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Publication Natural Selection and the Syntax of Clausal Complementation(2009-09-01) Moulton, KeirThis dissertation examines the syntax and semantics of clausal complements. It identifies semantic underpinnings for some syntactic properties of the arguments of propositional attitude verbs. The way clausal arguments compose with their embedding predicates is not uniform and semantic differences emerge from the syntactic context clausal arguments appear in. Three case studies are taken up: clausal arguments of nouns, dislocated clausal arguments (sentential subjects and topics), and infinitival complements with overt subjects (AcI constructions). Chapter Two assembles evidence to support Stowell’s (1981) claim that the clausal complements of nouns are modifiers. It is shown that the clausal complements of nouns behave like adjuncts in their ability to bleed condition C (Kuno 2004 and Jacobson 2003, and explored here further). The compositional strategy used to compose attitude nouns with their arguments, following Kratzer (2006), is shown to account for this behavior and to be commensurate with observations made by Grimshaw (1990). I then show how the modifier status of clausal complements of nouns is determined by the way in which nominals are formed from clause-taking verbs. Chapter Three examines another complementation strategy, found with fronted clauses. New data from binding is provided in support of Koster’s (1978) hypothesis that clauses do not move. Specifically, fronted clauses fail to show the effects of syntactic reconstruction. An analysis, making crucial use of de re attitude ascription, is offered to account for ‘apparent’ binding into fronted clauses. Chapter Four makes the case for enriching the meanings of clausal complements. By examining some new patterns with accusative with infinitive (AcI) constructions (such as I see him to be a fool), I argue for decomposing certain doxastic attitude verbs, putting the introduction of alternatives into the complement. Here too the role of de re attitude ascription is shown to play a crucial role. It is argued that AcI constructions involve de re attitude ascription, with added constraints (determined by the lexical content of the embedding verb) on the nature of the Acquaintance Relation (Kaplan 1968, Lewis 1979). Several predictions about the kinds of verbs that can participate in AcI are borne out.Publication Management of Target-Tracking Sensor Networks(2009-09-01) Hadi, KhaledTarget tracking has emerged as an important application of sensor networks. There are two subproblems inherent to target tracking. The first is the initial location of the target as it enters the region being covered. The second is following its track once it has been discovered. In this work, we outline an approach to target tracking. We present an energy-aware tracking algorithm that predicts the target track and activates nodes based on that prediction. We then discuss different energy management schemes that resolve tradeoffs between energy savings and track quality for a specified mission lifetime. Our energy management schemes perform better in terms of track quality and have an energy consumption similar to other schemes. We also consider energy harvesting in this energy management. We present a multitarget tracking algorithm; in connection with that, we present a filtering algorithm that improves the quality of tracking. We also study adaptive approaches to manage the tracking process to the observed mobility characteristics of the target. Such adaptive approaches are shown to have noticeable performance advantages.Publication Synthesis and Study of Hybrid Organic – Inorganic Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxanes (poss) Based Polymers(2009-09-01) Gadodia, Gunjan A,Hybrid organic-inorganic materials represent a new class of materials having scientific and technological potential. In this thesis, Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxanes (POSS) are used as an inorganic building block which has been tethered to an organic polymer. POSS are silica precusors, having a well defined silsesquioxane cental core surrounded by an organic periphery which makes them compatible with monomers and possibly polymers. The objectives of this study are to (1) study the basic structures of POSS homopolymers, (2) to incorporate POSS building blocks by a bottomup approach into polymer chains and study the resulting morphologies, and (3) to study the thin film behavior of POSS block copolymers. PMA and styryl POSS homopolymers of different peripheries were synthesized by ATRP and mass spectrometry studies were carried out by MALDI-TOF and ESI. PMA POSS chains undergo a number of fragmentations while styrly POSS chains have a relatively robust backbone. Poly(ethylene-butylene-b-MAPOSS), AB type copolymers and poly(MAPOSS-b-styrene-b-MAPOSS), ABA type copolymers were synthesized by a combination of anionic and ATRP polymerization. Spheres, inverse cylinders, lamellar and crystalline lamellar morphologies were observed for the poly(ethylene-butylene-b- MAPOSS) copolymers. In the poly(MAPOSS-b-styrene-b-MAPOSS) copolymers, cylindrical, lamellar and perforated lamellar morphologies were obtained. Beyond the interaction parameter (χ), total degree of polymerization (N) and volume fraction (f), the conformational asymmetry (ε) also plays an important role in determining the morphology of these block copolymer. Crystallization of the POSS phase and better thermal properties were observed in the both block copolymers. Thin film studies of poly(MAPOSS-b-styrene-b-MAPOSS) copolymers showed that the microdomains can be oriented either parallel or perpendicular to the substrate depending upon the film thickness, morphology and relative volume fractions of the connecting blocks. By removal of the organic phase, ordered mesoporous low dielectric constant silica films were obtained. These hybrid block copolymers are a potential candidate for nanopatterning applications.Publication Writing Across the Curriculum Program Development as Ideological and Rhetorical Practice(2009-09-01) Fulford, Carolyn J.Few research studies have focused on WAC program development. Those that exist do not examine the ideological grounds for programmatic changes. This dissertation explores the dynamics of such changes through a four-year ethnographic study of WAC program development at a small, public, liberal arts college. The study employed extensive participant observation, interviewing, and document collection to trace how curricular and cultural changes around writing take shape and what ideologies and rhetorical practices come into play during that complex change process. The site for the study is of special interest because WAC there was in transition from an informal coalition focused on changing culture and pedagogy to a potentially institutional program equally invested in curricular reform. My study documents the interactions that characterize the change process, using Jenny Edbauer's conception of rhetorical ecology for its explanatory power in non-linear discursive environments. I analyze rhetorical encounters between a wide range of institutional constituents, including administrators and faculty from multiple disciplines. In these encounters, higher education's historic ideologies surface and interact in complex ways with WAC's ideologies. Using critical discourse analysis, I unpack these interactions and ideological multilectics, examining how language and values circulate among multiple users, texts, and sites within the rhetorical ecology of one college, influencing the shape of program developments. WAC scholars suggest that contemporary practitioners need to forge alliances with other cross-curricular initiatives in order for WAC to continue as a viable educational movement. My analysis of how WAC advocates at one college positioned their efforts in relation to other curricular changes reveals both benefits and costs resulting from such alliances. Although alliances can produce significant reforms, working with groups that have divergent ideological premises risks positioning WAC in subordination to others' ideological priorities. Two intertwined strategies appear to mitigate this problem: 1) ideological recentering on WAC's core theoretical commitments and 2) formation of recombinant multilectics by identifying the ideologies in play and considering how, or whether, core WAC ideological commitments align with them. Acts of recentering that incorporate deliberate multilectics may be key survival strategies for WAC programs as they interact with other cross-curricular initiatives.Publication Ciliate Biodiversity and Phylogenetic Reconstruction Assessed by Multiple Molecular Markers(2009-09-01) Dunthorn, MicahCiliates provide a powerful system within microbial eukaryotes in which molecular genealogies can be compared to detailed morphological taxonomies. Two groups with such detailed taxonomies are the Colpodea and the Halteriidae. There are about 200 described Colpodea species that are found primarily in terrestrial habitats. In Chapters 1 and 2, taxon sampling is increased to include exemplars from all major subclades using nuclear small subunit rDNA (nSSU-rDNA) sequencing. Much of the morphological taxonomy is supported, but extensive non-monophyly is found throughout. The conflict between some nodes of the nSSU-rDNA genealogy and morphology-based taxonomy suggests the need for additional molecular marker. In Chapter 3, character sampling is increased using mitochondrial small subunit rDNA (mtSSU-rDNA) sequencing. The nSSU-rDNA and mtSSU-rDNA topologies for the Colpodea are largely congruent for well-supported nodes, suggesting that nSSU-rDNA work in other ciliate clades will be supported by mtSSU-rDNA as well. Chapter 4 compares the underlying genetic variation within two closely related species in the Halteriidae with increased taxon and molecular sampling using nSSU-rDNA and internally-transcribed spacer (ITS) region sequencing. The morphospecies Halteria grandinella shows extensive genetic variation that is consistent with either a large effective population size or the existence of multiple cryptic species. This pattern contrasts with the minimal of genetic variation in the morphospecies Meseres corlissi. Chapter 5 discusses the congruence and incongruence among morphological and molecular data in ciliates. Most of the incongruence occurs where there is little statistical support for the molecules, or where molecular data is consistent with alternative morphological hypotheses. Chapter 6 reviews the data for sex, or lack thereof, in the Colpodea, a potentially ancient asexual group where sex was regained in a derived species. In Chapter 7, four ciliate clades are redefined using the PhyloCode.