Digital Commons Network^™

Crassostrea Gigas Invasion In Southern California: Macrofaunal Diversity And Local Community Impacts Of Ecosystem Engineers On Estuarine Habitats, Noah Jansen-Yee

Theses

Many marine ecosystems are facing the growing threat of biological invasions. These invasions can have a variety of different impacts on ecosystems and their inhabitants. The Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas, is currently in the relatively early stages of invasion in San Diego estuaries. Crassostrea gigas is a large, filter-feeding bivalve that forms dense oyster beds on hard substrate. These oysters are known to outcompete native counterparts and drastically alter habitats where they are present. Crassostrea gigas is an ecosystem engineer that, through shell creation and formation of a dense oyster matrix, impacts ecosystems in a variety of direct and indirect …

Design And Implementation Of Photovoltaic Energy Harvesting Automaton, Iskandar Askarov

Theses

Global domestic electricity consumption has been rapidly increasing in the past three decades. In fact, from 1990 to 2020, consumption has more than doubled from 10,120 TWh to 23,177 TWh [1]. Moreover, consumers have been turning more towards clean, renewable energy sources such as Photovoltaic. According to International Energy Agency, global Solar power generation alone in 2019 has reached almost 3% [4] of the electricity supply. Even though the efficiency of photovoltaic panels has been growing, presently, the highest efficiency solar panels available to an average consumer range only from 20%-22% [14]. Many research papers have been published to increase …

A Novel 3d Animation About Human Visual System: From Retina To Perception, Qiuwan Liu

Theses

Introduction to vision and perception has been a fundamental topic for students from varied majors in college. Students who study Biology, Cognitive Science, Neuroscience, and Visual Design, need to learn about the visual pathway before they dive into more specific research topics. This thesis intends to create a 3D animation to assist professors explaining the complex process of the visual pathway. The target audience for this project is undergraduate students majoring in color science. My goal of this animation is to introduce students to the complicated anatomy of the retinal structure and the molecular pathway of the photoreceptors to demonstrate …

Towards Sustainable Cities: E-Waste Collecting Machine: A Conceptual Design, Marwah Al Ramsi, Alia Al Helali

Theses

Continuous development, keeping up with technology and increasing the production of multi-feature electronic devices are all factors that have increased the use of electronic devices all over the world. The accumulation of E-devices by individuals increases the amount of electronic waste that causes environmental pollution problems. Therefore, an innovative solution must be found that encourages people to give up old or damaged electronic items for recycling and benefit from their contents. An electronic waste collecting scheme that grants reward points to contributors and link the waste to recycling companies is suggested as an appropriate solution to attract people's attention. The …

Desiderium : A Novel, Rebecca Blanks

Theses

Mia is an underestimated and overworked intern at a journalism company in New York City, but everything changes when she’s sent to Charleston, South Carolina on an assignment. Mia attempts to complete her assignment and return home, but before long, she gets wrapped up in taking care of a centuries-old plantation. When Mia finds out that there is no known history about the place, she can’t help but try to fill in the gap with her imagination. But how can she write a history of a place from scratch? As her stories break down and angels and dragons begin to …

Jury Nullification : An Extralegal History, Kim Straub

Theses

This paper examines the changing cultural understandings of jury nullification, with a particular focus on non-judicial explanations from 1700 to 1850; how colonial executives, American legislatures, and the public understood acts of nullification. Early eighteenth-century observers tended to classify acts of jury nullification as anecdotal events placed in a strict socio-moral framework. Revolution brought about a radical new vision of nullification. Beginning in the 1750s, nullification was understood in a new hyper-political way that emphasized jury agency and independence. By the 1820s, the public returned to a socio-moral understanding of nullification. Once again, acts of nullification were explained as a …

Population Genomics Of A Rare Plant : Tiehm's Buckwheat, Benjamin M. Cecil

Theses

Eriogonum tiehmii is a rare plant found in Nevada with a range of approximately three hectares (Morefield, 2020). E. tiehmii is of particular interest due to lithium and boron in the soil. This area is one of only two known lithium-boron deposits globally (Fluor Enterprises 2020). This makes its habitat prime mining location. E. tiehmii is being considered for protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act of 1973. The objectives of the study were to determine the closest relative of E. tiehmii by estimating genetic relationships between E. tiehmii and other taxa, and to describe the genetic structure among E. …

'Are We Doing The Right Thing?' Utilising Security Governance To Reform The Us Drone Program, Jane Minson

Theses

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, for counterterrorism purposes by the United States within its targeted killing program has been deeply controversial. Used in each presidential administration since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, drones have sparked debate, in part due to their contribution to civilian deaths; their killing of high-value terrorist targets including, on at least one occasion, a US citizen; and the heightened secrecy that has surrounded the program with little formal oversight and, as such, little accountability. This thesis uses this contextual framework – with a particular focus on the administration of President Barack …

The Virtue Of Appropriate Transparency: Research Psychology And The Replication Crisis, Barry Mannolini-Winwood

Theses

I argue that one step toward addressing the replication crisis in psychology is through the application of appropriate transparency in research communication. Drawing upon virtue epistemology, I propose that appropriate transparency can be defined as a contextually informed point between understatement and overstatement. As such, I contend that judging appropriate transparency in research psychology requires a shared research design nomenclature (RDN). As researchers’ definitions of terms related to research psychology are not necessarily identical between individuals, it is beneficial to use transparent definitions of pivotal concepts to facilitate effective communication between researchers and their audience. However, the boundaries of appropriate …

Personalised Antimicrobial Dosing In Paediatric Cystic Fibrosis, Sahand Imani

Theses

Children with cystic fibrosis (CF) are predisposed to recurrent pulmonary exacerbations throughout their lifetime. This is characterised by an acute worsening of respiratory symptoms in the setting of bacterial infection and results in significant morbidity and mortality. Appropriate antimicrobial therapy is fundamental to management, in particular aminoglycoside antibiotics. Tobramycin is the preferred aminoglycoside of choice, usually administered intravenously for 7 to 14 days.

Tobramycin dosing can be challenging in patients with CF. This is due to the underlying pharmacokinetic derangements (e.g., volume of distribution, organ function) frequently observed in this population. Accordingly, the use of standard dosing (based on age …

Transgression And Its Practice: The Role Of The Cultural Provocateur From The Twentieth To The Twenty-First Century, Luke Beattie

Theses

This thesis addresses the axiom that cultural provocation has lost its potential as a strategy of subversion due to the capacity of late capitalism – aka neoliberalism – to imbue any venture with profit-generating potential. In light of the tensions between economic exploitation in a digital consumer society and the transformative potential of subversive and transgressive art and performances, this thesis produces a “cognitive map” that reflects the current state of cultural provocation in the absence of an understandable social totality, reflective of the decentering affect and effects that constitutes late capitalism. In generating this cognitive map, the thesis examines …

Project Spraoi: The Implementation And Outcomes Of A Process Evaluation Of A School-Based Health Promotion Intervention, Yvonne Larrissa O’Byrne

Theses

Large multi-site school-based interventions are challenging to implement and difficult to evaluate due to the complex adaptive nature of schools as a research setting. This study focused on implementing a comprehensive process evaluation of a multicomponent primary school-based health promotion called Project Spraoi (PS), alongside intervention delivery, to aid the translation of outcomes and understand the moderating role of contextual factors on intervention delivery. PS is led by a physical activity (PA) specialist known as an Energizer and aims to improve children’s PA levels and reduce sedentary time by delivering 20 minutes extra daily moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) during …

Perspectives Of Reading For Pleasure Pedagogy In Western Australian School Classrooms, Jessica Nailer

Theses

Australian children read for pleasure less and less as they move through primary school, with a noticeable decline emerging in the middle primary school years. Reading for Pleasure at School (RfPS) also appears to have become de-prioritised in primary schools, with greater emphasis in the broader literacy education dialogue placed on instructional reading pedagogy and standardised literacy testing. This research focused on the pedagogy that meaningfully supports RfPS in Years 3-6, within a framework of school culture, teacher practices and the physical environment. This investigation aimed to explore the perspectives of three key stakeholder groups from one Western Australian independent …

The Politics Of Eternity: Public History And Monuments To Memory In Kings Park, 1902-1934, Anthony Critchley

Theses

The sacred sites of Gargatup (Mount Eliza) and Gooninup (Kennedy’s Spring) were revered by Whadjuk Noongar people long before the arrival of Europeans in Western Australia. Now part of the site of Kings Park in Perth, it remains cherished by today’s community for its botanic beauty and panoramic views. European traditions have replaced the Indigenous cultural heritage, most notably with the erection of war monuments, statues, and memorial plaques, amidst the herbaceous gardens and native flora. The first president of the Kings Park Board, Sir John Forrest, and his successor, Arthur Lovekin, envisioned that the Park would emulate ornate British …

Bedrooms And Battlefields: Negotiating Gendered Arenas Of Power Within Le Roman De Silence, Anneka De Souza

Theses

Le Roman de Silence is a strikingly modern, yet much overlooked, thirteenth-century French poem, detailing the life of Silence, a girl who is raised as a boy to circumvent the king’s new ban on female inheritance. In exploring themes such as inheritance, justice and law, nature vs. nurture, cross-dressing heroines, morality and corruption, and what it means to be a good king, the poem raises intriguing questions about traditional medieval gender roles and power structures. The thesis examines the poem’s diverse expressions of masculinity and femininity within the gendered arenas of the battlefield and the bedroom. Drawing on the History …

Resilience And Fortitude: The Lives Of Impoverished Women In Fremantle, Western Australia, 1890-1914, Linda Mcgowan

Theses

Many impoverished women struggled to raise their children without support in Fremantle, Western Australia, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. This thesis investigates how these women managed to provide for their children, and keep their families together, at a time when society expected women to be supported by men. The appalling living conditions in the slum areas of Fremantle, which often led to serious health issues that further impacted on women’s struggle for survival, are explored as well as how the denial of legal rights, and harsh community attitudes towards these women, exacerbated already difficult situations. Options such …

Novel Molecular Approaches To Diagnostic And Epidemiological Analyses Of Cryptosporidiumspp.Implicated In Clinical Infection, Jennifer K. O'Leary

Theses

Cryptosporidium remains an underestimated, yet highly prevalent, parasitic agent of gastrointestinal illness worldwide. In clinical settings, diagnosis has previously relied on microscopic techniques. However, enteric parasite targeting molecular tools, such as real-time PCR panels, have superseded microscopy in recent years. This body of work examines the nature, implications and opportunities of this paradigm shift. This thesis is divided into seven chapters that consist of a literature review chapter, five experimental chapters focusing on the molecular diagnosis and epidemiological analysis of Cryptosporidium spp., and a final summary chapter. Chapter I provides the contextual narrative and supportive reasoning behind the research undertaken …

Robust Control Strategies For Optimal Operation Of Distributed Generation In Smart Microgrids, Chi-Thang Phan-Tan

Theses

The high penetration of PV systems and fast communications networks increase the potential for PV inverters to support the stability and performance of smart grids and microgrids. PV inverters in the distribution network can work cooperatively and follow centralized and decentralized control commands to optimize energy production while meeting grid code requirements. However, there are older autonomous inverters that have already been installed and will operate in the same network as smart controllable ones. This research proposes a decentralized optimal control (DOC) that performs multi-objective optimization for a group of PV inverters in a network of existing residential loads and …

Aims: Action Against Infirmity And Malnutrition In Seniors, Maeve Lorraine Mary O'Connell

Theses

Aim: The primary aim of this thesis was to investigate the relationship between nutrition and frailty in Irish older adults. The nutritional status, dietary quality and perceived barriers/motivators to nutrition were also examined, and a frailty intervention protocol was designed. Methods: Cross-sectional study in Irish community-dwelling adults aged ≥65 years. Nutritional status, dietary intake, functional mobility and food choice motivators/healthy eating barriers were assessed using the Mini Nutritional Assessment – Short Form (MNA-SF), a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test and a custom designed 2-item questionnaire, respectively. Frailty was defined as three or more of …

Without Hindrance Or Fear Of Reprisals: The Attitudes And Experiences Of Doctors With A Conscientious Objection To Abortion In New South Wales And Victoria, Anna Walsh

Theses

This thesis explores the phenomena of conscience from the perspective of doctors with a conscientious objection to abortion. Its focus is a novel empirical study on the attitudes and experiences of 35 doctors who self-identify as having a conscientious objection to abortion and who practice in New South Wales and Victoria, Australia. Findings include the reasons for their objection and the types of actions they refuse to perform, whether and how the law has limited the free expression of their beliefs in the workplace, and what they would change to achieve a more reasonable accommodation of their conscientious objection in …

Intelligent Navigation Service Robot Working In A Flexible And Dynamic Environment, Said Abdallah

Theses

Numerous sensor fusion techniques have been reported in the literature for a number of robotics applications. These techniques involved the use of different sensors in different configurations. However, in the case of food driving, the possibility of the implementation has been overlooked. In restaurants and food delivery spots, enhancing the food transfer to the correct table is neatly required, without running into other robots or diners or toppling over. In this project, a particular algorithm module has been proposed and implemented to enhance the robot driving methodology and maximize robot functionality, accuracy, and the food transfer experience. The emphasis has …

Life In Mossville, Louisiana: Policy Implications Of Toxic Waste Exposure And Environmental Racism, Clare Kelsey

Theses

Environmental damage disproportionately affects communities of color. Understanding how environmental racism uniquely affects marginalized communities is crucial to effectively develop public policies that will address the systematic racism that is rooted in many existing policies and practices. The town of Mossville, Louisiana provides a case study of a Black town that experienced devastating environmental pollution as well as displacement from the oil and petrochemical industries in the region (Rogers, 2015), with few residents still in the area. This thesis presents a qualitative study utilizing peer-reviewed literature, secondary sources, and life narratives of Mossville residents. These oral histories serve to amplify …

The Role Of Experts In Policymaking: An Assessment Of Witness Educational Backgrounds In Congressional Testimony, Benedicte Adair

Theses

This thesis provides a first-of-its kind benchmark on the extent to which academically-trained professionals in the United States are availed of opportunities to directly deliver evidence to the United States Congress, as well as how contemporary party politics shapes this system. We randomly sample and manually code the educational backgrounds of 2,147 witnesses from 32 Congressional Committee Hearings that occurred between 2001 and 2020. This study reveals three key findings. The first is that academically-trained professionals have extensive access to the halls of Congress. Second, that all types of degrees have at least some representation amongst witness calls. The third …

Prediction Of Dubai Apartment Prices Using Machine Learning, Ali Alshamsi

Theses

The Real Estate Industry has been facing an unprecedented fluctuation in prices in the recent past. The most alarming of all is the drastic fall in the prices of Apartments in Arab regions from Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the past year. In comparison to the rest of the cities in the world, Knight Frank Global Residential Cities Index shows a drastic drop in the prices of apartments by about 6.6 percent in Dubai and 8.3 percent in the recent 12 months of business (Arabianbusiness.Com, 2021). In this regard, this study aims at developing a machine learning model able to …

The Golden Age Of The Economics Of Bureaucracy, Chang-Yeh (Michael) Wu

Theses

The economics of bureaucracy (EOB) is a field of research that emerged from the public choice movement in the mid-1960s through to the early 1970s. It entailed applying traditional economic theories and modelling techniques to study decision-making in non-market hierarchies that are often referred to as bureaucracies. The field was pioneered and codified by Gordon Tullock, Anthony Downs, and William Niskanen in what may be called the ‘golden age’ of EOB. Establishing EOB as a bona fide research domain was a challenging intellectual enterprise due to the absence of a pre-existing conceptual framework to readily model bureaucracies within the economics …

'Ice In The Family' : Exploring The Experiences Of Close Family Members When Another Family Member Is Using Methamphetamine, Douglas Greg Gordon

Theses

Worldwide, the impact of illicit methamphetamine use has been increasingly recognised over the past two decades. Emergency Department presentations and physical and mental health effects have led to a focus on developing effective treatments for methamphetamine users. Little research has explored the impact, specifically of methamphetamine, on family members. Methamphetamine itself possesses unique differences from other drugs in both its direct effects and its mental and physical health impact on the user.

To this end, this longitudinal qualitative study used interpretative phenomenological analysis to understand the lived experiences of family members of methamphetamine users. The study was conducted in Bunbury …

Implementing Quality Improvement Strategies In Real-World General Practice- A Study Focused On Cardiovascular Disease, Charlotte Hespe

Theses

Introduction

General practitioners (GPs) are central to cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention and management. However, multiple studies show they have sub-optimal assessment and management of CVD risk. The central question addressed in this thesis was: How do we translate preventive care guidelines into the real world of Australian general practice through Quality Improvement Collaboration (QIC)?

Methods

The research comprised of four studies. The first examined the experiences of stakeholders participating in a quality improvement collaboration (QIC) intervention undertaken in Australian primary care [the Australian Primary Care Collaboratives [APCC] program], and the second assessed implementation of the 2012 CVD risk management guidelines …

Multilayered Agency And Religion: A Study Of The Catholic Bishops Conference Of The Philippines (1986–1998), Christian Santos

Theses

The present thesis examines the core issue of how to understand and situate the agency of a religious actor in International Relations (IR). This is investigated through a case study of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) in two comparative policy contexts: agrarian land reform and family planning. The CBCP is a permanent institution within the Catholic Church as a collective of the bishops of the Philippines. The research employs analytic eclecticism as the method to integrate select works from four principal scholars: Colin Wight, Adrian Pabst, Atalia Omer and Mariano Barbato. Wight’s tripartite multilayered framework of agency …

A Deep Learning Framework For Consensus Based Multilabel Classification And Image Generation, Digya Acharya

Theses

In this thesis we address the problem of consensus based multi-label classification. In the general multi-label classification problem, an input is assigned to multiple classes without any constraints. However, there are applications where the multi-label classification needs to be solved under the constraint of a consensus among the assigned labels. We address this problem here using a deep learning approach. We conduct experiments with the MNIST dataset and establish the possibility of using such approaches for traditional multi-class problems. Furthermore, we demonstrate the use of our consensus based classifier in a generative adversarial framework for training a generator for handwritten …

Federal Fashion: Uniform Modification, Self-Expression, And The Union Infantry Officer Of The American Civil War, Clayton Davis

Theses

The military uniforms of the American Civil War, particularly on the Union side, varied tremendously through time and location. There were an endless number of combinations􀂲myriad boots and hats, coats and jackets, insignias, and trousers. That was true for officers, especially commissioned officers, who exercised the greatest aesthetic freedom. Scattered works have broached the topic of officer uniforms, especially those of Confederate officers, though their Union counterparts have gone under the microscope also. Invariably, these works include non-regulation uniforms, either compiled by officers from separate pieces or handmade by one of the hundreds of tailors working across the nation. However, …