Digital Commons Network^™

Bacterial Biosorption Of Heavy Metals From Liquid Wastestreams, Emilia Rus

Theses

In this study, immobilized activated sludge from a municipal wastewater aerobic treatment plant has been evaluated as a potential biosorbent for the removal of heavy metals from liquid waste streams. The method of immobilization consists of entrapment of the microorganisms in calcium alginate beads.

The affinity of immobilized activated sludge to cadmium, lead, chromium and copper has been evaluated under well defined laboratory conditions.

Initially, the time course of metallic ions uptake and the effect of pH and temperature on biosorption were studied for each metal. Then the biosorption pattern and the effect of biosorbent concentration on binding capacity were …

Modification, Reimplementation And Studies Using The Meisner Model Of The Heart, Ari Zvi Zivotofsky

Theses

The study of left ventricular filling in both the normal and the pathological heart is of great importance. A computer model simulation of the heart with emphasis on mitral flow was designed by Meisner in 1986 and implemented in QuickBASIC. This paper discusses how the original program was altered to be able to perform "Parameter vs. Parameter" runs in which it can be observed how varying an input parameter affects output parameters. The output data is then formatted in such a way that it can be used by QUATTRO PRO, a standard spreadsheet package, to yield graphical outputs.

In addition, …

Blood Pressure Monitoring System, Fa-Liang Wang

Theses

In order to control disease and survive, humans have been struggling thousands of years with the expenditure of human energy and money. We retain the heritage of our ancestors' medical knowledge, and develop our accumulated medical technology for ourselves and our offspring. Human are still seeking convenient, continuous and accurate methods for obtaining data that can be read directly from our body in order to control disease. Some of these methods are: taking urine to identify many diseases , sampling serum to check for plasma glucose, and applying a sensor to measure blood pressure and pulse rate.

Biomechanics Of Corneal Wound Healing, James Charles Ramier

Theses

The re-establishment of tissue continuity, function, and mechanical proper ties after a through-and-through incision is an important issue in corneal surgery and trauma. Variations in healing can affect vision and patient activity during the recovery period, which may last up to five years. Growth factors introduced into the open wound have the potential to speed up the wound-healing process. The current investigation is concerned with quantitatively characterizing the mechanical properties of corneal tissue and evaluating the effects of epidermal growth factor (EGF), insulin-like growth factor (IGF), and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) on accelerating the wound-healing process as compared to a …

Rheumatoid Arthritis And Myasthenia Gravis As Examples Of Autoimmune Diseases, Michael Collins

Theses

None provided.

Grueby, Newcomb, Teco, And Ohr: Market Trends And Connoisseurship Implications For American Art Pottery, Carolyn K. Sellers

Theses

This thesis examines market trends and connoisseurship implications for four prominent American art potteries—Grueby, Newcomb, Teco, and George Ohr—within the context of the Arts and Crafts Movement. Focusing on high-end auction sales from 1980 to 1991, the study identifies approximately 15 top-selling pieces from each pottery to explore intrinsic and extrinsic qualities that contribute to their value. Sellers provides historical background on the potteries, analyzes auction data, and outlines criteria that appraisers and collectors use to evaluate quality, such as form, glaze, rarity, and maker attribution. The research situates these ceramics within the broader cultural and philosophical ideals of the …

If I Had One -- It Would Be Huge, Melissa Lee Matthews

Theses

By alluding to genitalia, "If I Had One-It Would Be Huge" calls attention to the need in contemporary society to eliminate gender bias in favor of more relevant criteria for evaluating an individual's worth and potential. Gender is never an appropriate criterion. By referring to "one," it also alludes to bringing what appears to be opposite elements, materials, and viewpoints into compatibility. On examination of the completed pieces which I selected for the thesis exhibit, I found that a quote from Eugene Delacroix1 was very appropriate as the "Artist's Statement" for my thesis exhibit: The scientist discovers the elements of …

The Interactive Orientation Module For The Electronic Archive Resource Of The National Graphic Design Archive, Cynthia S. Smith

Theses

None provided.

Pure Strong Competition For Two Microbial Populations In A Chemostat, Efthimios Ioannis Banias

Theses

The dynamics of pure, strong, double competition between two microbial populations in an ideal chemostat have been investigated by using mathematical and numerical analysis. The two nutrients competed for have been assumed to be complementary for both competitors. Inter active models have been used for the specific growth rates. Two cases have been considered; one in which neither of the two substrates exerts inhibitory effects on the growth of either one of the competing populations, and one in which the growth of one population is inhibited by only one of the two substrates. The primary focus of this investigation was …

Evaluating The Homogeneity Of Solidification/Stabilization Treated Waste Soils By Chemical Analysis Method, Mei Liu

Theses

Solidification/Stabilization technology has been widely used for waste treatment, especially for heavy metals, non-volatile wastes, radioactive wastes and soils. Homogeneity is a very important criterion for this kind of technology.

This study focuses on the development of a method to evaluate the homogeneity of S/S treated soil. A chemical analysis method, atomic absorbance, is employed to evaluate the distribution of S/S reagent in a soil-cement mixture and thus the uniformity of the soil-cement mixture. Also, a fluorescent tracer method is discussed in this study, which can be used to estimate the homogeneity of the soil-cement surface. The fluorescent tracer method …

Inability Of Phanerochaete Chrysosporium To Degrade Polychlorinated Biphenyls In Sand, Pankaj Pankaj

Theses

The white rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium has been previously found to successfully degrade a wide spectrum of chlorinated aromatic hydrocarbons (some of them in soil or sand matrices). In this research, it was tested if the fungus could also degrade a very recalcitrant class of pollutant, i.e. Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) in sand at a concentration of 100 ppm (w/w PCB to sand). For this purpose, a number of experiments were performed, in which several operating parameters, such as nutrient concentrations (nitrogen and glucose), amount of initial biomass, aeration, and degree of chlorination of the PCBs were varied. The results obtained …

Design Of Stable Di And Tetraradical Nitroxides As Magnetic Resonance Imaging Agents, Radha V. Iyer

Theses

Several nitroxides have been prepared in the Biotechnology Laboratory at NJIT to study their image enhancement capability. These nitroxides contain different moieties within one molecule and their paramagnetism is found to be initially increasing proportionally to the number of their radical centers. It is found that the addition of nitroxides at very close distances causes interference and a reduction of intensity due to the interaction of the two paramagnetic centers with each other. Thus MRI contrast agents are not improved by simple addition of nitroxide centers to a given molecule and drug designers must pay special attention to intramolecular spacing. …

The Study Of Activated Sludge Settleability Using The Solids-Flux Analysis, Churng-Cherng Lin

Theses

The activated sludge was cultivated in two pilot-scale activated sludge systems under three ratios of BOD to N, equal to 20:1, 70:1 and 300:1 in the influent wastewater. The aeration tank of the activated sludge system was constructed in two different configurations: one without compartments in the tank, the other consisting of six compartments. The activated sludge withdrawn from the last compartment of each system was tested in a one-liter graduate cylinder to measure its zone settling velocity. The solids-flux method was employed to analyze the sludge settling characteristic as a function of solids concentration. The results show that the …

Kinetic Measuremenmt Of Decomposition Of Aniline, 2,4-Dichlorophenol And 1,2,4-Trichlorophenol Using A Calorimetric Method, Ming-Chin Chang

Theses

Biological treatment techniques for detoxification of toxic organic compounds have been studied and applied for many years. There are many research and commercial applications proving that the biological method is more economic and efficient than the other treatment methods.

The traditional biomass measurements are time-consuming tasks. Researchers have intended to develop a simpler, faster, and also accurate method for determining the bioactivity. This study has tried to use the microcalorimetric method to monitor the energy productions from the degradation of aniline, 2,4-Dichlorophenol and 1,2,4-Trichlorobenzene. Thereafter, by utilizing the data obtained from the present study, it was possible to compute kinetic …

A Computer Implementation Of A Multi-Neuron Expandable Network, Mary Ellen Ellen Aleksza

Theses

The primary goal of this thesis is to develop a small, expandable neural network that oscillates when presented with an appropriate stimulus. This model will be used in the future as a base to create larger networks. Future studies of these larger networks may be used in the simulation of neuronal activity such biological oscillators.

This thesis encompasses a study of neuron activity, neural networks, neuron models and biological oscillators. The focus of the thesis is the modification and expansion of a single neuron simulation into a simulation of an interconnected multi-neuron oscillatory network.

A single neuron model based on …

Irreversible Immobilization Of Heavy Metal, Hyoung-Seog Ko

Theses

Heavy metals are contaminants of both solid and liquid wastes. For example, the ash produced from the incineration of domestic or industrial wastes often contains substantial concentration of lead, mercury, cadmium and other heavy metals that make it a hazardous waste. These heavy metals in wastes are hazardous because they are mobile. Immobilization of the metals is an effective method of rendering the metals harmless, provided that immobilization is irreversible. This study focused on the heavy metal immobilization potential associated with the activities of anaerobic bacteria known as the dissimilatory sulfate reducers (Postgate, 1984). The sulfate-reducing bacteria produce sulfide and …

The Removal Hcl From Hot Gases With Calcium Compounds, Qian Lao

Theses

The use of CaCO₃, Ca(OH)₂, and CaO as adsorbents for removal of HCl from hot gas streams is investigated through a series of experiments. The experiments are conducted to evaluate the influence of key parameters such as temperature, (500 K to 1000 K), particle size, (0.037 mm to 3.36 mm), pressure drop of the packed bed, (0.1 cm H₂O to 25.5 cm H₂O), and concentration of CCl in the feed gas, (1,550 ppm to 20,000 ppm), on HCl adsorption. The results of these experiments show that all three of the calcium compound …

Measurement Of Vocs Pollution From Recycling Petroleum Contaminated Soils In Hot Mix Asphalt Concrete, Yaoqing Chen

Theses

The petroleum contaminated soils (PCSs) due to leaking underground storagetanks are required to be removed and isolated in a designated area for proper treatment. Recently, a technique of recycle has been developed to incorporate PCSs into hot mixing asphalt (HMA) as a partial substitute for stone aggregate; the mixture then was used for road paving.

This study focuses on the estimation of the emission of volatile organic compounds from the process of mixing asphalt with PCSs and the contamination of ground water by paving the asphalt mixture made with PCSs. Eleven volatile organic compounds and total non-methane organic compounds emitted …

Processor Allocation Strategies For Modified Hypercubes, Nagasimha G. Haravu

Theses

Parallel processing has been widely accepted to be the future in high speed computing. Among the various parallel architectures proposed/implemented, the hypercube has shown a lot of promise because of its poweful properties, like regular topology, fault tolerance, low diameter, simple routing, and ability to efficiently emulate other architectures. The major drawback of the hypercube network is that it can not be expanded in practice because the number of communication ports for each processor grows as the logarithm of the total number of processors in the system. Therefore, once a hypercube supercomputer of a certain dimensionality has been built, any …

Disinfection Of Wastewater Using Ultraviolet Radiation, David L. Klemm

Theses

The disadvantages associated with the use of chlorine for disinfection, in conjunction with improvements in ultraviolet radiation disinfection technologies have led to the recent increased use of ultraviolet radiation to provide disinfection of effluents from wastewater treatment plants. The theory of ultraviolet radiation and the engineering design of the ultraviolet disinfection system are discussed in depth.

The operational history and records of two wastewater treatment plants that use ultraviolet radiation for disinfection were analyzed in an attempt to develop correlations on the factors that affect ultraviolet radiation disinfection efficiency and to investigate as to whether disinfection with ultraviolet radiation is …

Spectral Analysis Of Heart Rate Variability: Acquisitionalysis Software Development, David James Delong

Theses

This work develops an acquisitionalysis software application to investigate the spectral content of the heart rate variability signal derived from an electrocardiographic (EKG) waveform. The location and strength of the frequency content reveals general information concerning sympathetic and parasympathetic activity within the autonomic nervous system of the study subject. Current investigations into pediatric head trauma patients have revealed specific correlations between spectral content of the heart rate variability and overall patient recovery. The levels of serum catecholamines, specifically epinephrine and norepinephrine, are also investigated for a possible correlation with both trauma severity and spectral power of the heart rate variability …

Graphic Design And The Unconscious Codes, Michelle A. Stacy

Theses

None provided.

I. Removal Of Chromium From A Highly Contaminated Soil/Slag Matrix By Soil Washing At Low Ph, Ii. Removal Of Chromium From Impregnated Clay Matrices By Soil Washing At Low Ph, Erez Gotlieb

Theses

Section I. Chromium is a major soil contaminant of industrial sites in New Jersey, as well as in many of the Superfund sites throughout the United States. Removal of chromium by soil/slag washing with low pH sulfuric acid solutions is described. The extraction parameters are acid concentration, contact time, temperature, solvent/soil ratio, and acid type. The effect of two-stage extraction is discussed.

Soil/slag washing with sulfuric acid concentrations of 2% weight:volume (units are g/ml. This concentration is approximately equal to 0.4 N) at 75:1 v:w solvent/soil ratios yielded chromium extraction efficiencies of 95%, but 50% of the soil matrix was …

Kinetics Of Phenol Biodegradation By Pseudomonas Resinovorans (Atcc 14235), Susmita Guptapal

Theses

The kinetics of phenol biodegradation were studied by using a pure culture of Pseudomonas resinovorans (ATCC 14235). Experiments were performed in shaker flasks and samples were analyzed for biomass content (based on optical density), and for phenol concentrations (based on HPLC measurements). The experimental data indicated that phenol is an inhibitory substrate at high concentrations. Specific growth rate data were fitted to an Andrews' expression with good success. The regressed kinetic constants were also used in predicting phenol biodegradation as a function of time. It was found that predicted and actual experimental values were close at least for the first …

Biodegradation Of Phenol And Benzoic Acid In Batch And Sequencing Batch Reactors, Stephane Reynaud

Theses

A pure culture of Pseudomonas aeruginosa ( ATCC 10145 ) was used for the biodegradation of phenol and benzoic acid. Two sets of small scale (shaker flask) experiments were originally performed: in the first set, phenol was the only carbon source present while in the second, benzoic acid was the sole carbon source. These experiments revealed the kinetics of benzoic acid degradation (they were found to be described by a Monod, non-inhibitory model), as well as of phenol biodegradation (they were found to be described by Andrews'inhibitory model) by Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

The kinetic expressions from the small scale experiments …

Immobilization Of Heavy Metals In Incinerator Ash Using A Microbiological System, Gordon Hinshalwood

Theses

The heavy metals contained in incinerator ash constitute an environmental hazard because they can be leached out of the ash matrix by rain water after the ash is landfilled. This study focused on a novel biological treatment process in which immobilization of the heavy metal content of incinerator ash is achieved using naturally occurring microorganisms. Specifically, immobilization was obtained by the use of a sulfide producing bacteriological system. The genus Desulfovibrio was cultured under anaerobic conditions, providing a source of sulfide from the reduction of sulfate as a natural metabolic function. The sulfide produced then formed highly insoluble precipitates with …

Mathematic Models On Leaching Behavior Of Chemical Solidification And Stabilization Process For Heavy Metal Sludges, Sz-Hung Chen

Theses

Chemical Solidification and Stabilization of toxic metal-containing sludges is one of the most important problems for environmental protection. Although Chemical Solidification and Stabilization of hazardous wastes prior to disposal is increasing in importance, very little work has been done concerning the leaching mechanisms and kinetic models.

In this study, we apply Freundlich & Langmuir isotherms on Chemical Solidification and Stabilization process, and the theoretical results match with experimental data very well. In the same time, we develop a simple methematical kinetic model which relates leaching concentration of heavy metal to curing time. In this study kinetic model, what you need …

Attempts To Demonstrate Reductive Dechlorination Of Chlorobenzenes By Anaerobic Microorganisms, Melissa S. Gross

Theses

Chlorobenzenes are a source of environmental pollution throughout the world. Investigations of the potential biodegradability of these compounds have been conducted employing different media under various conditions. In this study, the biodegradability of hexachlorobenzene (HCB), pentachlorobenzene (QCB), and 1,2,3,4-tetrachlorobenzene (1,2,3,4-TetCB) at a concentration of 70 uM (20 ppm), 80 uM (20 ppm), and 93 uM (20 ppm), respectively, was investigated. The source of inoculum was fresh anaerobic digester sewage sludge. Compound and sludge were combined in a serum bottle incubation system under anaerobic conditions and allowed to incubate at 30°C for several weeks. An extraction method utilizing hexane and acetone …

Recalcitrance Of Polychlorinated Biphenyls To Biodegradation By Phanerochaete Chrysosporium In Soil, Thierry B. Poncet

Theses

The white rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium has been shown in the past to effectively degrade a number of chlorinated aromatic compounds. Previous investigators (Eaton, D. C., "Mineralization of Polychlorinated Biphenyls by Phanerochaete chrysosporium, a Lignolytic Fungus", Enz. Microb. Technol., 7, 194-196 (1985); Bumpus, J. A., Tien, M., Wright, D., and Aust, S. D., "Oxidation of Persistent Environmental Pollutants by White Rot Fungus", Science, 228, 1434-1436 (1985)) have also claimed that this fungus is capable of mineralizing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in submerged cultures under stationary conditions. Therefore, the objective of this work was to study the biodegradation activity of the fungus …

A Knowledge-Based Design System For A Housing Project For Altzheimer's [Sic] Disease Patients And Their Caregivers, Karin S. Bannier

Theses

Since the beginning of the 20th century, architecture went through several different developments. Throughout these developments a large number of movements and design models Emerged, based on different design knowledge. The motivation for design projects is related Mainly to historical, functional, or site related issues. Today's changes in social relationships and therefore living arrangements question the validity of existing traditional design solutions, especially in the case of disabled clients. A new or modified specific design knowledge base has to be considered in order to meet the specific client's needs. To satisfy the wide range of changing nontraditional criteria that face …