New Releases by Ryan W

"This thesis project was centered on developing an electronic tool for collecting observation data that could be used for functional behavioral assessments and individualized education programs. Currently, most behavioral data collection methods utitilize paper forms to record observations. Using paper forms and transcribing the information to another format for analysis is a long and arduous process. As a result, less data is collected and analyzed. The electronic tool developed for thesis project uses a Google Sheet that is owned and controlled by the user. The information in the spreadsheet is used to create a customized observation checklist and store the observations. Since the observations are recorded directly into an electronic format it is immediately available for analysis, saving the teacher a significant amount of time. The teacher has an instantaneous view of behavior trends, can track student progress and spend more time working with students in a meaningful way."--Abstract, leaf vi

Small satellites, particularly CubeSats, have become popular platforms for a wide variety of scientific, commercial and military remote sensing applications. Inexpensive commercial o the shelf (COTS) hardware and relatively low launch costs make these platforms candidates for deployment in large constellations that can offer unprecedented temporal and geospatial sampling of the entire planet. However, productivity for both individual and constellations of CubeSats in low earth orbit (LEO) is limited by the capabilities of the communications subsystem. Generally, these constraints stem from limited available electrical power, low-gain antennas and the general scarcity of available radio spectrum. In this thesis, we assess the ability of free space optical communication (lasercom) to address these limitations, identify key technology developments that enable its application in small satellites, and develop a functional prototype that demonstrates predicted performance. We first establish design goals for a lasercom payload archi- tecture that offers performance improvements (joules-per-bit) over radio-frequency (RF) solutions, yet is compatible with the severe size, weight and power (SWaP) constraints common to CubeSats. The key design goal is direct LEO-to-ground downlink capability with data rates exceeding 10 Mbps, an order of magnitude better than COTS radio solutions available today, within typical CubeSat SWaP constraints on the space terminal, and with similar COTS and low-complexity constraints on the ground terminal. After defining the goals for this architecture, we identify gaps in previous implementations that limit their performance: the lack of compact, power-efficient optical transmitters and the need for pointing capability on small satellites to be as much as a factor of ten better than what is commonly achieved today. One approach is to address these shortcomings using low-cost COTS components that are compatible with CubeSat budgets and development schedules. In design trade studies we identify potential solutions for the transmitter and pointing implementation gaps. Two distinct transmitter architectures, one based on a high-power laser diode and another using an optical amplifier, are considered. Analysis shows that both configurations meet system requirements, however, the optical amplifier offers better scalability to higher data rates. To address platform pointing limitations, we dene a staged control framework incorporating a COTS optical steering mechanism that is used to manage pointing errors from the coarse stage (host satellite body-pointing). A variety of ne steering solutions are considered, and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) tip-tilt mirrors are selected due to their advantage in size, weight and power. We experimentally validate the designs resulting from the trade studies for these key subsystems. We construct a prototype transmitter using a modified COTS fiber amplifier and a directly-modulated seed laser capable of producing a 200mW average power, pulse position modulated optical output. This prototype is used to confirm power consumption predictions, modulation rate scalability (10 Mbps to 100 Mbps), and peak transmit power (e.g., 24.6W for PPM-128). The transmitter optical output, along with a simple loopback receiver, is used to validate the sensitivity of the avalanche photodiode receiver used for the ground receiver in the flight experiment configuration. The MEMS fine steering mechanisms, which are not rated for space use, are characterized using a purpose-built test apparatus. Characterization experiments of the MEMS devices focused on ensuring repeatable behavior (+/-0:11 mrad, 3-[sigma]) over the expected operating temperature range on the spacecraft (0°C to 40°C). Finally, we provide an assessment of the work that remains to move from the prototype to flight model and into on-orbit operations. Space terminal packaging and integration needs, as well as host spacecraft interface requirements are detailed. We also describe the remaining ground station integration tasks and operational procedures. Having developed a pragmatic COTS-based lasercom architecture for CubeSats, and having addressed the need for a compact laser transmitter and optical ne steering mechanisms with both analysis and experimental validation, this thesis has set the stage for the practical use of lasercom techniques in resource-constrained CubeSats which can yield order-of-magnitude enhancements in communications link eciency relative to existing RF technologies currently in use.

Ryan W. Tracy hadnt said a word in almost forty years when his family discovered hes a remarkable artist and poet. He had been diagnosed with autism at age seven and lived in a world of his own until the day he picked up a paint brush, which gave him the gift of words. Those words came out in a flood of art and poetry that celebrate landscapes, flowers, ribbons of color, valleys of hope, and the power of love. His poems are just as remarkable as his artwork. In The Wild Me, he celebrates his spirit, writing: The wildness of my soul finds its grace in the most creative ventures The singular blowing tree bends but never breaks Autism seeks to break my wild spirit from within I stand strong in hurricane force trials that place storms at my branches I refuse the call to quit Infused with wonder, talent, and beauty, youll be inspired to keep reaching for the heavens no matter what obstacles stand in the way with The Brilliant Brush-Strokes of Autism.

This book investigates the consequences of redundant state and federal environmental regulations in the United States. Drawing on the most exhaustive statistical analysis of US federal wetland permits ever constructed, the book uncovers the disjointed world of wetland regulation. The author starts by examining the socioeconomic and environmental factors driving individuals to apply for environmental regulatory permits and the regional inconsistencies encountered in federal environmental regulatory program performance. The book goes on to demonstrate that states have more power in federal relationships than scholars often believe and that individual state policies are important even in a time of strong federal governance. Evidence shows that such intergovernmental redundancy serves to increase overall regulatory program effectiveness. This book breaks new ground in the subjects of federalism and environmental regulation by rejecting the traditional approach of picking winners and losers in favour of a nuanced demonstration of how redundancy and collaboration between different levels of governance can make for more effective governmental programs. The book is also innovative in its use of the perspectives of regulated citizens not as a point of judgment, but as a means of introducing a constructive new way of thinking about political and administrative boundaries within a federalist system of governance. The book provides relevant context to wider political debates about excessive and duplicative regulatory oversight and will be of interest to Environmental Policy students and administrators.

Ryan W. Bradley''s third full-length poetry collection finds a fresh combination of muses from his first two. Whether about love or concussions, his poems arrive with confidence, taking everyday moments and spinning them for the reader to experience from a unique vantage point.

In primates, corticomotoneuronal (CM) cells have sufficiently strong synaptic linkages to motoneurons to mediate post-spike facilitation in spike-triggered averages of muscle activity. We investigated the degree to which activity of CM cells and their target muscles could be independently controlled by operantly conditioning their relative activation levels. In two Macaca nemestrina monkeys, single cortical neurons were recorded with moveable microwires chronically implanted in the caudal bank of the pre-central gyrus. Rectified EMG of 12 distal forelimb muscles was recorded with sub-cutaneously implanted pairs of wires in each muscle in one monkey from which 35 unique cell-muscle pairs were operantly conditioned. In the other animal, surface electrodes were placed over wrist flexor and extensor muscles (9 unique cell-muscle pairs). Spike-triggered averages of rectified EMG were compiled while the monkeys performed a force target-tracking task about the wrist. Twenty-four CM cells, with post-spike effects at latencies between 6 and 16 ms in one or more forelimb muscles, were selected for activity dissociation conditioning. Monkeys performed an operant conditioning task through which relative activation of the CM cell and a target muscle could be explored (44 unique cell-muscle pairs). Cell and muscle activity controlled the position of a cursor on a screen, with cursor position determined by concurrent cell spike rates (C) and EMG activity of a target muscle (M); one activity assigned the horizontal direction the other, vertical. Monkeys received fruit sauce rewards for holding the cursor in target positions requiring at least four combinations of increased (+) and suppressed (-) activation relative to levels observed during force generation, namely C+M+; C+M-; C-M+ and C-M-. The monkeys learned to reciprocally activate cells and target muscles exhibiting post-spike facilitation (42 out of 44 cell-muscle pairs), in both directions. For muscles with post-spike suppression (4 out of 4 pairs), monkeys learned to co-activate these cell-muscle pairs. These results indicate that cortical cells with direct synaptic linkages to motoneurons can be flexibly activated relative to their target muscles. Further, CM cell-muscle activity dissociations can be rapid, robust, reversible and are subject to volitional control. Calculation of mutual information between CM cell and muscle activation patterns during reciprocal dissociation events, compared to force target-tracking, implicates involvement of other upstream sources. Activity independence between correlationally-linked components within a neural circuit favors strategies for brain computer interface (BCI) control in which individual neurons are each assigned an individual degree-of-freedom of device output. Operant conditioning of neural activity has typically been achieved under controlled behavioral conditions using food reinforcement. To reward cell activity during unconstrained behavior, we sought midbrain sites whose stimulation would support operant responding. Three nemestrina monkeys learned to perform a manual step-tracking task rewarded by fruit sauce. We found sites in nucleus accumbens and surrounding striatum whose stimulation could maintain task performance and verified that response rates increased monotonically with increasing pulse frequency and amplitude. We recorded activity of single neurons with moveable microwires chronically implanted in the precentral gyrus and documented neural modulation with a force-guided target-tracking task. We attempted to condition increased firing rates first with the monkey in the training booth and then during free behavior in the cage using the Neurochip-a head-fixed, autonomous recording and stimulating system. Spikes occurring above baseline rates triggered single or multiple electrical pulses to the reinforcement site (1 mA, 0.2 ms biphasic current pulses). This rate-contingent, unit-triggered stimulation was made available for periods of 1 to 3 minutes separated by 3 to 10 minute time-out periods without stimulation, regardless of cell activity. During in-booth sessions feedback was presented as vertical cursor movement and auditory clicks. During in-cage conditioning, barely audible clicks occurred during each spike-triggered stimulation event. In-booth conditioning produced increases in single neuron firing probability after transition to intracranial reinforcement in 48 of 58 cells. Reinforced cell activity could rise u003e 5 times that of non-reinforced activity, doubling in most sessions. Activity peaks typically occurred during the first 10 seconds of each time-in period and, for many cells, activity remained elevated above baseline for the full period. In-cage conditioning produced significant increases in post-transition activity in 21 out of 33 sessions. In-cage effects peaked later and lasted longer than in-booth effects but were often comparatively smaller, between 13 and 18 percent above non-reinforced activity. The difference in responding in the two conditioning environments could be due to the dynamic range of candidate cell firing rate, robustness of the reinforcement site and differing levels of attention and competing behaviors in the booth and cage. Controls indicate that stimulation of the reinforcement site did not directly evoke increased cell activity. In several sessions, neighboring, synaptically-linked motor cortex neurons were recorded simultaneously with the trigger cell, revealing network involvement in eliciting conditioned rate changes in the stimulation-triggering neuron.

Each year approximately 8 million people die from cancer on a global scale. Treatment varies depending on the stage and type of cancer but frequently includes surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. For surgical removal of cancer, it is critical that health care professionals only remove the cancerous portion of tissue and avoid damaging healthy tissue. Imaging modalities are frequently used during surgery but are currently limited in their ability to differentiate between healthy and cancerous tissue. Image processing has the potential to allow surgeons the ability to visualize these differences. This study is aimed to develop an image processing algorithm capable of differentiating between healthy and cancerous tissues from a brain tumor. Fluorescence imaging was utilized to capture grayscale images of a mouse brain tumor samples, marked with green fluorescent protein-labeled biomarker, approximately 10 micro-meters thick. The discrete wavelet transform was then applied in conjunction with a nonlinear mapping function to process the images. Multiple levels of the discrete wavelet transform were applied to further differentiate between the healthy and cancerous tissue. A threshold was then applied and contour maps are shown for clarity. The results indicate both a clear in contrast and a successful segmentation of the tumorous region in each of the input images. This is shown through the statistical texture analysis, a comparison to previous studies, and by visual inspection.

The Taking Sides Collection on McGraw-Hill CreateTM includes current controversial issues in a debate-style format designed to stimulate student interest and develop critical thinking skills. This Collection contains a multitude of current and classic issues to enhance and customize your course. You can browse the entire Taking Sides Collection on Create, or you can search by topic, author, or keywords. Each Taking Sides issues is thoughtfully framed with Learning Outcomes, an Issue Summary, an Introduction, and an Exploring the Issue section featuring Critical Thinking and Reflection, Is There Common Ground?, and Additional Resources and Internet References. Go to McGraw-Hill CreateTM at www.mcgrawhillcreate.com, click on the "Collections" tab, and select The Taking Sides Collection to browse the entire Collection. Select individual Taking Sides issues to enhance your course, or access and select the entire McKee/Taverner: Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Human Sexuality, 13/e ExpressBook for an easy, pre-built teaching resource by clicking here. An online Instructor''s Resource Guide with testing material is available for each Taking Sides volume. Using Taking Sides in the Classroom is also an excellent instructor resource. Visit the Create Central Online Learning Center at www.mhhe.com/createcentral for more details.

The Western genre has long been associated with right-wing and libertarian politics, and is said to promote individualism and free-market economics. In a new look at the Western, however, Ryan McMaken shows that the Western is in fact often anti-capitalist, and in many ways, the genre attacks the dominant ideology of nineteenth-century America: classical liberalism. The classical Westerns of the mid-twentieth century often feature wealthy capitalist villains who oppress the cowardly and defenseless shopkeepers and farmers of the frontier. The gunfighter, a representative of the law and order provided by the nation-state, intervenes to provide safety and justice. In addition to attacks on capitalism, the Western attacks other prized values of the bourgeois middle classes including Christianity, education and urbanization. McMaken examines these themes as used in the films of John Ford, Anthony Mann, and Howard Hawks. These pioneers of the classical Westerns are then contrasted with later innovators such as Sergio Leone, Sam Peckinpah, and Clint Eastwood. Also included are discussions of the role of the LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE series, Victorian literature, and the nature of crime on the historical frontier. With a foreword by Paul A. Cantor, author of GILLIGAN UNBOUND and THE INVISIBLE HAND IN POPULAR CULTURE.

Volume 2 of this inquiry-based biology manual contains ten new lab exercises that allow students to ask their own questions, gather information, formulate hypotheses, design and carry out experiments, collect and analyze data and formulate conclusions. Topics include transpiration, the cardiopulmonary system, and osmoregulation and excretion.

Entitled "Preservation and the Production of Bare Life," my dissertation considers the role of late 19th and 20th century American literature as it negotiated and challenged contemporary discourses of preservation, which, I argue, were emerging in complicity with the silencing and cultural dismissal of multiethnic populations within the rapidly expanding United States and its imperial peripheries. From George Catlin''s vision of "a nation''s park, containing man and beast," to William Faulkner''s depiction of Haiti as an historical island "set aside by Heaven itself," preservation was employed not only for the disinterested acquisition of knowledge, but also as an ideological tool used to encapsulate and redefine certain subjects as static and unchanging, barred from civil lives and political representation. My research goes on to explore the writings of Yankton Sioux essayist, Zitkala-Sa, and African American labor organizer, Angelo Herndon, who envisioned and articulated new anti-colonial definitions of preservation, using their memoirs as a means to contest their presumed containment within these enclosed histories. In our own current moment, when conversations regarding preservation (ecological, historical and cultural) continue to dominate the popular imaginary, my work traces the contested genealogy of this term as it was inspired, influenced, and subsequently transformed by the diverse and multivalent literatures of the late 19th and 20th century United States.

When does increased service quality competition lead to customer defection, and which customers are most likely to defect? Our empirical analysis of 82,235 customers exploits the varying competitive dynamics in 644 geographically isolated markets in which a nationwide retail bank conducted business over a five-year period. We find that customers defect at a higher rate from the incumbent following increased service quality (price) competition only when the incumbent offers high (low) quality service relative to existing competitors in a local market. We provide evidence that these results are due to a sorting effect, whereby firms trade-off service quality and price, and in turn, the incumbent attracts service (price) sensitive customers in markets where it has supplied relatively high (low) levels of service quality in the past. Furthermore, we show that it is the high quality incumbent''s most profitable customers who are the most attracted by superior quality alternatives. Our results appear to have long-run implications whereby sustaining a high level of service quality is associated with the incumbent attracting and retaining more profitable customers over time.

Base level lowering often leads to the migration of knickpoints up the fluvial network as the channel profile adjusts to the new lower boundary condition. In steep terrain, the passage of a knickpoint can oversteepen valley walls and trigger a wave of erosion up the hillslopes. As soil is stripped from hillslopes, the previously diffusive hillslopes are transformed to landslide-dominated. Soils in diffusive landscapes are well developed until erosion exposes the underlying saprolite by shortening the soil residence times. During base level adjustments, the erosion of hillslopes can leave relict patches of the original landscape juxtaposed with the newly evolving landscape. Recent incision in central Idaho has produced large channel-to-ridge relief along the Salmon River and has resulted in the propagation of large knickpoints into many of its tributaries. These knickpoints mark the boundaries between pre-uplifted terrain (relict landscapes) and freshly eroded terrain (refreshed landscapes). In this study I aimed to analyze the hillslope response to the passage of a knickpoint by comparing morphological characteristics between relict and refreshed landscapes. A transect situated on both relict and refreshed landscapes was established to measure soil properties and ridgecrest morphology. The spatial analysis used the National Elevation Datatset (NED) and high resolution Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) elevation data. Soil analysis showed 1) higher percentage of gravel in the refreshed landscape, 2) a higher percentage of carbon in the relict landscape, and 3) similar average soil depths in both landscape types (~18 cm). Spatial analysis showed the mean slope angle in the relict landscape is 18±7° and 33±7° in the refreshed landscape. Prospect Ridge has three distinct values of curvature: 0.0033±0.001 (relict), 0.0219±0.008 (refreshed), and 0.0668±0.009 (close to Salmon River). Three sets of increasing relative levels of erosion were therefore inferred from these curvature values. The erosion rate corresponding to the refreshed landscape is responsible for the formation of the large knickpoints within the site. Hillslopes downstream of the large knickpoints are subject to rapid oversteepening and complete landscape transformation from diffusive to landslide-dominated. Conversely, a less dramatic hillslope response was observed upstream of the knickpoint based on evidence of slight channel lowering, partially oversteepened valley walls, and pockets of hillslope steepening in tributary sub-basins. Reconstruction of relict hillslopes and the pre-incisional relict channel suggest that a much smaller, extinct knickpoint preceded the larger knickpoint and rapidly diffused into the headwaters.

As Americans'' trust in government nears historic lows, frustration with government performance approaches record highs. One explanation for this trend is that citizens may be unaware of both the services provided by government and the impact of those services on their lives. In an experiment, Boston-area residents interacted with a website that visualizes both service requests submitted by the public (e.g., potholes and broken streetlamps) and efforts by the City of Boston to address them. Some participants observed a count of new, open, and recently closed service requests, while others viewed these requests visualized on an interactive map that included details and images of the work being performed. Residents who experienced this "operational transparency" in government services--seeing the work that government is doing--expressed more positive attitudes toward government and greater support for maintaining or expanding the scale of government programs. The effect of transparency on support for government programs was equivalent to a roughly 20% decline in conservatism on a political ideology scale. We further demonstrate that positive attitudes about government partially mediate the relationship between operational transparency and support for maintaining and expanding government programs. While transparency is customarily trained on elected officials as a means of ethical oversight, our research documents the benefits of increased transparency into the delivery of government services.

A Circus Mind is a compilation of rock n roll inspired poems by Ryan Cox. The book weaves through the annals of rock n roll to paint an expressive history of the bands and their music. Exploring the reaches of every corner of the music world from the Rolling Stones recording of Exile on Main St in Nellcote, France to the Willie Nelson long-haired outlaw country of the 70''s and the socially conscious island rhythms of Bob Marley to the explosive grunge rock of the Seattle trio, Nirvana. Carefully crafting intricate rhymes with surreal imagery of the real life events that characterized the careers of many of the defining artists of the 20 century, Ryan delivers a unique perspective and fresh take of the rock n roll elite. Along with the vivid written imagery, the book is accompanied with a striking collection of illustrations by an international collection of six illustrators. Former Abbey Road Studios lead designer and London based illustrator, Andy Potts, mixes hand crafted elements with digital collage and lots of color. 2012 Applied Arts Photography & Illustration Award winner, Dushan Milic, has taken the lead of the design and layout of A Circus Mind, as well as a contributing illustrator. Dushan specializes in people, concepts & portraits that are drawn via pen & ink, or with Wacom & digitally colored, movement & gesture dominate with a quirkiness generated from a drawn-from-the-gut approach that breathes life into his illustrations. Past Applied Arts Photography & illustration winner, Julia Minamata, contributes illustrations as a living embodiment of the written word with bold colors and style. Jacqui Oakley specializes in portraiture, unexpectedly blending patterns and textures. Based in Chile, Zela Lobb produces powerfully sharp and emotional illustrations. Elissa Parente brings a spontaneous and expressive flavor to A Circus Mind with ink, acrylics, oil and collage.

Lanessa Whitman is a well-organized realtor and the co-founder of a wealthy gated community in Cardero County Texas. The word out on the street is that Mariah Dolcetti is looking for a way to run a protection racket. Keller Vardell a friend of Lanessa comes over to prevent a hostile takeover. The violence as well as the fear in this part of Texas is intensifying. The biker girls in both organizations are always ready to fight their adversaries to survive. The majority of people in this area are anxious to see what will happen in the long run.

The first book from Artistically Declined Press'' Twin Antlers imprint devoted to collaborative works brings poetry from Ryan W. Bradley & David Tomaloff. Bastardizing the individual voice for the dual one. RYAN W. BRADLEY has pumped gas, fronted a punk band, done construction in the Arctic Circle and now designs book covers. He is the author of three chapbooks, a story collection, Prize Winners (Artistically Declined Press, 2011), and a novel, Code for Failure (Black Coffee Press, 2012). The Waiting Tide, his poetry collection in homage to Neruda''s The Captain''s Verses, will be published in 2013 by Curbside Splendor. DAVID TOMALOFF is a writer, photographer, musician, and an all-around bad influence. His work has appeared in several anthologies and publications such as Mud Luscious, PANK, Prick of the Spindle, DOGZPLOT, and elimae. He is the author of the chapbooks 13 (Artistically Declined Press), A Soft That Touches Down & Removes Itself (NAP and Red Ceilings Press), Olifaunt (Red Ceilings Press), Exit Strategies (Gold Wake Press) and Mescal Non-Palindrome Cinema (Ten Pages Press).

Over time, the delivery of services has become increasingly co-productive (customers participate materially in the production of service outcomes) and inseparable from customer view. As a result, a distinctive aspect of service operations is that they feature production processes in which the experience of production influences customer behavior. In particular, operational choices intended to maximize firm profits may backfire if they diminish customer experiences and, in the process, alter whether and how customers choose to perform their role in the firm''s operating system. In three studies, my dissertation empirically explores how two specific operational choices - 1) whether and how a firm automates service, and 2) the level of service quality a firm chooses to provide relative to its competitors - affect the experiences and behaviors of its customers, and in turn, the firm''s performance

Practical, didactic format designed to deliver point-of-care information to practitioners of cardiology. Highly illustrated with schematics and useful clinical figures, this will be an essential reference to all outpatient cardiology procedures.

A collection of quirks, and homages, Bradley''s debut offers 18 short punches to the gut. The stories will surprise and humor you, maybe even make you gasp a little. They are stories not for the faint of heart... or loins.

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the most widespread infectious diseases in the world, infecting an average of 9 million people annually. Although TB is curable, close to 2 million TB-related deaths occur each year. Due in part to a growing global response to TB, progress has been made in combating the disease. Globally, new TB infection rates have begun to slowly decline and TB mortality rates have decreased significantly since 1990. At the same time, absolute numbers of people infected with TB, particularly in Asia and Africa, continue to rise. Congress has recognised TB as an important humanitarian issue and increasingly as a potential threat to global security. This book examines the U.S. responses to the global threat of tuberculosis and the international efforts and issues for Congress.