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Electrical Conductivity Measurements Of Lithium-Ammonia Solutions, Mariana Constantin Barbu

Masters Theses

The topic covered in this thesis is the study of electronic interactions for liquid metal-ammonia solutions, lithium-ammonia solutions in particular. To obtain a theoretical understanding of so-called correlated electron systems.

The work focuses on sample creation and measurement of electrical conductivity of lithium-ammonia solutions varying with temperature for different concentrations. We have taken measurements in liquid lithium-ammonia mixtures using four-wire method to minimize the contact resistance. We have shown how it is possible to carry out accurate measurements of the electrical conductivity in these systems with the four wire measurements.

Stratigraphy Of Lake Michigan Lobe Deposits In Van Buren County, Michigan, Steven P. Beukema

Masters Theses

The surficial glacial deposits and landforms of Van Buren County were recently mapped at a 1:24,000 scale as part of a STATEMAP project. Several borings were drilled to supplement the surface data. Six of these borings were characterized in detail by means of gamma ray logging, textural analysis, and X-ray diffraction of the clay-sized fraction of the diamicton units.

Results from this study reveal two diamicton units at stratigraphically distinct positions that can be correlated across the county and that are separated by a thick sequence of lacustrine sediments. Correlation of diamicton and lacustrine units was accomplished by analyzing several …

The Avifauna Of Bawwab Al-Ghazal: A Zooarchaeological Analysis, Elissa A. Kinzelman

Masters Theses

In 1998 the Neolithic archaeological site of Bawwab al-Ghazal (ca. 11,500- 7,500 BP) was excavated by a team of researchers from the University of California, Riverside and Whitman College. Among the many artifacts recovered from the site, ranging from stone and shell beads to stone tools and related debitage, were an abundant sample of bird bones. Excavators shipped the sample, consisting of some 407 specimens, to the Anthropology Department of Western Michigan University for a faunal analysis.

This study seeks to illustrate the importance of bird remains in the archaeological record. The avifaunal analysis of Bawwab al-Ghazal began with identifying …

Optical Solitons In A Three-State Medium, Talal Ghannam

Masters Theses

When a beam of light propagates within a typical medium, absorption is a common phenomenon. This happens when the frequency of the light is close to a resonant frequency of the atoms composing the medium. But in the past few decades, it has been shown that in certain circumstances, carefully chosen pulse shapes are able to propagate without significant absorption even when the frequency of the light is close to an atomic resonant frequency. It was called Self Induced Transparency (SIT).

This phenomenon was intensively studied in the two-state systems. On the other hand, the three-state systems seems not to …

Crt Versus Lcd Monitors For Soft Proofing: Quantitative And Visual Considerations, Veronika Chovancova

Masters Theses

Quantitative and visual considerations of accuracy of colors in images displayed on two types of monitors employing a soft proofing system were accomplished in this research work. Soft proofing proposes possible savings in material and time, which are essential issues of current digital and quick turn around workflow. The investigation focuses on the quantitative evaluation process of color monitor profiles along with the color quality of software used to achieve the created profiles. Specific tests are provided to look at the color quality of the monitors and output profiles in greater details. Also, a general comparison of the CRT and …

Development Of Kohonen Neural Network Application As A Pattern Recognition System For An Electronic Nose, Lori Lynn Evesque

Masters Theses

Electronic noses are used to identify and characterize unknown odors in industry. Chemometrics and neural network algorithms are used as pattern recognition systems for these devices. Experimentation with Kohonen clustering as the pattern recognition system for electronic noses was not noted prior to 1997. [BEG] This thesis investigated the use of a Kohonen neural network algorithm as a clustering algorithm for electronic nose data using the chemometrics algorithms built into the electronic nose as a performance standard. A secondary aim was to improve the clustering and identification capabilities of the Kohonen network.

The unsupervised Kohonen network was not able to …

A Geochemical Survey Of The Natural Waters Of Belize, Central America, Anthony D. Marfia

Masters Theses

A geochemical survey of the natural waters in Belize, Central America was carried out to compliment routine water quality analysis and to identify processes affecting water quality. The objective of this research was to provide a geochemical assessment of natural waters throughout Belize by examining select major ions (Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺ , SO₄^2-), and stable isotopes of carbon (¹³C), oxygen (¹⁸O) and hydrogen (²H).

The dominant geology relevant to this investigation comprises a varied landscape of carbonates and elastic sediments in a subtropical rainforest/savannah climate. Stable oxygen and hydrogen …

Chlorobenzenes And Chloronitrobenzenes Interaction With Iron (O), Manuel Alejandro Serratos

Masters Theses

Degradation of chlorobenzene, dichlorobenzenes and chloronitrobenzenes (ClB, x-Cl2B and x-ClNO2B) was tested by trying to make them react with metallic iron, Fe (0), in water solvent.

The experiments consisted of optimizing the parameters of the reactions (like minimum mass of iron needed) and analytical detection conditions. Analytical techniques used were gas and liquid chromatography (GC and HPLC), mass spectrometry (MS) and UV-Vis spectroscopy.

No substances other than the initial ClB and x-Cl2B were detected in their tests with Fe (0) after shaking for periods of up to three days, although 10%weight average decreases in concentration were observed.

The ClNO2B isomers …

Synthesis And Characterization Of A Polypyridyl Ru(Ii)-Alloxazine Complex For Adsorption On Tio2-Coated Ito Electrodes, Manisha A. Patel

Masters Theses

TiO₂-coated conducting glass electrodes can be modified by attachment of redox-active molecules to the TiO₂ surface. This thesis describes the synthesis and characterization of a polypyridyl Ru(II) complex that can be covalently bound to a TiO₂ surface through the carboxylate groups of 2,2'-bipyridine-4,4' -dicarboxylic acid, H₂dcbpy. In addition, the bound complex contains a redox-active alloxazine derivative, pptd, which is capable of 2e^-/2H⁺ transfers. Thus the TiO₂-coated electrode is modified with a transition metal complex capable of shuttling H-atoms to substrates in solution. Synthesis of the PF₆^- salt …

Middle School Student Attitudes Towards Robotics, Science And Technology, J. Jill Rogers

Masters Theses

In 2000, the National Science Foundation (NSF) conducted a biennial study on the status of women and minorities in science and engineering. It was revealed that the numbers of women receiving bachelor's degrees in computer science are on the decline. This fact calls for innovative changes in the traditional science curriculum. Science instruction with the implementation of robotics could provide female students the needed motivation. Therefore, the examination of female middle school student attitudes towards robotic enhanced science instruction is needed. Descriptive research was conducted to assess middle school student attitudes towards robots, technology and science. Gender differences were studied. …

Anthropogenic-Induced Changes To Weather And Climate: An Overview, Robert Cataneo

Masters Theses

Human activities, since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, have caused measurable and significant changes to local and regional weather and climate, as well as to global climate.

There is substantial evidence to show that anthropogenic influences have caused statistically significant changes to local and regional weather and climate, and have played a major role in the 0.6°C increase in global, low level temperature observed in the last 100 years. There is also an abundance of data that establishes a causal relationship between the 32% increase in atmospheric CO₂ concentration that has occurred since the beginning of the Industrial …

Phosphido-Bridged Complexes Linked By Unsaturated Phosphines, Yong Liu

Masters Theses

Di(p-tol)phosphido-bridged complexes, (OC)₄M[μ-P(p-tol)₂]₂M(CO)₄ (M = Mo, W), have been synthesized for the first time. These have been obtained from the reaction of (OC)₅MP(p-tol)₂H with BuLi, followed by air oxidation. The choice of solvent is very important as the intermediate anion, [(OC)₅MP(p-tol)₂] is unstable in THF. An ideal solvent for these preparations is CH₃OCH₂CH₂OCH₃ (monoglyme) from which yields of 68% and 76% were realized for the tungsten and molybdenum complexes, respectively. …

Motherlands Of The Mind: A Study Of The Women Characters Of Attia Hosain's Sunlight On A Broken Column And Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children, Umme Sadat Nazmun Nahar Al-Wazedi

Masters Theses

In my thesis I examine the portrayal of women characters by two post-colonial Indian writers, Attia Hosain and Salman Rushdie, respectively in Sunlight on a Broken Column (1961) and Midnight's Children (1980). I show how Hosain's and Rushdie's ideas of identity, nation and nationality influence their depiction of these women characters.

In the section analyzing Sunlight on a Broken Column, I argue that there is a spatial veil separating the feudal world of "Ashiana" from the outside world with its political disturbances, the life of a woman as an individual from the life of a woman as a part …

Dmap As A Catalyst For Carbon Acylation: Elucidation Of Mechanistic Pathway, Including Spectral Characterization Of The Putative Reactive Intermediate, Jagadish K. Boppisetti

Masters Theses

3-Phenylbenzofuranone, when deprotonated with sodium hydride, forms an extended enolate system which, when treated with excess alkyl chloroformates, affords only oxygen-acylated products, as opposed to the usually desired carbon-functionalized derivatives. It was discovered that such molecules, when treated with a catalytic amount of 4- (N, N-dimethylamino)pyridine (DMAP), rearrange quantitatively to the carbon acylated isomers.

These migrations, which are accompanied by a deep blue color, are proposed to involve a reactive intermediate. This intermediate, which is postulated as an ion pair charge transfer (IPCT) complex, has been closely studied in order to gain a better understanding of the …

The Effect Of Esl Instruction On Student Achievement, Amy Jeanne Nelson

Masters Theses

Not all Limited English Proficient (LEP) students receive English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction in public schools across the nation. In the state of Michigan, ESL instruction for LEP students is not mandated. Therefore, districts can choose whether to service these students at all, and/or the degree to which they do so. Some districts provide bilingual education classes; some districts have ESL classes; while yet other districts have neither. Students are serviced by paraprofessionals for a limited amount of time during the school day, or simply not serviced at all and left to “sink or swim”. Research abounds on …

Distributed Sensor Network For Civil Infrastructure Health Monitoring, Jose Humberto Mata Hernandez

Masters Theses

"This thesis focuses on the development of a robust, low power consumption and cost effective wireless data acquisition, system to be used for civil infrastructure health monitoring. The complete solution that has been developed for this application integrates micro-electromechanical sensing elements (e.g. PVDF sensor); a wireless data acquisition system based on a Bluetooth-enabled radio, a microcontroller with analog to digital conversion capabilities, a power source including a solar cell array for long term operation, and a weatherproof enclosure for on-site installation. The complementary part of the solution is a weatherproof On-site Remote Access Point (ORAP) which collects, stores, and transmits …

The Synthesis Of 2-(1-Indenyl)-Phenol: A Potential Ligand For Metallocene Polymerization Catalysts; And, Ω-Iodoalkyl(Methyl) Malonate Esters: Synthesis And Application In Bioconjugate Chemistry, Sara E. Bendler

Masters Theses

Chapter I:

Metallocene catalysis is an important division of polymerization chemistry. The design of appropriate ligands for metallocene catalysts has focused on stereochemical control and structural diversity. The synthesis of the potential ligand 2-(1-indenyl)-phenol has been developed. Indenyl phenol ligands offer advancements over cyclopentadienyl ligands because the steric and electronic properties of the catalyst could be tailored to suit individual polymerization reactions. 2-(1-Indenyl)-phenol was synthesized with an overall yield of 4% and characterized with ¹H NMR and ¹³C NMR.

Chapter II:

A large percentage of breast malignancies overexpress the nuclear estrogen receptor (ER) protein. Binding to nuclear receptors …

Novel Concepts For Monitoring The Stability Of Open Pit Mine Highwalls Using Radar Interferometry And Spectral Imaging, Jami Girard Dwyer

Masters Theses

"Ground control problems at surface mining operations can occur for a variety of reasons. The geologic setting, rock strengths, joint spacing, orientation, pore pressures, and many other factors contribute to slope instabilities that range from small rock falls to massive slides of material. While much of this ground movement can be predicted or controlled, each year many completely unexpected failures occur. This poses serious safety and economic issues for the mining industry, since any unanticipated movement of the ground increases the potential for significant property damage, injuries, and even death. In the United States alone, 70 people died in slope …

Prediction Intervals For The Binomial Distribution With Dependent Trials, Florian Sebastian Rueck

Masters Theses

"A generalization of a prediction interval procedure for the binomial distribution to the case of the binomial distribution with dependent trials is considered. Several different methods have been developed for obtaining prediction intervals for the binomial distribution. An unpublished study by Vlieger and Samaranayake has shown that two of these methods achieve coverage probabilities close to nominal levels. The proposed method is an extension of one of these methods and is based on the maximum likelihood predictive density proposed by Lejeune and Faulkenberry. A simulation study was carried out to investigate the coverage probabilities of the proposed prediction bounds.

This …

Dsp Processor Based Vision Processing And System Integration For Control Of Laser Aided Manufacturing Process (Lamp), Srinivas Musti

Masters Theses

"This thesis presents the research and development of a real-time vision system and integration of various subsystems to build the hybrid system for the Laser aided manufacturing process (LAMP), being developed at the University of Missouri--Rolla. A description of the real-time control architecture, showing the interaction of the real-time controller with various sensors and subsystems to monitor and regulate the process is presented.

Control of melt pool geometry is important for ensuring the final product quality since the bead size significantly influences the joint strength. However, during the deposition process, impurities and the plume present around the pool complicate the …

Silica Coating Of Gold Nanoparticles, Milind Laxman Surve

Masters Theses

“Gold colloids have been homogenously coated with silica using silane coupling agents as a primer to make the gold surface vitreophilic. After adding active silica, the particles are transferred in ethanol for uniform silica coating by using the Stober method. Gold nanoparticles used for this study ranged from 5 nm up to 40 nm with mixed results. Silica condensation can be controlled to produce different silica thicknesses on gold. The main problem while coating smaller particles (5 nm and 10 nm) was the final coagulation or necking of silica after coating the gold surface. The possible causes for this effect …

Hybrid Data Mining Technique For Application In Geo-Chemical Data Analysis, Shipra Dutta

Masters Theses

"Data mining is a very active research area, which has gained a lot of attention over the past few years for its applications in various fields ranging from stock forecasting to detecting damages in the structures like aircrafts. The use of data mining for applications in science and business has evoked a lot of interest in the researchers to explore the area further. In this research, a novel hybrid clustering architecture will be presented as a possible solution to classify the geo-chemical data obtained by conducting various direct and indirect tests on different sites. The fact that no single learning …

Common- And Differential-Mode Signaling And Filtering, Zhe Li

Masters Theses

"Common-mode chokes are widely used as suppression filters against interference of common-mode noise in high-speed differential signaling. This thesis focuses on investigating the characteristics of common-mode chokes. Mixed-mode S-parameters are presented as a useful concept for explaining the modal operation of differential circuits.

Three methods for measuring common-mode and differentia-mode S-parameters of common-mode chokes are demonstrated. The three methods involve (1) ABCD chain matrix, 2) using hybrid couplers and 3) modal decomposition. Each measurement method provides a specific level of accuracy. The modal decomposition method can work up to 10GHz.

SPICE equivalent circuit model of common-mode chokes and the extraction …

Application Of A Finite Element Model Update Technique To Detect Damage In A Beam Structure, Madhu Kumar Vattipulusu

Masters Theses

"The interest in the ability to monitor a structure and detect damage at the earliest possible stage is pervasive throughout the civil, mechanical and aerospace engineering communities. The thesis focuses on the application of a finite element model updating technique to monitor and detect damage in beams. A Sensitivity Based Element-by- Element (SBEBE) methodology is chosen as the finite element model updating technique. In this method, damage is detected by updating a finite element model with test data obtained from "healthy" and "damaged" structures and observing the relative changes in the updated finite element models. The performance, efficiency and sensitivity …

Numerical Modeling Of Focused Remediation Using A Groundwater Circulation Well, Gretchen R. Miller

Masters Theses

"Groundwater circulation wells (GCWs) allow for the in situ treatment of contaminated water resources. Focused remediation with a GCW could be used to treat groundwater before it enters an existing domestic well already in use. GCWs have been installed at the former Nebraska Ordnance Plant; the model originally developed for these was slightly modified and used to perform a feasibility study of a focused remediation system.

If the focused remediation system works properly, the capture zone of the domestic well should be within the recharge zone of the GCW. Deterministic modeling with capture zone analysis indicated that a GCW installed …

Relationship Between Evaluative Groups' Perceptions Of Children And Children's Self-Reported Levels Of Self-Concept, Terry T. Burgener

Masters Theses

The significance of significant others' (parents, peers and teachers) ratings on children's self-reported levels of self-concept were investigated. Self-reported levels of self-concept were determined by administrating the Multidimensional Self Concept Scale (MSCS), while parent, peer, and teacher ratings of children were determined by the use of rating scales designed using selected MSCS items. Results indicated that all significant others' ratings were positively correlated to children's self-reported levels of self-concept. Peer ratings were the most predictive of self-reported level of self-concept, while teacher ratings were the second most predictive variable and parent ratings the least predictive variable. The findings are congruent …

Facade Of A Romantic: Benjamin Disraeli And Coningsby Or The New Generation, Sybil Or The Two Nations, And Tancred Or The New Crusade, Peggy Pope

Masters Theses

Dismissed by contemporary critics as a second-rate writer, Benjamin Disraeli has been undervalued for over a hundred and fifty years. Writing in 1979, D.R. Schwarz rued that no recent full-length study of his novels had been undertaken, while other, even more minor novelists have been regularly exhumed. A substantial reassessment may be underway, as Paul Smith notes, particularly in the area of Disraeli's Jewishness. Bernard Glassman's volume, Benjamin Disraeli: The Fabricated Jew in Myth and Memory (2003), and Disraeli's Jewishness (2002), by Todd Endelman and Tony Kushner, attest to this new interest. A recent general study, Disraeli (2000), by Edgar …

Adaptation Of Project Finance To Small Contractor Financing, Ragunathan Venkateswaran

Masters Theses

One key reason for the poor performance of small construction establishments in securing a higher chunk of the annual project volume is funding. While construction industry does not require a large capital investment it does require a large working capital to start up the project and generate bills so that the resulting cash flow may take over the remaining funding requirements. Unfortunately for small contractors there are very limited options available from the banks or other lending institutions to cover this large working capital requirement in the absence of sufficient collateral. The "Project Finance" method, which has been used in …

Microbial Community Structure In Hydrocarbon Impacted Sediment Associated With Anomalous Geophysical Signatures, Joseph W. Duris

Masters Theses

The Crystal Refinery is a former refinery site in Carson City Michigan that has had historic releases of refined and unrefined crude oil dating back to the late 1940's. The contamination of soil with light non-aqueous phase liquids (LNAPL) has had a dynamic impact on the subsurface environment in adjacent Carson City Park. Very little is known about the complex interactions between microbial communities, geochemistry and geophysics. In order to investigate possible connections between these parameters a multidisciplinary study was undertaken to investigate the hypothesis that the degradation of LNAPL by resident microbial communities causes a local increase in organic …

Mechanistic Studies On The Antagonistic Effect Of Chromium On Bpde Mutant Frequency In Human Fibroblasts, Felicia Codrea

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the possible mechanisms involved in the decrease in mutant frequency when cells are treated with two different types of carcinogens: chromium (VI) in combination with benzo(a)pyrene diol epoxide (BPDE). Three of our working hypotheses are: Cr alone or Cr and BPDE synergistically activate detoxifying enzyme glutathione-S-transferase (GST), Cr alone or Cr and BPDE act synergistically to inhibit cell cycle at the G₁/S boundary thus allowing more time for DNA repair, and Cr alone or Cr and BPDE synergistically activate DNA repair systems which result in more efficient repair of DNA …