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Title: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES OF INTEGRATED LARGE SCALE PFAS MODELING
Creator: Raschke, Anna
Date: 2022
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been observed around the world in air, water, and soil. Recent research and monitoring studies have alluded to the widespread presence of PFAS, but most observe the impact of PFAS as a snapshot in time and space. In an effort to better understand PFAS fate and transport in the environment, computational models have been developed. For this study, we synthesized the model applications of PFAS fate and transport via water medium through surface water,...
Show morePerfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been observed around the world in air, water, and soil. Recent research and monitoring studies have alluded to the widespread presence of PFAS, but most observe the impact of PFAS as a snapshot in time and space. In an effort to better understand PFAS fate and transport in the environment, computational models have been developed. For this study, we synthesized the model applications of PFAS fate and transport via water medium through surface water, vadose zone, groundwater, streamflow, as well as their uptake and accumulation in plants and aquatic organisms. In addition, the system under this study is permeable to incoming (sources) and outgoing (sinks) PFAS compounds. Ultimately, knowledge gaps in modeling PFAS for each subsystem (e.g., surface water) area were identified. From there, a case study was performed to highlight the shortcomings of widely used models for PFAS fate and transport within a large and complex watershed. With a large number of PFAS using industries, Michigan is at the forefront of PFAS sampling. Therefore, the study area chosen was the Huron River watershed, a highly PFAS impacted watershed in Southeastern Michigan. The results showed the importance of organized monitoring studies and model improvements to better understand PFAS fate and transport in a large watershed.
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Title: THE ROLE OF PREZYGOTIC SELF-COMPATIBILITY IN FACILITATING INTERSPECIFIC COMPATIBILITY IN SOLANUM SECTION PETOTA
Creator: Behling, William
Date: 2022
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Domesticated potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is the fourth most important food crop worldwide and critical food security crop. The high significance of this crop coupled with high production losses place potato at a high priority for genetic improvement, especially in the face of climate change. Potato breeding is undergoing a seismic shift from a tetraploid outcrossing crop towards a F1 hybrid system using diploid inbred lines as parents. This transformation has also changed how potato...
Show moreDomesticated potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is the fourth most important food crop worldwide and critical food security crop. The high significance of this crop coupled with high production losses place potato at a high priority for genetic improvement, especially in the face of climate change. Potato breeding is undergoing a seismic shift from a tetraploid outcrossing crop towards a F1 hybrid system using diploid inbred lines as parents. This transformation has also changed how potato breeders access important traits from wild species. Pre- and post-zygotic barriers, such as self-incompatibility (SI) and endosperm failure, inhibit and complicate the use of the more valuable wild species in conventional and diploid breeding schemes. Traditionally plant breeders have employed the SC x SI rule, using self-compatibility (SC) to increase the success of interspecific crosses. In order to evaluate the potential of several different SC factors in facilitating broad interspecific compatibility: Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)-Cas9 knockout (KO) lines of S-RNase, HT-B and HT-B + S-RNase in S. tuberosum were evaluated along with the self-compatible species S. verrucosum, and S-locus inhibitor gene (Sli) from S. chacoense. Findings confirm the central role of S-RNase in interspecific pollination barriers and the inconsequential role of HT-B alone. Sli had no effect on interspecific barriers despite its prominent role as a source of SC. Finally, S. verrucosum styles displayed an absence of prezygotic barriers. Further analysis of the role of HT-A, as well as other mechanisms that potentially underlie the SC phenotype in S. verrucosum will further clarify the role of specific genetic factors that regulate interspecific compatibility in Solanum section Petota
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Title: SOLIDARITY & RESISTANCE : WOMEN’S PERSPECTIVES ON EMPOWERMENT THROUGH SELF HELP GROUPS
Creator: Mishra, Manasi
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Development interventions mostly aim to ‘empower’ rural women by increasing their income and livelihood but rarely consider the voices of their beneficiaries. I study the meanings and experiences of empowerment or nari shakti as understood and described by rural women who lead self-help groups (SHGs) engaged in savings, micro-credit and income generation. I conducted the research in the central Himalayan region of rural India in Uttarakhand State using in-depth interviews with 11 SHG leaders....
Show moreDevelopment interventions mostly aim to ‘empower’ rural women by increasing their income and livelihood but rarely consider the voices of their beneficiaries. I study the meanings and experiences of empowerment or nari shakti as understood and described by rural women who lead self-help groups (SHGs) engaged in savings, micro-credit and income generation. I conducted the research in the central Himalayan region of rural India in Uttarakhand State using in-depth interviews with 11 SHG leaders. The findings indicate that the participants experience empowerment as solidarity and collective power that manifest in the form of self-reliance, courage, and independence. The participants associate their self-reliance with courage and inner strength which they have built as a means to survive the pain and struggle. Their stories of nari shakti are also stories of pain and struggle.This research implies the need to examine perspectives of feminists on empowerment related interventions. Further research is needed on how micro-credit SHGs help build collective action that can challenge patriarchal power structures and bring about social change. Such research can help provide solutions on how non-profits can utilize feminist strategies of consciousness raising while still meeting donor expectations for the SHG programs.
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Title: PRECISION DIAGNOSTICS AND INNOVATIONS FOR PLANT BREEDING RESEARCH
Creator: Hugghis, Eli
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Major technological advances are necessary to reach the goal of feeding our world’s growing population. To do this, there is an increasing demand within the agricultural field for rapid diagnostic tools to improve the efficiency of current methods in plant disease and DNA identification. The use of gold nanoparticles has emerged as a promising technology for a range of applications from smart agrochemical delivery systems to pathogen detection. In addition to this, advances in image...
Show moreMajor technological advances are necessary to reach the goal of feeding our world’s growing population. To do this, there is an increasing demand within the agricultural field for rapid diagnostic tools to improve the efficiency of current methods in plant disease and DNA identification. The use of gold nanoparticles has emerged as a promising technology for a range of applications from smart agrochemical delivery systems to pathogen detection. In addition to this, advances in image classification analyses have allowed machine learning approaches to become more accessible to the agricultural field. Here we present the use of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) for the detection of transgenic gene sequences in maize and the use of machine learning algorithms for the identification and classification of Fusarium spp. infected wheat seed. AuNPs show promise in their ability to diagnose the presence of transgenic insertions in DNA samples within 10 minutes through colorimetric response. Image-based analysis with the utilization of logistic regression, support vector machines, and k-nearest neighbors were able to accurately identify and differentiate healthy and diseased wheat kernels within the testing set at an accuracy of 95-98.8%. These technologies act as rapid tools to be used by plant breeders and pathologists to improve their ability to make selection decisions efficiently and objectively.
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Title: TEACHING STAFF TO IMPLEMENT MAND TRAINING WITH CHILDREN WITH ASD THROUGH TELEHEALTH
Creator: Rosalik, Shelby R.
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Telehealth services have increased substantially in the field of applied behavior analysis (ABA) since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, though little research exists to empirically evaluate the efficacy of direct ABA telehealth treatment or more specifically, how behavior technicians can be trained to implement such treatment. The present investigation utilized a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across participants to evaluate the use of an online behavioral skills training (BST)...
Show moreTelehealth services have increased substantially in the field of applied behavior analysis (ABA) since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, though little research exists to empirically evaluate the efficacy of direct ABA telehealth treatment or more specifically, how behavior technicians can be trained to implement such treatment. The present investigation utilized a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across participants to evaluate the use of an online behavioral skills training (BST) approach to teach behavior technicians to implement 20-min mand training sessions via telehealth with children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The training phase of the study consisted of both role-play with feedback as well as feedback during sessions with the child participant. Results showed increases in behavior technician’s percentage of accurate implementation and rate of fully correct trials implemented following the training. Child participants also showed increased rates of independent mands following the BST implementation. Thus, BST may be an effective approach to teach behavior technicians to deliver mand training via telehealth.
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Title: GENERATION OF HT-B AND HT-B PLUS S-RNASE KNOCKOUT LINES TO UNDERSTAND SELF-COMPATIBILITY IN DIPLOID POTATO
Creator: Lee, Sarah
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Domesticated potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is the world’s third most important food crop and is a food security crop according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Currently, commercial potatoes are autotetraploid and mainly produced via asexual clonal propagation. The autotetraploid nature of most cultivated potatoes in combination with acute inbreeding depression when self-fertilized over multiple generations cause challenges in making advances with traditional...
Show moreDomesticated potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is the world’s third most important food crop and is a food security crop according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Currently, commercial potatoes are autotetraploid and mainly produced via asexual clonal propagation. The autotetraploid nature of most cultivated potatoes in combination with acute inbreeding depression when self-fertilized over multiple generations cause challenges in making advances with traditional breeding schemes. The benefits of moving potato to a diploid breeding model include a simplified breeding scheme, easier fixation of desirable alleles, and generation of inbred lines that may be used to generate F1 hybrids with heterotic potential. A major hinderance to self-compatibility originates from the gametophytic self-incompatibility (GSI) system in which the S-RNase and HT-B genes play a critical role. Utilizing CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing, HT-B and HT-B + S-RNase knockout (KO) lines were produced. HT-B KOs produced parthenocarpic fruit but remained self-incompatible. However, the S-RNase and HT-B double KOs were self-compatible. Self-compatibility was measured quantitatively using fruit set, fruit weight, and seed count. Fruit set varied across both self-incompatible and self-compatible lines, with no clear trend in statistical significance. Double KO lines consistently displayed higher fruit weight than incompatible lines. Seed count served as the best measure of self-compatibility, with S-RNase and HT-B double KO lines producing up to three times mean seed per fruit when compared to S-RNase only KOs from prior studies. The lines with the highest levels of self-compatibility will serve as useful additions in advancing potato breeding to the diploid level.
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Title: EFFECTS OF TEACHING ACCEPTANCE AND COMMITMENT THERAPY-BASED STRATEGIES ON IMPROVING ACADEMIC ENGAGEMENT AND PARTICIPATION FOR STUDENTS IN AN APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS MASTER’S PROGRAM
Creator: Dunnigan, Mikeya Renee
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: The field of applied behavior analysis (ABA) comes with rigorous work expectations and demands. ABA practitioners who are also graduate students must balance the extensive workload of educational and work expectations. Given these demands, graduate students providing ABA services to clients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) need strategies to maintain their own positive mental health in order to maintain high academic achievement and to prevent burnout. Using a multiple baseline design this...
Show moreThe field of applied behavior analysis (ABA) comes with rigorous work expectations and demands. ABA practitioners who are also graduate students must balance the extensive workload of educational and work expectations. Given these demands, graduate students providing ABA services to clients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) need strategies to maintain their own positive mental health in order to maintain high academic achievement and to prevent burnout. Using a multiple baseline design this study examined whether teaching 6 graduate students enrolled in an ABA master's program who were also working as part-time practitioners providing ABA services to individuals with ASD to use Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)-based strategies impacted their engagement and active participation during an online synchronous class. Changes in psychological flexibility, stress, and values-behavior were also examined. Although there was no functional relation between the training on using ACT-based strategies and the dependent variables, the lack of effects is likely because the participants enrolled in the study did not have baseline levels that indicated a need for intervention. Additionally, it is hypothesized that competing factors and stressors related to the COVID-19 pandemic likely outweighed the impact of the training to use the ACT-based strategies. The results are discussed more in as well as implications for future research. Keywords: graduate students, behavior technician, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, psychological flexibility, stress, value driven behavior.
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Title: Harnessing Machine Learning Techniques for Large-Scale Mapping of Inland Aquaculture Waterbodies in Bangladesh
Creator: Ferriby, Hannah
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Aquaculture in Bangladesh has grown dramatically in an unplanned manner in the past few decades, becoming a major contributor to the rural economy in many parts of the country. National systems for the collection of statistics have been unable to keep pace with these rapid changes, and more accurate, up to date information is needed to inform policymakers. Using Sentinel-2 Top of Atmosphere Reflectance images within Google Earth Engine and ArcGIS platforms, we proposed six strategies for...
Show moreAquaculture in Bangladesh has grown dramatically in an unplanned manner in the past few decades, becoming a major contributor to the rural economy in many parts of the country. National systems for the collection of statistics have been unable to keep pace with these rapid changes, and more accurate, up to date information is needed to inform policymakers. Using Sentinel-2 Top of Atmosphere Reflectance images within Google Earth Engine and ArcGIS platforms, we proposed six strategies for improving fishpond detection as the existing techniques seem unreliable. The study area is comprised of seven districts in south-west and south-central Bangladesh. The tested strategies include: 1) identification of the best period for image collection, 2) testing the buffer size for threshold optimization, 3) determining the best combination of image reducer and water-identifying indices, 4) introduction of a convolution filter to enhance edge-detection, 5) evaluating the impact of ground-truthing data on machine learning algorithm training, and 6) identifying the best machine learning classifier. Each enhancement builds on the previous one to develop a comprehensive improvement strategy called the Enhanced Method for fishpond detection. We compared the results of each improvement strategy to the known ground-truthing fishponds as the metric of success. We compared the precision, recall, and F1 score for machine learning classifiers to determine the quality of results. Among the studied methods, the Classification and Regression Trees performed the best. Overall, the proposed strategies enhanced fishpond area detection in all districts within the study area.
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Title: AGGREGATE PLANNING IN MANUFACTURING OF REUSABLE CONTAINERS
Creator: Tao, Jinli
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Aggregate production planning (APP) is a method to make several decisions simultaneously on production, inventory, and workforce levels over a finite time horizon, aiming to maximize the profit or minimize the cost while meeting fluctuating demands. Building mathematical models that reflect real-world problems is often difficult, as the constraints are usually intricate and may interact with each other. Decomposing the interconnected system into a number of independent phases could simplify...
Show moreAggregate production planning (APP) is a method to make several decisions simultaneously on production, inventory, and workforce levels over a finite time horizon, aiming to maximize the profit or minimize the cost while meeting fluctuating demands. Building mathematical models that reflect real-world problems is often difficult, as the constraints are usually intricate and may interact with each other. Decomposing the interconnected system into a number of independent phases could simplify the problem; however, it may not guarantee the optimality of the best solutions due to the missed constraints between stages. In this study, two mixed integer programming models for the manufacturing of reusable plastic containers are presented. One is based on the flow of the material and the other is based on the level of the workforce at each period. The proposed models are able to (i) deal with varying demand, (ii) reflect various regulations and restrictions of public and private warehouses for storing materials, and (iii) identify the importance of subcontracting when demand increases dramatically. Both mathematical models are implemented in the case of packaging manufacturing. A comprehensive sensitivity analysis has been conducted on different parameters of the problem to test the effect of parameter changes. To sum up, the general framework of the mathematical models not only can be used for reusable container manufacturing but also the manufacturing of any type of product with a similar supply chain network.
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Title: A RISK BASED USER TOOL TO BUILD USER CENTERED LABELS FOR MEDICAL DEVICES
Creator: Estrada, Eric Joseph
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Herein we develop a user-driven, risk-based tool to inform the design of a standardized label for use with medical devices. Researchers identified 11 labeling inputs found on commercial labels and organized the inputs into a “Device Facts” box at 3 risk levels: high, medium, and low. mock labels and commercial labels were objectively compared by healthcare practitioners using a forced choice methodology where accuracy and response time served as dependent variables. Results suggested that...
Show moreHerein we develop a user-driven, risk-based tool to inform the design of a standardized label for use with medical devices. Researchers identified 11 labeling inputs found on commercial labels and organized the inputs into a “Device Facts” box at 3 risk levels: high, medium, and low. mock labels and commercial labels were objectively compared by healthcare practitioners using a forced choice methodology where accuracy and response time served as dependent variables. Results suggested that pairwise comparisons between labels (mock vs commercial) within a given risk category (e.g. high) yielded statistically significant differences at a confidence level of 95% for time to correct response. For both medium (p=0.0016) and high risk information (p<0.0001), the mock labels yielded a quicker correct response than their commercial counterparts. Only for low risk information were the commercial labels faster (p<0.0001). The gains in speed made in high/moderate risk information were not attributable trade-off. Mock labels were at least as accurate as their commercial counterparts; low and high risk yielded no sign of significant difference when mock and commercial were compared and participants were significantly more accurate with questions requiring medium risk information for the mock labels.
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Title: DEVELOPING A DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR PACKAGING POSTPONEMENT
Creator: Yuan, Tingyu
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Postponement refers to a strategy which intentionally delays supply chain activities until the demand is known. Postponement decreases safety stock and the holding cost, while also incurring some additional costs. The main focus of this study is packaging postponement which is recommended if only the packaging of products destined at multiple retailers are different. This thesis summarizes research that exclusively studied packaging postponement and presents a decision support system that...
Show morePostponement refers to a strategy which intentionally delays supply chain activities until the demand is known. Postponement decreases safety stock and the holding cost, while also incurring some additional costs. The main focus of this study is packaging postponement which is recommended if only the packaging of products destined at multiple retailers are different. This thesis summarizes research that exclusively studied packaging postponement and presents a decision support system that determines which postponement strategy, i.e., full, partial (tailored), or no postponement, is optimal. The decision support system is a mixed-integer nonlinear programming model with the objective of minimizing total costs, including the holding cost and the additional cost, and is constrained by the limited capacity of packaging production at a distribution center and the integrity of variables. In this research, the impact of various factors on optimal packaging postponement strategy is also analyzed. To sum up, this research provides a collection of research papers that exclusively studied packaging postponement and presents a decision support model for packaging postponement.
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Title: EFFECT OF ALUMINUM OXIDE ON THE FUNCTIONAL PROPERTIES OF CHITOSAN FILMS
Creator: Konda, Akhil Sai
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Chitosan is the one of the most abundant naturally occurring polymer in the world and has applications in a lot of different fields, including flexible packaging films. Aluminum oxide in the form of nanoparticle have good mechanical strength, barrier, thermal and antimicrobial properties which, when added to a polymer, can improve its properties significantly and increase its applications considerably. This research attempts to develop a biodegradable film with chitosan added with aluminum...
Show moreChitosan is the one of the most abundant naturally occurring polymer in the world and has applications in a lot of different fields, including flexible packaging films. Aluminum oxide in the form of nanoparticle have good mechanical strength, barrier, thermal and antimicrobial properties which, when added to a polymer, can improve its properties significantly and increase its applications considerably. This research attempts to develop a biodegradable film with chitosan added with aluminum oxide and study its effect on the functional properties of the chitosan film. The functional properties taken into consideration were tensile strength, % elongation at break, water vapor permeability (WVP), oxygen permeability (OP), antimicrobial and thermal properties. There can be potential novel applications in packaging if these composite films have improved requisite properties. The oxygen permeability of the films was not affected after adding aluminum oxide and decreased only by 6% after adding 2% Al2O3. On other hand, the water vapor permeability values increased significantly (p<0.05) by around 30% after adding 2% Al2O3, which is not desired. The tensile strength decreased from 40 MPa to 36 MPa and the % elongation at break reduced significantly (p<0.05) from 98% to 83%. There was no change observed in the thermal properties of the films, and there was no inhibition zone seen when tested for its antimicrobial properties after the addition of aluminum oxide. These results suggest that the properties of this composite material formed using chitosan with aluminum oxide were not affected in some aspects such as tensile strength and oxygen barrier property; and additional work is required to conclude the hypothesis of generating a composite chitosan film with aluminum oxide as nanoparticles for improved properties.
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Title: THE VALUE OF HABITAT DATA FOR CONSERVING STREAMS WITH CHANGING CLIMATE : PROMOTING GREATER USE FOR MORE EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT
Creator: Betances, Samantha J.
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: North America’s rivers and streams support a diversity of fish species that provide significant ecological, socioeconomic, cultural, and spiritual benefits, and the quality and quantity of habitat in streams directly supports fish diversity. Because rivers are products of the landscapes they drain, features of the landscape like land use, geology, and climate control habitat. Based on these relationships, it stands that anticipated changes in climate will lead to changes in stream fishes...
Show moreNorth America’s rivers and streams support a diversity of fish species that provide significant ecological, socioeconomic, cultural, and spiritual benefits, and the quality and quantity of habitat in streams directly supports fish diversity. Because rivers are products of the landscapes they drain, features of the landscape like land use, geology, and climate control habitat. Based on these relationships, it stands that anticipated changes in climate will lead to changes in stream fishes through changes in habitat. While natural resource management agencies collect habitat data to help conserve streams into the future, stream habitat data are not always used as intended, in part because some managers may have an incomplete understanding of interactions between rivers and the landscapes they drain. To fully address the impacts of climate change on stream fishes, managers must better understand how climate affects stream habitat and incorporate these concepts into management decision-making processes. This thesis addresses that need. In Chapter 1, we identify ways to increase use of stream habitat data by natural resource management agencies to better conserve fishes from current and future stressors. In Chapter 2, we investigate influences of multiple landscape factors on physical stream habitat, including climate factors. Collectively, outcomes of this research offer managers information and strategies for using stream habitat data to conserve stream habitats and the fishes they support with changing climate.
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Title: Thermal Characterization and Crystal Growth of the Germanium Telluride-Tin Telluride System
Creator: Levental, Gill
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Thermoelectric materials, which can create an electrical current from a temperature gradient within the material, are an important means of generating electrical power in very remote and harsh environments. However, their deployment in terrestrial environments has been limited, due to two primary factors: the high cost of thermoelectric materials and their low energy conversion efficiency- too low for economic use in almost all applications. One method by which thermoelectric material energy...
Show moreThermoelectric materials, which can create an electrical current from a temperature gradient within the material, are an important means of generating electrical power in very remote and harsh environments. However, their deployment in terrestrial environments has been limited, due to two primary factors: the high cost of thermoelectric materials and their low energy conversion efficiency- too low for economic use in almost all applications. One method by which thermoelectric material energy conversion efficiency may be increased is by reducing material lattice thermal conductivity, or a material’s ability to conduct heat through the vibrations of its crystalline atomic lattice, which are called phonons. In support of that objective, this work presents a characterization of fundamental material properties that influence the lattice thermal conductivity of the germanium telluride-tin telluride (Ge1-xSnxTe) system, a promising thermoelectric material. The properties characterized include composition-dependent coefficients of thermal expansion, speeds of sound within the material, and elastic moduli. These were characterized using high-temperature X-ray diffraction, resonant ultrasound spectroscopy, and high-pressure X-ray diffraction, respectively. This work also presents an account of the synthesis of bulk single-crystal ingots of several compositions within the Ge1-xSnxTe system, which will be used for an in-depth investigation of Ge1-xSnxTe phonon characteristics by collaborators using inelastic neutron scattering.
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Title: CHARACTERIZING THE SOCIAL GAP IN UTILITY-SCALE SOLAR ENERGY
Creator: Crawford, Jessica Alex
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Many consider utility-scale photovoltaic solar power to be an essential component of decarbonizing the United States power sector and mitigating climate change. This technology is well accepted by the public in general surveys, yet often faces local resistance during project siting. This phenomenon is known as the “social gap.” Using social gap theory from the wind energy literature as a foundation, this study examines the causes of and offers recommendations for addressing the solar social...
Show moreMany consider utility-scale photovoltaic solar power to be an essential component of decarbonizing the United States power sector and mitigating climate change. This technology is well accepted by the public in general surveys, yet often faces local resistance during project siting. This phenomenon is known as the “social gap.” Using social gap theory from the wind energy literature as a foundation, this study examines the causes of and offers recommendations for addressing the solar social gap in Michigan. The study relied on 33 semi-structured interviews with citizens, government officials, and developers across four Michigan communities, each facing a prospective utility-scale solar project. Through thematic analysis, I show that the solar social gap can be attributed to both a vocal minority that dominated community sentiment and project proposals that failed to meet the community’s standards for acceptable development. The gap was exacerbated by the presence of organized opposition groups as well as decision-makers relying on ineffective public processes to engage citizens. This research makes it clear that government officials and developers need to adopt practices that enhance community representation, process transparency, and decision-influence. Though decision-making strategies are not the only factor that affects community acceptance, implementing improved procedures could help close the solar social gap.
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Title: EXPLORING THE IMPACT OF BIOGAS QUANTITY AND QUALITY IN DIFFERENT DIGESTER TYPES WITH VARIATIONS IN TEMPERATURE
Creator: Barrios Arosemena, Maria Ines
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: The energy sector in the U.S. has been pushing for policies such as the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) to mitigate the impacts of GHG emissions. Biogas from anaerobic digesters is a viable form of renewable energy, due to its CH4 composition, it can be used as a replacement for power and heat generation or upgraded and sold as biomethane. This study analyzed the effects of temperature in biogas quality and quantity of dairy cow manure in order to compare two main systems, a CSTR and a...
Show moreThe energy sector in the U.S. has been pushing for policies such as the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) to mitigate the impacts of GHG emissions. Biogas from anaerobic digesters is a viable form of renewable energy, due to its CH4 composition, it can be used as a replacement for power and heat generation or upgraded and sold as biomethane. This study analyzed the effects of temperature in biogas quality and quantity of dairy cow manure in order to compare two main systems, a CSTR and a covered lagoon. A biochemical methane potential (BMP) test was performed to determine material biodegradability of dairy cow manure with respect to temperature. The results show that all samples are anaerobically biodegradable with samples yielding 86, 168, 440, 475 and 448 L biogas per kg initial VS for 15°C, non-mixed; 20°C, non-mixed; 30°C, non-mixed; 39°C, non-mixed; and 39°C, mixed, respectively. The BMP results demonstrated so significant difference between 30°C, non-mixed; 39°C, non-mixed; and 39°C, mixed, respectively. In addition, the effects of psychrophilic, unregulated, and mesophilic conditions were tested in small scale lab pilot digesters. Results show that mesophilic condition yielded the highest cumulative biogas production, while the psychrophilic and unregulated conditions presented higher methane yield. A life cycle analysis was performed to compare two popular anaerobic digestion systems, a CTSR and a covered lagoon, versus current manure management systems for dairy cow manure. The LCA revealed that both systems have less environmental burdens when compared to current waste management systems and a CSTR has less environmental burdens than a covered lagoon.
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Title: Analysis of Positional Bias Within Multiple Stimulus Without Replacement Preference Assessments
Creator: Miranda, David Ray Gutierrez
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Positional bias is a pattern of responding to a specific location that can be influenced by response effort and/or prior learning history. Within the contexts of preference assessments, positional bias create additional variables that make ascertaining true preferences within a preference assessment more difficult. Prior research on positional bias within preference assessments have focused primarily on its use in paired stimulus assessments due to the complex nature of the multiple-stimulus...
Show morePositional bias is a pattern of responding to a specific location that can be influenced by response effort and/or prior learning history. Within the contexts of preference assessments, positional bias create additional variables that make ascertaining true preferences within a preference assessment more difficult. Prior research on positional bias within preference assessments have focused primarily on its use in paired stimulus assessments due to the complex nature of the multiple-stimulus without replacement preference assessment. The present study is a secondary analysis that utilized four different methods to measure side bias and center bias for 19 young children with autism spectrum disorders. Results indicate that participants had varying degrees of biased responding but collectively engaged in little biased responding. Present study includes discussion of general patterns of responding, an analysis of the four methodologies, and general recommendations for the application of these methodologies.
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Title: Localized Habitat Use by Humboldt’s Flying Squirrels and Dusky-Footed Woodrats in Northern California
Creator: Quiles Delgado, Tessaliz
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Primary prey for the protected subspecies California spotted owls (Strix occidentalis occidentalis) include dusky-footed woodrats (Neotoma fuscipes) (DFW) and Humboldt’s flying squirrels (Glaucomys oregonensis) (HFSQ). The goal of my thesis is to describe fine-scale habitat use of DFW and HFSQ in industrially-managed timberlands in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. From 2018 to 2019, I live trapped and tagged 12 HFSQ and 31 DFW. From this sample, I fit five DFW and two HFSQ with...
Show morePrimary prey for the protected subspecies California spotted owls (Strix occidentalis occidentalis) include dusky-footed woodrats (Neotoma fuscipes) (DFW) and Humboldt’s flying squirrels (Glaucomys oregonensis) (HFSQ). The goal of my thesis is to describe fine-scale habitat use of DFW and HFSQ in industrially-managed timberlands in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. From 2018 to 2019, I live trapped and tagged 12 HFSQ and 31 DFW. From this sample, I fit five DFW and two HFSQ with radio transmitters (VHF) to assess fine-scale habitat use. I focused trapping on forest patches with mature and decadent trees, which are common habitat features associated with HFSQ and DFW occurrence. In Chapter One, I describe factors affecting trapping success of DFW and HFSQ. I used trapping success as an index of habitat use by prey, where higher trapping success equated to greater localized use by target species. I found a positive correlation between trap nights and capture probability for HFSQ. For DFW, I found capture probability positively correlated with trap nights and precipitation. In Chapter Two, I describe localized habitat features associated with HFSQ and DFW radio telemetry locations. I compared forest vegetation structure and composition in the immediate vicinity (within 5 m) of daytime locations used by HFSQ and DFW to more distal (>35m) vegetation conditions to determine if micro-forest structures corresponded to HFSQ and DFW use. I found species – level differences in percent ground and basal area where dusky-footed woodrats used areas with significantly more forest litter and shrub cover while Humboldt’s flying squirrels used sites with larger diameter trees.
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Title: Phylogeny of Astylopsis Casey (Coleoptera : Cerambycidae) species and patterns of host use
Creator: Camerato, Ellen M.
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Cerambycid (longhorn) beetles are diverse in their morphology and life history traits, but all share the common trait of being larval plant-borers. The larvae bore into and develop inside various plant tissues thus they can potentially cause significant economic and ecological damage, especially when transported to non-native localities. There is little empirical data on cerambycid life history traits that are essential in understanding their ecological and economic effects. Astylopsis Casey ...
Show moreCerambycid (longhorn) beetles are diverse in their morphology and life history traits, but all share the common trait of being larval plant-borers. The larvae bore into and develop inside various plant tissues thus they can potentially cause significant economic and ecological damage, especially when transported to non-native localities. There is little empirical data on cerambycid life history traits that are essential in understanding their ecological and economic effects. Astylopsis Casey (Lamiinae: Acanthocinini) is an eastern North American genus of six species. Host preference varies greatly among the species, including both angiosperms and gymnosperms. I used morphological characters and molecular data to reconstruct phylogenies of Astylopsis to test the hypothesis that host plant use among Astylopsis species is conserved. I constructed phylogenies using partial COI and CAD DNA sequences from Astylopsis species and outgroups using parsimony methods. Astylopsis collaris, A. macula, A. sexguttata, and A. arcuata were monophyletic in both COI and combined gene phylogenies, with the genus also exhibiting monophyly in the combined gene tree. Evidence of host shift from angiosperms to gymnosperms in some species was also observed. These results confirm current taxonomic separations among the four species and their outgroups and provide important host use information. No conclusions could be drawn regarding DNA variation in association with geographic locality. These findings will inform future studies expanding the molecular dataset for Astylopsis with additional genes (arginine kinase, 28S, and EF1-α) and species (Astylopsis perplexa and A. fascipennis).
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Title: AN EXPLORATORY TEST OF FAR-RIGHT EXTREMISTS PROTECTIVE AND PUTATIVE (RISK) FACTORS; IN BOTH VIOLENT AND NON-VIOLENT OFFENDERS USING THE EXTREMIST CRIME DATABASE
Creator: Lindsay, Lance Jhordan Asquith
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: ABSTRACTAN EXPLORATORY TEST OF FAR-RIGHT EXTREMISTS PROTECTIVE AND PUTATIVE (RISK) FACTORS; IN BOTH VIOLENT AND NON-VIOLENT OFFENDERS USING THE EXTREMIST CRIME DATABASEByLance Jhordan Asquith. LindsayResearch in the field of extremism studies have steadily progressed as it emerged from the main field of terrorism studies. This progression has gone from defining terrorism and its root causes; to measuring cognitive and behavioral indicators which may predict the likelihood of radicalization...
Show moreABSTRACTAN EXPLORATORY TEST OF FAR-RIGHT EXTREMISTS PROTECTIVE AND PUTATIVE (RISK) FACTORS; IN BOTH VIOLENT AND NON-VIOLENT OFFENDERS USING THE EXTREMIST CRIME DATABASEByLance Jhordan Asquith. LindsayResearch in the field of extremism studies have steadily progressed as it emerged from the main field of terrorism studies. This progression has gone from defining terrorism and its root causes; to measuring cognitive and behavioral indicators which may predict the likelihood of radicalization toward extremism. This comes after tedious debates about typology and causes of terrorism in the field, there are still challenges to overcome as most research relies on open-source data. Through efforts to make this field more established the Extremist Crime Database (ECDB) stands out as a standard for this pursuit having some of the best open-source data and widespread usage. The database captures extremist violence from 1990 to 2014 and is a relational database that links event level data to individual offender level data. This database created by Freilich and colleagues (2014) has resulted in the ability to conduct quantitative analysis beyond descriptive statistics. The main question: are there differences in these risk and protective factors that lead to non-violent or violent outcomes of offenders in this sample? These nuances in the frequency of factors may explain why an individual followed the offending trajectory and if these differences explain offending.
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