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2013

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Genome Wide Search For Positive Selection On Protein-Coding Genes Between Cactus Host Races Of Drosophila Mojavensis, Carson W. Allan Jan 2013

Genome Wide Search For Positive Selection On Protein-Coding Genes Between Cactus Host Races Of Drosophila Mojavensis, Carson W. Allan

Theses

Relationships between an organism and its environment are important in understanding how species evolve. One way of looking at this relationship is by examining what genes show evidence of positive selection. This study analyses the changes on protein-coding genes in response to host adaptation. Drosophila mojavensis is a cactophilic fly in that both larval and adult forms develop or feed in necrotic cactus. Four populations of this species each specialize on a different cactus host species. Illumina sequencing was performed on three populations and template assembled to the reference genome of the fourth. Rates of protein evolution were determined for …

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Characterization Of Phd Degradation By Clpxp, Nikki Mertz Jan 2013

Characterization Of Phd Degradation By Clpxp, Nikki Mertz

Theses

Proteolysis of Phd is required for the addictive response. ClpXP recognizes and degrades the Phd protein of the P1 plasmid addiction operon, however its mechanism of degradation is currently unknown. The RssB and SspB proteins aid ClpXP in degrading other substrates, so these might also play a role in the proteolysis of Phd. A temperature sensitive plasmid was introduced with and without the P1 plasmid addiction operon to strains containing knockout mutants of the rssB and sspB genes. An addiction assay was performed using these constructs by incubating cells at restrictive and permissive temperatures for plasmid replication. Mutations in rssB …

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Greedy Hierarchical Binary Classifiers For Multi-Class Classification Of Biological Data, Salma Begum Jan 2013

Greedy Hierarchical Binary Classifiers For Multi-Class Classification Of Biological Data, Salma Begum

Theses

Multi-class classification is an important and challenging problem for biological data classification as biological datasets may generate data that may belong to multiple classes not just due to the presence of different classes but also due to the evolutionary phases of biological experiments. Typical methods for dealing with multi-class classification use a powerful single classifier such as neural networks to classify the data into one of many classes. Alternatively, the binary classifiers are used in one-versus-one (OVO) and one-versus-all (OVA) classifier schemes for multi-class classification. However, it is not clear whether OVO or OVA yield good performance results. In this …

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Forest Transitions And Environmental Policy In The Western Ghats Of India, Melanie Phillips Jan 2013

Forest Transitions And Environmental Policy In The Western Ghats Of India, Melanie Phillips

Theses

For several decades the amount of forest cover worldwide has followed a declining trend. Recently, developing countries such as India have begun social and political programs to support an opposite trend of forest restoration. The cause of this positive forest transition varies in each nation. This study shows the impact of recent developments in state-local forestry management programs on forest cover in the Western Ghats of India from 2001-2011. Using GIS and remote sensing technology this study analyzes recent patterns in forest extent and health in seven districts within the Western Ghats. Currently there is a serious lack of quantitative …

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Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Of Water Quality In Lake Atitlan, Guatemala, Africa Ixmucane Flores Cordova Jan 2013

Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Of Water Quality In Lake Atitlan, Guatemala, Africa Ixmucane Flores Cordova

Theses

Lake Atitlan in Guatemala is a vital source of drinking water. The deteriorating conditions of water quality in this lake threaten human and ecological health as well as the local and national economy. Given the sporadic and limited measurements available, it is impossible to determine the changing conditions of water quality. The goal of this thesis is to use Hyperion satellite images to measure water quality parameters in Lake Atitlan. For this purpose in situ measurements and satellite-derived reflectance data were analyzed to generate an algorithm that estimated Chlorophyll concentrations. This research provides for the first time a quantitative application …

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Biochemical Characterization Of Peptidyl-Trna Hydrolase 1 From S. Aureus And B. Cereus, Kasey Taylor Creel Jan 2013

Biochemical Characterization Of Peptidyl-Trna Hydrolase 1 From S. Aureus And B. Cereus, Kasey Taylor Creel

Theses

The critical need for new antibiotics and antibiotic targets is of great urgency to our society in order to combat drug resistance and ward off pathogenic bacteria. One new antibacterial target is the essential bacterial enzyme Peptidyl-tRNA Hydrolase I (Pth1). In the course of protein elongation, ribosomes stall and release peptidyl-tRNA. Peptidyl-tRNA hydrolase 1 releases the tRNA from the peptidyl-tRNA, allowing the tRNA to be recycled in the cell. Without Pthl hydrolysis, peptidyl-tRNAs will accumulate, slowing down and eventually stopping protein synthesis, leading to cell death. The fact that Pthl is an essential gene in E. coli suggests that its …

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Higher Order Sliding Mode Control Of Laser Pointing For Orbital Debris Mitigation, Arthur Palosz Jan 2013

Higher Order Sliding Mode Control Of Laser Pointing For Orbital Debris Mitigation, Arthur Palosz

Theses

This thesis explores the use of a space-based laser to clean up small orbital debris from near Earth space. This system's challenge is to quickly and precisely aim the laser beam at very small (<1cm) and distant (<10km) moving orbital debris in the presence of parametric uncertainties and external disturbances. A mathematical model is derived for the debris position sensors, a Fast Steering Mirror (FSM), and a telescope which are used to track the orbital debris and then point and focus the laser beam onto the orbital debris. A Kalman Filter (KF) is designed to accurately track the orbital debris and generate a command signal for the controller. A second order Super Twisting Sliding Mode Controller (2-SMC) is designed to follow the command signal generated by the KF and to overcome the parametric uncertainties and external disturbances. The performance of the system is validated with a computer simulation created in MATLAB and Simulink.

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A Study On Sar Jamming, Rebecca Shipman Harness Jan 2013

A Study On Sar Jamming, Rebecca Shipman Harness

Theses

This thesis documents the research and design of three types of synthetic aperture radar jammers: broadband noise, narrowband, and coherent repeater jammers. This thesis includes the generation of synthetic SAR data and the implementation of a SAR signal processor to create a SAR image. The jammer research and implementation includes discussion on the jammer transmit signals, required power levels, and the resulting effects on the SAR image. This thesis also discusses jammer geometry, jammer knowledge of the victim SAR system, and timing of the jammer transmit signal.

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The Design Of An Apparatus For The Experimental Testing Of Nucleate Boiling In Microgravity, Eric Becnel Jan 2013

The Design Of An Apparatus For The Experimental Testing Of Nucleate Boiling In Microgravity, Eric Becnel

Theses

Nucleate and pool boiling in microgravity is an area of interest due to the increase in heat transfer that this regime provides on Earth. An apparatus to experimentally test these properties may enable an increase of use of boiling in microgravity. The design, functional testing, and re-design of an apparatus to test the properties of boiling in microgravity is presented. An uncertainty analysis provides an understanding of the confidence in the performance of the instrument. The outcome of this research has shown several areas of improvement of the apparatus.

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Vision Based Control Of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles, Karansingh Thakur Jan 2013

Vision Based Control Of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles, Karansingh Thakur

Theses

Vision based control (Visual Servoing) of an autonomous 6-DOF vehicle is considered in this thesis. The vehicle is to be navigated underwater using the cameras mounted on its body. With the new developed algorithm, the need for underwater GPS, Tilt Sensors and other costly devices is eliminated. The new algorithm overcomes the shortcomings of the existing algorithms, PBVS (Position-Based Visual Servoing) and IBVS (Image-Based Visual Servoing). The underwater vehicle is navigated using the image feedback obtained from the cameras. These image features are fed to the control system on the vehicle which in turn generates the desired motion. Simulations runs …

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Pickup Ion Driven Simulation Of Bulk Properties Of The Outer Heliosphere As Compared To Voyager Observations, Lauren Kahre Jan 2013

Pickup Ion Driven Simulation Of Bulk Properties Of The Outer Heliosphere As Compared To Voyager Observations, Lauren Kahre

Theses

Motivated by the development of a very general theoretical model describing the transport of turbulence and bulk flow of the solar wind throughout the heliosphere, we present a study of the bulk properties of the solar wind in the outer heliosphere. This investigation involves the addition of pickup ion source terms to an existing simluation and a comparison to Voyager observations. Specifically, we focus on solar wind speed, density, and temperature. We present results that suggest that pickup ions are an integral part of bulk property behavior in the outer heliosphere, specifically in the radial speed and temperature profiles.

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Judgments Of Learning As Postdictors Of Accuracy, Michael C. Graham Jan 2013

Judgments Of Learning As Postdictors Of Accuracy, Michael C. Graham

Theses

This study is the first to assess the use of Judgments of Learning (JOLs) in an eyewitness identification paradigm. The type of identification task (showups versus lineups) as well as presence of target stimuli was manipulated. Correct and incorrect identifications were measured to determine the accuracy of participants' identifications. JOLs and confidence ratings were collected to determine if meta-cognitive judgments can be used as valid indicators of accuracy. The findings support research in the meta-cognitive and psychology and law literatures as JOL and confidence ratings significantly correlated with accuracy. It was found that confidence ratings were significantly better at predicting …

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The X-Ray To Far Infrared Luminosity Ratio In Arp Galaxies, Jacob Burleson Jan 2013

The X-Ray To Far Infrared Luminosity Ratio In Arp Galaxies, Jacob Burleson

Theses

Early X-ray studies found a strong, empirical correlation with far infrared emission. This lead to using X-ray emission as a star formation rate tracer. The X-ray observations at that time had poor spatial resolution and thus didn't allow individual fainter sources to be identified. More recent observations with Chandra allowed deeper observations as well as the ability to identify fainter point sources. With these advancements, the ratio between X-ray and far infrared luminosity was found to decrease with increasing far infrared. One possible explanation is higher X-ray extinction in luminous or ultra-luminous infrared galaxies due to more atomic hydrogen, thus …

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In The Absence Of Scrutiny: Narratives Of Probable Cause, Mitu Gulati, Jack Knight, David F. Levi Jan 2013

In The Absence Of Scrutiny: Narratives Of Probable Cause, Mitu Gulati, Jack Knight, David F. Levi

Faculty Scholarship

This Article reports on a set of roughly thirty interviews with federal magistrate judges. The focus of the interviews was the impact of the Supreme Court case, United States v. Leon, on the behavior of magistrate judges. Leon, famously, put in place the "good faith" exception for faulty warrants that were obtained by the officers in good faith. The insertion of this exception diminished significantly the incentive for defendants to challenge problematic warrant grants. That effect, in turn, could have diminished the incentive for magistrate judge scrutiny of the warrants at the front end of the process. We do not …

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Further Reflection On True Successors And Traditions, John N. Williams Jan 2013

Further Reflection On True Successors And Traditions, John N. Williams

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

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Deactivation By Unpriming: Does Decrease Of Influence Mean Lowering Of Activation Level?, Lay See Ong, Jennifer Yuk-Yue Tong, Jolene H. Tan Jan 2013

Deactivation By Unpriming: Does Decrease Of Influence Mean Lowering Of Activation Level?, Lay See Ong, Jennifer Yuk-Yue Tong, Jolene H. Tan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Question: Unpriming means a decrease in the influence of primed knowledge, but does it also mean a lowered activation level? Method: Measuring the effect of unpriming with Lexical Decision Task instead of random answering. Findings: The answer is NO. Reaction times were faster after individuals first acted upon the primed concept (unpriming).

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An Innovative Approach To Action Research In Family Violence Prevention, Linnaya M. Graf, Nancy K. Rea, William M. Barkley Jan 2013

An Innovative Approach To Action Research In Family Violence Prevention, Linnaya M. Graf, Nancy K. Rea, William M. Barkley

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

Violence prevention remains a priority in the current public health agenda because of continuing high rates and debilitating effects of violence that exist across the globe (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Children, Youth and Families [USDHHS-ACF], 2009; World Health Organization [WHO], 2013). This article presents the use of an innovative qualitative study developed from community action research methods in the area of family violence. By applying the combined framework of force field analysis (Lewin, 1958) and the public health model (Centers for Disease Control, 2002; Knox & Aspy, 2011), the current study identified factors that positively …

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Collecting Paradata For Measurement Error Evaluations, Kristen Olson, Bryan Parkhurst Jan 2013

Collecting Paradata For Measurement Error Evaluations, Kristen Olson, Bryan Parkhurst

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Survey researchers and methodologists seek to have new and innovative ways of evaluating the quality of data collected from sample surveys. Paradata, or data collected for free from computerized survey instruments, have increasingly been used in survey methodological work for this purpose (Couper, 1998). One error source that has been studied using paradata is measurement error, or the deviation of a response from a “true” value (Groves, 1989; Biemer and Lyberg, 2003). Although used in psychological literature since the 1980s (see Fazio, 1990, for an early review) and adapted to telephone interviews by Bassili in the early 1990s (Bassili and …

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The Limits Of Violence: People And Property In Edward Abbey's "Monkeywrenching" Novels, David Thomas Sumner Jan 2013

The Limits Of Violence: People And Property In Edward Abbey's "Monkeywrenching" Novels, David Thomas Sumner

Faculty Publications

This paper explores Edward Abbey’s fiction asking what kind of ethical imperative his monkeywrenching novels offer. While advocating the destruction of property in defense of wilderness, The Monkey Wrench Gang draws a clear ethical distinction between the destruction of property in defense of wilderness and the harming of people. Yet the sequel, Hayduke Lives!, blurs this ethical line when a security guard is killed during the novel’s final eco-sabotage scene. After exploring several possible textual explanations for this apparent change and then interviewing several of Abbey’s close friends regarding this issue, the author concludes that the shift does not …

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Where Should Europe’S Investment Path Lead?: Reflections On August Reinisch, “Quo Vadis Europe?”, Julie A. Maupin Jan 2013

Where Should Europe’S Investment Path Lead?: Reflections On August Reinisch, “Quo Vadis Europe?”, Julie A. Maupin

Faculty Scholarship

Relative to the past policies of its Member States, will the European Union’s new comprehensive international investment policy constitute a step forward, a step backward, or a perpetuation of the status quo? Professor Reinisch’s contribution to this volume opens a wide window on the current state of the debate. His cogent analysis suggests that, at present, all three possibilities remain live ones, although some basic contours of a likely trajectory are beginning to take shape. I use his musings as a springboard to investigate two questions which follow naturally from his. That is, in view of Professor Reinisch’s response to …

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Implementing Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support In High School Settings: Analysis Of Eight High Schools, K. Brigid Flannery, Jennifer L. Frank, Mimi Mcgrath Cato, Bonnie Doren, Pamela Fenning Jan 2013

Implementing Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support In High School Settings: Analysis Of Eight High Schools, K. Brigid Flannery, Jennifer L. Frank, Mimi Mcgrath Cato, Bonnie Doren, Pamela Fenning

Education: School of Education Faculty Publications and Other Works

Schoolwide positive behavior support (SWPBS) is a systems-level intervention designed to prevent the occurrence of problem behavior and increase social competence. A growing body of research documents that SWPBS reduces problem behavior and improves academics (e.g., McIntosh, Chard, Boland, & Horner, 2006), yet documentation of the feasibility of implementing SWPBS in high school settings is lacking. The current study examines implementation of universal SWPBS components in eight high schools serving over 15,525 students across a three-year period. Our findings were that improvements in implementation were evident between baseline and the end of year one, yet the implementation of SWPBS practices …

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Fluid Fractals: Leadership At The Apex Of Local Authority In England, Smita Tripathi Jan 2013

Fluid Fractals: Leadership At The Apex Of Local Authority In England, Smita Tripathi

Plymouth Business School Theses

Purpose: This thesis aims to explore the complex phenomenon of leadership at the apex of democratically elected local authority in England. It makes sense of the social construction of leadership as perceived and enacted by senior appointed officers (hereinafter officers), elected members (hereinafter members) and key stakeholders – the voices from the apex and their understandings and interpretations. Design/methodology/approach: The thesis examines leadership literature through the paradigm of constructivism-interpretivism, making sense of transcripts of the semi-structured interviews with officers, members and stakeholders engaged in local authority work. Dominant/mainstream theories of leadership offer limited help to understanding the relational, processual constructions …

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Financing Preferences And Capital Structure Among Successful Malaysian Smes, Shafie Mohamed Zabri Jan 2013

Financing Preferences And Capital Structure Among Successful Malaysian Smes, Shafie Mohamed Zabri

Plymouth Business School Theses

The increasing importance of economic contributions of small and medium-sized sized enterprises (SMEs) around the world, especially in developing countries, motivated a better understanding of financial practices among SMEs. Financial support is among the factors affecting the success of SMEs. However, studies on the financial practices among successful SMEs in Malaysia are still limited. An understanding of the financial practices of this particular group of SMEs is essential in developing a supportive financial framework to achieve national agenda for improving SMEs sustainability and increasing the overall SMEs’ contributions to the Malaysian economy. This research investigates the financial practices among successful …

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Election Data Visualisation, Elena Long Jan 2013

Election Data Visualisation, Elena Long

Plymouth Business School Theses

Visualisations of election data produced by the mass media, other organisations and even individuals are becoming increasingly available across a wide variety of platforms and in many different forms. As more data become available digitally and as improvements to computer hardware and software are made, these visualisations have become more ambitious in scope and more user-friendly. Research has shown that visualising data is an extremely powerful method of communicating information to specialists and non-specialists alike. This amounts to a democratisation of access to political and electoral data. To some extent political science lags behind the progress that has been made …

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The Effects Of Processing Fluency On Restorative Environments, Andrea Ahles Jan 2013

The Effects Of Processing Fluency On Restorative Environments, Andrea Ahles

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Attention Restoration Theory (ART) maintains that directed attention, a type of attention that requires effort, is a resource that is susceptible to fatigue after prolonged use. This directed attention fatigue, commonly known as mental fatigue, is a factor linked to performance and safety decline in the workplace. Many studies have found that contact with nature promotes restoration from directed attention fatigue; however, there is little research on how nature has this effect. The aim of the present study was to explore whether natural environments have restorative potential given their higher degree of processing fluency. College students ( N =78) were …

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The Facit-Sp: Factor Structure In A Cancer Treatment Population, Anita G. Farrell Jan 2013

The Facit-Sp: Factor Structure In A Cancer Treatment Population, Anita G. Farrell

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Spirituality has been identified as a unique construct with relationships to quality of life and adjustment to severe illness. Differentiating the characteristics of spirituality from religiousness and identifying the dimensions within spirituality will improve understanding of the relationships with health related outcomes and facilitate targeted interventions. The Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-being Scale (FACIT-Sp) is a widely used measure of religiousness and spirituality among cancer patients. Original factor analysis of the FACIT-Sp supported two factors: Faith and Meaning/Peace. A three-factor solution has been identified that divides the Meaning and Peace factor into cognitive and affective components. This study …

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“Read The Text, As If!” The Reading Retention Strategy, Kent Divoll, Sandra Browning Jan 2013

“Read The Text, As If!” The Reading Retention Strategy, Kent Divoll, Sandra Browning

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

Students do not always read what is expected in college courses (Berry, Cook, Hill, & Stevens, 2010; Phillips & Phillips, 2007; Sikorski et al., 2002) or they read to cram for an exam or quiz (Clump, Bauer, & Bradley, 2004). The Reading Retention Strategy (RRS) is designed to motivate students to read and assist students in understanding the main points of the readings. The RRS includes students interacting with peers to reinforce and check their responses to prompting questions. Participants included two education professors and their 54 students enrolled in two sections of a four week summer course. The results …

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White Trash, Heather Law Jan 2013

White Trash, Heather Law

Theses

White Trash, is body of work that aims to reflect upon our personal role and contribution to the solid waste stream through routine consumption and waste disposal. From everything we eat and drink, to the refuse we flush down the drain, we all consume resources. Living in a materially saturated, mass-consumer society, we have evolved into an increasingly disposable culture. By identifying with our waste production, we then can better evaluate the pitfalls of our materialistic ways. Common consumer products stuffed inside a toilet creates a recognizable waste pattern found within the domestic household. Our trash is considered pollution. Once …

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The Voices And Choices Of Women In The Academy, Ramona Ortega, Brenda L. H. Marina, Lena Boustani Darwich, Eunju Rho, Isa Rodriquez-Soto, Rajade Berry-James Jan 2013

The Voices And Choices Of Women In The Academy, Ramona Ortega, Brenda L. H. Marina, Lena Boustani Darwich, Eunju Rho, Isa Rodriquez-Soto, Rajade Berry-James

Journal of the International Association for the Study of the Global Achievement Gap (Archived)

While it is clear that gender inequity still exists, this situation is compounded by race, ethnicity and sexism. The daily experiences of women confirm that racism and sexism is alive and well. This article presents and examines the experiences of Latino, Black, Arab, and Asian professional women and the consequences of their career decisions. Synthesized with literature, conceptual patterns of significance are noted for young girls and women of color aspiring and pursuing professional careers in education. The strategies utilized by these diverse professional women to cope with the trials and tribulations of contemporary educational and professional challenges are reviewed. …

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The Asymmetric Impacts Of Good And Bad News On Opinion Divergence: Evidence From Revisions To The S&P 500 Index, Jin Yu, Haigang Zhou Jan 2013

The Asymmetric Impacts Of Good And Bad News On Opinion Divergence: Evidence From Revisions To The S&P 500 Index, Jin Yu, Haigang Zhou

Business Faculty Publications

Motivated by the ambiguity theory of Epstein and Schneider (2003, 2008), we hypothesize that investors' beliefs on the prospects of firms converge upon the arrival of bad news, but do not converge - or even further diverge - on the arrival of good news. We expect firms with high divergence in opinions to experience lower stock returns around the announcements of bad news but not for good news. Using revisions to the S&P 500 index between 1962 and 2008 as information events, we find overwhelming support for the hypothesis. The results are robust to controlling for alternative hypotheses of price …

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