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Parallelized Implementation Of A Genetic Algorithm On A Field Programmable Gate Array (Fpga) To Provide Heuristic Solutions For The Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (Cvrp), Maximilian Jakob Heer

Open Access Master's Theses

This thesis reports on the implementation of a Genetic Algorithm for finding heuristic solutions to the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP) on High-Performance Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). The heuristic approach to the class of NP-hard problems related to the Travelling-Salesman-Problem (TSP) has a long tradition in computer science, with this thesis being directly based on an implementation of a specialized Genetic Algorithm for a Graphic Processing Unit (GPU). In my work, I describe how the algorithmic structure can be directly transformed into an adapted computing architecture with special focus on the highest possible degree of parallelism. For that, the …

Expert Elicitation Regarding Effectiveness Of Recent North Atlantic Right Whale Protection Agreement, Jessica Marie Hiltz

Open Access Master's Theses

With the rise of offshore wind energy in the United States, there has been increasing concern about how offshore wind turbine installation and operation is affecting benthic and pelagic marine life (Bailey et al. 2010). Increased, localized ocean noise resulting from project-related activities, such as vessel traffic, surveying, and turbine installation, has the potential to disturb or injure nearby marine life. Increased vessel traffic heightens the probability of a vessel strike occurring, and noise produced during the turbine installation phase, in which pile-driving is used to hammer and secure turbines to the seafloor, is significantly loud and widespread. This noise …

Modeling Rhode Island Food Production Potential Under Different Production Scenarios, Nina Oberg

Open Access Master's Theses

Food sovereignty emphasizes the rights of people to have control over their food system. Relocalizing food production and limiting dependence on global industrial supply chains is necessary to increase food sovereignty in regions dominated by conventional food systems. In the US, the New England region aims to relocalize production by producing 50 percent of food consumed in the region by the year 2060. Rhode Island can contribute to this goal by expanding production and strengthening local food systems, thus serving as a model for New England and other urbanizing regions globally. For this study, a site suitability analysis was performed …

A Proteomic Approach To Understanding Regulatory Pathways In Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (Nafld), Teresa Sierra

Open Access Master's Theses

Background and Objectives:Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) encompasses the progressive hepatic pathologies from steatosis, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), fibrosis, and irreversible cirrhosis in populations with little to no alcohol consumption. The disease is prevalent in societies dominated by Western dietary patterns and is associated with obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, type-2 diabetes mellitus, and metabolic syndrome. The pathogenesis of NAFLD is multifaceted and not completely understood. A proteomic analysis of a human liver tissue repository (n = 106) was used to gain insight into dysregulated pathways and significantly altered protein expression in NAFLD without or with fibrosis as well as NAFLD and diabetes …

Anti-Microbial Peptide Database, Anusha Singamaneni

Open Access Master's Theses

The goal of this thesis is to re-design and re-implement a functioning and efficient database with uniformity, coherence and most importantly transparency which clearly explains the system needs, methods and procedures openly to the users. The main users of the database are researchers, biologists, biochemists and engineers. We also developed a tool called MIC (Minimum Inhibitory Concentration) for the users of the database by which, researchers can upload their lab data, perform the calculation for average peptides with timepoints and see results using graphical visualizations.In addition, we developed a user-friendly web interface to support transparency. We revisited the normalization of …

Parent-Child Attachment, Parenting Practices And Their Effects On Adolescent Social Competence: The Mediating Role Of Income Among Vulnerable Families, Margaret Stark

Open Access Master's Theses

Parent-child attachment has been found to be a powerful predictor of children's social competence later in life (Bowlby, 1989; Weinfield, 1997). Additionally, Swanson et al. (2011) found that negative parenting practices, too, are predictive of adolescent social competence. However, less is known about the impact of positive parenting practices on social competence outcomes. Several studies have identified the importance of social competence as it enables individuals to interact with others in various environments, and serves as a protective factor to engaging in risky behavior, such as substance use (Griffin et al., 2001; Romppanen et al., 2021). The current study examined …

Home Grown: An Experimental Analysis Of Home-Methods Of Mold Removal On Textile Substrates, Paige Bailey

Open Access Master's Theses

When seeking information on how to clean away mold from clothing and textiles, searching the internet can lead to an overwhelming amount of confusing and vague information. A lack of reputable references and consistent measurements across methodologies makes attempting to clean textiles, valuable or not, potentially damaging to the textile itself. As such, the objective of this experiment was to select a handful of these cleaning methods and test them with the expectation that the results will contribute to reliable information on what methods could possibly work for certain textiles. It is the hope that this information will be made …

The Home Literacy Environment's Effect On Language And Literacy Outcomes In Monolingual And Bilingual First And Second Grade Students, Sarah Carney

Open Access Master's Theses

The Home Literacy Environment (HLE) is well researched to support early literacy development in children (e.g., Niklas et al., 2020; Inoue et al., 2018). The majority of research has investigated how the HLE supports children’s preschool literacy development and skills upon entry to kindergarten; however, few research studies have addressed how the HLE contributes to vocabulary, phonological awareness, and reading scores in Spanish-English bilingual first and second grade students. Our present study aims to answer two questions; if Parental Occupation Education (POE) and the HLE affect performance on inside out (phonological awareness and decoding) and outside in (language and vocabulary) …

An Exploration Of Instagram As An Active Learning Tool For Gaining New Political Knowledge, Sarah Olearnick

Open Access Master's Theses

This paper seeks to explore the way that Instagram can be an active learning platform for the political landscape. By surveying URI students this study looks at the various ways that students use Instagram for politics, their attitudes towards the platform as a political source, and their general interest in politics. The survey showed that those who have a higher interest in politics use various sources. The survey also showed that those who have a positive perception of Instagram as a political source do not use various other sources. This study serves as an extremely valuable launching point for additional …

Rise Above: A Patient-Centered Web-Based Intervention For Reducing Internalized Stigma In People With Epilepsy, Sabah Ummie

Open Access Master's Theses

Telemedicine and e-health has grown significantly over the last few decades with the evolution of information and communication technology. The application and implementations of information technologies have given rise to the delivery of remote patient care and contactless online healthcare service, during the uncontrolled outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. Innovations in healthcare have proliferated during that period and enabled physicians to provide treatments for patients starting from primary care to cognitive disability.

Health related stigma, also known as internalized stigma, is a common cognitive illness in people with epilepsy (PWE), a neurological disorder that induces sudden unpredictable seizures within the human …

Characterizing Game-Play Styles In National Basketball Association, Zian Zheng

Open Access Master's Theses

Data analysis provides important insights to inform decision-making by discovering patterns and trends in datasets. With the increasing collection and availability of large datasets, data science has the potential to revolutionize decision-making in many fields. Basketball is one of the most popular sports in the world,and the application of data science in basketball has attracted a large amount of attention in recent years. Our research explores the dissimilarity and similarity of game-play characteristics through recent years within the National Basketball Association. We focused on the data analysis of basketball teams and player performance, analysis, and prediction of competition results. We …

The Structure, Constraints, And Suggestions Of The Indian Medical Textile Product Industry With A Focus On Fabric Manufacturers, Poonam Parab

Open Access Master's Theses

Medical textiles are specialty fabrics and products doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers use. These include bandages, surgical gowns, hospital sheets, artificial hearts, and hernia meshes. India has been a global textile manufacturing hub and has recently shifted its focus to medical textile/ textile products. However, there is no clear understanding of the basic structure of the Indian medical textile product industry related types of companies involved and their interactions with each other. The information about the industry needs to include categorization and depth, and there is no value chain-related information. A well-integrated value chain improves efficiency and effectiveness, which …

Satellite Investigation Of Drivers Of Phytoplankton Composition In A Continental Shelf Ecosystem, Somang Song

Open Access Master's Theses

Phytoplankton size classes (PSCs) play an important role in ecological and biogeochemical processes in marine ecosystems. Studying the dynamics of phytoplankton groups and the environment can inform how we manage marine resources, including fisheries, which are of critical importance in the Northeast U.S. continental shelf ecosystem. This study aims to shed light on phytoplankton community structure distribution and the environmental drivers of their variability in the Northeast U.S. continental shelf from a satellite remote sensing perspective, which has a captivating ability to view the global ocean and its dynamics on large spatial scales and long-term temporal scales. 23 years (1997 …

Design And System Identification Of A Low-Cost Usv For Coastal Observation, Roy Gilboa

Open Access Master's Theses

Monitoring areas near shore is often performed using unmanned surface vehicles but can be hampered by high cost and complexity. Existing vehicles can be expensive and difficult to operate. Recent development of consumer- and hobbyist-oriented marine hardware and control software have enabled the creation of vehicles that solve these problems. In this project, a low-cost, SUP-based USV was constructed and proved itself to be portable and capable of performing surveys at several sites in Rhode Island, with an approximate cost and vehicle mass of $3,500 and 20 kilograms respectively. It was also evaluated to determine its hydrodynamic properties and its …

The Neoliberal Game: An Critical Analysis Of Children's Non Competitive Grassroots Football, Grace Gallacher

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences Theses

This thesis explores the propensity for harms throughout children’s non-competitive football. Adopting ethnographic approaches this project follows a team of under 9’s non-competitive team in a SW FA league, it analyses their private social media page and conducted 18 semi-structured interviews with life-long players, parents, coaches and referees. It advances a critical criminology of sport by presenting an alternative framework to Elias and the Civilising process by using contemporary critical criminology, namely ultra-realism and deviant leisure. By using ultra-realism and deviant leisure this study examines the underlying systemic harm which comes from the neoliberal environment of sport, including children’s non-competitive …

A Strategy To Help Parents Realize And Fulfill Their Role As The Disciple-Makers Of Their Children In The New Eden French Church, Wilfrid Louis Jean

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

The New Eden French Seventh-day Adventist Church in Neptune, New Jersey, has been facing the challenge of any church situated in the metropolitan area. One of most significant responsibilities for any parent is to raise their children according to God's will. New Eden French Church has a large number of children (birth to age eighteen) growing up in the church. Pastoral observation suggests a lack of understanding on the part of parents regarding fulfilling their biblical role as disciple-makers of their children. I noticed a lack parental cleverness and resources indispensable to address their issues. This lack of success …

A Cross-Cultural And Cross-Ethnic Model Of Integrated Ministry To Second-Generation Immigrant Youth In The Seventh-Day Adventist Church In Dublin, Dan-Gheorghe Serb

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

Dublin, like most major cities in Western Europe, is a multicultural and multiethnic city. Most members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Dublin are first-generation immigrants who tend to import their native brand of Adventism into Dublin local churches. Moreover, outside the church worship experience, immigrant members are inclined to gravitate toward mono-ethnic and mono-cultural interactions. Their children are the New Irish and are thus better integrated into Irish culture and society. This situation seems to destabilize young people in the church, with many second-generation immigrant Generation Z youth showing disinterest in church life, and some of them leaving …

Peruvian Mammals Collected By The Andrews University. Department Of Biology : Expeditions & Patterns Of Diversity, Kieran M. Taylor

Master's Theses

The Department of Biology at Andrews University conducted three expeditions to Peru in 1964, 1965, and 1968. During the expeditions, thousands of specimens were collected of several taxa, including mammals. As far as we know, no complete summary of the expeditions and the mammals collected has been created. Knowledge of the expeditions and evaluation of the mammals collected compared to current literature could have conservation implications. My purpose was to recreate the story of the expeditions and use this contextual information to catalog and identify the number of mammal species collected and evaluate the mammal diversity collected according to current …

The Impact Of Sexual Abuse On Children, Alina M. Baltazar

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

When Cpr Is Needed, Robert E. Zdor

Faculty Publications

Column: Practical Pointers

Covid-19 Pandemic Impact On Psychotropic Prescribing For Adults With Intellectual Disability: An Observational Study In English Specialist Community Services, D Naqvi, B Perera, S Mitchell, R Sheehan, R Shankar

Peninsula Medical School

Background Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has had a disproportionate impact on people with intellectual disability (PwID). PwID are at higher risk of mental illness and receive psychotropic prescribing ‘off licence' also, to manage distress behaviour. The lockdown and reduction of multidisciplinary face-to-face appointments had an impact on care delivery, the recourse possibly being psychotropic prescribing. It is imperative to comprehend the influence the pandemic had on psychotropic prescribing patterns to enable future planning. Aims The aim was to understand the impact of the pandemic by comparing psychotropic prescribing patterns during the England lockdown with the prescribing patterns before lockdown in …

Hemocytes Are Essential For Drosophila Melanogaster Post-Embryonic Development, Independent Of Control Of The Microbiota, Holly N. Stephenson, Robert Streeck, Florian Grüblinger, Christian Goosmann, Alf Herzig

Peninsula Medical School

ABSTRACT Proven roles for hemocytes (blood cells) have expanded beyond the control of infections in Drosophila. Despite this, the crucial role of hemocytes in post-embryonic development has long thought to be limited to control of microorganisms during metamorphosis. This has previously been shown by rescue of adult development in hemocyte-ablation models under germ-free conditions. Here, we show that hemocytes have an essential role in post-embryonic development beyond their ability to control the microbiota. Using a newly generated strong hemocyte-specific driver line for the GAL4/UAS system, we show that specific ablation of hemocytes is early pupal lethal, even under axenic conditions. …

To Fly Or Not To Fly? Comparing Vantage Point And Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle Surveys For Assessments Of Seabird Abundance And Fine-Scale Distribution, Melissa M. Costagliola-Ray, Lilian Lieber, W. Alex M. Nimmo-Smith, Elizabeth A. Masden, Paul Caplat, Jared Wilson, Nina J. O'Hanlon

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Marine renewable energy developments (e.g. offshore wind, wave, and tidal) are an increasing feature within the marine environment. It is therefore important to understand the potential impacts of such developments on seabirds that use these environments. Land-based vantage point (VP) surveys are widely used to collect data for environmental impact assessments (EIAs) within tidal stream energy sites. However, tidal stream environments are highly dynamic and present challenges when conducting VP surveys, for example there can be varying detectability of seabirds due to near-surface turbulence. In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the use of uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) …

An Exploration Of The Contribution Of Embodied, Situated Research Strategies To Cultural Ecosystem Services And Landscape Assessment Frameworks: An Environmental Empathy Case Study, K Łucznik, Jv Serrano, J Martin

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Since the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment in 2005, interest has increased in cultural ecosystem services (CESs) research to understand the complexity of the non-material benefits that people obtain from ecosystems. The intangible and interactive characteris-tics of CESs present many challenges regarding how to approach, quantify and even de-fine CESs. In this paper, we suggest looking at CESs through the lens of embodied and situated cognition theories. We advocate that such an approach should be applied to the development stage of CES research projects, as the embodied and situated experience of the site aids the development of research questions and future interventions. …

Ocean Shelf Exchange, Nw European Shelf Seas: Measurements, Estimates And Comparisons, John Huthnance, Jo Hopkins, Bee Berx, Andy Dale, Jason Holt, Philip Hosegood, Mark Inall, Sam Jones, Benjamin R. Loveday, Peter I. Miller, Jeff Polton, Marie Porter, C Springys

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Transports across the continental shelf edge enhance shelf-sea production, remove atmospheric carbon and imply an active boundary to ocean circulation. We estimate relatively large overall transport across three contrasted sectors of north-west European shelf edge: the Celtic Sea south-west of Britain, the Malin-Hebrides shelf west of Scotland, the West Shetland shelf north of Scotland. The estimates derive from measurements in the project FASTNEt (Fluxes across sloping topography of the North East Atlantic): drifters, moored current meters, effective “diffusivity” from drifter dispersion and salinity surveys, other estimates of velocity variance contributing to exchange. Process contributions include transport by along-slope flow, internal …

Highest Densities Of Mountain Hares ( Lepus Timidus ) Associated With Ecologically Restored Bog But Not Grouse Moorland Management, Carlos P.E. Bedson, Philip M. Wheeler, Neil Reid, Wilson Edwin Harris, David Mallon, Simon Caporn, Richard Preziosi

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Owner And Domestic Cat (Felis Catus) Demographics On Cat Personality Traits, Laura E. Leech, Richard Preziosi, Rosica Stoycheva, Giovanni Quintavalle Pastorino

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

No abstract provided.

Identifying Conservation Priorities For Gorgonian Forests In Italian Coastal Waters With Multiple Methods Including Citizen Science And Social Media Content Analysis, Arianna Liconti, Simon J. Pittman, Sian E. Rees, Nova Mieszkowska

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

No abstract provided.

Ecological Correlates Of Extinction Risk And Persistence Of Direct-Developing Stream-Dwelling Frogs In Mesoamerica, Hector Zumbado-Ulate, Kelsey Neam, Adrián García-Rodríguez, Leticia Ochoa-Ochoa, Gerardo Chaves, Jonathan E. Kolby, Sofía Granados-Martínez, Andreas Hertz, Federico Bolaños, Daniel Ariano-Sánchez, Robert Puschendorf, Catherine L. Searle

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

No abstract provided.

Fully Probabilistic Reliability And Resilience Analysis Of Coastal Structures Based On Damage Evolution Simulation, D Malliouri, N Martzikos, V Tsoukala

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

An integrated methodology is presented to ensure coastal structures’ resilience to extreme wave conditions i.e. their ability to withstand further wave actions without reaching their ultimate limit state. Specifically, a fully probabilistic reliability analysis of a rubble mound breakwater is performed here, in combination with a prediction analysis of the expected time of the structure’s maintenance. The methodology combines information on the joint probability density function of significant wave height, spectral peak wave period, and storms’ duration and calculates the probability of occurrence of different levels of damage in the structure’s lifetime via the use of a fully probabilistic reliability …