Digital Commons Network^™

Swat Online: Development Of A Web-Based Decision Support System For The Soil And Water Assessment Tool, Spencer Dean Mcdonald

Theses and Dissertations

As satellite and climate modelling technology continues to improve and as climatological disasters and issues continue to impact the global community, climate data will increase in size and relevance. With this new influx of information, it is becoming more and more important for scientists to simply and concisely communicate their findings to both decision makers in governments and disaster preparedness organizations and also to the general public. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is a powerful modelling tool that allows scientists to simulate essentially all of the physical processes involved in the water cycle. The data that SWAT produces …

Investigating The Use Of Streaming And Robotic Dielectrophoresis To Enable Continuous Cell Sorting And Automatic Cell Transfer In Sample Preparation, Rucha Natu

All Dissertations

The sorting of targeted cells or particles from a sample is a crucial step in the sample preparation process used in medical diagnosis, environmental monitoring, bio-analysis and personalized medicine. Current cell sorting techniques can be broadly classified as label based or label-free. Label-based techniques mostly rely on fluorophores or magnetic nanoparticles functionalized to bind with targeted cells. Although highly specific, this approach can be expensive and suffers from limitations in the availability of suitable markers. Label-free techniques exploit properties inherent to the cell, such as density and size, to simplify the sorting protocol and reduce cost by eliminating the need …

Surface Functionalized Gold Nanoparticle Applications In Catalysis And Lipid-Nanoparticle Assemblies, Saptarshi Chakraborty

All Dissertations

The general objectives of my dissertation are to devise strategies to impart unique functionality to gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) through surface modification and utilizing such surface-functionalized AuNP systems to 1) facilitate colloidal catalyst recovery and reuse while maintaining activity and 2) measure the interactions of engineered AuNPs with biological membranes as related to stimuli-responsive liposomal therapeutics.

AuNP surface functionalization is an essential step in the synthesis, stability and functionality-specific applications of AuNPs. Due to the ability to control AuNP shape, size and surface properties, AuNP applications have seen an exponential growth in various sectors that include catalysis, biomedicine, drug-delivery, sensing, imaging, …

Improving Deep Reinforcement Learning Using Graph Convolution And Visual Domain Transfer, Sufeng Niu

All Dissertations

Recent developments in Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) have shown tremendous progress in robotics control, Atari games, board games such as Go, etc. However, model free DRL still has limited use cases due to its poor sampling efficiency and generalization on a variety of tasks. In this thesis, two particular drawbacks of DRL are investigated: 1) the poor generalization abilities of model free DRL. More specifically, how to generalize an agent's policy to unseen environments and generalize to task performance on different data representations (e.g. image based or graph based) 2) The reality gap issue in DRL. That is, how to …

Understanding The Interactions Of Anions With Lewis Acids And Π-Acids To Develop Efficient Ion-Pair Receptors, Krishnendu Maity

All Dissertations

Anions play vital roles in many industrial, environmental, chemical, and biological processes. Due to their adverse effects on our health and ecosystem, precise regulation of toxic anions and ion-pairs are of prime importance. A majority of anion receptors rely on subtle supramolecular forces like electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bonding to bind anions, and the main source of selectivity comes from the shape and size complementarity of the receptors and guest anions. In aprotic solvents, interactions of anions with π-acidic receptors such as naphthalenediimides (NDIs) and perylenediimides (PDIs), and Lewis acids, such as silver ion, depend on their electron donating ability, …

Understanding The Impact Of Racism And Sexism On The Transition Experience Of Black Women Principals From The Classroom To The Secondary School Principalship, Brittany Denise Neely

All Dissertations

This study was focused on understanding how Black women currently serving as secondary school principals were able to obtain their positions and what supports they received and barriers they encountered during their transition from teacher to principal. The underlying purpose behind this study was to understand how racist and/or sexist practices within the educational system influenced their experiences in becoming some of the few Black women currently serving as secondary school principals. In this study, I drew upon Black feminist thought as my epistemological perspective and critical race feminism as my theoretical framework to understand this phenomenon. To investigate this …

Characterization And Cultivation Of Marine Protist, Thraustochytrium Striatum For High-Value Bioproducts, Rui Xiao

All Dissertations

DHA/EPA producing marine protists have recently become more attractive due to their additional high-value products, including extracellular enzymes, extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), and astaxanthin. In this study, Thraustochytrium striatum ATCC 24473 was studied and the cultivation conditions were been optimized to achieve high biomass and fatty acid yield. Results showed that seawater salinity, neutral pH and mild rotation speed favored biomass growth, while better lipid accumulation was observed under high C/N ratio, higher salinity or high pH. Comparison in different carbon sources showed starch and glycerol improved fatty acid accumulation the most, and ammonia chloride was the best nitrogen source …

Hydrothermal Crystal Growth Of Tetrahedral Framework Oxides For Optical Applications, Rylan James Terry

All Dissertations

In our modern world, lasers are used every day, from the mundane task of playing a DVD to the innovative implementation of laser surgery. Nonlinear optical (NLO) crystals are crucial to laser technology for their ability to modify the frequency of a beam. The development of new NLO crystals is necessary for the advancement of laser technology, in order to reach wavelengths that are not currently accessible due to the limitations of current materials. Of particular importance to semiconductor photolithography, laser micromachining, and scientific instrumentation are the ultra-violet (UV, 200 nm > λ > 400 nm) and deep-UV (λ < 200 nm) portions of the optical spectrum. This dissertation delves into the synthesis of new potential NLO materials by means of hydrothermal crystal growth. In this study, tetrahedral oxides are utilized due to their likelihood of producing noncentrosymmetric (NCS) crystals, a necessity for NLO materials. Silicates are also employed in this study due to their particularly deep absorption edge into the UV. The addition of a spectroscopically silent rare earth ion which is capable of being doped with a lasing ion into a NCS crystal may lead to a single crystal that is both capable of lasing and frequency doubling. In the pursuit of such a crystal, the novel syntheses of Cs3YSi6O15 and LiRESiO4 (RE = Er, Tm, Yb, Lu) were established. Although these materials proved not to be NCS, their structures proved very intriguing and in the case of Cs3YSi6O15 is the parent structure to a family of structures that otherwise exhibits structural disorder or modulation. In expanding the range of mixed oxoanion species, the rare earth ion was replaced with a tetrahedral trivalent oxoanion. The appeal of a series with the general formula ABCO4, (A = alkali ion, B = trivalent metal, and C = tetravalent metal) is its prevalence to produce NCS crystals, notably having a tridymite-type framework. Tridymite is a high temperature variant of quartz that forms six-membered rings propagating through the structure, creating vacant channels. In a stuffed variation of this structural type, rings having negative charge are balanced by the “stuffing” of an alkali or alkaline earth cation into the vacant channels. While the archetype of the stuffed tridymites forms in the centrosymmetric (CS) space group setting of P63/mmc, there are four degrees of freedom that evolve as small variations in the structure are made, often leading to the removal of the inversion center. With the synthesis of a wide array of crystals in this family, those that were found to be NCS were analyzed for their potential use as NLO materials.

Face Recognition Based On Viola-Jones Face Detection Method And Principle Component Analysis (Pca), Suhad Ibrahim, Noor Abdulmuttaleb Jaafar, Kilan Mohammed Hussien

Iraqi Journal of Computers, Communications, Control and Systems Engineering

Face recognition is one of the most important research fields of the last two decades. This is due to the actual use of this technology in automatic detection and monitoring systems. Face attribute and features recognition from images is still a challenge. In this paper, face image recognition is proposed upon local face image rather than focusing on the whole image recognition by applying preprocessing techniques and Viola-Jones method. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) method is used in order to extract the needed features. Experiments show satisfied and more accurate results achieved by the proposed system comparing to Face recognition is …

Understanding The Role Of Epstein - Barr Virus Encoded Rnas (Ebers) In Ebv Biology, Waqar Ahmed

Medical Education Dissertations

Epstein Barr virus (EBV) is an oncogenic herpesvirus aetiologically linked to several human malignancies of epithelial and lymphoid origins. An accumulating body of data indicates that EBV-infected cells release specific viral components in nano-vesicles called exosomes. Epstein-Barr virus encoded RNAs (EBER1 and EBER2) are two highly abundant, non-protein coding RNAs that are consistently expressed in all EBV latency programs. Conventional in situ hybridization (ISH) studies have indicated that these RNAs are typically found in the nucleus of EBV-infected cells. Recently, it was reported that EBERs are released out of the infected cells. However, the mechanism by which these highly abundant …

By Us And For Us: A Story Of Early Childhood Development Systems Change And Results In A Rural Context, Lisa Payne Simon, Kirsten Scobie, Phoebe Backler, Catherine Mcdowell, Charles Cotton, Susan Cloutier, Clare Nolan

The Foundation Review

Since 2007, the Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund — a donor-advised fund of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation — has invested in early childhood development in Coös County — New Hampshire’s largest and most rural and economically disadvantaged county. Community providers from a range of disciplines formed strong professional relationships and agreed on common goals and evidence-based strategies to improve services for children and families.

This article describes how local community members joined forces with the fund to create an integrated early childhood development system for Coös’ children and families. It provides background on the investment and initiative strategy, summarizes …

Fostering Change And Fresh Voices: Vancouver Foundation’S Youth Engagement Journey, Trilby Smith

The Foundation Review

Since 2011, Vancouver Foundation has invested significant time, energy, ideas, and money in bringing together immigrant and refugee youth and young people with lived experience of the foster care system in British Columbia.

Through its Fostering Change and Fresh Voices initiatives, the foundation has listened and worked in partnership with these young people to address the issues that affect their lives, and important progress has been made in the forms of meaningful policy changes and improved political engagement. The foundation is now in the process of returning these initiatives to the communities that inspired them.

This article describes the roles …

Equity For All: Building The Infrastructure For Change Through Community-First Funder Collaboratives, Ellen Braff-Guajardo, Kaying Hang, Leslie Cooksy, Monica Braughton, Fontane Lo

The Foundation Review

Foundations increasingly recognize that improving conditions in many communities requires addressing inequities in access to rights and resources. Yet there are challenges to effective investment in underresourced regions, especially when foundations have limited familiarity with the region and may assume limited local capacity to leverage philanthropic investments.

This article discusses how Sierra Health Foundation partnered with other California and national foundations to establish the San Joaquin Valley Health Fund, a collaborative whose grants focus on strengthening the capacity of communities and organizations in the Valley to advance policy and systems changes that promote health and racial equity.

This article highlights …

Development Of A New Electron Spin Resonance Spectroscopy, Zhe Chen

All Dissertations

The dissertation focuses on the development of a novel electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy based on an RF interferometer. The ESR spectroscopy is broadband and quantitative which is tunable over a wide frequency range, in which the RF interferometer is used to remove radio-frequency (RF) probing signals at the detector. With a planar microwave resonator (MR) the ESR spectroscopy is able to measure as low as 0.2 µg (2.8×1014 spins) DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) sample at a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of ~ 121 at room temperature. The broadband ESR operation capability is investigated with a broadband meander micro-strip line (MML) by measuring …

An Interpretative Phenomenological Study Of College Women Who Participate In High-Risk Drinking, Their Perceptions Of Drinking Norms, And The Influence Of Those Norms On Their Drinking Behaviors, Elizabeth Leeman Carter

All Dissertations

High-risk alcohol use on college campuses is associated with several negative consequences for students. Social norms campaigns are a widely used intervention aimed at decreasing high-risk alcohol use in a university population but their efficacy can vary based on students’ peer groups and gender. Research on gendered drinking norms for college students tends to focus on men, as they are usually identified as more likely to drink alcohol overall and to drink in high-risk ways. Additionally, social norms campaigns implemented in a small group setting, which aim to correct misperceptions of students who may not initially identify with norms of …

Building A Model Of Black Women's Confidence In Campus Sexual Assault Resources: A Critical Race Feminist Quantitative Study, Jimmy Lee Howard, Jr.

All Dissertations

The United States’ evolving federal regulations and laws are doing little to disrupt systemic sexual violence, and more narrowly, are doing very little to protect Black women (Dunn, 2014; Harris, 2017; Harris & Linder, 2017; Konradi, 2016; O’Toole et al., 2015; Yung, 2015). Further, Black women are underrepresented in college sexual assault literature and little is known about how Black women perceive campus sexual violence resources and policy (Crosby, 2015; Tillman et al., 2010). The purpose of this study is to create a model to explore Black women’s confidence in sexual assault resources. In order for institutions of higher education …

Building Thermally Stable Electrochemical Energy Storage Devices Via Application Of Temperature Responsive Polymers, Han Jiang

All Dissertations

Electrochemical energy storage devices such as supercapacitors (SCs) and lithium ion batteries (LIBs) play pivotal role in the undergoing “green energy revolution”, which involves the profound transformation of energy production pattern from fossil fuel to renewable energy such as solar and wind due to environmental pollution, global warming, and the inevitable depletion of crude oil and coal. However, wide applications of SCs and LIBs are still limited due to issues like thermal runway and derived hazards such as ageing or capacity degradation, fires and explosions. Even more so, thermal control issues only aggravate in large format devices. With the purpose …

Cases Of Contingent Stem Faculty Who Practice Critical Pedagogies With/In The Neoliberal University, Jeffrey Michael Kenney

All Dissertations

An increasingly neoliberal university means diminishing resources and labor security for those located in the lowest echelon, particularly those engaged in critical/radical/activist projects. The purpose of this study was to generate knowledge in an effort to sustain and advance critical pedagogical practices in college teaching. This study focused principally on the knowledge and insights of contingent STEM faculty who practice critical pedagogies in the neoliberal conditions of public universities. Utilizing critical and pragmatic perspectives, I explored both the ingenuity and practicality of the participants’ praxis as well as examined the structural machinations of neoliberal capitalism within their teaching and learning …

Influence Of Bilberry-Derived Anthocyanidins On Key Regulators Of Colorectal Cancer Development., Ashley M. Mudd

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths within the United States. A variety of factors including exposure to environmental carcinogens, such as benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P), dysbiosis of the gut microbiome and hereditary influences, including APC mutations, have been shown to lead to an increased risk of developing colorectal cancer. Given the recent alarming rise in cases of colorectal cancer diagnosed in individuals under the age of 40, further insight into developing novel and effective prevention and treatment strategies are warranted. The family of plant pigments known as the anthocyanins has been identified with …

Kinetics Of Higher Lying Potassium States After Excitation Of The D2 Transition In The Presence Of Helium, Austin J. Wallerstein

Theses and Dissertations

A kinetic model for the performance of a potassium Diode Pumped Alkali Laser (DPAL), including the role of higher lying states is developed to assess the impact on device efficiency and performance. A rate package for a nine level kinetic model including recommended rate parameters is solved under steady-state conditions. Energy pooling and far wing absorption populates higher lying states, with single photon and Penning ionization leading to modest potassium (K) dimer ion concentrations. The fraction of the population removed from the basic three levels associated with the standard model is less than 10% for all reasonable laser conditions, including …

Dynamics Of Prochlorococcus Diversity And Photoacclimation During Short-Term Shifts In Water Column Stratification At Station Aloha, Anne W. Thompson, Ger Van Den Engh, Nathan A. Ahlgren, Kathleen Kouba, Samantha Ward, Samuel T. Wilson, David M. Karl

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus is the dominant phototroph in surface waters of the vast oligotrophic oceans, the foundation of marine food webs, and an important component of global biogeochemical cycles. The prominence of Prochlorococcus across the environmental gradients of the open ocean is attributed to its extensive genetic diversity and flexible chlorophyll physiology, enabling light capture over a wide range of intensities. What remains unknown is the balance between temporal dynamics of genetic diversity and chlorophyll physiology in the ability of Prochlorococcus to respond to a variety of short (approximately 1 day) and longer (months to year) changes in the environment. …

Margaret White Springs Recharge Study, Buffalo National River, North-Central Arkansas, Usa, Ashlon Elizabeth Leonard

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Margaret White Springs (MWS) is one of the largest springs in the middle section of the Buffalo National River (BNR) and contributes several tens of cubic feet per second of flow to river discharge on average, yet the source of the water has not been fully studied or documented. The spring is located approximately 4 miles downstream from Robertson Hole, a losing reach of the river. At Robertson Hole the river loses a significant amount of flow to groundwater, which during the dry season (summer) can be as much as 100%. Flow in the main channel is re-established at MWS; …

Addressing Ash: Rituals Of Translation And Grief In Anne Carson’S Nox, Peper Langhout '18

Student Research

This project investigates the activities of translation and mourning as ritual acts in Anne Carson’s Nox, a multimedia poem including a translation and reception of Catullus’s poem 101. Carson, as a literary critic and poet, as well as a classicist and translator, uses multimodal strategies of addressing the tensions between social rituals of mourning and intimate grief by making translation an allegory for the grieving process. Through Nox, I inspect a number of interrelated tensions between emotional interior and expressed exterior as finely controlled in both form and content. By using a culturally embedded, referential elegiac form to put a …

Cultural Heritage Destruction In Middle Eastern Museums: Problems And Causes, Evan A. Wright

Museum Studies Theses

Destruction of cultural heritage sites and museums in the Middle East has become increasingly prevalent in the recent decades. This thesis aims to unravel the causes for these violent acts. It uses a socio-historical perspective of how culture, religion, and politics have polarized people and contributed to the ruination. Three museums are examined through a scope of progressive violence: The Kuwait National Museum, The National Museum of Iraq and the National Museum of Afghanistan. This thesis shows that both secular and religious factors have contributed to this destruction, and faults by international governing agencies and of investment of mitigation strategies …

Portraits With A Posthumous Voice: Reinforcing And Contesting Social Norms In The Heterotopic Museum And Cemetery, Matthew J. Crissey

Museum Studies Theses

Abstract

The following paper qualitatively analyzes and documents over 500 memorial-photographs/etched portraits on tombstones in ten Western New York cemeteries. This paper covers fourteen topics, ranging from religion to gang-violence. A juxtaposition of portraits exhibited within the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery with memorial-portraits on tombstones revealed heterotopic environments creating a public forum enabling the reinforcing or contestation of social ideologies. In other words, the author observed the similarities of identities and social norms publicly expressed on tombstones and gallery portraits.

A Social Constructionist approach enabled the study to examine how one social phenomenon contributes to the shaping of a culture. …

Analysis Of The Police Response To Mass Shootings In The United States Between 1966 And 2016, Keily Linger

Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, and Cybersecurity

This study examines 186 mass shooting events for the protocol police followed upon arrival atthe scene. In 124 of these cases, the police arrived on scene after the shooter had stoppedshooting, either because the shooter committed suicide, fled the scene or was detained by peoplein the area who were not currently police officers. Of the 186, only 62 cases included policearriving on scene and following a response protocol, either engagement or perimeter. Thenumber of casualties varied for each incident and type of police response. These cases wereanalyzed to determine if one type of response protocol was more effective in decreasing …

Winter 2018

The Weldon Times

A student-run publication from the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University.

Editors in Chief: Emma Chapple, Joel Tichinoff

Editors: Sydeny Hull, Matt Gruchey

Graphic Design & Layout: Max Waterman

Photography: Luke MacGillivray

Tracking Colorado Legislation, Robert Linz

Other Faculty Publications

When the 72nd General Assembly commences in January 2019, many researchers will want to follow the developing legislation. In the Second Regular session of the 71st General Assembly, the House considered 441 bills and the Senate considered 280 bills on a wide range of subjects, both controversial and mundane.1 Researchers need a way to sift through this large amount of legislation so they can track legislation pertinent to them through the legislative process. h e General Assembly’s website offers one approach. So too do commercial services, which of er not only access to the status of legislation and documents created …

Rack1 Facilitates Efficient Translation Of Viral And Cellular Iress, Natasha Permaul

Anthropology

Ribosomes, the cellular machinery that translates mRNA sequences into protein sequences, are surprisingly heterogeneous molecules. More and more ribosomal proteins have been shown to facilitate translation of mRNA subsets. These mRNA subsets include mRNAs that can initiate translation using non-canonical pathways, for example using an internal ribosome entry site (IRES). IRESs are RNA structures that facilitate translation with fewer translation initiation factors than are required for canonical cap-dependent translation initiation. The ribosomal protein Receptor for Activated C Kinase 1 (RACK1) has been previously shown to be required for translation of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) IRES, but not required for …

Employee Soft Skills And Organizational Culture: An Exploratory Case Study, Eliyahu Lotzar

Education Doctoral

Students seek higher education to obtain better employment. While employers value soft skills at least as much as academic knowledge, the soft skills literature is without consensus as to which of the many soft skills or employability skills employers value most, making it challenging for colleges to provide effective soft skills education. To organize employers’ many different soft skill preferences, this study explores organizational culture as a conceptual framework. Specifically, the case study explores values and characteristics common to one organization’s culture, to the soft skills that its executives and managers prefer their employees to possess, to employee beliefs regarding …