidonax difficilis) is one of the many Neotropical migratory songbirds whose populations are steadily declining throughout western North America. This research contributed to the assessment of connectivity in this species by inferring relative breeding origins and habitat selection of juvenile birds that migrate along the Pacific Flyway to the South San Francisco Bay Area in the fall. Feather data collected from July 20 to October 12, 2014 were analyzed for three stable isotopes (δ2H, δ13C, δ15N). …