2022 MU Theses - Freely available online
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Item Examining gender disparities in gendered traits of images depicting Wimbledon athletes(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2022) Paggiarino, Olivia; Greenwood, KeithDoes photographic coverage reflect the socialized tendencies we have to perceive athletes in a gender-stereotypical way, or does it challenge them? This study investigates visuals of men and women athletes when the sport those athletes are playing doesn’t explicitly code them in masculine and feminine ways. The sport this study focuses on specifically is tennis – previous research supports the idea that tennis is an athletic activity whose routines do not influence viewers to make gender-related assumptions about its players. This study examines online content from the American sports news outlets Sports Illustrated and ESPN in particular, partially due to the wide audience of each and partially due to both organizations’ immersion in coverage of both men’s and women’s sports. The findings of this study suggest that visual media in sports – at least, in tennis coverage – was neutralized and relatively equalized in its presentation across SI and ESPN in 2019.Item Specialty crop sensitivity to dicamba(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2022) Rice, Timothy C.J.; Smeda, Reid J.Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus), tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) and potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) are important specialty crops, accounting for 4% of the total agricultural crops sales in 2019 (USDA-NASS). Production continues to grow, as the sales these three crops generated increased from 30% of all specialty crop sales in 2012 to 47% in 2019 (USDA-NASS). During this time, dicamba (2-methoxy-3,6-dichlorobenzoic acid) tolerant soybeans (Glycine max) and cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) were first introduced (2017) and approximately 1.45 million hectares of soybean were injured by the off-target movement of dicamba across the United States (Bradley, 2017). Buffer distances have been implemented to protect sensitive soybeans and current regulations mandate a downwind buffer distance of 73 meters between the last treated row of a field and the nearest downwind field edge (USEPA). This distance was adjusted in 2021 after the previous buffer distance of 37 m proved insufficient. While the new buffer distance has been deemed adequate for sensitive soybean, it is not known whether this buffer distance is sufficient to effectively protect sensitive specialty crops from dicamba for damage, yield loss and fruit contamination. The parameters of these experiments were developed prior to the 2021 buffer distance amendment.Item The evaluation of drop size distrubutions captured by two weather radars in mid Missouri(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2022) Farr, MosesIn 2015, an X-band dual-polarization Doppler radar (MZZU) was installed in Columbia, Missouri. Its goal is to fill a gap in radar coverage and provide a precipitation climatology for Mid-Missouri. MZZU captures precipitation data by transmitting frequencies at 9.35 GHz. During heavy rainfall events, however, the power of the emitted X-band waves is attenuated. Currently, an attenuation correction algorithm is processing MZZU data to improve the accuracy of the radar. This study uses a K-band vertical pointed microwave rain radar (MRR) to evaluate the need to further calibrate MZZU data. Eight events were analyzed and the correlation of attenuated corrected reflectivity from MZZU and reflectivity from the MRR were calculated. The correlation of reflectivity values was 0.77 with a RMSE of 4.73 dBZ in all elevations. MZZU underestimated reflectivity values with an average negative bias of 7.71 dBZ. A linear regression line was fitted as well with slope values ranging from 0.61-0.71. Specifically in events with moderate rainfall, the correlation improved with R2 values greater than 0.9; however, the bias increased to 11.68 dBZ. This suggests that radome attenuation may be resulting in higher biases in moderate rain events. In all events and elevations, MZZU underestimated reflectivity compared to the MRR. However, the values obtained from the linear relationship between MZZU and the MRR may be used in future studies to calibrate MZZU reflectivity values.Item Simulator and field study of effectiveness of speed management methods in work zone in Missouri(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2022) Zeng, Qingzhong; Sun, CarlosThe objective of this research is to examine the effectiveness of six speed countermeasures in reducing vehicle speeds in work zones. Speed countermeasures such as law enforcement (active and passive), speed trailer displaying speed (with and without flashing speed or red and blue lights when above the speed limit), and work vehicle with red and blue lights were evaluated to assess their effectiveness in reducing vehicle speeds in the field and simulator study. Speed data were captured and analyzed at various westbound I-270 work zone locations in the field and from a simulator study. The simulator study also incorporated eye tracking devices to obtain driver behavior measures. In the 4-week field study, law enforcement speed countermeasures (active and passive) were found to be most effective in reducing vehicle speeds in work zones. The simulator study showed that the super law enforcement (active law enforcement and speed 11 trailer combination) was most effective in reducing vehicle speeds during daytime. Generally, the effect of speed reduction by speed countermeasures dissipated more quickly during nighttime than daytime. The simulator study also found that super law enforcement and speed trailer-related countermeasures had better visibility. Post-simulator and driver survey indicated that law enforcement would be the most effective in causing respondents slow down. Overall, the study showed that all evaluated speed countermeasures were effective in reducing vehicle speeds during daytime and nighttime, however, law enforcement speed countermeasures were found to have the greatest speed reductions.Item Development of selective fluorescence neurosensor for neurotransmitter monitoring in live cells(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2022) Tajali, Ramin; Glass, Timothy E.In the central nervous system, neurotransmitters are responsible for transferring signals from pre-synaptic vesicles to post-synaptic receptors. The most abundant amino acid in brain, glutamate, is a primary excitatory neurotransmitter which plays a major role in regulating many functions in human body such as memory, learning, and long-term depression. Fluorescence approaches as a noninvasive tool provides high spatial resolution in compared with other conventional methods for neurotransmitter detection. Over the last few years, various optical probes have been reported for neurotransmitters sensing, however, they usually suffer from lack of selectivity. In this work, we plan to develop a turn on fluorescence sensor based on coumarin-3- aldehyde scaffold to selectively recognize gamma-amino acids neurotransmitters like glutamate and GABA in live cells. This neurosensor binds to the analyte through formation an iminium ion and a boronate ester. In this sensor, the distance between aldehyde functional group and boronic acid group can only fit larger gamma-amino acids over other alpha-amino acids.