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2009

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Sumbawan Obstetrics: The Social Construction Of Obstetrical Practice In Rural Indonesia, Vanessa Hildebrand Jan 2009

Sumbawan Obstetrics: The Social Construction Of Obstetrical Practice In Rural Indonesia, Vanessa Hildebrand

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

This dissertation examines the ways that the people in the village of Lunyuk, Sumbawa negotiate relationships and identity in their discussions about pregnancy and childbirth. At the center of the analysis are dueling midwives: those with biomedical training: bidan) versus those who use a local indigenous obstetrical knowledge similar to that found in much of Indonesia: dukun bayi). They compete with each other for patients, who are likewise making sense of their position in the world while juggling the pressures from national citizenship, local ethnic membership, Islam, and obstetric knowledge options. Specifically, this dissertation examines how people in this region …

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Calling Cards For Dna-Binding Proteins, Haoyi Wang Jan 2009

Calling Cards For Dna-Binding Proteins, Haoyi Wang

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Organisms respond to their environment by altering patterns of gene expression. This process is orchestrated by transcription factors, which bind to specific DNA sequences near genes. In order to understand the regulatory networks that control transcription, the genomic targets of all transcription factors under various conditions and in different cell types must be identified. This remains a distant goal, mainly due to the lack of a high-throughput, in vivo method to study protein-DNA interactions. To fill this gap, I developed transposon "Calling Cards" for DNA-binding proteins. I endowed DNA binding proteins with the ability to direct the insertion of a …

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An Analysis Of Sustainable Economic Development Initiatives: Why Aid Organizations Should Focus On Helping Women, Andrea Rooks Jan 2009

An Analysis Of Sustainable Economic Development Initiatives: Why Aid Organizations Should Focus On Helping Women, Andrea Rooks

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

No abstract provided.

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Sleeping To Remember: Spontaneous Retrieval Of Prospective Memories Across Sleep And Wake Delays, Michael Scullin Jan 2009

Sleeping To Remember: Spontaneous Retrieval Of Prospective Memories Across Sleep And Wake Delays, Michael Scullin

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Laboratory-based prospective memory tasks have rarely examined the effect of retention interval on later remembering. In the current study, participants had to remember to perform an intended action: press Q in response to a target cue) after a short delay: approximately 20 min), a 12-hr sleep delay, or a 12-hr wake delay. The results demonstrated a large decline in prospective memory performance after a 12-hr wake delay: relative to the short delay condition). Interestingly, prospective remembering was not only better following a 12-hr sleep delay than a 12-hr wake delay but performance in this condition did not differ significantly from …

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Test Expectancy And Transfer Of Knowledge With Open-Book And Closed-Book Tests, Pooja Agarwal Jan 2009

Test Expectancy And Transfer Of Knowledge With Open-Book And Closed-Book Tests, Pooja Agarwal

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Two experiments examined the testing effect with open-book tests, in which students view notes and textbooks while taking the test, and closed-book tests, in which students take the test without viewing notes or textbooks. In the first experiment, subjects studied GRE passages and then took an open- or closed-book test. Open-book testing led to better initial performance than closed-book testing, but this benefit did not persist and both types of testing produced equivalent retention on GRE comprehension questions and transfer questions after a two-day delay. In the second experiment, subjects were informed in advance of the type of immediate or …

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Nestablishing Soil Compaction Thresholds For The M1a1 Abrams Tank At Camp Minden, Louisiana, Michael Ray Lindsey Jan 2009

Nestablishing Soil Compaction Thresholds For The M1a1 Abrams Tank At Camp Minden, Louisiana, Michael Ray Lindsey

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Soil compaction is a primary impediment to vegetation regeneration on military land used for M1A1 Abrams tank training. As such, there is a need to identify soil compaction thresholds and develop guidelines with which military range managers can determine appropriate timing and intensity of training exercises using the 63-ton M1A1 tank. A study was initiated at the Camp Minden Louisiana Training Site (CMTS) to develop guidelines which will allow for maximum utilization of the land resource with minimum degradation. The study was designed to evaluate soil moisture content and traffic rates as experimental variables using a replicated 3 x 3 …

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Decentralized Adaptive Neural Network Control Of Interconnected Nonlinear Dynamical Systems With Application To Power System, Shahab Mehraeen Jan 2009

Decentralized Adaptive Neural Network Control Of Interconnected Nonlinear Dynamical Systems With Application To Power System, Shahab Mehraeen

Doctoral Dissertations

"Traditional nonlinear techniques cannot be directly applicable to control large scale interconnected nonlinear dynamic systems due their sheer size and unavailability of system dynamics. Therefore, in this dissertation, the decentralized adaptive neural network (NN) control of a class of nonlinear interconnected dynamic systems is introduced and its application to power systems is presented in the form of six papers. In the first paper, a new nonlinear dynamical representation in the form of a large scale interconnected system for a power network free of algebraic equations with multiple UPFCs as nonlinear controllers is presented. Then, oscillation damping for UPFCs using adaptive …

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Meta-Learning Computational Intelligence Architectures, Ryan J. Meuth Jan 2009

Meta-Learning Computational Intelligence Architectures, Ryan J. Meuth

Doctoral Dissertations

"In computational intelligence, the term 'memetic algorithm' has come to be associated with the algorithmic pairing of a global search method with a local search method. In a sociological context, a 'meme' has been loosely defined as a unit of cultural information, the social analog of genes for individuals. Both of these definitions are inadequate, as 'memetic algorithm' is too specific, and ultimately a misnomer, as much as a 'meme' is defined too generally to be of scientific use. In this dissertation the notion of memes and meta-learning is extended from a computational viewpoint and the purpose, definitions, design guidelines …

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Novel Optofluidic Sensor Systems For Quantitative Chemical Imaging And On-Chip Sensor Calibration, Jongwon Park Jan 2009

Novel Optofluidic Sensor Systems For Quantitative Chemical Imaging And On-Chip Sensor Calibration, Jongwon Park

Doctoral Dissertations

"The design, fabrication and characterization of optofluidic biosensor systems for quantitative oxygen imaging with a color charge-coupled device (CCD) camera as well as on-chip self-calibration of sensors utilizing gas bubbles was investigated. This dissertation was prepared in publication format. The first and second papers demonstrate that color imaging devices can be used in quantitative chemical analysis. The final paper explores the feasibility of using electrolytically generated bubbles for a novel functionality of reagentless, on-chip, in situ calibration of optical biosensors. Work in the first paper includes the use of a color CCD camera for fluorescence intensity imaging. This involves extracting …

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Computational And Experimental Investigation Of Allosteric Communication In The Transcriptional Regulator Nikr, Michael Bradley Jan 2009

Computational And Experimental Investigation Of Allosteric Communication In The Transcriptional Regulator Nikr, Michael Bradley

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

The Ni2+ and DNA binding protein NikR is involved in nickel regulation in Escherichia coli through transcriptional repression of the NikABCDE nickel permease. NikR is a homotetramer and each chain contains both a DNA binding ribbon-helix-helix: RHH) domain and a Ni2+ binding regulatory ACT: aspartokinase, chorismate mutase, TyrA) fold. Work herein combines computational modeling of NikR structure with experimental studies aimed at understanding allosteric communication between the ACT and RHH domains. Hydrogen/deuterium exchange mass spectrometry shows a Ni2+ specific NikR conformational change relative to bound Cu2+, Co2+, and Zn2+. Concurrent coordination geometry and in vivo repressor function studies show that …

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An Investigation Of Acetobacter Aceti N5-Carboxyaminoimidazole Ribonucleotide Mutase And Its Pure-Purk Operon, Charles Constantine Jan 2009

An Investigation Of Acetobacter Aceti N5-Carboxyaminoimidazole Ribonucleotide Mutase And Its Pure-Purk Operon, Charles Constantine

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Acetobacter aceti oxidizes ethanol to acetic acid. While the membrane-permeable acetic acid is toxic to many bacteria, A. aceti survives exposure to acetic acid by tolerating cytoplasmic acidification. The ability to tolerate an acidic cytoplasm suggests that proteins from A. aceti are unusually suited to function in an acidic environment. The ability to tolerate an acidic cytoplasm raises additional questions about biosynthetic pathways that employ acid-labile intermediates. To examine how A. aceti metabolism may have adapted to function under acidic conditions, a biosynthetic conversion involving an acid-labile metabolite has been selected for study. The enzyme N5-carboxyaminoimidazole ribonucleotide mutase: PurE) catalyzes …

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Modeling And Identification Of Differentially Regulated Genes Using Transcriptomics And Proteomics Data, Thanura Elvitigala Jan 2009

Modeling And Identification Of Differentially Regulated Genes Using Transcriptomics And Proteomics Data, Thanura Elvitigala

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Photosynthetic organisms are complex dynamical systems, showing a remarkable ability to adapt to different environmental conditions for their survival. Mechanisms underlying the coordination between different cellular processes in these organisms are still poorly understood. In this dissertation we utilize various computational and modeling techniques to analyze transcriptomics and proteomics data sets from several photosynthetic organisms. We try to use changes in expression levels of genes to study responses of these organisms to various environmental conditions such as availability of nutrients, concentrations of chemicals in growth media, and temperature. Three specific problems studied here are transcriptomics modifications in photosynthetic organisms under …

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Accurate Docking Is Achieved By Decoupling Systematic Sampling From Scoring, Jianwen Feng Jan 2009

Accurate Docking Is Achieved By Decoupling Systematic Sampling From Scoring, Jianwen Feng

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

This dissertation discusses two main projects from my thesis work. The first project focuses on the development of a small molecule docking program, SKATE, for drug discovery. The second project focuses on the critical analysis of the thermal stability of a mini-protein, FSD-1. SKATE is a novel approach to small molecule docking. It removes any inter-dependence between sampling and scoring to improve docking accuracy. SKATE systematically and exhaustively samples a ligand's conformational, rotational and translational degrees of freedom, as constrained by a receptor pocket, to find sterically allowed poses. A total of 266 ligands were re-docked to their respective receptors …

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Improving The Cathode Conditions By Pressurizing And Carbon Dioxide Addition To Enhance The Practicality Of Mfc Treatment Of Wastewater, Jeffrey Fornero Jan 2009

Improving The Cathode Conditions By Pressurizing And Carbon Dioxide Addition To Enhance The Practicality Of Mfc Treatment Of Wastewater, Jeffrey Fornero

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

An increasing global energy demand coupled with a more rigorous governmental regulatory environment: including identifying carbon dioxide as a pollutant) is becoming more and more incompatible with engineering practices that were developed in an era of lower energy costs and less regulation. It is, therefore, not a surprise that researchers are looking towards bioelectrochemical systems: BESs) as a potential superior technology to produce environmentally-benign and sustainable energy, replace energy intensive processes, and/or produce chemical products. The overall tenet of my thesis-based research was to understand the important mechanisms that limit the power output for BESs during wastewater treatment and to …

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Automated Offspring Sizing In Evolutionary Algorithms, André Chidi Nwamba Jan 2009

Automated Offspring Sizing In Evolutionary Algorithms, André Chidi Nwamba

Masters Theses

"Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs) are a class of algorithms inspired by biological evolution. EAs are applicable to a wide range of problems; however, there are a number of parameters to set in order to use an EA. The performance of an EA is extremely sensitive to these parameter values; setting these parameters often requires expert knowledge of EAs. This prevents EAs from being more widely adopted by nonexperts. Parameter control, the automation of dynamic parameter value selection, has the potential to not only alleviate the burden of parameter tuning, but also to improve performance of EAs on a variety of problem …

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Nona-Arginine Peptides Facilitate Cellular Entry Of Semiconductor Nanocrystals: Mechanisms Of Uptake, Yi Xu Jan 2009

Nona-Arginine Peptides Facilitate Cellular Entry Of Semiconductor Nanocrystals: Mechanisms Of Uptake, Yi Xu

Masters Theses

"Luminescent semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) have recently been used for delivering and monitoring biomolecules, such as drugs and proteins. However, QDs alone have a very low efficiency of transport across the plasma membrane. In order to increase the efficiency of QD delivery, synthetic nona-arginine (sR9) was used, a cell penetrating peptide, to facilitate uptake. Data demonstrated that sR9 could significantly increase the cellular uptake of QDs by noncovalent binding between QDs and sR9. Furthermore, the mechanisms of QD/sR9 cellular internalization were investigated. Low temperature and metabolic inhibitors markedly inhibited the uptake of QD/sR9, indicating that internalization is an energy-dependent process. …

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Feasibility Of A Human Performance Model In Consequence Management, Kashmeera Ghosh Jan 2009

Feasibility Of A Human Performance Model In Consequence Management, Kashmeera Ghosh

Masters Theses

"Human civilization has always encountered unpredictable disasters as a result of natural events. Now it also faces the disasters caused by terrorist attacks. Governments must have consequence management plans in place to protect public health and safety, restore essential services, and provide emergency relief to affected businesses and individuals. Human performance models predict outcomes in complex dynamic situations. Such models can simulate disaster management procedures under varying circumstances. This work applies human performance modeling in a terrorist situation and evaluates possible uses of such models by first responders in practical consequence management applications. It includes a case study of an …

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Tidal Influences On Bacterial And Phytoplankton Abundances And The Resulting Effects On Patterns Of Dissolved Oxygen In The Skidaway River Estuary, Casey Colleen Brazell Jan 2009

Tidal Influences On Bacterial And Phytoplankton Abundances And The Resulting Effects On Patterns Of Dissolved Oxygen In The Skidaway River Estuary, Casey Colleen Brazell

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Two studies were conducted to investigate the physical and biological processes contributing to the dissolved oxygen (DO) availability in the Skidaway River Estuary (SRE), Savannah, GA during the summer of 2005. A temporal study looked at changes in DO concentrations, Chlorophyll a concentrations, bacterial abundance, water depth, and salinity, every hour, for 26 hours, over both a neap and a spring tide. A spatial study looked at changes in the above variables at 5 sites along the SRE while following the tide inland during a neap high and low tide, and a spring high and low tide. DO concentrations varied …

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Effects Of Habitat Quality On Reproduction In Two Georgia Populations Of Gopherus Polyphemus, Jaqueline W. Entz Jan 2009

Effects Of Habitat Quality On Reproduction In Two Georgia Populations Of Gopherus Polyphemus, Jaqueline W. Entz

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Author's Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine differences in maternal investment by examining variation in the habitat structure and reproductive parameters for two populations of Gopherus polyphemus in Southeast GA. Both habitat structure and reproductive parameters for these populations are known from a previous study, thus this study expands upon the previous one and addresses four main questions. (1) Has habitat quality changed in the past ten years within and between population sites? (2) Could a change of habitat have affected female morphology or female reproductive parameters within or between populations? (3) Is female body size shaping …

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Throughput-Optimal Systolic Arrays From Recurrence Equations, Arpith C. Jacob, Jeremy D. Buhler, Roger D. Chamberlain Jan 2009

Throughput-Optimal Systolic Arrays From Recurrence Equations, Arpith C. Jacob, Jeremy D. Buhler, Roger D. Chamberlain

All Computer Science and Engineering Research

Many compute-bound software kernels have seen order-of-magnitude speedups on special-purpose accelerators built on specialized architectures such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). These architectures are particularly good at implementing dynamic programming algorithms that can be expressed as systems of recurrence equations, which in turn can be realized as systolic array designs. To efficiently find good realizations of an algorithm for a given hardware platform, we pursue software tools that can search the space of possible parallel array designs to optimize various design criteria. Most existing design tools in this area produce a design that is latency-space optimal. However, we instead wish …

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Open Workflows: Context-Dependent Construction And Execution In Mobile Wireless Settings, Louis Thomas, Justin Wilson, Grui-Catalin Roman, Christopher Gill Jan 2009

Open Workflows: Context-Dependent Construction And Execution In Mobile Wireless Settings, Louis Thomas, Justin Wilson, Grui-Catalin Roman, Christopher Gill

All Computer Science and Engineering Research

Existing workflow middleware executes tasks orchestrated by rules defined in a carefully handcrafted static graph. Workflow management systems have proved effective for service-oriented business automation in stable, wired infrastructures. We introduce a radically new paradigm for workflow construction and execution called open workflow to support goal-directed coordination among physically mobile people and devices that form a transient community over an ad hoc wireless network. The quintessential feature of the open workflow paradigm is dynamic construction and execution of custom, context-specific workflows in response to unpredictable and evolving circumstances by exploiting the knowledge and services available within a given spatiotemporal context. …

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Efficient Tracking Of Many Objects In Structured Environments, Nathan Jacobs, Michael Dixon, Scott Satkin, Robert Pless Jan 2009

Efficient Tracking Of Many Objects In Structured Environments, Nathan Jacobs, Michael Dixon, Scott Satkin, Robert Pless

All Computer Science and Engineering Research

We consider the special case of tracking objects in highly structured scenes. In the context of vehicle tracking in urban environments, we offer a fully automatic, end-to-end system that discovers and parametrizes the lanes along which vehicles drive, then uses just these pixels to simultaneously track dozens of objects. This system includes a novel active contour energy function used to parametrize the lanes of travel based only on the accumulation of spatio-temporal image derivatives, and a tracking algorithm that exploits longer temporal constraints made possible by our compact data representation; we believe both of these may be of independent interest. …

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Benthic Foraminifera Assemblages In The Central Barents Sea: An Evaluation Of Combining Live And Total Fauna Studies In Tracking Environmental Change, Mh Saher, Dk Kristensen, M Hald, S Korsun, Ll Jørgensen Jan 2009

Benthic Foraminifera Assemblages In The Central Barents Sea: An Evaluation Of Combining Live And Total Fauna Studies In Tracking Environmental Change, Mh Saher, Dk Kristensen, M Hald, S Korsun, Ll Jørgensen

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

We present living (stained) benthic foraminifera assemblage data in nine surface sediment samples from the central Barents Sea collected in 2005 and 2006. The abundances of 20 selected species are compared to these from previously published total fauna assemblages of nearby samples. Between 1 and 3 total fauna samples from various years (between 1971 and 1992) are compared with the modern (2005 and ’06) samples. The main purpose of the paper is to evaluate the applicability of this comparison. We conclude that, with proper caution, comparing live and total fauna can yield valuable results. Eliminating fragile species, and clustering species …

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Understanding Pitch Perception As A Hierarchical Process With Top-Down Modulation, Emili Balaguer-Ballester, Nicholas R. Clark, Martin Coath, Katrin Krumbholz, Susan L. Denham Jan 2009

Understanding Pitch Perception As A Hierarchical Process With Top-Down Modulation, Emili Balaguer-Ballester, Nicholas R. Clark, Martin Coath, Katrin Krumbholz, Susan L. Denham

Professional Services

Pitch is one of the most important features of natural sounds, underlying the perception of melody in music and prosody in speech. However, the temporal dynamics of pitch processing are still poorly understood. Previous studies suggest that the auditory system uses a wide range of time scales to integrate pitch-related information and that the effective integration time is both task- and stimulus-dependent. None of the existing models of pitch processing can account for such task- and stimulus-dependent variations in processing time scales. This study presents an idealized neurocomputational model, which provides a unified account of the multiple time scales observed …

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A Modular Planar Robotic Manipulandum With End-Point Torque Control, Ian S. Howard, James N. Ingram, Daniel M. Wolpert Jan 2009

A Modular Planar Robotic Manipulandum With End-Point Torque Control, Ian S. Howard, James N. Ingram, Daniel M. Wolpert

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

No abstract provided.

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Statistics Of Natural Movements Are Reflected In Motor Errors, Ian S. Howard, James N. Ingram, Kp Koerding, Daniel M. Wolpert Jan 2009

Statistics Of Natural Movements Are Reflected In Motor Errors, Ian S. Howard, James N. Ingram, Kp Koerding, Daniel M. Wolpert

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

No abstract provided.

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Exploring Electron Transfer In Myoglobin-Based Transistors, Debin Li Jan 2009

Exploring Electron Transfer In Myoglobin-Based Transistors, Debin Li

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Electron transfer in proteins is an issue of fundamental importance in biochemistry. This is especially true for proteins whose functionality relies on redox reactions, which by definition means that electron exchange must take place between the protein and another protein, a cofactor, or the external environment. An important example consists of proteins containing heme groups, where the iron ion in the protoporphyrin ring changes valence state depending on the whether an electron is accepted or given up by the protein. Much experimental work has been carried out since the late 1950s in order to develop an understanding of protein electron …

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A Spatial Optimization Approach To Watershed Water Quality Management: A Case Of The Opequon Watershed, Wilbert Karigomba Jan 2009

A Spatial Optimization Approach To Watershed Water Quality Management: A Case Of The Opequon Watershed, Wilbert Karigomba

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The Opequon Creek watershed is located in northern VA and the eastern panhandle of WV. Currently, the main creeks in the watershed do not meet VA or WV state water quality standards for recreational uses and aquatic life. In both states, the creeks are listed as impaired due to high levels of nutrients, bacteria, benthic and biologic impairment. The Opequon Creek is part of the upper Potomac River watershed, and ultimately impacts water quality in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The main aim of this study was to develop a methodology that can be used to reduce nutrient loadings entering the …

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The Fate Of Salmonella Tennessee And Salmonella Typhimurium In Peanut Butter Subjected To Electron Beam Irradiation, Andrea Lynn Hvizdzak Jan 2009

The Fate Of Salmonella Tennessee And Salmonella Typhimurium In Peanut Butter Subjected To Electron Beam Irradiation, Andrea Lynn Hvizdzak

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Peanut butter and peanut paste products were implicated as the vehicle of contamination in an outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium that began in September 2008 and in the November 2006 outbreak of Salmonella Tennessee; therefore based on the apparent need for intervention measure, the purpose of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of non-thermal electron beam irradiation for reduction of Salmonella serovars Tennessee (ATCC 10722) and Typhimurium (ATCC 14028) in creamy peanut butter. Each strain was studied independently. Peanut butter samples were inoculated with approximately 7.0 log CFU/g of Salmonella and exposed to e-beam doses ranging from 0--3.1 kGy. Doses …

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Insomnia Symptoms, Nightmares And Suicidal Ideation In A University Sample, Michael R. Nadorff Jan 2009

Insomnia Symptoms, Nightmares And Suicidal Ideation In A University Sample, Michael R. Nadorff

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Previous research has demonstrated a link between insomnia symptoms, nightmares, and suicidal ideation. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether insomnia symptoms and nightmares were related to suicidal ideation independent of each other. Further, the study aimed to determine whether suicidal ideation and nightmares were related with suicidal ideation independent of the symptoms of anxiety, depression, and PTSD. The study consisted of 583 undergraduate students at West Virginia University. Results indicated that both nightmares (beta = .054 (SE = .008), p > .01) and insomnia symptoms (beta = .045 (SE = .009), p > .01) were related to suicidal ideation, …

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