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Synthesis Of Novel Polycyclic Aromatics And Heteroaromatics Via Cascade Cyclizations Of Enyne-Allenes And Enyne-Isocyanates, Hua Yang Jan 2006

Synthesis Of Novel Polycyclic Aromatics And Heteroaromatics Via Cascade Cyclizations Of Enyne-Allenes And Enyne-Isocyanates, Hua Yang

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Studies on the thermal cyclization of enyne-isocyanates led to a new synthetic pathway to synthesize heterocycles. It was found that the enyne-isocyanates underwent predominantly C2--C7 cyclization at high temperature and the cycloaromatization was facilitated by the addition of silyl chloride.;The C2--C6 Schmittel cyclization of benzannulated enyne-allenes can provide efficient synthetic pathway for the polycyclic aromatics. As a result, new synthetic pathways to synthesize the 1,2-bis[5-(11 H-benzo[b]fluorenyl)]benzenes and related compounds were developed by employing the Schmittel cyclization reaction. The nonbonded steric interaction led to the formation of syn-isomers as major products, which hold potential to complex with transition metals to catalyze …


The Usa Patriot Act And Civil Liberties: The Media's Response, M. Ann Bergstrom Dec 2005

The Usa Patriot Act And Civil Liberties: The Media's Response, M. Ann Bergstrom

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

In the wake of terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on September 11, 2001, the United States government hurriedly passed the USA PATRIOT Act. This legislation gives the Executive Branch sweeping new powers that could undermine the Bill of Rights and violate civil liberties in the name of national security. The media itself is protected by the First Amendment right to a free press and relies on other civil rights as well. This study is an attempt to gauge the print media's response to the Act by examining newspaper editorials about the PATRIOT Act since 2001 and determining their …


The Stability Of The Iodate -Arsenous Acid Reaction Front While Advected By Poiseuille Flow, Robert S. Spangler Dec 2005

The Stability Of The Iodate -Arsenous Acid Reaction Front While Advected By Poiseuille Flow, Robert S. Spangler

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The competition between stabilizing and destabilizing effects is a motif that occurs in every aspect of the human experience. The coupling between the dynamics of chemical reactions and fluids offers a fruitful context in which to examine the patterns that arise in the presence of this competition.;The upward-propagating iodate-arsenous acid front is an example of a system in constant struggle. As it moves upward, it leaves a reacted solution of lesser density behind (and below) it. The system is thus subjected to a Raleigh-Taylor-like instability. On the other hand, the well understood (experimentally and theoretically) relationship between the front speed …


Mfa Thesis Exhibition, Damir Verona Porobic Aug 2005

Mfa Thesis Exhibition, Damir Verona Porobic

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

How do I see, how do I interpret what I am seeing, what is seeing? How do I perceive the space and objects that surround me, how do I understand space? What is an image and what do I see in it? Is my vision like an image? How do I see what an image sees, how do I relate to an image in my space and how does it perceive me? How does an image signify? What are different representations in an image, of an image? What is seeing, what is vision, what is the visual experience?;The thesis exhibition …


Geologic And Geomorphic Controls Of Alluvial Island Location In Cheat River, West Virginia, Mitzy L. Schaney Aug 2005

Geologic And Geomorphic Controls Of Alluvial Island Location In Cheat River, West Virginia, Mitzy L. Schaney

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Cheat River of north central West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania is a stable moderately sinuous mountain river with numerous anabranching reaches that include 81 alluvial islands. Relatively stable features, Cheat River alluvial islands are characterized by woody vegetation or human habitation, an elevation equal to or greater than the surrounding floodplain, and a perennially exposed emergent surface surrounded by active channels. Valley geometry, lithology, and tributary input are the main geologic and geomorphic controls selected to assess island location in Cheat River. Islands are more numerous in wide valleys with extensive floodplains; these valleys occur in lithologic segments dominated by …


Computer-Assisted Learning Of Japanese Kanji, Adam D. Horne May 2005

Computer-Assisted Learning Of Japanese Kanji, Adam D. Horne

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The purpose of the program described in this problem report is to assist learners of Japanese kanji in remembering the order, direction, and number of strokes for a given kanji. Using OpenGL and the Open Haptics toolkit, the program allows the user to both see and feel the kanji. Using a PHANTOM haptic device, the user can trace the different strokes using a height map of the kanji or following arrows that show the direction and order of strokes.


Methods To Examine Social Change During National Forest Plan Revision, Jason M. Siniscalchi May 2005

Methods To Examine Social Change During National Forest Plan Revision, Jason M. Siniscalchi

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Over the past three decades forest planning has undergone significant changes. First, planning has shifted from a synoptic to transactive process allowing the public a greater say in the decision making process. Second, ecosystem management has been the predominant philosophy in forest management since the 1990s which suggests involving a search for an ecosystem wide, long-term optimal solution toward management that integrates human desires and needs with ecological needs and technological and economic considerations. In taking an ecosystem-level approach, it is an extension of decentralized management by involving collaboration from multiple disciplines. Ecosystem management requires methods of data collection and …


Durability Studies Of High Performance Concrete Used For Bridge Decks, Dayong Fan May 2005

Durability Studies Of High Performance Concrete Used For Bridge Decks, Dayong Fan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The present study, as a part of the WVDOH large scale project on HPC, was directed to evaluate various durability aspects of HPC using West Virginia (WV) sources of materials. A total of 24 HPC mixtures were prepared with different supplementary cementing materials (SCM), such as fly ash, slag, silica fume and metakaolin as single or combined admixtures; normal Portland cement, chemical admixtures, and WV sources of limestone and gravel. Durability evaluations included: electrical indications of chloride penetration, chloride ion diffusion test, freeze-thaw/salt scaling test and physical sulfate attack test.;Results and relationships between the results were discussed. Some conclusions were …


Geomorphic Analysis Of Stream Crossings In A Portion Of The Upper Cheat River Basin, Joshua A. White Dec 2004

Geomorphic Analysis Of Stream Crossings In A Portion Of The Upper Cheat River Basin, Joshua A. White

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

An inventory and analysis of culverts as vertebrate migration barriers has been completed in a relatively pristine portion of the Upper Cheat River basin, Randolph and Tucker counties, West Virginia. Investigators in four different disciplines contributed to the project, including the geomorphological research represented by this thesis. This project had an underlying purpose to assess the potential for stream mitigation credits through a possible future stream mitigation banking program.;Several conditions appear correlated with problem culvert sites. Calvin high base substratum-Belmont-Meckesville soil association is associated with the greatest amounts of instability and aggradation at culvert sites. Three-quarters of the study area …


Spatial And Seasonal Variation In Brook Trout Diet, Growth, And Consumption In A Complex Appalachian Watershed, David W. Thorne Dec 2004

Spatial And Seasonal Variation In Brook Trout Diet, Growth, And Consumption In A Complex Appalachian Watershed, David W. Thorne

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

I quantified brook trout diet, growth, and consumption in the upper Shavers Fork watershed from May 2002--October 2003. Seven study sites were selected to represent small tributary, large tributary, and mainstem habitats within the watershed. The objectives of the study were to determine if diet, growth, and consumption in brook trout were dependent on fish size, season, and location within the watershed. Fish diets were sampled and categorized into six prey type groups to determine variability in prey composition and diet mass. Mark-recapture was used to measure growth in individual fish between sampling seasons and the growth information was then …


Information Dissemination By Compounding, Bohe (Bob) Wang Aug 2004

Information Dissemination By Compounding, Bohe (Bob) Wang

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Gossiping and broadcasting are two problems of information dissemination. In gossiping, every point in the network knows a unique item of information and needs to communicate it to all other points. Most of the recent interest in gossiping is due to its importance in the area of network communications and other areas of parallel and distributed computing.;Determining precisely the values of the minimum number of edges in a gossip graph is known to be a very hard problem. Very few values are known in the general case. G. Fertin and R. Labahn[Fer00],[FL00] used the k-way compounding method to construct gossip …


Yield, Pest Density, And Tomato Flavor Effects Of Companion Planting In Garden-Scale Studies Incorporating Tomato, Basil, And Brussels Sprout, Michael K. Bomford May 2004

Yield, Pest Density, And Tomato Flavor Effects Of Companion Planting In Garden-Scale Studies Incorporating Tomato, Basil, And Brussels Sprout, Michael K. Bomford

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Companion planting is a small-scale intercropping practice often associated with organic or biodynamic gardening. Two garden-scale studies tested popular companion planting claims by comparing garden beds devoted entirely to one of three or more test crops (monocultures) to all possible two-crop mixtures (dicultures) of the same species. A third study evaluated effects of planting density and crop ratio in three dicultures using a novel experimental design to create gradients in both factors. All studies incorporated basil ( Ocimum basilicum L.), Brussels sprout (Brassica oleracea L.), and tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum Mill.). A preliminary study also included snap bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), …


Depositional Environments, Age, And Regional Correlation Of The Black Hand Sandstone Member Of The Cuyahoga Formation And The Lower Mississippian Of The Central Appalachians, David L. Matchen May 2004

Depositional Environments, Age, And Regional Correlation Of The Black Hand Sandstone Member Of The Cuyahoga Formation And The Lower Mississippian Of The Central Appalachians, David L. Matchen

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The Black Hand Sandstone Member of the Cuyahoga Formation of Ohio is a multistory, conglomeratic sandstone. Primary lithofacies include trough and planar crossbedded sandstones and massive gravels. The contact between the Black Hand and the surrounding Cuyahoga Formation is sharp and scoured indicating that the contact is an unconformity and sequence boundary. The Black Hand was deposited in a low-sinuosity braided stream within an incised valley system. The river that deposited the Black Hand flowed northward. The Lower Mississippian is subdivided into two sequences.;The age of the Lower Mississippian was determined by surveying the existing literature. Data from the surrounding …


Optical Measurement Of Ash Particle Size And Velocity In Gas-Solid Flow, Ming Zhang May 2004

Optical Measurement Of Ash Particle Size And Velocity In Gas-Solid Flow, Ming Zhang

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The objective of this research is the development of an image acquisition and processing prototype system, and its application to measuring the size and velocity distribution of moving particles in a gas-solid environment. The prototype system consists of a digital image acquisition module and MATLAB RTM image-processing module. Two specific applications were conducted. The first is the measurement of ash particle characteristics during surface regeneration of a candle filter system under room and elevated temperatures. The second application is on-line measurement of particle separation in a simulated Circulating Fluid Bed (CFB) riser system. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of …


Seismic Interpretation And Structural Evaluation Of The Hope Basin, Alaska, Virginia L. Elswick Aug 2003

Seismic Interpretation And Structural Evaluation Of The Hope Basin, Alaska, Virginia L. Elswick

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The Hope Basin is a Cenozoic basin located off the coast of Alaska, in the Bering Sea. Its initial formation was theorized to have occurred from right-lateral movement on the Kobuk fault, a strike-slip fault located in northwestern Alaska. However, from an interpretation of newly reprocessed seismic lines that are located in the southeastern portion of the basin, it is evident that distinct characteristics of strike-slip basins, as evaluated by past authors, are not present within the study area. Furthermore, a study of the tectonic history of the region lends itself to an alternate theory of orogenic collapse of the …


Fraternity And Sorority Member Perceptions Of Homophily, Supportive Communication, And Group Behavior As A Function Of Control Expectancies, Andrew D. Dohanos Aug 2003

Fraternity And Sorority Member Perceptions Of Homophily, Supportive Communication, And Group Behavior As A Function Of Control Expectancies, Andrew D. Dohanos

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of control expectancies on fraternity and sorority member's perceptions of their group. Based on a review of the literature pertinent to this investigation nine hypotheses were forwarded. Generally speaking, the hypotheses suggest that fraternity and sorority members perceptions will differ based on their control expectancies. One hundred ninety-five fraternity and sorority members completed a questionnaire that included the Three Factor Locus of Control Scale (Levenson, 1973), the Perceived Homophily Measure (McCroskey et al., 1975), the Quality of Relationship Inventory (Pierce et al., 1991), dimensions of the Group Behavior Inventory (Friedlander, …


Elite And Non-Elite Sourcing In Civic And Traditional Journalism News Projects, Jennifer M. Roush May 2003

Elite And Non-Elite Sourcing In Civic And Traditional Journalism News Projects, Jennifer M. Roush

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This project consists of two studies used to analyze "elite," media-savvy, and "non-elite," non-media savvy, sources in civic and traditional journalism. For the first study, four newspaper series about mining and aging, 22 articles total, examined source use in the practice of civic journalism. The results for the mining comparison were significant; however, the results for the aging comparison were not significant. For the second study, the writers and editors of the news projects, and other journalism professionals were interviewed to determine the cause of the mixed significance. The interviews revealed the intentions of the civic writers were not the …


In Constant Flux, Christian Bernard Kuharik May 2003

In Constant Flux, Christian Bernard Kuharik

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

In this thesis, I will discuss most of the aspects of salt firing. I will give a quick overview of the history of salt glazing and talk about some of the clay and glazes that I have adapted and work well for me in the salt kiln. I have also, developed an injection system to better introduce sodium compounds into the kiln. My goal was to find a method of introducing these materials into the kiln more efficiently and effectively. My system proves to be more effective in getting the best result, while using less of the material. By using …


Feedback Control Of Wave Propagation Patterns In Excitable Media, Florin Chirila May 2003

Feedback Control Of Wave Propagation Patterns In Excitable Media, Florin Chirila

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Numerical and theoretical studies of the excitability boundaries for spiral waves in 2D and scroll waves in 3D are presented. The boundaries are defined by unstable wave segments, which are stabilized by using a negative feedback control algorithm. A kinematic description of the constant-size, constant-shape wave segments is presented for 2D waves. Intricate patterns of wave propagation are exhibited in a chemical reaction-diffusion system with spatiotemporal feedback. Wave behavior is controlled by feedback-regulated excitability gradients that guide propagation in specified directions. Waves reflecting or refracting are observed when interacting with a discontinuity in excitability. Wave trajectories in fixed excitability gradients …


Kinematics Of Detachment Folding, Appalachian Valley And Ridge, West Virginia, Matthew N. Giffels Dec 2002

Kinematics Of Detachment Folding, Appalachian Valley And Ridge, West Virginia, Matthew N. Giffels

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This study assesses the geometry and kinematics of a fold at the east edge of the Nittany Anticlinorium, Appalachian Valley and Ridge Province, West Virginia. Regional deformation consists of minor to major folds within two vertically stacked thrust sheets. Geometric analysis of a first-order fold in the upper, Silurian-Devonian sheet indicates it is a detachment fold with a detachment depth of up to four kilometers. The estimated detachment depth indicates involvement of the underlying, thrusted Cambrian-Ordovician sheet in the folding. Kinematic analysis of uplifted fold area relative to measured shortening amounts does not indicate a clear relationship. Finite strain measurements …


Uncertainty Assessment For Cfd Using Error Transport Equation, Gusheng Hu Aug 2002

Uncertainty Assessment For Cfd Using Error Transport Equation, Gusheng Hu

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

While Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is making extensive use of the power of computational technology, it is also facing a serious problem arising from the so-called numerical uncertainty. The overall uncertainty (or the global error) involved in CFD results can be due to different sources mainly contributed by (i) discretization error (or solution error due to incomplete grid convergence), (ii) iteration convergence error, (iii) grid generation errors (skewness, grid aspect and expansion ratio, coordinate transformation etc.), and (iv) round-off errors. In this study an in-depth discussion concerning these issues is presented with an emphasis on the discretization error in regard …


Expansion Of The Scope Of The Allenic Pauson-Khand Reaction To Include Carboxylic Acids And Esters, Kimberly D. Fisher May 2002

Expansion Of The Scope Of The Allenic Pauson-Khand Reaction To Include Carboxylic Acids And Esters, Kimberly D. Fisher

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

1,3,3 Trisubstituted allenes were prepared by performing an SN2' reaction of lactones. Opening of the lactone created carboxylic acids that could then be converted to esters. By varing the functionality on the lactone and the Grignard reagents, a variety of allenes could be prepared to test the viability of the Pauson-Khand reaction in the presence of these functional groups. The positioning of the groups also lead to variations in the system. These reactions produced three different types of adducts. They include alpha-methylene cyclopentenones, 4-alkylidene cyclopentenones, and cross conjugated trienes.*.;*Please refer to dissertation for diagrams.


Otherworldly Goods, Grant Johnson May 2002

Otherworldly Goods, Grant Johnson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This thesis presents "democratic" art. As defined by the author, democratic art is work that does not bear the idiosyncratic mark of the artist's hand. It is hoped that such work remains more fully open to the viewer's imaginative involvement than work that bears a more overt trace of authorship. As an invitation to such involvement, and in addition to removing the mark of the hand, the artist also creates interactive pieces, such as large-scale slide puzzles, which can be manipulated by the viewer. With these pieces the viewer can re-organize the composition of the work and thereby take as …


Novel Synthesis Of 3,4-Fused Indoles, Jeremiah Wallace Hubbard Dec 2001

Novel Synthesis Of 3,4-Fused Indoles, Jeremiah Wallace Hubbard

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The goal of this project was to synthesize 3,4-fused indoles having a variety of ring sizes and a variety of functional groups. This has been accomplished by the development of a novel palladium-catalyzed route to 3,4-fused indoles. The key steps are two palladium-catalyzed reactions, an intramolecular Heck reaction followed by a reductive N-heteroannulation. Using this route, a number of 3,4-fused indoles were prepared in acceptable yields.


Mechanisms Of Retroviral Replication, Timur O. Kabdulov Dec 2001

Mechanisms Of Retroviral Replication, Timur O. Kabdulov

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Specific encapsidation of viral RNA is an essential step of retroviral replication cycle. Extensive biochemical and genetic analyses suggest that majority of retroviruses employ similar mechanisms for specific RNA packaging. Better understanding of mechanisms of this process may help to develop new anti-retroviral drugs against such serious pathogens as human immunodeficiency virus types 1 and 2.;This study concerns with specific packaging of RNA by two simple retroviruses, murine leukemia virus (MLV) and spleen necrosis virus (SNV). SNV proteins can package RNA of both SNV and MLV with similar efficiency. In contrast, MLV proteins cannot package SNV RNA. NC domain was …


Illustrations From The Cd Collection Of Ollie W. Pottmeyer, Ollie William Pottmeyer May 2001

Illustrations From The Cd Collection Of Ollie W. Pottmeyer, Ollie William Pottmeyer

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The Exhibition Illustrations from the CD collection of Ollie W. Pottmeyer is an ongoing reflection of my life. I make soft sculptural fabric pieces as a way of communicating my thoughts and observations of the way society treats marginalized people like me and as a therapeutic healing. This work has enabled others and myself to feel powerful. I have been introspective and have learned things about myself and people of minority like me that I was too ashamed to face in the past. I want people to know that there is something different and I am part of it.


Teaching Children Qualitative Analysis Of Fundamental Motor Skill, Guoli Liang May 2001

Teaching Children Qualitative Analysis Of Fundamental Motor Skill, Guoli Liang

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of a qualitative analysis instructional program on elementary school-aged children. More specifically, the study is designed to explore the possibility of teaching elementary school-aged children to observe and detect the errors of individuals performing manipulative motor skills at various skill levels. Can children of those ages (1) initially observe and detect errors, (2) improve their observation and detection after a training intervention, and (3) maintain any such gains?;The study involved a 2 (experimental group/control group) x 2 (third grade/fifth grade) x 3 (pretest/posttest/retention test) design. The participants involved in this …


Studies Of The Initial Stage Of Silicon Carbide Growth On Silicon, Katherine Stewart Ziemer May 2001

Studies Of The Initial Stage Of Silicon Carbide Growth On Silicon, Katherine Stewart Ziemer

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The lack of understanding concerning the initial stage of silicon carbide (SiC) growth on silicon (Si) substrates gives rise to heated debates on the growth mechanisms, the characteristics of the "optimal" initial layers, and the processing parameters necessary to produce high-quality cubic or beta silicon carbide (beta-SiC) on these initial layers. If the potential of beta-SiC as a semiconductor for electronic devices is to be realized, the growth of the initial layers (i.e. the initial stage of growth) must be understood and then controlled.;This dissertation presents results from the comparison of the initial stages of beta-SiC growth by gas source …


Dsp Implementation Of Trellis Coded Modulation And Distributed Space Time Coding, Yipeng Tang May 2001

Dsp Implementation Of Trellis Coded Modulation And Distributed Space Time Coding, Yipeng Tang

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Trellis coded modulation (TCM) combines convolutional coding with modulation, and offers approximately 2--3 dB of coding gain without requiring a corresponding bandwidth expansion. This thesis describes the process of encoding TCM, convolutional codes, decoding using the Viterbi Algorithm (VA), M-ary modulation formats suitable for TCM, and the evaluation of TCM performance.;The concept of multiple TCM, which is a generalization of ordinary TCM, gives rise to the concept of space time codes (STC). With STC, coded signals are transmitted from multiple antennas at the same time over a Rayleigh fading channel. STC combines of transmit diversity, coding and M-ary modulation to …


Longwall Weighting Events At Phalen Colliery, Nova Scotia, Canada, Robert J. Macdonald Dec 2000

Longwall Weighting Events At Phalen Colliery, Nova Scotia, Canada, Robert J. Macdonald

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Weightings are dynamic phenomenon observed in mines where coal is extracted using the longwall mining method. Weightings are characterized by high convergence rates within the powered supports which maintain roof stability along the longwall face. Rapid convergence is induced by ground pressures that exceed the load capacity of the supports, and forces them to yield. A weighting event need not necessarily impact the mining process negatively, but notable cases exist where weightings have caused extensive damage to roof strata resulting in large roof falls and prolonged periods of lost coal production.;This thesis describes the history of four longwall panels (No's …