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Evaluating Alternate Management Strategies For Spotted Seatrout (Cynoscion Nebulosus) In The North-Central Gulf Of Mexico, Nathaniel Wallace Jermain

Master's Theses

Spotted Seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus) receive considerable fishing pressure as the most popular saltwater target species in the north-central Gulf of Mexico. The potential for alternate management strategies, including stock enhancement and reducing discard mortality, to support the sustainability of the stocks and the desires of stakeholders is unknown. The purpose of this study was to provide an objective evaluation of the efficacy of alternate management strategies for Spotted Seatrout in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. I used a management strategy evaluation (MSE) to measure the performance of 18 alternate management scenarios relative to control scenarios. Scenarios with a high …

Geographical Analysis Of Offender Vulnerability: Modeling Coastal Hazards And Social Disorganization In Southern Mississippi, Ashleigh Nicole Price

Master's Theses

Hazards research continually examines how specific groups are affected by damaging events and how their unique sociodemographic characteristics contribute to variations in resilience and recovery. Studies have shown that underprivileged communities suffer more adversely and take longer to recover from hazard events. Probationers and parolees are uniquely disadvantaged regarding demographics and economic opportunity, both of which contribute to increased vulnerability and reduced resilience. Numerous legal restrictions and widespread discrimination towards former criminals means offenders are often relegated to underserved, criminogenic neighborhoods. Given such severe social and financial limitations, offenders have little capacity to prepare for or recover from disasters.

The …

Detecting Coastal Marsh Change From Aerial Imagery Using Spectral And Textural Methods: Pascagoula River Estuary, Mississippi, 1955-2014, Margaret Claire Bell Waldron

Master's Theses

As sea level rise accelerates, coastal marsh ecosystems are increasingly vulnerable. Vertical accretion rates must exceed or keep pace with rates of sea level rise to prevent transition to open water or inland migration of marsh vegetation. While some marsh systems along the northern Gulf of Mexico coast have remained stable, others, e.g., the marshes of the Louisiana Gulf Coast, have experienced high rates of conversion to open water. This study examined the historical extent of intertidal marsh at the mouth of the Pascagoula River in Jackson County, Mississippi to determine whether marsh extent changed during the period 1955-2014 and …

Investigating Diel Periodicity In Export Flux In The Gulf Of Mexico Using A Particulate Imaging System, Justin Edward Blancher

Master's Theses

To estimate the diurnal periodicity in the biological pump, a floating array with a marine snow camera system at 150 m depth was used, and particles were imaged at a 40 second interval for a 24 to 30 hour period at five sites in the Gulf of Mexico in June 2017. Each image was processed to identify and size all the particles within the frame, which was then processed to determine diameter, an estimated volume, and settling speed for each particle. Using these parameters, particle mass was estimated using algebraically rearranged calculations for settling speed. Each hour during the deployment …

Methylation-Specific Differentiation Of Vaginal Epithelial Cells For Forensic Tissue Typing By Bisulfite Conversion And Pyrosequencing, Elise Pood

Master's Theses

The identification of bodily fluids and tissues is often applied to criminal investigations to clarify events that may or may not have taken place. Current forensic techniques can identify blood, saliva, seminal fluid, and spermatozoa, but there is a clear absence of reliable testing to identify vaginal epithelial tissue. Though there are serological tests available for this purpose, tissue-specific methylation markers have recently been investigated as a candidate for the identification of blood, saliva, and spermatozoa.

In this study, tissue-specific methylation markers were analyzed to identify a set of markers for the differentiation of vaginal fluid from blood, saliva, and …

First Set, Alfonso Zapata

Master's Theses

First Set is a collection of poetry by Alfonso Zapata, with poems contained therein from as long ago as 2015. This thesis and project examines art, especially music, and its effects on memory and emotion. The world that these poems explicate is charged with passion and drive, spurred on by the continuous exposure to art in its characters both fictional and autobiographical. The goal of these writings is not just to portray how people can be affected by art, but to give art its own agency. In the poetry’s efforts to demystify the subject of art, art becomes its own …

Are You Happy? Local Economic Development In Northern Thailand, Katherine Sorensen

Master's Theses

Thailand has had a long history of economic development. In recent years, Thailand began to focus on economic development initiatives a local level. The implementation process has been slow, but the introduction of social enterprise programs has proven a promising strategy in local economic development. Successful examples of economic development can be found in Thailand wherein this paper argues through collaboration between government agencies and local communities lies the key to success.

Qualitative techniques including a two months of fieldwork in Thailand, first hand observations, and appreciative inquiry interviews are used to analyze economic development initiatives in the communities of …

Genetic Diversity In The Leucoagaricus Cultivar Fungus Of Trachymyrmex Septentrionalis Fungus-Growing Ants, Lee Deininger

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

A Systematic Theoretical Study Of Topological Insulator Bi₂Se₃, Thomas Reid

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Lisdexamfetamine On Effort-Related And Consummatory Behaviors Supported By Foods With Varying Degrees Of Palatability: Exploration Of A Binge-Like Eating Model, Rose Presby

Master's Theses

Diets high in sugar or fat are associated with multiple health conditions, including binge eating disorder (BED). BED affects approximately 2% of the US adult population, and occurs more frequently in females. It is important to develop animal models of palatable food consumption, food seeking, and voluntary physical activity that may have relevance for BED. The d-amphetamine prodrug lisdexamfetamine (LDX) is used to treat BED. The present experiments studied the effect of LDX on food intake and effort-based choice tasks in female Wistar rats. In experiment one, three groups of rats received different food exposure conditions randomly spread over several …

Effect Of Family Structure On Mental Health Problems In Adolescents In The United States, Adekemi Olaide Suleiman

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

The Marital Relationship, And Its Association With The Physical And Emotional Health Of Women In A Low-Income Community Of Mumbai, India, Nita Thapa-Chhetri

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Understanding Trade-Offs Between Built And Natural Assets In Coastal Management Projects For Inland, Coastal Residents Using Latent Class Modeling Techniques: An Application To The Connecticut Coastline, Julia Dumaine

Master's Theses

Climate change threatens our established communities worldwide through consistently increased average surface temperatures, rising sea levels, and precipitation extremes, and Connecticut is no exception (U.S. Global Change Research Program 2017). As coastal communities in Connecticut increase their focus on mitigating the effects of climate change, they are not always able to incorporate town residents’ preferences and values into their planning; particularly those residents who may not receive a direct benefit from the plan of which they contribute tax dollars towards. Our study attempts to estimate these preferences and values by using a choice experiment survey distributed across the Connecticut coastline …

Non-Destructive Evaluation Of Thermal Barrier Coatings Using Direct Heat Flux Method, Amadeusz Adam Nasuta

Master's Theses

Thermal barrier coatings are essential for reliable and efficient turbine engines. The coatings allow the engine to operate at higher temperatures and protect the super alloy components within the hot section. Turbine hot section components have complex geometries. Complex geometries can lead to inconsistent coatings. It is critical to determine which components have defective coatings because engine manufacturers warranty these parts and under life parts have large costs associated with them. Non-destructive detection of damage progression is useful for accurate part lifetime prediction and also in root cause analysis. The present thesis describes a new, non-destructive approach to test thermal …

Onshore Habitat Use As A Driver Of Diet, Contaminant Exposure, And Immune Function Of Southern Beaufort Sea Polar Bears (Ursus Maritimus), Jennifer Bourque

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

A Survey Of New England Sheep Producers, Arielle L. Halpern

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Model-Based Medium-Voltage Induction Machine Insulation Material Characterization, Arshiah Yusuf Mirza

Master's Theses

The voltage and frequency handling capability of power converter modules have tremendously increased with the penetration of wide-band-gap (WBG) semiconductor technology in power electronics. However, very little is known about the effect of the high-voltage high-frequency transients exerted by WBG power electronics on insulation materials. This thesis investigates the effect of high-voltage, high-frequency transients on aging and breakdown characteristics of insulation materials. The aim of this research was to analyze this breakdown and develop the behavioral model of the breakdown time when such insulation materials are used in inverter-fed medium-voltage induction machines. As a part of this research, a series …

Predicting Children Missed By An Early Autism Screener, Cara Cordeaux

Master's Theses

Recent clinical best-practice guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that all children be screened for ASD at 18 and 24 months of age (Johnson & Myers, 2007), and those have contributed to an emphasis on early screening and diagnosis. However, no screening instrument can identify all cases at 18-24 months. This study examined profiles of 135 children who participated in validation studies of the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (MCHAT, MCHAT-R/F), an ASD specific screening instrument. Participants were screened at 18-24 months (Time 1) and again at 36-48 months (Time 2). Children who screened negative at 18-24 …

Improving The Accuracy Of A Finite Element Based Manufacturing Simulation: A Case Study Of Laser-Induced Bending In A Thin Metal Sheet, Joseph Johanson

Master's Theses

Finite element analysis (FEA) has become an increasingly popular tool used by researchers and professionals for comparing experimental data to theoretically expected values. Its use can prove to be an invaluable resource when analyzing or designing a system by giving the user the ability to understand the process being modeled at a much deeper level. However, finite element analysis it is still prone to generating inaccurate results if not used properly. When simulating certain physical processes, such as those found during manufacturing, the obtained results are sometimes prone to error when compared with their experimentally obtained counterparts.

The present work …

The Influence Of Sentence Context On Phonetic Recalibration, Sahil Luthra

Master's Theses

Individual talkers vary considerably in how they produce different speech sounds, and a challenge for the listener is to learn the appropriate mapping between acoustics and phonetic categories for an individual talker. Several studies have shown that listeners are able to leverage various sources of context (e.g., coincident visual information, lexical knowledge) to guide this process, sometimes termed perceptual learning of speech. Here, we examine how sentence-level semantic information – specifically, whether preceding sentence context is predictive of an upcoming word – might modulate the size of learning effects. Across a series of perceptual learning experiments, we manipulate how learning …

The Impact Of Junk Food Marketing Regulations On Food Sales: An Ecological Study, Yumi Kovic

Master's Theses

Objectives. To evaluate the impact of junk food marketing policies implemented worldwide from 2003 through 2014 on nationwide junk food sales and to identify the most effective policy characteristics in reducing junk food sales.

Methods. Junk food marketing policy data were obtained and categorized through a thorough literature review. These data were analyzed using a repeated measures design against EuroMonitor junk food sales data from 2002 and 2016.

Results. Countries with junk food marketing policies saw a decrease in junk food sales after implementation, while those without said policies saw an increase in sales. Countries with statutory policies saw a …

Reanalysis Of The Usher Syndrome Type 2 Carrier As “Phenotype-Free”, Peter Perrino

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Thermophysical Properties And Characterization Of Diamond Silicon Carbide, Alexandra Merkouriou

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Small Rna Sequencing And Rt-Qpcr Validation Of Forensically Relevant Body Fluids, Karly Johannsen

Master's Theses

Body fluid identification is an important aspect of forensic investigations because it assists with the reconstruction of crime scenes and can refute and/or support witness statements. Currently, there is no universal method for body fluid identification. Each body fluid has several tests for its identification, both presumptive and confirmatory. A universal method for body fluid identification that is sensitive, specific, efficient, and minimally destructive is necessary.

In recent years miRNAs have been heralded as novel biomarkers for the identification of body fluids. Several research groups across the US and internationally have been formed to determine which miRNAs are suitable for …

Naatm1: Examining The Mechanism Of A Heavy-Metal Abc Exporter, Dennis Hicks

Master's Theses

ATP-Binding Cassette (ABC) Transporters are a superfamily of integral membrane proteins that have been found embedded in both the cellular membranes and internal organelles of all species yet analyzed (1). This extreme conservation throughout the tree of life is due to their vitally critical and broad task of transporting all manner of things into and out of the cell and related organelles. This broadness of responsibility has led to an abundant diversity of this family, which in turn, has allowed life to adapt to the many environments found on Earth. While the importance and variability of this family is abundantly …

Topology Optimization Of Space Frames Via Geometry Projection, Manal Tahhan

Master's Theses

There is growing interest in space agencies to design lunar habitats for different stages of habitation. In this work, we present a topology optimization method to design a class of these structures consisting of rigid space frames with elements transported from earth and assembled in situ. Since the space frame must be made of stock material for ease of transportation and assembly, this work employs the geometry projection method, which is a topology optimization technique that render designs made exclusively of geometric primitives. This work makes three contributions to the geometry projection method that are necessary for the design of …

Construction Of A Reference Allelic Ladder For An Odocoileus Str Multiplex, Jolene Strand

Master's Theses

Odocoileus is a genus of Cervidae (deer) consisting of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus, Zimmerman, 1780), mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus, Rafinesque, 1817) and blacktailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus hemionus, Rafinesque, 1817). Hunting Odocoileus is only legal with proper permits according to laws that dictate when, where, how, and what can be hunted. Anything outside the legal limits is considered to be poaching. A useful tool for investigating poaching cases is Short Tandem Repeat (STR) DNA analysis. This is commonly used in human forensic casework to link DNA evidence found at crime scenes to either victims or suspects. In poaching cases, it can …

Effect Of Bio-Augmentation Product Biowish® Septic Rescue On The Wastewater Treatment Performance Of Residential Septic Tanks, Kimberly Michelle Lamar Merilles

Master's Theses

Residential septic systems provide reliable wastewater treatment for over 26 million homes and facilities in the United States, and many more worldwide. When properly maintained, these systems are reliable, low-cost, and long-term treatments for residential wastewater. When neglected, septic systems can fail and lead to health concerns and ecological harm to soil and groundwater contamination through the improperly treated wastewater effluent.

This study tested the effect of the bio-augmentation product BiOWiSH® Septic Rescue of BiOWiSH® Technologies International, Inc. (hereafter referred to as BiOWiSH) on the biological treatment of residential septic tanks. BiOWiSH is meant to act as a bio-augmentation product …

Indoor Air Monitoring Of Ethanol And Benzene In A Pilot Winery Using Active Sampling, Andrew I. Kaneda

Master's Theses

Acute indoor concentrations of benzene and ethanol were evaluated in the California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo’s pilot winery workroom. Air samples were collected during four different wine-making activities: fermentation, fermentation with Brix content testing, post-alcoholic fermentation pressing, and storage/finishing. Average workroom benzene concentrations ranged from 0.05 to 0.12 mg/m³. Ethanol concentrations in the winery workroom varied with the activity, ranging from 0.9 to 12 mg/m³. Pressing and fermentation with Brix content testing both led to higher indoor ethanol concentrations than fermentation without Brix content testing and storage/finishing.

Tracer gas decay air exchange tests were …

Relevance Analysis For Document Retrieval, Eric Labouve

Master's Theses

Document retrieval systems recover documents from a dataset and order them according to their perceived relevance to a user’s search query. This is a difficult task for machines to accomplish because there exists a semantic gap between the meaning of the terms in a user’s literal query and a user’s true intentions. Even with this ambiguity that arises with a lack of context, users still expect that the set of documents returned by a search engine is both highly relevant to their query and properly ordered. The focus of this thesis is on document retrieval systems that explore methods of …