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Spectroscopic And Thermodynamic Analysis Of Co Rebinding And Photodissociation From Fe (Ii) Lpo, Dustin Michael Lockney

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Lactoperoxidase (LPO) is a heme peroxidase found in tears, milk, saliva, and cervical fluids that has bactericidal activity. The bactericidal nature of LPO is due to its ability to oxidize halides and pseudohalides in the presence of H2O2. Full understanding of the catalytic cycle of LPO requires detailed characterization of the mechanism of ligand binding to the enzyme active site. This includes a dynamic and energetic description of conformational changes associated with heme-ligand interactions. Photoacoustic calorimetry is applied to determine the kinetics and magnitude of reaction volume and enthalpy changes for CO dissociation from CO-LPO. Time-resolved absorption spectroscopy was used …

Satellite Image Based Classification Mapping For Spatially Analyzing West Virginia Corridor H Urban Development, Chandra L. Inglis-Smith

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The study area for this project is Corridor H, a designated Appalachian Development Highway located in Lewis, Upshur, Barbour Counties which are part of the Appalachian Plateau Province, and Randolph, Tucker, Grant and Hardy Counties which are Part of the Ridge and Valley Province in West Virginia. The region has a long history of occupation and a traditional economic structure consisting of mainly agriculture, timbering and coal mining. The final objective of the study was to perform change detection, using two Landsat datasets obtained from the USGS of the study area from 1987 and 2005 to determine if economic development, …

Geometric Field Stability And Normal Field Curvature Of Solution Sets Of Ordinary Differential Equations In Two Variables, Leslie L. Kerns

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The classical linearization approach to stability theory determines whether or not a system is stable in the vicinity of its equilibrium points. This classical approach partly depends on the validity of the linear approximation. The definition of stability developed in this article takes a different approach and uses a curvature function to assess the relative locations of solutions within a field of solutions (the underlying solution set of the ODE). The present approach involves calculations that directly yield stability information, without having to enter into the often lengthy eigenvalue-eigenvector method. The present results both complement and are compatible with the …

The Dynamics Of Newton's Method On Cubic Polynomials, Shannon N. Miller

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The field of dynamics is itself a huge part of many branches of science, including the motion of the planets and galaxies, changing weather patterns, and the growth and decline of populations. Consider a function f and pick x0 in the domain of f . If we iterate this function around the point x0, then we will have the sequence x0, f (x0), f (f (x0)), f (f (f (x0))), ..., which becomes our dynamical system. We are essentially interested in the end behavior of this system. Do …

Solving Higher Order Dynamic Equations On Time Scales As First Order Systems, Elizabeth R. Duke

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Time scales calculus seeks to unite two disparate worlds: that of differential, Newtonian calculus and the difference calculus. As such, in place of differential and difference equations, time scales calculus uses dynamic equations. Many theoretical results have been developed concerning solutions of dynamic equations. However, little work has been done in the arena of developing numerical methods for approximating these solutions. This thesis work takes a first step in obtaining numerical solutions of dynamic equations|a protocol for writing higher-order dynamic equations as systems of first-order equations. This process proves necessary in obtaining numerical solutions of differential equations since the Runge-Kutta …

Scanning Probe Microscopy And Oxidation Of Silicon At Breakdown Voltages, Thabo Gcwabaza

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The growing importance of Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) as a tool for nanofabrication is opening many avenues in lithography nano-science. One type of Scanning Probe Lithography involves electrochemistry at the tip/substrate interface. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) with conductive tips and substrates was used in our study to both pattern and image those patterns on silicon substrates. Our long-term objective is to design and fabricate micron-scale patterns of nanometer sized spots on silicon chips that can serve as attachment sites for DNA based nano-arrays. In order to fabricate such substrates a study of the underlying electrochemistry was required. A most promising …

Determining Biogeochemical Assemblages On The Stony River, Grant County, Wv, Using Fuzzy C-Means And K-Nearest Neighbors Clustering, M. Joseph Hughes

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Periphyton assemblages were assessed on the Stony River, a high-gradient stream in the Potomac drainage of Grant County, WV. Periphyton samples were collected from nine sites along the mainstem and in two tributaries. Chlorophyll-a, dry weight, taxonomic identifications, and bioaccumulated metals concentrations data were compiled. These data were related to water quality parameters measured at each site during the study. Fuzzy C-means and k-nearest neighbor clustering on the combined, normalized dataset produced similar results. Clustering separated species occurring in each tributary from each other and those dominating the mainstem. Nearly every bioaccumulated metal was associated with one of these tributary …

Applications Of Computational Homology, Christopher Aaron Johnson

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Homology is a field of topology that classifies objects based on the number of n- dimensional holes (cuts, tunnels, voids, etc.) they possess. The number of its real life ap- plications is quickly growing, which requires development of modern computational meth- ods. In my thesis, I will present methods of calculation, algorithms, and implementations of simplicial homology, alpha shapes, and persistent homology.

The Alpha Shapes method represents a point cloud as the union of balls centered at each point, and based on these balls, a complex can be built and homology computed. If the balls are allowed to grow, one …