13251 research outputs found
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Giant Cane (Arundinaria Gigantea) and the Swainson’s Warbler (Limnothlypis Swainsonii): Implementing Innovative Monitoring Techniques for Species of Conservation Concern
No full textIn the U.S., following colonization and agricultural expansion, giant cane (Arundinaria gigantea) has been reduced to approximately 2% of its original extent, potentially causing shifts in the abundance and distribution of over 70 associated animal species. Among those species is the Swainson’s Warbler (Limnothlypis swainsonii), which has been known to occupy canebrakes during the breeding season. Though there is little known about the historical range of the Swainson’s Warbler and its current population status, some have hypothesized that its population may have declined due to the reduction of its suitable breeding habitat. As this species is rare and cryptic, creative forms of monitoring are needed. Monitoring Swainson’s Warblers is particularly important in the western Ozarks, where sightings are rare, and the extent of its range is poorly known. Autonomous recording units (ARUs) offer a highly efficient way to monitor rare, vocal species. The recent application of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and their improved accessibility with programs like BirdNET has made passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) via ARUs more effective for monitoring. In this study, I applied PAM to investigate the limits of the breeding range of the Swainson’s Warbler, and this species’ potential use of existing canebrakes in the western Ozarks. I assessed the performance of the core BirdNET model and compared it to the performance of a custom classifier trained with segments from local ARU recordings. Though extralimital sightings occur in the region, the secretive species was not detected at any canebrake site outside of the published breeding range during the study. The study did, however, generate insight into the application of PAM to detecting Swainson’s Warblers, including understanding which sounds present acoustic identification challenges for CNNs. Along these lines, I report analyses comparing the songs of the Louisiana Waterthrush and the Swainson’s Warbler, as the striking similarities between their songs pose great difficulty for PAM of the target species
Efficient Task Scheduling in Cloud Infrastructures Using Dynamic Score-Based Allocation and Deep Q-Learning
No full textCloud computing has grown rapidly in recent years, mainly due to the sharp increase in data transferred over the internet. This growth makes task scheduling a key and challenging part of cloud systems, as it helps distribute user requests across servers to minimize response time, prevent overloading, and ensure smooth user experience. This thesis proposes two novel approaches for dynamic task scheduling in cloud environments. First, a novel Score-Based Dynamic Load Balancing (SBDLB) strategy is developed, which leverages system parameters to allocate tasks efficiently across virtual machines (VMs) in data centers. SBDLB ensures balanced workload distribution by continuously evaluating VM suitability, minimizing response time and preventing resource bottlenecks. Second, this thesis also introduces a Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) based framework using a Double Deep Q-Network (DDQN), where the agent learns optimal task allocation policies through system state data and a reward structure that promotes efficient resource use, balanced load distribution, and high overall performance. The effectiveness of both approaches was extensively evaluated using the CloudSim 7G platform. For SBDLB, experiments across diverse workloads demonstrated significant improvements over the throttled load balancing strategy. Similarly, the RL-based scheduler consistently outperformed traditional baselines, including Throttled and SBDLB, under varying workload conditions, reducing average response time up to 134% over throttled and 67% over SBDLB. When deployed in a resource-constrained environment with a 20% reduction in available resources, the pre-trained model maintained comparable performance with minimal fine-tuning, underscoring its adaptability in fault-prone or limited-resource scenarios. Together, these contributions offer scalable, effective scheduling strategies that can improve real-world cloud environments and help drive future advancements in the field
A Witch\u27s Tale: Shadow of Her Past
No full textThe following thesis includes a critical introduction and an excerpt from the authors own novel. The introduction analyzes and explored the correlation between characterization and world building in fantasy or supernatural fiction, arguing that character driven narratives are essential for writing stories that balance the fantastical with the real human experience to engage readers at an emotional level. The author accomplishes this by utlizing theorists such as E M Forster, Lubomir Dolezel, Milan Kundera, James Wood, David Corebett, and Stephen King to examine how elaborate settings should not overshadow character complexity. Through understanding their theories, the authors own writing process, and R R Tolkien\u27s fiction works, this paper demonstrates that relatable, round, characters that cover a range of emotional, psychological, and the nuance of the human experience are essential for showcasing the human condition, even when placed within other worldly settings. IN the end it concludes that world building and characterization are reliant on each other to create the most convincing fantasy or supernatural fiction that will illustrate universal human experiences by balancing the imaginative with the real
Evaluation of Practical Methods to Determine if a Karst Creek Is Gaining or Losing: Case Study of Leith Creek
No full textKarst landscapes are abundant in Missouri, with features such as caves, springs, and sinkholes that form through the dissolution of limestone. Leith Creek is a small stream in Polk County, Missouri fed by two springs and the shallow unconfined Springfield Plateau aquifer, a highly karstified aquifer which is made up of limestone and minor interbedded shale-mudstone units. To determine if Leith Creek is gaining or losing, stream flow, water chemistry and temperature sensors were monitored. Stream flow results required multiple visits to take measurements while temperature sensors required two visits, one to install the dataloggers and another to remove the dataloggers. Aside from characterizing the stream, another objective of this study was to determine if Leith Creek was being contaminated by sewage, fertilizers, and manure since Polk County has the 2nd largest number of cattle in Missouri. Water samples were collected from September 2023 to April 2025. Total dissolved solids, nitrate-nitrogen, alkalinity, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, sulfate, and chlorides were analyzed. Discharge was measured on each sampling date using the velocity-area method, and discharges ranged from approximately zero to one m3 /s. A losing stream would have decreasing discharges further downstream, while a gaining stream would have increased discharges further downstream. Results of this study show that Leith Creek is a losing stream with a negligible degree of contamination by animal waste, with nitrate-nitrogen concentrations below 2.0 mg/L. XRF analysis of sediment confirmed that there was no metal contamination. The water quality reflects dissolution of limestone and contains little sulfates
Effects of Liraglutide on the Gut Bacterial Community
No full textOverweight and obesity are major health concerns associated with metabolic disorders and gut dysbiosis. Treatment options such as GLP-1 receptor agonists, like liraglutide, promote weight loss and improve insulin sensitivity; however, their impact on the gut bacterial community remains unclear. This study investigated the effects of liraglutide on the gut bacterial community of diet-induced obese (DIO) mice using Illumina DNA sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene. My study used twelve-week-old male C57BL/6J DIO mice. They were placed on a high-fat diet and treated with liraglutide (0.2 mg/kg) via daily subcutaneous injection for 14 Days. High-fat and low-fat diets control animals received phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) injections. Fecal samples were collected at baseline, after initial treatment, and one week later. Mice receiving liraglutide lost an average of 0.85 g (−2.78%), while high-fat controls gained 3.20 g (+10.22%) and low-fat controls gained 0.56 g (+1.92%). Low-fat mice exhibited reduced diversity compared to high-fat mice throughout the study. In the high-fat group treated with liraglutide (HFL), bacterial composition was altered after treatment, with increases in Lactobacillaceae (+6.01%) and Coriobacteriaceae (+0.73%), which showed a greater increase than the control. Erysipelotrichaceae increased (+2.41%), though this was less than the increase observed in the high-fat control group (HFC). Bacteroidales (-1.15%), which decreased less than in the HFC group. However, these bacterial shifts were not maintained after the washout period. This study will help clarify how diet and host-targeted treatments alter gut bacterial communities
Tailwater Trout Population Dynamics
No full textDams have been constructed throughout the world and provide several resources for humans (e.g., flood control, hydropower). These structures heavily alter the upstream and downstream environment. One consequence of these alterations is the creation of “tailwaters”, which can create cold-water habitat via hypolimnetic releases. In the southeast United States these tailwater environments are often managed for the recreational use of nonnative salmonids. The unnatural flow regimes of tailwaters affect the biotic and abiotic conditions and ultimately the dynamic rate functions (i.e., recruitment, growth, mortality) of the fish inhabiting them. As such, the goal of this research is to provide fisheries managers with tools to accurately assess these populations while accounting for the unique challenges tailwaters present. The effects of different hook types on the mortality of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in two tailwaters in Arkansas were investigated. Hook type had little effect on mortality, but rather hooking location was the main determinant of mortality. Additionally, potential negative and unaccounted for mortality that may occur from hooking mortality was calculated. Next, a standard weight equation (Ws) and standard-length categories for tailwater brown trout (Salmo trutta) were developed using length-weight data from 12 tailwaters across the Southeast United States. These standards were then compared against existing standards for brown trout in non-tailwater environments. This research adds to the existing body of literature and provides fisheries managers with more accurate tools to describe their populations
The Effects of Calcium Availability on Growth and Calcium Content of Hydroponic Daikon Radish Microgreens
No full textMicrogreens are young, edible seedlings harvested upon emergence of the first true leaf. Their popularity is growing as a nutritionally dense food source that can be grown quickly in space-efficient systems. However, little is known about optimal cultivation practices and the effects of fertilization on growth and nutrition of microgreens. This study investigates the role of calcium (Ca) fertilization in optimizing the growth, yield, and nutrient content of daikon radish (Raphanus sativus) microgreens. A hydroponic system was designed to consistently deliver nutrient solution to microgreens grown in a closed-environment chamber. This study tested different Ca fertilization rates of 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 mM CaCl₂ and assessed key growth parameters including fresh and dry weight, plant and hypocotyl height, cotyledon area, and Ca content. This study found 0 and 5 mM Ca to be deficient levels for radish microgreen growth, while 10 to 25 mM Ca were adequate, increasing fresh weight up to 1.92-fold, dry weight 1.37-fold, plant height 1.55-fold, cotyledon area 1.66-fold, and Ca content up to 12.55-fold. These findings highlight the importance of Ca fertilization management in hydroponic systems to enhance growth and nutrient content for more efficient microgreen cultivation. Further studies are needed to identify the toxic threshold of Ca in this growth system and to explore interactions with other plant essential nutrients and environmental factors
Emerging Technology and U.S. Presidential War Powers
No full textAutonomous weapons, anti-satellite weapons (ASAT)s, cyber operations, and drones, among other examples of emerging and advanced technologies, have produced changes in how the United States (U.S.) conducts military operations. This thesis argues these technologies are connected by three common features that make U.S. congressional oversight of their usage by U.S. presidents more challenging. First, these systems enable U.S. presidents to act with increased speed, giving the U.S. Congress less time to respond. Second, some legal arguments suggest many uses of these technologies will not implicate war powers related authorities. Third, the legally unsettled nature of these weapons makes it more difficult for relevant committees, such as the U.S. Senate and House Armed Services, Foreign Affairs, and Intelligence, to fully process information needed for effective oversight. There are several potential concerns related to expansive U.S. presidential unilateral war powers, including increased escalation risk, lack of long-term strategic planning, and decreased democratic accountability. This thesis utilizes case studies of U.S. congressional oversight of drone strikes by the Obama Administration and the U.S. Department of Defense’s 2018 Defend Forward cyber strategy to examine this theoretical framework. These challenges are likely to impact U.S. congressional oversight of the second Trump Administration, 2025 to 2029
Applied and Conceptual Implications of Relational Density Theory in Machine Learning and Behavioral Economics
No full textRelational Density Theory (Belisle & Dixon, 2020a) is an advanced conceptualization of Stimulus Equivalence (Sidman & Tailby, 1982) and Relational Frame Theory (Hayes et al., 2001) that allows behavior scientists to measure the strength, formation, and malleability of covert behavioral experiences such as attitudes, biases, and probabilities. Relational density combines principles of behavior with the fundamentals of Newtonian classical mechanics to quantify the dimensions of relational framing as a tool for examining behavior. This thesis contains two studies on relational density in context. The first study utilized relational density theory and principles of behavioral economics to measure attitudes and charitable response allocation towards members of the unhoused community. Results indicated emotional relatedness and charitable probability were altered as a function of relational frames and degree of social relatedness. The second study tested for relational density consistent effects in artificial neural networks, a division of machine learning. Results demonstrated the potential for further research into the behavior analysis of machine learning using relational density paradigms
The Role of SPTBN1 Protein in Microglia Cells Actin Structure and HIV-1 Infection
No full textHuman immunodeficiency virus (HIV) directly attacks the host immune system by infecting and replicating in CD4-presenting immune cells. Like most viral pathogens, HIV utilizes cellular machinery to assist in viral entry, transport, and export. One of the components HIV is known to utilize for replication is the actin cytoskeleton. By directly binding to actin or actin-binding proteins, HIV can manipulate structural dynamics within the cell. The way HIV hijacks actin for replication post-viral fusion isn’t fully understood, especially during viral transport to the nucleus. A 2013 study conducted by Dai et al. found that lowering the expression of the cellular protein spectrin β non-erythrocyte 1 (SPTBN1) in macrophages led to HIV-resistant cells and partial depolymerization of the actin cytoskeleton. This thesis investigates the role of SPTBN1 in the early stages of HIV replication and localization within CHME3 microglial cells. Through fluorescent microscopy, SPTBN1 and overall actin structure in CHME3 cells were visualized. The results indicated colocalization between SPTBN1 and actin, with 90% of SPTBN1 overlapping with actin. Additionally, SPTBN1 knockdown did not cause consistent observable changes in the actin cytoskeleton. Colocalization between SPTBN1 and HIV was also observed. Future research will use these techniques to determine how SPTBN1 knockdown affects HIV-1 colocalization in CHME3 cells. Overall, these findings contribute to a better understanding of the role host cell proteins play in HIV replication