bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Quantifying the effect of local shelter on tree growth patterns within upper treeline ecotones in the Bighorn Mountans of Wyoming.
Authors:   , Mackley Nathan
Published: April 2021

On Bruce Mountain in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming, the upper treeline ecotone has advanced upslope since 1970 and to the highest extent in at least the past 210 years. However, the mechanisms facilitating tree establishment and treeline advance during this time were distinctly different between north and south-facing slope aspects. Tree regeneration on the south-facing slope was predominantly confined to microsites in the sheltered lee of boulders where more shade, moisture retention, and protection from the wind exist. Trees on the north-facing slope colonized open alpine tundra and facilitated continued regeneration clustered in close proximity to these trees. Thus, while patterns of tree establishment and treeline advance are well understood, it remains unknown whether differences in tree growth exist between these two sites. This is relevant as other studies suggest that favorable climatic conditions for tree establishment do not correspond with periods of high annual growth rates for trees at upper treeline. The goal of this research was to determine whether distinct patterns of tree establishment influence annual growth rates of these trees. To address this, I calculated basal area increment (BAI) for all trees positioned above the upper forest border. Surprisingly, annual growth rates and corresponding BAI values were almost identical between sites since 1970. These results suggest that tree establishment may be more of a critical limiting factor to upper treeline advance than tree growth because consistent growth patterns were found irrespective of spatial pattern on opposite slope aspects. From spatial pattern analysis, tree establishment on the northern slope adheres to the known biological preferences for each of the treeline species; while the pattern of establishment on the southern slope is overridden by the availability of favorable sites (i.e. in the lee of boulders) providing needed shade and moisture retention. As the treeline is a temperature and moisture-limited ecotone, there are observed differences along the elevational gradient within the site and between species that grow open and have a higher drought tolerance compared to those that rely on shade and neighboring trees.
Development of a fibroblast growth factor 21 assay
Authors:   , Tamassia Gabriela V.
Published: April 2021

Obesity and diabetes play a major role in many diseases prevalent in our current society. Fibroblast Growth Factor 21 (FGF21) is a recently discovered hormone that has potential for therapeutic treatment of obesity and diabetes. It acts as a hormone in times of metabolic stress and is shown to stimulate hepatic fatty acid oxidation, ketogenesis, induce weight loss, allow for sustained decrease in plasma glucose and triglycrides, and decrease the growth hormone response. Obese or diabetic individuals often have higher than normal amounts of circulating FGF21; consequently, they may be considered FGF21 resistant. It is then advantageous to have an assay to measure FGF21 that will allow us to study FGF21 further. It is also important to study FGF21 in various livestock species for potential biomarkers, or as indicators of carcass quality that could prove to advance further research. We have developed a working FGF21 assay using an amplified luminescent proximity homogeneous assay (AlphaLISA). It is a homogeneous, no-wash immunoassay with high sensitivity and wide dynamic range. It is a bead based technology that brings two antibodies near each other allowing for an unstable singlet oxygen to trigger a downstream cascade of chemical events leading to a sharp intense chemiluminescent emission that can be read on an EnVision machine. The assay was set up using a 'sandwich' design with guinea pig or rabbit anti-bovine FGF21 antibodies attached to the acceptor beads and biotinylated rabbit anti-bovine FGF21 antibodies x attached to a streptavidin coated donor bead. The assay has a working range from 0.2-200 ng/ml. Standard curves in serum from bovine, porcine, rabbit, rat, ewe, fetal bovine has been conducted and assay conditions were optimized for each. Manipulations of the sera were necessary in order to get functional curves. These included diluting it 2 fold or more, depending on the species, and increasing incubation temperatures. The assay can function using both serum and plasma.
A general method for sizing battery energy storage systems for use in mitigating photovoltaic flicker
Authors:   , Wills William Noah
Published: April 2021

A method for sizing battery energy storage (BES) systems for use in mitigating voltage flicker caused by solar intermittency in photovoltaic generation was developed. The method creates a "design day" from existing solar data and designs the power and energy requirements for a BES system that can help a photovoltaic facility mitigate flicker caused by solar activity associated with the design day. An economic analysis of lead-acid and lithium-ion options for the BES was also developed. The method was then applied to a proposed photovoltaic project in the Midwestern United States.
Hybrid atomistic-continuum simulation of nucleate boiling with domain re-decomposition method
Authors:   , Zhang Bo
Published: April 2021

The bubble nucleation plays a pivotal role in the boiling process. In order to have a comprehensive understanding of this phenomenon, a critical consideration on fluid-solid interaction at atomistic level is imperative. However, traditional Molecular Dynamics simulation requires prohibited amount of computational efforts to accomplish a full scale study. Hybrid atomistic-continuum method is a promising solution for this problem. It limits the atomistic region to a small scale where detailed information is preferable, while using continuum method for the rest of the domain. Nevertheless, none of the current hybrid method is suitable for solving a rapid expanding system like the bubble nucleation. In this study, a domain re-decomposition hybrid atomistic-continuum method is developed to conduct a multiscale/multiphase investigation on the bubble nucleation. In addition to the conventional coupling scheme, this method is capable to re-partition the molecular and continuum domain once it is necessary during the simulation. That is, the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Molecular Dynamics (MD) regions are interchangeable on the fly such that the bubble is absolutely confined within MD region. Giving the fact that accurate modeling of interface tracking and phase change are still problematic for continuum mechanics on microscale, our coupling method directly avoids these issues since CFD domain takes care of a single-phase flow while the molecular domain simulates the bubble growth. With this idea in mind, this approach enables us to investigate the nucleate boiling on nanostructured surface with higher resolution than complete continuum mechanic model based simulation. In the present result, it is observed that bubble grows at a curved surface imposed with a constant super heat after nucleate boiling occurs. Meanwhile, the energy flux flows from solid to fluid is measured during the entire process. It is believed that this coupling method is very promising in studying nano-bubble related multiphase problems on microscale.
Geographic inequities in local higher education opportunities? : identifying college deserts with critical GIS
Authors:   , Krause Christopher
Published: April 2021

In a world where one's future is heavily impacted by having postsecondary education, access to college is a pertinent research topic. Access is a widely researched topic, but only recently has college access been studied specifically. This study proposes a geographic information systems based methodology for quantifying college access at multiple spatial scales. This methodology was implemented with the Python programming language and ArcGIS. A sample of six metropolitan statistical areas were identified and analyzed using the developed methodology. Within this sample, college access varied primarily by socio-economic status although some variation between race/ethnicity was identified. Further research is needed to assess whether these trends are generalizable. Quantification of college access will aid policy-makers to prepare reforms to reduce the inequity of college access.
Gender dynamics in the advertising industry : the interplay of workplace culture and career advancement
Authors:   , Kuc Kiersten E.
Published: April 2021

This thesis addresses a central research problem related to gender in the advertising industry. It outlines existing literature from various scholarly traditions, including gender studies, consumer behavior, evolutionary psychology and sociology fields. This report bridges theories ranging from feminist literary theory to tokenism, gender-role congruence, situated learning and homophily theories. It further summarizes a qualitative methodological research approach consisting of in-depth interviews with 15 female executives in the advertising industry. The study concludes with an examination of factors that contribute to, or hinder female career advancement to executive positions in the advertising industry. It further offers critical determinants that influence women to remain in the industry when others leave for client-side or other opportunities.
Lightweight IoT security middleware for end-to-end cloud-fog communication
Authors:   , Mukherjee Bidyut
Published: April 2021

IoT (Internet of Things) based smart devices such as sensors and wearables have been actively used in edge clouds i.e., 'fogs' to provide critical data during scenarios ranging from e.g., disaster response to in-home healthcare. Since these devices typically operate in resource constrained environments at the network-edge, end-to-end security protocols have to be lightweight while also being robust, flexible and energy-efficient for data import/ export to/from cloud platforms. In this thesis, we present the design and implementation of a lightweight IoT security middleware for end-to-end cloud-fog communications involving smart devices and cloud-hosted applications. The novelty of our middleware is in its ability to cope with intermittent network connectivity as well as device constraints in terms of computational power, memory and network bandwidth. To provide security during intermittent network conditions, we use a Session Resumption concept in order to reuse encrypted sessions from recent past, if a recently disconnected device wants to resume a prior connection that was interrupted. The primary design goal is to not only secure IoT device communications, but also to maintain security compatibility with an existing core cloud infrastructure. Experiment results show how our middleware implementation provides fast and resource-aware security by leveraging static pre-shared keys (PSKs) for a variety of IoT-based application requirements. Thus, our work lays a foundation for promoting increased adoption of static properties such as Static PSKs that can be highly suitable for handling the trade-offs in high security or faster data transfer requirements within IoT-based applications.
Analysis of the dynamics of the system of nonlinear differential equations describing a tubular reactor
Authors:   , Adebayo Busuyi Ojo
Published: April 2021

A characterization of the solution(s) of nonlinear boundary value problems (BVPs) arising from a class of chemical reactions occurring in a adiabatic tubular reactor when the mass and thermal Peclet numbers are different is performed. Results show that for large Peclet numbers and activation energy, and for sufficiently small Damkohler number and reactor length, the solution to the BVP is unique. While for small Peclet numbers and activation energy, and for large Damkohler number and reactor length, there exist at least three solutions to the BVP. The conclusion is that the number of solution (s) for the BVP depends on the choice of parameter values. Likewise, the first set of parameter values listed above models the adiabatic plug flow reactor, while the other parameter set models the adiabatic continuous stirred tank reactor.
Field pennycress management in upstate Missouri
Authors:   , Bishop Logan Harris
Published: April 2021

Field pennycress has the potential to serve as a cover and oilseed crop. A seed oil content of 25 to 36 percent has created interest in pennycress domestication. This research evaluated management strategies for growing field pennycress. The most desirable seeding date and method for field pennycress was broadcast overseeding pennycress at the R5-R6 reproductive stage of corn. There is no interaction between corn residual herbicides evaluated and field pennycress establishment. Soybean following field pennycress had similar or increased yields compared to soybean where there was no pennycress. Harness, Zidua, and Dual II Magnum at half of the labeled rate provided some crop safety to field pennycress while controlling some winter annual and early germinating summer annual weeds. Similarly, Sencor at one fourth and Spartan at half of the labeled amount provided control of some winter and early 07 annual weeds while maintaining suitable field pennycress crop safety. When used as a harvest aid, Gramoxone, Reglone, Sharpen, Liberty, Spartan, and Valor controlled field pennycress and weeds that were present when applied 4 days before harvest as desiccants. A tank mixture of Liberty with Sharpen also had good control of all species within three days after application in 2017. No negative effects of harvest aid treatments on pennycress germination were found. Tillage and residue removal both increased field pennycress yield. Prescribed burning of wheat residue before planting or tillage increased yield in this one-year experiment. Residue and tillage management will be important in future field pennycress research. This research has identified potential seeding date, pre- and postemergence herbicide safety to field pennycress as well as desiccant effectiveness before harvest, and tillage and residue management of field pennycress planted following wheat. Further research is needed to determine the best management strategies for growing field pennycress commercially with improved cultivars as an oilseed crop in the future.
Transaction costs and market thinness in crop byproduct markets
Authors:   , Bock Bryce Nicholas
Published: April 2021

Studies in crop byproduct literature have looked more at the nutrient impacts, rather than analytical cost implications of crop byproducts in livestock feed rations. Thin market studies stated the lack of product volume and player count in a market leads to transaction costs such as low market information, which leads to poor liquidity and inaccurate price discovery. This study compares the byproduct markets of dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS), corn gluten feed (CGF), wheat middlings, soybean hulls, and rice bran, and the more mainstream feed options of corn and soybean meal (SBM). Through a series of interview responses, Chebyshev's inequality calculations, and regression work, this thesis addresses questions on crop byproduct market transaction costs, market size, contracting habits, and price influences. The thesis findings indicate that as markets thin, contracting frequency and substitute product purchasing increase, with byproduct prices shaped by the prices of corn, soybean meal, and substitute byproduct feed ingredients. In addition, this thesis finds that efficient handling and information technologies most effectively manage the transaction costs stemming from critical nutrient, transportation, storage, consistency, and compatibility issues in crop byproduct transactions.
Accessibility and social responsibility : exploring barriers to access on news websites for people who are d/Deaf or hard of hearing
Authors:   , Conti Genevieve
Published: April 2021

The purpose of this research is to identify barriers to accessing online news for people who are d/Deaf or hard of hearing. Drawing from social responsibility theory, this research also seeks to understand the idea that media should provide content that allows citizens to be informed by exploring how participants believe accessibility barriers on news websites affect their ability to consume news. Looking to critical disability theory, which emphasizes seeking input from oppressed groups about their own oppression, the study used observation and semi-structured interviews with nine mid-Missouri residents who have hearing loss. Common barriers were identified, including a lack of text alternatives accompanying videos, insufficient captions, unlabeled content, auto-playing videos, background noise and issues with volume. The degree to which these barriers affected respondents depended on the severity and type of their hearing loss. Findings suggest barriers encountered affect the ability of people who are d/Deaf or hard of hearing to access news, and that they might not be fully aware of how or how much it affects them. These findings point to the idea that media should more directly consider the needs of people who are d/Deaf or hard of hearing when developing news websites and web content, by seeking to understand the many ways in which hearing loss can affect website usability.
Numeric modeling of a micro-scale differential thermal calorimeter for the purpose of cryopreservation
Authors:   , Han Han
Published: April 2021

Cryopreservation requires biological material to be stored at temperatures well below the freezing point of water. During the process of cryopreservation, the cooling rate should be carefully chosen to avoid cell damage due to the unbalanced pressure and the solution effect. Cellular thermal analysis that determines the thermodynamics properties of a micro-scale biological material is necessary for a successful cryopreservation procedure. A micro-scale differential thermal analyzer (uDTA) was previously developed to obtain accurate thermal properties measurements of freezing cells. However, the thermal signal needs to be properly interpreted in terms of how much ice is created. Also, the future cooling profile needed to experimentally control the cooling rate needs to be developed. So a 3D numeric model was built in STAR CCM+ to study the temperature change of the water droplets while being frozen by a thermoelectric module. The heat flux profile for the boundary condition was scaled to accommodate the heat spread effect. The numeric model solutions successfully matched the temperature distribution results from the experiments. By using additional heat flux to accommodate the heat spread effect, the STAR CCM+ model generated relatively accurate results on a smaller geometry within a very short computational time. This is a big improvement compared with other high fidelity computational simulation models used to solve similar problems. After the 3D model was calibrated, the same STAR CCM+ model was used to predict the temperature distribution of different sizes of water droplets during the freezing process. This model allowed us to better understand the temperature distribution of a water droplet when the water droplet was being cooled until frozen. The modeling technique developed in this research will help establish the required cooling rates needed to control ice formation and establish thermodynamic properties of cell freezing solutions.
Combating structural racialization in the agriculture industry : a case study of Hmong social capital and collective entrepreneurship in the Twin Cities, MN region
Authors:   , Hill Lindsay M
Published: April 2021

Throughout the United States, the agriculture industry has witnessed a demographic shift in its farming population- becoming older, more white, and dominated by men. It, therefore, is imperative that we seek to understand the causes and implications of this trend, especially for populations that may be excluded from market entry in this industry. Drawing on the literatures of ethnic enclaves, social networks, social capital, collective action, and collective entrepreneurship, this research project conducts a case study of the impact of structural racialization in the U.S. agriculture industry on the entrepreneurial opportunities facing the Hmong community in the Twin Cities, Minnesota region. It finds socially disadvantaged farmers, like the Hmong growers of the Twin Cities, face significant structural challenges in engaging in agricultural production on a small-scale. Additionally, this research argues the presence of an entrepreneurial organization working in pursuit of collective action and cooperative behavior is essential to combating the industry's structural challenges and promoting the success of the individual entrepreneurs of color who operate within the mainstream economy.
Art for our sakes: An analysis of arts coverage at city and regional magazines
Authors:   , Jackson Christine Kay
Published: April 2021

The purpose of this research was to better understand how decisions about arts coverage are made at city and regional magazines and the value that these stories have to both the publications they appear in and the communities they are targeted toward. City and regional magazines, which cover specific areas and have more intimate relationships with their readers than, say, a national consumer magazine or arts periodical, were chosen because of the unique opportunity afforded to them by their position as a cross between the community-oriented city newspaper and the glossy, in-depth monthly magazine. In discussing the arts, their value, and the ways in which they are covered with arts and culture editors and top editors at magazines from around the country, this research found value in arts journalism for city magazines, both in the fulfillment of these publications' missions and the enrichment of their communities. This research approached the topic through the use of gatekeeping theory, which explains how media messages travel from their producers to their consumers.
Online feminist publications as social enterprises: Diversifying revenue streams through corporate social responsibility
Authors:   , Jambulatova Kamila
Published: April 2021

This qualitative study examined how feminist online publications can adopt social enterprise business models. The focus group analysis of the audiences of Refinery29, Bustle, HelloGiggles, and Jezebel first explored the audience's outlook on the commodification of feminism. The focus group also considered plausible ways of adopting social enterprise initiatives to diversify revenue streams of these publications, continue promoting gender equality, and to better establish the images of the publications. During four focus groups, twenty total participants shared a variety of feedback, including their opinions on the commodification of the feminist movement and the commodification of editorial content. They talked about how their purchasing decisions are affected by their desire to contribute to the social good. Other themes identified during the study were white feminism, the trivialization of feminist content, and the importance of companies' policies.
Natural and synthetic materials for the regeneration of osseous tissue
Authors:   , Josselet Mary Allison
Published: April 2021

Bone is a complex tissue with many regulation mechanisms which can be taken advantage of through the release of simple signaling molecules delivered via a biodegradable material like a hydrogel. Hydrogels are water swollen networks that have similar properties to biological tissues. Synthetic hydrogels have problems with toxic leaching and commonly being non-biodegradable, however their properties are more easily controlled. Natural hydrogels tend to be weak and unpredictable under biological conditions, but are typically more biocompatible. This review compares three synthetic hydrogels to three natural hydrogels discussing each composition's strengths and weaknesses. Experimentally, our goal was to create a biocompatible hydrogel that can withstand the forces that would be placed on it if injected into osteoporotic bone.
Queen Anne's revenge : a systems analysis of Blackbeard's flagship
Authors:   , Kircher Kenneth
Published: April 2021

The goal of this study was to examine the life history of the pirate flagship Queen Anne's Revenge using a functional systems approach to observe how the ship affected and was affected by the macrosystems operating around her and the microsystems operating within her. To this end, I examined the archaeological and historical records relating to the ship and divided her life history into four categories: privateer, slave transport, pirate ship, and shipwreck. For each category, I observed or inferred the natural and human-directed changes that the ship experienced and assessed their impact on the internal functionality of the ship and on the wider cultural systems with which she interacted. Using this approach, I was able to improve my understanding of the ship herself and the culture of the period in which she operated. I am now able to draw inferences and form hypotheses regarding the unknown original construction of the ship that became Queen Anne's Revenge and the cultural factors that led to the rise and prevalence of piracy during her use-life (ca. 1690-1720). I hope to expand upon this study and test these hypotheses in my future research.
Behind the screens: How magazines organize for digital success
Authors:   , Lamb Heather
Published: April 2021

Change has dominated the media landscape for nearly two decades as digital content creation and delivery mushroomed from the work of secluded upstarts to that of society-influencing giants. Magazine publishers have found varying levels of success in this digital age. Some have thrived; others have folded. This research aims to determine factors that fuel digital success by examining the internal practices of three successful magazine digital operations. Data was gathered through interviews of editorial staff within the digital organizations of Better Homes and Gardens, The Hollywood Reporter and New York, and analyzed using thematic content analysis and applying a strategic entrepreneurship framework. Most striking to come out of this research was the importance of people. These magazine divisions thrived due to passionate, smart employees and visionary, involved leaders. This builds upon previous research in the field about the value of a company's human resources and effective leadership. Also interesting was that success was defined broadly--in part as quantitative measures, but also as continually pushing forward, as effective teamwork and as supporting the brand's value in consumers' lives. Experimentation was part of the work culture, and also was built into the nature of serving content to audiences in a digital space. And through it all, brand identity was intertwined in almost every facet of the work, and it fueled strategic goals and employees' passion.
Identifying bioactive phytochemicals in spent coffee grounds for cosmetic application through global metabolite analysis
Authors:   , Park Jihyun
Published: April 2021

Annually, more than 6 million tons of spent coffee grounds (SCG) are generated worldwide. The present study explores the possible use of spent coffee grounds as the raw materials for cosmetics industry. The main objective of this project are to investigate the chemical profiles and identify the bioactive compounds for cosmetics application through global metabolite analysis. The compounds extracted from SCG of Ethiopia coffee (Yirgacheffe), Costa Rican coffee (Tarrazu) and Hawaiian coffee (Kona) were analyzed by ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS). The ion chromatograms were submitted to XCMS platform operated by Center for Metabolomics at the Scripps Research Institute. The peak detection, peak grouping, spectra extraction, and retention alignment were processed by XCMS. The spectra were annotated and the compounds were identified and categorized by integration with METLIN, the world's largest metabolite database. Multivariate and univariate statistical analysis including PCA and cloud-plot were performed by XCMS to compare the chemical profiles between the three coffee cultivars. These analyses indicated that each cultivar showed a specific cluster. Over 200 compounds related to anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-tyrosinase and anti-tumor for skin care application were identified by XCMS. Therefore, the presence of bioactive compounds in SCG makes it a potential source of raw material for cosmetic application (e.g., anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, skin-whiting, and anti-aging).
Framing of immigrants and refugees : a content analysis of mainstream and partisan news coverage of immigration
Authors:   , Reed Haley
Published: April 2021

This study examined the content that shaped people's perspective about Muslim immigration during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. A quantitative content analysis was performed to identify the primary and secondary frames in the sample of content and to identify if the members of the Islamophobia network were used as sources or mentioned in each selected story. The news articles with the highest engagement on Facebook about Muslim immigration from the first GOP debate on Aug. 5, 2015 to the inauguration of President Trump on Jan. 27, 2017 were analyzed using a content analysis tool, Buzzsumo. 50 news stories from 10 news outlets were analyzed. The news outlets consisted of mainstream, right-leaning and left-leaning partisan news outlets. Results showed that right-leaning news outlets were more likely to frame immigrants and refugees as a risk to Western society and America, while left-leaning news outlets framed immigrants and refugees in news stories regarding their human rights. The members of the Islamophobia network were not found as sources in the sample of content. Further research found the presence of the Islamophobia network in news articles that received lower Facebook engagement than articles included in this study. A call for further research between the connection of the Islamophobia network and politicians concludes this study.
Thermal transport of nanoenergetics in composite materials
Authors:   , Riehn Matthew
Published: April 2021

Nanoenergetic materials such as nanothermites are made up of a mixture of nanoscale fuel and oxidizer particles separated by small distances to promote rapid reaction. When reacted, they can reach an adiabatic flame temperature approximately 3000 to 4000K and generate a shock wave of approximately 2500 m/s. In this work we studied the effects of plasmonic photothermal heating and its interaction with aluminum nanoparticles. Plasmonic gratings are known to enhance electric fields based on the structure and surface plasmon resonance as a result of light coupling. By understanding the effects of enhanced electric fields caused by plasmonic gratings, we can study the effects it has on nanoparticles and its applications in in - situ temperature mapping. From the results of this investigation via numerical methods, it was found that six nanoparticles in contact were enough to reach beyond ignition temperature of 470 degrees C, and validated the plasmonic grating does enhance the photothermal heating of nanoparticles. Another facet to this thesis is the investigation of thermal conductivity of graphene with decorated aluminum nanoparticles. Graphene acts as a great platform for spreading thermal energy due to its excellent thermal properties. We investigate the potentially beneficial thermal properties for sustaining combustion during nanoparticle heating. However, the phonon scattering caused by nanoparticles on the surface of graphene is still not completely understood. This work gives preliminary simulation results and experimental designs to the investigation of the thermal conductivity of graphene with decorated nanoparticles.
Cashing in on girl power : the commodification of postfeminist ideals in advertising
Authors:   , Rogers Mary Jane
Published: April 2021

Over the last decade, fem-vertising, Girl Power rhetoric, feminist consumerism and commodity feminism have proliferated in advertising. This study analyzes key literature regarding how Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and cause marketing incorporate postfeminist and neoliberal theory into marketing campaigns to encourage women to consume brands as a sign of their independence and power. This research, conducted as qualitative focus group analyses, examines how groups of racially diverse collegeaged women define feminism and the modern empowered woman, how they connect and react to advertisements using women's empowerment as a selling point, and how they feel about the portrayal of race in these advertisements. Through this research, it became clear that race matters when discussing these advertisements. Definitions of feminism depended on participants' race, and racial diversity in the advertisements was a powerful motivator, especially for women of color. The advertisements using feminist rhetoric were deemed empowering, but not feminist, and participants were ultimately skeptical of corporations promoting feminist politics. However, they struggled to imagine a better alternative, and accepted that it was their responsibility to purchase from companies that represented their values. Overall, participants reinforced the use of a neoliberal lens to understand postfeminist advertising. Keywords: commodity feminism, postfeminism, neoliberalism, cause marketing, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), intersectionality
Beer is for boys; wine is for women : how women perceive portrayed ideas of masculinity in alcohol advertising
Authors:   , Schilb Renee
Published: April 2021

This research explores how women's perceptions of the portrayed ideas of masculinity in beer advertising may risk isolating potential female consumers. This paper examined how women make sense of their own social identity in relation to drinking and their gender through the framework of the social identity theory. The guiding research questions for this research are: How do women respond to the use of hegemonic masculinity in the advertising of beer, how do women perceive beer advertisements in relation to their gender constructions, and how do women's consumption based identities factor into their alcohol preference? Although there is a substantial amount of research on the use of masculinity in alcohol advertisements and its effects on men, this research wanted to explore how those traits of masculinity impacted women and their perceptions of the advertising and brands. The results suggested that women tend to reiterate the existing norms of their gender in relation to alcohol despite their detestation of those norms, and they tend to use a cultural lens through which to make sense of those norms and their perceptions of the ads. Additionally, this study is able to provide clarification on better methods of gender representation in advertisements and suggest to brands potential ways to better reach them as consumers.
Comparative framing of the Duggar family's women in entertainment news
Authors:   , Watson Christina Elise
Published: April 2021

This research seeks to compare the framing used to portray the women in the Duggar Family in entertainment news media with the realities of the evangelical community. A summative content analysis was used to conduct this comparative study looking at the frames used across three different sources, and the framing differences between more traditional entertainment news sources versus more modern entertainment news sources. This is especially important as the U.S. Millennial generation, which according to the Pew Research Center is increasingly transitioning away from religious institutions, experiences the divisive impact of cultural widening between the religious and non-religious (Drake, 2014). By doing this research, one could potentially draw conclusions that the frames entertainment news media use for evangelical women influence societal stereotypes. Having analyzed 60 articles from People, Us Weekly, and E! News, all the frames identified by Mark Silk in Unsecular Media: Making News of Religion in America were found in addition to other frames outside of this scope. Additionally, the digital-first platforms heavily relied on their headlines to attract attention to their articles on the Duggars, even when they did not reflect the body of the article at large.
Investigations of 2,4-d-resistant waterhemp and seed treatment and herbicide interactions in soybean
Authors:   , Barlow Blake Remington
Published: April 2021

Field research experiments were conducted in 2015 and 2016 in Missouri to determine whether interactions are present between herbicides sprayed prior to planting and seed treatments in soybean. Two varieties of soybean were chosen, one that was known to be tolerant to the herbicides sprayed and one that was known to be sensitive to these herbicides. Each of these soybean varieties were treated with a commonly used seed treatment and sprayed with three commonly used herbicides. The results of these experiments indicate that there were larger interactions present between herbicides and varieties than herbicides and seed treatments or seed treatments and varieties. Greenhouse and field research experiments were conducted in 2015 and 2016 to investigate a waterhemp population with suspected resistance to multiple herbicides including 2,4-D. Results form the field experiment suggested resistance to six of the eight herbicides screened. The only two herbicides that had effective control were dicamba and glufosinate. Greenhouse experiments confirmed the waterhemp population to be resistant to 2,4-D, atrazine, chlorimuron, fomesafen, glyphosate, and mesotrione making this population the third 2,4-D-resistant waterhemp population identified in the U.S., and the first population resistant to six different herbicidal modes of action.
Neuronal changes underlying altered biophysical properties of reticulospinal neurons following spinal cord injury in the lamprey
Authors:   , Hough Ryan Anthony
Published: April 2021

Following a severe spinal cord injury (SCI), the descending axons of reticulospinal (RS) neurons are damaged, resulting in paralysis below the site of the injury. For higher vertebrates, including humans, RS neurons are unable to regenerate their axons through the spinal lesion, resulting in permanent loss of voluntary motor control below the site of the injury. Conversely, some lower vertebrates, such as the lamprey, posses the remarkable ability to restore locomotor behavior below the site of the injury within weeks. This is possible because the central nervous system of the lamprey is a permissive environment for regeneration, and the injured RS neurons undergodramatic changes that are collectively referred to as the "injury phenotype" The present study investigated several mechanisms that might contribute to the injury phenotype. First, for injured lamprey RS neurons, a delayed membrane repolarization was activated at depolarizing potentials just below as well as above threshold, while for uninjured RS neurons the repolarization was mostly absent below threshold. Current and voltage clamp experiments were preformed to characterize the current mediating the delayed repolarization, as well as to estimate the effective activation voltage of these channels for injured and uninjured RS neurons. Additionally, pharmacology experiments indicated that the delayed membrane repolarization was significantly reduced in the presence of voltage-gated potassium channel blockers, and thus following SCI, there might be an up-regulation of outward rectifying potassium channels for injured lamprey RS neurons to reduce excitability. Second, for injured RS neurons, it appears that voltage-gated sodium channels are also up-regulated, but to a lesser degree than the voltage-gated potassium channels. This was tested by applying low doses of TTX to uninjured RS neurons to partially block voltage-gated sodium channels to experimentally simulate a differential increase in conductance for voltage-gated potassium channels. Applying low doses of TTX converted uninjured RS neurons from displaying normal biophysical properties, to displaying aspects of the "injury phenotype" such as altered firing properties and membrane resonance. Together, these possible neuronal changes account for many components of the "injury phenotype" seen in individual action potentials, as well as in repetitive firing. Understanding the neuronal changes that mediate the injury phenotype is critical, because these changes presumably create a cellular environment supportive for robust axonal regeneration. This and other knowledge will be critical for developing therapies to promote axonal regeneration and treat SCI in higher vertebrates, including hopefully one day, humans.
Agroforestry education for high school agriculture science : a case study of novel content implementation
Authors:   , Hemmelgarn Hannah
Published: April 2021

High school agriculture science programs are recognized as meaningful arenas to reach young agriculture professionals as they gain a foundational understanding of their field. While sustainability is at the forefront of agriculture research and technological advancements, and is critical to student career readiness, the adoption of novel sustainable agriculture content in the high school curriculum has not been implemented for certain sustainable agriculture practices. Agroforestry represents one such content area that has been largely lacking in high school agriculture science classrooms, despite its relevance to modern agricultural advancements in sustainability for economic, environmental, and social resilience. Due to the contextual nature of content adoption by agricultural educators, the curriculum implementation process for novel content is dependent on an understanding of teacher learning, teacher self-efficacy, professional development, and curriculum modification. This case study of the process of novel content implementation examines the complexities of teacher sourcing, modification, and use of novel content, evaluates an agroforestry professional development program for teachers with varying levels of experience, and follows this group of teachers one year after the professional development program to investigate the relationship between teacher self-efficacy and novel content enactment. The importance of teacher-learning support networks and experiential learning in curriculum and professional development emerged as major themes for effective novel content implementation.
Integrating nitrogen source and application timing into the management of large patch on zoysiagrass
Authors:   , Koehelr John F.
Published: April 2021

Large patch is the most limiting disease that affects zoysiagrass in the upper transition zone of the United States. Management of this disease requires two to four fungicide applications split between the 12 and 05 disease periods. Limited research has been conducted to determine the effects of cultural practices on large patch disease outbreaks, specifically related to nitrogen applications. The first goal of this research was to evaluate nitrogen source impacts on the growth, morphology, and infection potential of the causal pathogen Rhizoctonia solani AG 2-2 LP. The second goal was to determine how specific nitrogen application timings, nitrogen source, and a single fungicide application impact disease severity. In the laboratory, pathogen growth was highest on calcium nitrate-amended media compared to both ammonium sulfate and urea media. Pathogen pigmentation was dark brown on high concentrations of calcium nitrate and urea media, but was white on high concentrations of ammonium sulfate media with and without a pH buffer. Nitrogen source did not impact pathogen infection on zoysiagrass tillers in a greenhouse experiment. In the field, 07 nitrogen applications without tebuconazole had the highest disease severity in all seasons of the study. 05 and/or 12 nitrogen applications did not increase large patch severity, and 05 fertility was most consistent with decreased large patch severity. Similar to the greenhouse, nitrogen source did not impact disease severity in the field. A single 05 tebuconazole application was effective at reducing large patch severity, but not in preventing initial disease incidence. When planning for large patch management, 05 nitrogen and tebuconazole applied prior to 18[degrees]C 5-cm soil temperatures would be most beneficial in reducing disease severity.
Dolus : cyber defense using pretense against DDoS attacks in cloud platforms
Authors:   , Neupane Roshan Lal
Published: April 2021

Cloud-hosted services are being increasingly used in online businesses in e.g., retail, healthcare, manufacturing, entertainment due to benefits such as scalability and reliability. These benefits are fueled by innovations in orchestration of cloud platforms that make them totally programmable as Software Defined everything Infrastructures (SDxI). At the same time, sophisticated targeted attacks such as Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) are growing on an unprecedented scale threatening the availability of online businesses. In this thesis, we present a novel defense system called Dolus to mitigate the impact of DDoS attacks launched against high-value services hosted in SDxI-based cloud platforms. Our Dolus system is able to initiate a pretense in a scalable and collaborative manner to deter the attacker based on threat intelligence obtained from attack feature analysis in a two-stage ensemble learning scheme. Using foundations from pretense theory in child play, Dolus takes advantage of elastic capacity provisioning via quarantine virtual machines and SDxI policy co-ordination across multiple network domains. To maintain the pretense of false sense of success after attack identification, Dolus uses two strategies: (i) dummy traffic pressure in a quarantine to mimic target response time profiles that were present before legitimate users were migrated away, and (ii) Scapy-based packet manipulation to generate responses with spoofed IP addresses of the original target before the attack traffic started being quarantined. From the time gained through pretense initiation, Dolus enables cloud service providers to decide on a variety of policies to mitigate the attack impact, without disrupting the cloud services experience for legitimate users. We evaluate the efficacy of Dolus using a GENI Cloud testbed and demonstrate its real-time capabilities to: (a) detect DDoS attacks and redirect attack traffic to quarantine resources to engage the attacker under pretense, and (b) coordinate SDxI policies to possibly block DDoS attacks closer to the attack source(s).
Development of predictive models for the coalescence of fused deposition modeling fibers
Authors:   , Nguyen Quan Hong
Published: April 2021

Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is the prominent manufacturing method for fabricating end-use parts due to the ability to build complicated structures. In order to be used confidentially in the industry requires a thorough understanding of mechanical behavior of FDM parts under working conditions. The strength of FDM parts is negatively influenced by the insufficient bond strength achieved between fibers, the weakest links in the FDM parts are the weak inter-layer bonds and intra-layer bonds. The aim of this study is to create models that can accurately predict bond length and bond strength between fibers. Analytical equations describing the sintering processes and heat transfer between FDM fibers and surrounding environment are developed and presented. By comparing the predicted value to the actual bond length, the models are found to be moderately accurate. To validate the relation between bond length and bond strength and also determine the process parameters that affect the bond strength, design of experiments (DOE) and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were applied. The result showed that the extrusion temperature to be statistically significant. Further research is recommended to take in to account more factors that could affect the cooling and sintering process that will help improve the precision of predictive models.