A bad software development process leads to wasted effort and inferior products. In order to improve a software process, it must be first understood. In this work I focus on understanding software processes.
The first process we seek to understand is Continuous Integration (CI). CI systems automate the compilation, building,...
This dissertation has two objectives. The first objective is to determine where best to situate the study of mentoring (i.e. the 'making of scientists') on the landscape of the history of science and science studies. This task is accomplished by establishing mentoring studies as a link between the robust body...
Themes of authorship in Aphra Behn's Oroonoko and Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe highlight locations in the stories that expose the author's concerns with their responsibilities and contributions to society. In order to frame a discussion of authorship in Oroonoko and Robinson Crusoe, it is essential to position Behn and Crusoe...
Celebrity culture is part of a long history of fame, but the modern celebrity individual came into focus in the nineteenth century. The first part of this thesis distinguishes modern celebrity – including its morality – from other types of fame, explores the intersection of celebrity and gender through the...
This dissertation is about statistical methods for data analysis using generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) with censored covariates. Special attention in given to the particular problem of inference about age-specific reproductive success in wild animal populations using some animals with known ages and some animals with ages only known to...
Abdominal obesity is a part of insulin resistance syndrome that is closely
linked to increased risk of coronary artery disease (CAD). Because fat tissue acts as
an endocrine target and source of hormone production, increased metabolism or
production of chemical messengers in fat tissue may result in metabolic perturbations
that...
Modeling of slope flow circulations in idealized axisymmetric craters is used to understand (1) the large surface pressure amplitude observed in Gale Crater by the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station and (2) the shallow convective boundary layer (CBL) suggested by Curiosity imagery. Air temperatures vary within craters with greater amplitudes than...
This paper empirically investigates three hypotheses regarding biases of National Basketball Association (NBA) referees. Using a sample of 28,388 quarter-level observations from six seasons, we find that referees make calls that favor home teams, teams losing during games, and teams losing
in playoff series. All three biases are likely to...
This thesis presents two conceptually linked papers outlining methodologies to improve community resilience. Both papers employ Seaside, Oregon as a testbed community and consider the seismic-tsunami hazard posed by the Cascadia Subduction Zone. The first paper presents a framework to deaggregate the results of a multi-hazard, multi-infrastructure, damage analysis by...
The DNA repair capabilities of rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri)
were studied vising the method of autoradiography. Trout were fed a
semi-purified control diet containing 0 ppm, 50 ppm, or 300 ppm
cyclopropenoid fatty acids (CPFA) for 6-9 weeks. Liver slices were
prepared and exposed in vitro to a control treatment,...
The human pathogen Chlamydia trachomatis displays different phenotypes between serovars both in vivo and in vitro. The study of chlamydial biology has been hampered by the lack of a tractable genetic system. Here, chlamydial isolates with known phenotypes as well as strains generated though recombination were fully sequenced to address...
Understanding the drivers of species occurrence is a fundamental goal in basic and applied ecology. Occupancy models have emerged as a popular approach for inferring species occurrence because they account for problems associated with imperfect detection in field surveys. Current models, however, are limited because they assume covariates are independent...
Recent work has suggested that plants differ in their relative reliance on structural avoidance of embolism versus maintenance of the xylem water column through dynamic traits such as capacitance, but we still know little about how and why species differ along this continuum. It is even less clear how or...
A key uncertainty concerning the effect of wildfire on carbon dynamics is the rate at which fire-killed biomass (e.g., dead trees) decays and emits carbon to the atmosphere. We used a ground-based approach to compute decomposition of forest biomass killed, but not combusted, in the Biscuit Fire of 2002, an...
PURPOSE:
Little research has analyzed mistrust and discrimination influencing receipt of health care services among Latinos, particularly those living in rural areas. The present study examined the associations between medical mistrust, perceived discrimination, and satisfaction with health care among young-adult rural Latinos.
RESEARCH DESIGN:
This cross-sectional study analyzed data from...
Time can be a limiting constraint for consumers, particularly when resource phenology mediates foraging opportunity. Though a large body of research has explored how resource phenology influences trophic interactions, this work has focused on the topics of trophic mismatch or predator swamping, which typically occur over short periods, at small...
Tropical peatlands cover an estimated 440,000 km² (~10% of global peatland area) and are significant in the global
carbon cycle by storing about 40–90 Gt C in peat. Over the past several decades, tropical peatlands have experienced
high rates of deforestation and conversion, which is often associated with lowering the...