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Novel Lactide Derived Polymers; Synthesis, Properties And Applications, Dahlia Haynes Dec 2008

Novel Lactide Derived Polymers; Synthesis, Properties And Applications, Dahlia Haynes

All Dissertations

This dissertation primarily encompasses the synthesis, characterization, properties and discussion of applications for lactide derived polymers. The methodology focuses on altering polylactide's (PLA's) dynamic and physical properties increasing its broad market utility in both traditional and non-traditional applications. The fundamentals of this work include understanding and enhancing the polymer chemistry and materials related processes through the use of copolymerization, fluorination, composite chemistry and materials science.
The first chapter discusses the important of this research with emphasis on current world issues that focuses on the feasibility of renewable resources and sustainability implementation. Modification of renewable resource materials like lactic acid is …


Dynamics Of Online Chat, Mihai Moldovan May 2008

Dynamics Of Online Chat, Mihai Moldovan

Dissertations

Millions of people use online synchronous chat networks on a daily basis for work, play and education. Despite their widespread use, little is known about their user dynamics. For example, one does not know how many users are typically co-present and actively engaged in public interaction in the individual chat rooms of any of the numerous public Internet Relay Chat (IRC) networks found on the Internet; or what are the factors that constrain the boundaries of user activity inside those chat rooms. Failure to collect and present such data means there is a lack of a good understanding of the …


Toward A New Social Contract: A Tripartite Mixed-Methods Analysis Of Social Sustainability At Three Land-Grant Universities, Lyndsay Josephine Agans Jan 2008

Toward A New Social Contract: A Tripartite Mixed-Methods Analysis Of Social Sustainability At Three Land-Grant Universities, Lyndsay Josephine Agans

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Increasingly, colleges and universities in the United States are adapting toward a model of behavior that incorporates issues of sustainability. This adaptation in universities and in society has implications on the organizational and nation-state level, the very core of which may serve to reshape the social contract between the two. In addition to supplying a strong counter-hegemonic argument that alters the competitive economic agenda-setting paradigm, this study serves as a tripartite comparative case study analysis of university adaptation toward social sustainability. By employing a social capital lens to understanding social sustainability in higher education, this study seeks to examine the …


Water Centrality For Water And Society, Ute Goeft Jan 2008

Water Centrality For Water And Society, Ute Goeft

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The current approach to water management in Western societies, including Australia, is based on allocating water between different users. Appropriate for commercial uses, this commodity view of water has proved difficult for the inclusion of environmental and social concerns. Issues, such as which aspects have precedence, how much water should be allocated to each and how to make trade-offs in cases of insufficient water, pose problems that are yet to be worked out. In addition, there is a lack of knowledge regarding the identification of environmental as well as social water needs. The latter has prompted the writing of this …