Digital Commons Network^™

Factors Affecting Susceptibility Of Goats To Coccidia, Yaser Ahmed

Theses

Natural Resistance Associate Macrophages Protein one (NRAMP1) gene encodes a transmembrane protein that regulates divalent cation transport that hinders intracellular pathogen proliferation. The objective of this study was to determine how NRAMP1 expression and other factors may be associated with coccidia infections in goats. Clinically healthy Boer, Spanish, and Spanish-Boer cross goats (N=140) from the NCA&T Small ruminant unit were used. The FAMACHA© score, body condition score, body weight, and age were recorded. Fecal samples were evaluated for the levels of haemonchus eggs and coccidia oocytes using McMaster slides. Blood samples were evaluated for packed cell volume and …

The Effects Of Polyphenol Rich Peanut Skin Diets On Weight Gain, Lipid Profile, And Blood Chemistry In Rats, Erika Robinson Hayes

Theses

Peanut skin is a by-product of the peanut processing industry that is typically disposed. However, peanut skin contains significant amounts of protein, lipids, dietary fiber and is rich in antioxidants such as phenolics. The objectives of this study were to (1) evaluate the overall impact of peanut skin consumption on the growth of young lab rats; (2) investigate the effects of peanut skin consumption on blood plasma cholesterol profile in laboratory rats; and (3) evaluate the effect of peanut skin consumption on the functions of major animal organs by measuring the changes of related biomarkers and gross pathology. Twenty five …

Computational Modeling Of Low Velocity Impact Loading Of Composite With And Without Electrospun Nanofiber, Abu Hasnath Rasel

Theses

The objective of this work is the computational study of composite laminates under high velocity impact loadings. Even with the blessings of modern technology, manufacturing and testing of composites do not always seem to be cost effective. To keep pace with the fast moving global market, a new tool is absolutely necessary that can give reliable results quickly. Over the last decades computational study became a strong and effective tool for the researchers for testing composite materials in a virtual world. The virtual model and the material system of the test specimen can be built in a computer using different …

Exchange Rate Volatility And U.S. Pork Exports To China, Daniel J. Boisson

Theses

The share of U.S. pork exports in the world market has grown considerably in recent years. China has become a major importer of U.S. pork products as its per capita income growth has led to a population demanding higher quality meats. One major barrier U.S. producers/exporters face is a yuan that is subject to significant intervention. At present, the yuan is officially under a managed floating exchange rate based on market supply and demand with reference to a basket of foreign currencies, the main one being the U.S. Dollar. It is currently allowed to float in a narrow range of …

Sweet Sorghum Production Based On Fertilizer Rates, Varieties And Use Of Grain Sorghum Model, Ashwin Kumar Devudigari

Theses

Sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moenich) is a promising alternative energy crop. Biophysical crop models are advanced agronomic tools designed to predict crop growth for given conditions and to supplement field experiments. No crop model has been developed for sweet sorghum. Adapting the existing grain sorghum model is a good approach to develop a dedicated sweet sorghum model. Our experiment was conducted at the NC A&T research farm in 2010 and 2011, designed with a split plot and strip plot method, respectively. These experiments included two varieties (Dale and M81-E) and four fertilizer rates (0,168-56-168, 84- 28-84-soysoap, 168-56-168-soysoap of N-P2O5-K2O …

A Machine-Learning Approach For Workflow Identification From Low-Level Monitoring Information, Thorsten Stein

Theses

Knowing which workflows are executed within Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) is essential for successful IT management. In many cases, SOAs grew out of previous existing IT architectures; existing components are used as single services and therefore as parts of newly created workflows. Since such workflows consist of newly developed and legacy services, traditional workflow management systems often cannot be applied. This thesis presents a method for gathering information about the executed workflows within such heterogeneous environments. An implementation of a framework is presented. This framework allows the training of machine-learning algorithms with workflow models and the mapping of low-level monitoring …

Dandelions In The Wind, T. R. Woodruff

Theses

"Dandelions in the Wind" is a collection of moments, of seemingly insignificant seconds that may otherwise drift across the eye, the nose, and the lips. It is the stringing of memories into a single experience for the reader. Heavily influenced by actual events, and inspired by works of others, poetry and prose come together under a theme to form the beautiful, the natural moment. It is about the seconds stretched into something longer, the minutes slowed to an hour, and allowing these moments to simply breathe.

Moments Of Connection, Kimberly Knaust

Theses

Moments of Connection explores author Kimberly Knaust's relationship with literature, her sense of the world 's beauty and strangeness, and her certainty that identity is an ever changing thing, never stagnant or limited but something which sheds the unnecessary and blossoms with every moment of choice.

Anti-Nostalgic is a novella in which the amnesiac protagonist Ariel struggles against both her own martial impulses and the ruined world in which she awakens. In a dystopian future, one in which the environment has collapsed and there is a shortage of potable water, Ariel chooses sides in the battle for control of the …

An Examination Of Irish Females Attitudes Towards Nanotechnology Claims Used In Advertising Appeals By The Cosmetics Industry, Deirdre Kelleher

Theses

Cosmetics advertising exert an image of hope and belief to consumers in that these products will dramatically make them look younger and change their lives. Much criticism has been drawn to cosmetic claims based on nanotechnology. Do they work? Are they safe? Do the cosmetic companies use false claims?

Today, the media is saturated with advertisements that promote cosmetic products. The cosmetics industry is becoming more and more advanced due to the use of nanotechnology. Cosmetic advertisements are so common that it is difficult to distinguish one from the other. Celebrity endorsers are being utilised by cosmetic companies to promote …

The Role Of The Virtues In Christian Discipleship In James Keenan Sj And William Spohn: A Comparative Investigation, Nicola Jane Borg

Theses

As Christians, the basis for our moral development and consequent actions is rooted in our relationship with Jesus Christ. To the extent that we respond to the love of God, open ourselves to ongoing conversion, allow of our consciences to be formed by His truth, recognise and repent of sin in our lives and strive to develop the virtues is the extent to which we will grow as disciples of Jesus. Both James Keenan and William Spohn have used virtues ethics to investigate various aspects of this call and our moral response. Keenan’s principal concern seems to be the nature …

Revenge Of The Sunrise Shift, Susan Weich

Theses

This novella is a fictional account of a journalist's struggle with her own integrity as it relates to her job covering the crime beat and as a victim of a brutal crime. The story explores how Kendra Hall's attack changes her perspective of the people she covers on a daily basis and resurrects a lesson about justice taught to her by her police detective grandfather, who caused her to go into a career in police reporting in the first place. When Hall realizes that the assault isn't over, she must face a series of decisions that have repercussions for her …

An Analysis Of The Implementation-Potential Of The Threaded Engram Database Model, Sourabh Mehta

Theses

The row-and-column orientation of the Relational Database Model is optimized for the storage of "data," but is not optimized for the storage of "information." This capstone project, researches the different human memory models, in-order to understand how memories are formed and how independent memories are linked together. The memory models explored include the Atkinson-Shiffrin memory model, Baddeley's model of working memory, and the Memory-Prediction model. The results of this investigation of human memory serve as a foundation for the design and implementation of a new database model, called the Threaded Engram Database (TED) model.

New Medium Of Advertising In The Future Use Of Interactive Installation, Hao Huang

Theses

Interactive installation is good at communicating as an advertising medium because in the age of information overload, the traditional advertising medium is far from communicating with consumers efficiently, "eye catching" is no longer enough, advertising calls for effective experience communicating. Bringing experience to consumers, involving them in the process of delivering information will be effective ways of communicating and a preferred way of getting information by today's information consumers. In my thesis I will study the use of interactive installation as an advertising medium, farther more, and how we can use interactive installation to communicate with consumers better than traditional …

Characterisation Of Bacterial Extracellular Polysaccharides (Eps) And Other Complex Carbohydrates With Prebiotic Potential, Padraigin Murphy

Theses

Prebiotics are selectively fermented ingredient that allows specific changes, both in the composition and/or activity in the gastrointestinal microbiota that confers benefits upon host well-being and health’ It is not the prebiotic by itself but rather the changes induced in microflora composition that is responsible for its effects. Several sources of prebiotic were used in this study, namely extracellular polysaccharides (EPS) originating from Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB), barley, oat. Laminaria digitata. Laminaria hyperborea and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. EPS-producing LAB were isolated from a wide variety of environmental and gastrointestinal niches. The strains were typed and classified according to their EPS-producing ability …

The Exploitation Of Bacteriophages For The Biocontrol Of Spoilage And Pathogenic Bacteria Including Mrsa, David Kelly

Theses

This thesis describes the successful isolation and characterisation of novel phages with applications in the medical/veterinary sector and also in the food and beverage industry. This thesis begins with a comprehensive literature review on the biocontrol applications of phages which will appear as a book chapter in “Phage therapy; Current research and applications” edited by Andrzej Gorski in the Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental therapy, Wroclaw, Poland.

Chapters 2 to 5 encompass the technical part of the thesis work, which begins with the isolation and characterization of phages of Lactobacillus and Pediococcus which cause spoilage in the brewing industry'. …

Scenario Generation And Climate Change Modelling Of Nitrous Oxide Emissions From Grasslands In Ireland, Mark Cochrane

Theses

Described as a two-year study in relation to nitrous oxide emissions from agricultural grassland in the Republic of Ireland under a set or climate and environmental policy scenarios. Nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas, with a global warning potential approximately three hundred times that or carbon dioxide. lt is required under the Kyoto Protocol that national inventories or all greenhouse gas emissions are established. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Tier approach is designed to establish current inventories of greenhouse gas emissions; however a scenario approach is also employed in order to estimate emissions in future years. Scenario sets …

Identification And Characterization Of Equine Rotaviruses In Southern Ireland, Crystal Cronin

Theses

Group A Rotaviruses(GARVs) are enteric pathogens which induce acute gastroenteritis in infants, neonates and the young of many animal species. During a 4 year study (2005-2009), 64 fecal samples from symptomatic foals, from several counties, in the south of Ireland, were molecularly characterized to determine the VP& (G type), VP4 (P type), and NSP4 antigenic specificities. Globally, G3 [P12] and G14[P12] are recognized as the predominant equine GARV strains. Twenty-two samples (34.38%) were found to contain G3 viruses, while 21 samples (32.81%) contained G14 viruses. In this study, there was a distinct increase in the incidence of mixed infections circulating …

Cloth Simulation Using Hardware Tessellation, David Huynh

Theses

Cloth simulation has long been a topic of interest in computer graphics since the early works of Terzopoulos et al. Over the years many techniques have been developed to simulate cloth. Though the general concern has been on the physical accuracy of the simulation. As the simulation gets closer to computational sciences the complexity also increases which at times may come at the cost of real-time performance. With newer and more powerful graphics hardware coming out each year, researchers are starting to shy away from the traditional CPU implementation and turning towards the GPU to offload work. As the parallel …

Ray-Traced Simulation Of Radiation Pressure For Optical Lift, Timothy Peterson

Theses

When light refracts at a surface, it changes the direction and intensity of the light rays. By Newton's 3rd law, this process imparts a small momentum to the object. This effect can be exploited to manipulate very small objects, by carefully selecting the shape and optical properties of the object. This thesis describes a computational model based on the laws of physics to determine the forces and torques resulting from light interacting with a hemicylindrical particle. This model has been successfully used to predict for the first time a phenomenon called optical lift.

Reconfiguring Phenomena Of Presence, Erika Strickland

Theses

Not included

Rit Influenza Virus Database And Evidence For Differential Selection Pressures On Geographically Distinct Human Influenza A/H3n2 Virus Populations, Bindhu Satheeshkumar

Theses

Increasing amounts of data available from influenza virus genome sequencing projects have necessitated the need for centralized repositories for the collection, integration, and dissemination of these data to researchers for further research. The RIT Influenza Virus Database, a complete genome database for influenza viruses, has been created with a web interface so that users could query for viruses of interest and download complete genome sequences and metadata of isolates. The interface of the database is publicly accessible at http://bucatini.bioinformatics.rit.edu/bindhuURMC/. Even though it is known that influenza viruses are under constant evolution at the surface glycoproteins to develop drug resistance or …

As I Recall..., Megan Gulland

Theses

This body of work presents a visual memoir of my childhood. Told through these self-portraits, this work captures the essence of my memories. Though the sculptures portray my present age as storyteller, the content comes from my childhood. I am exploring the roots of my love of storytelling by joining my passion for clay with the events of my past. The process of making these portraits, for me, closely reflects the process of growing up. In a similar way, as I built, I learned the limits and possibilities of the clay. Now, even as an adult I reflect on my …

Burning Bright, Mei-Yu Chen

Theses

In the deeps of an old mountain, the forest has long lost its vitality. A brave young boy geared with his sword and a mystery bag, sets out on a journey to solve the mystery about the forest and save this dying world. "Burning Bright" is a six minutes 3D animation short mixing with hand-drawn flair. The total production time is about one year and three months. The following thesis report describes the technical and artistic process of making the film.

Modeling Lean Six Sigma In The Small Packaging Industry In India, Robin Patel

Theses

This thesis is a result of my interest in implementing Lean Six Sigma into Indian packaging companies because the Indian industry is growing at 18-20% annually (Samal, 2010). This growth rate is expected to triple in the next five years. With USA outsourcing to foreign nations this substantial growth, as I envision the USA companies who are seeking India packaging materials will benefit from my original approach for converting the Indian packaging industry using Lean Six Sigma. I have a strong personal and professional desire to improve the manufacturing within India. It is the country in which I grew up …

Manual Skills, Kevin Rowland

Theses

The process of manual material manipulation is disappearing from daily life. Why is it that we still have an educational and social environment that does not put the same priority on practical and theoretical knowledge as is does on virtual academics? This disconnect is particularly poignant in a field such as design that should demand the mastery of both. As a modern nation, we have repressed manual skill and incremental learning by fostering an educational climate geared solely towards the desire for white-collar status. We base the accreditation of our grade schools on the rate of their college placement and …

Look, Cook, Learn: A Recipe For Improved Functionality In Cooking Design, Anna Mizer

Theses

Look, Cook, Learn: A Recipe for Improved Functionality In Cooking Design is a thesis which explores the relationship and differences between print media and digital media. Both are studied in respect to instructional cooking materials with their strengths and weaknesses .The final application involves a digital application for the Apple iPad as well as a printed recipe book. The user experience is of great importance and therefor information layering, visual layout, and consumer expectations are all considered. All information that is included in both the digital application is broken into sections depending on the function or action that the user …

Sand And Skirts: A Study Of British Women In Early Colonial Fremantle, 1829-39, Toni Church

Theses

This study of Fremantle during the first decade of British settlement at Swan River investigates the trauma and triumph of its female colonists. In this outpost of empire, British women hoped for a better life, with greater economic and social freedoms, and a promising future for their families. They faced many challenges to achieve these aspirations.

On their journey to Swan River they experienced the cramped conditions on board the emigrant ships that bred disease and discontent amongst passengers. Some suffered from violence, and loss was a part of everyday life. Loss of belongings and livestock in rough seas hampered …

Heuristics Modeling Optimization-Oriented Element Behaviors In Discrete, Repulsive Systems, David Barber

Theses

No abstract provided.

Active Disturbance Rejection For The Bipedal Walk Of A Humanoid Robot Using The Motion Of The Arms, Joshua Hill

Theses

No abstract provided.

Purification And Phytotoxic Analysis Of Ceratoplatanin Proteins In Botrytis Cinerea, Subodh Rathi

Theses

No abstract provided.