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An Assessment Of White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Virginianus) Dynamics, Management, And Impacts In Highly Fragmented Landscapes, Bambi Shafer

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Habitat and forage selection by deer can cause local extinction of plant species. In my research, I asked: 1) How do deer population growth rates in urban parks change through time? 2) Are culling rates and deer densities correlated? 3) Are browse rates on Trillium spp. and deer densities correlated? I used FLIR deer census data from Davis Aviation and culling data from Five Rivers MetroParks (Montgomery County, Ohio). I found that deer population growth rates generally declined from 2003 to 2008. The number of deer culled was positively correlated to the deer densities. The browse rates of Trillium spp. …

Amendment (2010)

Amendment, 2004-

Amendment is a VCU student-produced progressive literature and art journal that provides a platform for students to promote equality, tolerance, and social progression through artistic expression.

Experimental Study On Heat Transfer Enhancement Of Water-Water Shell-And-Tube Heat Exchanger Assisted By Power Ultrasonic, Ye Yao, Xingyu Zhang, Yiying Guo

International Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Conference

No abstract provided.

Designing Energy-Efficient Heat Exchangers—Creating Micro-Channels On The Aluminum Fin Surface, Jia Ying, Khalid F. Eid, Andrew D. Sommers

International Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Conference

No abstract provided.

Strain-Stiffening In Synthetic And Biopolymer Networks, Kendra Erk, Kevin J. Henderson, Kenneth R. Shull

School of Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Strain-stiffening behavior common to biopolymer networks is difficult to reproduce in synthetic networks. Physically associating synthetic polymer networks can be an exception to this rule and can demonstrate strain-stiffening behavior at relatively low values of strain. Here, the stiffening behavior of model elastic networks of physically associating triblock copolymers is characterized by shear rheometry. Experiments demonstrate a clear correlation between network structure and strain-stiffening behavior. Stiffening is accurately captured by a constitutive model with a single fitting parameter related to the midblock length. The same model is also effective for describing the stiffening of actin, collagen, and other biopolymer networks. …

Evaluation Of Energy Savings For Buildings With Green Roofs Having Different Vegetation, Serdar Celik, William A. Retzlaff, Susan Morgan

International High Performance Buildings Conference

No abstract provided.

Microtomography-Based Simulation Of Transport Through Open-Cell Metal Foams, Karthik K. Bodla, Jayathi Y. Murthy, S V. Garimella

CTRC Research Publications

Important heat transfer parameters of aluminum foams of varying pore sizes are investigated through CT-scanning at 20 micron resolution. Small sub-samples from the resulting images are processed to generate feature-preserving, finite-volume meshes of high quality. All three foam samples exhibit similar volumetric porosity (in the range ~91–93%), and thereby a similar thermal conductivity. Effective tortuosity for conduction along the coordinate directions is also calculated. Permeability simulations in the Darcy flow regime with air and water show that the foam permeability is isotropic and is of the order of 10^-7m^2. The convective heat transfer results computed for this range of Reynolds …

Electrical Actuation-Induced Droplet Transport On Smooth And Superhydrophobic Surfaces, V. Bahadur, S V. Garimella

CTRC Research Publications

Electrical control of liquid droplet motion and wettability has wide-ranging applications in the field of MEMS, lab-on-a-chip devices and surface engineering, in view of the resulting enhanced flow control opportunities, low power consumption and the absence of mechanical moving parts. This article summarizes recent progress towards understanding of the fundamentals underlying electrical actuation of droplets on smooth and superhydrophobic surfaces. Electrical actuation of liquid droplets with widely differing electrical properties on smooth surfaces is first discussed. Electromechanical considerations are employed to study the actuation force on a generic liquid droplet across the entire spectrum of electrical actuation regimes. The challenges …

Anterior-Posterior Impedance Cardiography: A New Approach To Accurate, Non-Invasive Monitoring Of Cardiac Function, Charles F. Babbs

Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications

The conventional impedance cardiogram is a record of pulsatile changes in the electrical impedance of the chest with each heartbeat. The signal seems intuitively related to cardiac stroke volume. However doubts persist about the validity of stroke volume measurements based on electrical impedance. This paper presents a new electrical axis for impedance cardiography that is perpendicular to the conventional head-to-foot axis in an anterior-posterior direction. Dual chest and back electrodes are concentric, permitting tetrapolar technique. A relatively simple analytical model is developed, and this model is validated in a three-dimensional finite element model of current flow through the human chest. …

Modeling Mitochondrial Bioenergetics With Integrated Volume Dynamics., Jason N. Bazil, Gregery T. Buzzard, Ann E. Rundell

Department of Mathematics Faculty Publications

Mathematical models of mitochondrial bioenergetics provide powerful analytical tools to help interpret experimental data and facilitate experimental design for elucidating the supporting biochemical and physical processes. As a next step towards constructing a complete physiologically faithful mitochondrial bioenergetics model, a mathematical model was developed targeting the cardiac mitochondrial bioenergetic based upon previous efforts, and corroborated using both transient and steady state data. The model consists of several modified rate functions of mitochondrial bioenergetics, integrated calcium dynamics and a detailed description of the K+-cycle and its effect on mitochondrial bioenergetics and matrix volume regulation. Model simulations were used to fit 42 …

Disaster Restoration Professional Body Of Knowledge, Randy Rapp

Bowen School of Construction Faculty Publications

Companies performing building disaster restoration services wish to position themselves to continue to create substantial value for their clients. Doing so demands that restoration professionals be well educated in pertinent subject matter. Professional certification procedures commonly examine the pertinent subject matter that a professional should know. The Restoration Industry Association (RIA) created the Certified Restorer® (CR) credential to meet this need in the industry that the organization serves. To help ensure that their certification process examines the correct topics, the RIA partnered with Purdue University researchers to survey industry members for their opinions about the importance of managerial and technical …

Calibrated Peer Review: A New Tool For Integrating Information Literacy Skills In Writing-Intensive Large Classroom Settings., Michael Fosmire

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Calibrated Peer Review™ (CPR) is a program that can significantly enhance the ability to integrate intensive information literacy exercises into large classroom settings. CPR is founded on a solid pedagogic base for learning, and it is formulated in such a way that information skills can easily be inserted. However, there is no mention of its application for information literacy in the library literature. A sample implementation of CPR in a course co-taught by science disciplinary faculty and librarians at Purdue University is presented with recommendations for optimal use of this resource. CPR is a valuable new tool that librarians can …

Large Scale Application Of Vibration Sensors For Fan Monitoring At Commercial Layer Hen Houses, Yan Chen, Ji-Qin Ni, Claude A. Diehl, Albert J. Heber, Bill W. Bogan, Li-Long Chai

School of Agricultural & Biological Engineering Faculty Publications

Continuously monitoring the operation of each individual fan can significantly improve the measurement quality of aerial pollutant emissions from animal buildings that have a large number of fans. To monitor the fan operation by detecting the fan vibration is a relatively new technique. A low-cost electronic vibration sensor was developed and commercialized. However, its large scale application has not yet been evaluated. This paper presents long-term performance results of this vibration sensor at two large commercial layer houses. Vibration sensors were installed on 164 fans of 130 cm diameter to continuously monitor the fan on/off status for two years. The …

Roles Of Atmospheric And Land Surface Data In Dynamic Regional Downscaling, Deepak K. Ray, Roger A. Pielke Sr, Udaysankar S. Nair, Devdutta Niyogi

Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Faculty Publications

In studies dealing with the impact of land use changes on atmospheric processes, a key methodological step is the validation of simulated current conditions. However, regions lacking detailed atmospheric and land use data provide limited information with which to accurately generate control simulations. In this situation, the difference between baseline control simulations and different land use change simulations can be quite different owing to the quality of the atmospheric and land use data sets. Using multiple simulations at the Monteverde cloud forest region of Costa Rica as an example, we show that when a regional climate model is used to …

Nonnative Phragmites Australis Invasion Into Utah Wetlands, Andrew Kulmatiski, Karen H. Beard, Laura A. Meyerson, Jacob R. Gibson, Karen E. Mock

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud. (common reed), already one of the world’s most widespread plant species, has realized rapid range expansion in coastal wetlands of North America in the past century, but little is known about P. australis range expansion in inland wetland systems. We used genetic analyses, aerial photographs, field surveys, and a greenhouse experiment to study the extent and mechanism of nonnative P. australis invasion of Utah wetlands. We collected and genetically analyzed 39 herbarium samples across the state and 225 present-day samples from northern Utah’s major wetland complexes. All samples collected before 1993 and all samples …

Mesauring The Effect Of Technological Change In Health Care Cost And Expenditure, Krishna P. Sharma

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Background and objectives:

Technological change has a major role in driving up health care cost and expenditure. Yet we are not fully able to know the extent to which technological change affects cost and expenditure and the way new technologies enter the cost or expenditure functions. This paper uses historical data of US elderly males to see how health care spending associated with prostate cancer treatment behaves over time. Understanding the extent and mechanism by which a new technology actually translates into higher cost are main objectives of this study.

Study design, data and organization of the report:

This …

Manufacturing Menopause: An Analysis Of The Portrayal Of Menopause And Information Content On Pharmaceutical Web Sites, Deborah H. Charbonneau

Wayne State University Dissertations

Consumer-targeted prescription drug advertising serves as an interesting lens through which we can examine the portrayal of menopause in online drug advertisements. The aim of this study was to explore the portrayal of menopause on web sites sponsored by pharmaceutical companies for hormone therapies (HT). To unravel this question, a qualitative content analysis of web sites for FDA-approved hormone therapies was employed. A total number of 608 printed pages of web site content from eight web sites (N=8) were analyzed. Key findings elucidated how menopause was portrayed on the pharmaceutical web sites. First, descriptions of menopause articulated a biomedical perspective …

Analysing The Effects Of Loss Of Sin3 In Drosophila Melanogaster, Aishwarya Swaminathan

Wayne State University Dissertations

Sin3A has been previously shown to be an essential gene for Drosophila viability and is implicated in the regulation of cell cycle. In this study, we show that SIN3 is not only required for embryonic viability but also for post-embryonic development. Genetic analysis suggests that the different isoforms of SIN3 may regulate unique sets of genes during development. The developmental lethality occurring due to ubiquitous knock down of SIN3 is hypothesized to be to the result of defects in cell proliferation. Conditional knock down of SIN3 in the wing discs results in a curly wing phenotype in the adult fly. …

Economic Analysis Of Multidimensional Measures Of Obesity, Li Li

Wayne State University Dissertations

This study develops multidimensional measures of obesity based on six body measures, namely, weight, maximal calf circumference, thigh circumference, subscapular skinfold, waist circumference and percent body fat. Previous studies have used body mass index (BMI) as the measure of obesity. BMI does not fully consider body composition and is even more limited when applied to a population of subjects that are heterogeneous in muscularity, age, or bodyweight. Moreover, the use of BMI to classify people as obese and non-obese may result in misclassification problems. More recent studies have chosen some alternative measures of obesity, but there is no consensus on …

Robotic Goal-Based Semi-Autonomous Algorithms Improve Remote Operator Performance, Shawn Hunt

Wayne State University Dissertations

The focus of this research was to determine if reliable goal-based semi-autonomous algorithms are able to improve remote operator performance or not. Two semi-autonomous algorithms were examined: visual servoing and visual dead reckoning. Visual servoing uses computer vision techniques to generate movement commands while using internal properties of the camera combined with sensor data that tell the robot its current position based on its previous position. This research shows that the semi-autonomous algorithms developed increased performance in a measurable way. An analysis of tracking algorithms for visual servoing was conducted and tracking algorithms were enhanced to make them as robust …

I-Kinetic And Mechanistic Investigations Of Amino Acid Substrates Reactivities With Ferryl Species, Ahmed Ibrahim Youssef Abouelatta

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

I-KINETIC AND MECHANISTIC INVESTIGATIONS OF AMINO ACID SUBSTRATES REACTIVITIES WITH FERRYL SPECIES

II-SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF DERIVATIVES OF THE BN-TPEN LIGAND AND THEIR METAL COMPLEXES

by

AHMED IBRAHIM YOUSSEF ABOUELATTA

MAY 2011

Advisor: Dr. Jeremy Jacob Kodanko

Major: Chemistry (Organic)

Degree: Doctor of philosophy

The reactivity of tryptophan, methionine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, histidine and hydrochloride salt of lysine amino acid substrates with the N4Py ferryl species was studied by UV-vis spectroscopy and product characterization. Based on kinetic isotope effect studies and product analysis, an ET-PT mechanism was proposed for the reaction of tryptophan substrate with N4Py ferryl and …

Jonson And Women; Or How One Man's Insistence On His Own Artistic Theory Challenges Dramatic Practices And Views Of His Own Gender Representations On The Elizabethan Stage, Tara Jean Hayes

Wayne State University Dissertations

Literary scholars consider Jonson's treatment of women "uninspiring" and "misogynistic." Surprisingly enough, however, there are no studies of Jonson's women to verify this categorization. This dissertation addresses the oversight, analyzing the female characters in the plays Jonson wrote during the Elizabethan period and revealing what prevailing scholarship has missed in Jonson's work: his individuated and layered characterizations of women, his playful use of gender and use of playful gender, his destabilization of gender as an identity category. With each play and each female character Jonson created as guides, I dismantle the standard consensus on Jonson and women and challenge the …

The Social Perceptions And Attitudes Held By African American Males Who Participated In A Self-Contained Special Education Middle School Program For Three Years And Dropped Out Of High School After The Ninth Grade, Sherrell Linnette Hobbs

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

THE SOCIAL PERCEPTIONS AND ATTITUDES HELD BY AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES WHO PARTICIPATED IN A SELF-CONTAINED SPECIAL EDUCATION MIDDLE SCHOOL PROGRAM FOR THREE YEARS AND DROPPED OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL AFTER THE NINTH GRADE

by

SHERRELL HOBBS

December 2010

Advisor: Dr. Marshall Zumberg

Major: Special Education

Degree: Doctor of philosophy

There are two parts to socialization, informal and formal. In the United States, informal lessons of socialization come from a child's primary caretaker(s). Imagine a child growing up in this informal setting only to see the world from one perspective through that unique experience. Later the child goes into a …

Unified Role Assignment Framework For Wireless Sensor Networks, Manish Mahendra Kumar Kochhal

Wayne State University Dissertations

Wireless sensor networks are made possible by the continuing improvements in embedded sensor, VLSI, and wireless radio technologies. Currently, one of the important challenges in sensor networks is the design of a systematic network management framework that allows localized and collaborative resource control uniformly across all application services such as sensing, monitoring, tracking, data aggregation, and routing.

The research in wireless sensor networks is currently oriented toward a cross-layer network abstraction that supports appropriate fine or course grained resource controls for energy efficiency. In that regard, we have designed a unified role-based service paradigm for wireless sensor networks. We pursue …

Drosophila Nicotinamidase And Sir2 In Longevity Regulation And Oxidative Stress Response, And The Implications For Aging Theory, Gregory Miller

Wayne State University Dissertations

The protein deacetylase Sir2 has been shown to increase lifespan in a variety of organisms, possibly through its ability to engender the effects of dietary restriction. The Drosophila nicotinamidase DNAAM increases lifespan in a Sir2 dependant manner, and may play a role in oxidative stress resistance. Oxidative damage that accumulates in cells during normal aging contributes to a variety of diseases and pathologies, and can result in an increase in age specific mortality. Accordingly, the oxidative stress theory of aging predicts that organisms with an increased tolerance to oxidative damage will have an increased longevity, while organisms with decreased tolerance …

Wastewater Treatment Comes To Detroit: Law, Politics, Technology And Funding, Barry Neal Johnson

Wayne State University Dissertations

Detroit was one of the cities identified by the International Joint Commission as polluting the Great Lakes in contravention of the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909. The United States Public Health Service also reported on the pollution that entered the Detroit River from Detroit's sewers. Pollution by sewage threatened lives with a dramatic increase in cases of Typhoid Fever and other gastro intestinal sicknesses. Chlorination of water supplies reduced these incidents to an acceptable level minimizing the arguments of sanitarians proposing wastewater treatment. Expansion of the city to encompass a rapidly rising population channeled the city's financial resources into infrastructure. …

Post-Transcriptional Regulation Of Vibrio Cholerae Virulence Activator Toxt, Basel Hanna Abuaita

Wayne State University Dissertations

Vibrio cholera, the causative agent of the severe diarreal illness cholera, uses a complex array of gene regulation to induce its virulence determinants. During the early stage of infection, and upon response to unknown signals, virulence genes are turned on. ToxT protein is the primary virulence gene transcription activator. Once ToxT is produced, it amplifies its own expression through an auto-regulatory loop and directly binds and activates expression of various virulence factors including the toxin-coregulated pilus (TCP) and cholera toxin (CT). During the late stage of infection, virulence genes are turned off and the bacteria escape the host to resume …

Tracking Profiles Of Genomic Instability In Spontaneous Transformation And Tumorigenesis, Lesley Lawrenson

Wayne State University Dissertations

The dominant paradigm for cancer research focuses on the identification of specific genes for cancer causation and for the discovery of therapeutic targets. Alternatively, the current data emphasize the significance of karyotype heterogeneity in cancer progression over specific gene-based causes of cancer. Variability of a magnitude significant to shift cell populations from homogeneous diploid cells to a mosaic of structural and numerical chromosome alterations reflects the characteristic low-fidelity genome transfer of cancer cell populations. This transition marks the departure from micro-evolutionary gene-level change to macro-evolutionary change that facilitates the generation of many unique karyotypes within a cell population. Considering cancer …

The Interictal State In Epilepsy And Behavior, Daniel Tice Barkmeier

Wayne State University Dissertations

Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological diseases, affecting up to 1% of the world population. Epilepsy remains poorly understood and there are currently no medications to cure it. Patients with epilepsy have both seizures as well as another type of abnormal activity between seizures, known as interictal spikes. Interictal spikes have thus far been poorly researched, yet growing evidence supports an important role for them in epilepsy. In this project, we first show the high variability between reviewers in marking interictal spikes on intracranial EEG, and then develop and test an automated detection method to solve this problem. …

Activation Of Tumor Cell Death Program By Targeting The Ubiquitin-Proteasome Pathway: Significance In Cancer Treatment And Prevention, Michael Joseph Frezza

Wayne State University Dissertations

ACTIVATION OF TUMOR CELL DEATH PROGRAM BY TARGETING THE UBIQUITIN-PROTEASOME PATHWAY: SIGNIFICANCE IN CANCER TREATMENT AND PREVENTION

by

MICHAEL FREZZA

August 2010

Advisor: Dr. Q. Ping Dou

Major: Cancer Biology

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

The ubiquitin-proteasome pathway serves as a quality control mechanism to regulate the degradation of intracellular proteins involved in a wide array of cellular processes including tumorigeneis. Thus targeting key features of protein turnover responsible for the growth and proliferation of cancer have emerged as a favorable approach in cancer therapy. Both in vitro and in vivo experimental and clinical results have demonstrated the potential use of …