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Defect Studies In Cu-Based P-Type Transparent Conducting Oxides, Fnu Ameena

Physics Dissertations - Archive

Among other intrinsic open-volume defects, copper vacancy (VCu) has been theoretically identified as the major acceptor in p-type Cu-based semiconducting transparent oxides, which has potential as low-cost photovoltaic absorbers in semi-transparent solar cells. A series of positron annihilation experiments with pure Cu, Cu2O, and CuO presented strong presence of VCu and its complexes in the copper oxides. The lifetime data also showed that the density of VCu was becoming higher as the oxidation state of Cu increased which was consistent with the decrease in the formation energy of VCu. Doppler broadening measurements further indicated that electrons with low momentum made …

Tunable Gold Nanostructures With Nanocapsules As Template Reaction Vessels, Balasubramanian Ramjee, Srujana Prayakarao, Sangbum Han, Wei Cao

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Hollow, polymeric, thiol-ene resorcinarene nanocapsules can act as template reaction vessels for the synthesis of gold nanoshells or spherical aggregates of gold nanoparticles depending on the reaction conditions. The spherical nanoparticle aggregates were evaluated as catalysts in the biphasic reduction of 4-nitrophenol.

Biochemical Actions Of A Novel Cis-Terpenone, Lin Zhang

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract BIOCHEMICAL ACTIONS OF A NOVEL CIS-TERPENONE By Lin Zhang, Ph.D. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2012 Director: Qibing Zhou, Ph.D Assistant Professor Department of Chemistry

Quinone methides are reactive species due to their electrophilicity, and natural quinone methide analogs have broad biological activities. Based on known actions of cytochrome P450 enzymes, we hypothesized that trans-terpenones can be metabolized in cells to form a cascade of metabolite products, which may be biologically active due to the generation of quinine and quinone methide …

The “Ethical” Surplus Of The War On Illegal Immigration, Francis J. Mootz Iii, Leticia Saucedo

McGeorge School of Law Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Career Coaching Across The Curriculum: Enhancing The Career Competencies Of The 21st Century Learner, Mark W. Slomp, Kerry B. Bernes

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

This article examines the effectiveness of a pilot project offered by members of the Faculty of Education at the University of Lethbridge entitled, ―Career Coaching Across the Curriculum: Integrating Career Development into Classroom Instruction‖. It explores whether this pilot project effectively prepares pre-service teachers to integrate career education into curriculum. It also explores whether this pilot project contributes to the attainment of important career development competencies for students in the Kindergarten-Grade 12 educational system.

Development And Evaluation Of An Ecological Display For The Detection, Evaluation, And Treatment Of Cardiovascular Risk, Timothy Ryan Mcewen

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Ecological interface design (EID; Vicente & Rasmussen, 1992) is a discipline that emphasizes the necessity of understanding the laws and constraints of a domain in order to make meaningful design decisions. We applied EID principles to create an ecological interface aimed at helping physicians with the detection, evaluation, and treatment of cardiovascular disease risk (specifically for hypertension and hyperlipidemia) and then evaluated it in two exploratory studies. In the first study, twenty-three internal medical residents participated viewed data from twelve patients (in six blocks) in a repeated measures study that measured which risk factors participant felt required follow-up and if …

Characterizing Conflict In Wikipedia, Nathaniel Miller

Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science Honors Projects

Wikipedia serves as the Internet's most widely viewed reference. In order to ensure its success, editors who create and maintain articles must resolve conflicts over appropriate article content. Previous research has measured Wikipedia conflict at two levels: single articles and categories of pages. I observe conflicts within small groups of articles, identifying their frequency, size, and intensity. Additionally, I identify individual conflicts spanning multiple articles and effects of conflict upon users' editing habits. I analyze cross-article conflict in three stages. First, I cluster a group of 1.4 million Wikipedia articles. Next, I find individual user conflicts within each article cluster …

The Best Mixing Time For Trees, Jeanmarie Youngblood

Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science Honors Projects

A graph G consists of a set of vertices connected in pairs by edges. Two vertices connected by an edge are called neighbors. A random walk on G is a sequence of vertices, where the next vertex is chosen randomly from the neighbors of the current vertex. Under mild assumptions, the distribution of a walk's current location converges to the stationary distribution. In this distribution, the probability of being at a given vertex is proportional to the size of its neighbor set. The expected time to convergence is called a mixing measure of G. There are a variety …

A Unified Nonlinear Adaptive Approach For The Fault Diagnosis Of Aircraft Engines, Remus C. Avram

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In this thesis, a fault detection and isolation (FDI) method is developed for aircraft engines by utilizing nonlinear adaptive estimation techniques. Engine sensor faults, actuator faults and component faults are considered under one unified framework. The fault diagnosis architecture consists of a bank of nonlinear adaptive estimators. One of them is the fault detection estimator used for fault detection, and the remaining ones are fault isolation estimators employed to determine the particular fault type/location after fault detection. Each isolation estimator is designed based on the functional structure of a particular fault type under consideration. The FDI architecture has been integrated …

Photorefractive Thin Films And Polymers For Use In Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Cells, Steven Harris Buller

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Two classes of materials were investigated as possible replacements for the bulk photorefractive windows in inorganic-organic hybrid cells: thin films and polymers. Each material was fabricated and subsequently characterized using two different methods due to their different stages of development. The thin films were characterized by X-ray diffraction while the polymers were characterized by two-beam coupling. Thin films of strontium barium niobate and potassium niobate were grown, using pulsed laser deposition, on four different substrates. It was found that it was possible to grow a thin film of potassium niobate in the correct orientation to replace a bulk photorefractive window. …

Friedel-Crafts Acylation Studies On 3-Alkyl-1-(Phenylsulfonyl)Indoles Using Aluminum Chloride And Bismuth Triflate, Venkateswara Reddy Karrepu

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Using the traditional catalyst, aluminum chloride in stoichiometric amounts, 3-alkyl-1-(phenylsulfonyl)indoles can be regioselectively acylated under Friedel-Crafts conditions at the C-6 position along with 10% of a minor isomer at the C-5 position. Alternatively, using catalytic amounts of the green catalyst, bismuth triflate, C-2 acylation was observed. Therefore, regioselectivity can be controlled by the nature of the Lewis acid catalyst. Moreover, this is the first-time that Friedel-Crafts acylation studies were demonstrated upon 3-alkyl-1-(phenylsulfonyl)indoles.

The Synthesis Of Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids And Their Metathesis Reactions With Dilithium Phthalocyanine, Andrew Michael Beauchamp

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A series of alkoxyalkylammonium salts has been synthesized for use in metathesis reactions with dilithium phthalocyanine. The salts, which were ionic liquids at or near room temperature, were synthesized by a nucleophilic substitution of tris[2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethyl]amine and iodomethane, iodoethane, bromoethane, 1-bromo-propane, 1-bromo-2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethane, and [2-[2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethoxy]-ethoxy] p-toluenesulfonate in yields ranging from 67% - 88%. The methyl, ethyl, propyl and tetra[2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethyl]ammonium salts were obtained for use in metathesis reactions. The salts were liquid at room temperature, with the exception of tetra[2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethyl]ammonium bromide which was found to melt at 46° and were thermally stable to approximately 200°. The four salts were used in metathesis reactions …

Mapping Algorithm For Autonomous Navigation Of Lawn Mower Using Sick Laser, Shashidhar Baichbal

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The objective of this thesis is to present a mapping algorithm for autonomous navigation of a lawnmower based on the range and bearing information of a SICK laser. The Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) algorithm is a tool that can be used to navigate unmanned vehicle in an unknown environment. The two-dimensional (2D) maps of the obstacles can be obtained if the laser scans the environment in a plane horizontal to the ground. However, the 2D map does not give information of the objects that are placed below the height of the laser. This makes it difficult for the lawn …

Establishment Of A Quiescent Infection Of Hsv-1 In L929 Fibroblasts Using A Mitotic Inhibitor And Ifn-Γ, Neelam V. Shinde

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The goal for this study was to determine if a quiescent infection of HSV-1 could be induced in murine fibroblasts L929 by treating them with the anti-mitotic agent 5-fluoro 2'deoxy uridine (FUDR) alone and with interferon-γ. Since neurons are post-mitotic and exhibit a lower metabolic rate than other cells, fibroblasts were treated with FUDR to induce a post-mitotic state. The cell cycle arrest of fibroblasts would decrease the thymidylate metabolism and impair HSV-1 replication. An evaluation of cytopathic effects of FUDR was used to determine the optimal concentration which arrests cell growth and inhibits viral replication. Image J program developed …

Behavioral Signature-Based Framework For Identifying Unsatisfiable Variable Mappings Between Digital Designs, Vaibhav Uday Tendulkar

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Throughout its design process (from specification to implementation) a digital circuit goes through a variety of structural changes. These changes are introduced primarily due to the use of automated tools in the design process. Checking whether the Boolean functions representing the two designs are equivalent is thus necessary to verify if a design implementation adheres to its specification. Combinational Equivalence Checking (CEC) - a process of determining whether two combinational design functions are equiv-alent, has been one of the most researched Boolean matching problems. The well-known CEC techniques that have been proposed adopt some kind of a formal approach such …

Effects Of Conductivity And Fish Grazing On Alkaline Phosphatase Activity Of Littoral Periphyton, Samuel A. Drerup

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Littoral periphyton plays an important role in whole lake primary production and is a substantial contributor to whole lake energy budgets in moderately deep oligotrophic lakes. Under conditions of nutrient deficiency, members of the periphyton community supplement the available nutrient pool through the production of intracellular and extracellular enzymes. These enzymes are used to convert bio-unavailable forms of nitrogen and phosphorous to forms usable by the periphyton community. In this paper, I will investigate how conductivity and fish grazing affect periphyton production and phosphorus acquisition in both field and laboratory experiments.

Impacts Of Land Use/Land Cover And Soil On Water Quality In The Upper Little Miami River Sub-Basin, Devendra Kumar Akshaya

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The Little Miami River Basin (LMRB) is increasingly becoming susceptible to the degradation of water quality due to various factors such as increase in urban landscape and agricultural runoff. This study is about understanding the impact of land use/land cover (LULC) and soil on water quality in LMRB. It was assumed that the major sources of solutes in the river mainly originated from the leaching of the land by precipitation and the composition of the leachate is influenced by the type LULC and soil. Least square method was modified to estimate the production coefficient for each of the types of …

Facile Synthesis Of Functionalized Poly (Arylene Ether Sulfone)S, Mehmet Tatli

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The synthesis of poly(arylene ether sulfone)s, with a pendant aryl iodide, was achieved via nucleophilic aromatic substitution (NAS) polycondensation of 3-iodo-3',5'-difluoro-diphenylsulfone (2) with Bisphenol-A. Monomer 2 was prepared by the reaction of 3, 5-difluorodiphenylsulfone with N-iodosuccinimide (NIS). Model reactions indicated that the iodo group was stable to NAS conditions. Both GC/MS analysis and NMR spectroscopy indicated quantitative displacement of the two fluorine atoms while the iodo group remained untouched. Furthermore, the modification of the iodo polymer was achieved via Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reaction with phenyl, naphthyl, and phenylacetyl boronic acids. The thermal properties of the polymers were evaluated via DSC and …

Smart Card Based User Authentication, Brandon James

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User authentication plays a very important role in building a secure computing system. In this thesis, we first studied and investigated existing user authentication schemes and some basic concepts of smart cards. We then proposed and implemented an improved user authentication scheme based on the smart card, specifically, Java card. We simulated a web server, and implemented the user authentication scheme with the Java card by programming a Java card applet and a Java program to send commands and receive responses from the card.

The proposed user authentication scheme has two phases: the registration phase and the user authentication phase. …

Knn-R: Building Secure And Efficient Outsourced Knn Query Service With The Rasp Encryption, Huiqi Xu

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With the wide deployment of public cloud computing infrastructures, outsourcing database services to the cloud has become an appealing solution to save operating expense. However, some databases might be so sensitive or precious that the data owner does not want to move to the cloud unless the security is guaranteed. On the other hand, a secure outsourced service should still provide efficient query processing and significantly reduce the inhouse workload to fully realize the benefits of outsourcing. We summarize these key features for an outsourced service as the CPEL criteria: data Confidentiality, query Privacy, Efficient query processing, and Low inhouse …

Effects Of Elevated Glucocorticoid Levels On Dentate Gyrus Development, Zachary Dale Vallandingham

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Exogenous glucocorticoids are commonly used in modern medications and animal studies examining the effects of glucocorticoids on the developing brain report inconsistent results. Recent reports have questioned the reliability of available drug delivery methods in mice (Herrmann et al., 2009). In our laboratory, variable behavioral results using trace eyeblink conditioning (EBC) suggest that we may be having similar problems delivering glucoroticoids to developing rat pups (Claflin et al., 2005, 2011). Subcutaneous pellets and osmotic minipumps resulted in impaired learning during trace eyeblink conditioning whereas subcutaneous injection of corticosterone (CORT) resulted in facilitation of learning on the same task. One of …

Relationship Between Log Permeability And Fraction Of Finer Grains In Bimodal Sediment Mixtures, Steven M. Verdibello

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In sediment mixtures of two grain-size components, the mixture porosity (Φ) and permeability (k) both vary non-linearly as a function of the grain size and the volume fraction of each component. A porosity minimum (Φmin) occurs near the mixture fraction at which the volume of the finer grains equals the original pore volume of the coarser grains. An abrupt change in slope has been observed in the non-linear relationship between log(k) and the volume fraction of finer grains (rf). This slope change should occur at the rf where coarser pore pathways change from continuous to discontinuous. In this study, fine …

Direct Optimization Of Ranking Measures For Learning To Rank Models, Li Li Guo

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The main challenge in learning-to-rank for information retrieval is the difficulty to di- rectly optimize ranking measures to automatically construct a ranking model from training data. It is mainly due to the fact that the ranking measures are determined by the order of ranked documents rather than the specific values of ranking model scores, thus they are non-convex, nondifferentiable and discontinuous. To address this issue, listwise approaches have been proposed where loss functions are defined either by exploiting a probabilistic model or by optimizing upper bounds or smoothed approximations of ranking measures. Even though very promising results have been achieved, …

A Geophysical Investigation Searching For Archaeological Features At Sunwatch Indian Village, Danielle Torridi

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A near-surface geophysical survey was conducted at SunWatch Indian Village in Dayton, Ohio. The main motivations for this investigation were to evaluate geophysical methods to locate, map, and identify features associated with the SunWatch Indian Village archaeological site and to expand the area surveyed. Previous studies (Houston, 2002; Miller, 2004) have determined that burials covered with limestone slabs are relatively easy to detect and map geophysically with GPR and electrical resistivity. This was reconfirmed in this study by collecting 3D GPR data over a 'control' location previously surveyed by Houston (2002) and Miller (2004). However, similar anomalies were not observed …

The Influence Of Streambed Heterogeneity On Hyporheic Exchange In Gravelly Rivers, Yaoquan Zhou

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Hyporheic exchange can be influenced by channel meanders, by streambed topography, and by the heterogeneity within subsurface sediments. Fluvial systems with streambed sediments composed of sandy gravel can be heterogeneous and contain open-framework gravel stratasets that comprise roughly one-third of the sedimentary deposit by volume. The open-framework gravel stratasets have an average lateral length scale on the order of 10 m, average thickness on the order of a decimeter, and an average dip on the order of 10 degrees downstream. The hydraulic conductivity of open-framework gravel stratasets is on the order of 10-1 m/s, and for the larger volume of …

Evaluating The Effect Of Hyporheic Exchange On Intake Temperatures Of Open-Loop Geothermal Wells In Glacigenic Outwash Aquifers, Nathan Grigsby

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Subsurface heat flow was simulated to study the effect of hyporheic exchange on groundwater intake temperatures of open-loop geothermal wells in glacigenic-outwash aquifers in the North American midcontinent. The model represents an aquifer kilometers wide, on the order of 100m thick, and directly connected to a perennial river. The aquifer has bimodal hydraulic conductivity with a geometric mean on the order of 100m/day, an effective thermal conductivity of 2.33W/mK, and specific heats on the order of 106J/(m^3 K) for water and 103J/kgK for solids. The aquifer is initially set to a temperature of 12.85 °C and the river is fixed …

Cometabolic Degradation Of Halogenated Aliphatic Hydrocarbons By Aerobic Microorganisms Naturally Associated With Wetland Plant Roots, Madelyn M. Smith

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Wetland systems provide both anaerobic (reducing) and aerobic (oxidizing) zones for the biodegradation of chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons (CAH). In particular, wetland plant roots provide micro-oxidizing environments for methanotrophic bacteria from the presence of methane, which is produced in anaerobic zones, and oxygen, which is brought to the subsurface by roots of wetland plants; this shows the potential for cometabolic degradation of common organic pollutants.

This study explored the natural attenuation of CAHs by methanotrophic bacteria naturally associated with roots of the common wetland plant, Carex comosa. Root microcosms were amended with varying concentrations of methane; trichloroethene; cis 1,2-dichloroethene; 1,2-dichloroethane; or …

Effect Of Cooling Rate And Mold Counter Pressure On The Crystallinity And Foaming Control In Microcellular Injection Molded Polypropylene Parts, Jeffrey Scott Cousineau

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Microcellular polymer injection molding is a growing industry technique due to its ability to produce dimensionally stable stress free parts while reducing cycle time, material usage, and energy costs. The process was invented by Dr. Nam P. Suh at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the early 1980's. The basic idea is to dissolve a supercritical fluid into the polymer melt which will nucleate and expand within the part core after injection during the cooling stage. Microcellular polymer injection molding is becoming increasingly popular in automotive, semiconductor, and industrial applications. While the technique has been widely successful using amorphous polymers, …

Poly(Arylene) Ethers Prepared From Functionalized 3,5-Difluorotriphenylphosphine Oxide, Courtney M. Sutherland

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The di-iodinated derivative of 3,5-difluorotriphenyl phosphine oxide, 3,5-DiFTPO-I2, was synthesized for the modification of poly(arylene ether phosphine oxide)s, PAEPOs. The di-iodinated monomer was polymerized to afford the di-iodinated polymer, a pre-cursor for tailoring solubility and the thermal properties of the PAEPO derivatives via functionalization. The di-iodinated polymer was post-functionalized via the Suzuki Miyaura cross coupling reaction with a variety of boronic acids. The successful conversion of the iodo groups, along with the immense number of possible functional groups that can be introduced to the di-iodinated polymer makes PAEPO-derivative a highly useful thermoplastic with a wide range of potential uses.

The …

Mhc Class I Expression In Murine Fibroblast And Keratinocyte Cell Lines During The First Twenty-Four Hours Of Infection With Herpes Simplex Virus-1 (Hsv-1), Prasanthi Kumchala

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The hypothesis of this study is: HSV-1 infection of murine fibroblasts and keratinocytes inhibits expression of MHC class I molecules during first 24 hours of infection. IFN-γ pretreatment of fibroblasts protected the cells from virus-induced inhibition of MHC class I expression, but did not protect keratinocytes. Herpesviruses are known for their ability to establish persistent infections. Herpesviruses exert many different ways to suppress host defense mechanisms. One such way is by down regulating expression of the major histocompatibility complex I (MHC I) molecules in infected cells. Epidermal cells such as keratinocytes are the major sites for herpes simplex virus type …