Digital Commons Network^™

Monotonic Constant Normal Stiffness Tests For Improving The Skin Friction Resistance Prediction Of Drilled Piles In Sand, Amir Babaee

Open Access Dissertations

This body of work consists of three manuscripts. The first manuscript focuses on the evaluation of constant normal stiffness tests on sand using a newly developed active control system. The second manuscript is related to prediction of axial capacity of drilled and grouted micropiles for offshore foundations. The third manuscript corresponds to evaluation of quality control measures for cyclic resistance of sand using cyclic direct simple shear equipment.

Small diameter drilled piles (micropiles) are being considered for use as an economical foundation for floating offshore wind structures. On land, micropiles are typically load tested to confirm design capacity; this is …

Machine Learning For Optimized Ocean Exploration Data Analysis, Puja Banerjee

Open Access Dissertations

The deep sea remains one of the most crucial frontiers in Earth sciences, with vast unknowns regarding its biodiversity, ecosystem dynamics, and geological features and processes, and impact and interaction with humans. Ocean exploration seeks to address this gap by focusing data collection in some of the least known places on the planet in order to significantly expand our knowledge of marine ecosystems, geological formations, and oceanographic processes. Ocean exploration datasets provide crucial insights into a wide range of scientific domains including: deep sea biodiversity, seafloor morphology, and deep-sea soundscapes. The advent of autonomous and remotely operated underwater vehicles (AUVs …

Development And Deployment Of In Situ Fiber Optic Distributed Temperature Sensing Systems And Data Processing Workflows For Oceanographic Observatories In Coastal And Deep-Sea Environments, Johann Sebastian Becker

Open Access Dissertations

Over the last two decades, fiber optic distributed temperature sensing (DTS) has emerged as a transformative technology capable of providing unprecedented spatiotemporal resolution observations of temperature in a broad range of environmental sensing, industrial, and civil engineering monitoring applications. DTS uses a single interrogator unit to measure temperature continuously along an optical fiber, effectively turning the fiber into the equivalent of an array of temperature probes that can be interrogated synoptically. Modern commercially-available DTS systems are capable of continuous sensing with sampling frequencies up 5 sec, spatial resolution of 0.25 m, and temperature precision up to 0.01 °C) observations, on …

More Than Just Food And Money: An Exploration Of College Students’ Challenges With Food Access And Insecurity, Orianna Duncan Carvalho

Open Access Dissertations

There has long been a popular prototypical image of the starving college student surviving on cheap ramen noodle meals, but research suggests there is more to this than meets the eye. Food insecurity, the condition in which individuals are unable to secure enough food to support a healthy lifestyle, has been investigated and reported with increasing frequency on college campuses, including the university at which the present study is conducted. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to delve further into college student food insecurity to gain a better understanding of how students experience and perceive it. To achieve …

Investigating Mono-Driver Versus Multi-Driver Oncogenesis Via Alterations To Cell Signaling Pathways, Abygail Chapdelaine

Open Access Dissertations

The latest edition of Global Cancer Statistics released by the American Cancer Society reported approximately 20 million newly diagnosed cancer cases worldwide in 2022 with 9.7 million deaths. This ranks cancer as the second leading cause of death worldwide. For the majority of cancer patients, the standard treatment approach is chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy, and while this has been successful in some patients, a lack of specificity to cancer cells causes severe side-effects when these agents damage healthy cells. Despite extensive efforts that have gone into developing targeted cancer therapeutics that block functions specific to cancer, they have not been …

The Effect Of Maternal Diet On Developmental Programming: A Cross Species Analysis, Lindsey Eileen Eaton

Open Access Dissertations

Maternal nutrition plays an important role in shaping offspring health through developmental programming, with lasting implications on metabolic function and disease susceptibility. This dissertation explores the molecular and physical consequences of maternal nutrition, particularly its effects on pancreatic development and function in offspring. Chapter one provides a comprehensive review of the literature, detailing the mechanisms of fetal development, epigenetic regulation, and metabolic programming. It highlights the thrifty phenotype hypothesis, the role of DNA methylation and histone modifications, and the impact of maternal nutrition, emphasizing how nutrient availability during pregnancy influences fetal organogenesis and long term metabolic health.

Chapter two examines …

Numerical Modeling Study Of Coastal Impacts From Extreme Storms And Sea Level Rise In Southern New England, Deborah Crowley

Open Access Dissertations

Coastal areas in southern New England are vulnerable to a range of impacts from extreme storms and sea level rise. The most frequent extreme storms are extratropical storms, commonly referred to as nor’easters, named for the direction of the strongest winds, though these storms also have strong winds from other directions.

Storm winds generate large waves and push water up along the coast in the form of storm surge. The combined impacts of increased water levels and waves include flooding and morphological change. Sea level rise (SLR) will exacerbate these processes, amplifying the associated impacts, which may pose increasing threats …

Dynamics Of Metal-Coordinated Coumarin Dyes For Photoswitching Applications, Danielle Jacoby

Open Access Dissertations

Optical transient absorption spectroscopy is a fundamental pump-probe technique that is used to analyze the photophysical and photochemical properties of molecules. Our research group specifically utilizes both a femtosecond and nanosecond set up to probe dynamics of molecules on time scales ranging from 100s of femtoseconds to approximately 50 microseconds. Chapter 2 is a standard operating procedure for the nanosecond transient absorption instrument.

Photoacids are molecules that undergo a change in the acidity of one of their protons when exposed to light. Utilizing this phenomenon, we have designed a series of dyes that, when bound to divalent first row transition …

“Swap What No Longer Serves”: An Exploration Of Zero Waste Fashion Communities Online And Irl, Rosemary Leger

Open Access Dissertations

As sustainability concerns grow within the fashion industry, consumer-based communities play a critical role in shaping more responsible consumption practices. This dissertation explores how individuals engage with zero-waste fashion both online and in physical practice, offering a deeper understanding of their motivations, behaviors, and visions for a more sustainable fashion future.

Through a two-study approach, this research investigates the communication and knowledge-sharing practices within digital zero-waste fashion communities and explores the experiences of individuals participating in offline zero-waste initiatives. Study 1 employs netnography to analyze online zero-waste fashion discourse, identifying how consumers exchange knowledge and promote sustainable practices in digital …

Electro-Vascular Dynamics During Auditory Processing: Variation Along The Schizotypy Continuum, John P. Mclinden

Open Access Dissertations

Electroencephalography (EEG) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) are complementary noninvasive neuroimaging modalities that have contributed greatly to our understanding of the mechanisms of auditory processing. As an emerging technology, fNIRS has produced promising insights into the mechanisms of auditory processing, although considerable work remains to characterize hemodynamic responses in auditory tasks. In addition, the complementary nature of EEG and fNIRS and the relationships between the signals they record have been underexplored. In particular, nonlinear interactions between these signals remain under-characterized, despite the potential benefit to future multimodal neuroimaging studies. A challenge in understanding these interactions is the influence of systemic …

Democratizing Deep-Sea Technology Development Using Rapid Prototyping Techniques, Breanna Motsenbocker

Open Access Dissertations

Deep-sea research and exploration have consistently been inaccessible to a broader oceanographic community due to the lack of affordable technology and resources that are required for this type of work. Traditionally, to investigate the deep sea, large research vessels are required to operate the expensive and massive equipment that can withstand the intense pressure and harsh environment beyond 200 meters of water. Not only does this lessen the capacity for exploring the deep sea but it also introduces an extreme inequity for who can participate and lead these efforts. With a growing demand for the global Blue Economy and a …

Light, Symbiosis, And The Biology Of Corals, Taylor R. Lindsay

Open Access Dissertations

Light is critical for the survival of most shallow water scleractinian corals. Corals are mixotrophs, acquiring energy via both feeding on water column plankton and photosynthesis via a symbiotic relationship with dinoflagellates living within their tissues. Corals rely heavily on photosynthetically derived metabolites through this symbiotic relationship, intrinsically linking their biology to light availability. Corals are known to modulate their biology to maximize light capture. However, there is a limited understanding of the interaction between morphology, physiology, and energetic strategy, as well as how light may affect these relationships. In Chapter 1, we quantified the morphology, physiology and energetic …

Development Of A Scituate Reservoir Mitigation Model For Assessing Flood Control During Extreme Scenarios, Supria Paul

Open Access Dissertations

Effective reservoir management is essential for mitigating downstream flooding, especially with the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events impacting major drinking water reservoirs such as the Scituate Reservoir in Rhode Island. These reservoirs provide water for large populations but can be overwhelmed by intense precipitation, flooding and land cover changes. Climate change is expected to increase precipitation in the study area located in New England, highlighting the need for improved reservoir systems, especially given the aging dams and higher risk of failures. Additionally, land cover changes, like the widespread defoliation caused by the Gypsy Moth infestations, affect water …

Development And Characterization Of Polysaccharide-Based Controlled Drug Delivery Platforms, Amanda Pepler

Open Access Dissertations

Drug delivery research focuses on overcoming challenges in patient treatment. Most therapeutics are delivered systemically through oral or intravenous routes. However, these administration methods are often inefficient due to therapeutic hydrophobicity, poor bioavailability, and liver metabolic clearance, necessitating frequent dosing. When treatment plans require frequent dosing, patients experience significant fluctuations in therapeutic concentration in the bloodstream, which can increase adverse side effects. These factors contribute to low patient compliance. Therefore, the core focus of drug delivery research is to develop new administration routes for therapeutics. Drug delivery systems (DDS) that can target therapeutics to a localized region offer advantages over …

Impacts Of Multiple Coastal Stressors Across Life-History Stages In The Eastern Oyster, Amaelia Zyck

Open Access Dissertations

Urbanized estuaries are characterized as a complex of biotic and abiotic stressors, which currently challenge marine life and are expected to intensify and become increasingly unpredictable under the ongoing impacts of climate change. The persistence of coastal species that inhabit these stressful environments will ultimately depend on their ability to adapt. Many of these species have complex life cycles, featuring distinct morphological and physiological developmental stages that can exhibit unique responses to environmental pressures. However, since all stages share the same genome, selective pressures acting on one stage can have cascading effects throughout the life cycle. The larval stage, being …

A Qualitative Case Study Exploring The Implementation And Influence Of An Inter/Intragenerational Digital Equity Training Program, Josie Santilli

Open Access Dissertations

Background: Many older adults are unable to fully engage in society because of the digital divide, leaving them disconnected from essential services, social networks, and community engagement. This lack of access to technology leads to greater isolation and loneliness, significantly increasing their risk of physical and mental health issues. It also threatens their ability to age in place, as they struggle to navigate everyday tasks like managing healthcare, finances, and communication. Without digital literacy, maintaining independence becomes an increasingly difficult challenge, leaving them vulnerable and reliant on others for support. The purpose of the research completed in manuscript 1 …

Novel Methodology And Proof-Of-Concept For Proton Ct Using Spot Profile Rather Than Bragg Peak Location, Brett Albert Ruben

Open Access Dissertations

Proton radiation therapy offers a highly precise method for cancer treatment, theoretically providing superior dose deposition characteristics compared to conventional X-ray radiation therapy. Its steep and finite dose fall-off region allows for superior tumor coverage while reducing, though not eliminating, dose to surrounding healthy tissue. However, its full potential is limited by range uncertainties, particularly those arising from the reliance on X-ray-based imaging methods called computed tomography (CT) for proton-based treatment. CT image Hounsfield Units (HU) must be converted to stopping power ratios (SPR) as these ratios are the clinically relevant value for accurately planning particle interactions during proton therapy. …

The Effects Of Ph And Oncometabolites On Dna Repair Mediated By Alkb Family Enzymes, Quentin Mylie

Open Access Dissertations

Modifications of DNA and RNA, in particular methylations - such as N⁶-methyladenine (m6A), 5-methylcytosine (m5C), 1-methyladenine (m1A), and 3-methylcytosine (m3C) are crucial for gene regulation, genome integrity, and cellular adaptation. This dissertation investigates the role of the ALKB family of alpha-ketoglutarate (αKG) and iron-dependent dioxygenases in modulating these modifications, with a focus on how their activity is influenced by pH and metabolic factors, underscoring the connection between environmental conditions and epigenetic and genetic stability.

Chapter 1 provides a comprehensive literature review on the epigenetic and genetic regulation of DNA and RNA modifications, with a particular focus on methylation …

Entrepreneurial Selling And Business Success In Brazil, Renato Fernandes

Open Access Dissertations

This study aimed to deepen the understanding of the relationship between Entrepreneurial Selling and business success in Brazil through two different studies about the antecedents and consequences of Entrepreneurial Selling.

Using grounded theory and an exploratory-confirmatory mixed methods design, this dissertation demonstrates that Entrepreneurial Selling is crucial for business success. The database was sufficiently diverse for an in-depth analysis of the entrepreneurial Brazilian context: 777 entrepreneurs participated in the studies, ranging from first-time founders and serial entrepreneurs, leading B2B, B2C, and B2B2C companies from 31 segments, from startups struggling to make their first million to established companies already earning more …

Intersections Of Inattention: A Qualitative Inquiry Into The Experiences Of Multiply Marginalized Students In Community College Settings, Jana N. Knibb

Open Access Dissertations

Educational research has examined the impact of expanded access to higher education for historically marginalized groups. However, research on the experiences of students who are both racially minoritized and dis/abled is limited. Findings suggest that, due to their intersectional identities, multiply marginalized dis/abled students (MMDS) navigate policies and practices related to racist ableism, which further marginalize them and create additional barriers in their higher education experiences. Expanding this research requires theoretical frameworks that account for students' identities, experiences, and barriers in higher educational spaces and contexts. This qualitative study, grounded in Dis/ability Studies and Critical Race Theory in Education (DisCrit), …

Confronting The Seaport Resilience Gap: Incentives, Frameworks, And Case Studies For Enhancing Resilience To Natural Hazards In Port Planning And Policy, Rosemarie Fusco

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the critical issue of seaport resilience, focusing on the gaps in resilience planning and the role of incentives in motivating resilience investment. The research arc addresses the question: What incentivizes seaports to increase natural hazard resilience (NHR)? It is organized into three interconnected manuscripts, each examining distinct aspects of the problem.

The first manuscript critically examines the resilience planning approaches of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) as outlined in their National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), highlighting the limited consideration of seaports despite their critical role in economic and social connectivity. SIDS offer critical insight into seaport resilience due …

Textual Sediments: Genre And The Planetary Novel, William Bowden

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation investigates how twenty-first-century prose fiction navigates the ecological and temporal dimensions of planetary crisis. In response to accelerating pressures - climate change, ecological collapse, and the intensification of capitalist modernity - literary studies has turned increasingly to the planetary as a conceptual frame. Yet this shift has often outpaced the development of adequate critical vocabularies and narrative methodologies. By drawing on ecocriticism, narrative theory, phenomenology, and related fields, Textual Sediments proposes a new framework for reading what it terms the planetary novel: a sedimentary genre characterized by temporal layering, formal hybridity, and a recursive engagement with scale. Through …

Beyond The Phonon Gas Model (Pgm): Unraveling The Unique Mechanistic Processes Dictating Thermal Transport In Highly Anharmonic And Disordered Materials, Sandip Thakur

Open Access Dissertations

Thermal transport in nonmetallic solids has traditionally been described by the phonon gas model (PGM), in which heat is carried by weakly interacting phonon quasiparticles in an ordered crystalline lattice. However, this model breaks down in materials characterized by strong anharmonicity, dynamic disorder, or structural complexity, features prevalent in many next-generation materials used in energy conversion, optoelectronics, and thermal management. This dissertation investigates thermal transport in such complex materials, including metal halide perovskites (MHPs), covalent organic frameworks (COFs), metal organic frameworks (MOFs), and 2D-3D heterostructures, through large-scale molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and frequency-resolved spectral analyses.

In MHPs, the work reveals …

Quantifying Mixotrophy Potential As A Function Of Environmental And Biological Drivers In Coastal And Estuarine Plankton Communities, Erica Ewton

Open Access Dissertations

The discovery of mixotrophic plankton has bridged gaps in nutrient cycling budgets and altered the understanding of food webs and energy transfer. Mixotrophic plankton are capable of simultaneous or sequential photosynthesis and heterotrophy, providing multiple avenues of nutrition and thus reducing limitations that affect specialists. These energy dense cells provide increased biomass for higher trophic levels, which may increase organism sizes throughout the food web. Additionally, they may be physically denser, which alters biogeochemical cycling including carbon sequestration. The work presented here uses LysoTracker Green, an acidotropic stain that attaches to phagocytic vacuoles within potentially phagotrophic small (< 20 µm diameter) phytoplankton communities (‘mixoplankton’), to better understand their abundance, relative abundance, and growth rates in relation to the matrix of natural conditions they inhabit. Understanding the prevalence and drivers of mixoplankton is vital to better parameterize biogeochemical cycling and energy transfer in the ocean and for models that predict the fate of future oceans.In the first study, I compared the abundance of mixoplankton in the Northeast U.S. Shelf (NES) and Coastal California Current System (CCS) during two cruises in the NES in summer 2021 and one cruise in the CCS in summer 2022. These two contrasting coastal systems span the breadth of environmental conditions observed in temperate marine ecosystems and thus provided an opportunity to examine indicators of mixoplankton across temperate coastal regions. I discovered higher mixoplankton abundance in the NES than CCS yet similar population sizes of nanoeukaryotic photosynthesizers, resulting in higher relative abundance of mixoplankton in the NES than CCS. Across both systems, I found increased mixoplankton abundance associated with decreasing temperature and combined nitrate + nitrite concentrations (N+N), and increasing light intensity and Synechococcus abundance …

Investigating The Photophysical Dynamics Of Anthracene And Acridine Derivatives Using Time-Resolved Spectroscopy, Sophia Tiano

Open Access Dissertations

Anthracenes and acridines are among the simplest visible light absorbing heterocyclic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and as such are extensively used in a variety of applications including photosensitizers and fluorescent sensors. Although the photophysics of some derivatives have been studied in the past, there is still a lot of unknown fundamental information that is vital in order to optimize these molecules for particular applications. Transient absorption spectroscopy was used to study the photophysics of the 9-substituted methyl, hydroxymethyl and formyl derivatives of acridine and anthracene. The growth and decay of the triplet-triplet absorption peak were quantified for each dye in …

Per- And Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (Pfas) Effects On Tissue Disposition, Proteome, And Health Effects, Juliana Agudelo Areiza

Open Access Dissertations

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances are a class of nonbiodegradable synthetic aliphatic environmental toxicants that are ubiquitous in the environment. A small subset, specifically perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), have been designated as highly hazardous to human health by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). PFOA and PFOS-associated adverse health effects include, but are not limited to, immune suppression, thyroid dysfunction, increased serum cholesterol, liver damage (i.e., alanine aminotransferase (ALT)), and developmental toxicity (i.e., low fetal birth weight and neurotoxicity). In this doctoral dissertation, it was hypothesized that environmental PFAS …

Stability And Global Dynamics Of Autonomous And Nonautonomous Discrete Population Models With Stocking, Harvesting, And Cooperation, Sam Habach

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the local and global behavior of several classes of discrete population models involving stocking, harvesting, and cooperation. The study is divided into three major manuscripts, each offering new theoretical in sights, bifurcation results, and applications to real-world data.

In Manuscript 1, we study the Beverton-Holt population models with constant and proportional stocking and harvesting, as well as sigmoid Beverton-Holt models under constant stocking and harvesting, both in autonomous and non-autonomous settings. We analyze stability and explore global dynamics using established local and global dynamics theorems, bifurcation theory, and explicit solutions when available. Special attention is given to …

A Socio-Ecological Investigation Of Ulithian Spearfishing, Joshua Pi

Open Access Dissertations

Coral reef socio-ecological systems (SESs) characterize the interconnected relationships between coral reef ecosystems and reef-dependent communities. One such SES exists in Ulithi Atoll, Federated States of Micronesia, where Ulithians fish, steward, and govern their reefs through customary marine tenure, traditional ecological knowledge, and cultural taboos. In recent decades, rapid modernization in Ulithi has introduced new fishing technologies, transformed fishing practices, and ultimately reshaped the functioning of Ulithi’s traditional SES. One significant change was the introduction of spearfishing during the mid-20^th century, which is more selective and individualistic compared to other community-centric fishing methods that have existed for generations. This …

Coupled Numerical Modeling Of Wave-Current Interactions In Tropical Cyclones, Angelos Papandreou

Open Access Dissertations

This Ph.D. dissertation presents a numerical modeling study of wave-current interactions in tropical cyclones. Chapter 1 focuses on wave-current interaction in shallow water during hurricane landfall, when strong winds often generate severe storm surges that dramatically raise water levels and cause significant damage to human lives and property. Large waves generated by these winds further amplify storm surges, making it necessary to couple storm surge models with wave prediction models. Currently, two-dimensional coupled storm surge-wave models incorporate the effect of waves on the storm surge through the forcing of radiation stress gradients. However, recent studies on wave-current interactions indicate that …

“What’S Supp” Developing An In Vitro Model For Healthy Oral Biofilms, Alex Labossiere

Open Access Dissertations

The study of oral plaque has largely been influenced by the study of pathogens. Here in Chapter 1, I will discuss how this pathogenic focus has been dominant until the onset of microbiome research and begin to explain microbiomes in the context of supragingival plaque in homeostatic communities. From there we will then discuss the possible roots where dysbiosis may arise from plaque to cause disease and ways in which we can study healthy supragingival plaque by in vitro models.

In chapter 2, I will discuss molecular commensalism and how it can be viewed as a tool to further understand …