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Data Management Survey Handout For Research Computing Day, Cynthia Dancel Feb 2014

Data Management Survey Handout For Research Computing Day, Cynthia Dancel

Libraries' Documents

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Mrna Profiling: Body Fluid Identification Using Multiplex Real-Time Pcr, John Ballantyne, Jane Juusola Jan 2014

Mrna Profiling: Body Fluid Identification Using Multiplex Real-Time Pcr, John Ballantyne, Jane Juusola

UCF Patents

We have developed real-time PCR triplexes that are composed of two body fluid-genes and one housekeeping gene (glyceraldhyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, or (GAPDH), and have been optimized for the detection of blood, saliva, semen, and menstrual blood as single or mixed stains.

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Silica-Based Antibacterial And Antifungal Nanoformulation Div, Swadeshmukul Santra Jan 2014

Silica-Based Antibacterial And Antifungal Nanoformulation Div, Swadeshmukul Santra

UCF Patents

A silica-based nanoformulation and method is used to treat citrus canker, inhibit the growth of mold and mildew, and add nutrients to soil used for agricultural purposes. The nanotechnology-enabled copper-loaded, silica nanoformulation (CuSiNP/NG) design is a "revolutionary re-invention" of Cu for safe application because it provides a formulation with maximum abundance ionic Cu, provides sustained and optimal Cu ion release for long-term disease protection, better adherence to plant surfaces and structural surfaces due to gel-based nanostructureof CuSiNG, thus avoiding multiple spray applications and reducing the amount of Cu used in comparison to existing Cu compounds without compromising anitbaterial activity. Thus, …

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Technical Illustration: The Changes And Challenges Presented By Advancements In Technology, Cindy Caudill Jan 2014

Technical Illustration: The Changes And Challenges Presented By Advancements In Technology, Cindy Caudill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the changes and challenges technology has created in the field of technical illustration. Technical illustration includes the fields of technical drawing as well as scientific and medical illustration. Previously, technical illustrators learned and used traditional illustration methods, without the aid of computers. However, technology has rapidly entered the field and has changed the education, work environment, skills, and role of the technical illustrator. I note both the benefits and disadvantages that current technical illustrators are facing in their work. I explore both sides of the digital media and traditional art debate while focusing on the technical illustrator's …

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Last Kind Word, Dianne Richardson Jan 2014

Last Kind Word, Dianne Richardson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Last Kind Word is a novel that explores the ways people seek control and power in the face of the unknowable. Set in the fictional town of Thorpe, South Carolina, the story follows four main characters-Donna Neese, Melissa Burnside, Anthony Washington, and Jill McManus-struggling in the aftermath of biracial teenager Micah Burnside's disappearance. They search for a replacement for the lost connection to Micah and for a sense of control at a time when their lives seem to lack it, when other forces, be they people or circumstances or spirits, hold power over them. In the midst of this, the …

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We Are The Asteroid, Sloane Davis Jan 2014

We Are The Asteroid, Sloane Davis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We Are the Asteroid is a collection of personal essays concerned with the power of erasure and manipulation of chronology that comes with writing. It both acknowledges and participates in the fact that nonfiction writers become unstuck in time, whether they want to or not, traveling between ages, rearranging the order of events into the stories they tell. The collection centers on a few traumatic events in the narrator's life, and it explores the ways in which she deals with those events through her writing. The writer utilizes various structural techniques, such as the segmented form, to play with the …

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Female Bias In Technical Communication And An Exploration Of Pedagogical Strategies For Reversing The Bias, Rebecca Beeson Jan 2014

Female Bias In Technical Communication And An Exploration Of Pedagogical Strategies For Reversing The Bias, Rebecca Beeson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores technical communication and seeks to establish that females outnumber males in the field while also holder more high-level positions. It further seeks to show why a field does not benefit from having one sex outnumber the other. The benefits of having an equal number of females and males contributing to the growth and expansion of the field are discussed. Finally, this thesis discusses potential pedagogical strategies which could be employed at the college level as a means of attracting more young men to the field and allowing for maximum growth of technical communication as a field of …

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Character Evolution And Microbial Community Structure In A Host-Associated Grasshopper, Tyler Raszick Jan 2014

Character Evolution And Microbial Community Structure In A Host-Associated Grasshopper, Tyler Raszick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The spotted bird grasshopper, Schistocerca lineata Scudder (Orthoptera: Acrididae), is a widely distributed species found throughout most of the continental United States and southern Canada. This species is known to be highly variable in morphology, with many distinct ecotypes across its native range. These ecotypes display high levels of association with type-specific host plants. Understanding the evolutionary relationships among different ecotypes is crucial groundwork for studying the process of ecological differentiation. I examine four ecotypes from morphological and phylogeographic perspectives, and look for evidence of distinct evolutionary lineages within the species. I also begin to explore the potential role of …

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In Actu Et In Silicio: Linear And Nonlinear Photophysical Characterization Of A Novel Europium Complex, And Incorporating Computational Calculations In The Analysis Of Novel Organic Compounds, Adam Woodward Jan 2014

In Actu Et In Silicio: Linear And Nonlinear Photophysical Characterization Of A Novel Europium Complex, And Incorporating Computational Calculations In The Analysis Of Novel Organic Compounds, Adam Woodward

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite not being a tangible substance, light is becoming an increasingly valuable tool in numerous areas of science and technology: the use of laser excitation of a fluorescent probe can generate incredibly detailed images of cellular structures without the need for large amounts of dissection; new types of solar cells are being produced using organic dyes to harvest light; computer data can be stored by inducing a chemical change in a compound through irradiation with light. However, before any of these materials can be applied in such a way, their properties must first be analyzed for them to be deemed …

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Marital Adjustment In Parents Of Multiple Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Rachel Mills Jan 2014

Marital Adjustment In Parents Of Multiple Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Rachel Mills

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current study investigated the relationship between raising multiple children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and martial adjustment and whether perceived social support moderates this relationship. The sample (n = 115) consisted of 77 parents of a single child diagnosed with an ASD and 44 parents of 2 or more children diagnosed with an ASD. There was no significant difference in martial adjustment between the parents of single versus multiple children with ASDs and no significant relationship between number of children with an ASD within a family and marital adjustment. Although the main hypotheses were not supported, data from experimental …

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Stranger Species, Rachel Burns Jan 2014

Stranger Species, Rachel Burns

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Stranger Species is a collection of interconnected personal and lyrical essays that illustrate and dissect the biological and psychological forces that drive humans to act. While essays in the collection prove the narrator's need to believe that we are animals first and human beings second and that sex and persistence to survive are proof of our animalism, essays simultaneously counter-argue that humans-our emotions, weaknesses, and consciousness-are unique to our species, separating us from the animal world. Throughout the collection, fear resonates that we do not control our desires and ultimately our lives, that biology and our deep seeded psychological inadequacies …

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Technical Communicators And Writing Consultants: Identity And Expertise, Nichole Cepero Jan 2014

Technical Communicators And Writing Consultants: Identity And Expertise, Nichole Cepero

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines the roles of technical communicators and writing center consultants in regards to their identities and the expertise that they bring to what they do. Both fields have struggled with a lack of understanding surrounding what their positions entail and more importantly how they perform in their roles. With this in mind, the goal of this paper is to analyze how the growth of each field and the variations of each position contribute to the issue of identity. Furthermore, as a result of the identity problem that faces each position, I suggest using the theory of liminality, communication …

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Synthesis Of Fluorescent Molecules And Their Applications As Viscosity Sensors, Metal Ion Indicators, And Near-Infrared Probes, Mengyuan Wang Jan 2014

Synthesis Of Fluorescent Molecules And Their Applications As Viscosity Sensors, Metal Ion Indicators, And Near-Infrared Probes, Mengyuan Wang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The primary focus of this dissertation is the development of novel fluorescent near-infrared molecules for various applications. In Chapter 1, a compound dU-BZ synthesized via Sonogashira coupling reaction methodology is described. A deoxyuridine building block was introduced to enhance hydrophilic properties and reduce toxicity, while an alkynylated benzothiazolium dye was incorporated for near-IR emission and reduce photodamage and phototoxicity that is characteristic of common fluorphores that are excited by UV or visible light. A 30-fold enhancement of fluorescence intensity of dU-BZ was achieved in a viscous environment. Values of fluorescence quantum yields in 99% glycerol/1% methanol (v/v) of varying temperature …

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Pressure And Temperature Response Of A Stimuli-Responsive Polymer Probed With Raman Microscopy, Coleman Cariker Jan 2014

Pressure And Temperature Response Of A Stimuli-Responsive Polymer Probed With Raman Microscopy, Coleman Cariker

HIM 1990-2015

Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) is a thermo-responsive hydrogel; that is, it is a macromolecule which exists in a hydrated state beneath its lower critical solution temperature (LCST). Polymers such as PNIPAM undergo a phase transition in response to changes in temperature, pressure, pH, salt concentration, and the addition of co-solvents. Previously, visible-light microscopic measurements of the pressure-induced phase transition have been hindered by the lack of a pressurization apparatus with the short working distance and optical transmission properties necessary for high resolution microscopy. We employ a high pressure setup which uses a fused silica micro-capillary to contain the sample. Our experiment reveals …

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Cascaded Plasmon Resonances For Enhanced Nonlinear Optical Response, Seyfollah Toroghi Jan 2014

Cascaded Plasmon Resonances For Enhanced Nonlinear Optical Response, Seyfollah Toroghi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The continued development of integrated photonic devices requires low-power, small volume all-optical modulators. The weak nonlinear optical response of conventional optical materials requires the use of high intensities and large interaction volumes in order to achieve significant light modulation, hindering the miniaturization of all-optical switches and the development of lightweight transmission optics with nonlinear optical response. These challenges may be addressed using plasmonic nanostructures due to their unique ability to confine and enhance electric fields in sub-wavelength volumes. The ultrafast nonlinear response of free electrons in such plasmonic structures and the fast thermal nonlinear optical response of metal nanoparticles, as …

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Migratory Connectivity And Carry-Over Effects In Northwest Atlantic Loggerhead Turtles (Caretta Caretta, L.), Simona Ceriani Jan 2014

Migratory Connectivity And Carry-Over Effects In Northwest Atlantic Loggerhead Turtles (Caretta Caretta, L.), Simona Ceriani

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Migration is a widespread and complex phenomenon in nature that has fascinated humans for centuries. Connectivity among populations influences their demographics, genetic structure and response to environmental change. Here, I used the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta, L.) as a study organism to address questions related to migratory connectivity and carry-over effects using satellite telemetry, stable isotope analysis and GIS interpolation methods. Telemetry identified foraging areas previously overlooked for loggerheads nesting in Florida. Next, I validated and evaluated the efficacy of intrinsic markers as a complementary and low cost tool to assign loggerhead foraging regions in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean (NWA), …

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Tractors And Genres: Knowledge-Making And Identity Formation In An Agricultural Community, Marcy Galbreath Jan 2014

Tractors And Genres: Knowledge-Making And Identity Formation In An Agricultural Community, Marcy Galbreath

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research examines the history of a small Florida agricultural community over the course of the twentieth century from a rhetorical perspective in order to understand the technological and communicative transitions that governed the development of American agricultural production. By examining archival and oral histories, this research will add to our understandings of how written and oral communications temper the relationships and social situations of an agricultural community, including the knowledge-making and technological adaptation resulting from communications within the community and with outside institutions and entities. Agricultural villages are not isolated entities, but rather sites of multiple rhetorical situations, and …

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Ipads For Students With Asd: Comparing Delivery Modes For Visual Activity Schedules, Jillian Gourwitz Jan 2014

Ipads For Students With Asd: Comparing Delivery Modes For Visual Activity Schedules, Jillian Gourwitz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Visual Activity Schedules (VAS) are tools that present an abstract concept, such as time, in a more concrete and manageable form. VAS allow students to anticipate upcoming events and activities, develop an understanding of time, and facilitate the ability to predict change. Prior investigations have used VAS to increase on-task behavior while enhancing the student's ability to independently make transitions from one activity to another and are particularly appropriate as they capitalize on the visual strengths exhibited by many students with autism. Mobile devices such as the iPad are becoming a tool for teaching students with disabilities, and research is …

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Evaluation Of The Three-Dimensional Patterns And Ecological Impacts Of The Invasive Old World Climbing Fern (Lygodium Microphyllum), Alexis Maldonado Jan 2014

Evaluation Of The Three-Dimensional Patterns And Ecological Impacts Of The Invasive Old World Climbing Fern (Lygodium Microphyllum), Alexis Maldonado

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Invasion by non-native species has had significant ecological and economic impacts on a global scale. In the state of Florida, Old World climbing fern (Lygodium microphyllum) is an invasive plant listed by FLEPPC as a category one invader with significant ecological impacts that threaten native plant diversity. This species relies on existing vegetative structures for support to climb into the forest canopy and forms dense mats that cover tree crowns. This subsequently affects the resources available to other species present. Quantifying the structural changes due to the presence of this species has proved logistically difficult, especially on a large spatial …

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The Fate Of Nitrogen And Phosphorus From A Simulated Highway Cross-Section, Zuzanna Wasowska Jan 2014

The Fate Of Nitrogen And Phosphorus From A Simulated Highway Cross-Section, Zuzanna Wasowska

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nutrient pollution as a result of excessive fertilizer application is of major concern for Florida's water resources. Excess fertilizer can be lost either via surface runoff or by leaching through the soil mass eventually reaching water bodies and leading to eutrophication. The focus of this study is to analyze the effect of low rainfall intensities and overland flow from an adjacent roadway surface on the loss of nutrients from two different fertilizers. This study focuses on the fate of the nitrogen and phosphorus present in fertilizers utilized by the Florida Department of Transportation for the stabilization of highway embankments. This …

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Real Time Monitoring Of Cell-Nanoparticles Interaction And Tracking Internalization Process By Mechanical Probing Using Atomic Force Microscopy, Anh Ly Jan 2014

Real Time Monitoring Of Cell-Nanoparticles Interaction And Tracking Internalization Process By Mechanical Probing Using Atomic Force Microscopy, Anh Ly

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With extensive development of nanotechnology in last few years, scientists have discovered that nanoparticles (NPs) can be used as an efficient Drug Delivery System (DOS). In order to develop better NPs based drug delivery tool, it is imperative to understand the interaction between the NPs and the cell membrane. In our earlier studies, cerium oxide nanoparticles (CNPs) have been reported to have therapeutic properties, specifically against abnormalities associated with oxidative stress. Therefore, CNPs with different sizes and morphology were selected to understand the interaction with cell. We analyzed the mechanical property of human nasal septum tumor cells membranes using Atomic …

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Identity Construction And Information Processing In A Coaching Relationship: The Effects Of Coach Behavior On Coachee Goal-Setting And Commitment, Christopher Coultas Jan 2014

Identity Construction And Information Processing In A Coaching Relationship: The Effects Of Coach Behavior On Coachee Goal-Setting And Commitment, Christopher Coultas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Coaching (professional, business, executive, leadership) has been shown to be effective generally speaking, but questions remain regarding the explanatory mechanisms underlying coaching. I first propose a context-general model that unpacks the sociocognitive dynamics within coaching. The model explains the emergence of different types of coaching relationships, and how the nature of these relationships differentially determine coaching outcomes. Research and theory on social identity construction and information processing in dyads provides the foundation upon which I outline a model describing the process and dynamics of coaching identity emergence. Beyond this emergence, my proposed model states that the coachee's understanding of appropriate …

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Plugging Up The Leaky Stem Pipeline With A Stereotype Threat Mentoring Intervention, Luiz Xavier Jan 2014

Plugging Up The Leaky Stem Pipeline With A Stereotype Threat Mentoring Intervention, Luiz Xavier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study compared the effectiveness of different mentoring programs at reducing feelings of stereotype threat experienced by women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. Stereotype threat refers to the extra pressure a person feels to disprove a negative stereotype that applies to him or her. Because stereotype threat has been found to undermine performance and interest in stereotyped domains, it may be a key factor contributing to female underrepresentation in STEM fields. Mentors and proteges were placed in either a stereotype threat reduction condition in which mentors and proteges were encouraged to participate in discussions designed to …

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Identifying Influential Agents In Social Systems, Mahsa Maghami Jan 2014

Identifying Influential Agents In Social Systems, Mahsa Maghami

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation addresses the problem of influence maximization in social networks. In- fluence maximization is applicable to many types of real-world problems, including modeling contagion, technology adoption, and viral marketing. Here we examine an advertisement domain in which the overarching goal is to find the influential nodes in a social network, based on the network structure and the interactions, as targets of advertisement. The assumption is that advertisement budget limits prevent us from sending the advertisement to everybody in the network. Therefore, a wise selection of the people can be beneficial in increasing the product adoption. To model these social …

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Integrated Remote Sensing And Forecasting Of Regional Terrestrial Precipitation With Global Nonlinear And Nonstationary Teleconnection Signals Using Wavelet Analysis, Lee Mullon Jan 2014

Integrated Remote Sensing And Forecasting Of Regional Terrestrial Precipitation With Global Nonlinear And Nonstationary Teleconnection Signals Using Wavelet Analysis, Lee Mullon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Global sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies have a demonstrable effect on terrestrial climate dynamics throughout the continental U.S. SST variations have been correlated with greenness (vegetation densities) and precipitation via ocean-atmospheric interactions known as climate teleconnections. Prior research has demonstrated that teleconnections can be used for climate prediction across a wide region at sub-continental scales. Yet these studies tend to have large uncertainties in estimates by utilizing simple linear analyses to examine chaotic teleconnection relationships. Still, non-stationary signals exist, making teleconnection identification difficult at the local scale. Part 1 of this research establishes short-term (10-year), linear and non-stationary teleconnection signals …

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Arrangement Of Google Search Results And Imperial Ideology: Searching For Benghazi, Libya, Jacob Stewart Jan 2014

Arrangement Of Google Search Results And Imperial Ideology: Searching For Benghazi, Libya, Jacob Stewart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project responds to an ongoing discussion in scholarship that identifies and analyzes the ideological functions of computer interfaces. In 1994, Cynthia Selfe and Richard Selfe claimed that interfaces are maps of cultural information and are therefore ideological (485). For Selfe and Selfe and other scholars, these interfaces carried a colonial ideology that resulted in Western dominance over other cultures. Since this early scholarship, our perspectives on interface have shifted with changing technology; interfaces can no longer be treated as having persistent and predictable characteristics like texts. I argue that interfaces are interactions among dynamic information that is constantly being …

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Identification Of Small Molecules That Inhibit Prostate Cancer Cell Proliferation, Rainel Zelaya Jan 2014

Identification Of Small Molecules That Inhibit Prostate Cancer Cell Proliferation, Rainel Zelaya

HIM 1990-2015

Prostate cancer is the second most often diagnosed cancer and internationally the sixth foremost cause of cancer death in males, as of 2011. Within the United States it is the most common form of cancer in men with 186,000 new cases and with an overall 28,600 deaths in 2008, and it is the second leading kind of cancer-related death in men. The widespread threat that prostate cancer poses against men across the globe cannot be understated, and its initiation and progression must be understood in order to truly comprehend its implicated risks and possible forms of treatment. As its name …

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The Best And Worst Of All That God And Man Can Do": Paternalistic Perceptions On The Intellectually Disabled At Florida's Sunland Institutions., Bethany Dickens Jan 2014

The Best And Worst Of All That God And Man Can Do": Paternalistic Perceptions On The Intellectually Disabled At Florida's Sunland Institutions., Bethany Dickens

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Historians have studied mental institutions in the mid-20th century; however, few have discussed them within the context of the period's paternalistic social movements and perceptions. Florida's Sunland program provides a lens for studying the parental role the institutions and general public took toward the intellectually disabled. Specifically, administrators saw residents of the Sunland Training Centers and Hospitals as perpetual children, trapped in an "eternal childhood." The institution was presented as a family unit, abiding by 1950s ideals of the companionate household. When the Sunlands proved generally unsuccessful, Florida's communities began to supplement their efforts. The social movements of the 1960s …

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The Spatial Relationship Between Labor, Cultural Migration, And The Development Of Folk Music In The American South: A Digital Visualization Project, Robert Clarke Jan 2014

The Spatial Relationship Between Labor, Cultural Migration, And The Development Of Folk Music In The American South: A Digital Visualization Project, Robert Clarke

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This Digital/Public History visualization thesis project explores how three factors-Atlantic migration patterns, demographics, and socioeconomic systems-influenced the development of folk music in the southern United States from the 18th century through the 20th century. A large body of written scholarship exists addressing plantation economies, the slave trade, and folk music. Digital technology, however, creates new opportunities for analyzing the geo-temporal aspects contained within the numerous archival resources such as census and migration records, field recordings, economic data, diaries, and other personal records. The written portion of the thesis addresses the historiography, research findings, and the process of creating the visualization …

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Study Of The Formation And Control Of Disinfection By-Products Originating From A Surface Water Supply On The Volcanic Island Of Guam, Erica Laberge Jan 2014

Study Of The Formation And Control Of Disinfection By-Products Originating From A Surface Water Supply On The Volcanic Island Of Guam, Erica Laberge

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Three oxidants have been evaluated for use as alternative chemical pretreatments for Fena Lake, a surface water that supplies the U.S. Navy's Public Water System (PWS) on the volcanic island of Guam. The study consisted of two investigative components. The first and primary component included a bench-scale evaluation to study the effects of different pre-oxidant chemicals on the formation of chlorinated disinfection by-products (DBPs). The second and ancillary component included a series of water treatment and distribution system management studies that analyzed DBP formation within the treatment plant and water distribution system. The goal of this research was to reduce …

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