Digital Commons Network^™

Photooxidation Reactions Of Small-Chain Methyl Esters, Aerosol Photoelectron Spectroscopy, And The Photodissociation Of Ethylenediamine, Giel Muller

Master's Theses

Research conducted at the University of San Francisco is presented within this masters thesis, including the Cl-initiated photooxidation reactions of methyl propanoate, methyl butanoate, and methyl valerate (pentanoate), the aerosol photoelectron spectroscopy of isoprene and gamma-valerolactone, and the TPEPICO investigation of ethylenediamine. Experiments were conducted at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Advanced Light Source (ALS), the National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center in Hsinchu City (NSRRC), and the University of Stockton in California, respectively.

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 …

An Integrated Drought Index (Idi) Incorporating Physical And Social Aspects, Rebecca L. Lanier

Master's Theses

The purpose of this research was to determine significant bio-physical (physical and environmental) and social variables that can be integrated into a drought index to predict areas susceptible to drought. Severe drought events are capable of causing millions of dollars in damage. The 1988 drought caused the United States approximately $40 billion in damage. Drought forecasting, modeling, and detection have, therefore, become imperative to understand the social, economic and environmental impacts of droughts, and also to explore how these impacts play a role in the occurrence of a drought. A number of drought indices widely used in the U.S. rely …

The Vascular Flora Of Wayne County, Mississippi, Daniel M. Mcnair

Master's Theses

The vascular flora of Wayne County, Mississippi, was surveyed from 2013–2015, and the species of native and naturalized plants are listed. In total, 1,135 species were identified from field collections, previously collected herbarium specimens, and field observations. These belong to 556 genera and 165 families. Four of these species represent first recorded occurrences in the state of Mississippi: Blyxa aubertii Rich., Gomphrena serrata Pav. ex Moq., Isoetes valida (Engelm.) Clute, and Polypogon interruptus Kunth. GPS coordinates are given for important collection sites representing the diversity of plant communities in the county. All voucher specimens from the survey are deposited in …

A Statistical Model For The Prediction Of Dissolved Oxygen Dynamics And The Potential For Hypoxia In The Mississippi Sound And Bight, Andreas Moshogianis

Master's Theses

Hypoxia events occur when dissolved oxygen concentrations fall below the minimum threshold (dissolved oxygen concentrations < 2 mg O₂ L^-1) necessary to avoid respiratory distress among aquatic organisms. In the Mississippi Sound and Bight, hypoxia is most prevalent from late-spring through late summer. Since hypoxia events can have dramatic effects on coastal fisheries, the spatial and temporal magnitude of hypoxia presents a clear threat to the productive fisheries in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Long-term hydrographic data were collected from eight sampling stations on a monthly basis from January 2009 to December 2011 along a cross-shelf transect from the mouth of …

Recreation Ecology Of Colorado Fourteeners: An Assessment Of Trail Usage And Impacts, James C. Ewing

Master's Theses

The popularity of climbing Colorado’s 14,000 ft. peaks, or “Fourteeners”, has risen dramatically in recent years, raising important sustainability and management questions. Moreover, groups managing the peaks operate with major capital constraints so their efforts need to be informed, prioritized, and efficient. This paper gauges the dynamics of trail usage, explanatory variables, and recreational impacts across all 58 Fourteeners, and details evaluation adjustments that minimize error and produce results in-step with the resource management framework. Relative to a baseline study completed in 2005, substantial changes occurred in trail usage and impact dynamics. The greatest changes were concentrated on peaks previously …

Automated Multi-Modal Search And Rescue Using Boosted Histogram Of Oriented Gradients, Matthew A. Lienemann

Master's Theses

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) provides a platform for many automated tasks and with an ever increasing advances in computing, these tasks can be more complex. The use of UAVs is expanded in this thesis with the goal of Search and Rescue (SAR), where a UAV can assist fast responders to search for a lost person and relay possible search areas back to SAR teams. To identify a person from an aerial perspective, low-level Histogram of Oriented Gradients (HOG) feature descriptors are used over a segmented region, provided from thermal data, to increase classification speed. This thesis also introduces a dataset …

Production And Harvest Of Microalgae In Wastewater Raceways With Resource Recycling, Alexander Colin Roberts

Master's Theses

Microalgae can be grown on municipal wastewater media to both treat the wastewater and produce feedstock for algae biofuel production. However the reliability of treatment must be demonstrated, as well as high areal algae productivity on recycled wastewater media and efficient sedimentation harvesting. This processes was studied at pilot scale in the present research.

A pilot facility was operated with nine CO₂-supplemented raceway ponds, each with a 33-m² surface area and a 0.3-m depth, continuously from March 6, 2013 through September 24, 2014. The ponds were operated as three sets of triplicates with two sets continuously fed …

Syneresis And Rheology Mechanisms Of A Latex-Heur Associative Thickener System, Travis Bruno Smith

Master's Theses

Rheology modifiers are used in paints and coatings to ease their application to a surface, prevent sagging once applied, and allow the leveling of brushstrokes, among other benefits. The early rheology modifiers were hydroxyethyl celluloses (HECs), a type of non-associative thickener that is relatively inexpensive and synthesized from cellulose, which is abundant. However, coatings that are modified with HECs tend to suffer from poor leveling and syneresis (phase separation). HECs have since been replaced with associative thickeners (ATs). These thickeners, when properly formulated, produce stable dispersions that have improved rheological properties, yet, unlike HECs, are sensitive to changes to the …

Sparse Aperture Speckle Interferometry Telescope Active Optics Control System, Matthew Clause

Master's Theses

A conventional large aperture telescope required for binary star research is typically cost prohibitive. A prototype active optics system was created and fitted to a telescope frame using relatively low cost components. The active optics system was capable of tipping, tilting, and elevating the mirrors to align reflected star light. The low cost mirror position actuators have a resolution of 31 nm, repeatable to within 16 nm. This is accurate enough to perform speckle analysis for the visible light spectrum. The mirrors used in testing were not supported with a whiffletree and produced trefoil-like aberrations which made phasing two mirrors …

3d Geometric Morphometrics In Modern And Extinct Foot-Propelled Diving Birds: An Evaluation Of The Tarsometatarsus For Species Identification, Mackenzie E. Kirchner-Smith

Master's Theses

Hesperornithiformes (Aves: Ornithurae) were flightless foot-propelled diving birds that lived during the Late Cretaceous and have a good fossil record compared to most Mesozoic birds. Extinct taxa are often identified using fragmentary or isolated specimens, and several species of Hesperornis have been named from the morphology of the tarsometatarsus, often relying on size for taxonomic differentiation. However, little has been done to examine intraspecific variation in this bone and evaluate its use for taxonomic identification. To test for intraspecific and interspecific variation in the tarsometatarsus of hesperornithiforms, variation in extant members of the foot-propelled diving Gaviidae (loons) and Podicipedidae (grebes) …

Revision-Polyurethane-Graphene Nanocomposites For Corrosion-Resistant Coatings, Alexandra Rose Stevenson

Master's Theses

Corrosion is a prevalent concern throughout the world, causing significant monetary and safety concerns. Research has been dedicated to developing cost-effective solutions for corrosion that will also meet increasingly stringent environmental regulations. The recently discovered nanomaterial graphene has been proposed as a potential component in anticorrosion technology due to its strong air and water barrier properties. However, graphene is a relatively expensive, difficult to synthesize material. By incorporating it into nanocomposites, its properties can be exploited even at low concentrations. Previous work has been conducted involving the preparation of anticorrosive polystyrene-graphene nanocomposites; these materials were found to be effective long-term …

Human Impacts On Fire In De Soto National Forest, Mississippi, U.S.A., Charles Raymond White

Master's Theses

Fire is a common occurrence in the longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) forests of the Southeast United States. Prescribed fire is used to manage these threatened ecosystems, but information regarding historical fire activity is unknown. My goals were to determine the historical fire regimes in De Soto National Forest (DSNF), southern Mississippi, and determine the influence of climate and land use history on fire activity at two study sites: Fern Gulley Ridge (FGR) and Death Scar Valley (DSV). The composite mean fire interval during the prescribed burning period (1980–2013) was 3.4 years. During settlements periods, fire intervals at FGR …

Lorentz Invariant Spacelike Surfaces Of Constant Mean Curvature In Anti-De Sitter 3-Space, Jamie Patrick Lambert

Master's Theses

In this thesis, I studied Lorentz invariant spacelike surfaces with constant mean curvature H = c in the anti-de Sitter 3-space H³₁(−c²) of constant curvature −c². In particular, I construct Lorentz invariant spacelike surfaces of constant mean curvature c and maximal Lorentz invariant spacelike surfaces in H³₁(−c²). I also studied the limit behavior of those constant mean curvature c surfaces in H³₁(−c²). It turns out that they approach a maximal catenoid in Minkowski 3-space E³₁ as c → …

The Distribution Of Dissolved Barium Along The U.S. Geotraces North Atlantic Transect: Impact Of Biogeochemical Processes, Circulation And Phase Association, Karen Renee Grissom

Master's Theses

During the last four decades, since the completion of the GEOSECS program, there has been a growing interest in the biogeochemical cycle of barium (Ba) due to its potential as a proxy for interpreting the geologic record. The typical barium distribution exhibits removal in the upper water column and regeneration at depth, consistent with its classification as a bio-intermediate element and similar to the nutrient-like profiles of silicic acid and alkalinity. To better constrain the uses of Ba, trace element clean samples were collected during the North Atlantic US GEOTRACES cruises.

The cycling of barium in the North Atlantic region …

Habitat Selection Of Gulf-Strain Striped Bass, Morone Saxatilis: Relationships To Dynamic Abiotic Environmental Characteristics Within The Biloxi River, Mississippi, Jennifer Lynne Green

Master's Theses

The purpose of this project was to provide insights about the short- and long-term patterns of habitat selection of Gulf-strain Striped Bass, Morone saxatilis, based on spatially and seasonally variable abiotic environmental characteristics (water temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO), salinity, specific conductivity, and pH) in the Biloxi River, MS system. Juvenile hatchery-reared and feral adult Gulf-strain Striped Bass were acoustically-tagged and continuously monitored via active and passive telemetry from November 2012 – June 2014. Each month the available abiotic environmental characteristics of 40 random locations within the Biloxi River, along with sub-habitat conditions occupied by acoustically-tagged Gulf-strain Striped Bass, were …

Biogeochemical Alteration Of Particulate Pyrogenic Organic Carbon (Pyc), Jason Matthew Stuart

Master's Theses

The resistance of plant derived pyrogenic organic carbon (pyC) to abiotic and biotic means of degradation has led to increased interest in the role of pyC as a potential carbon sink, as well as a strategy for sequestering atmospheric CO2 to mitigate excess carbon emissions. Though much research pertaining to the fundamental properties of pyC degradation have been performed in a controlled lab setting, there has been very little work regarding pyC degradation in a field setting where factors such as precipitation and temperature fluctuate seasonally. This work focuses on various degradation characteristics of two …

Morphology-Property Relationship For Binary Organic Thin Films, Alyssa Lynn Griffin

Master's Theses

Organic thin films can be readily mass-produced through solution-based fabrication methods including ink-printing and solution-casting because their light weight, flexibility, and inexpensive sources. Their applications range from organic field-effect transistors (OFET), organic solar cells (OSC), to organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). Compared with pure component films, binary organic thin films (BOTF) allows for novel characteristics and specialized features to handle more demanding tasks. Due to the complex intermolecular interactions in BOTF, various microscopic phases with different morphological and electronic properties may be formed and this information is difficult to extract through conventional bulk measurements.

Organic thin films can be readily …

Naturalists’ Perspectives On The Use Of Mobile Technology During A Nature Hike, Aubin Marishka Radzewicz St. Clair

Master's Theses

Naturalists act as our link between scientific knowledge and the public’s understanding of natural history and conservation efforts. In order for them to succeed, they need access to reference materials as well as up-to-date information (Mankin, Warner, & Anderson, 1999). Incorporating mobile technology (i.e. tablets) into naturalists’ endeavors in natural history and environmental education can be used as supportive and educational tools. My project investigated how newly trained naturalists used tablet technology while leading groups of children on nature hikes. I investigated naturalists’ views on the use of mobile technology as a tool during the hikes. My research was guided …

The Integration Of Kinesthetic Learning Through The Math & Movement Program: Pilot Study 2015, Benjamin Ferder

Master's Theses

Purpose: The primary purpose of this pilot study was to verify that the use of kinesthetic learning (Math & Movement Program) in the classroom increases retention of multiplication facts at a greater rate than traditional drill and practice. The Math & Movement Program uses a kinesthetic learning-based approach for practicing, learning, and memorizing mathematics through the incorporation of bodily movement(s). Participants: The directors of the research project for the participating school district selected the sample of convenience. The population size of this study included 213 third and fourth grade students during the second half of the 2011-2012 school years. Data …

Application Of A New Tree-Ring Based Drought Reconstruction Method At Multiple Forest Sites Across Indiana, U.S.A., Kayla Mechelle Pendergrass

Master's Theses

This thesis research used techniques of dendrochronology to investigate the efficacy of using multiple co-occurring species (MCOS) in a climate reconstruction model compared to a single species (SS) in four old-growth forests in Indiana: Pioneer Mothers Memorial Forest (PM), Donaldson Woods (DW), Hoot Woods (HW), and Lilly Dickey Woods (LD). The objectives of this study were to [1] evaluate the climate response of all chronologies (n = 19; 7 species) to determine the most appropriate climate variable for reconstruction and [2] determine if the MCOS model outperforms the SS model at each individual study site. Model comparison was conducted …

Composition Effects On Sheen And Spread Rate Of An Interior Flat, One Coat Latex Paint Formulation, Dana James Christensen Ii

Master's Theses

Interior flat, white latex paint is a common coating applied to walls around the world. Development of a coating with one coat hide capability is a pinnacle achievement for paint formulators as it has the potential to save consumers both time and money. One coat paints already exist on the market, but they are limited in color, coverage, and often have many disclaimers. Work done was part of a project initiated by ChemoursTM Titanium Technologies.

The goal of the project presented in this article was to create an interior flat, white latex paint that yields a spread rate of greater …

Redescription Of A Specimen Of Pentaceratops (Ornithischia: Ceratopsidae) And Phylogenetic Evaluation Of Five Referred Specimens From The Upper Cretaceous Of New Mexico, Joshua J. Fry

Master's Theses

Pentaceratops sternbergi is a late Campanian ceratopsian predominately known from the San Juan Basin in New Mexico. Previous specimen descriptions and cladistic analyses are based on partial skulls and composite specimens, which places Pentaceratops as an intermediate form between Chasmosaurus and Triceratops. Recent reports have questioned the taxonomic validity of several referred specimens, leading to taxonomic confusion. To address taxonomic issues, Museum of Northern Arizona specimen MNA V1747 (formerly MNA Pl. 1747) is redescribed and included in the first specimen-based phylogenetic analysis. Additional preparation since the initial description has made available additional skull elements and revealed MNA V1747 to be …

An Analysis Of Juvenile Chinook Salmon Outmigration Speed And Survival In Response To Habitat Features: Sacramento River From Knights Landing To Sacramento, California, Natalie N. Mcnair

Master's Theses

Outmigration is an important life stage for Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) survival in the Sacramento River, and yet our understanding of their behavior and needs during this time is limited. To gain a better understanding of their survival and movement rates during outmigration, late fall run Chinook salmon smolts were tracked using acoustic telemetry techniques. Habitat features were measured and quantified throughout the study area to evaluate how Chinook salmon respond to key levee features including shade, instream woody material, and aquatic vegetation. The overall average movement speed through the entire study area was 0.77 m/s with an …

Hydrologic Response To Conifer Removal From An Encroached Mountain Meadow, Gregory F. Van Oosbree

Master's Theses

Meadows in the Sierra Nevada Mountains are an important ecological resource that have degraded in quality and distribution due to several environmental and anthropogenic stressors. The encroachment of conifers beyond forest meadow ecotones is largely responsible for the decline of meadow habitat throughout the past century. Currently, there is little research that quantifies the hydrologic response to removal of conifers encroaching meadows in terms of implicating successful meadow restoration. This study has implemented a before after control intervention (BACI) study design to determine the hydrologic response associated with the removal of conifers from a historic meadow encroached by conifers. The …

Temporal Changes To Fire Risk In Disparate Wildland Urban Interface Communities, Nicola C. Leyshon

Master's Theses

Since 1990, thirteen fires over 100,000 acres in size have burned in California seven of which were recorded to be some of the most destructive wildfires of all time (California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection 2013). To aid the development of policy that reduces the destruction caused by wildfires, it is important to evaluate how risk changes through time in communities that are expanding into fire-prone areas. The objective of this study is to discover how the likelihood of structural loss is changing in WUI as newer; more fire resilient structures replace older structures on the edges of the …

Geospatial Data Modeling To Support Energy Pipeline Integrity Management, Austin Wylie

Master's Theses

Several hundred thousand miles of energy pipelines span the whole of North America -- responsible for carrying the natural gas and liquid petroleum that power the continent's homes and economies. These pipelines, so crucial to everyday goings-on, are closely monitored by various operating companies to ensure they perform safely and smoothly.

Happenings like earthquakes, erosion, and extreme weather, however -- and human factors like vehicle traffic and construction -- all pose threats to pipeline integrity. As such, there is a tremendous need to measure and indicate useful, actionable data for each region of interest, and operators often use computer-based decision …

Gpuhelib And Distributedhelib: Distributed Computing Variants Of Helib, A Homomorphic Encryption Library, Ethan Andrew Frame

Master's Theses

Homomorphic Encryption, an encryption scheme only developed in the last five years, allows for arbitrary operations to be performed on encrypted data. Using this scheme, a user can encrypt data, and send it to an online service. The online service can then perform an operation on the data and generate an encrypted result. This encrypted result is then sent back to the user, who decrypts it. This decryption produces the same data as if the operation performed by the online service had been performed on the unencrypted data. This is revolutionary because it allows for users to rely on online …

Sudden Cardiac Arrest Prediction Through Heart Rate Variability Analysis, Luke Joseph Plewa

Master's Theses

The increase in popularity for wearable technologies (see: Apple Watch and Microsoft Band) has opened the door for an Internet of Things solution to healthcare. One of the most prevalent healthcare problems today is the poor survival rate of out-of hospital sudden cardiac arrests (9.5% on 360,000 cases in the USA in 2013). It has been proven that heart rate derived features can give an early indicator of sudden cardiac arrest, and that providing an early warning has the potential to save many lives. Many of these new wearable devices are capable of providing this warning through their heart rate …

Moxel Dags: Connecting Material Information To High Resolution Sparse Voxel Dags, Brent Robert Williams

Master's Theses

As time goes on, the demand for higher resolution and more visually rich images only increases. Unfortunately, creating these more realistic computer graphics is pushing our computational resources to their limits.

In realistic rendering, one of the common ways 3D objects are represented is as volumetric elements called voxels. Traditionally, voxel data structures are known for their high memory requirements. One of the standard ways these requirements are minimized is by storing the voxels in a sparse voxel octree (SVO). Very recently, a method called High Resolution Sparse Voxel DAGs was presented that can store binary voxel data orders of …