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Western Kentucky University

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Physical Sciences and Mathematics

2005

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The Relationship Between Meteorological Patterns And Rural Ground Ozone Concentration, Dasen Kendrick Dec 2005

The Relationship Between Meteorological Patterns And Rural Ground Ozone Concentration, Dasen Kendrick

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Throughout the United States, many areas exceed the level of safe ground ozone (O3) concentration. Non-natural emissions made as result of daily human activities and natural emissions react photochemically to produce ground O3 concentration. Variation in ground O3 concentration is controlled by local and regional emissions, synoptic and mesoscale meteorology, and boundary layer chemistry and dynamics. When the right meteorological variables are present, rural areas can have unhealthy air conditions with high levels of ground O3 concentration similar to that of metropolitan areas. Particular ground O3 concentration episodes were analyzed to summarize what meteorological variables constitute a healthy or hazardous …


Spectroscopic Studies Of Inclusion Host-Guest Complexes Between Cyclophane Corrals And Polcyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, Mark O'Brien Aug 2005

Spectroscopic Studies Of Inclusion Host-Guest Complexes Between Cyclophane Corrals And Polcyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, Mark O'Brien

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Cyclophanes are macromolecules that are known to effectively bind with molecules to form host-guest complexes. Several cyclophane molecules, referred to as corrals (1-6) by their founders, have been synthesized. The characterization of these compounds and their complexes has been investigated using combined spectroscopic and theoretical methods. Hostguest interactions of cyclophane-anthracene (C-A), cyclophane-9-fluorenone (C-F) and cyclophane-pyrene (C-P) complex systems in dichloromethane are presented in this thesis. The stability constants, log Ka, for the C-A, C-F and C-P complexes are determined using absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy. Heats of formation of corral 2 complexes were determined by measuring the complex association constants at …


Lebesgue ▼-Measure And Riemann ▼-Integration, Heather Bjorum Aug 2005

Lebesgue ▼-Measure And Riemann ▼-Integration, Heather Bjorum

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Throughout the study of dynamic equations on time-scales, one traditionally finds many theorems involving the ▲ case (i.e., ▲-derivatives, ▲-measure, ▲-integrability, etc.) with only a brief mention of the ▼case. This thesis is designed to give a greater understanding of ▼-measurability and Riemann ▼-integration, as well as to give a comparison between ▲ and ▼-measurability. Furthermore, a Mathematica program for finding the Riemann ▼-integral of a function on various time-scales is provided.


Synthesis And Characterization Of Polyaminopolycarboxylic Acid Analogs Of Edta And Their Transition Metal Complexes, Martha Watson Aug 2005

Synthesis And Characterization Of Polyaminopolycarboxylic Acid Analogs Of Edta And Their Transition Metal Complexes, Martha Watson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Polyaminopolycarboxylic acids have been studied for their ability to complex with various transition metal ions. Polyaminopolycarboxylic acids are of particular interest due to their ability to form multiple chelate rings with transition metal ions. Three analogs of EDTA have been successfully synthesized and characterized by i3C NMR: 1,3 PDTA (1,3-propylenediaminetetraacetic acid), 1,3-PDTP (1,3-propylenediaminetetrapropionic acid) and EDTP (ethylenediaminetetrapropionic acid). These ligands were then combined with copper (II), iron (III), cobalt (II) and nickel (II) to form complexes. The complexes formed were analyzed using UV-Vis, and the stability constants of the complexes were determined using potentiometry.


Finding Hamiltonian Cycles, Srihder Kaminanai Aug 2005

Finding Hamiltonian Cycles, Srihder Kaminanai

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Finding a Hamiltonian cycle in a graph is used for solving major problems in areas such as graph theory, computer networks, and algorithm design. In this thesis various approaches of Hamiltonian cycle algorithms such as backtrack algorithms and heuristic algorithms, their basic ideas, and their actual implementations are studied. Three specific implementations are explained in detail and tested with randomly generated 4-regular planar graphs that are 2-connected and 4-edge connected. The results are analyzed and reported.


Relationships Between Environmental Factors And Fungi On Occupants' Perceptions Of Indoor Air Quality, Monica Rodriguez May 2005

Relationships Between Environmental Factors And Fungi On Occupants' Perceptions Of Indoor Air Quality, Monica Rodriguez

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In recent decades, concerns about potential health effects resulting from exposure to contaminants that cause indoor air pollution have dramatically increased. The purpose of this study was to assess the indoor air quality of three buildings at Western Kentucky University and to examine and characterize indoor levels of basic comfort parameters, carbon dioxide, and fungi as well as occupants' perceptions of poor indoor air quality and the role of fungi on reported health symptoms. The three buildings included in the study were: Tate Page Hall (TPH), Jones Jagger Hall (JJH) and Science and Technology Hall (STH). Fifty-three questionnaires were completed …


True Real Time Pose Independent Face Detection Using Color Information And Skin Region Segmentation, Ranjani Balaji May 2005

True Real Time Pose Independent Face Detection Using Color Information And Skin Region Segmentation, Ranjani Balaji

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The process of detecting a face from a video in real time is essential in applications such as human surveillance, human computer-interaction, and for further face recognition research purposes. In this paper, the face detection algorithm is divided into four stages namely, Video Database Acquisition (VDA), Frame Sequence Extraction (FSE), Skin Region Detection (SRD), and K-Mean Face Segmentation (KFS). Initially, the videos in MPEG format are converted to JPEG images depending on the user specified frame rate (FSE phase). During this conversion, the face detection process comprising of SRD and KFS phases runs on each of the images that are …


Exposure Assessment Of Mercury In Fish From Kentucky Surface Waters, Najla Gubari May 2005

Exposure Assessment Of Mercury In Fish From Kentucky Surface Waters, Najla Gubari

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Consumption of fish contaminated with mercury is the primary exposure pathway by which humans are exposed to mercury. Mercury is known to be a neurological toxin that can cause attention and language deficits, impaired memory, and impaired visual and motor function, especially in children under the age of six. In addition, mercury exposure can lead to other health problems in adults, such as damage to the kidney and increased risk of coronary heart disease. This study assesses the exposure to mercury through consumption of fish from Kentucky surface waters. The exposure assessment is based on data collected by the Kentucky …


A Rule Based Expert System Framework For Small Water Systems, Suresh Jayanty May 2005

A Rule Based Expert System Framework For Small Water Systems, Suresh Jayanty

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Using an expert system to make decision making more reliable has been well studied and implemented over the years. For effective use, both data-driven questions (forward chaining) and goal-driven questions (backward chaining) need to be supported. Similarly, an avenue to update rules in the system as and when they change without major recompilation should be available. In this thesis we present an expert system framework that can help small water system operators make informed decisions regarding compliance with various EPA rules that may apply to them. To support both types of questions mentioned earlier, the system incorporates two expert system …


Analysis Of Economic Models Through Calculus Of Variations, Raman Arora May 2005

Analysis Of Economic Models Through Calculus Of Variations, Raman Arora

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This thesis is a combination of two science fields: Mathematics and Economics. Mathematics is often used to formulate a clear and concise solution to economic problems. In my observation calculus of variation has often been used in various macroeconomic problems. This mathematical method deals with maximizing or minimizing of various objective functions given a set of constraints. This topic brings out one of the best ways to show the relationship between mathematics and economics. My thesis consists of three parts: The first chapter contains a review of the calculus of variations. Basic definitions and important conditions have been stated. The …


Determination Of Atrazine And Selected Respective Metabolites Using Strong Cation Exchange Resins, Cierra Cross May 2005

Determination Of Atrazine And Selected Respective Metabolites Using Strong Cation Exchange Resins, Cierra Cross

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

A new solid phase extraction procedure (SPE) for the removal of atrazine and three respective metabolites including deisopropylatrazine, desethylatrazine, and didealkylatrazine from aqueous samples is presented. Octadecyl bonded silica (C18) is widely used in analytical preconcentration schemes. While C18 presents a facile method of analyte removal, a new approach is needed to achieve greater trapping for polar analytes. In this study strong cationic exchange (SCX) resins consisting of sulfonated polystyrene are investigated for their extraction capabilities of the selected analytes. By exploiting acid-base and pi-pi interactions the analytes are trapped and therefore extracted from aqueous samples. Salt solutions are used …


Continued Radicals, Jamie Johnson Jan 2005

Continued Radicals, Jamie Johnson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

If a1, a2, . . . , an are nonnegative real numbers and fj(x) = paj + x, then f1o f2o· · · fn(0) is a nested radical with terms a1, . . . , an. If it exists, the limit as n ! 1 of such an expression is a continued radical. We consider the set of real numbers S(M) representable as an infinite nested radical whose terms a1, a2, . . . are all from a finite set M. We give conditions on the set M for S(M) to be (a) an interval, and (b) homeomorphic to the …