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Synthesis And Characterization Of Dicopper(Ii) Complexes With Biological Relevance, Ashley E. Hall

Masters Theses

The research discussed in this study focused on the design, synthesis, and characterization of new model complexes that mimic the type-3 enzyme, catechol oxidase, which oxidizes catechols to their corresponding quinones. Our approach focused on the design and synthesis new model complexes that contain a dicopper(II) center that can be fine-tuned in a variety of ways, such as sterics and exogeneous bridging molecules. This method allows a multitude of complexes to be created and compared to determine how the overall structure affects the catecholase activity of the complexes.

Two ligands were synthesized; they contain a phenolate body, two amide groups, …

Evaluation Of Hazelnuts As A Sustainable Crop In Illinois, Sharon Neva Dubosky

Masters Theses

Production of hazelnuts has historically been limited to regions with mild climates, with almost all hazelnut production in the United States occurring in Oregon. A recent boom in demand, along with an expanded selection of varieties with improved environmental tolerances, has pushed hazelnut production into new regions. Hazelnut production could prove profitable in areas of the Midwest that are less well-suited to the cultivation of maize and soybeans. However, the lack of varieties proven to thrive in the climatological conditions of this region (cold winters, hot summers, frequent drought) presents a barrier to the viability of hazelnut production. A trial …

Neon Calico, Joshua Webb Garrett

Masters Theses

This is a work of creative fiction in the genre of cyberpunk that explores themes of loss, sexuality, and trans-humanism though the eyes of a young Asian-American woman who struggles to cope with the loss of her former boyfriend, with an emerging sexual attraction to a friend of the same sex, and with feelings of disconnectedness complicated by a loss of humanity brought on by her continually improving her own physical body through cybernetic implants and augmentation. Inspired by such works as William Gibson's Neuromancer and Shirow Masamune's The Ghost in the Shell, this book explores the struggle that …

Correlation Between Sleep And Lifespan In Drosophila Melanogaster, Courtney H. Fiebelman

Masters Theses

”Sleep has previously been associated with lifespan. Monitoring sleep in any given fly over their lifetime facilitates the ability to predict the lifespan of that given fly. Using this estimate, lifespan can potentially correlate with biological age to identify when health parameters have declined.

To confirm that the prediction algorithm could identify short and long-lived flies, glutathione levels in heads and bodies were compared between two groups. The results showed this to be consistent in the bodies of wild-type Canton S male flies, and showed that glutathione was decreased in the predicted biologically older flies. These data show that glutathione …

Synthesis Of Radioactive Nanostructures In A Research Nuclear Reactor, Maria Camila Garcia Toro

Masters Theses

In this work, the synthesis of radioactive nanostructures by water radiolysis was studied. The irradiation processes were done in the Missouri University of Science and Technology research nuclear reactor (MSTR).

Radioactive gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were synthesized from aqueous solutions containing the metal salt precursors by radiolysis of water. Seven different samples were irradiated at 200kW of thermal power for 0.5, 1, 3, 5, 10, 30, and 60 minutes. The average sizes of the obtained nanoparticles ranged from 3 nm to 400 nm, it was found that the particle size decreased with the irradiation time. Some agglomerations of particles were found …

Spatiotemporal Analysis Of Gene Flow Patterns Among Woodland Salamander Populations Inhabitating Contrasting Landscapes, Alexander C. Cameron

Masters Theses

Dispersal is a fundamental evolutionary process that serves as a mechanism by which local populations remain connected through space. Habitat loss and fragmentation remain widespread threats to biodiversity globally, and therefore it is imperative to understand how dispersal patterns are affected by anthropogenic modifications of the environment. Using a panel of 10 novel microsatellite loci, I estimated gene flow patterns over historical and contemporary timescales among populations of Eastern Red-backed Salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) in a previously unstudied portion of the species range. Four focal populations reside within a highly fragmented urban center whereas the remaining four focal populations persist in …

Iron Phosphide Nanostructures As An Efficient Bifunctional Catalysts For Water Splitting, Nikitaa Ashokan

Masters Theses

"The first part of this thesis work focuses on developing a bifunctional catalyst for electrochemical water splitting encompassing both oxygen and hydrogen evolution. A highly efficient catalyst is necessary to improve kinetics of the sluggish four electron process for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and two-electron process for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Recently, transition metal phosphides have gained increasing interest in this field because of their good electrical conductivity properties as well as better catalytic activity. Many transition-metal phosphides are being considered for this application and iron phosphide (FeP) has proved to be a good HER catalyst. In this work, we …

Particle Mediated Enhanced Mass Transfer Of Diethylhexyl Phthalate: A Pilot Scale System Design, Melissa Buechlein

Masters Theses

"Phthalates are a class of SVOCs that are widely used as plasticizers and recently epidemiological and toxicological research has found a link between phthalate exposure and increased occurrences of adverse health effects. SVOCs can potentially partition into household dust and airborne particles. Models and micro chamber studies have identified that airborne particles effectively increase SVOC deposition to or emissions from surfaces; SVOCs partition to aerosols in the bulk air, the aerosols then migrate to the surfaces due to eddy and Brownian motion, and then the SVOCs is released inside the SVOC concentration boundary layer adjacent to the surface. Concentration boundary …

Phytoforensics Tools: The Degradation And Detection Of Chlorinated Solvents In Integrated Systems, Tommy J. Goodwin Jr.

Masters Theses

"Due to decades of mismanaged pollutants entering groundwater, subsurface pollution of various compounds has become a widespread challenge. Chlorinated solvents are the most common groundwater contaminants that persist in aquifers, and remediation of these wide-spread plumes is difficult. Bioremediation, permeable reactive barriers, and phytoremediation are remedial technologies that have been developed and applied to chlorinated solvents in groundwater systems. This study integrates these technologies in different combinations to demonstrate the remediation potential of this approach. Zerovalent iron (ZVI) and bioaugmentation with a Dehalococcoides sp. (DHC) culture were applied separately and in combination for degradation of perchloroethene (PCE). Salix pentandra were …

Silicone Hollow Fiber Membrane Bioreactors For Mixed Aerobic And Anaerobic Treatment Of Gas Phase Toluene And Trichloroethylene, Alexander Lee Korff

Masters Theses

"Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are common in effluent waste streams from many sectors of industry and low-cost emission control technologies have the potential to mitigate long-term impacts on the environment. Federal Regulations, such as the Clean Air Act and National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPS), as well as state regulations are imposing stricter requirements on point-source emissions, with an emphasis on toxic VOCs. Trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE), which are toxic VOCs, have been used since the 1920's for a variety of industrial applications like: degreasing, paint and printing operations, as extraction solvents, and for cleaning and drying …

Care-Chair: Opportunistic Health Assessment With Smart Sensing On Chair Backrest, Rakesh Kumar

Masters Theses

"A vast majority of the population spend most of their time in a sedentary position, which potentially makes a chair a huge source of information about a person's daily activity. This information, which often gets ignored, can reveal important health data but the overhead and the time consumption needed to track the daily activity of a person is a major hurdle. Considering this, a simple and cost-efficient sensory system, named Care-Chair, with four square force sensitive resistors on the backrest of a chair has been designed to collect the activity details and breathing rate of the users. The Care-Chair system …

Assessing Downstream Stormwater Impacts For Urban Watershed Planning, Johanna Meyer Pavlowsky

Masters Theses

"The urbanization of watersheds has caused debilitating effects to downstream aquatic ecosystems in catchments and streams. The implementation of green infrastructure (GI), such as permeable pavements and bioretention facilities, has been shown to alleviate these effects by both reducing runoff and mitigating pollutants; however, the implements are often not designed with a specific goal of water improvement. This study targets understanding a small, impaired urban watershed, and the benefits green infrastructure may have to provide environmental, social, and economic improvement to the watershed.

Portions of Rolla including much of the S&T campus drain into the impaired urban waterbody Frisco Lake, …

A Meta-Architecture Analysis For A Coevolved System-Of-Systems, George Anthony Muller Iv

Masters Theses

"Modern engineered systems are becoming increasingly complex. This is driven in part by an increase in the use of systems-of-systems and network-centric concepts to improve system performance. The growth of systems-of-systems allows stakeholders to achieve improved performance, but also presents new challenges due to increased complexity. These challenges include managing the integration of asynchronously developed systems and assessing SoS performance in uncertain environments.

Many modern systems-of-systems must adapt to operating environment changes to maintain or improve performance. Coevolution is the result of the system and the environment adapting to changes in each other to obtain a performance advantage. The complexity …

Deterministic Simulation Of Thermal Neutron Radiography And Tomography, Rajarshi Pal Chowdhury

Masters Theses

"In recent years, thermal neutron radiography and tomography have gained much attention as one of the nondestructive testing methods. However, the application of thermal neutron radiography and tomography hindered by their technical complexity, radiation shielding, and time-consuming data collection processes. Monte Carlo simulations have been developed in the past to improve the neutron imaging facility's ability. In this present work, a new deterministic simulation approach has been proposed and demonstrated to simulate neutron radiographs numerically using a ray tracing algorithm. This approach has made the simulation of neutron radiographs much faster than by previously used stochastic methods (i.e Monte Carlo …

Characterization Of Insertion Sequence Is605 In Halanaerobium Hydrogeniformans, Michael C. Sadler

Masters Theses

"Insertion sequences are the smallest prokaryotic transposable elements. These genes play a significant evolutionary role by promoting genome plasticity. Insertion sequences are highly diverse elements that have largely been uncharacterized. As such, the ability to accurately identify, annotate, and infer genomic impact of insertion sequences is lacking. The study of new insertion sequences contributes knowledge to their annotation and evolution. Halanaerobium hydrogeniformans is a unique organism with an abnormally high number of insertion sequences. A family of insertion sequences, IS200/605, showed several interesting distinctions from other elements in the genome, including severe open reading frame degradation, and was characterized in …

Artificial Neural Network Approach To Predict Blast-Induced Ground Vibration, Airblast And Rock Fragmentation, Raymond Ninnang Tiile

Masters Theses

"Blasting has been widely used as an economical and cheap way of rock breakage in mining and civil engineering applications. An optimal blast yields the best fragmentation in a safe, economic and environmentally friendly manner. The degree of fragmentation is vital as it determines to a large extent the utilization of equipment, productivity and mill throughput. Explosive energy, besides rock fragmentation, creates health and safety issues such as ground vibration, air blast, fly rock, and back breaks among others. As a result, the explosive energy impacts structures and buildings located in the vicinity of the blasting operation, and causes human …

Studies On Flocculation Of Fine Mineral Tailings Using Novel Polyacrylamide Based Polymer, Simin Khatibi

Masters Theses

"One of the important features in managing or treating sulfide fine tailings is separating solids from liquid by settling test. This thesis presents results of studied conducted on flocculation of Kaolin suspensions (a model tailings) and sulfide mineral tailings. Two polymers (PAM and Al-PAM) were tested as flocculants. The zeta potential value of slurries was measured by Nano Zetasizer device.

Al-PAM was found to be more effective for flocculation of kaolinite samples and also sulfide samples while PAM with used concentration was not. This study represents the power of flocculation as a possible solution to deal with industrial tailings"--Abstract, page …

Bioresponsive Polymer Coating On Nanoparticles, Tunyaboon Laemthong

Masters Theses

"Nanotechnology incorporated with molecular biology became a promising way to treat cancer. The size of nanoparticles enables them to overcome the side effects noticed in cancer treatment like chemotherapy and surgery. Various types and shapes of nanoparticles have been synthesized and used in drug delivery to tumor sites. However, one of problems of using these nanoparticles is the aggregation after injecting them into human body due to flow rate of bloodstream. The coagulation and aggregation will result in clogging blood vessel and lower therapeutic efficacy.

In this thesis, a solution to the aggregation problem was proposed, which is coating biopolymer …

Origin Of Lacustrine Carbonate-Dominated Clinoforms In The Lower-Permian Lucaogou Low-Order Cycle, Southern Bogda Mountains, Nw China, Yiran Lu

Masters Theses

"Lacustrine carbonate clinoforms deposit can reflect ancient lake condition like paleoclimate and lake type. Complex lithofacies of a carbonate-dominated clinoform package in lower Permian Lucaogou low order cycle, Bogda Mountains, NW China, provide clues on clinoform-forming processes in a half-graben lake. The clinoform package is ~5.2 m thick, prograding from S to N for ~200 m with a maximum 15o dip angle, and spans ~4 km laterally. A clinoform consists of a lower siliciclastic-rich and an upper carbonate-rich beds, forming a clinoform cycle. Results of petrographic study of 30 thin sections suggest that the clinoform package is composed of mixed …

Surface Modification Of Tin Oxide Nanoparticles By Atomic Layer Deposition For Enhanced Electrochemical Performance, Sai Abhishek Palaparty

Masters Theses

"Atomic Layer Deposition is a robust technique used to deposit high quality, conformal, and size-tunable ultrathin films on a substrate. This technique can be used to coat protective films on battery anode and cathode materials for enhanced performance. In the case of cathodes, the ultrathin film provides a protective barrier preventing cationic dissolution. In the case of anodes, the film acts as a supporting matrix reducing strain caused by volume expansions. In these study, we use this technique to coat an optimally thick conductive iron oxide film on tin oxide particles to improve its electrochemical performance at high current densities …

Multifunctional Wearable Epidermal Device For Physiological Signal Monitoring In Sleep Study, J V M S Avinash Kankipati

Masters Theses

"Sleep is the essential part of life. Thousands of people are suffering from different kinds sleep disorders. Clinical diagnosing and treating for such disorders are costly, painful and quite sluggish. To reach the demand many commercial products are into the market to encourage home based sleep studies using portable devices. These portable devices are limited in use, cannot be handled easily and quite costly. Advancements in technology miniaturized these portable devices to wearable devices to make them convenient and economical. Elastic, soft and thin silicon membrane with physical properties well matched with that of the epidermis provides conformal and robust …

Late Ordovician Tectonism In The North American Midcontinent: Constraints From U-Pb Detrital Zircon Geochronology, Daniel Nathan Meehan I

Masters Theses

"Numerous sandstone filled depressions hosted in upper Cambrian to Middle Ordovociain dolostones in south-central Missouri have historically been identified as Pennsylvanian paleokarst structures. U-Pb detrital zircon geochronology is at odds the time of formation and sedimentological evidence challenges their classification. "Filled sink" deposits yield primary zircon age populations of 2.8-2.6 Ga (~50% of all analyzed grains), 1.2-1.1 Ga (~25%), 1.8-1.6 Ga (~15%) and 1.5-1.3 Ga (~10%). These zircon populations most likely originated from the Superior Craton and Midcontinent Rift and/or Grenville orogen, respectively. The Warrensburg and Moberly channel-fill sandstones of central Missouri were identified as good candidates for Pennsylvanian aged …

Synthesis And Photonic Sintering Of Bioresorbable Zinc Nanoparticle Ink For Transient Electronics Manufacturing, Bikram K. Mahajan

Masters Theses

"Zinc is an essential 'trace element' that supports immune systems, and is required for DNA synthesis, cell division, and protein synthesis. Zinc nanoparticles (Zn NP) has antibacterial properties and potential to be used in biodegradable printed electronics devices. The research presented here is about the synthesis of Zn NP and their potential use in transient electronics devices. In Paper 1, a technique of room temperature synthesis of Zn NP is reported using ball milling. Controlled amount of PVP was mixed in the solvent to stabilize the Zn particles and minimize cold welding during milling. The size of the produced Zn …

Biodegradable Electronic And Optical Devices Toward Temporary Implants, Md Shihab Adnan

Masters Theses

"Implantable biomedical devices have a high potential to revolutionize health care technologies in near future. Implantable devices can be classified as permanent prosthetic devices such as pacemakers or nerve stimulants and temporary devices for intermediate monitoring and control scenario which are still in research phase. In contrast to permanent device, temporary implants lose functionality and become unnecessary after intended operational lifetime which may pose serious electromagnetic and biomedical safety concern, latent complications at the implanted sites and possible ethical issues if not removed from body by an additional surgical operation.

The first paper of this thesis focuses on exploring the …

“You Can't Ever Find A Place That's Nice And Peaceful”: The Adolescent Identity In J. D. Salinger’S The Catcher In The Rye, Whitney Thacker

Masters Theses

Many consider The Catcher in the Rye the most poignant and popular story of adolescence in American literature, challenged only perhaps by Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Reading reviews, examining the public reception, and uncovering depths of research would evidence this well. However, the value of the novel rests not in its popularity—a simple sign of its inherent value—but in its ability to resonate truth. More than merely telling a story, Salinger creates a life, or at the very least a glimpse of a life, through the actions and attitude of his ornery adolescent character Holden Caulfield. This …

Seeing Red In A Sea Of Green: Anthocyanin Production In A Carnivorous Plant, Pinguicula Planifolia, Jenna Annis

Masters Theses

The Southeastern United States is a biological hot-spot for carnivorous plants, with over half of the North American species occurring along the Gulf Coast. Pinguicula planifolia Chapman is one of six carnivorous perennial butterwort species found in the Florida Panhandle. Among these species, only P. planifolia expresses a distinct variation of red coloration on its leaves. The functional role of foliar anthocyanins may include stress response to drought and nutrient deficiency, herbivory defense, free radical scavenging, and photoprotection. Carnivorous plant leaves face strong selection pressures to optimize prey capture and nutrient absorption. Given the frequency of these red pigments in …

Successional Changes In Leaf Nutrient Concentrations Of Woody And Herbaceous Species, Daniel Walter Kuchta

Masters Theses

Leaf nutrient concentrations are an example of a functional trait, a trait that can be used to understand community dynamics by observing how plants interact with their environment. I explored how leaf nutrient concentrations were affected over successional time by environmental changes. The majority of prior research on functional traits focuses on either woody or herbaceous species, but not both life forms simultaneously. To address this, I also explored the successional changes to leaf nutrient concentrations, separating the plant community into woody and herbaceous species.

Healthy, mature leaves were taken from 122 taxa of woody and herbaceous species in a …

Low-Head Dams On Habitat, Fish Functional Guilds And Genetic Structuring In A Midwestern River System, Shannon Cassandra Frary Smith

Masters Theses

The natural flow regime of the majority of rivers in the United States has been altered by anthropogenic structures. This loss of connectivity plays a strong role in shaping river ecosystems by altering physical habitat characteristics and shaping fish community assemblages. Although the impacts of large dams on river systems are well documented and often easy to observe, there are fewer studies on the effects of smaller low-head dams. Additionally, the influences of low-head dams on the genetic structuring of small-bodied riverine fishes have yet to be fully explored. I assessed the effects of two low-head dams on the Vermilion …

Examining The Effect Of Caffeine And Technology On Adolescent Sleep, Kaci D. Clark

Masters Theses

The current study expands upon existing sleep research by assessing adolescent caffeine consumption and technology use around bedtime and group differences in caffeine consumption and technology use in regard to sleep onset time, duration and quality, as well as symptoms of delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS). Participants, ranging in age from 13 to 18 years, were recruited from two Midwestern high schools and one junior high school. Online survey software was used to capture adolescents' self-reported caffeine consumption, technology use, and sleep. Adolescents who drank more caffeine did not spend significantly more time using technology at night, nor did they …

Demographics And Parasites Of Spotted Bass In The Wabash River, Evan C. Boone

Masters Theses

Spotted Bass Micropterus punctulatus Rafinesque are a popular sport fish primarily found in the streams and reservoirs of the south. The Wabash River, a large tributary of the Ohio River, contains a naturally reproducing population on the northern boundary of their range. Currently, the lower Wabash River is monitored using two different sampling designs, the Long Term Electrofishing Program monitors community assemblages using stratified random sampling whereas the Illinois Department of Natural Resources uses a fixed sampling design. Due to the wide distribution but low abundance of Spotted Bass throughout this drainage, captures from each design were compared to assess …