Digital Commons Network^™

Aegis: Validating Execution Behavior Of Controller Applications In Software-Defined Networks, Hitesh Maruti Padekar

Master's Theses

The software-defined network (SDN) controller provides an application programming interface (API) for network applications and controller modules. Malicious applications and network attackers can misuse these APIs to cause outbreaks on the controller. The controller is the heart of the SDN and should be secured from such API misuse scenarios and network attacks. Most of the prior research in security for SDN controllers focuses on a defense mechanism for a particular attack scenario that requires changes in the controller code. This research proposes dynamic access control and a policy engine-based approach for protecting the SDN controller from network attacks and application …

Effects Of Small-Scale Substrate Complexity And Heterogeneity On Rocky Intertidal Species Interactions, Sara E. Worden

Master's Theses

The barnacle assemblage in the high rocky intertidal zone has provided an excellent study system to examine species interaction webs. This assemblage consists of a small set of species: barnacles, a variety of macroalgae, and a suite of limpet grazers. Despite the extensive intertidal research occurring along the central California coast, little is known about this specific interaction web and what physical factors may influence it in this region. This study examines the direct, indirect, positive, and negative interactions between the intertidal barnacle Balanus glandula Darwin, the brown seaweed Pelvetiopsis limitata Gardner, and limpet grazers, and how the underlying rock …

Design Of An Attitude Control System For Spin-Axis Control Of A 3u Cubesat, Alexander Joseph Westfall

Master's Theses

This paper describes the design process of developing a spin-axis control system for a 3U CubeSat, a relatively small satellite. Design requires the CubeSat to de-spin after deployment and direct its antenna to track Earth nadir position. The one degree of freedom controller is developed for the TechEdSat, which is a CubeSat with a payload that allows for the assumption that rotation pitch and yaw rates are sufficiently close to zero. Satellite torqueing disturbances are modeled with reaction wheel noise for a more complete system analysis. Sensor noise is unmodeled. Frequency domain and time domain analyses are presented; the entire …

Geographic Variation In The Life History And Morphology Of The Pacific Geoduck, Panopea Generosa, Gabriela Navas

Master's Theses

The Pacific geoduck, Panopea generosa, is an ideal candidate to investigate patterns of life history variation and morphological plasticity in shell shape, as it occurs over a large geographic range, inhabits different marine environments, and experiences intense fishing pressure in some locations (i.e., Mexico and Washington). Six populations were sampled from Washington to Mexico to evaluate evidence for geographic variation in demography, life history, and morphology. Results provided evidence for a latitudinal cline with larger clams occurring in locations characterized by colder water temperature. Age structure and longevity analyses indicated that life expectancy was significantly lowered at intertidal sites compared …

Burnout Versus Personality: Predicting Volunteer Retention, Conor Thomas Tuohy

Master's Theses

Employee turnover is an important issue for any organization, but it is of critical importance for volunteer organizations. Research shows that a strong predictor of volunteer turnover is a volunteer’s intention to remain in that organization. This study measured volunteers’ intention to remain and compared the known predictor of burnout to the potential predictor of personality (through personality traits) in order to find a better predictor of a volunteer’s intention to remain in an organization. Using survey data obtained from 65 participants from a single volunteer organization, this study showed that burnout and personality traits failed to predict a volunteer’s …

Lithologic Controls On Knickpoint Formation In Sierra Nevada Bedrock Channels, Brittany Danielle Johnson

Master's Theses

In the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the distribution of knickpoints in bedrock channels is often used as evidence to argue that the mountain range has been recently uplifted. The assumption that bedrock channel knickpoints are transient features responding to a recent pulse of uplift contributes to the ongoing debate about the range’s geomorphic and tectonic evolution. Determining how knickpoints form in heterogeneous granitic landscapes remains fundamental in understanding the lithologic, tectonic, and climatic controls on bedrock incision. Defining the controls on knickpoint formation may limit how knickpoints are used to infer the tectonic history of the Sierra Nevada. In this study, …

Effects Of Failure On Subsequent Performance In The Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops Truncatus), Lisa Kay Lauderdale

Master's Theses

The current study examined the immediate effects of two types of failure during operant-conditioning based training sessions in 11 bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) at the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program in San Diego, CA. While learning a multi-faceted behavior not commonly found in nature, such as beaching, animals are likely to perform approximations of the behavior that are not successful and do not result in reinforcement. The effects of failure on beaching trials were systematically investigated over a three-month period by determining the mean failure rate and the probability of success after initial success, initial attempts, and initial …

A Cultural Consideration: Eliminating The Barriers In Order To Effectively Communicate Crises, Morgan H. Dunaway

Master's Theses

This study aimed at gaining a better understanding of the Hispanic American culture in an effort to evaluate how they view and receive messages sent from the government. The purpose of this study was to further the conversation that messages should be designed with careful thought in order to resonate with the target audience involved in the communication process. A previous study found that the majority of the Hispanic American population felt as if they are overlooked and would not be warned properly in a time of crisis (Heath, Lee, & Ni, 2009). Therefore, the present study focused on variables …

Are Large Dogs Smarter Than Small Dogs? Investigating Within Species Differences In Large And Small Dogs: Spatial Memory, Megan S. Broadway

Master's Theses

The study of canine cognition can be useful in understanding the ontology and selective pressures that affect the development of cognitive abilities. Dogs have undergone intensive artificial selection yielding distinctive breeds which differ both phenotypically and behaviorally. Breed based cognitive differences have not been found but some studies suggest there may be differences in broader categories such as working disposition and sex. The influence of size on canine cognition has not been thoroughly addressed despite the fact that large dogs are often perceived to be ‘smarter’ than small dogs. This preconception has only recently been addressed and supported in one …

Recreation Ecology Of Colorado Fourteeners: An Assessment Of Trail Usage And Impacts, James C. Ewing

Master's Theses

The popularity of climbing Colorado’s 14,000 ft. peaks, or “Fourteeners”, has risen dramatically in recent years, raising important sustainability and management questions. Moreover, groups managing the peaks operate with major capital constraints so their efforts need to be informed, prioritized, and efficient. This paper gauges the dynamics of trail usage, explanatory variables, and recreational impacts across all 58 Fourteeners, and details evaluation adjustments that minimize error and produce results in-step with the resource management framework. Relative to a baseline study completed in 2005, substantial changes occurred in trail usage and impact dynamics. The greatest changes were concentrated on peaks previously …

Paleopathology At The Shady Grove Site (22qu525): A Study Of Health In The Upper Yazoo Basin During The Middle Mississippian Period, Christopher Brady Davis

Master's Theses

The Mississippian Period (AD 1000-1539) is characterized by increasingly sedentary populations, mound building, ranked societies, and intensified agriculture. As agriculture spread throughout the Eastern Woodlands, it led to widespread health consequences, including poor nutrition and increased levels of infection. Also, environmental shifts during the Mississippian Period (AD 1000-1539) caused drier conditions, potentially leading to crop failures further exacerbating nutritional problems.

This thesis focuses on the health of the Shady Grove site in the Upper Yazoo Basin, a Middle to Late Mississippian medium sized mound center where an ossuary containing up to 100 individuals was excavated in 2010. Focusing only on …

A Platform For Fast Detection Of Let-7 Micro Rna Using Polyaniline Fluorescence And Image Analysis Techniques, Partha P. Sengupta

Master's Theses

The project describes a new strategy for transducing hybridization events through modulating intrinsic properties of the electroconductive polymer polyaniline (PANI). When DNA based probes electrostatically interact with PANI, its fluorescence properties are increased, a phenomenon that can be enhanced by UV irradiation. Hybridization of target nucleic acids results in dissociation of probes causing PANI fluorescence to return to basal levels. By monitoring restoration of base PANI fluorescence as little as 10^-11 M (10 pM) of target oligonucleotides could be detected within 15 minutes of hybridization. Detection of complementary oligos was specific, with introduction of a single mismatch failing to …

Staging Sex Or Fighting Foreignness? Marlowe's Edward Ii As Xenophobic Drama, James D. Baker

Master's Theses

Christopher Marlowe’s drama Edward II has long been known for its representation of a close male, arguably homosexual, friendship between King Edward II and his favorite, the French Piers Gaveston, as well as their union’s negative effects on the court. Indeed much criticism exists on the common belief that the characters’ relationship is problematic in early modern England both because the two characters are male and because there is an obvious class divide. However, critics have seemed to overlook Gaveston’s being French, even in light of the massive immigration to England during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. This …

Feeding The South: An Assessment Of Food Availability In Rural Mississippi, Nicole Baiza Lawrence

Master's Theses

The overall goal of this project is to investigate Mississippi’s rural food environment by assessing the food resources available to rural Mississippians. The primary objectives were to identify sample locations in each of the four cultural regions of Mississippi and determine the food resources available to residents of those counties. The intellectual merit of this research lies in its in-depth exploration of food accessibility in rural areas. Though there is a wealth of literature on the topics of urban food access and food deserts, very little research has been done in rural areas. Most studies focus on urban environments which …

Maternal Effects And Offspring Behavior: Potential Contributors To The Lack Of Recruitment In Mississippi Gopher Tortoises (Gopherus Polyphemus), Aaron L. Holbrook

Master's Theses

Federally threatened in Mississippi, gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) populations within the state have strongly variable recruitment and are generally in decline. Hatching success is significantly lower in Mississippi than in any other part of the species’ range , and most hatchlings die within the first year. There are few refuges where survival and hatching success is high. Here I compare two populations that differ in recruitment and offspring survival for differences in corticosterone. Corticosterone is a hormone that influences both energy availability and is released in elevated levels during stressful events, like living in poor quality habitat. Prolonged corticosterone elevation …

Burial Chronological Sequencing Of The Colonial Maya Cemetery At Tipu, Belize Using Fluoride Ion Analysis, Nicole Musselwhite

Master's Theses

This thesis ascertains the sequence of burials using fluoride ion electrode analysis at the colonial cemetery at Tipu, Belize in order to explore demographic and other cultural effects associated with European contact. The cemetery at Tipu in west central Belize, dating from within the first century of Spanish contact, has provided one of the largest and best preserved Maya skeletal series, with over 500 burials recovered. While this series has undergone vast amounts of analysis, there has yet been an analysis conducted to view how patterns changed over time. This is of interest given the rapid culture change associated with …

Climatic Effects And Total Factor Productivity In U.S. Dairy Farming: An Empirical Analysis Of Northeastern And Midwestern Counties Between 1974 And 2012, Salimata Massaly

Master's Theses

Climate change refers to changes in temperature and precipitation patterns as well as increases in the occurrence of extreme events. In recent years, climate change has gained increasing attention from production economists; however, its effects on productivity have been largely ignored in the literature. Our study aims to address these shortcomings by implementing a Total Factor Productivity (TFP) analysis and decomposing TFP into climatic effect, output-oriented technical efficiency, technological progress, and output-oriented scale efficiency indexes. Our study focuses primarily on climatic effects on TFP growth on dairy farming in two traditional US dairy regions. We use U.S. county level data …

The Moderating Role Of Chronological Age On The Relationship Between Psychological Age And Facets Of Health: A Longitudinal Analysis, Gretchen A. Petery

Master's Theses

Past research has consistently found a negative relationship between psychological age and health. Nearly all of that research, however, has been cross-sectional, and the few panel studies that exist include only a single aspect of health and measured with older adults. The present study sought to replicate and expand on a recent 2-wave cross-lagged panel investigation that explored the causal interplay between several dimensions of health and psychological age in middle age and older adults. In the current study employees (N = 409), ranging in age from 22 to 70, from six manufacturing organizations participated in three surveys approximately …

The Privilege To Choose: How Class Status Influences The Spread Of Vaccine Refusal, Jordan H. Rees

Master's Theses

Much of the current research that exists on vaccine refusal focuses on point-in-time examinations of who is refusing and how exemptions impact disease outbreaks. In the present study I address the question of who is refusing vaccines over the course of the last two decades. I specifically examine how social class influences the propensity to refuse vaccines over time. Using pooled cross-sectional National Immunization Survey data from 1995 to 2012, I estimate binary logistic regressions on the probability of being unvaccinated. The results indicate that social class does impact the propensity to refuse vaccines, but in dynamic ways. Two components …

Maternal History Of Childhood Sexual Abuse And Adolescent Sexual Risk Behaviors: Potential Mechanisms Of Intergenerational Effects, Sanne N. Wortel

Master's Theses

Almost a quarter of women experience some kind of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). Although CSA is associated with subsequent difficulties in women’s sexual well-being and parenting, few studies have examined whether maternal CSA history impacts how parents navigate the sexual development of their children. Using a cross-sectional sample of 194 low-income adolescents girls (Mean age = 15.4), the goal of this study was to: 1) test whether maternal CSA is predictive of adolescent sexual risk behaviors (SRBs), and 2) identify parenting/family characteristics (sexual communication, sexual beliefs, parental monitoring and autonomy granting, and mother-daughter relationship quality) that may mediate this relationship. …

Mobility For Whom? Local Mobility Structures And The Stratified Impact On Earnings And Poverty, D. Matthew Ray

Master's Theses

A dynamic class structure that fosters social mobility is the foundation of the American Dream, and is believed to be beneficial to all society. But are the benefits of mobility evenly distributed? Although the importance of mobility to the surrounding community is an intuitive idea, it has been difficult to test empirically with data until recently. Drawing from innovative mobility data provided by Chetty et al. (2014a) for Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), I study the social consequences of intergenerational income mobility occurring across the local class structure. I use ordinary least squares (OLS) regression to investigate the impact of local …

"Casting Aside That Ficticious Self.": Deciphering Female Identity In The Awakening 2015, Anne L. Dicosimo

Master's Theses

Kate Chopin’s female protagonists have long since fascinated literary critics, raising serious questions concerning the influence of nineteenth-century female gender roles in her writing. Published in 1899, The Awakening demonstrates the changeability of the various representations of woman. In the nineteenth century, the subject of women may be divided into two categories: the True Woman and the New Woman. The former were expected to “cherish and maintain the four cardinal virtues of piety, purity, submissiveness and domesticity” (Khoshnood et al.), while the latter sought to move away from hearth and home in order to focus on education, professions, and political …

Daisy And Frederick: An Exploration Of Innocence And Its Consequences In Henry James' Daisy Miller: A Study 2015, Mark Andrew Meyer Ii

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

"Carried Away": Love, Bly, And Secrecy In Henry James' The Turn Of The Screw 2015, Natalie G. El-Eid

Master's Theses

The function of the prologue in Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw is decidedly ambiguous, as the characters in the prologue, much like the uncle of the main text, are seemingly never seen again. For this reason, the purpose of this prologue is much debated.1 As Rolf Lundén states in his article “‘Not in any literal, vulgar way’: The Encoded Love Story of Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw,” “The openness of Henry James' The Turn of the Screw has invited more analytical attempts, and more critical controversy, than most literary texts” (30). Lundén summarizes four schools of …

Lyme Disease Ecology In San Luis Obispo County: The Role Of The Western Gray Squirrel, Ryan William Baker-Branstetter

Master's Theses

Despite the fact that eight cases of Lyme disease were diagnosed in San Luis Obispo County between 2005-2013, the identity of wildlife hosts serving as sources for tick infection in this region remained unidentified. The primary cause of Lyme disease in the U.S. is the spirochetal bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, and this agent had not been previously isolated from the region. Borrelia bissettii, a related species that has not been implicated as a common causative agent of Lyme disease, was isolated in small rodents inhabiting coastal scrub and chaparral habitats in a previous San Luis Obispo County study. However, …

Modeling Viscoelastic Behavior In Compact Bone Through A Distribution Of Collagen D-Spacing: A Finite Element Analysis, Christopher Ha

Master's Theses

Osteoporosis affects nearly 54 million people in the United States. The cost associated with treatment is estimated to be $19 billion per year and is expected to grow yearly. D-spacing is the staggering of collagen molecules found at the nanoscopic level. Previously thought to have a constant value, recent studies have found that D-spacing has a distribution of values throughout the tissue. As part of an ongoing effort in understanding the mechanisms that are affected by osteoporosis, a finite element model was developed to explore the effects of D-spacing distribution on the viscoelastic material properties of bone tissue. The goal …

Efficacy Of Plant-Derived Antimicrobials In Reducing Foodborne Pathogens In Agricultural Soil And Their Effect On Soil Nutrients And Microbiome, Samantha M. Fancher

Master's Theses

Bacterial pathogens, such as Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes, can contaminate agricultural soil thereby increasing the risk of produce-associated foodborne outbreaks. In this study three plant-derived antimicrobials (PDAs), carvacrol (CR), thymol (TY), and β-resorcylic acid (BR) were analyzed for their efficacy in reducing Salmonella and L. monocytogenes in agricultural soil. The effect of the PDAs on the soil pH, nutrients, and microbiome was also determined.

Sandy loam soil was inoculated with either Salmonella or L. monocytogenes followed by the addition of 0.25 or 0.5% CR, TY, and BR. The treated samples were analyzed up to 21 days for surviving pathogens. …

An Analysis Of State Policies On The Environmental Impacts Of State Surface Transportation: Considering Land Development Patterns, Ryan T. O'Hara Mr.

Master's Theses

We have identified a need to explore the root causes of the environmental impacts of transportation and land use policy. This research uses transportation policy metrics and travel and economic characteristics to find key policies that will reduce the environmental impacts of state transportation systems.

The Influence Of Organizational Personality And Social Identity Consciousness On Organizational Attraction: A Humanness Perspective, Xiaoyuan (Susan) Zhu

Master's Theses

Organizational affiliations serve a social identity function for employees because others will typically infer information about them based on their place of employment. To the extent that job seekers are concerned about these inferences, they will attempt to maintain a positive social identity by joining organizations they believe are viewed as favorable by the public. Research has examined whether social identity needs interact with organizational personality perceptions (i.e., a type of symbolic inferences) but with some inconsistent findings. I argue that the existing organizational personality taxonomy may suffer from bandwidth correspondence issues that may be attenuating large interaction effects. In …

"Fire And Water Imagery" In Jane Eyre 2015, Shannon O'Loughlin

Master's Theses

Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre is a study in contrasts. Critics have argued the implausibility of the novel, that an orphaned governess who marries her dashing employer is too far-fetched to be believed. However, a proper understanding of Jane Eyre must be based not on a sequence of events, but on the thematic form of the novel in which the signifiers relate to each other and shift throughout. Ferdinand de Saussure explains in his "Course in General Linguistics," that the mental concept one has of a word is its "signifier" (62). Charlotte Bronte relies not simply upon a sequence of events …