This thesis is an exploration of writing a music album from a singer-song writer perspective. It contains the process of writing lyrics and music, inspiration from other artists, as well as performance. It goes through the emotional ebbs and flows of creative writing, ground work for recording an album and...
Currently, wax printing is limited to materials that can be processed by a wax printer. Wax transfer printing is a method that allows previously unusable materials to be patterned with wax via an intermediate template. Millipore cellulose, a material too thick to be processed by a wax printer, was patterned...
The intent of this report is to provide a brief description of water quality issues in Nicaragua, Uganda and Bangladesh, and the technologies available to address these issues. The water quality parameters considered include: bacterial contamination, heavy metals and arsenic, pesticides and industrious chemicals, turbidity, radiological characteristics, and taste and...
Childhood obesity and physical inactivity are significant health problems. According to the CDC (2012), only 12.5% of high school students meet the recommended requirements for physical activity. One method to reverse this trend is promoting physical activity. The Walk to School Program promotes active transportation in schools nationwide. PURPOSE: The...
Understanding ecological interaction strengths is one of the main objectives of ecology. Recently, two methods for estimating interaction strengths of predator-prey interactions in nature have been proposed: a field observation approach proposed by Novak and Wootton (2008) and stable isotope analysis. The field observation method estimates feeding rates based on...
Midwives in the Unites States frequently prescribe herbs and other complementary and alternative therapies for the common complaints of pregnancy, labor, and the postpartum period. Although many studies have reported quantitative data on midwives utilization of herbs, this research aims to convey ethnographic information on midwives use, beliefs, and perceptions...
This project created a stand-alone unit capable of providing on-board sensing and processing for robotic vehicles. This unit was designed to be compact, lightweight, inexpensive, and adaptable. The goal of this project is to help advance robotics research in mapping and multi-agent coordination by making it easier to equip vehicles...
Trichloroethene (TCE) is a common groundwater contaminant. Bioremediation, or the enhancement of natural microbial processes for the transformation of toxic compounds in soil and groundwater, is an effective solution to this widespread problem. The organisms that transform TCE in the subsurface are sensitive to environmental conditions, especially to the presence...
Floods remain the world’s most destructive natural hazard, despite centuries of efforts to minimize losses. Understanding public preferences for flood mitigation measures, and the impacts of these measures, is key to minimizing flood-induced losses. This study quantified tradeoffs between flood mitigation measures and determined factors that influence public preferences for...
Objectively quantifying workload is challenging due to a variety of factors. One way to measure workload is by training impulse (TRIMP). TRIMP uses time in physiologically significant heart rate zones to quantify a workload for a given bout of physical activity. Tracking average workload over time can then be used...
The Law entitled ‘Title IX’ was designed to address the prevalent practice of institutionalized discrimination against women. The law aimed to introduce and reinforce the equal treatment of minorities and women at workplace and educational institutions. Title IX made some significant improvements in the system through the promotion of social...
We present a proof that the number of breakpoints in the arrival function between two terminals in graphs of treewidth ω is n^(O(log²ω) when the edge arrival functions are piecewise linear. This is an improvement on the bound of n^(Θ(log n))by Foschini, Hershberger, and Suri for graphs without any bound...
In recent years, microRNA’s (miRNA’s) have emerged as important in regulating gene expression. Fluctuations in their levels are associated with the up or down-regulation of tumor-suppressor genes and oncogenes. Thus, the ability to visualize changes in miRNA is an important step in understanding cancer emergence and development. The Burrows group...
Salmonella is a bacterium responsible for several illnesses, including typhoid fever,
paratyphoid fever, and salmonellosis. It is commonly found in animal products, including
poultry. Determination of potential reservoirs of Salmonella contamination is important
to mitigate the risk of transmission and possible outbreaks. Outbreaks can negatively
impact the livelihood of local...
Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices enable people who cannot speak to communicate with others. Unfortunately, they are tedious to use and are believed to lower the satisfaction of interacting with others. This thesis attempted to document the impact that AAC devices have on social interactions, in the hope of...
We present an analysis of the relationship between spectral lag and luminosity in time-resolved segments of long gamma-ray bursts detected by BATSE, an experiment aboard the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory satellite. For full bursts, there is a well-established correlation between the lag, which is easily computed, and the total burst...
Prior to World War One, plastic surgery, as in its present form, was yet unfounded and not recognized as a genuine medical specialty. The carnage of the war prompted Britain to establish a specialized treatment center for plastic surgery, first at Aldershot and then at Sidcup, under the leadership of...
Background: The use of a lower extremity injury prevention program (IPP) by female athletes before the completion of puberty may mitigate movement changes that develop during puberty and contribute to greater injury risk. It is unknown whether player age influences coaches’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors surrounding IPPs. Methods: Fifty-four female...
Ceratonova shasta is a myxozoan parasite that affects populations of salmonid species in the Pacific Northwest and is the cause of enteronecrosis. It has a complex life cycle involving two hosts; a definitive annelid host, Manayunkia speciosa (polychaete), and an intermediate salmonid host. Klamath River M. speciosa are genetically variable...
Aging is a complex biological phenomenon that alters many different physiological processes. Although many age-related phenotypes, such as neurodegeneration, weakening circadian rhythms, and inflammaging, are well-studied, the links between them are not. To elucidate these links we created an inflammation-like state in Drosophila melanogaster by overexpressing Relish (Rel), an NFκB...