Digital Commons Network^™

Human-Managed Vs. Natural Grazing Systems: Exploring Effects Of Livestock And Wildlife Grazing At Multiple Scales, Megan Esther Mcsherry

Dissertations - ALL

Grazing by large herbivores is the most prevalent land use on grassland ecosystems, which cover greater than 40% of the earth's land surface and provide critical ecological and economic benefits. As such, understanding how grazing impacts different aspects of the ecosystem is of especially great importance. This study uses a range of approaches to explore the potentially contrasting effects of grazing across human-managed, livestock-grazed systems and natural, wildlife-grazed systems. The first chapter uses a short-term, small-scale approach in assessing differences across management type in plant community composition following a relaxation of grazing. Results reveal that livestock and wildlife grazers may …

Modulation And Interactions Of Charged Biomimetic Membranes With Bivalent Ions, Adolphe Kazadi Badiambile

Dissertations - ALL

The biological membrane of an eukaryotic cell is a two-dimensional structure of mostly phospholipids with embedded proteins. This two-dimensional structure plays many key roles in the life of a cell. Transmembrane proteins, for example, play the role of a gate for different ions (such as Ca2+). Also found are peripheral proteins that are used as enzymes for different purposes in the inner leaflet of the plasma membrane. Phospholipids, in particular play three key roles. Firstly, some members of this group are used to store energy. Secondly, the hydrophobic and hydrophilic properties inherent to phospholipids enable them to be used as …

Mechanics, Shape, And Programmability In Soft Matter Systems: From Fluid Membranes To Spring And Droplet Networks, Tao Zhang

Dissertations - ALL

This thesis analyzes three different soft matter systems---membranes, polymers, and droplets---to answer questions about shape, mechanics, and programmability.

For membranes, my collaborators and I have developed a theoretical model of endocytosis in yeast. Endocytosis is the process by which a cell membrane deforms to surround extracellular material to draw it into the cell. Endocytosis in yeast involves clathrin, actin, and Bar proteins. Our model breaks up the process into three stages: (i) initiation, where clathrin interacts with the cell membrane via adaptor proteins, (ii) elongation, where the membrane is then further deformed by polymerizing actin filaments, followed by (iii) pinch-off. …

Students' Attitudes Towards Socially--But Not Scientifically--Controversial Subjects: Evaluating Ways In Which These Attitudes May Be Shifted, Benjamin Elijah Carter

Dissertations - ALL

Chapter1: Numerous anti-science bills introduced into state legislatures reference the "strengths and weaknesses" of scientific subjects, but the subjects they target, most commonly evolution and global climate change, are not topics of contention within the scientific community. This brief work provides a researched rebuttal to the notion that evolution and climate change have strengths and weaknesses of the form implied by anti-science legislation while providing examples of actual scientific disagreement about these subjects. The disagreement is not, of course, about whether or not evolution or climate change are factual occurrences, but rather over ideas such as the finer points of …

Comparison Of Cost Function Against Positional Analysis For Automated Tracking Of Three-Cell Interactions, Ye He

Dissertations - ALL

Localization and tracking of cells generates raw digital information from microscopy images, including images of stained nuclei and highly precise determination of central positions of cells, which can be analyzed for investigation of cell motility. In a previous study by this group, an algorithm termed automated contour-based tracking for in vitro environments (ACTIVE) was established for tracking large cell populations for long periods of time. For the two-cell interaction events on which ACTIVE was initially focused, error rate was reduced as much as 43% compared to a traditional positional analysis algorithm by Kilfoil and colleagues. In the present thesis, we …

Indium Telluride (In2te3) Semiconductor Cylinder Fiber Sensor, Xun Huang

Dissertations - ALL

Sensors play a very important role in control, monitor and security system. More and more novel technology has been used on a variety of sensors. This thesis investigates using semiconductor cylinder fiber as a new kind of fiber sensor.

Our main motive to do this research is based on my interest in optical fiber. After I did some experiments on the semiconductor cylinder fiber, I found some interesting characteristics. When we changed some environmental conditions around the fiber, the output light from it would change accordingly. So I did a systematic research on it.

This project uses In2Te3 as a …

Mechanically Active Electrospun Materials, Jaimee Marie Robertson

Dissertations - ALL

Electrospinning, a technique used to fabricate small diameter polymer fibers, has been employed to develop unique, active materials falling under two categories: (1) shape memory elastomeric composites (SMECs) and (2) water responsive fiber mats. (1) Previous work has characterized in detail the properties and behavior of traditional SMECs with isotropic fibers embedded in an elastomer matrix. The current work has two goals: (i) characterize laminated anisotropic SMECs and (ii) develop a fabrication process that is scalable for commercial SMEC manufacturing. The former ((i)) requires electrospinning aligned polymer fibers. The aligned fibers are similarly embedded in an elastomer matrix and stacked …

Essays On Local Political Economy In Brazil And The United States, Evan Andrews

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation covers different aspects of political institutions and fiscal policy in local governments. The first essay examines the political consequences of an increase in the district magnitude (the number of open seats) for legislatures. The second essay studies how the size of a local legislature affects the size and composition of public spending. The third essay develops and tests a theory of how transaction costs might affect the use of earmarked revenues by local budgeting authorities. The last essay compares the relative impacts of factors that might make a local government more likely to adopt own-source revenues. These questions …

Reference Service Evaluation At An African Academic Library: The User Perspective, Lili Luo, Viscount Buer

Faculty Publications

Purpose – This paper aims to provide a detailed discussion of a large-scale library reference evaluation study conducted at the University of Education, Winneba (UEW) in Ghana. The study seeks to evaluate the reference service from the user perspective, focusing on how users use and perceive the service. Design/methodology/approach – Self-administered survey was used as the data collection instrument. One thousand questionnaires were distributed to library users in a three-week period, and the response rate was 63.7 per cent. Findings – The reference service had a high non-use rate of 42.6 per cent, which was primarily attributed to library users’ …

The Effect Of Short-Term Study Abroad On Second Language Spanish Phonetic Development, Silvina Bongiovanni, Avizia Y. Long, Megan Solon, Erik Willis

Faculty Publications

This study explores the impact of study abroad (SA) on second language Spanish phonetic development. Twenty-seven English-speaking learners of Spanish, 15 who were participating in a 4-week SA program in the Dominican Republic and 12 who were studying at their home (AH) institution, were recorded 5 weeks apart (at the approximate beginning and end of their respective programs). Recordings were analyzed acoustically, and four groups of segments were examined: word-initial /p t k/, intervocalic /b d ɡ/, intervocalic /ɾ/ and /r/, and word-final /l/. Productions at Time 1 and Time 2 as well as between the SA and AH groups …

2014-2015 Annual Report, Society Of American Archivists Student Chapter

Annual Reports

No abstract provided.

Geometry Dependence Of The Sign Problem In Quantum Monte Carlo Simulations, V. Iglovikov, Ehsan Khatami, R. Scalettar

Faculty Publications

The sign problem is the fundamental limitation to quantum Monte Carlo simulations of the statistical mechanics of interacting fermions. Determinant quantum Monte Carlo (DQMC) is one of the leading methods to study lattice fermions, such as the Hubbard Hamiltonian, which describe strongly correlated phenomena including magnetism, metal-insulator transitions, and possibly exotic superconductivity. Here, we provide a comprehensive dataset on the geometry dependence of the DQMC sign problem for different densities, interaction strengths, temperatures, and spatial lattice sizes. We supplement these data with several observations concerning general trends in the data, including the dependence on spatial volume and how this can …

Finite-Temperature Superconducting Correlations Of The Hubbard Model, Ehsan Khatami, Richard Scalettar, Rajiv Singh

Faculty Publications

We utilize numerical linked-cluster expansions (NLCEs) and the determinantal quantum Monte Carlo algorithm to study pairing correlations in the square-lattice Hubbard model. To benchmark the NLCE, we first locate the finite-temperature phase transition of the attractive model to a superconducting state away from half filling. We then explore the superconducting properties of the repulsive model for the d-wave and extended s-wave pairing symmetries. The pairing structure factor shows a strong tendency to d-wave pairing and peaks at an interaction strength comparable to the bandwidth. The extended s-wave structure factor and correlation length are larger at higher temperatures but clearly saturate …

Spectroscopic Confirmation Of The Existence Of Large, Diffuse Galaxies In The Coma Cluster, Pieter Van Dokkum, Aaron Romanowsky, Roberto Abraham, Jean Brodie, Charlie Conroy, Marla Geha, Allison Merritt, Alexa Villaume, Jielai Zhang

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Shusterman’S Thinking Through The Body And Everyday Aesthetics, Tom Leddy

Faculty Publications

How does Richard Shusterman’s Thinking Through the Bodyapply to the issues of everyday aesthetics? As it turns out, many chapters contribute significantly to everyday aesthetics, in particular the work on architecture, self-styling, the body as background, lovemaking, and the process of making a photographic portrait. Shusterman’s concentration on the art of living has special importance to everyday aesthetics. Current debates within the field of everyday aesthetics also raise problems for somaesthetics. I also question the limits of somaesthetics and Shusterman’s rejection of defamiliarization in making the ordinary extraordinary.

The Scientist, 2015, San Jose State University, College Of Science

The Scientist (College of Science)

No abstract provided.

The Modernist Novel In Its Contemporaneity, Pamela L. Caughie

English: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Through the writings of Gertrude Stein, Virginia Woolf, and Nella Larsen, this chapter considers the temporality of the now, the modernist novel in its contemporaneity, to show how the ambient environment of daily life takes shape in, and shapes, the modernist novel.

White Woods And Blue Jasmine: Woody Allen Rewrites A Streetcar Named Desire, Verna Foster

English: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The film's reviewers almost invariably commented on the parallels with Streetcar, many noting, too, that Cate Blanchett, who plays the title character, Jasmine, had also successfully played Blanche Dubois in Liv Ullmann's 2009 production of the play at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.2 But for all the similarities in character types and plot structure and for all the allusions to specific lines in Streetcar, the themes of Blue Jasmine are very different from those of Williams's play because the story that Allen tells also channels the fall of Bernie Madoff and his wife, Ruth. The flashbacks are a filmic equivalent …

Raising Pan Americans: Early Women Activists Of Hemispheric Cooperation, 1916–1944, Dina Berger

History: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article examines the early years of the Pan American Round Table (PART), a women’s group founded in Texas in 1916 that internationalized to Latin America by 1928. While men built bridges and highways that connected the United States and Latin America, women of the PART built metaphorical ones of friendship and understanding. They acted as agents of “soft” diplomacy reshaping Pan Americanism, a U.S. foreign policy goal intended to foster commercial and political ties and to spread democracy in Latin America. Their activist work on behalf of Pan Americanism became a vehicle for personal and community enrichment: through education …

Wisconsin Roots: Making History Interviews With Richard M. Jaffee And John W. Rowe, Timothy Gilfoyle

History: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Rowe arid Jaffee share more than their long tenures as chief executives. Both have roots in southwestern Wisconsin.

Harris V. Quinn: What We Talk About When We Talk About Right-To-Work Laws, Michael J. Yelnosky

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Discovery, Prevalence, And Persistence Of Novel Circular Single-Stranded Dna Viruses In The Ctenophores Mnemiopsis Leidyi And Beroe Ovata, Mya Breitbart, Bayleigh Benner, Parker Jernigan, Karyna Rosario, Laura Birsa, Rachel Harbeitner, Sidney Fulford, Carina Graham, Anna Walters, Dawn Goldsmith, Stella Berger, Jens Nejstgaard

Marine Science Faculty Publications

Gelatinous zooplankton, such as ctenophores and jellyfish, are important components of marine and brackish ecosystems and play critical roles in aquatic biogeochemistry. As voracious predators of plankton, ctenophores have key positions in aquatic food webs and are often successful invaders when introduced to new areas. Gelatinous zooplankton have strong impacts on ecosystem services, particularly in coastal environments. However, little is known about the factors responsible for regulating population dynamics of gelatinous organisms, including biological interactions that may contribute to bloom demise. Ctenophores are known to contain specific bacterial communities and a variety of invertebrate parasites and symbionts; however, no previous …

Multidimensional Metrics For Estimating Phage Abundance, Distribution, Gene Density, And Sequence Coverage In Metagenomes, Ramy Aziz, Bhakti Dwivedi, Sajia Akhter, Mya Breitbart, Robert Edwards

Marine Science Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Mature Women And Higher Education: Reconstructing Identity And Family Relationships, Louise Webber

Plymouth Institute of Education Theses

Previous research suggests that through engagement with Higher Education (HE), mature women students experience identity change and transformation which could lead to conflict and strain on marital relationships. The aims of this thesis are to explore the effects of identity transformation on mature women and the family unit as a whole, through a consideration of the impact of HE on family life. Qualitative methods were adopted using a narrative inquiry methodology of focused interviews, mind mapping and a student led mosaic approach to gather the data. Women with families were selected from one Foundation Degree in Early Years in a …

The Importance Of Humour In Educational Staffrooms, Kmita Maria

Plymouth Institute of Education Theses

Staffroom humour constitutes an integral part of teachers’ workplace culture and contributes to the quality of workplace relationships, yet it remains under-researched in the field of educational research. This thesis explores the importance of humour in relationships between teachers and its meaning for the overall workplace culture. This research has two foci; one intended and one acquired. Originally this research was set up to investigate staffroom humour in three educational settings. However, humour between participants and I became another focus of the research. Therefore, apart from exploring how staff use humour in the staffroom and what influences staffroom humour, this …

Professional Development And Beyond: A Participative Study Of A Self-Facilitated Learning Group, Helen Goodall

Plymouth Institute of Education Theses

This is a participative case study of a self-facilitating, collaborative, women’s learning group. The group’s longevity afforded a unique opportunity to investigate, in depth, both what encouraged its members to join at its outset, and what has sustained the participation of its current members for thirteen years. Its longevity also provided an opportunity to explore the impact of sustained membership on the women in the group. These two components of the study are its most significant original contributions to the existing literature which does not appear to cover anything similar. The initial raison d’étre of the group was its members’ …

Students' Experiences Of Dance: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study, Goran Krantz

Plymouth Institute of Education Theses

Abstract The dominance of instrumentalism and utilitarianism in education today tends to reduce the value of dance. Research on dance in education is very limited. Recent reviews of research on the arts in education propose that research has to move from exploring transfer effects of artistic activity towards exploring the meaningfulness of the arts themselves. New researches as well as new theoretical approaches are thus called for (Winner, Goldstein and Vincent-Lancrin, 2013). Hence my research question is: what are students’ experiences of dance? Research on experiences in the arts is contested by the problem to verbalise lived experience. Therefore, in …

Understanding Waste Management Behaviour In Care Settings In South West England: A Mixed Methods Study, Sean Manzi

School of Nursing and Midwifery Theses

Introduction - Health and social care sector activities in the United Kingdom have a considerable carbon footprint which impacts on the natural environment. Waste management is one area of focus for the reduction of this environmental impact. Previous research has studied the quantities and compositions of healthcare waste highlighting the potential for recycling. Limited research to date has investigated both health and social care waste management in a holistic study incorporating the behaviour, composition and systems. The current study aimed to investigate waste management behaviour, systems and compositions at four health and social care sites in the South West of …

What Is Love In Nursing Care? A Qualitative Study, Tracie North

School of Nursing and Midwifery Theses

Abstract What is love in nursing care? A qualitative study Recent failures in care highlighted through documents such as the Frances report have pointed to lack of kindness, respect and dignity in patient care and lack of professionalism. As a consequence, nurse education has come under the microscope, with questions about the potential to teach nurses compassion. The demonstration of these values were once, perhaps, more tangible and overt in nurse training and nursing care. The expression ‘tender loving care’ was used as an expression of nursing intervention, which often gave comfort and confidence to patients and their loved ones. …

Being A Judge In The Modern World, Lady Justice Hallett Lady Justice Hallett

The Plymouth Law and Criminal Justice Review

No abstract provided.