University of Maryland, Baltimore County
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Determination of Planetary Boundary Layer Height from Ground Based Wind Profiler and Lidar Measurements using the Covariance Wavelet Transform (CWT)
No full textThis thesis documents the application of the Covariance Wavelet Transform (CWT) to lidar and, for the first time to our knowledge, wind profiler data to examine the possibility of accurate and continuous planetary boundary layer height (PBLH) measurements on short temporal resolution (one and fifteen minute averages respectively). Comparisons between PBLHs derived from the Elastic Lidar Facility (ELF) through application of the CWT and daytime radiosonde launches from Beltsville and RFK Stadium as part of the September 2009 NOAA/ARL and NCEP field study show an R2 = 0.84 correlation. PBLHs from ELF aided in diagnosing issues with the automatic PBLH calculation from Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) profiles in the Real-Time Mesoscale Analysis used by plume dispersion modelers. Determining the mixing in the PBL was one goal of a study of the spatial and diurnal variations of the PBL height over Maryland for July 2011, during NASA's Earth Venture mission DISCOVER-AQ. A semi-automated PBLH detection algorithm utilizing the CWT for wind profiler data was developed. This algorithm was tested on data from the 915 MHz wind profiler at Beltsville, Maryland, and compared against PBLHs derived from ground based radiosondes measured at Beltsville. Comparisons were also done between PBLHs derived from ground based lidars at UMBC and Beltsville. Results from the comparison show an R2 = 0.89, 0.92, and 0.94 correlation between the radiosonde PBLHs and the lidars and wind profiler PBLHs, respectively. Accurate determination of the PBLH by applying the CWT to lidar and wind profilers will allow for improved air quality forecasting and understanding of regional pollution dynamics
HARRIS'S LIST AS A SOURCE FOR THE DIVERSE AND ENTREPRENEURIAL NATURE OF PROSTITUTION IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY LONDON
No full textThis thesis examines the eighteenth-century publication, Harris's List of Covent-Garden Ladies, which was published from 1760 to 1793. It argues for the validity of the List as a historical source for studying prostitutes in eighteenth-century London and how information from the List can be compiled into a database and analyzed. This information includes age, price, appearance, personality, and ethnicity on the hundreds of prostitutes in the List. This thesis also argues that prostitutes made a rational choice to engage in prostitution since it provided better earnings than other occupations available to women at the time. Harris's List documents the socio-economic range of prostitutes in London and shows some broad changes over the 1700s, particularly price and age. Harris's List reveals a different, more entrepreneurial perspective on prostitution and shows that London prostitutes were just as diverse as their non-prostituting counterparts who were both struggling to find employment and economic stability
A Revolution Without Change: The Limited Effects of Suffrage Reform in Maryland, 1803-1813
No full textAfter a protracted struggle, Maryland's General Assembly granted all white men the right to vote beginning in 1803, overturning the state's old laws, which restricted the franchise to male property owners. The new standards represented a break from the traditional ""Blackstonian"" conception of suffrage, which entrusted the right to vote only to those--property owning men--whose economic independence would enable them to vote responsibly. By enfranchising propertyless men, and disenfranchising property-owning African Americans, Maryland put itself at the fore of a nationwide reexamination of citizenship driven by the nineteenth century's changing socio-economic landscape. Historians studying voting traditionally have minimized reform's effects, depicting it as the inevitable result of efforts to perfect the essentially complete democracy that existed in the United States in the first part of the nineteenth century. These historians have in large part ignored the reality that the right to vote was extend to some, but taken from others. This thesis draws on original poll books, county assessments, and census data from Kent County, Maryland, to examine the extent to which newly-enfranchised voters participated in electoral politics in suffrage reform's first decade. Ultimately, in Kent and similar parts of Maryland, few new voters went to the polls. Except in select areas like Baltimore, electoral politics in Maryland remained largely the province of the wealthy, who continued to dominate the state's government. However, suffrage reform played an important role in revitalizing the spirit of the American Revolution, and set the stage for later reforms during the Jacksonian era
America's Revolutionary War
No full textBy the 1960s, motivated by the phenomena of irregular warfare and the approach of the American Revolution's bicentennial, military experts and journalists began a discourse on whether the War for Independence could be classified as a modern insurgency. Although the discussion has remained both divided and limited up until now, the advent of the U.S. Army and Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual in 2006 and its comprehensive model for popular protracted war matches up in interesting ways to the American Revolution and offers analytical possibilities for historians. This study intends to show that not only does most of the Manual's specified elements and dynamics of insurgency appear in the American Revolution, but also the logical progression of them within the model for popular protracted war offers new points of discussion
Spectral Analysis of Weekly and High-Frequency Stream Chemistry Data in Urban Watersheds
No full textTo determine whether urban watersheds can act as fractal filters, spectral analysis was applied to 13 years of weekly stream chemistry data for chloride, nitrate and sulfate from eight watersheds in the Baltimore metropolitan area. The analysis was also applied to high-frequency (15- and 30-minute) sensor data for nitrate and specific conductance over periods ranging from several weeks to four years. Spectral analysis of weekly stream chemistry data produced power slopes of 0.60 to 1.2, the same range found for forested watersheds in previous studies. Spectral slopes decreased with increasing watershed percent impervious surface cover, suggesting that the power spectrum is whitened with increasing degree of urbanization. Spectral analysis of high-frequency water quality data spanning a period of four years showed that a break in power slopes occurred near a frequency of 1/week, with a slope of approximately 2 for data at frequencies higher than 1/week regardless of degree of urbanization. The analysis suggests that differing processes dominate the spectra in two discernible frequency domains, with seasonal, annual, and interannual processes dominating the low frequency domain and diurnal and intraweekly processes dominating the high-frequency domain. Such trends cannot be detected solely from analysis of either long-term weekly data or short-term high-frequency data
A Comparison of Two Types of Video Modeling to Teach Adaptive Skills to Children with Autism
No full textThe study compared learners' point of view video modeling to whole person video modeling to teach table setting and pouring to children with autism. Twenty-six males between the ages of 4-16 participated in the study. Results of an analysis of covariance, Pearson's r correlations and independent sample t-tests indicated that there were no statistically significant differences between the two types of video modeling on either the percentage correct on the last trial or on the number of trials required to achieve mastery. However, a moderate to large effect size was found for the learners' point of view condition, suggesting future research may be warranted. The results of the analysis of covariance also indicated that imitation ability prior to the intervention had a statistically significant relationship with the outcome variables. This finding suggests that children with autism may benefit from being taught to imitate prior to exposure to video modeling interventions
The Influence of Micropatterned Surface on the Formation of Staphylococcus aureus Biofilm
No full textBiofilms are complex aggregation of microorganisms grown on a solid substrate. They are characterized by structural heterogeneity, genetic diversity, and complex community interactions. Biofilm can be formed on a lot of surfaces including human body implants. When it is formed on the surface of implants, the consequence will be the removal of the implants, because biofilms are very resistant to antibodies. Biofilms are responsive and dynamic, and are adaptive to the changes of the environment. The cells in the biofilms are genetically different from the planktonic cells. In this work, I studied how microenvironment, specifically the micropattern of the surface's influences on the formation of the staphylococcus aureus biofilm. I found that micropatterned surface affected the thickness and the number of dead cells in the bioflm
A MULTIPLE CRITERIA DECISION MAKING STATISTICAL METHOD FOR RANKING THE 2007-2011 CHESAPEAKE BAY REPORT CARD REGIONS
No full textAn ecosystem health index combines vast quantities of environmental data across multiple components into a single value representing overall estuary health. Accurate assessment of estuary health is vital to informing spending and recovery priorities. In this thesis, we applied a Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) statistical technique in order to combine six indicators of Chesapeake Bay health into an overall health index. An index value was determined for each of the fifteen regions of the Bay, and the regions were ranked according to the index values. The ranks derived from the MCDM method were then compared to the ranks from the current report card methodology. In general, the results showed similar ranks between the two methods with a high level of agreement as measured by Spearman's rank correlation. Two regions, however, the Mid Bay and Upper Western Shore regions, differed considerably in rank and warrant further investigation
Thieno[3,2-d]- and pyrrolo[3,2-d]pyrimidines and their C-nucleosides: Synthesis and biological evaluation
No full textThe evolution of medicine from alchemy to rationale-based drug design has been instrumental in alleviating human ailments and improving the quality of life. Nucleosides occupy an important place in drug design and discovery as they are inherent in many cellular functions. As a result, structural modifications to the nucleoside scaffold can have far reaching biological consequences. Hence, nucleoside analogues have been central to the discovery of potent anticancer and antiviral drugs. Thieno[3,2-d]- and pyrrolo[3,2-d]pyrimidines hold an important place in drug design particularly anticancer drugs due to their ability to mimic nucleoside bases and recognition by enzymes. Our lab has been involved in synthesis and biological evaluation of modified nucleobases and nucleosides to explore their anticancer and antiviral properties. In that context, synthesis of thieno[3,2-d]- and pyrrolo[3,2-d]pyrimidines and their C-nucleosides was accomplished. Their subsequent biological evaluation resulted in identification of a series of halogenated compounds that possess excellent antiproliferative activity, notably against cancer cell lines. In due course of structure activity relationship (SAR) the importance of the C-4 halogen and sulfur towards imparting biological activity to the heterocyclic scaffold was established. Furthermore, the 7-halogenated thieno[3,2-d]- and pyrrolo[3,2-d]pyrimidines impart themselves to functional group conversions and preparation of C-nucleosides via Palladium catalyzed cross-coupling reactions. The synthesis of C-nucleosides of thieno[3,2-d]- and pyrrolo[3,2-d]pyrimidines was accomplished using Heck coupling methodology. The importance of pyrrole protection was established followed by identification of a suitable pyrrole protecting group in order to synthesize the corresponding C-nucleosides of the pyrrolo[3,2-d]pyrimidines that was facile and high yielding. The synthesis of thieno[3,2-d]- and pyrrolo[3,2-d]pyrimidines and their corresponding C-nucleosides is reported herein along with their biological activity that resulted in the identification of biologically active lead compounds
