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The Reaction Of Telechelic Polymers At Multicomponent Interfaces: A Molecular Loop Study, James Kevin Rice

Doctoral Dissertations

The work presented in this dissertation attempts to form an understanding of the reaction parameters that govern the reaction of telechelic polymers to form multiply bound polymer chains, resulting in polymer loop formation, at both soft and hard polymeric interfaces. Both theoretical and experimental studies offer evidence that blocky copolymers, as opposed to random or alternating morphologies, are the best compatibilizers of a given polymer blend system. This has been attributed to the fact that blocky copolymers spread across the interface, with each block lying in or near the homopolymer region in which it is miscible, effectively “stitching” the interface …

Measurement Of The 32S(P,D)31S Reaction And Its Astrophysical Implications, Zhanwen Ma

Doctoral Dissertations

The ³⁰P(p,γ)³¹S reaction plays a crucial role in the synthesis of heavier nuclear species, from Si to Ca, in nova outbursts on ONe White Dwarfs [26, 28, 35]. However, its rate is very uncertain as a result of the lack of spectroscopic information on the levels above proton threshold in ³¹S. The currently adopted rate of this reaction, based on statistical Hauser-Feshbach calculations [36], could have an uncertainty as much as a factor of 100 higher or lower under nova conditions [26].

To reduce these uncertainties, we have measured differential cross sections for the ³²S(p,d) …

Multiple Approaches To The Separation Of Amino Acids And Biologically-Relevant Compounds, Lance Andrew Riddle

Doctoral Dissertations

The branch of analytical chemistry known as separations has continued to grow and expand ever since its beginnings a century ago. With all the technological advances occurring to make separations a more powerful technique, the main goal continues to be the desired separation of the compounds of interest in a mixture. Although a desired separation may be achieved, there can always be room for improvement with regards to the time necessary for the separation as well as better resolution of closely-related species as well as enantiomers of the same analyte.

In this work, a variety of separation methods and variations …

Synthesis And Radiolabeling Of Potassium Trifluoroborate Benzylidene Anabaseine Derivatives, Aaron Landon Smith

Doctoral Dissertations

Anabaseine has demonstrated a high, non-selective, affinity for the α7- bungarotoxin sensitive neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor binding site found in small cell lung carcinoma. The benzylidene anabaseine derivatives of anabaseine have shown a selective affinity for these binding sites. These studies suggest that radiolabeled benzylidene anabaseine derivatives could act as potential imaging agents to aid in the early detection of lung cancer.

This dissertation outlines the strategy and methods employed in the synthesis of a family of potassium trifluoroborate derivatives of benzylidene anabaseine and their subsequent halogenation. Two of the trifluoroborate salts were converted to their radiolabeled analogues for potential …

Scheduling Tasks With Precedence Constraints On Heterogeneous Distributed Computing Systems, Zhiao Shi

Doctoral Dissertations

Efficient scheduling is essential to exploit the tremendous potential of high performance computing systems. Scheduling tasks with precedence constraints is a well studied problem and a number of heuristics have been proposed.

In this thesis, we first consider the problem of scheduling task graphs in heterogeneous distributed computing systems (HDCS) where the processors have different capabilities. A novel, list scheduling-based algorithm to deal with this particular situation is proposed. The algorithm takes into account the resource scarcity when assigning the task node weights. It incorporates the average communication cost between the scheduling node and its node when computing the Earliest …

Adsorption Of Small Molecules On Mgo And Graphite, Peter Nikolaivich Yaron

Doctoral Dissertations

The physical adsorption of molecules on metal oxide surfaces has direct implications in a number of industrial applications such as; catalysis, electronics, and fuel cells to name a few. Despite the large number of adsorption studies to date, only a small number of systems can be explained with the most advanced ab initio calculations currently available.

One of the simplest metal oxide systems to study is magnesium oxide due to its simple cubic rock-salt structure. Using a patented method, nearly defect-free MgO cubes can be synthesized with a narrow size distribution exposing exclusively the (100) equilibrium crystal face. The use …

Expression And Characterization Of Hyperthermophilic Aqujfex Pyrophilus Flagellin Protein In Mesophilic Bacterial Systems, Srivani V. Mukkamala

Masters Theses

The structural protein flagellin, FlaA derived from hyperthermophilic Aquifex pyrophilus, a rod shaped eubacterial species that grows near hydrothermal vents at an optimum growth temperature of 85 °C forms elongated thermostable flagella nanotubes. FlaA was successfully over-expressed for the first time using pET28c plasmid in E. coli BL21 cells at 37 °C. The protein was isolated from inclusion bodies that were solubilized by alkaline pH, refolded by dialysis and purified by chromatographic techniques. The FlaA was characterized by fluorescence, light scattering and circular dichroism. The FlaA was not in the correct folded form to form flagella as efforts to …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Complex Polymer Architectures, Brandon Scott Farmer

Doctoral Dissertations

Anionic polymerization based upon high vacuum technique has been used to synthesize different star polymers using varying linking techniques. In particular chlorosilanes, divinylbenzene, and polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) chlorosilane derivatives were used in the synthesis of star polymers. These polymers, along with polymers synthesized by others, have been characterized by a range of methods in this work.

A series of polyisoprene (PI) stars were synthesized from dimethylaminopropyllithium (DMAPLi) and subsequently hydrogenated to form poly (ethylene-co-propylene) (PEP) these were characterized by size exclusion chromatography (SEC) coupled with online two angle laser light scattering (TALLS). These polymers were synthesized in an attempt …

Thermodynamics Of Metals Adsorption Onto Uranium Dioxide, Koi Ling Lim

Masters Theses

Wastes and pollution containing uranium are released to the environment through mining, ore processing, industrial manufacture of nuclear fuel and weapons materials, and the disposal of spent nuclear fuel. There are a wide variety of processes that can affect UO₂ stability. This research focuses on the surface reactivity of UO₂ in reducing aqueous solutions, with an emphasis on assessment of the pH-dependent surface charge, reactive surface area, and the adsorption of dissolved lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), lanthanum (La) onto UO₂ particles. A surface complexation model was used to explain the adsorption and titration phenomena of UO_{2 …}

Diel And Tidal Rhythms Of Emercenge Events Based On Acousitc Observations In A Shallow Estuary, Mei Sato

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Field observations of emergence events by epibenthic animals were conducted with two Tracor Acoustic Profiling Systems (TAPS) in the Damariscotta River estuary, Maine, in fall 2005 and summer 2006. Spectral analysis revealed that periodic temporal variability of the acoustic signals was concentrated at four periods. One was the solar day (24 h) and the other three were lunar tidal periods of 25.82 (diurnal or Oi), 12.42 (semidiurnal or M2) and 6.21 h (half the semidiurnal period). The mysid Neomysis americana showed strong nocturnal migration patterns of water-column activity during its peak summer emergence season, regulated by the diel cycle. Toward …

Surface Modification Of Pigments And Its Role In Offset Ink Setting, Wei Gu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ink setting affects offset print quality issues such as print mottle and print gloss. It is known that ink setting depends on many factors, such as the nature of the substrate, the properties of the coating, and the ink formulation. However, the role of pigment surface chemistry in offset ink setting is unknown. From an experimental perspective, it is difficult to determine the role of the surface chemistry as it requires paper coatings that are similar in physical properties and differ only in the pigment surface chemistry. The aim of this study was two-fold. The first was to apply methods …

Yellow Tree: A Distributed Main-Memory Spatial Index Structure For Moving Objects, Hariharan Gowrisankar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mobile devices equipped with wireless technologies to communicate and positioning systems to locate objects of interest are common place today, providing the impetus to develop location-aware applications. At the heart of location-aware applications are moving objects or objects that continuously change location over time, such as cars in transportation networks or pedestrians or postal packages. Location-aware applications tend to support the tracking of very large numbers of such moving objects as well as many users that are interested in finding out about the locations of other moving objects. Such location-aware applications rely on support from database management systems to model, …

Home Management System: Application Development For Inventory Management, Lea Herr

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

Societal trends have resulted in fuller schedules, and more dual income and single parent families. Time management has become more challenging for American families; therefore it has become more difficult to effectively and efficiently perform household management tasks. A computerized home management system would simplify, organize, and expedite home management processes. The goal of this project was the completion of the first module of a computerized home management system. Inventory management was chosen due to its critical part in home management. The application is characterized by a user interface designed to enable family members from kindergarten age and up to …

Synthesis And Fundamental Characterization Of Nanoparticles And Their Clusters, Ke Du

Dissertations

Nanoparticles of gold derivatized with monolayers of thiocarboxylic acid ligands, core/shell nanoparticle composites of gold and silica, gold-glutathioneclusters, and titania nanoparticles were synthesized and their surface properties (extent of ligand coverage, net negative charge, and zeta potential) characterized by capillary electrophoresis as a function of pH, ionic strength, and dielectric constant for the first time. The hydrodynamic radii of thenanoparticles were determined by dynamic laser light scattering and used to calculate the net surface charge, extent of ligand coverage, and zeta potentials ofthe nanoparticles from electrophoresic mobilities. The ligand derivatized nanoparticles had similar hydrodynamic radius of about 20 nm which …

Investigation Of Oxy-Anion Legand Adsorption Onto Surfaces Of Iron Oxide And Bacteria In Groundwater Aquifers, Haile Mengistu

Dissertations

We have measured adsorption of dissolved phosphate onto synthetic hydrous ferric oxide (HFO), dissolved arsenate and chromate onto the cell membrane of a bacterium species, S. putrefaciens as a function of pH, ionic strength, and relative concentrations of the respective oxy-ligands. Our experimental data were used to constrain optimal values for surface complexation reactions involving dissolved oxi-ligands (phosphate, and chromate) and the HFO surface and the cell membrane of S. putrefaciens respectively according to the diffuse layer model.

Our results provide a more accurate fit to experimental measurements over a broader range of pH (3 - 12), ionic strength and …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Inosamines, Sing Raj Gurung

Masters Theses

This project is concerned with the preparation of scyllo-inosarnine hydrochloride 6, a biologically active compound, which bears six successive stereogenic centers. The synthesis of this compound would help elucidate the involvement of inosamines in biological nitrogen fixation. myo-Inositol served as the starting material to synthesize target compound 6. Regioselective protection and deprotection of myo-inositol provided azide 43 as key intermediate. In the final steps deprotection of five benzyl groups and reduction of azido group was achieved by catalytic hydrogenation. scyllo-Inosamine hydrochloride 6 was fully characterized by m.p., ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, IR, EA and via …

Network Infrastructure Essentials Course Development, Michael A. Case

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

Voice and data cabling enable people around the world to communicate by phone, fax, and computer. Cabling is the basis for virtually every network. Today's voice and data cabling is engineered to balance high performance with cost efficiency. The quality of the service provided by the cabling is directly related to the quality of the installation. Properly installed cabling can provide years of service for networks, in most cases outlasting every device connected to the network. Experience has taught us that too many people don't realize the importance of cable infrastructure. At Alfred State College, in the Computer Engineering Technology …

Determining Environmental Drivers Of Fish Community Structure Along The Coast Of Maine, Adrian Jordaan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The work presented here was conceived to determine whether structure in marine communities could be related to multiple scaled environmental parameters, as seen in lake and stream systems. Four datasets collected from 2001 to 2005 were used. The datasets ranged from local scale tidepool and estuarine surveys, to more regional intertidal/subtidal surveys and conclude using a coast-wide trawl survey. Initially, a bootstrap program for running principal component analysis (PCA) was developed and tested for utility with additional information from Pearson correlation coefficients. The bootstrap-PC A program was capable of determining confidence limits for correlations amongst species. The results from analysis …

Production Of Ethanol From Hardwood, Jay Mitchell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Diminishing crude oil and natural gas supplies, along with concern about greenhouse gas are major driving forces in the search for efficient renewable energy sources. The conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to energy and useful chemicals is a component of the solution. Ethanol is most commonly produced by enzymatic hydrolysis of complex carbohydrates to simple sugars followed by fermentation using yeast.

C₆H_l0O₅ + H₂O −Enxymes→ C₆H₁₂O₆ −Yeast→ 2CH₃CH₂OH + 2C0₂

In the U.S. corn is the primary starting raw material for commercial ethanol production. …

Moving Object Tracking: Seeking Extensible Solutions, Jeremy Pack

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Moving object tracking is a difficult field with no "best" solution. The documents contained here detail software that was developed in order to perform tracking of objects that are in the line of sight of multiple cameras. Some of the software developed is already in use by the US Army Dugway Proving Ground. Other software represents prototype or early development code. This software was written by Jeremy Pack, who was the lead programmer, and Luke Andrew at the Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan, Utah.

The Relationship Between The Minimal Rank Of A Tree And The Rank-Spreads Of The Vertices And Edges, John Henry Sinkovic

Theses and Dissertations

Let F be a field, G = (V,E) be an undirected graph on n vertices, and let S(F,G) be the set of all symmetric n × n matrices whose nonzero off-diagonal entries occur in exactly the positions corresponding to the edges of G. Let mr(F,G)be the minimum rank over all matrices in S(F,G). We give a field independent proof of a well-known result that for a tree the sum of its path cover number and minimal rank is equal to the number of vertices in the tree. The rank-spread of a vertex v of G is the difference between the …

A Bayesian Approach For Bandwidth Selection In Kernel Density Estimation With Censored Data, Chinthaka Kuruwita

All Theses

Estimating an unknown probability density function is a common problem arising frequently in many scientific disciplines. Among many density estimation methods, the kernel density estimators are widely used. However, the classical kernel density estimators suffer from an intrinsic problem as they assign positive values outside the support of the target density. This problem is commonly known as the `Spill over` effect. A modification to the regular kernel estimator is proposed to circumvent this problem. The proposed method uses a lognormal kernel and can be used even in the presence of censoring to estimate any density with a positive support without …

Development Of Methods For The Study Of Phosphoproteins, Zhaoyuan Chen

Theses and Dissertations

Characterization of phosphoproteins-including detection, identification of phosphoproteins and identification of phosphorylation sites-is mostly done with radiolabeling and proteomic techniques. Three main topics related to phosphoprotein characterization are included in this dissertation. First, large-scale characterization of the CHO (Chinese hamster ovary) cell phosphoproteome was done using two dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE) separation, visualization of phosphoproteins by radiolabeling or a phosphoprotein specific dye, followed by MALDI-TOF identification. Because radiolabeling of phosphoproteins is very sensitive and straightforward to quantify, such analysis can give a clear picture of the relative phosphosphorylation of proteins present in a sample. But there are also limitations to this …

Generating Paraphrases With Greater Variation Using Syntactic Phrases, Rebecca Diane Madsen

Theses and Dissertations

Given a sentence, a paraphrase generation system produces a sentence that says the same thing but usually in a different way. The paraphrase generation problem can be formulated in the machine translation paradigm; instead of translation of English to a foreign language, the system translates an English sentence (for example) to another English sentence. Quirk et al. (2004) demonstrated this approach to generate almost 90% acceptable paraphrases. However, most of the sentences had little variation from the original input sentence. Leveraging syntactic information, this thesis project presents an approach that successfully generated more varied paraphrase sentences than the approach of …

Regulation Of A Dna-Compacting Plastid Nucleoid Protein, Steven William Adamson

Dissertations

DCP68, a DNA-compacting nucleoid protein, was further characterized in order to understand how plastid nucleoid proteins affect the structure and function of chloroplast DNA. Previously, DCP68 was identified as ferredoxin: sulfite reductase, an enzyme that participates in reductive sulfur assimilation and inhibits chloroplast DNA replication and transcription in vitro [1, 2]. In this study, the portion of SiR that was found to be present in soluble and plastid nucleoid-enriched fractions indicated that most SiR was stromal in Arabidopsis and soybean plants. Although SiR was detected in Arabidopsis chloroplast nucleoid-enriched fractions, the study of nucleoid dynamics proved to be difficult due …

Audio Conferencing Participant List Manager 3.0, Maurice Olsen

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

Global Crossing's conferencing division specializes in audio, video, and web-based collaboration. The Conference Participant List Manger 3.0 application framework (LM) allows call center operators to add, modify, delete, and report on audio conference call participant information. LM communicates with the physical conferencing bridge device through an API provided by the bridge vendor. The LM software framework consists of a thin-client, web service, platform service, and a domain definition library. The architecture implemented in the LM software project allows for ease of maintenance and speed of enhancement delivery through the use of software design patterns.

Retaining Information Technology Employees In Higher Education, Mary Holmes

Dissertations

The retention of qualified Information Technology (IT) employees is at an all time low within higher education institutions. IT personnel are essential for higher education institutions to effectively integrate technology into their educational programs. These IT employees contribute to their institution's teaching/learning mission, while simultaneously supporting complex and highly visible administrative operations. Yet, all previous research regarding IT employee retention issues had only been conducted within corporate settings.

To examine factors related to IT employees' retention within public higher education, an internet-based study was sent to IT employees in all four-year public universities throughout Michigan. The survey included questions within …

New Tests Of Univariate Symmetry Based On The Gini Mean Difference, Hend Ouda

Dissertations

Gini mean difference (GMD) was proposed as a measure of income inequality by Corrado Gini in 1912. Since then it has been widely applied - mostly in theeconomics, but also in statistical and social science research.

Four statistical tests of univariate symmetry are being proposed---all based on the comparison of variation below and above the median (known or estimated) measured by the GMD. These tests are applicable to the data from populations with median known and unknown, and each of them has its rank-basedcounterpart, so they can also be used for ordinal data.

A Monte Carlo simulation study was performed …

Variational And Partial Differential Equation Models For Color Image Denoising And Their Numerical Approximations Using Finite Element Methods, Miun Yoon

Masters Theses

Image processing has been a traditional engineering field, which has a broad range of applications in science, engineering and industry. Not long ago, statistical and ad hoc methods had been main tools for studying and analyzing image processing problems. In the past decade, a new approach based on variational and partial differential equation (PDE) methods has emerged as a more powerful approach. Compared with old approaches, variational and PDE methods have remarkable advantages in both theory and computation. It allows to directly handle and process visually important geometric features such as gradients, tangents and curvatures, and to model visually meaningful …

Computationally Modeling The Effects Of Surface Roughness On Soft X-Ray Multilayer Reflectors, Jedediah Edward Jensen Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

Electromagnetic scattering from a rough two dimensional homogeneous scatterer has been computationally modeled. The scatterer is intended to simulate reflection from a two interface multilayer. The rough scatterer was created from Gaussian random points centered about an ideal interface. The points were connected with a third order spline interpolant which accounts for correlation between neighboring surface atoms. The scalar electric field integral equation (EFIE) and magnetic field integral equation (MFIE) were solved using the Nystrom method to obtain the reflected intensity as a function of observation angle. Verification of the accuracy of the code was obtained by means of comparison …