The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the United States' largest government assistance program that aims to alleviate food insecurity. The SNAP program allows low-income individuals and families the ability to purchase nutritious foods through a monthly benefit. However, the current body of literature presents evidence of the program's counterproductive effect. The purpose of this study was to determine whether incentivizing SNAP recipients to purchase additional fruits and vegetables was beneficial in increasing such purchases. Social cognitive theory was used as a theoretical framework to address research questions associated with shopping patterns and attitudes and beliefs. This quantitative study used a randomized controlled trial to study differences between incentivized and control groups. The Healthy Incentives Pilot Program (HIP) used a stratified sampling of 55,095 SNAP households receiving benefits between July, 2011, and December, 2012. Statistical analyses (t test, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression analysis) were conducted to identify changes in food shopping patterns and eating behaviors associated with the HIP intervention. Results indicated that (a) incentivizing SNAP recipients leads to an increase in fruit and vegetable purchase, and (b) a correlation exists between fruit and vegetable purchase and attitudes and beliefs. No correlation was found between the intervention and changes in food shopping patterns. Positive social change implications include the improvement of health outcomes in over 43 million people currently enrolled in the SNAP program on a national level.

Tampering and Reverse Engineering of a chip to extract the hardware Intellectual Property (IP) core or to inject malicious alterations is a major concern. First, offshore chip manufacturing allows the design secrets of the IP cores to be transparent to the foundry and other entities along the production chain. Second, small malicious modifications to the design may not be detectable after fabrication without anti-tamper mechanisms. Counterfeit Integrated Circuits (ICs) also have become an important security issue in recent years, in which counterfeit ICs that perform incorrectly or sub-par to the expected can lead to catastrophic consequences in safety and/or mission-critical applications, in addition to the tremendous economic toll they incur to the semiconductor industry. Some techniques have been developed in the past to improve the defense against such attacks but they tend to fall prey to the increasing power of the attacker. We present a new way to protect against tampering by a clever obfuscation of the design, which can be unlocked with a specific, dynamic path traversal. Hence, the functional mode of the controller is hidden with the help of obfuscated states, and the functional mode is made operational only on the formation of a specific interlocked Code-Word during state transition. A novel time-stamp is proposed that can provide the date at which the IC was manufactured for counterfeit detection. Furthermore, we propose a second layer of tamper resistance to the time-stamp circuit to make it even more difficult to modify. Results show that methods proposed offer higher levels of security with small area overhead. A side benefit is that any small alteration will be magnified via the obfuscated design proposed in these methods. / Master of Science

No description available.

BACKGROUND: Vibrio cholerae and Enterotoxigenic E. Coli (ETEC) are enteropathogens that are global causes of cholera and traveler’s diarrhea which are responsible for millions of diarrhea cases every year. ETEC and cholera are primarily found in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, particularly in nations with inadequate sanitation systems or little access to clean water. Infants and children are most vulnerable to these diseases, as severe infections can lead to stunting and death. The incidence of cholera and ETEC diarrhea have increased, due in part to changing weather patterns. At present, robust animal models for studies of ETEC colonization are lacking to study colonization and bottlenecks. The only licensed vaccines against cholera in endemic countries are killed whole cells, however, new live attenuated oral cholera vaccines (OCV) are in development and offer significant advantages. PanChol is a live attenuated OCV entering phase I trials. SPECIFIC AIMS: To propel studies of ETEC pathogenesis, I attempted to create a suckling mouse model of this globally important pathogen. To accomplish this goal, I constructed barcoded ETEC libraries that enabled me to determine founding population sizes along with intestinal ETEC burdens. To better understand PanChol, a new live attenuated OCV, I studied the shedding of the vaccine in the first 3 human volunteers to ingest this novel agent. METHODS: Triparental mating of donor strains MFDλpir pJMP1039 and MFDλpir pSM1 with recipient ETEC strains enabled construction of barcoded libraries. Neonatal CD-1 and C57BL/6 mice were infected with 104-107 CFU of wild-type ETEC to develop an infant mouse model. Founding population sizes of ETEC strains were compared via sequencing and STAMPR analysis while CFU burdens were determined via plating. Shedding of PanChol was done through enumeration of serial dilutions of fecal samples. Serotyping of shed PanChol was carried out using anti-Ogawa and anti-Inaba antisera. RESULTS: There were marked differences in ETEC small intestinal colonization in different mouse strains. Outbred CD-1 suckling mice only colonized with a 107 dose. In contrast, colonization of ETEC was approximately 106 CFU/small intestine at inocula sizes of 105 or greater in C57BL/6 mice. Laboratory studies using simulated bottlenecks made by serial dilutions established that the barcoded libraries accurately reflect founding population sizes up to 105 CFU. There was no difference in founding population sizes at the same inoculum size between WT ETEC and a hypervesiculation ∆mlaE mutant, though the founding population size increased with increasing input. PanChol retained the Hikojima serotype and shedding occurred in all volunteers with maximum colonization occurring 3 days post administration of 106 CFU. CONCLUSIONS: C57BL/6 P5 mice can serve as a new model to study ETEC intestinal colonization. Hypervesiculating ETEC did not produce a difference in founding population or colonization at the same input as WT ETEC strains. PanChol shows great promise as a viable OCV with shedding at 106 input and no serotype reversion.

The Virginia Tech Spectral-Line Survey (VTSS) is a high sensitivity, high resolution survey of Hydrogen-$\alpha$ and Sulfur-II emission in the full northern hemisphere. The instrument used for the survey is the Spectral Line Imaging Camera (SLIC). SLIC uses a fast(f/1.2) lens attached to a cryogenically cooled, TK 512x512 CCD with 27 micron pixels. The focal length of the lens is 58mm which gives a pixel size of 1.6 arcminutes. The diameter of each field is 10degrees. A filter wheel ahead of the lens allows for imaging at different wavelengths. Automating the imaging system is desirable and advantageous due to the large scope of the survey. A variety of devices have been developed in order to implement automation of the SLIC observatory. They include an automated focusing mechanism, filter wheel, liquid nitrogen auto fill system, motorized roll-off roof, cloud monitor, and an equatorial mount. A PERL script, called SLICAR (Spectral Line Imaging Camera Automation Routine), was written to control and communicate with the various hardware and software components. The program also implements a user prepared Observing File, and makes decisions based on observing conditions. / Master of Science

The caseloads of food stamp program and welfare program experienced sharp drops among non-metropolitan single female-headed families with children (SFHFwC) after welfare reform in 1996. There is concern that leaving welfare program has led to nonparticipation in food stamp program due to multiple reasons. This study conducts an empirical analysis of non-metropolitan SFHFwC's participation in food stamp program and welfare program, using the 1993 and 1999 CPS data. Results from using reduced-form probit model, bivariate probit model and structural probit model are compared. The reduced-form probit model considers participation in both programs as functions of all exogenous variables. The bivariate probit model allows correlation between the participation in the two programs. The structural probit model considers participation in welfare as an endogenous variable of FSP participation. Empirical analysis is also conducted through the comparison across years and between southern and the remaining U.S. states. We found that welfare participation has a significant and positive impact on FSP participation. Households leaving welfare are more likely not to participate in FSP. Further, welfare participation is more important in determining FSP participation in 1999 than in 1993. Residence in South has a significant and negative impact in welfare participation in 1999, but has no significant impact on FSP participation in either year. Incomes and number of young children are the other major determinants of participation in both programs. Policy suggestions include improving economic situation to reduce FSP caseloads on one side, and providing more information about FSP eligibility to welfare leavers to ensure their food safety on the other side. / Master of Science

Thermal nanoimprint lithography (T-NIL) is a cheap and fast technique to produce nanopatterns in polymeric materials. It creates these patterns by pressing a stamp down into a polymer film that has been heated above its glass transition temperature. These nanopatterned polymer films can be used in a wide variety of scientific fields, not the least the organic semiconductor industry. There the nanopatterned films have, among else, been used to improve the efficiency of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). The light-emitting electrochemical cell (LEC), which is similar in structure to an OLED, also uses polymer films in their device structure but the light emitting layer also contains an electrolyte. However, it has not been shown if nanopatterns can improve LECs as well or if it is even possible to make an imprint in their polymer films that are mixed with an electrolyte. This thesis shows that T-NIL can be used to imprint nanopatterns in films made of poly(ethylene oxide) and the conjugated polymer Super Yellow. The best nanopatterns were produced by setting the imprint parameters to  85 °C, 10 bar, 1800 s for poly(ethylene oxide) and 115 °C, 20 bar, 1800 s for Super Yellow. Imprints were also performed on polystyrene but no nanopatterns could be produced. This was most likely because the stamp could not handle the high temperature that is required to make a nanopattern in polystyrene. The best imprint parameters of Super Yellow were then used to produce a pattern in a film made of Super Yellow mixed with the salt tetrahexylammonium tetrafluoroborate (THABF4) in order to be able to produce one imprinted and one reference LEC. The imprinted LEC had a luminosity of 139 cd/m2, an improvement of 20% compared to the reference’s 115 cd/m2 when operated under identical conditions.  The forward direction and the angular dependent electroluminescence spectrum of the imprinted LEC clearly showed an effect not observed in the reference. These findings show that the polymer films used in a LEC can be imprinted with a nanopattern by using T-NIL. The imprinted films can be used to create functional LECs that show different behavior and a higher luminosity compared to a non-imprinted reference. If these results can be repeated it might be the starting point of a brighter future.

<p>Although traditional hazard analysis techniques, such as failure modes and effect analysis (FMEA), and fault tree analysis (FTA) have been used for a long time, they are not well-suited to handling modern systems with complex software, human-machine interactions, and decision-making procedures. This is mainly because traditional hazard analysis techniques rely on a direct cause-effect chain and have no unified guidance to lead the hazard analysis. The Systems Theoretic Accident Model and Process (STAMP) is based on systems theory to try to find out as much as possible about the factors involved in a hazard, and with providing clear guidance as to the control structure leading to the hazard.</p> <p>The Darlington Nuclear Power Generating Station was the first nuclear plant in the world in which the safety shutdown systems are computer controlled. Although FTA and FMEA have already been applied to these shutdown systems, Ontario power generation felt that it is still useful to try recent advances to evaluate whether they can improve on the previous hazard analysis.</p> <p>This thesis introduces the two most common traditional techniques of hazard analysis, FTA and FMEA, as well as two systemic techniques, STPA (which is a hazard analysis method associated with STAMP), and the Functional Resonance Accident Model (FRAM). The thesis also explains why we chose STPA to apply to the Darlington Shutdown System case, and provides an example of the application as well as an evaluation of its use compared with FMEA and FTA.</p> / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

Master of Music / Department of Music / Frank C. Tracz / This document was constructed on the comprehensive examination questions based on the Graduate Conducting Recital of Kyle D. Hopkins. The theoretical and historical analysis includes The Star-Spangled Banner by Jack Stamp, Tharsos by Jeff Jordan, Americans We by Henry Fillmore, and Cajun Folk Songs by Frank Ticheli. Along with the analysis, this document contains rehearsal plans and procedures used in the preparation of the literature. The recital was performed in two parts by the McPherson High School Band on February 5, 2009 in the McPherson High School Roundhouse at 7:30 pm and April 30, 2009 in the McPherson High School Auditorium at 7:30 pm.

På Lantmäteriet har frågan funnits om hur enhetlig lämplighetsprövningen av fastigheter är gällande avstånd mellan skogsskiften. Denna fråga blev än mer aktuell efter att stämpelskatten på fastighetsköp för juridiska personer höjdes 2011. En enhetlig rättstillämpning blev då än viktigare ur ett rättviseperspektiv. Syftet med denna undersökning var därför att utreda rättsläget och tillämpningen angående om det efter fastighetsreglering ska få uppstå långa avstånd mellan skogsskiften inom samma fastighet och utifrån vilka kriterier denna bedömning ska göras. Undersökningen skulle också utreda om förrättningslantmätarna bedömer att s.k. skatteförrättningar där denna fråga är aktuell blivit vanligare. Huvudsakligen har tre metoder använts för att genomföra undersökningen: Rättsläget har undersökts genom den rättsdogmatiska metoden. För att få svar på hur lämplighetsvillkoren tillämpas i denna fråga och om förrättningslantmätare bedömer att skatteförrättningar blivit vanligare har en enkätundersökning genomförts. För att få en djupare förståelse för hur skogsbruket påverkas av långa avstånd hölls en intervju med en representant för Skogsstyrelsen. Om rättsläget kunde konstateras att det både finns goda argument för, och goda argument emot, att tillåta långa avstånd mellan skogsskiften. Det starkaste för är att längre avstånd normalt inte inverkar menligt på skogsbruket. Det starkaste mot är att de ombildade fastigheterna ofta inte blir lämpliga försäljningsobjekt. Slutsatsen drogs att rättsläget är oklart. Angående rättstillämpningen kunde konstateras att denna varierar avsevärt, både vad gäller tillåtna avstånd och vilka kriterier bedömningen görs utifrån. Bedömningen är inte enhetlig och riskerar att bli alltför subjektiv. Angående skatteförrättningar bedömde tillräckligt många förrättningslantmätare att dessa ökar för att en ökning ska vara trolig. Slutligen konstaterades att tydligare riktlinjer behövs, men att vägledande rättsfall krävs för att kunna ge sådana. / At the National Land Survey of Sweden the question has emerged how uniform the judgment on suitability of real property units are regarding distance between forest lots. This question became even timelier after the Swedish stamp duty was increased on property purchase in 2011. In a fairness perspective a uniform legal application then became even more important. Therefore the aim of this research has been to investigate the legal matter and application, regarding the issue of whether long distances between forest lots within the same property are to be authorized after reallotment or not, and from which criteria this judgment should be done. The research should also investigate if cadastral surveyors assess if cadastral procedures due to stamp duty have increased in number. Mainly three methods has been used: The legal matter has been investigated according to the legal dogmatic method; to see how the stipulations regarding suitability judgment are applied in this matter and if cadastral surveyors assess they have increased in number, a survey with inquiries has been used; to get a deeper understanding in how long distances affect the forestry, an interview was held with a representative of the Swedish forest authority. Regarding the legal matter the conclusion could be drawn that there are good arguments both for and against authorizing long distances between forest lots. The strongest argument for, is that long distances normally not have an injurious effect on forestry. The strongest argument against, is that the re-formed properties often don´t become suitable objects for the real estate market. The conclusion was drawn that the legal matter is unclear. The conclusion was also drawn that the application of the legal matter is very varying, both regarding allowed distances and the criteria used in judgment. The judging is not uniform and risks being all too subjective. Regarding cadastral procedures due to stamp duty, sufficiently many cadastral surveyors assessed an increased amount for this to be probable. Finally the conclusion was drawn that plainer guidelines are needed, but a precedent is necessary for such a thing.