Digital Commons Network^™

Adapting To Rising Sea Levels In San Francisco Bay: The Potential For Thin Layer Sediment Application To Enhance Tidal Marsh Resiliency Through This Century, Scott K. Hine

Master's Projects and Capstones

The research here focuses on two projected century sea-level rise scenarios (100 and 180 cm/century) and the potential to offset elevation loss to sea-level rise by supplying deteriorating tidal marsh habitat with a thin layer of dredge sediment via high-pressure spray disposal within San Francisco Bay. This adaptation strategy is then analyzed for potential integration into the Bay’s long term management plan for dredge material disposal. The Marsh Equilibrium Model (Morris, 2012) is used to evaluate elevation deficits for existing tidal marsh habitat around San Pablo Bay against future century sea-level rise scenarios and model marsh resiliency following elevation enhancement. …

Antiviral Peptide Nanocomplexes As Potential Therapeutics For The Treatment Of Infectious Diseases, Jinjin Zhang

Theses & Dissertations

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) is recognized as a major burden in global public health, which can be further exacerbated by several cofactors such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Currently, there is no vaccine for HCV. The emergence of potent and highly specific direct-acting antivirals (DAA) has marked a new era in HCV therapy, however, the remaining issues like affordability, genotype dependency, and potential resistance still necessitate the development of additional therapeutic approaches to be used instead or in combination with DAA.

Recently, the antiviral peptide C5A (in our studies designated as p1) and its cationic derivative p41 have been identified …

The Effects Of Warming Temperatures, Fire, And Landscape Change On Lake Production In Mountain Lakes, Alberta, Canada, Amber Elizabeth Gall

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Many factors could be causing the widespread eutrophication being observed globally, including natural and human factors. In the mountainous regions of Alberta, Canada, warming temperatures, increased fire occurrence, and greater landscape disturbance could increase lake production. To determine the effects of these factors, proxies of lake production preserved in lake sediment records that span the last 1000 years were measured. These records are from two lakes that have not been affected by direct nutrient inputs from human activities; one in Jasper National Park and one from the Hinton area (Alberta). The results highlight that there is little effect of fire …

Recent Discoveries In The Ni-Cu-Pge Bearing Trill And Parkin Offset Dykes, Sudbury Impact Structure, Canada, Adam B. Coulter

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Sudbury structure hosts world class Ni-Cu-PGE deposits that have been mined, explored and studied for over 130 years. The structure is widely recognized as the erosional remnant of a 1.85 Ga 200- to 250-km tectonically altered multi-ring impact basin located in central Ontario, Canada. The focus of this investigation is on the Trill and Parkin Offset dykes. This study provides updated regional scale geologic maps, detailed geologic maps of newly exposed sections, geochemistry, sulphide analysis and an analysis of the inclusion population and orientation within the dykes. We conclude, the dyke phases display remarkable geochemical homogeneity, the Ni-Cu-PGE mineralization …

The Role Of The State, Multinational Oil Companies, International Law & The International Community: Intersection Of Human Rights & Environmental Degradation Climate Change In The 21st Century Caused By Traditional Extractive Practices, The Amazon Rainforest, Indigenous People And Universal Jurisdiction To Resolve The Accountability Issue, Marcela Cabrera Luna

Master's Theses

Local, national and international conventions that protect indigenous sovereignty and their territories, where many of the resources are extracted from by multinational corporations (MNCs) particularly oil, the number one commodity of the world and cause of climate change, continue to be jeopardized because of the lack of a clear international legal framework that can protect them and potentially hold multinationals accountable for their actions. These practices are causing not only environmental issues to the indigenous and surrounding communities, but climate change is in fact, the real human rights issue of the 21^st century and it affects everyone. By using …

Proactive Environmental Strategies: Managing A Corporate Culture Shift Toward Sustainability, Mark E. Calub

Master's Projects and Capstones

The roles and responsibilities of Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) professionals have expanded over the last several decades. Initially focused solely on reducing a firm's ecological impact, many EHS professionals are now tasked with managing a firm's cultural shift towards sustainability. EHS professionals need to develop proactive environmental strategies that further interconnect the environmental, social, and economic performance goals of the firm. Using a concept analysis and integrative literature review approach, the research examines the evolving role of corporate environmental management and evaluates strategic management tools for environmental compliance, environmental performance, and corporate sustainability. The research reveals that the role …

Utilizing Ecological Connectivity In California Desert Wilderness Preservation, Lauren Kahal

Master's Projects and Capstones

The Wilderness Act of 1964 gave the federal land management agencies—the National Park Service, United States Forest Service, U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Land Management—the authority to identify, propose, and manage lands as wilderness. Wilderness, once approved by Congress for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System, is offered the highest form of land preservation in the nation. However, the wilderness identification process used by the implementing agencies is based on a half-century old statute with an aging definition of wilderness. While designated wilderness can protect the plant and wildlife communities within its borders from direct anthropogenic …

Glenside Fire Company Website Modernization, Jennifer Clark, Irene Patterson, David J. Cox Jr.

Senior Capstone Theses

Glenside Fire Company #1, known as GFC, is one of five volunteer fire companies operating in Cheltenham Township, providing services not limited to fire suppression, search and rescue, emergency medical services assistance, and fire safety education. GFC was looking to create a new website in order to promote volunteer firefighting, recruit new members, and fundraise, as well as provide a place where current members can keep records of events and trainings, using a public and member-only view. The website was created using a Bootstrap framework, in order to maximize usability across many platforms. The website will be easily updated with …

Momentum Of Particles From Time-Of-Flight Measurements, Joseph Best

Senior Theses

In order to find the momentum of particles from time of flight measurements, I used a program called Geant4 to simulate experiments. I made a simple two detector setup, and I recreated a real world experiment. I spent a lot of time learning to code in C++ so I could use Geant4 correctly. I simulated these experiments shooting electrons, muons, and pions through the geometry and measured the time at two points in their flight. Subtracting the second time from the first gave me the time of flight distribution for each particle. I used ROOT to draw histograms of the …

Mineralogy And Geochemistry Of Late Archean And Paleoproterozoic Granites And Pegmatites In The Northern Penokean Terrane Of Marquette And Dickinson Counties, Michigan, Christopher M. Johnson, Christopher M. Van Daalen

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on mineralogy, geochemistry, and origin of eight pegmatites and two spatially associated granites of Late Archean and Paleoproterozoic ages located in Marquette and Dickinson Counties, Michigan. Biotite geochemistry reveals that both granites and all pegmatites are peraluminous and have an orogenic signature. However, bulk composition reveals the Humboldt granite is a peraluminous A-type granite and the Bell Creek granite is a peraluminous mix between I-, S-, and A-type granites. The Republic Mine pegmatite appears to be geochemically similar to the Bell Creek granite and Grizzly pegmatite. The Crockley pegmatite is genetically related to the Humboldt granite. The …

Quaternary Chronology And Stratigraphy Of Mickey Springs, Oregon, Leslie Allen Mowbray

Dissertations and Theses

Mickey Springs in the Alvord Desert, southeast Oregon, is analogous to other Basin and Range hydrothermal systems where the requisite conditions of heat source and permeable pathways are met through crustal thinning due to normal faulting. This study examines the morphology and lifespan of near-surface spring features through use of ground penetrating radar, thermoluminescence (TL) dating, and elevation modeling. Duration of hydrothermal activity at Mickey Springs has not previously been determined, and age determinations of sinter at the site are conflicting. The reason for and timing of this change in silica saturation in the hydrothermal fluid has not been resolved. …

Investigation Of 89zr-Siderophores As Molecular Imaging Agents For Positron Emission Tomography Imaging Of Bacterial Infections, Nora C. M. Goscinski

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Siderophores are small molecules synthesized by bacteria to harvest Fe³⁺ from their environment. In infection scenarios, their production can increase infection virulence by increasing the ability of bacteria to obtain Fe³⁺ and therefore grow more rapidly. The selective uptake of siderophores in vivo in multi-bacteria environments indicates that this class of molecules has a potential use as selective imaging agents. In this work, DFO-NCS and a library of trihydroxamate siderophores were evaluated as vehicles to deliver ⁸⁹Zr selectively to bacteria for Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging of bacterial infections.

Productive work with radiometals involves thorough knowledge of …

Investigating The Complexity Of Impact Crater Ejecta, Michael Raymond Zanetti

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The formation of an impact crater ejecta blanket can be viewed as a form of organized chaos. Material that is ejected from a crater is heavily brecciated, but falls back to the surface along ballistic trajectories, generally preserving an inverted sense of the original stratigraphy. As the ejecta re-impacts the area surrounding the crater it forms a thick blanket of ejected material and reworked target surface that gradually thins away from the crater rim. Within the crater, crater modification processes, such as wall terrace formation and impact melt drainage, transform the crater in expectable ways.

The approach adopted in this …

Applying Bayesian Machine Learning Methods To Theoretical Surface Science, Shane Carr

McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Machine learning is a rapidly evolving field in computer science with increasingly many applications to other domains. In this thesis, I present a Bayesian machine learning approach to solving a problem in theoretical surface science: calculating the preferred active site on a catalyst surface for a given adsorbate molecule. I formulate the problem as a low-dimensional objective function. I show how the objective function can be approximated into a certain confidence interval using just one iteration of the self-consistent field (SCF) loop in density functional theory (DFT). I then use Bayesian optimization to perform a global search for the solution. …

Where Is The Warfare? The Impact Of Sola Scriptura On Science And Religion Dialogue, William James Richardson

Senior Theses

I have two aims with the publication of this thesis. The first is to contribute to the recent scholarly work that seeks to discredit the popular, yet fallacious, warfare model of science and religion. A nuanced investigation shows that the warfare evident in popular discourse cannot easily be attributed to a conflict between the essence of science and religion. Rather “science” and “religion” are interpreted as something else entirely. The New Atheists equate science with scientism, and religion is often associated with the Biblical inerrantism of many Protestant Christians. Both ideologies are grounded in an empiricist epistemological framework founded by …

The Force Of Water: Columbia After The Flood, Rebecca Johnson

Senior Theses

Nearly two months have passed, and South Carolina is still recovering from the unprecedented inundation of rain that pelted down in early October. Record amounts of precipitation pounded the state over just a few days, resulting in the flooding and erosion of land, the deterioration of public infrastructure and the loss of human life and capital.

The worst of it was in the capital city. Columbia recorded the highest water levels and the highest number of fatalities of all the affected areas. The city’s utilities could not handle the torrent of water: dams were destroyed, canals were compromised, roads were …

Engineering A Healthier Watershed: Middle School Students Use Engineering Design To Lessen The Impact Of Their Campus' Impervious Surfaces On Their Local Watershed, Elizabeth Claire Gardner

Dissertations and Theses

It is important that students understand not only how their local watershed functions, but also how it is being impacted by impervious surfaces. Additionally, students need experience exploring the scientific and engineering practices that are necessary for a strong STEM background. With this knowledge students can be empowered to tackle this real and local problem using engineering design, a powerful practice gaining momentum and clarity through its prominence in the recent Framework for K-12 Science Education. Twenty classes of suburban sixth-graders participated in a new five-week Watershed Engineering Design Unit taught by their regular science teachers. Students engaged in scientific …

The Performance Of Random Prototypes In Hierarchical Models Of Vision, Kendall Lee Stewart

Dissertations and Theses

I investigate properties of HMAX, a computational model of hierarchical processing in the primate visual cortex. High-level cortical neurons have been shown to respond highly to particular natural shapes, such as faces. HMAX models this property with a dictionary of natural shapes, called prototypes, that respond to the presence of those shapes. The resulting set of similarity measurements is an effective descriptor for classifying images. Curiously, prior work has shown that replacing the dictionary of natural shapes with entirely random prototypes has little impact on classification performance. This work explores that phenomenon by studying the performance of random prototypes on …

Defining The Effects Of Gdf-2 On TgfB Signaling In Tumorigenic Epithelial Cells, Tirthankar Bandyopadhyay

Theses and Dissertations

Cancer cells can be viewed as such cells, which have disrupted/aberrant signaling pathways for maintaining cellular homoeostasis. Identifying such altered signaling mechanisms can help us target these pathways in a better way. GDF-2 (Growth and differentiation factor – 2) or BMP9 (Bone morphogenetic protein – 9), a multifunctional cytokine, is a member of the Bone Morphogenetic Protein subfamily, under TGFβ superfamily, with roles distinct from BMP2/4/7. While GDF-2 is known to be one of the most potent ectopic inducers of bone and cartilage formation, it rose to significance with the identification of its receptor ALK1 in endothelial cells. TGFβ’s role …

Supramolecular Coordination Networks Of S- And F-Block Metals Featuring The 1,8-Naphthalimide Tecton, Andrew Paul Leitner

Theses and Dissertations

The reactions of (S)-2-(1,8-naphthalimido)propanoic acid (HLala), and (S)-2-(1,8- naphthalimido)-3-hydroxypropanoic acid (HLser), protonated forms of ligands that contain a carboxylate donor group, an enantiopure chiral center and a 1,8-naphthalimide π...π stacking supramolecular tecton and in the case of HLser an alcohol functional group, with the appropriate alkali metal hydroxide followed by a variety of crystallization methods leads to the formation of crystalline K(Lala)(MeOH) (1), K(Lala)(H2O) (2), Na(Lala)(H2O) (3), KLser (4), CsLser (5) and CsLala (6). Each of these new complexes has a solid state structure based on six-coordinate metals linked into homochiral helical rod SBU central cores. In addition to the …

Molecules And Metals In The Distant Universe: Sub-Mm And Optical Spectroscopy Of Quasar Absorbers, Sean Stephen Morrison

Theses and Dissertations

In order to gain a complete understanding of galaxy formation and evolution, knowledge of the atomic and molecular gas in the interstellar medium (ISM) is required. Absorption-line spectroscopy of quasars offers a powerful and luminosity independent probe of gas in distant galaxies. The Damped Lyman- systems (DLAs; 20.3 . log NHI ), are the highest neutral hydrogen column density quasar absorbers and contain a substantial fraction of the neutral gas available for star formation in the high-redshift Universe. This thesis presents a study of the metal content in some DLAs, based on optical spectroscopy, and a search for molecules based …

Novel Block Copolymer Architectures For Lithography-Relevant Self-Assembly, Jeffery Hakim Hayat

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is focused on the synthesis, characterization, self-assembly, and materials processing of various functionalized block copolymer systems. A variety of monomers were prepared and polymerized through various polymerization techniques including atom transfer radical polymerization, reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization, and ring-opening metathesis polymerization. Self-assembly of the functionalized block copolymers led to well-defined nanostructures in bulk and thin films. These materials have the capability to be utilized in various applications including ordered catalysts and templates for nanolithography. In Chapter 1, the overall background of diblock and triblock copolymers and their preparation methods is in this dissertation. Major research objectives of …

A Survey Of The Kinetic Monte Carlo Algorithm As Applied To A Multicellular System, Michael Richard Laughlin

Theses and Dissertations

We explore the origins and implementation of the Kinetic Monte Carlo method on a system of cells suspended in a liquid media. The situation presented herein has applications in the emerging field of biofabrication, which may have lasting impacts in medical science. The theory behind the method is explained in detail, starting with its emergence in the 1960s, and two major improvements to the scaling of the method are presented, along with a restriction to a special case. Finally, we give the results of several simulations.

Nd − Pdpa: N Dimensional Probability Density Profile Analysis, Arjang Fahim

Theses and Dissertations

Proteins are often referred as working molecule of a cell, performing many structural, functional and regulatory processes. Revealing the function of proteins still remains a challenging problem. Advancement in genomics sequence projects produces large protein sequence repository, but due to technical difficulty and cost related to structure determination, the number of identified protein structure is far behind. Novel structures identification are particularly important for a number of reasons: they generate models of similar proteins for comparison; identify evolutionary relationships; further contribute to our understanding of protein function and mechanism; and allow for the fold of other family members to be …

Sustainable Polymeric Materials Derived From Novel Soybean Based Monomers And Polymers: From Synthesis To Applications, Nathan Trenor

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, monomers and polymers derived from high oleic soybean oil are investigated. The properties of these monomers and polymeric materials are characterized and discussed. Chapter 1 describes an overall background of bio-based resources, monomers, polymers, and their potential impact on society. Polymerization techniques are introduced, and the overall objective of my research is described. Chapter 2 outlines the large scale preparation of a soybean based monomer and the use of this monomer in thermoset elastomers. The synthetic procedures and characterizations of the monomers and polymers are discussed. A model study using oleic acid is described and proved to …

Hydroxy Polybenzimidazoles For High Temperature Fuel Cells And The Solution Polymerization Of Polybenzimidazole, Kayley Fishel

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, two different hompolymers of polybenzimidazole (PBI) containing hydroxyl functional units were synthesized via the PPA Process to produce gel membranes. These polymers and their phosphoric acid doped membranes were characterized to further explore structure-property relationships in functionalized PBI's. Fuel cell performance of the doped membranes was evaluated and compared to previously reported PBI membrane chemistries. Copolymers of p-OH PBI and para-PBI were prepared at five different copolymer compositions to examine the effects of hydroxy content on membrane properties and compared to the respective homopolymers. The reactivity of the hydroxy groups and the formation of phosphate bridges were …

Comparing The Geography Of Environmental Justice Guidelines, Fish Consumption Waterbodies, And Land Use/Land Cover In South Carolina, Matthew James Neet

Theses and Dissertations

Environmental justice (EJ) grew out of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, as well as grass roots organizations during the 1980s and early 1990s. However, it was not until President William J. Clinton signed Executive Order (EO) 12898 in 1994 that EJ became an official governmental policy. With this directive, federal agencies made EJ part of their daily operations. EO 12898 had two overriding goals, the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all populations. As part of these goals, minority, low-income, and native populations would be analyzed for any disproportionate and adverse impacts on human or environmental health. Despite …

Optimization Of Shell Growth And Influence Of Surface Ligands For Colloidal Cdse/Cds Core/Shell Quantum Dots, Rui Tan

Theses and Dissertations

Progress in the colloidal synthesis of semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) has triggered a burst of research toward applications in QD based light emitting diodes, biological imaging as fluorescent tags, and advanced solar cell designs. In order to adjust and optimize the photo physical properties of QDs, QD heterostructures have been introduced and widely explored. This dissertation is focused on studies of growth of semiconductor colloidal CdSe/CdS core/shell quantum dots and the influences of neutral surface ligands to their photo-physical properties. Chapter 1 provides an introduction of the concept of semiconductor colloidal nanoparticles, core/shell heterostructures and the synthesis methods as well …

Fast Methods For Variable-Coefficient Peridynamic And Non-Local Diffusion Models, Che Wang

Theses and Dissertations

In previous studies, scientists developed the classical solid mechanic theory. The model has been widely used in scientific research and practical production. The main assumption of the classical theory of solid mechanics is that all internal forces act through zero distance. Because of this assumption, the mathematical model always leads to partial differential equations, which meet with problems when describing the spontaneous formation of discontinuities and other singularities. A peridynamic model was proposed as a reformation of solid mechanics [40, 41, 43, 44, 45], which leads to a non-local framework that does not explicitly involve the notion of deformation gradients, …

Modeling, Simulation, And Applications Of Fractional Partial Differential Equations, Wilson Cheung

Theses and Dissertations

The Black-Scholes model is commonly used to track the price of European options with respect to maturity in many financial markets. This model degenerates into a partial differential equation that relates the European-style option price to the underlying price and time of expiry. Black-Scholes assumes that underlying prices satisfy a geometric Brownian motion.

After the U.S. stock market crash of 1987, this assumption becomes inaccurate as it fails to represent the behavior of S&P 500 European vanilla option prices. Specifically, under the measure of moneyness, the volatility smirk does not flatten out and the resulting conditional return distribution does not …