Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Attitudes And Behaviors In Online Communities: Empirical Studies Of The Effects Of Social, Community, And Individual Characteristics, Richard Kumi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Online communities and communities of practice bring people together to promote and support shared goals and exchange information. Personal interactions are important to many of these communities and one of the important outcomes of personal interactions in online communities and communities of practice is user-generated content. The three essays in the current study examines behavior motivation in online communities and communities of practice to understand how Social and personal psychological factors, and user-generated influence attitudes, intentions and behaviors in online communities.

The first essay addresses two research questions. First, how does Social capital influence exchange and combination behaviors in online …

A Solar-Powered And Multi-Tiered Mesh Node For A Portable In Situ Emergency Response System, Adam Matthews

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aftermath of a natural disaster is typically characterized by lack of a reliable medium for dissemination of information to survivors. Current state-of-the-art emergency response systems rely on satellite radio-enabled devices, but survivors, unlike first responders, do not have access to such devices. To mitigate this problem, we present PERPETUU a solar-powered portable GIS microserver. The microserver node can be deployed in a disaster scene, and can serve maps to survivors viewable on browsers of off-the-shelf mobile systems. A key innovation in the design of the PERPETUU node is a multi-tiered hardware architecture-the system combines a low-power micro-controller, a medium-power …

Mass Bays Resource Inventory: Summary And Findings From The Review Of Plans And Assessments, Urban Harbors Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Urban Harbors Institute Publications

The Massachusetts Bays Program (MBP) contracted with the Urban Harbors Institute (UHI) of the University of Massachusetts Boston to conduct a review of papers, presentations, reports, and other relevant material produced from 1996 (the last CCMP) to present, that might inform the MBP’s update of their Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP). The review focused on five topics identified as priority topics by the MBP: water quality, invasive species, climate change/vulnerability, continuity of estuarine habitat, and estuarine habitat protection in the geographic region of the Mass Bays Program, particularly the 47 nearshore estuaries and embayments identified in the 2012 MBP …

Species Composition And Reproductive Strategies Of Commensal Synalpheus Shrimp (Decapoda:Alpheidae) Occupying The Sponges Spheciospongia Vesparium And Spongia Sp. Of The Florida Reef Tract, Brittnee Nicole Barris

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Synalpheus shrimp species of the gambarelloides group are the only marine organisms displaying the highest level of social functioning, eusociality. Their social hierarchies are equally complex compared to the reproductive abnormalities that have been recently discovered. For instance, snapping shrimp of the genus Synalpheus were thought to be gonochoric, i.e. developing as independent sexes, until scanning electron microscopy studies revealed intersexed gonopores in several species. This project analyzed both the species composition, and accompanying reproductive structures, of Synalpheus spp. (Caridea: Alpheidae) comprised of densely aggregating communal and pair-living colonies in the Florida Keys, Florida.

Colonies of pair-living and communal Synalpheus …

Educating The Masses: Human Attitudes Affecting Reef Health, Ashley Wiehl

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

About two thirds of the world’s population lives within 60 km of a coastline, however many members of the public do not recognize the importance of the nearby coral reef ecosystems. Although reef degradation is currently occurring at alarming rates, there is hope for the future of coral reef health. It is proven that humans have a large effect on the current health of coral reefs. This thesis aims to determine how marine scientists and educators can best influence the general public to affect behaviors to improve reef health. To do this involves taking analyzing the many effects of human …

Evaluation Of Three Nest Searching Methods For Ring-Necked Pheasant, Jeffery W. Stackhouse, Kevin K. Sedivec, Benjamin A. Geaumont

The Prairie Naturalist

Ring-necked pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) are a highly sought after game bird and as such, much research has been conducted regarding their ecology (Warner 1981, Trautman 1982, Johnson and Knue 1989). Perhaps the most investigated aspect of pheasant ecology is the species’ reproductive season (e.g. Linder et al. 1960, Dumke and Pils 1979, Leif 1994) with many studies focusing on nesting habitat (Baskett 1947, Clark et al. 1999). Results from previous research have acknowledged the difficulty associated with locating pheasant nests in their preferred cover types (Hanson 1970, Evrard 2000). Studies of pheasant nesting ecology have been based on …

Salamander Colonization Of Chase Lake, Stutsman County, North Dakota, David M. Mushet, Kyle I. Mclean, Craig A. Stockwell

The Prairie Naturalist

Salt concentrations in lakes are dynamic. In the western United States, water diversions have caused significant declines in lake levels resulting in increased salinity, placing many aquatic species at risk (Galat and Robinson 1983, Beutel et al. 2001). Severe droughts can have similar effects on salt concentrations and aquatic communities (Swanson et al. 2003). Conversely, large inputs of water can dilute salt concentrations and contribute to community shifts (Euliss et al. 2004).

Chase Lake is a large, shallow, alkaline lake in east-central North Dakota most famously known for supporting one of the largest breeding colonies of the American white pelican …

How Important Is A Quality Manuscript Review?, Christopher N. Jacques

The Prairie Naturalist

Temperatures are finally starting to cool a bit (for those of us in the northern Great Plains region) and Thanksgiving break is just around the corner.

I offer my reflections in the spirit of encouraging each of you to take a break from your professional obligations and spend time with friends and family enjoying nature and everything it has to offer this fall.

A Northward Range Extension Of The Hispid Cotton Rat (Sigmodon Hispidus) In Missouri, Cody W. Thompson, Elmer J. Finck

The Prairie Naturalist

The hispid cotton rat (Sigmodon hispidus) is a widely distributed rodent with a geographic range extending from north-central Mexico to southern Nebraska and central Virginia and from southeastern Arizona east to Florida (Carleton et al. 1999, Peppers and Bradley 2000, Wilson and Reeder 2005) with isolated populations in Arizona (Bradley et al. 2012) and California (Clark 1972). Range expansions for the species have been well documented (Clark 1972, Farney 1975, Benedict et al. 2000, Wright et al. 2010, Wills et al. 2011). The majority of these range expansions have occurred across the Central Plains during the 20th century …

Use Of Seeded Exotic Grasslands By Wintering Birds, Andrew D. George, Timothy J. O'Connell, Karen R. Hickman, David M. Lesliee Jr.

The Prairie Naturalist

Despite widespread population declines of North American grassland birds, effects of anthropogenic disturbance on wintering habitat of this guild remain poorly understood. We compared avian abundance and habitat structure in fields planted to the exotic grass Old World bluestem (Bothriochloa ischaemum; OWB) to that in native mixed-grass prairie. During winters of 2007–2008 and 2008–2009, we conducted bird and vegetation surveys in six native grass and six OWB fields in Garfield, Grant, and Alfalfa counties, Oklahoma. We recorded 24 species of wintering birds in native fields and 14 species in OWB monocultures. While vegetation structure was similar between field …

Whooping Cranes Consume Plains Leopard Frogs At Migratory Stopover Sites In Nebraska, Keith Geluso, Brad T. Krohn, Mary J. Harner, Michael J. Assenmacher

The Prairie Naturalist

Whooping cranes (Grus americana) currently consist of a single, wild population that migrates annually from breeding grounds at Wood Buffalo National Park, Canada, to wintering grounds on and around the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge along the Texas coast, USA (NRC 2005). This population reached a low of less than 20 individuals in 1941 (Allen 1952) but has rebounded to over 250 individuals (Chavez-Ramirez and Wehtje 2012, Gil-Weir et al. 2012). Whooping cranes migrate approximately 4,000 km each spring and autumn, traversing much of the North American Great Plains (Lewis 1995) and periodically landing along rivers, wetlands, and other …

Relationships Among Walleye Mercury, Selenium, Stable Isotopes, Size And Age, Mark J. Fincel, Robert P. Hanten, Shannon Minerich

The Prairie Naturalist

Bioaccumulation of mercury is well-documented in aquatic ecosystems and occurs as mercury is accumulated and passed up food chains (Kidd et al. 1995, Atwell et al. 1998, Downs et al. 1998). Trophic level correlations have been widely reported for mercury (Snodgrass et al. 2000) and other metals (Barron 1995). Generally, within a system, carnivores have the highest mercury loadings, omnivores intermediate and herbivores the lowest (Phillips et al. 1980). However, little research has focused on the differences in mercury bioaccumulation for a single species that ranges across multiple trophic levels (Burger et al. 2001).

Stable isotope analysis has expanded the …

Dual Capture Of A Piñon Deer Mouse And A Silky Pocket Mouse Resulting In Consumption Of The Smaller Animal, Jon C. Pigage, Roger D. Peyton

The Prairie Naturalist

Intraspecific dual captures of rodents are uncommon, but not rare. There are several reports of brown rats (Rattus norvegicus), white-footed deer mice (Peromyscus leucopus), North American deer mice (P. maniculatus), western harvest mice (Reithrodontomys megalotis) and meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) caught simultaneously in the same trap (i.e. a door-closing live-trap; Davis 1955, Getz 1961, Blaustein and Rothstein 1978, Jenkins and Llewellyn 1981, Novak 1983). Some reports are incidental whereas others are interpreted as social associations or bonding between conspecifics. Interspecific dual captures are rarely reported in the literature. The earliest report of …

A Simple Device For Measuring The Minimum Current Velocity To Maintain Semi-Buoyant Fish Eggs In Suspension, Julias S. Mueller, Brandon D. Cheek, Qingman Chen, Jillian Groeschel, Shannok K. Brewer, Timothy B. Grabowski

The Prairie Naturalist

Pelagic broadcast spawning cyprinids are common to Great Plains rivers and streams. This reproductive guild produces non-adhesive semi-buoyant eggs that require sufficient current velocity to remain in suspension during development. Although studies have shown that there may be a minimum velocity needed to keep the eggs in suspension, this velocity has not been estimated directly nor has the influence of physicochemical factors on egg buoyancy been determined. We developed a simple, inexpensive flow chamber that allowed for evaluation of minimum current velocity needed to keep semi-buoyant eggs in suspension at any time frame during egg development. The device described here …

Associations Between Iron Concentration And Productivity In Montane Streams Of The Black Hills, South Dakota, Cari-Ann Hayer, Benjamin M. Holocmb, Steven R. Chipps

The Prairie Naturalist

Iron is an important micronutrient found in aquatic systems that can influence nutrient availability (e.g. phosphorus) and primary productivity. In streams, high iron concentrations often are associated with low pH as a result of acid mine drainage, which is known to affect fish and invertebrate communities. Streams in the Black Hills of South Dakota are generally circumneutral in pH, yet select streams exhibit high iron concentrations associated with natural iron deposits. In this study, we examined relationships among iron concentration, periphyton biomass, macroinvertebrate abundance, and fish assemblages in four Black Hills streams. The stream with the highest iron concentration (~5 …

Red-Tailed Hawk Nesting In Kansas: Influence Of Landscape Characteristics, William Langley

The Prairie Naturalist

Factors that affect nest site selection in red-tailed hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) include the physical features surrounding the nest and landscape characteristics. Features surrounding nests include: tree height, tree diameter (dbh), percent canopy cover, slope, nest openness, and density of woody plants or shrubs (Titus and Mosher 1981, Bechard et al. 1990, Tietje et al. 1997, Actkinson et al. 2007). Landscape characteristics that influence nest-site selection by red-tailed hawks vary across regions. In Georgia, red-tailed hawks selected nest site in areas with greater area of agriculture and open pasture (Moorman and Chapman 1996), whereas in Oklahoma prairies, the hawks …

Developing An Acoustic Method For Reducing North Atlantic Right Whale (Eubalaena Glacialis) Ship Strike Mortality Along The United States Eastern Seaboard, Kaitlyn Allen Mullen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) are among the world’s most endangered cetaceans. Although protected from commercial whaling since 1949, North Atlantic right whales exhibit little to no population growth. Ship strike mortality is the leading known cause of North Atlantic right whale mortality. North Atlantic right whales exhibit developed auditory systems, and vocalize in the frequency range that dominates ship acoustic signatures. With no behavioral audiogram published, current literature assumes these whales should be able to acoustically detect signals in the same frequencies they vocalize. Recorded ship acoustic signatures occur at intensities that are similar or higher to those …

Introduction To Real Analysis, William F. Trench

Textbooks Collection

This is a text for a two-term course in introductory real analysis for junior or senior math- ematics majors and science students with a serious interest in mathematics. Prospective educators or mathematically gifted high school students can also benefit from the mathe- matical maturity that can be gained from an introductory real analysis course.

The book is designed to fill the gaps left in the development of calculus as it is usually presented in an elementary course, and to provide the background required for insight into more advanced courses in pure and applied mathematics. The standard elementary calcu- lus sequence …

The Effects Of Standards-Based Grading On Student Performance In Algebra 2, Rachel Beth Rosales

Dissertations

The use of standards-based grading in American public schools is increasing, offering students, parents, and teachers a new way of measuring and communicating about student achievement and performance. Parents indicate an appreciation for this method of grading, and students at the elementary grades (K-6) have improved standardized test scores in reading and math as a result of its implementation. This study seeks to determine whether standards-based grading has the same effect on students at the high school level (grades 9-12) by comparing end-of-course test scores and posttest scores of Algebra 2 students enrolled in a standards-based graded classroom with to …

Dynamic Queue Management For Hospital Emergency Room Services, Kar Way Tan

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The emergency room (ER) – or emergency department (ED) – is often seen as a place with long waiting times and a lack of doctors to serve the patients. However, it is one of the most important departments in a hospital, and must efficiently serve patients with critical medical needs. In the existing literature, addressing the issue of long waiting times in an ED often takes the form of single-faceted queue-management strategies that are either from a demand perspective or from a supply perspective. From the demand perspective, there is work on queue design such as priority queues, or queue …

Methylmercury Fate In The Hypersaline Environment Of The Great Salt Lake: A Critical Review Of Current Knowledge, Danielle Barandiaran

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Methylmercury (MeHg) is a highly potent neurotoxic form of the environmental pollutant Mercury (Hg). The processes that are responsible for the conversion of Hg to MeHg are known to be both biotic and abiotic in freshwater systems. Although MeHg contamination is well documented in Great Salt Lake (GSL), the conversion of Hg into MeHg is not well-understood in saline environments much less in hypersaline waters such as GSL. The GSL is a broad, shallow high altitude (1280 m above sea level) lake that is exposed to large amounts of ultraviolet radiation and evaporation, which lead to great volatilization losses of …

Skill Finder: Automated Job-Resume Matching System, Thimma Reddy Kalva

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Skill Finder is a tool which ranks the student skills from the resumes to the job requirements from Employers, Department and Faculty looking for student interns, full-time employees and also Research, Graduate and Teaching Assistants. Skill Finder hosts student resumes, Academic history and contact information. Authorized users from the Department can post jobs, view job applicants and the Skill finder automatically sorts the students resumes based on the degree of match with the job. Skill finder also sends e-mail alerts to students about the jobs posted and keeps track of employer’s history by maintaining the complete history of jobs posted …

Identification Of Disufide Bond Formation Between Mitoneet And Glutamate Dehydrogenase 1, Morgan E. Roberts, Jacquelyn P. Crail, Megan M. Laffoon, William G. Fernandez, Michael A. Menze, Mary E. Konkle

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

MitoNEET is a protein that was identified as a drug target for diabetes, but its cellular function as well as its role in diabetes remains elusive. Protein pull-down experiments identified glutamate dehydrogenase 1 (GDH1) as a potential binding partner. GDH1 is a key metabolic enzyme with emerging roles in insulin regulation. MitoNEET forms a covalent complex with GDH1 through disulfide bond formation and acts as an activator. Proteomic analysis identified the specific cysteine residues that participate in the disulfide bond. This is the first report that effectively links mitoNEET to activation of the insulin regulator GDH1.

An Mpi-Enabled Mapreduce Framework For Molecular Dynamics Simulation Applications, Shuju Bai, Ebrahim Khosravi, Seung Jong Park

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Computational technologies have been extensively investigated to be applied into many application domains. Since the presence of Hadoop, an implementation of MapReduce framework, scientists have applied it to biological sciences, chemistry, medical sciences, and other areas to efficiently process huge data sets. Although Hadoop is fault-tolerant and processes data in parallel, it does not support MPI in computing. The Map/Reduce tasks in Hadoop have to be serial, which results in inefficient scientific computations wrapped in Map/Reduce tasks. In the real world, many applications require MPI techniques due to their nature. Molecular dynamics simulation is one of them. In our research, …

Gfsa Encodes A Novel Galactofuranosyltransferase Involved In Biosynthesis Of Galactofuranose Antigen Of O-Glycan In Aspergillus Nidulans And Aspergillus Fumigatus, Yuji Komachi, Shintaro Hatakeyama, Haruka Motomatsu, Taiki Futagami, Karina Kizjakina, Pablo Sobrado, Keisuke Ekino, Kaoru Takegawa, Masatoshi Goto, Yoshiyuki Nomura, Takuji Oka

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

Summary: The cells wall of filamentous fungi in the genus Aspergillus has galactofuranose (Galf)-containing polysaccharides and glycoconjugates, including O-glycans, N-glycans, fungal-type galactomannan and glycosylinositolphosphoceramide, which are important for cell wall integrity. Here, we attempted to identify galactofuranosyltransferases that couple Galf monomers onto other wall components in Aspergillus nidulans. Using reverse-genetic and biochemical approaches, we identified that the AN8677 gene encoded a galactofuranosyltransferase, which we called GfsA, involved in Galf antigen biosynthesis. Disruption of gfsA reduced binding of β-Galf-specific antibody EB-A2 to O-glycosylated WscA protein and galactomannoproteins. The results of an in-vitroGalf antigen synthase assay revealed that GfsA has β1,5- or …

Algorithms For The Implementation Of A Dynamic Energy Pricing Policy, Manek Biswas

Theses - ALL

In the upcoming smart grid era, dynamic pricing using primarily data collected from smart meters installed in homes and businesses is a virtual certainty. The possibilities this feature may offer are many, and we examine in this study how subunits of the electricity grid may implement load scheduling given a model for predicting ever-changing energy prices over a day. We present a realistic linear model that utilities may use for implementing dynamic pricing, and argue how accurate prediction of this model by its customers may be profitable both for the utilities and their customers.

The thesis provides algorithms for achieving …

Data Mining Revision Controlled Document History Metadata For Automatic Classification, Dustin Maass

Theses and Dissertations

Version controlled documents provide a complete history of the changes to the document, including everything from what was changed to who made the change and much more. Through the use of cluster analysis and several sets of manipulated data, this research examines the revision history of Wikipedia in an attempt to find language-independent patterns that could assist in automatic page classification software. Utilizing two sample data sets and applying the aforementioned cluster analysis, no conclusive evidence was found that would indicate that such patterns exist. Our work on the software, however, does provide a foundation for more possible types of …

A Crowdsourced Hail Dataset: Potential, Biases, And Inaccuracies, Joseph Robert Pehoski

Theses and Dissertations

Hail is a substantial severe weather hazard in the USA, with significant damage to property and

crops occurring annually. Traditional methods of forecasting hail size have limited accuracy, and despite

improvements in remote sensing of precipitation, the fall characteristics of hail make quantification of

hail imprecise. Research into hail is ongoing, but traditional hail datasets have known biases and low

spatiotemporal resolution. The increased usage of smartphones creates the opportunity to use a

crowdsourced dataset provided by the Precipitation Identification Near the Ground (PING) program, a

program developed by the National Severe Storms Laboratory. PING data is compared to approximate …

Beyond The Standard Model: Lhc Phenomenology, Cosmology From Post-Inflationary Sources, And Dark Matter Physics, Brian J. Vlcek

Theses and Dissertations

It is the goal of this dissertation to demonstrate that beyond the standard model, certain theories exist which solve conflicts between observation and theory -- conflicts such as massive neutrinos, dark matter, unstable Higgs vacuum, and recent Planck observations of excess relativistic degrees of freedom in the early universe. Theories explored include a D-brane inspired construct of U(3) × Sp(1) × U(1) × U(1) extension of the standard model, in which we demonstrate several possible observables that may be detected at the LHC, and an ability to stabilize the Higgs mechanism. The extended model can also explain recent Planck data …

Development Of Polarization Analysis Of Resonant Inelastic X-Ray Scattering, Xuan Gao

Dissertations

Resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) is a powerful technique in condensed matter physics for studying the electronic excitations in novel materials of interest. In currently operating hard x-ray RIXS instruments the energy and momentum transfers are measured while the outgoing polarization is not measured due to significant technical challenges. But the outgoing polarization of the scattered photons provides valuable information (excitation symmetry) about the states involved in the scattering which is difficult to determine without polarization analysis. Polarization analysis has proved extremely valuable in soft x-ray RIXS, and so a polarization analysis system is being developed to fill the technical …