Digital Commons Network^™

Stream Salamander And Benthic Macroinvertebrate Community Responses To Imidacloprid Exposure, Sara M. Crayton

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The insecticide imidacloprid is widely used to mitigate hemlock (Tsuga spp.) mortality resulting from the invasive hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA), but evidence suggests that

imidacloprid can have negative effects on adjacent stream systems. Imidacloprid exposure causes physiological changes, bioaccumulation, and reduced survival in anurans, and induces physiological impairment and reduced survival in benthic macroinvertebrates. In this thesis, we assessed whether HWA treatments using imidacloprid affect stream salamander abundances and benthic macroinvertebrate community composition. We also investigated whether imidacloprid or its metabolites bioaccumulate in benthic macroinvertebrates or salamanders and cause sublethal effects. We conducted this study in two National Park …

Soil Health Assessment In Reclaimed Mine Soils, Katie Danielle Stutler

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

West Virginia is one of the top coal-producing states in the nation, which has resulted in over 500,000 acres of highly disturbed, anthropogenic mine soils caused by surface mining. Mine soils are often rocky and contain low organic matter content, low plant-available nutrients, and toxic metals, which could result in poor soil health and low productivity. Soil health has been defined as the continued capacity of soil to function as a living ecosystem that sustains plants, animals, and humans. It is assumed that with time since reclamation, mine soil properties and related functions may change, and soil health will improve …

Computational Design Of Staged Pressurized Oxy-Coal Combustion, Gideon Ozioma Udochukwu

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Staged pressurized oxy-coal combustion (SPOC) is nowadays a promising technology to be used for low-cost, low-emission, high-efficiency power generation. The objective of this thesis is to compliment the experiments ongoing at the Washington University, St. Louis (WUSTL) by means of numerical simulations, thereby providing better understanding of the fluid flow, turbulence, combustion characteristics, particle dynamics and heat transfer. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is injected alongside the coal, for its carriage. A small amount of methane (CH4) is also injected alongside the coal to maintain a steady flame. The simulations are performed for a 3D geometry with the following energy source distribution: …

Modeling Movement Of Criminals Through Burglary Scenes, Veronica L. Herrmann

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Physical evidence plays a large role in the criminal justice system and in crime scene reconstruction. The purpose of evidence is to assist in connecting a person or persons to an incidence, which helps crime scene investigators in reconstructing the events that occurred at the crime scene. This concept is mainly based off Locard's Exchange Principle, which states that there is always an association between an offender and evidence. However, without patent evidence to lead the investigators to a possible route at the scene, determining the movements taken during the commission at a scene is needed.

Engineers have used simulations …

Identification Of Burnt Smokeless Gunpowders Through Physical Characteristics, Cameron Taylor Hartwig

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Firearms are one of the most commonly used weapons by violent criminals throughout the United States. In crimes involving the discharge of a firearm, residues from the combustion products are deposited on the shooter and in the firing direction. Some of the residues left behind are unburnt and partially burnt particles of the propellant. The most common propellant used in modern firearms is smokeless powder. The identification of particles as smokeless powder and the determination of the brand of the powder are two ways a forensic examiner may be able to utilize smokeless powder evidence. The determination of the brand …

Implications Of Sampling Methods On Geospatial Mapping Of Methane Sources, Dakota Wesley Oliver

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Natural gas is deployed as an alternative fuel due to its cost and post-combustion emissions. However, methane, the main component of natural gas, is a greenhouse gas with a global warming potential (GWP) of at least 28 over 100 years. Currently, natural gas and petroleum systems are the highest emitters of methane to the atmosphere. Using conventional methods, the detection of natural gas leaks is time consuming. Currently, natural gas production sites deploy the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Method 21 or optical gas imaging (OGI) for methane leak detection. Both methods require access to the natural gas site along with …

Automatic Detection Of Insecure Codes In Stack Overflow, Shifu Hou

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

As the popularity of modern social coding paradigm such as Stack Overflow grows, its potential security risks increase as well (e.g., insecure codes could be easily embedded and distributed). To address this largely overlooked issue, we bring a new insight to exploit social coding properties in addition to code content for automatic detection of insecure code snippets in Stack Overflow. To determine if the given code snippets are insecure, we not only analyze the code content, but also utilize various kinds of relations among users, badges, questions, answers, code snippets and keywords in Stack Overflow. To model the rich semantic …

Endrew F. V. Douglas County School District: The Supreme Court’S Elusive Attempt To Close The Gap Between Some Educational Benefit And Meaningful Educational Benefit, Alyssa Iuliano

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Computational Search For Uv Radiation Resistance Strategies In Deinococcus Swuensis Isolated From Paramo Ecosystems, Jorge Díaz-Riaño, Leonardo Posada, Iván Camilo Acosta, Carlos Ruíz-Pérez, Catalina García-Castillo, Alejandro Reyes, María Mercedes Zambrano

Open Access Publications

Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is widely known as deleterious for many organisms since it can cause damage to biomolecules either directly or indirectly via the formation of reactive oxygen species. The goal of this study was to analyze the capacity of high-mountain Espeletia hartwegiana plant phyllosphere microorganisms to survive UVR and to identify genes related to resistance strategies. A strain of Deinococcus swuensis showed a high survival rate of up to 60% after UVR treatment at 800J/m2 and was used for differential expression analysis using RNA-seq after exposing cells to 400J/m2 of UVR (with >95% survival rate). Differentially expressed genes were …

Deficiency Of Dietary Fiber In Slc5a8-Null Mice Promotes Bacterial Dysbiosis And Alters Colonic Epithelial Transcriptome Towards Proinflammatory Milieu, Sathish Sivaprakasam, Pramodh K. Ganapathy, Mohd Omar Faruk Sikder, Moamen Elmassry, Sabarish Ramachandran, Kameswara Rao Kottapalli, Vadivel Ganapathy

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Neuroinflammation And Myelin Status In Alzheimer’S Disease, Parkinson’S Disease, And Normal Aging Brains: A Small Sample Study, Fei Han, Richard J. Perrin, Qing Wang, Yong Wang, Joel S. Perlmutter, John C. Morris, Tammie L. S. Benzinger, Jinbin Xu

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Coronary Artery Disease Risk And Lipidomic Profiles Are Similar In Hyperlipidemias With Family History And Population-Ascertained Hyperlipidemias, Nathan O. Stitziel, Et Al

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Metabolomic Networks Connect Host-Microbiome Processes To Human Clostridioides Difficile Infections, John I. Robinson, William H. Weir, Jan R. Crowley, Tiffany Hink, Kimberly A. Reske, Jennie H. Kwon, Carey-Ann D. Burnham, Erik R. Dubberke, Peter J. Mucha, Jeffrey P. Henderson

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

High-Density Functional Diffuse Optical Tomography Based On Frequency-Domain Measurements Improves Image Quality And Spatial Resolution, Matthaios Doulgerakis, Adam T. Eggebrecht, Hamid Dehghani

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

The Natural Cytotoxicity Receptors In Health And Disease, Alexander David Barrow, Claudia Jane Martin, Marco Colonna

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

A Clinical Trial Using Methylation Age To Evaluate Current Antiaging Practices, Josh Mitteldorf

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Cdk1 And Cdk2 Regulate Nicd1 Turnover And The Periodicity Of The Segmentation Clock, Francesca Anna Carrieri, Philip J. Murray, Dimitrinka Ditsova, Margaret Ashley Ferris, Paul Davies, Jacqueline Kim Dale

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

How Effective Are Noninvasive Tests For Diagnosing Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumors In Patients With Neurofibromatosis Type 1? Diagnosing Mpnst In Nf1 Patients, Maria Schwabe, Stanislav Spiridonov, Elizabeth L. Yanik, Jack W. Jennings, Travis Hillen, Maria Ponisio, Douglas J. Mcdonald, Farrokh Dehdashti, Cara A. Cipriano

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Investigation Of Heat Exchanger Effectiveness Using A Surface Coating Technology, Allen Duffy

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Diesel engine manufacturers continue to improve engine performance through increased thermal efficiency and reduced regulated emissions. The aftercooler located between the turbocharger air outlet and intake manifold experiences a wide range of operating conditions. Improving the heat transfer characteristics in the aftercooler can lead towards improved engine performance through increased charge air density. A surface coating has been proposed to enhance the heat transfer characteristics for a marine-based application on the water - side of the heat exchanger. To evaluate the efficacy of the coating, the rate of heat transfer with and without the coating was quantified in a controlled …

Beneath The Gypsum Dunes: Cenozoic History Of Wind And Water From A Core Drilled At White Sands, New Mexico, Jackson Bentley Jakeway

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

White Sands, New Mexico is the largest gypsum dune field on planet Earth, the result of reworking of gypsum deposits. The dunes have been well studied, but the Cenozoic history preceding the formation of the dune field has been poorly studied. A core drilled to a depth of 192 ft (58.5 m) beneath the modern dune field contains deposits from saline lakes, sandflats, perennial freshwater lakes, perennial brackish to saline lakes, and saline mudflats.

The core is composed of bottom-growth bedded gypsum, gypsum sandstone and siltstone, mixed siliciclastic-gypsum sandstones and siltstones, laminated siliciclastic mudstones, gypsum mudstones, and carbonate mudstones. Bottom-growth …

How Can Cities Respond To Flood Disaster Risks Under Multi-Scenario Simulation? A Case Study Of Xiamen, China, Yijun Shi, Guofang Zhai, Shutian Zhou, Yuwen Lu, Wei Chen, Jinyang Deng

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Flood disasters often have serious impacts on cities. Disaster prevention and mitigation schemes for flood disasters must be based on risk assessment. We constructed an indicator system for flood disaster risk assessment from the aspects of hazard factors, sensitivity to the environment, disaster vulnerability, flood disaster prevention, and resilience. Then we add the precipitation factor as a scenario parameter to the assessment of flood disasters, in order to assess the flood disaster risk under annual average precipitation scenarios, multi-year flood season average precipitation scenarios, and large typhoon precipitation scenarios. Xiamen is one of the cities with more serious flood disasters. …

Teacher Shortage As A Local Phenomenon: District Leader Sensemaking, Responses, And Implications For Policy, Erin Mchenry-Sorber, Matthew P. Campbell

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

While the teacher shortage is a national crisis, the manifestations of the shortage are felt most acutely at the local district level. The diversity of these micro-contexts often leads to disparities in the ways local school systems are served by large-scale initiatives. District leaders provide an important lens for understanding the localized manifestation of teacher shortages. This research contributes to the existing macro-level literature on teacher shortages through investigation of the ways in which district leaders in West Virginia make sense of and respond to the teacher shortage. As part of a broader study, we share analyses of interviews with …

Minimalistic Supramolecular Proteoglycan Mimics By Co-Assembly Of Aromatic Peptide And Carbohydrate Amphiphiles, Alexandra Brito, Yousef M. Abul-Haija, Diana Soares De Costa, Ramon Novoa-Carballal, Rui L. Reis, Rein V. Ulijn, Ricardo A. Pires, Iva Pashkuleva

Advanced Science Research Center

We report the co-assembly of aromatic carbohydrate and dipeptide amphiphiles under physiological conditions as a strategy to generate minimalistic proteoglycan mimics. The resulting nanofibers present a structural, fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl-diphenylalanine (Fmoc-FF) core and a functional carbohydrate (Fmoc-glucosamine-6-sulfate or -phosphate) shell. The size, degree of bundling and mechanical properties of the assembled structures depend on the chemical nature of the carbohydrate amphiphile used. In cell culture medium, these nanofibers can further organize into supramolecular hydrogels. We demonstrate that, similar to proteoglycans, the assembled gels prolong the stability of growth factors and preserve the viability of cultured cells. Our results demonstrate that this approach …

Definitions And Meaning For Future Teachers In Spatial Measurement: Length, Area, And Volume, Eryn M. Stehr Maher, Jia He

Proceedings of the Interdisciplinary STEM Teaching & Learning Conference (Archived)

U.S. students have consistently demonstrated poor performance in spatial reasoning in standardized testing (e.g., National Assessment of Educational Progress). One possible reason is students' lack of conceptual understanding of measurement concepts (length, area, volume, capacity). This paper describes different ways that mathematics textbooks written for future elementary teachers define meanings of measurement concepts, especially the meaning of measure, area, and the measurement process (generally and for area). We base the analysis of definitions and construction of complete definitions using several definitions of each concept from mathematics textbooks written for future elementary teachers (e.g., Beckmann, 2012; Sowder, Sowder, & Nickerson, 2010). …

Reading Perceptions Of Hispanic English Language Learner Families In New York City, Ligoria Berkeley-Cummins

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Historically, Hispanic English language learners (ELLs) in the United States have had low reading achievement and low high school graduation and college entry rates, which has limited their employment opportunities. Although research indicates parental involvement is important to reading success, little is known about Hispanic ELL parents' perspectives on their children's reading development. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to understand how parental involvement in 3rd grade Hispanic ELLs' reading development, as perceived by their families, may contribute to these students' reading proficiency. The framework for this study was Hedegaard's model of children's learning and development. The participants …

Internet Of Things In Smart Agriculture: Enabling Technologies, Abdul Salam, Syed Shah

Computer Information Technology Faculty Publications

In this paper, an IoT technology research and innovation roadmap for the field of precision agriculture (PA) is presented. Many recent practical trends and the challenges have been highlighted. Some important objectives for integrated technology research and education in precision agriculture are described. Effective IoT based communications and sensing approaches to mitigate challenges in the area of precision agriculture are presented.

Effects Of The Sex Of The Perpetrator On Victims’ Subsequent Sexual Behaviors And Adulthood Sexual Orientations, Sandra S. Stroebel, Stephen L. O'Keefe, Karen Griffee, Karen V. Harper-Dorton, Keith W. Beard, Debra H. Young, Sam Swindell, Walter E. Stroupe, Kerri Steele, Megan Lawhon, Shih-Ya Kuo

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Data from 2,828 female and 1,556 male adult participants from a general population convenience sample were used to measure the effect of the sex of the perpetrator on the adult sexual orientation of the victims of child sexual abuse (CSA) by adult male or female perpetrators and early incest with parents or early incest with siblings. Sexual behaviors with female perpetrators tended to promote an orientation toward sex with females and analogous behaviors with male perpetrators tended to promote an orientation toward sex with males in victims of both sexes. Many forms of incest or CSA increased the likelihood the …

Construction Of Trisubstituted Chromone Skeletons Carrying Electron-Withdrawing Groups Via Phio-Mediated Dehydrogenation And Its Application To The Synthesis Of Frutinone A, Qiao Li, Chen Zhuang, Donghua Wang, Wei Zhang, Rongxuan Jia, Fengxia Sun, Yilin Zhang, Yunfei Du

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Abstract

The construction of the biologically interesting chromone skeleton was realized by PhIO-mediated dehydrogenation of chromanones under mild conditions. Interestingly, this method also found application in the synthesis of the naturally occurring frutinone A.

Submarine Groundwater Discharge Data At Meter Scale (223ra, 224ra, 226ra, 228ra And 222rn) In Indian River Bay (Delaware, Us), Carlos Duque, Karen L. Knee, Christopher J. Russoniello, Mahmound Sherif, Usama A. Abu Risha, Neil C. Sturchio, Holly A. Michael

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Abstract

Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) was sampled at high-spatial resolution in Indian River Bay, DE, USA, in July 2016 to characterize the spatial variability of the activity of the radium and radon isotopes commonly used to estimate SGD. These data were part of an investigation into the methods and challenges of characterizing SGD rates and variability, especially in the coastal aquifer transition from freshwater to saltwater (Hydrogeological processes and near shore spatial variability of radium and radon isotopes for the characterization of submarine groundwater discharge (Duque et al., 2019)). Samples were collected with seepage meters and minipiezometers to obtain sufficient …

Geochronology And Depositional History Of The Sandy Springs Aeolian Landscape In The Unglaciated Upper Ohio River Valley, United States, Mathew P. Purtill, J. Steven Kite, Steven L. Forman

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The study of active and stabilized late Quaternary aeolian landforms provides important proxies for past climate events and environmental transitions. Despite an overall increase in the study of aeolian landforms in previously glaciated and coastal settings in eastern North America, the history of aeolian sedimentation in many unglaciated inland alluvial settings remain poorly understood. This study reports on the geochronology and depositional history of aeolian landforms and sediments in the unglaciated upper Ohio Valley at the Sandy Springs site. Aeolian landforms and sediments include complex, linear, barchan-like, and climbing dunes; an interdune sand sheet; and sandy loess that blankets high …