Digital Commons Network^™

Perceptions Of Powdered Alcohol And Intentions To Use: An Exploratory Qualitative Assessment Of Potential Palcohol Use By Young Adults, John Stogner, Julie Baldwin, Timothy Brown, Taylor Chick

College of Humanities and Public Affairs

While there seems to be growing media intrigue over atypical forms of alcohol use, the utilization of the majority of novel consumption methods (e.g., eyeballing, slimming, alcohol without liquid (AWOL)) seems minimal. In 2014, however, several outlets suggested that powdered alcohol would soon surface as a threat to public safety. The impetus of these fears was the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau’s approval for Lipsmark LLC to package a powdered alcohol product named "Palcohol". Palcohol has yet to reach store shelves, but public outcry has been intense. Despite this reaction, little is known about whether the population will …

Spatial Analysis Of Distributions And Habitat Conditions Of Fallopia Japonica (Japanese Knotweed) Invasive Species Applying Unmanned Helicopter Remote Sensing, Jiazhen Zhang

Great Lakes Center Masters Theses

Abstract:

Fallopia japonica (Japanese knotweed) is a perennial herbaceous plant that is native to East Asia. It is considered as one of the worst invasive species worldwide because of its serious impact on biological diversity and human activities (Lowe et al., 2001). Once established, Japanese knotweed forms dense stands that shade and crowd out native plant species. The objectives of this research were to verify and confirm the distribution of Japanese knotweed as published online by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) – iMap and to identify the geographic areas of spreading and the local habitat conditions. In …

Arbitration Of Mexican Trust Disputes: A Couple Made For Each Other?, Edgardo Muñoz, Sofía Llamas

University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

When Is It Mental?, Stuart Glennan

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Most philosophical debate over mental causation has been concerned with reconciling commonsense intuitions that there are causal interactions between the mental and the physical with philosophical theories of the nature of the mental that seem to suggest otherwise. My concern is with a different and more practical problem. We often confront some cognitive, affective, or bodily phenomenon, and wonder about its source – its etiology or its underlying causal basis. For instance, you might wonder whether your queasiness due to something you ate, or whether it is just nervousness, or whether your aunt’s memory loss is a neurological problem or …

T&C Magazine Issue 10 - Winter 2015, T&C Media

T&C Magazine

Articles Include: Alumni with Cool Careers // In Transition // Not your Mother's Classroom // Living with the Unpredictable // The Secret Life of Bayley Banks // More than Black & White // Accepting Love // Excuses! Excuses! // Campus Shooting // Where in the World are you from

Diversity In American Graduate Education Admissions: Twenty-First-Century Challenges And Opportunities, Donald Mitchell Jr., Ph.D., Elizabeth A. Daniele

Executives, Administrators, & Staff Publications

While the legal precedent of affirmative action in U.S. higher education is well documented, graduate admissions practices that withstand strict scrutiny need further documentation. This chapter fills that gap in three ways. First, we briefly highlight the history of affirmative action in U.S. higher education as it relates to broadening the participation of URMs. Second, we offer best practices in U.S. graduate admissions that take into account the benefits of diversity while working within legal guidelines. We then close with considerations for future scholarship, policies, and practices.

Modeling Information Reliability And Maintenance: A Systematic Literature Review, Daysi A. Guerra Garcia

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Operating a business efficiently depends on effective everyday decision-making. In turn, those decisions are influenced by the quality of data used in the decision-making process, and maintaining good data quality becomes more challenging as a business expands. Protecting the quality of the data and the information it generates is a challenge faced by many companies across all industrial sectors. As companies begin to use data from these large data bases they will need to begin to develop strategies for maintaining and assessing the reliability of the information they generate using this data. A considerable amount of literature exists on data …

Exploring Model Error Through Post-Processing And An Ensemble Kalman Filter On Fire Weather Days, Michael Jon Erickson

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

The proliferation of coupling atmospheric ensemble data to models in other related fields requires a priori knowledge of atmospheric ensemble biases specific to the desired application. In that spirit, this dissertation focuses on elucidating atmospheric ensemble model bias and error through a variety of different methods specific to fire weather days (FWDs) over the Northeast United States (NEUS). Other than a handful of studies that use models to predict fire indices for single fire seasons (Mölders 2008, Simpson et al. 2014), an extensive exploration of model performance specific to FWDs has not been attempted. Two unique definitions for FWDs are …

The Application Of Trajectory Analysis For An Early Warning System In Stem Courses, Un Jung Lee

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

The retention of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) majors has become a national concern. “Early warning systems†(EWS) are being developed to identify students who perform poorly early in the semester so that interventions can be implemented. The research reported here utilizes clicker scores and review quiz scores collected in every class session for the longitudinal analysis, as well as pre-course concept inventory scores and self-reported student characteristics. Pre course concept inventory scores were significantly predictive of final course grade. Student demographic characteristics had a smaller fraction of final course grade explained. The cumulative average student clicker score was …

Groundwater Nitrate Contamination Remediation Through Permeable Reactive Barriers On The Forge River, Long Island, New York, Amy Bronwan Pritt

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

The Forge River on the south shore of Long Island is contaminated by nitrate. The Forge River leads into Moriches Bay. Nitrate contamination in the river leads to algal blooms, hypoxia of the river and eventually fish kills. The area surrounding the Forge River is largely residential and not sewered with the residents relying on septic systems for sewage disposal. Nitrate from even small septic systems has been found in groundwater as far as 100m down gradient. Other investigators have shown the occurrence of submarine groundwater discharge on Wills Creek, a tributary of the Forge River and my study site. …

Radium Isotopes As Tracers Of Pore Water Dynamics In Two Long Island Salt Marsh Systems, Camilo Salazar

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

A study of pore water residence time as traced by short-lived radium (Ra) isotopes (224Ra and 223Ra) was conducted on two marsh systems in the south shore of Long Island, New York. Pore water was collected in July (summer) and November-December (winter) of 2013 at depths of 20 cm and 120 cm over three-station transects from the inner marsh to the marsh edge adjacent to a tidal channel. One of the marsh systems is the Wertheim Nationals Wildlife Refuge (NWR), from which two marshes were sampled; Wertheim 1 (W1), a restored marsh, and Wertheim 2 (W2), non-restored. The second marsh …

Chemical Aging And Cloud Condensation Nuclei Activity Of Biomass Burning Aerosol Proxies In The Presence Of Oh Radicals, Jonathan Hall Slade

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Biomass burning aerosol (BBA) can adversely impact regional and global air quality and represents a significant source of organic aerosol (OA) to the atmosphere that can affect climate. Aerosol particles can alter the transfer of radiation in earth's atmosphere directly by scattering and absorbing radiation or indirectly via cloud formation. Gas-to-particle, also termed heterogeneous, oxidation reactions can significantly alter the particle's physical and chemical properties. In turn, this can lead to the degradation of biomolecular markers for air quality-related aerosol source apportionment studies, the particles' lifetime, and modify the particles' abilities to serve as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). However, the …

Enso Modulation Of The Qbo, And Qbo Influence On Tropical Convection, Wei Yuan

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

We look into the ENSO modulation of QBO amplitudes and periods using IGRA data, for the time from the 1950s to the 2010s (the whole period), and the separated time intervals before 1982 and after 1990. For the whole period and the time interval after 1990, the QBO has longer period and larger amplitude during La Niña than during El Niño. However, before 1982 there is no conclusive relationship between the QBO amplitude for the two ENSO phases, although the QBO period is still longer during La Niña. Since the period of the QBO is determined by the magnitude of …

Multi-Marker Linkage Disequilibrium Mapping Of Quantitative Trait Loci, Soyoun Lee

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Background: Genome-wide associations have been studied for years to infer relationships between biological traits and their underlying genetic causes, known as quantitative traits loci (QTL), in a process known as QTL mapping. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), which are commonly used genetic markers, are usually in linkage disequilibrium (LD) with each other within a small genetic region. Both single- and double-marker-based LD mapping methods have been developed by taking advantage of LD structure. Method: In this thesis, a more general LD mapping framework with an arbitrary number of markers has been developed in order to improve LD mapping and its detection …

An Application Of Regression For Storm Surge Prediction Along The New York/New Jersey Coast In Climate Models, Keith J. Roberts

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Storm surge from extratropical cyclones can lead to significant coastal flooding, particularly along coastlines adjacent to wide and shallow continental shelves. In warming global climate simulations, studies have shown systematic regional changes to cyclones, which generate surges. However, there have been no formal studies that link regional cyclone changes to changes in the occurrence and intensity of surges along the densely populated New York/New Jersey coastline. A multi-linear regression (MLR) approach is developed to predict 3-hourly surge during the cool season months (Oct. 1-March 31) using climate model data. At the three stations the approach is applied to (The Battery …

Radium Isotopes As Tracers Of Pore Water Dynamics In Two Long Island Salt Marsh Systems, Camilo Salazar

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

A study of pore water residence time as traced by short-lived radium (Ra) isotopes (224Ra and 223Ra) was conducted on two marsh systems in the south shore of Long Island, New York. Pore water was collected in July (summer) and November-December (winter) of 2013 at depths of 20 cm and 120 cm over three-station transects from the inner marsh to the marsh edge adjacent to a tidal channel. One of the marsh systems is the Wertheim Nationals Wildlife Refuge (NWR), from which two marshes were sampled; Wertheim 1 (W1), a restored marsh, and Wertheim 2 (W2), non-restored. The second marsh …

Chemical Aging And Cloud Condensation Nuclei Activity Of Biomass Burning Aerosol Proxies In The Presence Of Oh Radicals, Jonathan Hall Slade

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Biomass burning aerosol (BBA) can adversely impact regional and global air quality and represents a significant source of organic aerosol (OA) to the atmosphere that can affect climate. Aerosol particles can alter the transfer of radiation in earth's atmosphere directly by scattering and absorbing radiation or indirectly via cloud formation. Gas-to-particle, also termed heterogeneous, oxidation reactions can significantly alter the particle's physical and chemical properties. In turn, this can lead to the degradation of biomolecular markers for air quality-related aerosol source apportionment studies, the particles' lifetime, and modify the particles' abilities to serve as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). However, the …

The Application Of Trajectory Analysis For An Early Warning System In Stem Courses, Un Jung Lee

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

The retention of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) majors has become a national concern. “Early warning systems†(EWS) are being developed to identify students who perform poorly early in the semester so that interventions can be implemented. The research reported here utilizes clicker scores and review quiz scores collected in every class session for the longitudinal analysis, as well as pre-course concept inventory scores and self-reported student characteristics. Pre course concept inventory scores were significantly predictive of final course grade. Student demographic characteristics had a smaller fraction of final course grade explained. The cumulative average student clicker score was …

An Ensemble Three-Dimensional Constrained Variational Analysis Method To Derive Large-Scale Forcing Data For Single-Column Models, Shuaiqi Tang

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Atmospheric vertical velocities and advective tendencies are essential as large-scale forcing data to drive single-column models (SCM), cloud-resolving models (CRM) and large-eddy simulations (LES). They cannot be directly measured or easily calculated with great accuracy from field measurements. In the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program, a constrained variational algorithm (1DCVA) has been used to derive large-scale forcing data over a sounding network domain with the aid of flux measurements at the surface and top of the atmosphere (TOA). We extend the 1DCVA algorithm into three dimensions (3DCVA) along with other improvements to calculate gridded large-scale forcing data. We also introduce …

Modeling Platelets On Parallel Computers, Seetha Malavika Pothapragada

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Mechanical Heart Valves (MHV) provides life-saving solutions to patients suffering from cardiovascular diseases. But these devices are often plagued by non-physiological flow patterns resulting in increased shear stress conditions. This leads to platelet damage, a precursor of thromboembolism, thus impeding the device usability and demanding lifelong anticoagulation treatments. While the flow and stresses are in the micron level, the platelet behavior is at the nm level, thus presenting a major computational challenge for simulating this multiscale multi-physics modeling problem. This dissertation focuses on using parallel computers to develop a computational framework based on n-particle simulations, defined by Coarse Grained Molecular …

Effects Of Processing And Medical Sterilization Techniques On 3d-Printed And Molded Polylactic Acid, Mariah Nicole Geritano

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Manufacturing industries have evolved tremendously in the past decade with the introduction of Additive Manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D Printing. The medical device industry has been a leader in adapting this new technology into research and development. 3D printing enables medical devices and implants to become more customizable, patient specific, and allows for low production numbers. This study compares the mechanical and thermal properties of traditionally manufactured parts versus parts manufactured through 3D printing before and after sterilization, and the ability of an FDM printer to produce reliable, identical samples. It was found that molded samples and 100% infill …

$E_\Infty$-Comodules And Topological Manifolds, Anibal Medina

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

The first story begins with a question of Steenrod. He asked if the product in the cohomology of a triangulated space, which is associative and graded commutative, can be induced from a cochain level product satisfying the same two properties. He answered it in the negative after identifying homological obstructions among a collection of chain maps he constructed. Using later language, his construction could be said to endow the simplicial chains with an $E_\infty$-coalgebra structure. The second story also begins with a question: when is a space homotopy equivalent to a topological manifold? For dimensions greater than 4, an answer …

Class Iii Phosphoinositide 3-Kinase Vps34 In Autophagy, Endocytosis, And Nutrient-Induced Signaling, Nadia Jaber

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Vps34 is the sole member of the Class III phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI3Ks) identified in mammals thus far. It phosphorylates phosphatidylinositol (PI) to generate PI(3)P on intracellular membranes. Previous work has suggested that Vps34 is important for the protein degradation pathways of autophagy and endocytosis, as well as nutrient-induced mTOR signaling. However, due to the pluripotent nature of available PI3K inhibitors, a clear understanding of the functions of mammalian Vps34 remains to be illustrated. To investigate the precise role of Vps34 in these processes, I have generated and characterized mice with conditional genetic ablation of Vps34. Mice with liver or heart-specific …

Structural Insights Into Mitochondrial Gene Expression And Disease, Kip Guja

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Mitochondria are dual membrane-bound organelles found in the cytoplasm of all eukaryotic cells. Human mitochondria contain a 16.5 kb double-stranded DNA genome that encodes thirteen essential protein subunits of the oxidative phosphorylation system, as well as the two ribosomal RNAs and 22 transfer RNAs needed to translate the thirteen messenger RNAs. Oxidative phosphorylation produces the majority of energy needed for cells to sustain life, and this process is strictly dependent on expression of the mitochondrial genome. Defects in mitochondrial gene expression are linked to many human diseases, age-related pathologies, and the aging process itself. Obtaining a more detailed understanding of …

Comparison Of Sustained Cognitive Training Vs. Cardiovascular Exercise On Cognitive Decline And Pathology In A Vascular Model Of Alzheimer’S Disease | Comparison Of Sustained Cognitive Training Vs. Cardiovascular Exercise On Cognitive Decline And Pathology In A Vascular Model Of Alzheimer’S Disease, Maria Elizabeth Anderson

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Despite numerous advances in our understanding of the mechanisms that underlie Alzheimer’s disease (AD), there is still no cure, and the disease continues to pose a severe public health problem. It has become clear that many factors, including certain lifestyle practices, may contribute to the development of the disease; however, much remains to be learned about how lifestyle factors may prevent or delay cognitive decline. Unlike human epidemiological studies, murine models can provide clearer inferences about causality. The present studies focus on two lifestyle factors: cognitive enrichment and cardio-vascular exercise. Specifically, the effects of lifestyle interventions on behavioral performance and …

Synthesis Of Carbon-11 Labeled Organic Molecules For Pet Studies, So Jeong Lee

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

PET has played a key role in the field of molecular imaging and nuclear medicine over the past decades. PET represents a non-invasive molecular imaging technique to study and visualize human physiology by detecting positron-emitting radiopharmaceuticals labeled with short half-live radioisotopes (i.e. | 11C, 13N, 15O, and 18F) that visualize in vivo biochemical processes and metabolic pathways (i.e. | glycolysis and protein/DNA synthesis). PET is also an emerging method for measuring body function and tailoring disease treatment in living human by detecting biochemical changes preceding anatomical changes occurring a disease. The capability of imaging quantitatively and with high sensitivity without …

An Analysis Of Peer Effects In The Credit Rating Market, Bo He

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

This paper empirically examines the peer eects among credit rating agencies (CRA) and the credit rating shopping behavior by bond issuers in the sub-prime mortgage market. The recent sub-prime mortgage crisis has raised the controversy that CRA's rating decisions might not be independent. For example, Moody's rating decisions might be aected by S&P, and vice versa. My studies analyzes the peer eects on Moody's and S&P's rating decisions, while taking into account the selection of CRAs by bond issuers. This selection process is also called credit rating shopping. At the issuance of mortgage-backed securities, bond issuers solicit ratings from CRAs. …

Digital Implementation Of A Synchronous First-In First-Out ( Fifo) Using Cad Tools, Aseem Gupta

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Over the past couple of decades, digital design has prospered many miles. The availability of advanced EDA tools help cut design times, debugging issues and time-to-market (TTM). Understanding the digital design flow has now become crucial and many IP cores are being built in no time with use of advanced tools. The tools for front-end, back-end simulations have given industry freedom to experiment new complex designs. The productivity of a digital designer is also a function of his ability to step up of a ramp and use the EDA tools to achieve faster designs and get the job done. Tools …

Writing At The Intersection: Understanding International Student Writers, Soni Adhikari

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

In U.S. colleges and universities, non-native English speaking international students are generally described in terms of their challenges with the English language. Even after the focus of scholarship has recently shifted to these students’ strengths as “multilingual†writers, their challenges and strengths in other areas of their development as writers are still overlooked. This thesis addresses the need to inform and influence teaching/learning practices about international multilingual students by using multidimensional frameworks. Considering that international students’ challenges (and strengths) of language intersect with a variety of other academic skills and also their motivation to learn, I argue that in order …

Festivity And Malvolio In Twelfth Night, Lixian Huang

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Twelfth Night is a play full of merrymaking, wish fulfillment and laughter because of its close relation to festivity in Elizabethan times. In the overall jolly atmosphere in the Twelfth Night, Malvolio is the one character in this play that acts as an opponent to revelry. This essay aims to study the festival theme in Twelfth Night, and Malvolio’s disruptive role in it. It includes a study of Malvolio’s understanding of himself, his changes through the development of the play and how those work on the audience especially his unresolved ending. I argue that though Malvolio is positioned as the …