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Protein And Endotoxin Interactions And Endotoxin Removal From Protein Solutions, Liping Li

Dissertations

The investigation objectives of this study include: endotoxin disaggregation by proteins; protein concentration effect on protein-endotoxin binding and endotoxin removal; size exclusion high performance liquid chromatography (SE-HPLC) studies on endotoxin dissociation by bovin serum albumin (BSA); use of Ca⁺² to re-aggregate endotoxin in hemoglobin solutions and the subsequent removal of endotoxin by ultrafiltration; quantitative determination of Ca⁺² effects on endotoxin removal and protein yield in a two-stage ultrafiltration.

It is known that some proteins can disaggregate endotoxins and form complexes with lipopolysaccharides (LPS). It is also known that Ca can act as "bridges" to aggregate LPS in aqueous …

Evaluation Of Multimedia Chemistry Courseware, Ryan D. Isahac

Theses

With the every growing costs of running a Chemistry laboratory and the ever-changing needs of today's studenis a logical alternative seems to be a computer based instructional format. When delivering courseware via the Internet, the greatest problem comes in making the interface and applications user-friendly and not jusi attractive. In order to test the utility of such a site, subjects are recruited and asked to evaluate the system. Their responses are essential in designing and improving the program to best meet the needs of students. In order to address student concerns, a Help Page was developed which clarified areas and …

Protection Of The New York City Water Supply Land Development Threats And The Programs To Control Them, Werner Mueller

Theses

The Surface Water Treatment Rule under the Safe Drinking Water Act requires that all surface water sources used for drinking water must be filtered, unless the purveyor can demonstrate that the water is of such high quality that filtration is not required. The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) operates the New York City water supply system and is taking actions to ensure that the water supplied from the Catskill -- Delaware system remains of high enough quality to maintain an avoidance of filtration determination granted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). New watershed rules and regulations have …

Cadmium, Chromium And Lead In Environmental Samples : Speciation And Determination, Hsing-Hui Yu

Dissertations

Heavy metals are important contaminants in many environmental media. This work focuses on the improvement of current methods for water and sediment analysis for three metals, cadmium, chromium and lead. Batch ion exchange was used for water speciation and a microwave assisted sequential extraction scheme was developed for sediment characterization. The developed methods were applied to a group of environmental samples.

The exchangeable species of these metals in water were preconcentrated on ion exchange resins. These include the bioavailable free ions and weakly complexed ions. Metals sorbed on particles and strongly complexed ions, less bioavailable, were eliminated. The method was …

Applications Of A Microtrap For On-Line Monitoring Of Volatile Organics, Chaohua Feng

Dissertations

Microtrap is made by packing a narrow metal tubing with adsorbents. The advantage of a microtrap is that it can be heated and cooled in the order of seconds. It has been used previously as a concentration cum injection device for on-line gas chromatography and also monitoring non-methane organic carbon in air emissions. In this research breakthrough and desorption characteristics of the microtrap were studied. A two-stage microtrap system was developed to reduce breakthrough while making sharp injection for GC separation. Microtrap was also used as a concentrator cum injector in on-line mass spectrometry. Finally, a microtrap based, continuous non-methane …

Development Of Membrane Extraction Systems For Measuring Trace Level Organic Compounds In Water, Xuemei Guo

Dissertations

The presence of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in ground and surface water resources poses a threat to public health. The measurement of these trace level contaminants in water is of significant importance. Conventional methods for analysis of trace volatile organic compounds in water include purge and trap, head space analysis, and solid phase microextraction (SPME). While these are excellent laboratory techniques, none of them can be used for continuous, on-line monitoring of water streams. Membrane separation of organic compounds from water provides an exciting possibility for on-line extraction and analysis. In previous investigations, water continuously flowed on the feed side …

An Examination Of The Self-Perceptions Of The Physical Environment And Psychological Health Of Latina Women Living In The St. Columbia Neighborhood Of Newark, New Jersey, Veronica Maria Maya

Theses

A correlation between perceptions of environmental quality and psychological health has been established in a sample of Latina women. Three psychological scales exist to measure psychological constructs such as learned helplessness, hopelessness, and selfesteem. These three scales have been used in conjunction with an environmental survey designed to capture the perceptions of the sample to their physical environment.

The mean of scores for each psychological construct in the Latina sample were compared to the mean of scores for these constructs in independent samples of oncology, hemodialysis, and spinal cord injured patients being treated for depression. This comparison yields the following …

History Of Oxygenated Gasoline Use In New Jersey 1992-1998, Jean Niebuhr Borne

Theses

New Jersey has been required to use oxygenated gasoline from November 1 to March 30 since 1992 in order to reduce carbon monoxide from vehicles. This requirement was part of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. For the past six winters, New Jersey has utilized gasoline with methyl butyl tertiary ether, MTBE, as the oxygenate. In New Jersey, and in many states across the country, health complaints were reported after oxygenated fuel started flowing from gas pumps.

Oxybusters is a grassroots organization dedicated to the removal of oxygenated gasoline off the market. The group has pressured Governor Whitman to …

Oxidation Of Dimethyl-Ether And Ethylene In The Atmosphere And Combustion Environment And Thermodynamic Studies On Hydrofluorocarbons Using Ab Initio Calculation Methods, Takahiro Yamada

Dissertations

Reaction pathways and kinetics are analyzed on CH₃OC·H₂ unimolecular decay and on the complete CH₃OC·H₂ + O₂ reaction system using thermodynamic properties (ΔH_f°₂₉₈, S°₂₉₈, and C(T) 300≤T/K≤1500) derived by two ab initio calculation methods, CBS-q and G2. These are used to determine thermodynamic properties of reactants, intermediate radicals and transition state (TS) compounds. Quantum Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel (QRRK) analysis is used to calculate energy dependent rate constants, k(E), and master equation is used to account for collisional stabilization. Comparison of calculated fall-off with experiment indicates that the CBS-q and …

An Investigation Of The Effect Of Sonic Frequency In The Removal Of Volatile Organic Compounds From Soils Using A Siren-Pneumatic Fracturing Coupled Technique, Chin-Yu Lin

Theses

This study investigates the effect of frequency from sonic energy coupled with soil fracturing for the removal of volatile organic compounds from low permeability soils. The laboratory experiments consisted of a test cell, 12 1/2 inches by 12 1/2 inches and 23 3/4 inches high, containing a 1/2 inch geotextile made to simulate the fracture. The pneumatic sound generator used was a siren type generator designed and built at NJIT.

Laboratory experiments were performed using the NJJT siren at frequencies of 2957, 6637, 10317, 13997 Hertz and baseline tests with no sound energy were also conducted. The free moisture …

Preliminary Ecological Risk Assessment To Assess The Implications Of Replacing Chromium Plating With Tantalum Coating, Erik Jonathan Weiss

Theses

An ecological risk assessment process requires a modeling tool that can adapt to changing environmental conditions. Computer simulation tools are a useful means to develop an ecological risk assessment, because if properly used they can provide an organized framework to evaluate multiple data sources, complex problems and hypotheses. An evaluation was completed of the University of Tennessee CHEMS-1 model that ranks and scores contaminant toxicity and exposure potential. Tantalum posed less of a hazard than hexavalent chromium to the terrestrial and aquatic animals. Although, results indicated that the vanadium compounds, in particular vanadium pentoxide, presented the greatest hazard, with hexavalent …

Vitamin Effect On The Aerobic Biodegradation Of Phenanthrene, Antracene, Fluoranthene, And Pyrene In A Contaminated Soil From An Industrial Site, Ilkay Cam

Theses

Bioremediation of organic wastes is often a cost-effective technology for the in situ treatment of contaminated soils. In this study, the possibility of increasing the rate and extent of biodegradation for phenathrene, anthracene, fluoranthene, and pyrene in an industrial PAH contaminated soil via vitamin mixture supplementation was explored.

Soil contained with PAHs was obtainecl from the Bayway refinery site formerly owned by Exxon (Linden, NJ). Experiments were conducted in which the contaminated soil was amended with a mixtures of four vitamins (niacin, biotin, folic acid, and panthothenic acid). Peat moss, a common soil amendment, was also added in some experiments. …