Digital Commons Network^™

Assaying Bacillus Amyloliquefaciens Isolates 1ba And 1d3 For Biosurfactant Production And Utilization Of Petroleum Hydrocarbons And Phenolic Acids, Pavan Kulkarni

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Several Bacillus amyloliquefaciens isolates obtained from wheat residue have been studied as biological agents to control wheat diseases. Notable traits of isolates 1BA and 1D3 include growth with high salt (10% NaCl), at temperatures up to 50°C and over a wide pH range. BIOLOG Gen III plates were used to study and further characterize Bacillus amyloliquefaciens 1BA and 1D3. Both isolates showed tolerance to high salt concentration supporting previous studies. They also grew in the presence of lithium chloride, potassium tellurite, and sodium bromate. Both isolates grew at pH 5, with almost identical carbon source utilization fingerprints. However, D-serine, quinic …

A Speciation Modeling Study Of Heavy Metal Adsorption To Plastic In Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant Units, Kaitlyn Hague

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Microplastics are an emerging concern due to their harmful effect to organisms and their ability to facilitate transport of contaminants including heavy metals. Microplastics can enter the environment through wastewater treatment plants, landfill leachate, and littering. Once in the environment microplastics can be distributed throughout rivers, the ocean, and lakes. In order to understand the adsorption of heavy metals to microplastics a geochemical modeling study was completed using Visual Minteq. Lab tests were completed to better understand what constituents are available in wastewater at four different locations: influent, clarifiers, digesters, and effluent. These constituents were then used to observe how …

Enhanced Electrochemical And Light-Driven Co2 Reduction By Incoporating Pendant Functionality In The Second-Coordination Sphere Of Molecular Catalysts, Sayontani Sinha Roy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the increase in global population and rapid industrialization, a gigantic amount of greenhouse gases is being released into the atmosphere each year. The catastrophic effect of these accumulated greenhouse gases is driving global climate change and adversely impacting our ecosystem. Popularizing the traditional renewable energy sources (such as solar and wind energy) can mitigate the problem by cutting down anthropogenic CO2 emissions, which is the major contributor to this global problem. However, the intermittent nature of these energy sources is problematic to reliably power society throughout the year. Therefore, converting CO2 to various value-added chemicals with the aid of …

A Latent Class Analysis Predictive Modeling Approach To Profile Division I Collegiate Athletes For Nutrition And Relative Energy Deficiency In Sport (Red-S) Concern, Morgan Delventhal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Screening collegiate athletes for nutrition-related concerns and low energy syndromes such as Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S) provides insight for nutrition care and can lead to necessary referrals in the sports medicine team. Screening may be a part of an athletic department’s protocol, but there is a lack of consensus on a validated tool for this population. The goal of this cross-sectional research was to use a Latent Class Analysis (LCA) predictive modeling approach to determine classes of collegiate athletes who present with nutrition and RED-S concern. LCA is a person-centered approach, intending to uncover subgroups of a population …

Systematic Computational Investigation Of Thermal Barrier Coatings For Cellulose Substrates, Mohammad Mansouriantabaei

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A statistical central composite design (CCD) was employed to investigate the effects of cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) and cellulose nanofiber (CNF) volume fractions, as well as relative free volume fraction, on the thermal barrier properties of a pigment-based coating for cellulosic substrates composed of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) and a copolymer binder, poly(styrene-co-methacrylic acid). Average room-temperature thermal conductivity (based on three replicates) was selected as a response and calculated for the different coating formulations using reverse non-equilibrium molecular dynamics (RNEMD) simulation with the Müller-Plathe algorithm. A reduced quadratic response surface model was fitted to the response data and analysis of variance (ANOVA) …

The Unmet Needs Of Academic Support Services For Students At Holmes Community College On The Goodman Campus, Karen Ray

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper presents a three-manuscript dissertation exploring the unmet needs for academic support of TRIO-eligible college students on the Goodman Campus of Holmes Community College (HCC) in Mississippi. The quantitative study uses descriptive and comparative statistic techniques to analyze two data sets, including the academic success of students who are qualified, applied for, and were selected for HCC TRIO SSS in 2017-18 and the success of students who are qualified, applied for, but were not selected for 2017-18 federal program. The aggregate academic successes, as measured by grade-point average (GPA), was the first comparison of the two groups. This study …

Formulation Development, Characterization, And Optimization Of Antimalarial And Antibiotic Drugs, Kai-Wei Wu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Primaquine (PQ)-loaded solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN), nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC), and nano-emulsion (NE) were developed to investigate the influence of lipid excipients, surfactants, and drug loading on the physicochemical properties of lipid formulations. To investigate the drug release mechanisms from the lipid-based formulations, empirical release kinetic models such as zero-order, Higuchi, Korsmeyer-Peppas, and Hixson-Crowell were used. In an ex vivo hemolysis toxicity study, the efficacy of SLN, NLC, and NE to protect erythrocytes against PQ-induced cell lysis was investigated. The results show that all lipid formulations reduced the erythrocyte hemolysis by approximately 4.5-fold compared to the drug solution, suggesting that …

The Aesthetics Of Repair: The Way Of Zen And Appreciation, Tyler Ellis Dobbs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The nature objects and how beings interact with them has long been a debate in the philosophic tradition. One aspect of this I have taken a look at is the aesthetic qualities entailed in this with particular attention paid to repair. In particular I explore the blurring of the subject-object distinction and the role of narrative in human engagement. I based my research and arguments primarily from Buddhist and Japanese Zen theories and ideas. Special attention was paid to the philosopher Kitaro Nishida and the Kyoto School philosophy tradition and ideas from Mahayana Buddhism.

The Efficacy Of Neurofeedback In The Treatment Of Individuals With Anxiety-Spectrum Disorders: A Meta-Analysis, Gordon Michael Russo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A number of authors have published articles that assert the efficacy of neurofeedback (NFB) in the treatment of people with anxious symptomatology. Despite this, many insurance companies identify NFB as experimental, which prohibits individuals from utilizing benefits to obtain this therapeutic treatment. In order to examine these discrepancies, the present meta-analyses were conducted and guided by research questions designed to examine the overall effectiveness of NFB, the impact of participant characteristics, and identify the if there is a significant difference in anxiety-spectrum outcomes. Twenty-six trials were divided based on design (14 single group [SG]; 12 between group [BG]) and analyzed …

Constructing And Validating Feature Models Using Relational, Document, And Graph Databases, Hazim Shatnawi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Building a software product line (SPL) is a systematic strategy for reusing software within a family of related systems from some application domain. To define an SPL, a domain analyst must identify the common and variable aspects of a family of systems and capture them for later use in construction of specific products. To do so, Feature-Oriented Domain Analysis (FODA) introduced the feature model as an abstraction to represent the common and variable aspects, using a feature diagram to depict the model visually. However, this abstraction is often difficult for developers to use because most tools rely on specialized theories, …

Reducing Disparites In Act Results According To Racial Identity: An Applied Research Study Into The Weact Program In Tinlake High School, Marcus Stewart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT The ACT provides opportunities for students of various socioeconomic backgrounds, racial identities, and family structures. Throughout the nation, there is a disparity that involves Black students scoring less than White students on the test by a margin of five points. The applied mixed methods research aimed to identify elements to help decrease the gap in student scores. The combined efforts of all the elements, tutorials, boot camps, ACT prep classes, and providing ACT resources in daily instruction formed the WeACT program. The students of Tinlake High School were exposed to this pilot program to assist in their ACT growth. …

A Valence-Bond Operator Algebra For Quantum Spin Models And Its Applications, Huu Tran Do

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Heisenberg Hamiltonian is the prototype model for quantum magnetism. The Hamilto- nian includes exchange couplings between vector spins, which are the intrinsic magnetic moments of localized electrons. The classical energy between any pair of interacting spins can be minimized by aligning them parallel (ferromagnetic case) or antiparallel (antiferromagnetic), depending on the sign of the coupling. But quantum fluctuations play a key role, and a full quantum mechanical treatment of the many-body system is generally required. Finding the exact ground-state energy and wave function of isotropic antiferromagnetic (AFM) systems for an arbitrary spin-S and lattice morphology is still a challenging …

Dynamics For Discretized Gravity In The Causal Set Approach, Benjamin Pilgrim

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Causal set theory is an approach to quantum gravity which replaces the continuous spacetime manifold with a discrete set of points and a partial order. In this work, I will focus on causal sets embeddable in two-dimensional manifolds, and define an action based on chains which in the continuum limit replicates the Einstein-Hilbert action; furthermore, I will propose a variational principle based on this action and numerically show it can distinguish nonflat manifoldlike causal sets from the most common type of nonmanifoldlike causal sets. I will then supplement this action with a boundary term similar to the Gibbons-Hawking-York boundary term …

Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy: Sensitivity Analysis For Anisotropic Materials With Hexagonal Symmetry, Christopher Lee Sevigney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Resonance ultrasound spectroscopy (RUS) is an experimental method by which material properties are obtained by careful observation of the resonant vibrations of a meticulously crafted sample. Among the most common applications of this technique is the determination of single-crystal elasticity. Previous works have considered the reliability of elasticity information obtained via the RUS method when the material is of isotropic or cubic symmetry, and this work extends these efforts to materials with hexagonal symmetry, such as titanium di-boride. The reliability of elasticity information obtained by RUS is evaluated by Sobol Analysis and by close examination of the stiffness-frequency functionality. Findings …

Decentralized Narrowband And Wideband Spectrum Sensing With Correlated Observations, Xingjian Sun

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation evaluates the utility of several approaches to the design of good distributed sensing systems for both narrowband and wideband spectrum sensing problems with correlated sensor observations.

Topics On Applications Of Optimization Theories On Statistical Methodologies, Duc Anh Anh Doan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, We show the results of our researches in statistical sampling, functional optimization, and methodology for partially observed Markov process (POMP) models. In statistical sampling, we introduce a p-generalized smoothing method that enables the Langevin-Monte Carlo method to generate a sample from a log concave distribution weakly smoothing potential function. For our optimization research, we introduce an accelerated inexact gradient (AIG) method. Combining the strengths while mitigating the weakness of its parent methods: gradient descent and Nesterov's accelerated gradient, AIG converges with excellent rates for both convex and non-convex optimization problems for smooth objective functions. Furthermore, we also …

The Middle To High School Transition: An Applied Research Study To Improve And Support High School Readiness In High-Poverty Schools, Robert Davis Ii

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The applied research study aimed to improve high school readiness for eighth-grade students transitioning to ninth-grade in high-poverty schools. Middle school educators are struggling to prepare students for ninth-grade without the proper transition support programs. This applied research study's framework was based on improving student performance, preventing academic achievement loss, addressing social-emotional learning, and informing students of operational procedures to prepare them for the high school environment. An action plan was developed and implemented in three phases to address each element of concern intentionally. Phase one consisted of Saturday Academy tutoring to improve student performance in reading and math. Implementation …

Decreasing Discipline Disparities Among African-American Males: An Applied Research Study On The Effects Of Developing Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices Among Teachers And Equipping Students With Added Supports, Reginald Maurice Herrington

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Schools and school leaders are charged to provide equitable educational opportunities and ensure the success for all students no matter their scholastic ability giving students access to an education that is culturally responsive. Despite this charge, African-American male students receive exclusionary punishment at disparaging rates which contributes to the widening achievement gap between white and black students. The purpose of this applied research study was to decrease the rate at which African-American males are referred to the office. This study analyzes the implementation of two elements: engaging teachers in a book study on culturally responsive teaching strategies and targeted counseling …

Academic Support Systems And College Readiness For Black Male Student Athletes, Derek Lovell King

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

High school athletics is a major aspect of today’s educational landscape. Sports generate revenue, galvanize communities, and provide opportunities for widespread exposure. For the black athlete, sports generally represent an opportunity to go to college. With the pressure of academic accountability, increased athletic competitiveness, and the impact of future prospects, high schools have to be innovative in order to optimize the academic experience, particularly for Black male athletes.

The impact of high school academic support systems, particularly their capacity to increase the college readiness of Black male athletes, has not been adequately examined. College GPA, college persistence rate, and college …

Building Teacher Capacity As A Pathway To Equity For First-Grade Spanish-Speaking English Learners: An Applied Research Study, Mary Greenlee Moak

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT The teaching of English Learners, one of the fastest-growing subgroups in American Public schools, is a task American classroom teachers are ill-equipped to handle. As students from a variety of language backgrounds move from metropolitan areas of the country to more rural locales educational leaders must equip teachers to integrate language acquisition with content instruction. Failure to do so will result in compounding learning gaps among English Learners as the language barrier prevents them from gaining content knowledge. Based in a Mississippi school with a growing population of English Learners comprising over a quarter of the school’s population, this …

Subcutaneous Delivery Of Albumin, Vy Nguyen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An increasing number of protein drugs are used in the clinic to treat a broad range of diseases. However, because of their large molecular sizes and high hydrophilicity, protein drugs are not orally bioavailable, which commonly require intravenous, intramuscular or subcutaneous injection. Thermosensitive polymers have been widely investigated as in situ depots for sustained drug release delivered through subcutaneous route.Albumin is the most abundant proteins in bloodstream. It has long half-life (19 days in human) and plays important roles such as acting as carrier for fatty acids, amino acids, waste products and medical compounds. Albumin has been studied for decades …

Design And Optimization Of Alkali-Activated Binders For Construction Applications, Rami Khalil Al-Sughayer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research is focused on investigating the potential use of by-product waste and natural materials for improving alternative green cement mixes. The primary objective of this research is to expand the use of sustainable and more environmentally friendly cement alternatives, by enhancing their performance for construction applications. To activate the binding properties of binder under investigation, they have to be mixed with an alkaline solution in specific quantities. To broaden the use of these binders in the construction industry, parameters such as the effect of different chemical activators types and dosages, curing times and temperatures, processing techniques, and the chemical …

The Perceptions That Um First-Generation College Students Have Regarding The Impact Of Campus Engagement On Their Success At The Institution, Martin B. Fisher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

First-generation students are often underprepared for college and have lower persistence rates (Balemian & Feng, 2013), and they face a unique set of challenges in their transition to college that many of their peers do not (Pelco, Bell, & Lockeman, 2014). Consistent with national statistics, data obtained from UM’s Office of Institutional Research, Effectiveness, and Planning indicate first-generation students at UM persist and graduate at lower rates than their peers whose parents have a bachelor’s degree.

There are many reasons why first-generation students have lower success rates, and, for some students, a lack of engagement is one of them (Pascarella, …

Acoustic Bessel And Vortex Beams: Forces And Refraction, Xudong Fan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Non-contact manipulation techniques or tweezers devices are invaluable for applications in physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering. Acoustic tweezers using either standing waves or focused beams have been investigated for more than a few decades with advantages of label-free operation, noninvasiveness, and biocompatibility when compared with the optical, magnetic, and electrical counterparts. Here, a new type of acoustic tweezers (i.e. acoustic tractors) is studied using acoustic Bessel and vortex beams that are able to pull objects against the beam's propagation over centimeter ranges. Stable acoustic tractors require transversely stable trapping in addition to axially negative pulling. Hence, the transverse forces acting …

Evaluating Canola Genotypes For Growth And Yield Under Different Environmental Conditions In South Dakota, Unius Arinaitwe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Canola (Brassica napus L) and carinata (Brassica carinata A. Braun) are potential oilseed crops for diversifying cropping systems and expanding into marginal lands impacted by saline and sodic soils in South Dakota (SD). However, genotypes that are high yielding, with high agronomic adaptability and stability over diverse environments, and salt tolerant have not been selected. One field experiment was conducted at two environments (Brookings - eastern SD and Pierre - western SD) from 2019 to 2020 to evaluate genotypes for growth and yield stability. Three greenhouse experiments were conducted to evaluate genotypes for salt tolerance in …

An Integrative Analysis On The Role Of Notch1 And Notch3 In Musculoskeletal Disease, Haydee Magdalena Torres

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Notch signaling is an evolutionarily conserved signaling pathway involved in cell fate decisions and cell renewal of multiple systems, including skeletal and muscle homeostasis. As the multifunctional nuclear complex of Notch1 is essential for its pathological function, identifying these interacting partners represents a potentially broad range of druggable vulnerabilities. We have completed a BioID proteomics study and found a large set of nuclear proteins associated with NOTCH1, including transcriptional regulators and epigenetic modulators, of which Histone Deacetylase 1 (HDAC1) is a promising interacting partner of Notch1. Our Cytoscape analysis predicted HDAC1 to be a top critical node in an activated …

Development And Properties Of The Roc-Abc Bayes Factor For The Quantification Of The Weight Of Forensic Evidence, Jessie Hendricks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many scholars have proposed the use of a Bayes factor to quantify the weight of forensic evidence. However, due to the complex and high-dimensional nature of pattern evidence, likelihood functions are intractable and thus, Bayes factors cannot be assigned using traditional methods. Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) model selection algorithms provide likelihood-free methods to assign Bayes factors. ABC Bayes factors leverage the use of the scoring functions commonly used in recent years in forensic statistics in a rigorous statistical manner. However, traditional methods for assigning ABC Bayes factors are subject of several criticisms. In this dissertation, one of the main criticisms …

Quantitative Effects Of Electrodialysis Membrane Fouling, John Malone

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

To meet the ever-increasing global demand for fresh water, research is constantly being conducted on separation and purification methods. Electrodialysis (ED) is one of the major technologies that seems able to make significant headway in combatting water shortages. As with all technologies, it is limited by certain aspects, one of those being membrane fouling. This research takes a look at the surprisingly unexamined phenomenon of membrane fouling in ED systems. The ED system studied was tested using conductivity probing, limiting current density analysis, and quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation analysis. Investigation of fouling effects commonly seen in ubiquitous ED systems …

Search For Cpt And Lorentz Invariance Violation In The Muon G-2 Experiment At Fermilab, Meghna Bhattacharya

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Muon g-2 experiment at Fermilab (E989) aims to measure the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, $a_{\mu}= (g-2)/2$, to a groundbreaking precision of $140$ ppb, obtaining a near four-fold increase in precision over the previous experiment, E821, at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). The value of $a_{\mu}$ from BNL currently differs from the Standard Model prediction by $\sim 3.7$ standard deviations, suggesting the potential for new physics and therefore, motivating a new experiment.Because the theory predicts this number with high precision, testing the g-factor through experiment provides a stringent test of the SM and can suggest physics beyond the …

The Role Of Acetylcholine In Attention And Lapses In Attention In Rats Using The Mode And Deviation From Mode Of Reaction Time Latency, Scott Lee Mitchell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is currently the neurodevelopmental disorder most commonly diagnosed in children in the United States, and one of the defining characteristics of ADHD is inattention. Inattention is marked by increased lapses in attention, and when assessed clinically, it has been highly correlated with reaction-time variability (RTV). Evidence from the human/clinical literature has shown an inherently higher RTV to be the primary quantitative indicator of an ADHD diagnosis. Reaction-time distributions are characterized by an asymmetrical rightward skew, and because of the prevalence of this presentation, it has been theorized that the distribution peak and skew represent separate phenomena, …