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2013

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Inverse Intuition: Repurposing As A Method To Create New Artifacts, To Invent New Practices, And To Produce New Knowledge, Warren Jones Jan 2013

Inverse Intuition: Repurposing As A Method To Create New Artifacts, To Invent New Practices, And To Produce New Knowledge, Warren Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation argues that Digital Natives, rather than employing novel ways of thinking (such as those suggested by Walter Ong's concept of Second Orality), are in fact employing a way of thinking that has always existed: repurposing. Ruth Oldenziel discusses how, historically, women used "a kind of mental quality" enabling them to re-use objects in novel ways to accomplish more of life's tasks. My research led me to investigate how a wide variety of people, especially historically marginalized people, used this kind of mental quality. This dissertation explores repurposing's real world uses as well as its uses in narratives, specifically …

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Naep-Related Visual Arts Assessment In Classroom Applications, Debra Mcgann Jan 2013

Naep-Related Visual Arts Assessment In Classroom Applications, Debra Mcgann

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This action research study investigates classroom visual art assessments and their potential to improve teacher instruction and student learning. In order to examine this topic more thoroughly, a National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)-related classroom assessment was designed and administered to the researcher’s Drawing and AP Art History classes. Students were also asked to fill out a questionnaire that asked about their past art experiences and motivation to participate in art activities such as creating artwork outside of the school setting or attending an art museum. Students observed, described, and analyzed contemporary artwork, and they created and wrote about their …

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A Study Of Student Achievement And Educational Intervention Strategies In Traditional And Virtual Format Algebra 1 Courses Within Volusia County School District, Paul Nehrig Jan 2013

A Study Of Student Achievement And Educational Intervention Strategies In Traditional And Virtual Format Algebra 1 Courses Within Volusia County School District, Paul Nehrig

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to compare achievement results of students enrolled in traditional and virtual Algebra 1 courses in the School District of Volusia County, Florida and to identify which educational interventions are utilized by traditional and online teachers to promote student success, especially for at-risk populations. Two research questions guided this study. This study is significant, as school districts expand virtual options for K-12 students to meet legislative mandates and student demand, while also exploring and developing methods to ensure student success. Student scores on the Florida Algebra 1 End of Course Exam (EOC) were compared to …

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Utilizing Ipads To Enhance Student Engagement In Vocabulary Learning: A Case Study, Sarah Park Jan 2013

Utilizing Ipads To Enhance Student Engagement In Vocabulary Learning: A Case Study, Sarah Park

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

According to research evidence, the relationship between vocabulary and reading proficiency is so powerful that it is a valuable predictor of reading comprehension and academic achievement in the later school years (Scarborough, 2011). The major contributor to reading problem is the vocabulary demand of texts that students are assigned in school (Mckeown, Corsson, Arts, Sandora, & Beck, 2012). National Assessment of Education Progress (National Center for Education Statistics, 2012) stated the essential link between the words students know and students’ ability to use those words to understand what they read. Therefore, researchers and educators have both agreed the importance of …

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Gender Differences And Fast Food Preferences Among U.S. College Students, Donald Persaud Jan 2013

Gender Differences And Fast Food Preferences Among U.S. College Students, Donald Persaud

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The intent of this research is to examine the relationship of corporate fast food and health within the context of gender. It tests the hypothesis that Western perceptions of masculinity and femininity inform a differentiated pattern of food preference, which will correlate with health as measured by Body Mass Index (BMI). The targeted sample population for the study is the undergraduate community of the University of Central Florida, and fast food is a chosen dietary medium because it is an increasingly ubiquitous source of caloric energy in the American foodscape, representative of the mass production model applied to cuisine in …

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Road Networks, Social Disorganization And Lethality, An Exploration Of Theory And An Examination Of Covariates, Aaron Poole Jan 2013

Road Networks, Social Disorganization And Lethality, An Exploration Of Theory And An Examination Of Covariates, Aaron Poole

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Utilizing a Criminal Event Perspective, the analyses of this dissertation test a variety of relationships to the dependent variable: the Criminal Lethality Index. Data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System, the Census and American Community Survey, the American Trauma Society, and data derived from the Census’s mapping TIGER files are combined to create a database of 190 cities. This database is used to test road network connectivity (Gama Index), medical resources, criminal covariates and Social Disorganization variables in relation to a city’s Criminal Lethality Index. OLS regression demonstrates a significant and negative relationship between a city’s Gama Index and its …

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The Red Scare And The Bi's Quest For Power: The Soviet Ark As Political Theater, Austin Smith Jan 2013

The Red Scare And The Bi's Quest For Power: The Soviet Ark As Political Theater, Austin Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Red Scare of 1919-1920 has been presented as a wave of anti-Radical hysteria that swept post WWI America; a hysteria to which the state reluctantly capitulated to by arresting Radicals and deporting those alien Radicals they deemed most threatening. This presentation, however, is ludicrous when the motivations of the state and its conservative allies are examined. The truth of the matter was that almost all of the people targeted by the Red Scare represented no significant threat to the institutions of the United States and were merely targeted for holding Leftwing ideas, or being connected to a group that …

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Re-Imaging A Career In Filmmaking, Jason Sutton Jan 2013

Re-Imaging A Career In Filmmaking, Jason Sutton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this project was to learn every aspect of the film business, and to do so within the guidelines of an ultra-low budget digital format. This meant creating a project that could be written, produced, and directed all for fewer than fifty thousand dollars. All of the money had to be raised by me as well. The process began day one in the classroom, learning every step of the way. It began by turning an idea into a feature length film script. This was done over the course of a year. The next step began putting together every …

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Inverse Problems In Multiple Light Scattering, John Broky Jan 2013

Inverse Problems In Multiple Light Scattering, John Broky

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The interaction between coherent waves and material systems with complex optical properties is a complicated, deterministic process. Light that scatters from such media gives rise to random fields with intricate properties. It is common perception that the randomness of these complex fields is undesired and therefore is to be removed, usually through a process of ensemble averaging. However, random fields emerging from light matter interaction contain information about the properties of the medium and a thorough analysis of the scattered light allows solving specific inverse problems. Traditional attempts to solve these kinds of inverse problems tend to rely on statistical …

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Reduced Susceptibility Of Deformation Due To Vibrational And Gravitational Effects On A Focus Variable Adaptive Lens, Victoriya Relina Jan 2013

Reduced Susceptibility Of Deformation Due To Vibrational And Gravitational Effects On A Focus Variable Adaptive Lens, Victoriya Relina

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Orthodox optical devices, such as lenses, mirrors, and prisms, are composed of solidstate materials, which although well studied and implemented ubiquitously are severely limited in their adaptable properties. An arguably new field of adaptive optics has emerged to further expand photonic manipulation competences of optical components. Fluid-based adaptive optical components were introduced as early as 1968 [1]; such components have the ability to change the shape of their interface surface, thus allowing for a variable curvature profile. The method of manipulation varies greatly, as does the range of surface deformations. A solid-state optical component is affected by system vibration variation …

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Mechanochemistry For Solid-State Syntheses And Catalysis, David Restrepo Jan 2013

Mechanochemistry For Solid-State Syntheses And Catalysis, David Restrepo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Traditional methods of synthesizing inorganic materials, such as hydrothermal, sol-gel, calcination and grinding steps, can typically require use of high temperatures, expensive precursors or use of solvents. Because of the energy-intensive nature or environmental impact these techniques, there is a push, especially from an industrial perspective, to move towards greener approaches. Mechanochemistry is a solvent-free alternative technique that can be used to synthesize a variety of materials under ambient conditions. Due to this, there is an increase in attention towards the use of this approach in both solid-state inorganic and organic chemistry. This dissertation reports the mechanochemical synthesis of a …

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The Cytopathic Activity Of Cholera Toxin Requires A Threshold Quantity Of Cytosolic Toxin., Carly Bader Jan 2013

The Cytopathic Activity Of Cholera Toxin Requires A Threshold Quantity Of Cytosolic Toxin., Carly Bader

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cholera toxin (CT), secreted from Vibrio cholerae, causes a massive fluid and electrolyte efflux in the small intestine that results in life-threatening diarrhea and dehydration which impacts 3-5 million people per year. CT is secreted into the intestinal lumen but acts within the cytosol of intestinal epithelial cells. CT is an AB5 toxin that has a catalytic A1 subunit and a cell binding B subunit. CT moves from the cell surface to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) by retrograde transport. Much of the toxin is transported to the lysosomes for degradation, but a secondary pool of toxin is diverted to the …

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Characterization Of Motility Alterations Caused By The Impairment Of Dynein/Dynactin Motor Protein Complex, Swaran Nandini Jan 2013

Characterization Of Motility Alterations Caused By The Impairment Of Dynein/Dynactin Motor Protein Complex, Swaran Nandini

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Transport of intracellular cargo is an important and dynamic process required for cell maintenance and survival. Dynein is the motor protein that carries organelles and vesicles from the cell periphery to the cell center along the microtubule network. Dynactin is a protein that activates dynein for this transport process. Together, dynein and dynactin forms a motor protein complex that is essential for transport processes in all the vertebrate cells. Using fluorescent microscope based live cell imaging techniques and kymograph analyses, I studied dynein/dynactin disruptions on the intracellular transport in two different cell systems. In one set of experiments, effects of …

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Too Few Voices, Too Many Distractions, Too Little Concern, Too Little Understanding: The American Media During The Rwandan Genocide Of 1994, Skip-Thomas Parrish Jan 2013

Too Few Voices, Too Many Distractions, Too Little Concern, Too Little Understanding: The American Media During The Rwandan Genocide Of 1994, Skip-Thomas Parrish

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Upwards of one million people died during the Genocide, Civil War, and Refugee Crisis in Rwanda and surrounding nations, during one of the fastest Genocides to occur in modern history. Even though the United Nations and its member states had a legal mandate to intervene in cases of Genocide due to the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, the world chose not to. While there were a myriad of reasons for this the media played a part in this situation. Using the coverage of US print magazine articles, this thesis argues that the media missed the …

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Examining Facebook As A Digitally Immersive Language Environment For French Language Learners, Shelly Wyatt Jan 2013

Examining Facebook As A Digitally Immersive Language Environment For French Language Learners, Shelly Wyatt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This quasi-experimental study examined the impact of interactions with native French language Facebook posts on beginning French language learners’ willingness to communicate (WTC) and their attitudes towards the target language and culture in a university setting. In addition, the degree of interaction, by participants, with the French language Facebook posts was recorded and analyzed. This study was conducted during the Spring 2013 semester at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida. Participants in this study were recruited from two sections of FRE 1120, Elementary French Language and Civilization I. Native French language Facebook posts were “pushed” to participants’ personal …

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Solid Phase Extraction Room Temperature Fluorescence Spectroscopy For The Direct Quantification Of Monohydroxy Metabolites Of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons In Urine Samples, Korina Jesusa Calimag Jan 2013

Solid Phase Extraction Room Temperature Fluorescence Spectroscopy For The Direct Quantification Of Monohydroxy Metabolites Of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons In Urine Samples, Korina Jesusa Calimag

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are important environmental pollutants generally formed during incomplete combustion of organic matter containing carbon and hydrogen. Introduced into the human body by adsorption through the skin, ingestion or inhalation, the biotransformation processes of PAH lead to the formation of multiple metabolites. Due to the short elimination lifetime from the body, the quantitative determination of monohydroxy-PAH (OH-PAH) in urine samples provides accurate information on recent exposure to environmental PAH. Urine analysis of OH-PAH with established methodology relies on sample clean-up and pre-concentration followed by chromatographic separation and quantification. Although chromatographic techniques provide reliable results in the analysis …

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Remediation Of Polychlorinated Biphenyl (Pcb) Contaminated Building Materials Using Non-Metal And Activated Metal Treatment Systems, Tamra Legron-Rodriguez Jan 2013

Remediation Of Polychlorinated Biphenyl (Pcb) Contaminated Building Materials Using Non-Metal And Activated Metal Treatment Systems, Tamra Legron-Rodriguez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

PCBs are recalcitrant compounds of no known natural origin that persist in the environment despite their ban by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in 1979 due to negative health effects. Transport of PCBs from elastic sealants into concrete, brick, and granite structures has resulted in the need for a technology capable of removing these PCBs from the materials. This research investigated the use of a nonmetal treatment system (NMTS) and an activated metal treatment system (AMTS) for the remediation and degradation of PCBs from concrete, brick, and granite affixed with PCB-laden caulking. The adsorption of PCBs onto the components …

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Squaraine Dyes, Design And Synthesis For Various Functional Materials Applications, Yuanwei Zhang Jan 2013

Squaraine Dyes, Design And Synthesis For Various Functional Materials Applications, Yuanwei Zhang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation contains the synthesis and characterization of squaraine based new functional materials. In the first part of this thesis work, a water soluble benzothiazolium squaraine dye was synthesized with pyridium pendents, and controlled aggregation properties were achieved. After formation of partially reversible J-aggregation on a polyelectrolyte (poly(acryl acid) sodium salt) template, the nonlinear, two-photon absorption cross section per repeat unit was found to be above 30-fold enhanced compared with nonaggregate and/or low aggregates. Using a similar strategy, sulfonate anions were introduced into the squaraine structure, and the resulting compounds exhibited good water solubilities. A ‘turn on’ fluorescence was discovered …

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Quasi-Experimental Study: The Effects Of Virtual Covert Audio Coaching On Teachers' Transfer Of Knowledge From Professional Development To Classroom Practice, Marilyn Jackson-Lee Jan 2013

Quasi-Experimental Study: The Effects Of Virtual Covert Audio Coaching On Teachers' Transfer Of Knowledge From Professional Development To Classroom Practice, Marilyn Jackson-Lee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A quasi-experimental multiple time series design was used to analyze and compare the impact of two types of instructional coaching, face-to-face and virtual covert audio provided with Bluetooth technology, on teacher transfer of knowledge learned in professional development into classroom practice. Teacher transfer across baseline, intervention, and maintenance phases was analyzed. The study was conducted at a public elementary school in a Florida suburban school district with approximately 750 students. Twelve teachers were randomly selected from teachers who volunteered to attend professional development. Six teachers (one from each grade level K-5) in the treatment group received virtual covert audio coaching. …

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Bone Morphogenetic Protein-7 (Bmp-7) Polarizes Monocytes Into M2 Macrophages, Crystal Rocher Jan 2013

Bone Morphogenetic Protein-7 (Bmp-7) Polarizes Monocytes Into M2 Macrophages, Crystal Rocher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which an accumulation of fatty acids and cholesterol occurs to form a plaque in small and large arteries. Monocyte polarization to classic M1 macrophages or alternative M2 macrophages is an important area of research that can determine the severity of disease progression. BMP-7 is a key growth factor responsible for directing differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells into brown fat cells, suggesting a role of BMP-7 in cellular plasticity; however, its role in monocyte polarization is yet to be revealed. In the current study, we hypothesize that monocyte treatment with BMP-7 will significantly result in …

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Capillarity: A Theory Of Mlearning And Its Application In Emerging Markets, David Rogers Jan 2013

Capillarity: A Theory Of Mlearning And Its Application In Emerging Markets, David Rogers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The theory of capillarity is an organic metaphor invoked to explore the role of network communications as a vehicle for education in a healthy society. Capillarity is offered as a theory in two parts: a mechanism for distribution and a method for engagement. Capillarity seeks to build an architecture that reflects radical humanism's emphasis on access and inclusion as a vehicle for classical humanism's emphasis on the individual expansion of potential and consciousness. The technical instrument whereby this program of humanist education may be deployed is mLearning

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Numerical Simulations For The Flow Of Rocket Exhaust Through A Granular Medium, Kristina Kraakmo Jan 2013

Numerical Simulations For The Flow Of Rocket Exhaust Through A Granular Medium, Kristina Kraakmo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Physical lab experiments have shown that the pressure caused by an impinging jet on a granular bed has the potential to form craters. This poses a danger to landing success and nearby spacecraft for future rocket missions. Current numerical simulations for this process do not accurately reproduce experimental results. Our goal is to produce improved simulations to more accurately and effi- ciently model the changes in pressure as gas flows through a porous medium. A two-dimensional model in space known as the nonlinear Porous Medium Equation as it is derived from Darcy’s law is used. An Alternating-Direction Implicit (ADI) temporal …

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Engineering And Application Of Ultrafast Laser Pulses And Filamentation In Air, Nicholas Barbieri Jan 2013

Engineering And Application Of Ultrafast Laser Pulses And Filamentation In Air, Nicholas Barbieri

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Continuing advances in laser and photonic technology has seen the development of lasers with increasing power and increasingly short pulsewidths, which have become available over an increasing range of wavelengths. As the availability of laser sources grow, so do their applications. To make better use of this improving technology, understanding and controlling laser propagation in free space is critical, as is understanding the interaction between laser light and matter. The need to better control the light obtained from increasingly advanced laser sources leads to the emergence of beam engineering, the systematic understanding and control of light through refractive media and …

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Terrorism: The Effect Of Positive Social Sanctions, Curtis Hibbert Jan 2013

Terrorism: The Effect Of Positive Social Sanctions, Curtis Hibbert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research shows that relative deprivation, mental illness, culture, ideology, and various forms of social learning are often identified as factors that can lead an individual to terrorism. However, understanding the value of influences in the form of positive social sanctions through social contact has not been fully explored throughout terrorist studies. In regards to influencing behavior, positive social sanctions elicit a desired behavior which is reinforced through praise or rewards. By utilizing a case study approach, this thesis looks to determine the significance of positive social sanctions through social contact on select individuals who have committed an act of terror …

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Dangerous Instincts, Kirsten Holt Jan 2013

Dangerous Instincts, Kirsten Holt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Dangerous Instincts is a collection of poems unified thematically by recurring and interstitial questions of the wilderness, the natural sciences - particularly astrophysics - the occult, and the mythic universe. These poems explore the mystical implications of the natural world and its meaning in the aesthetic consciousness, particularly in a highly secular century. Implied is the poet’s selfdiscovery and search for the divine. The collection emerges, not simply as interpretation, but a means of coming to terms with the fear of and compulsion to question the universe, and through those questions find illumination in the ordinariness of lived life and …

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Zora, Genevieve Tyrrell Jan 2013

Zora, Genevieve Tyrrell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This mixed-media memoir uses a variety of forms from short epigrammatic essays to straightforward stories and graphic narratives to explore the author’s coming-of-age experiences augmented by chronic illness. Trying to succeed in the film industry, romance, and family situations, the young female narrator navigates the often unexpected or disappointing consequences of having an autonomic nervous system disorder. Relationships between conflicting identities emerge—between healthy versus sick self, projected/envisioned versus actual self, and tough versus vulnerable self—as the narrator journeys toward a more complete and accepting self-understanding.

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Ytterbium-Doped Fiber-Seeded Thin-Disk Master Oscillator Power Amplifier Laser System, Christina Willis-Ott Jan 2013

Ytterbium-Doped Fiber-Seeded Thin-Disk Master Oscillator Power Amplifier Laser System, Christina Willis-Ott

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lasers which operate at both high average power and energy are in demand for a wide range of applications such as materials processing, directed energy and EUV generation. Presented in this dissertation is a high-power 1 μm ytterbium-based hybrid laser system with temporally tailored pulse shaping capability and up to 62 mJ pulses, with the expectation the system can scale to higher pulse energies. This hybrid system consists of a low power fiber seed and pre-amplifier, and a solid state thin-disk regenerative amplifier. This system has been designed to generate high power temporally tailored pulses on the nanosecond time scale. …

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Less Lost: No Touchdown Dance, William Conner Jan 2013

Less Lost: No Touchdown Dance, William Conner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Less Lost is a feature-length film by William Chase Conner, made as part of the requirements for earning a Master of Fine Arts in Film & Digital Media from the University of Central Florida.

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Immuno-Pcr Detection Of Lyme Borreliosis, Micah Halpern Jan 2013

Immuno-Pcr Detection Of Lyme Borreliosis, Micah Halpern

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lyme borreliosis, more commonly referred to as Lyme disease, is the fastest growing zoonotic disease in North America with approximately 30,000 confirmed cases and 300,000 estimated infections per year. In nature, the causative agent of Lyme disease, the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, cycles between Ixodes sp. ticks and small mammals. Humans become infected with Lyme disease after being bitten by an infected tick. The primary indicator of a Borrelia burgdorferi infection is a bull’s eye rash typically followed by flu-like symptoms with treatment consisting of a 2-4 week course of antibiotics. If not treated, later stages of the disease can result …

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Induction Of Microalgal Lipids For Biodiesel Production In Tandem With Sequestration Of High Carbon Dioxide Concentration, Wilbel J. Brewer Jan 2013

Induction Of Microalgal Lipids For Biodiesel Production In Tandem With Sequestration Of High Carbon Dioxide Concentration, Wilbel J. Brewer

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

There is no doubt that sufficient energy supply is indispensable for the fulfillment of our fossil fuel crises in a stainable fashion. There have been many attempts in deriving biodiesel fuel from different bioenergy crops including corn, canola, soybean, palm, sugar cane and vegetable oil. However, there are some significant challenges, including depleting feedstock supplies, land use change impacts and food use competition, which lead to high prices and inability to completely displace fossil fuel [1-2]. In recent years, use of microalgae as an alternative biodiesel feedstock has gained renewed interest as these fuels are becoming increasingly economically viable, …

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