Digital Commons Network^™

Cognitive Processes Of Students Solving Technical Problems, Todd Kelley, Roger Hill

Reports of Center Studies

The purpose of this study was to better understand cognitive strategies used by high school technology education students who have participated in technology education instruction with an engineering design focus. Specifically, this study evaluated the cognitive strategies of students participating in Project Lead the Way curriculum programs compared with students participating in technology education programs partnering with the National Center for Engineering and Technology Education (NCETE). High school students from these two groups were studied as they worked through an ill-defined problem: moving drinking water in developing countries. The data collected from these protocols was analyzed using a coding process …

Position And Orientation Correction For Pipe Profiling Robots, Andrew John Dettmer

Doctoral Dissertations

Sewer pipelines are prevalent, important, valuable, unnoticed, and often in a state of disrepair. Pipeline inspection is essential for effective management of wastewater systems and is now mandated for many municipalities complying with the Governmental Accounting Standards Board Statement 34 and EPA regulations. Pipe inspection robots are routinely used to inspect underground pipelines for cracks, deformations, leaks, blockages and other anomalies to prevent catastrophic failure and to ensure cost effective maintenance and renewal. Most existing pipe inspection robots only collect video footage of pipe condition. Pipe profiling technology has recently been introduced to allow for measurement of the internal coordinate …

Mechanical Characterization Of Spherical Hydrogels: Contact Diameter Measurement, Joshua Bunch

Opportunities for Undergraduate Research Experience Program (OURE)

In an effort to develop new ophthalmic treatments revolving around the ocular lens, the mechanical characteristics of natural ocular lenses and synthetic models must be determined and compared. One mechanical characteristic that is necessary when making comparisons is the variation of contact circle diameter or contact area with varying strains. A method was used in this experiment to measure the varying contact circle diameter of spherical hydrogels at strains up to 15%. This method could be used to estimate the varying contact diameter of other similar materials such as natural ocular lenses if the precision of the method is improved. …

Telangiectasia Detection In Dermoscopy Images, David Erdos

Opportunities for Undergraduate Research Experience Program (OURE)

Melanoma lesions that exhibit irregular linear vessels can be misdiagnosed due to the fact that their clinical appearance can often closely resemble other skin conditions. Detection these irregular linear blood vessels, or telangiectasia could improve the accuracy of melanoma diagnosis. An algorithm that detects telangiectasia has been developed; it initially searches for color drops in an image in various directions and then uses various post processing techniques to improve the accuracy. The feasibility of using classifiers such as neural networks to further improve the accuracy has also been investigated.

High Strength E-Glass/Cnf Fibers Nanocomposite, Esam Abu-Zahra

ETD Archive

Glass fibers are among the most versatile industrial materials known today, where 4 billion pounds of glass are used every year. They are readily produced from raw materials, which are available in virtually unlimited supply. To compensate for its low tensile strength, glass is usually mixed with other materials such as nanofibers and nanospheres, to form what is called "glass nanocomposites". Nevertheless, glass composites still suffer from different weaknesses such as: poor dispersion, poor alignment and orientation of reinforcing materials (due to their short lengths relative to the defect sizes in the composite matrices), in addition to the difficulties associated …

Treatment Of Wastewater Containing Phenol And Heavy Metals Using Natural Zeolite And Bioaugmentation, Patrick Brian Jameson

ETD Archive

No abstract provided.

Mathematical Model Of Ethanol Metabolism In Liver, Parag Pande

ETD Archive

A lumped mathematical model of liver metabolism is presented to analyze the effect of ethanol on metabolic processes of 24 hr fasted rats. The model is developed in two parts. In the first part individual kinetic models for important regulatory steps in the liver metabolic pathways are developed and in second part transport and mass balance equations in the two well mixed domains: tissue and blood, are developed to calculate intermediate metabolite concentrations and fluxes in response to the changes in ethanol and lactate concentrations in the perfusion medium. Part of the model without ethanol metabolism has been validated and …

Studying The Interaction Of Antifreeze Proteins (Type I And Type Iii) With The Phospholipid Monolayers At Air/Water Interface, Suresh Essampally

ETD Archive

Heart transplantation is a successful therapeutic procedure for the patients with end stage heart disease. Various preservative techniques have been developed to increase the shelf life of organs, but still there can be tissue damage during cold storage. One mechanism leading to damage is disruption of cell plasma membranes as they pass through temperature induced phase transitions. The addition of antifreeze protein (AFP) or glycoprotein (AFGP) to storage solutions has been hypothesized to reduce the leakiness of lipid membranes. From studies using liposomes it has been shown that AFPs can prevent leakage through lipid membranes, although the mechanism of interaction …

Army Research Needs For Automated Neuropsychological Tests: Monitoring Soldier Health And Performance Status, Karl E. Friedl, Stephen J. Grate, Susan P. Proctor, James W. Ness, Brian J. Lukey, Robert L. Kane

United States Army: Publications

Information on the mental status of soldiers operating at the limits of human tolerance will be vital to their management in future deployments; it may also allow earlier intervention for conditions such as undiagnosed Gulf War illnesses and Parkinson’s Disease. The Army needs a parsimonious set of neuropsychological tests that reliably identify subtle changes for: (1) early detection of individual health and military performance impairments and (2) management of occupational and deployment health risks. Testing must characterize cognitive lapses in healthy individuals faced with relevant operational stressors (i.e., anxiety, information overload, thermal strain, hypoxia, fatigue, head impact, chemical or radiation …

Improved Formulation Of A Recombinant Ricin A-Chain Vaccine Iincreases Its Stability And Effective Antigenicity, John H. Carra, Robert W. Wannemacher, Ralph F. Tammariello, Changhong Y. Lindsey, Richard E. Dinterman, Rowena D. Schokman, Leonard A. Smith

United States Army: Publications

Ricin is a potent toxin associated with bioterrorism for which no vaccine or specific countermeasures are currently available. A stable, non-toxic and immunogenic recombinant ricin A-chain vaccine (RTA 1-33/44-198) has been developed by protein engineering. We identified optimal formulation conditions for this vaccine under which it remained stable and potent in storage for up to 18 months, and resisted multiple rounds of freeze–thawing without stabilizing co-solvents. Reformulation from phosphate buffer to succinate buffer increased adherence of the protein to aluminum hydroxide adjuvant from 15 to 91%, with a concomitant increase of nearly threefold in effective antigenicity in a mouse model. …

A Refined Pharmacophore Identifies Potent 4-Amino-7-Chloroquinoline-Based Inhibitors Of The Botulinum Neurotoxin Serotype A Metalloprotease, James C. Burnett, Dejan Opsenica, Kamaraj Sriraghavan, Rekha G. Panchal, Gordon Ruthel, Ann R. Hermone, Tam L. Nguyen, Tara A. Kenny, Douglas J. Lane, Connor F. Mcgrath, James J. Schmidt, Jonathan L. Vennerstrom, Rick Gussio, Bogdan A. Solaja, Sina Bavari

United States Army: Publications

We previously identified structurally diverse small molecule (non-peptidic) inhibitors (SMNPIs) of the botulinum neurotoxin serotype A (BoNT/A) light chain (LC). Of these, several (including antimalarial drugs) contained a 4-amino-7-chloroquinoline (ACQ) substructure and a separate positive ionizable amine component. The same antimalarials have also been found to interfere with BoNT/A translocation into neurons, via pH elevation of the toxin-mediated endosome. Thus, this structural class of small molecules may serve as dual-function BoNT/A inhibitors. In this study, we used a refined pharmacophore for BoNT/A LC inhibition to identify four new, potent inhibitors of this structural class (IC50’s ranged from 3.2 to 17 …

Phase I Dose Escalation Safety And Immunogenicity Trial Of Plasmodium Falciparum Apical Membrane Protein (Ama-1) Fmp2.1, Adjuvanted With As02a, In Malaria-Naive Adults At The Walter Reed Army Institute Of Research, Mark E. Polhemus, Alan J. Magill, James F. Cummings, Kent E. Kester, Chris F. Ockenhouse, David E. Lanar, Sheetij Dutta, Arnoldo Barbosa, Lorraine Soisson, Carter L. Diggs, Sally A. Robinson, John D. Haynes, V. Ann Stewart, Lisa A. Ware, Clara Brando, Urszula Krzych, Robert A. Bowden, Joe D. Cohen, Marie-Claude Dubois, Opokua Ofori-Anyinam, Els De-Kock, W. Ripley Ballou, D. Gray Heppner Jr.

United States Army: Publications

We report the first safety and immunogenicity trial of the Plasmodium falciparum vaccine candidate FMP2.1/AS02A, a recombinant E. coli-expressed protein based upon the apical membrane antigen-1 (AMA-1) of the 3D7 clone formulated with the AS02A adjuvant. We conducted an open-label, staggered-start, dose-escalating Phase I trial in 23 malaria-naıve volunteers who received 8, 20 or 40 _g of FMP2.1 in a fixed volume of 0.5mL of AS02A on a 0, 1, and 2 month schedule. Nineteen of 23 volunteers received all three scheduled immunizations. The most frequent solicited local and systemic adverse events associated with immunization were injection site pain (68%) …

An In Vitro Comparative Study On The Reactivation Of Nerve Agent-Inhibited Guinea Pig And Human Acetylcholinesterases By Oximes, Chunyuan Luo, Min Tong, Nageswararao Chilukuri, Karen Brecht, Donald M. Maxwell, Ashima Saxena

United States Army: Publications

The reactivation of nerve agent-inhibited acetylcholinesterase (AChE) by oxime is the most important step in the treatment of nerve agent poisoning. Since the evaluation of nerve agent antidotes cannot be conducted in humans, results from animal experiments are extrapolated to humans. Guinea pig is one of the animal models that is frequently used for conducting nerve agent antidote evaluations. Several investigations have demonstrated that the efficacy of an oxime primarily depends on its ability to reactivate nerve agent-inhibited AChE. If the in Vitro oxime reactivation of nerve agent-inhibited animal AChE is similar to that of human AChE, it is likely …

United States Air Force Posture Statement 2007, U.S. Air Force

United States Air Force: Publications

Our 2007 Posture Statement articulates the major elements required to fulfill our mission. It reaffirms our commitment to focus our energies on the Global War on Terror; to develop and care for our Airmen and their families; and to recapitalize and modernize our aging aircraft, spacecraft and equipment.

Efficiency Of Gene Silencing In Arabidopsis: Direct Inverted Repeats Vs. Transitive Rnai Vectors, Sergei A. Filichkin, Stephen P. Difazio, Amy M. Brunner, John M. Davis, Zamin K. Yang, Udaya C. Kalluri, Renee S. Arias, Elizabeth Etherington, Gerald A. Tuskan, Steven H. Strauss

United States Department of Energy: Publications

We investigated the efficiency of RNA interference (RNAi) in Arabidopsis using transitive and homologous inverted repeat (hIR) vectors. hIR constructs carry self-complementary intron-spliced fragments of the target gene whereas transitive vectors have the target sequence fragment adjacent to an intron-spliced, inverted repeat of heterologous origin. Both transitive and hIR constructs facilitated specific and heritable silencing in the three genes studied (AP1 , ETTIN and TTG1 ). Both types of vectors produced a phenotypic series that phenocopied reduction of function mutants for the respective target gene. The hIR yielded up to fourfold higher proportions of events with strongly manifested reduction …

Phosphate Imposed Limitations On Biological Reduction And Alteration Of Ferrihydrite, Thomas Borch, Yoko Masue, Ravi K. Kukkadapu, Scott Fendorf

United States Department of Energy: Publications

Biogeochemical transformation (inclusive of dissolution) of iron (hydr)oxides resulting from dissimilatory reduction has a pronounced impact on the fate and transport of nutrients and contaminants in subsurface environments. Despite the reactivity noted for pristine (unreacted) minerals, iron (hydr)oxides within native environments will likely have a different reactivity owing in part to changes in surface composition. Accordingly, here we explore the impact of surface modifications induced by phosphate adsorption on ferrihydrite reduction by Shewanella putrefaciens under static and advective flow conditions. Alterations in surface reactivity induced by phosphate changes the extent, decreasing Fe(III) reduction nearly linearly with increasing P surface coverage, …

Reduction Of Pertechnetate [Tc(Vii)] By Aqueous Fe(Ii) And The Nature Of Solid Phase Redox Products, John M. Zachara, Steve M. Heald, Byong-Hun Jeon, Ravi K. Kukkadapu, Chongxuan Liu, James P. Mckinley, Alice C. Dohnalkova, Dean A. Moore

United States Department of Energy: Publications

The subsurface behaviour of ⁹⁹Tc, a contaminant resulting from nuclear fuels reprocessing, is dependent on its valence (e.g., IV or VII). Abiotic reduction of soluble Tc(VII) by Fe(II)_(aq) in pH 6–8 solutions was investigated under strictly anoxic conditions using an oxygen trap (<7.5 · 10^-9 atm O₂). The reduction kinetics were strongly pH dependent. Complete and rapid reduction of Tc(VII) to a precipitated Fe/Tc(IV) form was observed when 11 µmol/L of Tc(VII) was reacted with 0.4 mmol/L Fe(II) at pH 7.0 and 8.0, while no significant reduction was observed over 1 month at pH 6.0. Experiments conducted …

Biostimulation Of Iron Reduction And Subsequent Oxidation Of Sediment Containing Fe-Silicates And Fe-Oxides: Effect Of Redox Cycling On Fe(Iii) Bioreduction, John Komlos, Ravi K. Kukkadapu, John M. Zachara, Peter R. Jaffe

United States Department of Energy: Publications

Sediment containing a mixture of iron (Fe)-phases, including Fe-oxides (mostly Al-goethite) and Fe-silicates (illites and vermiculite) was bioreduced in a long-term flow through column experiment followed by re-oxidation with dissolved oxygen. The objective of this study was (a) to determine the nature of the re-oxidized Fe(III), and (b) to determine how redox cycling of Fe would affect subsequent Fe(III)-bioavailability. In addition, the effect of Mn on Fe(III) reduction was explored.⁵⁷Fe-Mössbauer spectroscopy measurements showed that biostimulation resulted in partial reduction (20%) of silicate Fe(III) to silicate Fe(II) while the reduction of goethite was negligible. Furthermore, the reduction of Fe …

Influence Of Calcium On Microbial Reduction Of Solid Phase Uranium(Vi), Chongxuan Liu, Byong-Hun Jeon, John M. Zachara, Zheming Wang

United States Department of Energy: Publications

The effect of calcium on the dissolution and microbial reduction of a representative solid phase uranyl [U(VI)], sodium boltwoodite (NaUO₂SiO₃OH •1.5H₂O), was investigated to evaluate the rate-limiting step of microbial reduction of the solid phase U(VI). Microbial reduction experiments were performed in a culture of a dissimilatory metal-reducing bacterium (DMRB), Shewanella oneidensis strain MR-1, in a bicarbonate medium with lactate as electron donor at pH 6.8 buffered with PIPES. Calcium increased the rate of Na-boltwoodite dissolution and U(VI) bioavailability by increasing its solubility through the formation of a ternary aqueous calcium-uranyl-carbonate species. The ternary …

Valuing Water Quality Improvements In The United States Using Meta-Analysis: Is The Glass Half-Full Or Half-Empty For National Policy Analysis?, George Van Houtven, John Powers, Subhrendu K. Pattanayak

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

The literature estimating the economic value for water quality changes has grown considerably over the last 30 years, resulting in an expanded pool of information potentially available to support national and regional policy analysis. Using 131 willingness to pay estimates from 18 studies that use a similar definition of water quality, we performed a meta-regression analysis and found mixed results. We find that WTP varies in systematic and expected ways with respect to factors such as the size of the water quality changes, average household income, and use/nonuse characteristics of respondents. As a whole, we conclude that our metaregression results …

Nebraska Summary: S589 Agco Rt165a, Nebraska Tractor Test Lab

Nebraska Tractor Tests

ABOUT THE TEST REPORT AND USE OF THE DATA The test data contained in this report are a tabulation of the results of a series of tests. Due to the restricted format of these pages, only a limited amount of data and not all of the tractor specifications are included. The full OECD report contains usually about 30 pages of data and specifications. The test data were obtained for each tractor under similar conditions and therefore, provide a means of comparison of performance based on a limited set of reported data. EXPLANATION OF THE TEST PROCEDURES Purpose The purpose of …

Chitosan Paste From Crawfish Shells As A Synthetic Bone Graft Material: Preparation, Characterization And Animal Study, Jerome G. Saltarrelli Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations

Bone loss associated with musculoskeletal trauma or metabolic diseases often requires bone grafts. Autograft or allograft bones are limited in supply. Therefore, development of synthetic bone graft materials is an active area of research. For several years the biomaterials group at LSUHSC-Shreveport has been investigating the use of chitosan purified from crawfish shells using a process patented by my research advisor, Dr. Debi Mukherjee.

Chitin is a polysaccharide that exists in fungi, exoskeleton of insects and outer shell of crustaceans. It is biocompatible, osteoconductive, antimicrobial, biodegradable, non-toxic, haemostatic, fungicidal, and the second most abundant natural polysaccharide on earth. Removal of …

An Analog Evolvable Hardware Device For Active Control, Saranyan A. Vigraham

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The field of Evolvable Hardware (EH) has recently gained a lot of interest due to the novel methodology it offers for designing electrical circuits and machines. EH techniques involve configuring a reconfigurable hardware platform with the aid of learning engines such as evolutionary algorithms. The EH devices normally act as closed loop controllers with the capability of learning necessary control laws adaptively. Current EH practices have several shortcomings, which have restricted their use as reliable controllers. This dissertation will present an improved EH device based on behavioral reconfigurability that addresses the current open challenges in the field of analog Evolvable …

United States Patent Application Publication: System And Method For Sequence Distance Measure For Phylogenetic Tree Construction, K. Sayood, Hasan H. Otu, Steven H. Hinrichs

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

The present invention permits identification of biological materials following recovery of DNA using standard techniques by comparing a mathematical characterization of the unknown sequence with the mathematical characterization of DNA sequences of known genera and species. The clinical identification of infectious organisms is required for accurate diagnosis and selection of antimicrobial therapeutics. The invention allows an ab initio approach with the potential for rapid identification of biological materials of unknown origin. The approach provides for identification and classification of emergent or new organisms without previous phenotypic identification. The technique may also be used in monitoring situations where the need exists …

Cell Bank Characterization And Fermentation Optimization For Production Of Recombinant Heavy Chain C-Terminal Fragment Of Botulinum Neurotoxin Serotype E (Rbonte(HC): Antigen E) By Pichia Pastoris, Jayanta Sinha, Mehmet Inan, Sarah Fanders, Shinichi Taoka, Mark Gouthro, Todd Swanson, Rick Barent, Ardis Barthuli, Bonnie M. Loveless, Leonard A. Smith, Theresa Smith, Ian Henderson, John Ross, Michael M. Meagher

Papers in Biochemical Engineering

A process was developed for production of a candidate vaccine antigen, recombinant C-terminal heavy chain fragment of the botulinum neurotoxin serotype E, rBoNTE(H_c)in Pichia pastoris. P. pastoris strain GS115 was transformed with the rBoNTE(H_c) gene inserted into pHILD4 Escherichia coli—P. pastoris shuttle plasmid. The clone was characterized for genetic stability, copy number, and BoNTE(H_c) sequence. Expression of rBoNTE(H_c) from the Mut⁺ HIS4 clone was confirmed in the shake-flask, prior to developing a fed-batch fermentation process at 5 and 19 L scale. The fermentation process consists of a glycerol growth phase in …

Drug Loading And Release From Polypeptide Multilayer Nanofilms, Yang Zhong

Doctoral Dissertations

Polypeptides, linear macromolecules, are formed from amino acid residues by linkage of peptide bonds. Proteins are polypeptides too, with more complex conformations contributing to specific functionalities. Disulfide bonds are very important to maintain the structure and functions of proteins, which will form between two cysteine (Cys) residues under oxidizing circumstance.

Cys containing polypeptides are designed and synthesized by F-moc (9-Fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl) chemistry. The number and position of Cys residues can be controlled by amino acid sequences design and following peptide synthesis, which is important to gain insights on the nature of polyelectrolyte multilayer film assembly and stability.

Both commercial and designed …

Mercury Contamination In Forest And Freshwater Ecosystems In The Northeastern United States, Charles T. Driscoll, Young-Ji Han, Celia Y. Chen, David C. Evers, Kathleen Fallon Lambert

Civil and Environmental Engineering - All Scholarship

Eastern North America receives elevated atmospheric mercury deposition from a combination of local, regional, and global sources. Anthropogenic emissions originate largely from electric utilities, incinerators, and industrial processes. The mercury species in these emissions have variable atmospheric residence times, which influence their atmospheric transport and deposition patterns. Forested regions with a prevalence of wetlands and of unproductive surface waters promote high concentrations of mercury in freshwater biota and thus are particularly sensitive to mercury deposition. Through fish consumption, humans and wildlife are exposed to methylmercury, which markedly bioaccumulates up the freshwater food chain. Average mercury concentrations in yellow perch fillets …

Improvement Of Mechanical Properties Of Uv-Curable Resin For High-Aspect Ratio Microstructures Fabricated In Microstereolithography, Su-Do Lee, Jae-Won Choi, In-Baek Park, Chang-Sik Ha, Seok-Hee Lee

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Research

Recently, microstructures fabricated using microstereolithography technology have been used in the biological, medical and mechanical fields. Microstereolithography can fabricate real 3D microstructures with fine features, although there is presently a limited number of materials available for use in the process. Deformation of the fine features on a fabricated microstructure remains a critical issue for successful part fabrication, and part deformation can occur during rinsing or during fabrication as a result of fluid flow forces that occur during movement of mechanical parts of the system. Deformation can result in failure to fabricate a particular feature by breaking the feature completely, spatial …

Verification Of Pilot-Scale Iron Release Models, Stephen Glatthorn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A model for the prediction of color release from a pilot distribution system was created in 2003 by Imran. This model allows prediction of the release of color from aged cast iron and galvanized steel pipes as a function of water quality and hydraulic residence time. Color was used as a surrogate measurement for iron, which exhibited a strong linear correlation. An anomaly of this model was an absence of a term to account for pH, due to the influent water being well stabilized. A new study was completed to evaluate the effectiveness of corrosion inhibitors against traditional adjustment. Two …

Identification And Suitability Of A Non-Anthropomorphic Meta-Language Framework In Military Applications, Gilbert Cardona

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Humans carry mental models concerning the behaviors, looks, and operation of products, tools, and items used in their daily lives. When these items do not fit a user's conceptual model confusion and inefficiency occur. There are four basic types of mental models based on interactive activities: 1) instructing, 2) conversing, 3) manipulating and navigating, and 4) exploring and browsing. This thesis will focus on the conversing conceptual model and its application to communications between human-agent teams to best fit a user's mental model for that communication. A non-anthropomorphic framework does not exist for use in military applications such as; target …