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An Experimental Assessment Of Polarized Light’s Role In Avian Behavior Toward Water: Implications For Collisions With Pv Solar Panels
No full textThe number of solar panel installations in the United States has grown quickly in the past decade and is expected to continue rising. While solar power is an important component of our energy portfolio, there are some ecological concerns associated with increasing commercial sites. Bird mortality at solar panel sights has been observed and recently begun to be investigated. This phenomenon is still poorly investigated, and many questions remain to be answered, including what attracts birds to solar sites. The “lake effect” hypothesis is that birds collide with solar panels as they mistake for water because both surfaces reflect polarized light. Birds may be attracted to linear polarization (hereafter “polarization,”) which is created in high levels by both solar panels and water. There is some evidence that birds use environmental polarization as a decision-making cue. For example, migrating birds appear to use skylight polarization to help them orient during takeoff and recent research suggests that birds are more attracted to small water sources (bird baths) with higher polarization. There are no studies that have directly addressed whether polarization might drive solar panels collisions. To test whether polarization might be used by birds to direct them toward water, we created an operant conditioning experiment where domesticated zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) were trained via both positive and negative reinforcement to move towards water. Birds were trained in a testing arena with two choices, a bowl of water and an empty bowl. Once trained, as assessed by a success rate of 80%, we tested birds with an unreinforced version of the training stimuli, as well as with two more sets of polarization stimuli: a set of water bowls where one produced higher polarization, as modified by a set of films; and a set of light sources where one had higher polarization. The objective was to assess whether: 1. Birds preferred water with higher polarization, and 2. Whether this preference carried over to non-water sources of polarization. Although birds passed through the training criteria, they did not perform better than chance when tested with the training stimuli. These results suggest that operant conditioning training was not successful, possibly because reinforcement was not compelling enough. Birds also did not show a preference for higher polarization in either of the subsequent tests. As training was not successful, these results of these tests can be considered in the context of having no previous exposure to these polarization stimuli. The results of this study are contradicted by other studies, that showed a preference for higher polarization when making foraging decisions. It could suggest that polarization vision is highly context dependent, taxonomically contingent or used only in conjunction with related cues. Few studies and conflicting evidence suggest that there is still much to be learned in how birds use environmental polarization, particularly as it could have important ecological consequences in the form of solar panel collisions.BiologyMaster of Science (M.Sc.
ShoulDetector: Shoulder Motion Detection with Conductive Fabric Sensors
No full textShoulder modeling is used to determine the position of somebody’s shoulder, but it is a complicated joint and difficult to measure, especially in an uncontrolled environment. Wearables on the subject’s shoulder could help monitor this without constant human surveillance, especially visibility is too limited for motion cameras to be effective. This is useful in a variety of situations; for example, when doctors use robots to provide necessities to a quarantined patient in order to avoid human contact and to monitor progress of shoulder injury recovery during physical therapy. Therefore, we created the ShoulDetector, made of a shirt equipped with conductive fabric sensors that changed their resistance in response to the shirt stretching due to shoulder movement. A detachable control patch has pin readings that measure the voltage, which is directly related to fabric sensor resistance. Using the motion detection software Kinovea as the ground truth, we use the voltage data to model the change in angle of the arm. Using data from 6 volunteers, we successfully used a polynomial regression and a Long-Short-Term-Memory (LSTM) model to detect the angles for the shoulder motions pitch, yaw, and roll. The results are accurate enough to determine the general position of someone’s arm.Computer ScienceBachelors of Science (BS
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No full textThe inexplicably immortal Bobbi needs to recreate herself after leaving behind her last life. She moves through the American Midwest towards the southwest desert, unknowingly to where Jonah, another ancient immortal, lives. A little like a guide on how to destroy and then create an identity, it is also a recollection of her coming of age during the 19th century, and the initial realization of her immortality. In a suburb in Arizona, Jeremiah is resisting the call to battle by a misguided old friend, also an ancient, who does not understand the limitations of modern life. Jeremiah is only one of many names from his past; like Bobbi, he has needed to relocate hundreds of times before. When the old friend finds him again, however, he is tired of running and constant change, and starts to reconcile his past to his present. Within the present day, Bobbi tries to place herself within history and make meaning when she cannot make connections with others or change any uncertain events for the sake of her own survival. Unlike the times before, during this relocation, she can feel the presence of another like her. Although she is unsure who she is searching for, she can also feel an end to her her existence as she knows it approaching quickly.EnglishBachelors of Arts (BA
College Professors’ Perceptions Of Differentiated Instruction In A Foreign Language Classroom Setting
No full textIn the United States, traditional lecture-based teaching methods have not effectively met the needs of diverse learners in higher education (HE). This is particularly problematic as diversity is increasing amongst learners, including those with diverse racial, ethnic, gender, academic, and emotional backgrounds. The predominance of the two-tiered system and overreliance on the lecture-based model in foreign language (FL) classrooms has resulted in higher attrition rates and lower academic achievement and retention rates. The root of the problem is the need for more differentiated instruction (DI) and the predominance of a One-Size-Fits-All approach in FL college classrooms. This research focuses on FL professors' perceptions, experiences, and willingness to attend professional development on differentiated instruction. Two theoretical frameworks guide this research: Tomlinson's (1999) theory, which emphasizes the need for differentiated instruction to meet the needs of all learners, and Krashen's (1982) theory on how foreign languages are acquired. Data was collected through one-to-one telephone interviews with eight professors from three universities in the United States and then analyzed using thematic coding and analysis (Saldaña, 2021). Professors were asked about their experiences and perceptions of implementing differentiated instruction. Findings revealed that professors' perceptions and implementation of differentiated instruction varied, diversity was present in all classrooms, and professional development on differentiated instruction was sought. However, they also mentioned that they lacked sufficient knowledge of differentiated strategies and required more time and incentives to implement them effectively. This qualitative study demonstrates that professors implementing differentiated instruction can help students succeed in FL HE classrooms, leading to positive change.EducationDoctor of Education (Ed.D.
Policy recommendations for tire additive 6PPD and its derivative 6PPD-Q
No full textAround 3.1 billion tires are produced around the world annually1. The antioxidant additive, 6PPD (i.e., N-(1,3-dimethylbutyl)-N’-phenyl-p-phenylenediamine) is widely employed in passenger and commercial vehicle tires at 0.4-2% by mass to impede tire degradation2. Antioxidants are intended to migrate to tire surfaces and form protective films to prevent rubber oxidation. 6PPD is designed to react with oxidant species like ozone, intentionally forming chemical transformation products that can then escape from the tire and into the environment. 6PPD-Q (i.e., 2-anilino-5-[(4-methylpentan-2-yl)amino]cyclohexa-2,5-diene-1,4-dione) is one such transformation product. After release and disbursement in the environment, 6PPD-Q is bioavailable to aquatic animals and mammals and acute exposure to 6PPD-Q can be lethal to some organisms. Additionally, exposure at environmentally relevant concentrations can induce neuro-, cardio-, intestinal, respiratory, and reproductive toxicity. 6PPD-Q was discovered to be the cause of massive coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) die-offs in the U.S. Pacific Northwest in 20213. Following this discovery, many publications have further documented its toxicity to diverse organisms including fish, invertebrates, bacteria, and mice. The presence of 6PPD and 6PPD-Q have been reported in a variety of environmental matrices worldwide. The potential risks to human and environmental health posed by 6PPD-Q has only recently been investigated. There is, however, a deficiency of publications regarding policy and regulation of this chemical. Despite its widespread detection, much is unknown about 6PPD-Q. Yet understudied is its toxicity to humans, species specific toxicity mechanisms of action, long-term exposure impacts, and sublethal and developmental toxicity endpoints. Its impact on other organisms and ecosystems, such as freshwater invertebrates, amphibians, and aquatic plants, also remains uncertain. More information regarding bioaccumulation and biotransformation are also needed. With so much being unknown about 6PPD-Q, it is important for responsible policies to be developed and implemented quickly. The benefit of enacting policies early outweighs any potential added costs of action. Considering the decades of harm its use has likely caused, quick actions should be taken to reduce future impacts. Failure to implement policies in a timely manner regarding environmental pollution is too often the norm and it allows for much harm to come to the inhabitants of the natural environment – including humans. While it is too late to work proactively to prevent all releases of 6PPD and 6PPD-Q, it is imperative to put policies and other mechanisms in place to stem their release, protect sensitive populations, and to ensure the chemicals replacing 6PPD as rubber additives do not pose additional threats.Virginia Institute of Marine ScienceMaster of Arts (M.A.
Inappropriate Settlers And East End Heathens: The Philanthropic Abduction Of The British Home Children
No full textUplifting the Imperial Race: Eugenics, Salvation, and the British Home Children Movement. This project captures the intricacies of the BHC movement’s eugenic philosophy from the British perspective starting in 1868, charting its origins within Poor Law policy and Galtonian theory, as well as establishing its pervasive presence within in the works of Thomas Barnardo and William Booth. For this research, I utilize dozens of primary and secondary sources including, but not limited to, the entire collection of Dr. Thomas John Barnardo’s self-funded publications and The Oxford Handbook of the History of Eugenics. I also demonstrate how the eugenic philosophy undergirding the British Home Children Movement originated in Britain. Inappropriate Settlers and East End Heathens: The Philanthropic Abduction of the British Home Children. This project establishes the survivors of the British Home Children Movement as settler colonial anomalies whose complicated identities as well as resistance to settler colonial constructs contributed to their mistreatment in the settler Dominion of Canada. Undergirding this research are primary and secondary sources in the form of periodicals, philanthropic publications, and personal testimonies which illuminate how the Home Children’s experiences share drastic similarities with the First Nations Children forced into residential homes across Canada. My research also incorporates the works of immigration and British Poor Law scholars like Sally Brooke Cameron and Lydia Murdoch to establish the transatlantic tensions which rendered the subjects of the British Home Children Movement as settler colonial outcasts with no home or heritage. This parallels the First Nations Children of Canada who were abducted from their families, dispossessed of their heritage and homelands, and shunned by the invading settler community. In its paying attention to the Home Children’s abductions, institutionalizations, and burials within mass unmarked graves across Canadian provinces, this project challenges the settler colonial binary and reestablishes the Home Children as what historian Patricia Rooke calls “inappropriate settlers.”HistoryMaster of Arts (M.A.
Virginia Fishery Resource Grant Program: 2023
No full textThe Virginia Fishery Resource Grant Program (VFRGP) enables members of Virginia’s seafood industries to develop ideas to protect and enhance the Commonwealth’s coastal and marine resources. Since its inception in 1999, the annually funded program has supported 145 projects, two of which were approved to start in 2023. These projects enable members of seafood industries to pursue ideas for increasing efficiency and sustainability that will benefit the entire industry, without personally bearing the cost and high risk. The VFRGP is coordinated by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Marine Advisory Program (VIMS MAP), in partnership with Virginia Sea Grant Marine Extension Program, and operates with the aid of a VFRGP Advisory Board.Virginia Institute of Marine Scienc
Solidarity In Community Organizing: Mediation And The Production Of Memory
No full textHistorically steeped in colonial relations and anti-Black racism, Black communities have experienced marginalization and structural violence at the hands of corporations and the state. My research seeks to uncover how such ongoing processes are understood in order to collectivize and make possible action that translates these ties into collective protest. This thesis centers on the small, historic Black community of Brown Grove, located just north of Richmond, Virginia, whose members lost their battle to stop the construction of a large Wegmans distribution center in 2022. This work attempts to better understand how, despite this loss, their grassroots activist movement was able to grow to a national scale. I draw on interviews and social media content to describe the way that activists sought to bridge existing generational divides and different family histories and memories. To understand how rhetorical appeals were employed depending on the audience, I observed government hearings, community meetings, and virtual messages. Using both online and in-person ethnography, I explore the ways that Brown Grove community members and their supporters connected to each other. I find that the work of a younger generation of activists, who used social media and focused on shared memory and community preservation, was critical for building solidarities. Ultimately, I argue that understandings of landscape, home places, kinship and family, and shared history are critical components in Brown Grove’s mobilization against ongoing threats of industrial development.AnthropologyMaster of Arts (M.A.
From Switch-Reference to Case Marking In Muskogean: The Role of Clefts
No full textCase markers and switch-reference markers in the Muskogean languages are often similar in form and can be difficult to distinguish. This paper surveys both phenomena in each branch of the family. It argues that cleft clauses in Proto-Muskogean appeared after noun phrases to indicate focus. These cleft clauses ended in same- and different-subject switch-reference markers. With time, the cleft clauses were reinterpreted as subject and nonsubject case markers.Linguistic
Estimating Relative Juvenile Abundance of Ecologically Important Finfish in the Virginia Portion of Chesapeake Bay: 2024 Annual Report (1 July 2023 – 30 June 2024)
No full textThe VIMS Juvenile Finfish Trawl Survey provides crucial data to state, regional, and national fisheries management agencies, including the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC), the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), the Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Council (MAFMC), and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). Annual indices of juvenile abundance have been generated from trawl survey data for species of key recreational and ecological importance in the Virginia portion of Chesapeake Bay. These include Spot, Atlantic Croaker, Weakfish, Summer Flounder, Black Sea Bass, Scup, Striped Bass, White Perch, White Catfish, Channel Catfish, Blue Catfish, Silver Perch, American Eel, and Bay Anchovy. We completed 1,202 tows from July 2023 to June 2024 and collected 645,919 fishes. We were unable to complete sampling in the James River in Dec 2023 due to mechanical issues with the R/V Tidewater. Bay Anchovy continue to be the most abundant species observed in the survey, accounting for 61% of all fishes collected, however the Bay Anchovy index for 2023 was below average for the third year in a row. Of the 36 target species categories for which we provide indices of relative abundance, 26 species categories (considering YOY and age 1+ as distinct categories) exhibited below-average abundance in 2023. Scup was particularly low and exhibited the lowest index of the time series with only four individuals captured during the index period; three were of appropriate size to be included in the index. Five species categories exhibited abundances that were similar to their long-term average abundance including Black Sea Bass, Spot, Striped Bass, Summer Flounder, and age 1+ White Perch (York River). Atlantic Croaker, age 1+ Blue Catfish (York River), Silver Perch, and age 1+ White Perch (James and Rappahannock rivers) exhibited above-average abundances in 2023.Virginia Institute of Marine Scienc