Digital Commons Network^™

Modeling And Analysis Of Masonry Electro-Thermal Heating And Storage For Optimal Integration With Remote Stand-Alone Wind-Diesel Systems, Maura Eileen Sateriale

Engineering

Due to their remote locations and small populations, many remote villages in Alaska generate electricity with microgrids that employ diesel-electric generators for their primary source of power, and supplement this production with wind turbines. In such communities, it is economically advantageous to minimize fuel consumption by shifting as much of the village's energy demands to the wind system as is feasible. When wind turbines produce in excess of the demand, it is possible to use the excess electricity to power resistance heaters to heat water in tanks or masonry. The heat is then stored so that it can be used …

Analysis Of An Oscillating Plate Coupled With Fluid, Michael J. Nash

Engineering

The mechanical vibration of an oscillating cantilever plate is studied to determine the interaction of a plate coupled with air and with water. Experimental data was collected and analyzed using multiple methods including Fast Fourier Transform, wavelet analysis, and the Hilbert-Huang Transform (HHT) to characterize the behavior of the plate. The HHT is able to process nonlinear and nonstationary signals and provides more meaningful information compared to the traditionally used Fourier transform for similar applications. The HHT was found to be appropriate and more descriptive for the analysis of coupled fluid-structure systems. Digital Particle Image Velocimetry (DPIV) was also used …

Re-Storing The Earth: A Phenomenological Study Of Living Sustainably, Jessica B. Buckley

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Living sustainably evokes ideas of lived, bodily engagement with and perception of the earth. Yet, modern ways of thinking and speaking have slowly alienated the earth from consciousness. Using phenomenological methods, the author examines the experience of living sustainably, exploring her own background and the idea of restoring the earth to consciousness, before examining the lives of two students dedicated to living sustainably. Components of upholding the earth, in-volving humanity, perceiving differences in studying and embodying sustainability, and engaging in choices fill the experience of living sustainably.

Frost Susceptibility Of Base Materials Treated With Asphalt Emulsion, Noelle Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this research was to investigate emulsion-treated base (ETB) frost susceptibility in terms of both freeze-thaw cycling and frost heave. The research performed in this study involved laboratory testing of ETB materials sampled from both the Redwood Road and 7800 South reconstruction projects in northern Utah. The effects of freeze-thaw cycling were evaluated by comparing the stiffness and strength of tested specimens to the same properties of control specimens not subjected to freeze-thaw cycling. Frost heave testing enabled evaluation of the effects of emulsion content and degree of curing on the volumetric stability of ETB materials during sustained …

Aspen Leaf Miner (Phyllocnistis Populiella) Oviposition Site Preference Mediated By Expression Of Extrafloral Nectaries, Russell Dennis

Biological Sciences

As herbivorous insects choose where to lay their eggs, maximizing larval performance (optimal oviposition) may be at odds with adult foraging (optimal foraging). Aspen leaf miners (Phyllocnistis populiella; ALM) choose between leaves with or without extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) as oviposition sites on quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.). Reduced ALM mining on leaves with EFNs may be linked to predators that defend leaves and feed at EFNs, and to increased concentrations of secondary leaf compounds. However, direct responses of adult ALM to EFN expression may also explain differences in ALM mining among leaves with and without EFNs. ALM might be less …

Foxes And Food Subsidies: Anthropogenic Food Use By Red And Arctic Foxes, And Effects On Arctic Fox Survival, On The Arctic Coastal Plain Of Alaska, Garrett Savory

Biological Sciences

Food subsidies have the potential to impact wildlife on the Arctic Coastal Plain of Alaska. Red foxes (Vulpes vulpes (L., 1758)) expanded their range into Arctic regions during the 20th century, and the availability of anthropogenic foods may have contributed to their success and persistence in the Arctic. Arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus (L., 1758)) are also known to forage on anthropogenic foods in Prudhoe Bay and to forage on marine mammals on the sea ice, but it is unknown whether these strategies benefit survival of Arctic foxes. This thesis examined: 1) the importance of anthropogenic foods to the diets of …

Habitat Associations, Distribution, And Abundance Of Smith's Longspur (Calcarius Pictus), An Uncommon Species Of Concern In The Brooks Range, Alaska, Teri Corvus Wild

Biological Sciences

Smith's Longspur (Calcarius pictus) is a species of conservation concern in the U.S. and Canada, yet few studies have been conducted on their breeding grounds in the Arctic, which are expected to undergo dramatic changes due to climate change. For effective conservation, we need information on breeding distribution and abundance; thus I conducted surveys for Smith's Longspur and habitat characteristics across a broad geographic range that included twelve sites within Alaska's Brooks Range, June 2003-2009. My main objectives were to (1) locate breeding populations (2) describe habitats at local and broader geographic scales, (3) develop a predictive distribution map based …

Causes And Consequences Of Geophagy In Snowshoe Hares (Lepus Americanus), An Important Generalist Herbivore Of The Boreal Forest, Suzanne Worker

Biological Sciences

Geophagy, the consumption of mineral soil, is believed to have several benefits for herbivores. Soils high in clay are often implicated in the detoxification of plant secondary metabolites. High mineral concentrations in soils may also provide nutrients that are poorly available from plants. Local observers report that snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus) use a lick in the foothills of the Brooks Range, Alaska. Using soil from this lick and other mineral supplements, I conducted a series of feeding trials on captive snowshoe hares fed felt-leaf willow (Salix alaxensis) or a formulated ration to determine whether geophagy resulted in a physiological benefit …

Ecological Drivers Of Mercury Accumulation In Threespine Stickleback Fish, James J. Willacker

Biological Sciences

I utilized the ecological diversity displayed in the Cook Inlet adaptive radiation of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus species complex, hereafter 'stickleback') to examine the drivers of intra- and inter-population variation in total mercury (THg) concentrations. I examined the importance of sex, trophic position (TP), and habitat-specific foraging (measured as the proportion of the diet derived from benthic sources; a) in stickleback from Benka Lake, Alaska, a lake with both benthic and limnetic ecotypes. The results demonstrate that both sex and habitat-specific foraging are important determinants of THg concentrations in this threespine stickleback population. Specifically, male stickleback and stickleback foraging in …

Phylogeny Of Fomitopsis Pinicola: A Species Complex, John-Erich Haight

Biological Sciences

Fomitopsis pinicola sensu lato is a common, saprotrophic fungal species occurring over the large circumpolar region covering Eurasia and North America, and extending south along areas of high elevation. It colonizes hardwood and softwood substrates, causing brown rot decay of wood, and exhibits a wide variety of morphological types and colors. Since the late nineteenth century, attempts have been made to determine how many species were in the genus Fomitopsis. Early attempts described two to three species based on host specificity and morphology. By the mid twentieth century, extensive mating studies among single spore isolates had been completed revealing three …

Engaging Local Perspectives For Improved Conservation And Climate Change Adaptation, Corrine Noel Knapp

Biological Sciences

Climate change is a global process that will impact local places in heterogeneous and unpredictable manners. This dissertation considers whose knowledge and observations could contribute to conservation and climate adaptation planning, how perceptions influence social-ecological feedbacks, and how science could be more relevant to decision-makers and local residents. In Chapter 2, I report on interviews (n=36) conducted with ranchers and recreation-based business owners in Colorado to understand their self-perceptions of resilience and vulnerability. I find that ranchers perceive more exposure and sensitivity to climate change and they also demonstrate more adaptive capacity than recreation businesses. In Chapter 3, I convey …

Modeling Winter Severity And Harvest Of Moose: Impacts Of Nutrition And Predation, Cameron Jewett Carroll

Biological Sciences

Climate change is expected to have both positive and negative impacts on northern ungulate populations. Moose (Alces alces) will likely benefit from an increase in the growing season length and frequency of wildfire. However, increases in extreme weather events may result in moose population declines, particularly for nutritionally stressed moose populations. Management strategies to reduce the nutritional stress of populations may become increasingly important. We used stage-structured population models to examine the impact of deep-snow events on moose population trajectories and evaluated female harvest strategies designed to mitigate nutritional stress by decreasing intraspecific competition. Population trajectories were primarily influenced by …

Evaluating Quality Improvement To Improve Hiv Reporting, Nandi A. Marshall, William C. Livingood, Angela Peden, Gulzar H. Shah, Russ Toal, Dayna Alexander, Alesha Wright, Sandra Jump, Shelby Freeman, Kay Davis, Lynn Woodhouse, Kellie Penix

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

The incorporation and evaluation of Quality Improvement into Georgia’s public health systems continues to be a focus of the Georgia Public Health Practice Based Research Network. This report describes the process, preliminary results and lessons learned from incorporating Quality Improvement into one of Georgia’s public health districts.

Online Social Networks To The Rescue: Fulfilling The Ten Essential Public Health Services, Melanie D. Mason, Maureen P. Bezold

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

Budget cuts and shortages in the public health workforce have contributed to the reduction of public health services in 91% of state health departments (SHDs). To adjust for these changes, health departments must discover novel ways to deliver essential public health services to their constituents. Researchers conducted a retrospective analysis of the content published on SHDs’ Twitter pages to determine if online social networks were used to fulfill the ten essential public health services. While 42 SHDs had a Twitter page, the volume and content of tweets varied. Although tweets were posted that related to all ten of the essential …

Efficiency In Public Health Service Delivery: An Analysis Of Clinical Health Services Provided By Local Health Departments In Florida, Simone R. Singh

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

The ability of local health departments (LHDs) to provide public health services to improve the health of their communities depends to a large extent on their financial resources. More money by itself, however, does not necessarily translate into better population health. LHDs also have to use their resources in an efficient manner to achieve the best possible outcomes. This article first describes two techniques that LHDs can use to assess their efficiency at providing public health services: process costing, a technique used by management accountants, and stochastic frontier analysis, a technique used by economists. Using data for LHDs in Florida, …

Evidence Use In New York City Public Health Policymaking, Miriam J. Laugesen, Kimberley R. Isett

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has attracted national attention for his public health policy reforms. The policy process behind the reform program has received less scrutiny, especially the use of research by policymakers. We show that the process used to develop, promote, and evaluate polices is heavily based on five types of data and research. New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene staff conducted in-depth appraisals of existing published research, used local health surveys and private laboratory surveillance data, engaged in “shoe-leather” field research, formed research collaborations within and outside government, and disseminated research to legitimize policy …

Commentary: Moving Beyond The Numbers, Effectively Using Research To Influence Policy, F. Douglas Scutchfield, Marylou Wallace

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

This seventh issue of Frontiers reflects the variety of PHSSR. One emerging theme, however, is the notion of public health and its role in policy and policy development. PHSSR focuses on several potential users, researchers, practitioners and policy makers. As it concerns policy makers, PHSSR delivers research that allows them to make decisions about policy change that not only influences public health status, but creates healthy conditions. In this way, PHSSR essentially influences decisions about support for public health services.

Index To Volume 62, Human Biology Editors

Human Biology

No abstract provided.

Book Reviews, Human Biology Editors

Human Biology

Reconstruction of Life from the Skeleton. Edited by Mehmet Yasar Iscan and Kenneth A.R. Kennedy. 315 pp. A.R. Liss, Inc., New York, 1989. $49.50. (Reviewd by Marc S. Micozzi, National Museum of Health and Medicine)

The Foundations of Human Genetics, By Krishna R. Dronamraju. 211 pp. Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois, 1989. $40.75. (Reviewed by Dennis O.Rourke, University of Utah)

The Fabric of Mind. By Richard Bergland. 202 pp. Penguin Books Australia, Victoria, Australia, 1985 (reprinted 1988). $9.95 (paper). (Reviewed by Ted A. Rathbun, University of South Carolina)

The Colonization of the Pacific: A Genetic Trail Research Monographs …

Diversity Of Cultivable Bacteria Involved In The Formation Of Macroscopic Microbial Colonies (Cave Silver) On The Walls Of A Cave In Slovenia, Blagajana Herzog Velikonja, Rok Tkavc, Lejla Pašić

International Journal of Speleology

Karstic caves often support white, yellow, grey or pink microbial colonies that are termed ‘cave silver’ by speleologists. Using various sample pre-treatments and culture media, a wide variety of bacteria associated with these colonies were recovered from a cave in Slovenia, Pajsarjeva jama. Decreasing the inoculum size resulted in significant increases in viable counts, while pre-treatments had the opposite effect with the exception of microwave irradiation. While all growth media yielded viable counts, the maximal counts were observed on a low-nutrient TWA medium.

Based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence of OTU representatives, the majority of the 80 isolates examined …

Feedbacks Based On Hyperspectral Measurements Of The Air-Sea Temperature Difference, Adam Chambers

Open Access Theses

Ship-based measurements of the air-sea temperature difference (air-sea ΔT) are analyzed and presented with a focus on the temperature difference probability distribution and causes of its stability and variability. By taking the measurements with a hyperspectral infrared radiometer, temperatures of both the lower atmosphere and the skin layer of the ocean are acquired by a single, well-calibrated instrument. Consider that for each radiometric cruise deployment, when the air-sea ΔT measurements are plotted in a histogram, a mean air-sea ΔT peak at about -1 K becomes apparent regardless of measurement location or time of year. The large amount of air-sea ΔT …

War Stories: Ww-Ii Veterans Share On The Ground Experiences, Melissa A. Patricio

Featured News Story

In a race against time, Thanasi Metropoulos '13 preserves a piece of WW-II history in the East Bay.

Gsu View, 2013-12-16, Office Of Marketing And Communications

GSU View

Newsletter published by Governors State University 2007-current.

Phospholipase D- And Phosphatidic Acid-Mediated Signaling In Plant Response To Abscisic Acid And Reactive Oxygen Species, Liang Guo

Dissertations

The Arabidopsis genome has 12 phospholipase D (PLD) genes that are classified into six types, PLDα, PLDβ, PLDγ, PLDδ, PLDε, and PLDζ, based on sequence similarities, domain structures, and biochemical properties. Phosphatidic acids (PA) produced by PLDs have been identified as important lipid signaling molecules in cell growth, development, and stress responses. This study was undertaken to determine the role of PLD and PA in plant response to abscisic acid (ABA) and reactive oxygen species (ROS). The lipid mediator PA was found to interact with sphingosine kinases (SPHKs) in Arabidopsis. Two unique SPHK cDNAs were cloned and expressed. Both SPHKs …

Honorable Mentions: A Publication Of Psu Honors College, Honors College

Honorable Mentions

No abstract provided.

Commemoration: Reflections On The 150th, Bryan G. Caswell

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

There is nothing quite like residing in the town of Gettysburg during the years leading up to the sesquicentennial of the great battle fought here in 1863. As a devoted student of that great internecine conflict known as the American Civil War, I had applied to Gettysburg College in 2011 with the full knowledge of what was to come only two short years in the future, and could not have been more excited for it. [excerpt]

Mcclanahan Breaks School Scoring Record In Winthrop Win, Winthrop University

Winthrop News 2013

• McClanahan now has 1,862 points, making her the highest overall scorer on both the men's and women's basketball teams.
• The previous record was 1,850 points, held by Charles Brunson since 1982.

Dance Major From Lugoff, S.C., Earned Tillman Award, Winthrop University

Winthrop News 2013

• Amanda Floyd earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in dance and wants to teach dance with the ultimate goal of working in choreography.
• The Tillman Award is the university’s highest academic honor. Established in 1940 to honor former S.C. Governor Benjamin Ryan Tillman, the award recognizes the graduate who has most consistently met the demands of academic excellence.

Master Of Arts In Administration Program Creates Advisory Board, Winthrop University

Winthrop News 2013

• The MAAA board includes alums from the program as well as arts experts in the Carolinas.
• The board's inaugural meeting was Dec. 6.

Issues Related To Combining Multiple Speciated Pm2.5 Data Sources In Spatio-Temporal Exposure Models For Epidemiology: The Npact Case Study, Sun-Young Kim, Lianne Sheppard, Timothy V. Larson, Joel Kaufman, Sverre Vedal

UW Biostatistics Working Paper Series

Background: Regulatory monitoring data have been the most common exposure data resource in studies of the association between long-term PM_2.5 components and health. However, data collected for regulatory purposes may not be compatible with epidemiological study.

Objectives: We aimed to explore three important features of the PM_2.5 component monitoring data obtained from multiple sources to combine all available data for developing spatio-temporal prediction models in the National Particle Component and Toxicity (NPACT) study.

Methods: The NPACT monitoring data were collected in an extensive monitoring campaign targeting cohort participants. The regulatory monitoring data were obtained from the Chemical Speciation …