Experimental Investigation Of The Dynamics And Blowoff Characteristics Of Bluff-Body Stabilized 2d, V-Shaped Turbulent Premixed Flames With Different Gaseous Hydrocarbon Fuels, Rishi Roy

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

What Does Walk Score® Really Measure?, Jorge Simbaqueba

Master's Theses

The Walk Score® (WS) algorithm works by identifying the closest amenities (grocery stores, banks, restaurants, and schools) and awarding points based on the distance to them from a given location. Scores have a range between 0 and 100. In 2011, the Walk Score® (WS) founders and advisory board modified the algorithm to better account for pedestrian friendliness by adding block length and intersection density data into the model to represent roadway characteristics and named it Street Smart Walk Score®.

Modelers attempting to quantify accessibility often focus on two components: a transportation element (or resistance factor) and an activity element (or …

Structure And Function In Petioles Of Pelargonium, Dustin M. Ray

Doctoral Dissertations

As the connection between lamina and stem, petioles are essential for plant survival. Petioles serve two major functions in service to the leaf blade. First, they hold the leaf blade away from the stem to reduce self-shading and optimize light interception, a mechanical function. Second, petioles serve as the bridge between the stem and lamina allowing water to move up the plant body and photo-assimilates to move down to the plant body from the leaf blade, a physiological function. While mechanics and physiology have been studied independently, the petiole could be a space-limited structure leading to tradeoffs between the two …

Evaluating The Impact Of Local Vegetable Messaging On Elementary School Students’ Vegetable Choice And Nutrition Behaviors, Jesse Chiero

Doctoral Dissertations

Farm to school (FtS) initiatives within a school setting may include purchase of local foods, nutrition education, and school gardening. Previous FtS research has indicated a positive impact on child nutrition behaviors and body weight but less is known about how and what aspects of local foods within school meals impact child nutrition behaviors. The specific aims of this project were to: 1) Determine which benefit(s) of eating local vegetables are most salient to 3^rd-5^th grade students for a local vegetable message campaign intervention and compare if message preferences varied by age, gender and school district, and …

Investigation Of A Non-Premixed Liquid Fuel Injector And Swirler Using A Purpose-Built Combustion Test Rig, Kyle Twarog

Master's Theses

This effort presents a combustion test stand capable of conducting fundamental study of the flame region of a practical liquid fuel single element as well as capturing the necessary spray and flow data required to construct and validate CFD simulations. A current practical single element was utilized to demonstrate the capabilities of this test stand and evaluate both the resulting data quality and measurement limitations. Specifically, OH and CH₂O Planar Laser Induced Fluorescence (PLIF), multi-species chemiluminescence, and direct visual spectrum methods were successfully utilized to locate and characterize the flame region of this element in conjunction with spray …

Carbon-13 Kinetic Isotope Effects Of Catalytic Co2 Reduction By Polypyridyl Transition Metal Complexes, Taylor William Schneider

Doctoral Dissertations

Herein, we have used carbon-13 kinetic isotope effects (¹³C KIEs) to probe the catalytic CO₂ reduction mechanisms of two different polypyridyl transition metal complexes, Re(bpy)(CO)₃Cl (1), which will convert CO₂ to CO, and [Ru(tpy)(bpy)Cl]PF₆ (2) (bpy = 2,2’‑bipyridine; tpy = 2,2’:6’,2”-terpyridine), which will convert CO₂ to a mixture of CO and formic acid. We used several sets of reaction conditions to drive CO₂ reduction. These included sodium mercury (Na(Hg)) amalgam as a sacrificial reducing agent, photocatalytic conditions in which triethanolamine (TEOA) was a sacrificial electron donor, and …

Fine Scale Modeling To Estimate Human Exposures To Air Pollution, Fatema Parvez

Doctoral Dissertations

Traffic related air pollution is considered one of the major challenges for a large number of urban population. The rapid growth of the world’s motor-vehicle fleet due to population growth and economic improvement causes a significant negative impact on public health. As pollutants from roadway emission sources reach background concentration levels within a few hundred meters from the source, it is very challenging to implement a model that captures this behavior. Currently available air quality modeling approaches can compute the source specific pollutant fate on either a regional or a local scale but still lack effective ways to estimate the …

Low Plasma Hdl Cholesterol Is Associated With Greater Risk For Cardiovascular Disease In Subjects With Metabolic Syndrome, Hana M. Alyousef

Master's Theses

Low plasma HDL cholesterol (HDL-c) has been recognized as a biomarker of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes. Also, low HDL-c is one of the characteristics of metabolic syndrome (MetS).

Objective: To assess whether low HDL-c and/or low HDL functionality are associated with higher risk for CVD in subjects classified with MetS.

Methods: Forty-subjects with MetS (11 men /29 women, 52.4 ± 9.5 years participated in the study. Anthropometric data [weight, height, BMI, waist circumference (WC), blood pressure (BP)], fasting plasma biomarkers [lipids, glucose, liver enzymes: alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and aspartate aminotransferase (AST), plasma insulin, and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c)], biomarkers of …

High-Resolution Profiling Of Soil Moisture Using Flat Thin Mm-Sized Soil Moisture Sensors (Msmss), Wangchi Zhou

Master's Theses

This MS thesis research has focused on the profiling feasibility of flat thin mm-sized soil moisture sensor (termed as MSMS) through field tests at UConn farm and Ethiopia farms. By etching on gold compact disc (CD), MSMS has the distinct merits of small size (mm-carbon interdigitated with 0.5 mm thickness), high accuracy of soil moisture measurement (10 kΩ-10 MΩ for 10%-50% soil moisture), good correlation of resistance readings with soil moisture, long stability (stable at least for half a year in lab tests) and easy fabrication (sensor), and low cost (

Associations Between Cortical Structure And Reading Skills In Beginning Readers, Meaghan Perdue

Master's Theses

The acquisition of literacy is a challenging task that engages multiple processing systems to integrate multimodal information. As a result, children exhibit wide variability in reading ability, with the lowest performers classified as having Specific Reading Disability (SRD). Functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) research has identified a reading network in the brain consisting primarily of left hemisphere temporo-parietal, occipito-temporal, and inferior frontal regions, but the structural neural substrates that support skilled reading during the formative years of reading acquisition remain underspecified. The present study applied a continuous analytic approach to investigate distinct surface-based properties of cortical structure (cortical …

Adaptations Of 3d Printing Technology To Microfluidics Systems For The Detection Of Multi-Protein Cancer Biomarkers, Ketki Bhalerao

Master's Theses

The overall goal of research in our group has been to develop devices and use techniques for rapid, easy detection that would also be fully automated, highly sensitive, cost effective and involves multi-protein detection with moderate to high throughput with respect to the increasing need in clinical diagnostics of today. The devices used are developed using 3D printing technology and the methodology used was based on the generation of chemiluminescence (CL), which is obtained by applying a fixed voltage and then measured with a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) camera as a detector. The chemiluminiscense replaces the colorimetric detection of proteins …

Interkulturelle Kompetenz Im Fremdsprachenunterricht In Österreich: Ein Adaptierungsversuch Einer Schulbucheinheit Anhand Des Rfcdc Des Council Of Europe, Caroline Jäger

Master's Theses

Die Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit den Fragen, welches Modell von interkultureller Kompetenz für den Fremdsprachenunterricht in Österreich geeignet ist und wie eine praktische Implementierung des selbigen in Form eines Adaptierungsversuches einer Schulbucheinheit aussehen könnte.

Neben einer Vorstellung des Reference Framework for Democratic Culture (RFCDC) des Council of Europe werden seine Parallelen mit dem Lehrplan der Neuen Mittelschule in Österereich herausgearbeitet. Im Zuge einer Analyse der vorhandenen Kompetenzen des RFCDC an einem Kapitel des Schulbuchs More! 4 wird dessen Konzept praktisch greifbar. Die Ergebnisse werden anschließend kritisch reflektiert; in weiterer Folge werden Ideen und Anregungen zu einer potentiellen, vertieften Anwendung der …

Groundwater Model Parameter Estimation With Simultaneous And Sequential Use Of Hydraulic Head And Travel Time Measurements, Mohsen Kheirabadi

Master's Theses

This study is an effort to investigate two parameter estimation approaches in groundwater modeling, sequential and combined. Most researches imply that simultaneous use of flow and transport observations would be more beneficial in parameter estimation, however some other researchers rise questions about this approach. They believe due to the differing geological properties of aquifers and consequently differing mathematical basis of groundwater flow compared to transport simultaneous use of different observations might not be useful in every cases. Despite the fact that parameter estimation or inverse modeling is not a new method in groundwater modeling, most modelers tend to use forward …

Understanding Macro-Scale Patterns In Urban Tree Canopy And Inequity Across Socio-Cultural And Biophysical Regions, Elliott Volin

Master's Theses

Urban forests provide a variety of ecosystem services that influence environmental and social welfare within developed areas. Prior studies have evaluated the effects of inequitable distribution of urban tree canopy (UTC) on ecological and social benefits, leading to inequalities within individual cities. However, it is not well established how such relationships vary among urban areas in different biophysical and socio-cultural regions. The objective of our study was to identify regional and continental trends in the relationships of UTC with socioeconomic/ demographic factors and characteristics of urban regions (e.g., development patterns, timing). To address our objective, we utilized iTree Landscape and …

Shakespeare's Adaption Of Cinthio's "Un Capitano Moro" Into Othello, Cleveland A. Williams

Master's Theses

Abstract

William Shakespeare’s Othello is an adaptation of Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinthio’s “Un Capitano Moro,” that was written in 1565; taken from his novella collection ‘Gli Hecatommithi,’ Decad.III., Novella 7. Cinthio’s story of the Moor of Venice fits the classification of the Italian novellas which grew to prominence during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries due to the popularity of Boccaccio’s Decameron.

Shakespeare liberated this story from its state of oblivion and utilized it as his framework for Othello; as the plot exposes some of the most intricate of human emotions – love, hate and jealousy, which are all …

The Effects Of Parathyroid Hormone And Bisphosphonate On The Cartilage And Subchondral Bone Of The Temporomandibular Joint, Alexandro De Araujo Lima

Master's Theses

Introduction:Parathyroid hormone increases bone strength primarily by stimulating bone formation, whereas Bisphosphonate, an antiresorptive drug, reduce bone resorption by blocking osteoclast activity. Here we examined the effects of alendronate (ALN), a type of bisphosphonate, and we also examine the effects of parathyroid hormone (PTH), which has an anabolic effect and increases bone remodeling when treated intermittently (I-PTH). I-PTH treatment leads to increased bone volume fraction, tissue density and trabecular thickness of the subchondral bone. I-PTH treatment also increases proteoglycan synthesis with a concomitant increase in mineralization of the Mandibular Condyle Cartilage (MCC). We hypothesize that combined treatment of I-PTH …

Sex-Specific Hatch And Growth Patterns In Young-Of-The-Year Atlantic Silversides (Menidia Menidia, Atherinopsidae) From Mumford Cove, Connecticut, Julie W. Pringle

Master's Theses

The Atlantic silverside (Menidia menidia) is an important semelparous forage fish along the North American Atlantic coast and a well-known model for experimental studies. However, ecological and evolutionary theories, such as the adaptive significance of temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD), have yet to be tested using M. menidia juveniles from their natural habitat. Additionally, how the characteristics of survivors at the end of their growing season are shaped by growth and mortality is insufficiently understood. This study used otolith microstructure analysis to determine sex-specific size-at-age, growth, and hatch date distributions in young-of-the-year juveniles sampled monthly between October-December 2015 in …

Accelerating Synchronization On Futuristic 1000-Cores Multicore Processor With Moving Compute To Data Model, Halit Dogan

Doctoral Dissertations

Single chip multicore processors are now prevalent and processors with hundreds of cores are being proposed and explored by both academia and industry. Shared memory cache coherence is the state-of-the-art technology for these processors to enable synchronization and communication between cores. However, since the synchronization of cores on shared data using hardware cache coherence suffers from instruction retries and cache line ping-pong overheads, it prevents performance scaling as core counts increase on a chip.

This thesis proposes to utilize a novel moving computation to data model (MC) to overcome this synchronization bottleneck in a 1000-cores scale shared memory multicore processor. …

Dual Functional Metal Oxide Nano-Materials Enabled Sensors For Both Non-Enzymatic Glucose And Solid-State Ph Sensing, Qiuchen Dong

Doctoral Dissertations

Glucose sensing and pH sensing are of paramount importance in managing diabetes diseases and accurately monitoring acidity and alkalinity of the solution. To date, numerous reports have reported about solid-state pH sensing and metal oxide based non-enzymatic glucose sensing, however, there is an unmet challenge to realize dual functional sensing elements in a single unit for both glucose sensing and solid-state pH sensing.

As a new class of multifunctional materials, high-temperature annealing enabled iridium oxide nanofibers, rhodium oxide nanocorals, cobalt oxide hollow fiber, and gold-doped iridium oxide nanomaterials were synthesized and then they are first employed as the sensing element …

Judgments Of Service Coordinator Practices And Transition-Related Outcomes For Children And Families, Anne George-Puskar

Doctoral Dissertations

The transition between IDEA Part C early intervention and Part B 619 preschool special education is one of many transitions experienced by young children with disabilities and their families. Transition is a continuous process, not a discrete event, and Part C service coordinators are charged with facilitating the early intervention transition process for children and families (IDEA, 636. 20 USC § 1436, 2004). An exploratory study was conducted to better understand service coordinator reported practices and child and family transition outcomes using case study research methodology. Eleven participating Part C service coordinators described judgments of their experiences with two families, …

Optimal Selection Of Test Designs And Sensor Sets For Active Fault Diagnosis, Kyle Palmer

Doctoral Dissertations

Fault detection and isolation (FDI) is crucial to identifying problems that can occur in complex systems. Many industrial systems require the implementation of model-based FDI to reduce the risk of system failure and increase good performance while minimizing the use of additional hardware. Active FDI has become increasingly popular as it uses auxiliary tests to reduce the impact of uncertainty and improve fault diagnosis. A methodical approach is needed to consistently generate feasible test designs for the optimal detectability and isolability of faults in targeted systems. The focus of this dissertation is to design a general framework that improves the …

Studying Charge-Exchange In A Hybrid Ion-Neutral Trap, Jonathan M. Kwolek

Doctoral Dissertations

Interactions between neutral and ionized atoms are medium-range, and the spiraling nature of these collisions can lead to long interaction times and large cross-sections. The field of ion-neutral interactions is bolstered by methods from atomic physics, which allow us to accurately control and determine the quantum-states of the reactants. Trapping techniques allow us to study these interactions over a large range of energies, in order to observe interesting effects from the ultracold to hot temperature regimes. This control allows us to analyze and determine specific channels for the reaction, allowing for theoretical verification.

The hybrid-trap enables the concentric trapping of …

Mobility In Syntax: On Contextuality In Labeling And Phases, Yong Suk Yoo

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation investigates how mobility of syntactic elements is affected by the theory of labeling (Chomsky 2013) and the theory of phases (Chomsky 2000, 2001), with the special attention paid to the contextuality of labeling and phases, and traditional adjunction.

Practicality And Application Of The Algebraic Side-Channel Attack, Chujiao Ma

Doctoral Dissertations

Algebraic Side-Channel Attack (ASCA) is a side-channel attack that models the cryptographic algorithm and side-channel leakage from a system as a set of equations, then solves for the secret key. Unlike pure side-channel attacks, ASCA has low data complexity and can succeed in unknown plaintext/ciphertext scenarios. However, past research on ASCA has been done on either 8-bit microcontroller data or simulated data. In this dissertation, we explore the application and feasibility of error tolerant ASCA on a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). FPGAs run faster and are more difficult for the encryption power trace to be isolated, so it presents more …

Determinants Of Team Resilience; The Role Of A Reset Process Across Conditions, Jeffrey Hanrahan

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

The Use Of Alternative And Conventional Medications For Treating Hypertension By Jamaicans In The Hartford, Connecticut Area, Judith Bennett

Master's Theses

Abstract

Background

Hypertension continues to be an international public health concern. This chronic disease is highly prevalent in Caribbean countries. Jamaican migrants to the Greater Hartford, Connecticut area share in this high prevalence. The purpose of this study was to investigate the concomitant use of herbal and conventional medicines for treating hypertension among these migrant Jamaicans.

Methods

Qualitative and quantitative mixed methods were used to carry out this study. Focus groups and in-depth interviews collected qualitative data and a survey questionnaire collected quantitative data allowing for representation and hypothesis testing. Analysis of qualitative data used a thematic approach while SPSS …

Numerical Computation Of Traveling Wave And Standing Pulse Solutions To Fitzhugh-Nagumo Equations In 2d, Abdou Alzubaidi

Doctoral Dissertations

Algorithms are constructed to calculate standing pulse and traveling wave solu- tions for the FitzHugh-Nagumo equations in two dimensions. The algorithms are based on the application of a steepest descent method to some functionals. These algorithms are global in nature, in the sense that it does not require a good initial guess to guarantee convergence. Their numerical implementation involves construc- tion of asymptotic boundary conditions on truncated domains; asymptotic boundary conditions make the computation less expensive.

Our focus is on two special types of solutions for the FitzHugh-Nagumo equations: radially symmetric standing pulses in the whole space with Ω = …

High Temperature Characterization Of Ge2sb2te5thin Films For Phase Change Memory Applications, Lhacene Adnane

Doctoral Dissertations

The recent proliferation of portable communication devices or data storage equipment is strongly related to the development of memory technology. Non-volatile semiconductor solid-state memories are needed for high-capacity storage media, high-speed operation and low power consumption, with stringent requirements of retention and endurance. Phase change memory (PCM) is currently seen as one of the most promising candidates for a future storage-class memory with the potential to be close to dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) in speed but with much longer retention times and as dense as flash memory. PCM devices utilize chalcogenide materials (most commonly Ge₂Sb₂Te_{5 …}

Modeling And Control Of Partial Differential Equations (Pde) Described Systems, Tong Ma

Doctoral Dissertations

This proposed research is aimed to develop a novel modeling and control algorithm for the PDE described systems. When dealing with time-dependent PDE problems, the partial derivatives of a function over spatial variables are obtained by approximating the function values at interpolation nodes and their corresponding neighbors as a finite summation of polynomial series. A cluster of interpolation nodes guarantees the boundedness of the residual derivatives. Substituting these approximations in the PDE and discretizing the spatial domain of variables while keeping the time domain continuous yields a system of ODEs. By using an eigenvalue-based technique, a reduced-order model is derived, …

Cross-Talk Between Different Dna Sensors In The Cytosol, Ishita Banerjee

Doctoral Dissertations

DNA released into the cytoplasm as a consequence of microbial infection or pathology can be recognized by the host sensor, Absent in melanoma (AIM) 2 that leads to the assembly and activation of the inflammasome complex and cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) that induces type-I Interferon (IFN) production. Inflammasome activated caspase-1 cleaves gasdermin-D leading to pore-formation in the plasma membrane that subsequently results in pyroptosis. In this study we found that activated gasdermin-D negatively regulates cGAS-induced type-I IFN production in a pyroptosis and interleukin (IL)-1b and IL-18 independent manner. Mechanistic studies showed that gasdermin-D pore formation lead to a loss of …