Digital Commons Network^™

Towards An Efficient Cloud Computing System: Data Management, Resource Allocation And Job Scheduling, Jinwei Liu

All Dissertations

Cloud computing is an emerging technology in distributed computing, and it has proved to be an effective infrastructure to provide services to users. Cloud is developing day by day and faces many challenges. One of challenges is to build cost-effective data management system that can ensure high data availability while maintaining consistency. Another challenge in cloud is efficient resource allocation which ensures high resource utilization and high SLO availability. Scheduling, referring to a set of policies to control the order of the work to be performed by a computer system, for high throughput is another challenge. In this dissertation, we …

The Role The N-Terminal Domain Plays In Spidroin Assembly, Krystal Audrey Cadle

All Dissertations

One of the most interesting biomaterials known to man is spider silk. These fibers, composed primarily of protein, show beneficial mechanical and biological properties that have many uses in medical and industrial fields. Spider silk proteins (spidroins) are composed of three core components that consists of a C-terminal domain (CTD), repeat domain (R), and N-terminal domain (NTD). The NTD and CTD are highly conserved and are believed to form “multimeric strands” that make up spider silk. Although it is known that the NTD undergoes a conformational change that results in stable homodimer formation at acidic pH , the way in …

Development Of A New Multimodal Membrane Adsorber And Its Application In Chromatographic Bioseparations, Juan Wang

All Dissertations

This dissertation presents work on the design and synthesis of a new membrane chromatography material, the description of its protein binding behavior using a thermodynamic adsorption isotherm model, and the application of the new membrane material in biologics downstream recovery and purification processes. As protein titers continue to increase dramatically in upstream biomanufacturing, innovations in downstream purification are not keeping pace, resulting in manufacturing capacity constraints and high production costs. Chromatography is the key unit operation used in several steps of the downstream purification platform. Traditional resin bead chromatography, while effective and reliable for isolation and purification of proteins, limits …

Ethical Decision-Making Examined In Greek Letter Organization Members: A Case Study, Matthew Robert Burns

All Dissertations

This examination of the ethical decision-making employed by a group of fraternity men utilized a case study approach to illustrate the processes by which the men reached decisions and the impact of influences upon their decisions. The information gained was examined through the conceptual framework of Bertram Gallant and Kalichman’s (2011) systems approach by which the behaviors of university actors are considered through four nested layers of influence. Fraternity men were studied at a small, liberal arts university in the southeastern United States. Through a process of interviews with the men, their chapter advisors, and applicable university staff, the researcher …

Targeted Nano-Therapeutices For The Reversal Of Calcification And Ecm Degradation In Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms, Nasim Nosoudi

All Dissertations

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is focal ballooning and dilation of abdominal aorta. AAAs are the 13th primary cause of death in the US, taking the lives of approximately 15,000 Americans each year 1. The best prevention of AAA is early detection when the AAA is smaller than 3 cm. The only current treatment option for well-developed AAA is surgical repair of the aneurysmal vessel. Since the enactment of the Screening Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms Very Efficiently Act (SAAVE) act, patients with Medicare are covered for one-time ultrasound imaging for aneurysm, which allows smaller scale AAAs to be discovered. Unfortunately, after this …

Molecular Mechanics Studies Of Protein Signaling And Conformation Change, Zhe Jia

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Physiology signals can be passed by proteins. Many protein signaling starts from ligand binding and undergoes conformation change of the receptors. Many cellular surface receptor proteins contain a Von Willebrand factor (vWF), which is a large multimeric glycoprotein present in blood plasma. This dissertation employed molecular dynamics (MD) simulation to investigate the binding and signaling process of several vWF type A proteins. Chapter 2 discussed the potential errors modeling and MD sampling methods, and evaluated the accuracy and precision of free energy calculation. An optimized sampling strategy was established to obtain the best computational efficiency. The strategy can be applied …

Rare Earth Emissions From Polyethylene Terephthalate Fiber, Joshua Jenkins Furtick

All Theses

Rare earth-polymer blends can be useful in many applications including safety, security, displays, and novelty. Polyester, specifically polyethylene terephthalate, is a ubiquitous material in the world today and offers many opportunities for the usefulness of visible light rare earth emissions.

In this work we have attempted to incorporate rare earth complexes with polyester yarn using various methods including coating, extrusion, and dyeing, with the latter having the most success. Nanoparticles were used initially for these experiments, however certain limitations of the particles could not be overcome, for example the size of the particles and the incompatibility of the inorganic matrix …

An Analysis Of The Putative Rhurm Pathway In Campylobacter Curvus, Marco Valera

All Theses

Recent genomic studies within the Epsilonproteobacteria have uncovered a potentially novel mechanism for chemotrophic respiration: the reverse Hydroxylamine Ubiquinone Redox Module (rHURM), a dissimilatory nitrate reduction pathway utilizing a hydroxylamine intermediate. Originally discovered in the chemoautolithotroph Nautilia profundicola, genes indicative of the rHURM pathway have been identified in several species of Campylobacter, including C. curvus. In the absence of classic nitrite reductase genes, a hydroxylamine oxidoreductase (hao) homolog encodes a periplasmic octoheme potentially capable of reducing nitrite, a product of periplasmic nitrate reductase (NapA), to hydroxylamine, which is then converted to ammonium by a putative hydroxylamine reductase …

Empirical Analysis Of Large Diameter Water Main Break Consequences, Sreeganesh Reddy Yerri

All Theses

The recent ASCE report card gave a near failing “D” grade to drinking waterinfrastructure in the U.S. and reported that about 240,000 water main breaks occurannually. The economic, environmental and societal consequences of some of these watermain breaks have been hard to comprehend in the context of risk assessment andrehabilitation planning. In an attempt to understand the various impacts of such failuresand subsequently estimate the overall impact cost, this study synthesized the reportedconsequences of 20 large diameter water main breaks in the U.S., most of which haveoccurred in the recent past, and subsequently estimated the overall cost of the impacts …

A Family Dispute: The African-American Community's Response To Uncle Tom, Spencer York

All Theses

This thesis is an attempt to understand the complex relationship between theAfrican-American community and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Itargues that a large reason for the negative connotation of “uncle Tom” within theAfrican-American community was caused by conflicts between intellectual patternsand traditions of the community and Stowe’s vision in her novel. This thesis looks atthe key texts in the intellectual history of the African-American community,including the literary responses by African Americans to the novel. This thesis seeksto fill gaps in the history of the African-American community by looking at howmembers of the community exercised their agency to achieve the …

Enhancing The Methane Yield Of A Landfill Leachate Bioreactor, Paul Vecchiarelli

All Theses

Our thriving modern society requires unprecedented amounts of natural resources to maintain pace with rapidly evolving standards of living in industrialized regions. Due to population growth and wide-scale urbanization, over 3.5x106 metric tons of solid wastes are produced daily around the world. In addition to land, water, and raw material strain generated by solid waste dumping, pristine resources are needed for food, energy, and potable water — instead being used through waste management. Reducing landfill leachate volume and toxicity while deriving value-added products from leachate is a sustainable alternative to traditional solid waste management. Carbon mass balances of biomass grown …

Microwave Plasma Surface Modifications Of Carbon Fibers, Laura Ashley Smith

All Theses

Fiber-polymer matrix interfaces are critical components of high performance composite materials. In this thesis we utilized microwave plasma surface reactions in the presence of maleic anhydride to functionalize carbon fiber surfaces. As a result, carboxylic acid and hydroxyl groups were generated, which facilitated covalent bonding to epoxy-based polymer matrices. Raman and attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy were utilized to characterize the fiber surfaces, whereas mechanical properties of newly formed interfaces were assessed using shear stress analysis. These studies show that using solventless microwave plasma surface modifications, interfacial mechanical properties of carbon fiber-epoxy matrix can be enhanced by ~ …

The Intermediate Subunit Of The Gal/Galnac Lectin May Play A Role In Erythrophagocytosis In Entamoeba Histolytica, Michelle Lynne Rock

All Theses

Entamoeba histolytica is a parasite responsible for amebic dysentery and liver abscess in humans. This pathogen causes ~100,000 deaths annually in regions that cannot prevent the fecal-oral route of transmission. Adhesion to host colonic epithelium is a hallmark of infection. The galactose/N-acetylgalactosamine (Gal/GalNAc) lectin is a parasite surface receptor that regulates adhesion to host cells. This lectin is a heterotrimer consisting of Heavy (Hgl), Light (Lgl) and Intermediate (Igl) subunits. Hgl and Lgl are covalently attached to each other by disulfide bonds and interact non-covalently with Igl. Little is known about how the trimer assembles, but lipid rafts, cholesterol- and …

Identification And Use Of Psd-Derived Features For The Contextual Detection And Classification Of Eeg Epileptiform Transients, Sharan Rajendran

All Theses

Epilepsy is a chronic disorder, which is characterized by seizures. For diagnosis, trained neu-rologists go over the patient’s EEG (Electroencephalograph) records looking for epileptic transients. This is a tedious and long process. The objective of this thesis is to automate the procedure by developing a detector that would pick out epileptic transients containing the ”Abnormal Epileptiform Paroxysmal” (AEP) type. The process was split into detection of potential AEPs and the classification of the detected segments. The detection of potential AEPs (called Yellow Boxing) passed boxed segments of the EEG signal to be classified as to segments that contain paroxysmal activity …

Simulating Burial Settings: Laboratory-Scale Forensic Bioreactor, Veeander Sheldonia Mealing

All Theses

Laboratory-scale forensic bioreactors can be beneficial for simulating and monitoring of burial settings by providing controlled environmental parameters (e.g. temperature, moisture, and others) applicable to a wide range of environments. The objectives of this study were to design and build forensic bioreactor, define parameters that are relevant to burial settings and suitable for laboratory simulation in the bioreactor, and verify the performance of the bioreactor. The laboratory-scale forensic bioreactor consisted of housing with individual soil chambers, temperature sensors with signal controls, soil moisture sensors, and a computer with software. The forensic bioreactor was capable of simulating burial settings. Two soil …

Aerosol Removal In A Cylindrical Ultrasonic Standing Wave Field, Tyler Merrell

All Theses

Aerosols are solid particles or liquid drops typically less than 100 microns in diameter, suspended in a gas. Some types of aerosols can be very hazardous. Particulate pollution from the combustion of fossil fuels and other sources is of great concern due to health problems those exposed can experience. One method for removing these particles from industrial sources is wet scrubbing, where water sprays are used to capture particles before exhausting to the environment. Wet scrubbers work well for a large range of particle diameters, but are ineffective for particles on the order of 1 µm in diameter. Particles of …

Between Flesh And Being: Theorizing The Racial Body And The Position Of Personhood In Claudia Rankine's Citizen, Lanja Najmalddin Karim

All Theses

In this paper I argue that Claudia Rankine, in Citizen (2014), by concentrating on the place and position of the radicalized body, creates a technique of resistance that emerges as assemblages against contemporary racism. Citizen narrates the stories of a range of racist incidents that happen to individuals, including the author herself and celebrities in Western societies. Those incidents have been narrated and re-contextualized through a unique technique of representation, where multiple genres, such as lyric, prose, and visual images, all collaborate in telling those stories in the text. In Citizen, resistance is the predominant mode of narration. The text …

A Comparative, Ecological Analysis Of Male-To-Female Intimate Partner Violence In The United States And Marlboro County, South Carolina, Hannah M. Jefferies

All Theses

Previous intimate partner violence (IPV) research has indicated that many factors potentially influence IPV. These include the attributes of the woman and her personal history, characteristics of her partner or the partnership, dynamics of the family unit, and features of the community or society in which they live. Numerous theories have been advanced to explain why various factors are related to IPV. Separately, these theories fail to explain the breadth of factors associated with IPV. Ecological theories, however, posit that factors at various levels of a social ecology interact with one another to contribute to an observed phenomenon. Due to …

Characterization Of A Microbial Community In Response To Mtbe Contamination In Marine Sediment, Nicholas Hotzelt

All Theses

On March 9, 2015, the Carla Maersk, which was carrying 216,049 barrels of methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) outbound for Venezuela, was struck port side by the bow of the Conti Peridot. An unspecified amount of MTBE spilled into the Port of Houston. MTBE has an exceptionally high water solubility and a large volume of the contaminant likely diluted and dispersed throughout the channel. MTBE was the most common fuel oxygenate because of its low cost, ease of production, and favorable transfer and blending characteristics. After only a few years of intense use, MTBE has become one of the most frequently …

Competitive Uptake Of Plutonium And Iron In Corn (Zea Mays), Stephanie Hoelbling

All Theses

The work herein investigates the potentially competitive uptake and translocation of plutonium (Pu) and iron (Fe) in corn (Zea mays) to gain insight into the Pu uptake pathway. Plutonium has no known biological function in plants yet it has many chemical properties similar to Fe (an essential nutrient) implying that Pu may share the Fe uptake pathway. A series of experiments was conducted in which two hydroponically grown corn species (one healthy and one deficient in the transporter protein for Fe) were exposed to varying ratios of complexed Pu and Fe. Results suggest increased presence of Fe inhibits Pu translocation …

Responses Of Aquatic Organisms To Exposures Of Sodium Carbonate Peroxyhydrate, Tyler David Geer

All Theses

Sodium carbonate peroxyhydrate (SCP), a granular algaecide containing hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), is used to mitigate risks associated with noxious algae. Episodic exposures of SCP algaecides in aquatic systems prompt the need for a fundamental understanding of exposure-response relationships for aquatic organisms, both target and non-target, exposed to H2O2 as SCP. In the first experiment, influences of organic carbon on exposures of H2O2 as SCP and consequent responses of a frequent problematic alga (cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa) were measured. Results indicate that the exposure of H2O2 as SCP necessary to control growth of a noxious alga is proportional to the density of …

Measurement Of Slip Velocity And Lift Coefficient For Laterally Focused Particles In An Inertial Flow Through A Spiral Microfluidic Channel, Saurabh Satish Deshpande

All Theses

Microfluidic channels with a spiral geometry are extensively researched for their use in particle focusing, separation and identification. Instead of using electrophoresis, magnetophoresis, etc., spiral channel takes advantage of the Inertial Lift Force along with the Viscous Drag to achieve size based separation of particles. Inertial microfluidic channel can have high throughput and are much safer to use for live cell separation and other physiological fluids processing. A particle flowing freely in a spiral microchannel at low Reynolds number inertial flow, attains lateral equilibrium due to balance of Inertial Lift force and the viscous Dean Drag. The inertial lift forces …

Effect Of Irrigation Water On Growth And Physical Characteristics Of Alfalfa (Medicago Sativa) And Mung Bean (Vigna Radiata) Sprouts, Kathryn Frances Cornelia Davis

All Theses

With resources to produce food predicted to become scarce and strongly limited,the need for producing more and consuming fewer resources will become increasingly important in the agricultural environment. Production methods that are ‘soil-less’ which are not tradition in-ground methods are viewed as creative solutions that have the potential of being sustainable. An aquaponic system is one of these productions methods that have the potential to be sustainable. Research demonstrates the water conservation an aquaponic system can establish if proper management is maintained, thus upkeep and monitoring of water quality parameters are crucial for successful growth of plants. The purpose of …

Desorption Kinetics Of Trace Organic Contaminants And Natural Organic Matter From Superfine Powdered Activated Carbon, Misty Brown

All Theses

Powdered activated carbon (PAC) particles that have been ground to a submicron size are being studied for use as an adsorbent during the water treatment process. These superfine powdered activated carbon (S-PAC) particles can be used for the removal of trace contaminants and natural organic matter (NOM) from water. It has been shown that these smaller particles have faster adsorption kinetics and an increased adsorption capacity for NOM due to their larger specific surface area and shorter internal diffusion rate into the particles. One thing that has not been studied is the desorption kinetics of trace contaminants on these S-PAC …

Development Of Dynamic Testing Methods Using Facial Expression Analysis To Evaluate Packaging Design In A Realistic Shopping Environment, Richard Blake Bowen

All Theses

80 to 95 percent of all new product launches fail (Dillon, 2011; Copernicus Marketing, Consulting, and Research, 2013). However, businesses can increase the chances of a successful product launch by better understanding consumer preferences and wants. Research done by McKinsey and Company shows that “more than 80 percent of top performers periodically tested and validated customer preferences during the development process, compared to 43 percent of bottom performers” (Gordon et al., 2010). With most purchasing decisions being made at the point of purchase, packaging is the last opportunity for businesses to influence the consumers decision to purchase their product. Packaging …

Inhibitory And Synergistic Effects During Biodegradation Of Mixed Contaminants At An Industrial Site In South America, Paola Andrea Barreto Quintero

All Theses

In spite of decades of remediation activities, there are still thousands of industrial sites worldwide that are in need of clean-up. As remediation technologies have advanced, numerous sites have been successfully addressed. Many of the sites that still need attention are those at which complex mixtures of contaminants are present, making the development of clean-up strategies more challenging. The site (Area P) that is the subject of this thesis is located in one of the largest industrial facilities in South America. The area is characterized by comingled environmental impacts caused by petrochemical industries. The main objective of this research was …

Fabrication And Characterization Of A Novel Porous Polymer Microsphere - Hydrogel Composite For Cell Therapy, Prathik Thulluri

All Theses

For patients with organ failure complications, organ transplantation is not alwaysan option due to a shortage of donors along with obstacles such as risk of pathogentransfer and the possibility of immune rejection. Tissue engineering approaches based oncell therapy provide a promising alternative that could potentially solve these problems.The success of cell therapy for tissue repair and regeneration requires reliable andefficient cell delivery methods. Currently, hydrogels are favored matrices for celldelivery because of their ability to be injected by minimally invasive techniques asviscous liquids and crosslinked in situ under mild conditions compatible with thehomogeneous incorporation of cells and bioactive molecules. However, …

Development Of An Automated Electrical Impedance Tomography System And Its Implementation In Cementitious Materials, Tao Ruan

All Dissertations

Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) based non-destructive evaluation showed great potentials in assessing the health condition of the new or existing civil infrastructures. Damages or anomalies that on the surface and embedded inside the structures exhibited as local conductivity changes and altered the path of electrical current flow. This investigation was focused on developing a new automated EIT system and employing EIT to identify the anomalies in cementitious materials structures. This dissertation is structured as follows. First, common nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques including conductivity-based techniques were summarized as well as their advantages and disadvantages. Then the theories of EIT modality as …

Autologous Protein Solution Exhibits Potential To Mitigate Osteoarthritis (Oa) Progression In A Human Explant Co-Culture Model, Kathleen Emily Steckbeck

All Theses

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a debilitating and painful disease that affects upwards of one in every eight adults1,2. OA influences the entire joint, but is traditionally characterized by cartilage degradation3. OA is a multifactorial disease with genetic, biological, and biochemical consideration, but there has been a recent shift in scientific opinion that the pathological progression of OA stems from an inflammatory milieu produced by the feed-forward progressive pathway as evidenced by simultaneous cartilage and synovium co-culture4–7. Autologous protein solution (APS) poses as an intriguing potential OA therapy by possessing a high anti-inflammatory and anabolic mediator concentration profile that could potentially mitigate …

Examining The Influence Of Whiteness On The Group Of Socialization Process Of College Men In The Traditionally White Fraternity System, S. Brian Joyce

All Dissertations

Recent national examples demonstrate the incongruence between the traditionally White fraternity system and race. A 2014 racially and sexually suggestive email led to the suspension of a Kappa Sigma fraternity member at the University of Maryland (Associated Press, 2015, March 14). In December 2014, the Clemson University chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon hosted a gang-themed and racially offensive party, titled “Cripmas”, near the holiday season (WYFF, 2014, December 9). Members of Sigma Alpha Epsilon at the University of Oklahoma chanted racist songs on a bus in 2015 (Associated Press, 2015, April 3).

The purpose of this study is to understand …