Digital Commons Network^™

Catalytic Hydrotreatment For The Development Of Renewable Transportation Fuels, Lilu Funkenbusch

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Biologically-derived feedstocks are a highly desirable source of renewable transportation fuel. They can be grown renewably and can produce fuels similar in composition to conventional fossil fuels. They are also versatile and wide-ranging. Plant oils can produce renewable diesel and wood-based pyrolysis oils can be made into renewable gasoline. Catalytic hydrotreatment can be used to reduce the oxygen content of the oils and increase their viability as a “drop-in” transportation fuel, since they can then easily be blended with existing petroleum-based fuels. However, product distribution depends strongly on feedstock composition and processing parameters, especially temperature and type of catalyst. Current …

On The Equivalence Between Bayesian And Frequentist Nonparametric Hypothesis Testing, Qiuchen Hai

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Testing of hypotheses about the population parameter is one of the most fundamental tasks in the empirical sciences and is often conducted by using parametric tests (e.g., the t-test and F-test), in which they assume that the samples are from populations that are normally distributed. When the normality assumption is violated, nonparametric tests are employed as alternatives for making statistical inference. In recent years, the Bayesian versions of parametric tests have been well studied in the literature, whereas in contrast, the Bayesian versions of nonparametric tests are quite scant (for exception, Yuan and Johnson (2008) ) in the literature, mainly …

Predicitng Failure Of Culverts And Associated Impacts In Low Order Streams Of Northern Michigan, Charles King

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The Great Lakes Region of North America has experienced more frequent extreme precipitation events recently, resulting in a large number of stream crossing failures. To evaluate failure risk and potential impacts of crossings in northern Michigan, we identified and conducted coarse assessments of all the stream crossings and dams in the North Branch Paint River Watershed. A subset of 11 culverts were selected from 49 identified sites for hydraulic analysis to estimate crossing failure discharge conditions. Stream crossing dimensions and upstream attributes were used to create metrics that predict failure risk without the need for complex hydraulic modeling, and these …

On The Same Page: Theory, Practice & The Ela Common Core State Standards, Jessica Lauer

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This research sought to examine how writing was happening in high schools. States across the country, including Michigan, began implementing the Common Core State Standards in 2010. The standards place a heavy focus on informational texts particularly as a student reaches high school. The standards also suggest that writing should be a shared responsibility among teachers, acknowledging the importance of cross-disciplinary writing skills. Using a grounded theory approach to analyze the semi-structured interviews conducted with eight English teachers in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, this research revealed a disconnect between theory and practice when it comes to how educational standards …

Arts: A Guide For Conservators, Curators, And The Curious, Kari Rayner

Art Inquiries

Book review of Arts: A Guide for Conservators, Curators, and the Curious, by Roy S. Berns.

Back Matter

Art Inquiries

No abstract provided.

How A Diverse Research Ecosystem Has Generated New Rehabilitation Technologies: Review Of Nidilrr’S Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers, David J. Reinkensmeyer, Sarah Blackstone, Cathy Bodine, John Brabyn, David Brienza, Kevin Caves, Frank Deruyter, Edmund Durfee, Stefania Fatone, Geoff Fernie, Steven Gard, Patricia Karg, Todd A. Kuiken, Gerald F. Harris, Mike Jones, Yue Li, Jordana Maisel, Michael Mccue, Michelle A. Meade, Helena Mitchell, Tracy L. Mitzner, James L. Patton, Philip S. Requejo, James H. Rimmer, Wendy A. Rogers, W. Zev Rymer, Jon A. Sanford, Lawrence Schneider, Levin Sliker, Stephen Sprigle, Aaron Steinfeld, Edward Steinfeld, Gregg Vanderheiden, Carolee Winstein, Li-Qun Zhang, Thomas Corfman

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Over 50 million United States citizens (1 in 6 people in the US) have a developmental, acquired, or degenerative disability. The average US citizen can expect to live 20% of his or her life with a disability. Rehabilitation technologies play a major role in improving the quality of life for people with a disability, yet widespread and highly challenging needs remain. Within the US, a major effort aimed at the creation and evaluation of rehabilitation technology has been the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs) sponsored by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. As envisioned at their …

In Silico Screening Of Chalcones Against Epstein-Barr Nuclear Antigen 1 Protein In Epstein-Barr Virus (Ebv), Nitchakan Darai

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Epstein-Barr Nuclear Antigen 1 (EBNA1), a crucial protein encoded by the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), plays an important role in the replication and transcriptional regulator of EBV virus latent gene expression. Therefore, it is associated with several diseases especially human malignancies. The previous studies have demonstrated that chalcone derivatives can potentially inhibit the EBV virus. In this study, a series of designed chalcones were in silico screened toward EBNA1 using molecular docking. The docking results show that the interaction energies of 3a, 3b, 3d, 4g and 4h are better than those of the known anti-EBV agents, 1335528, 2122620 and 4-hydroxyderricin. The …

นาโนคอมพอสิตของพอลิแล็กทิกแอซิด/เอทิลีนไวนิลแอซีเทตโคพอลิเมอร์เติมด้วยนาโนไฮบริด พอลิเมทิลเมทาคริเลต/ซิลิกา, จัสมิน พงค์เกษม

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

นาโนคอมพอสิตของพอลิแล็กทิกแอซิด/เอทิลีนไวนิลแอซีเทตโคพอลิเมอร์ (อีวีเอ) ถูกเตรียมด้วยนาโนซิลิกาและนาโนไฮบริดของพอลิเมทิลเมทาคริเลต/นาโนซิลิกา (1, 3 และ 5 ส่วนโดยน้ำหนักต่อเรซินร้อยส่วน) ด้วยการผสมแบบหลอมเหลวในเครื่องผสมแบบปิดตามด้วยเครื่องอัดแบบ โดยนาโนเลเท็กซ์ของพอลิเมทิลเมทาคริเลต/นาโนซิลิกาถูกสังเคราะห์ด้วยกระบวนการเกิดพอลิเมอร์ ‘อิน ซิทู’ ดิฟเฟอเรนเชียลไมโครอิมัลชัน ซึ่งนาโนไฮบริดของพอลิเมทิลเมทาคริเลต/นาโนซิลิกาที่เตรียมได้มีร้อยละการกราฟต์เท่ากับร้อยละ 90.9 และมีขนาดอนุภาคเฉลี่ยและพื้นที่ผิวเท่ากับ 43.4 นาโนเมตร และ 71.3 ตารางเมตรต่อกรัม ตามลำดับ จากการศึกษาสัณฐานวิทยา พบว่า อนุภาคนาโนไฮบริดแสดงลักษณะโครงสร้างแบบแก่น-เปลือก ที่มีนาโนซิลิกาเป็นแก่นกลางและพอลิเมทิลเมทาคริเลตเป็นเปลือก ขั้นแรกพอลิเมอร์ผสมพอลิแล็กทิกแอซิด/อีวีเอที่อัตราส่วนต่างๆ (อีวีเอ ร้อยละ 10-30 โดยน้ำหนัก) ได้ถูกเตรียม และพบว่า ความทนแรงกระแทกและการยืดตัว ณ จุดขาดได้รับการปรับปรุง ขณะที่ยังส์มอดุลัสและเสถียรภาพทางความร้อนมีค่าลดลงเมื่อเติมอีวีเอลงในพอลิแล็กทิกแอซิด เนื่องด้วยพอลิเมอร์ผสม 90/10 พอลิแล็กทิกแอซิด/อีวีเอมีสมบัติเชิงกลที่เหมาะสม จึงถูกเลือกเพื่อเตรียมนาโนคอมพอสิตด้วยนาโนซิลิกาและนาโนไฮบริดของพอลิเมทิลเมทาคริเลต/นาโนซิลิกา จากผลการทดลอง พบว่าการเติมนาโนซิลิกาหรือนาโนไฮบริดของพอลิเมทิลเมทาคริเลต/นาโนซิลิกาในพอลิเมอร์ผสม 90/10 พอลิแล็กทิกแอซิด/อีวีเอ ได้ปรับปรุงความทนแรงกระแทกและเสถียรภาพทางความร้อน หากแต่การยืดตัว ณ จุดขาดมีค่าลดลง นอกจากนี้ การเติมนาโนซิลิกาส่งผลให้ความทนแรงดึงและยังส์มอดุลัสมีค่าลดลง ขณะที่ความทนแรงดึงและยังส์มอดุลัสของนาโนคอมพอสิตด้วยนาโนไฮบริดของพอลิเมทิลเมทาคริเลต/นาโนซิลิกา มีค่าเพิ่มขึ้น โดยสรุป พบว่านาโนไฮบริดของพอลิเมทิลเมทาคริเลต/นาโนซิลิกา แสดงประสิทธิภาพในการเสริมแรงได้ดีกว่านาโนซิลิกาที่ปริมาณการเติมสารตัวเติมที่เท่าๆ กัน เนื่องจากมีแรงยึดเหนี่ยวระหว่างพอลิเมอร์-สารตัวเติมที่มากกว่า

Repair Of Metallic Components Using Hybrid Manufacturing, Renwei Liu

Doctoral Dissertations

"Many high-performance metal parts users extend the service of these damaged parts by employing repair technology. Hybrid manufacturing, which includes additive manufacturing (AM) and subtractive manufacturing, provides greater build capability, better accuracy, and surface finish for component repair. However, most repair processes still rely on manual operations, which are not satisfactory in terms of time, cost, reliability, and accuracy. This dissertation aims to improve the application of hybrid manufacturing for repairing metallic components by addressing the following three research topics. The first research topic is to investigate and develop an efficient best-fit and shape adaption algorithm for automating 3D models' …

Volumetric Error Compensation For 5-Axis Machine Tools, Jennifer Ruth Creamer

Doctoral Dissertations

"This work presents a geometric error compensation method for large 5-axis machine tools. The compensation method presented here uses tool tip measurements recorded throughout the axis space to construct a position-dependent geometric error model that can easily be used for error compensation. The measurements are taken using a laser tracker, permitting rapid error data gathering at most locations in the axis space. First two model types are compared for generating table-based error compensation and experimental results are presented. Table-based compensation is then extended to machine tool controller types with restrictions on the number or combination of compensation tables using an …

Cognition-Based Approaches For High-Precision Text Mining, George John Shannon

Doctoral Dissertations

"This research improves the precision of information extraction from free-form text via the use of cognitive-based approaches to natural language processing (NLP). Cognitive-based approaches are an important, and relatively new, area of research in NLP and search, as well as linguistics. Cognitive approaches enable significant improvements in both the breadth and depth of knowledge extracted from text. This research has made contributions in the areas of a cognitive approach to automated concept recognition in.

Cognitive approaches to search, also called concept-based search, have been shown to improve search precision. Given the tremendous amount of electronic text generated in our digital …

The Maculoprotective Effect Of A Thiol Antioxidant In Retinal Degeneration Models, Hsiu-Jen Wang

Doctoral Dissertations

"Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of irreversible blindness among adults, age 60 and older, in developed countries. While oxidative stress is implicated in the pathogenesis of AMD, clinical studies have shown that dietary antioxidants can delay progression of AMD. Currently, there is no FDA-approved treatment for AMD. Therefore, we hypothesized that N-acetylcysteine amide (NACA), a thiol antioxidant, would protect retinal pigment epithelium and impede the progression of retinal degeneration. The goal of this work was to evaluate the efficacy of NACA in preventing retinal pigment epithelial cell and photoreceptor death in AMD models. To achieve this, we …

Numerical Simulation Of Viscoelastic Buckle Folds: Implications For Stress, Fractures, Porosity And Fluid Flow, Xiaolong Liu

Doctoral Dissertations

"Over the past several decades, buckle folds have been exclusively studied by numerous methods. However, lots of assumptions and simplifications are made, which may not result in realistic in-situ stress conditions leading to rock failure. This study represents the first numerical simulation of folding under the consideration of gravity and pore pressure to simulate the structural development of buckle folds.

The first topic covered in this dissertation is the fracture associated to the single layer fold. It is concluded that burial depth, viscosity, and permeability are critical for the initiation of major fracture sets at the hinge zone with varying …

Novel Applications Of Pulse Pre-Pump Brillouin Optical Time Domain Analysis For Behavior Evaluation Of Structures Under Thermal And Mechanical Loading, Yi Bao

Doctoral Dissertations

"This study aims to: (1) develop an analytical model for the strain transfer effect of distributed fiber optic sensors in a uniform or non-uniform stress field; (2) develop a measurement approach to monitor strains in concrete and detect damage (e.g. crack and delamination) in bonded and unbonded concrete overlays; (3) characterize the strain and temperature sensitivities of distributed fiber optic sensors at elevated temperatures; (4) develop a thermal annealing approach to enhance the thermal stability and temperature sensitivity of the distributed sensors; and (5) apply the distributed sensors to assess structural behaviors of concrete and steel structures exposed to fire. …

High-Volume Recycled Materials For Sustainable Transportation Infrastructure, Seyedhamed Sadati

Doctoral Dissertations

"The objective of this study is to investigate the feasibility of using high performance concrete made with high-volume of recycled materials in transportation infrastructure. The main focus was to develop mixtures for rigid pavement construction. A variety of fine and coarse recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) were investigated. The feasibility of replacing 50% of Portland cement with industrial by-products and supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) was also evaluated. Experimental program was conducted to quantify the effect of concrete mixture design and RCA characteristics on mechanical properties, drying shrinkage, cracking potential, and durability of concrete. The development of a database and analysis using …

Smart Rocks For Bridge Scour Monitoring -- Design And Localization Using Electromagnetic Techniques And Embedded Orientation Sensors, Andro Radchenko

Doctoral Dissertations

"River bridge scour is an erosion process in which flowing water removes sediment materials (such as sand, rocks) from a bridge foundation, river beds and banks. As a result, the level of the river bed near a bridge pier is lowering such that the bridge foundation stability can be compromised, and the bridge can collapse. The scour is a dynamic process, which can accelerate rapidly during a flood event. Thus, regular monitoring of the scour progress is necessary to be performed at most river bridges. Present techniques are usually expensive, require large man/hour efforts, and often lack the real-time monitoring …

The Effect Of Testing Conditions On Lost Circulation Materials' Performance In Simulated Fractures, Montri Jeennakorn

Doctoral Dissertations

"Lost circulation (LOC) problems increase costs of drilling significantly. It is not only the cost of the drilling fluid that is lost into the formation but also the costs of subsequent problems that can be higher than the cost of the drilling fluids. LOC also possibly leads to a serious risk of blowout incident.

Lost circulation materials (LCM) are regularly added to the drilling fluids with an expectation of plugging the flow path. Due to the difficulties of testing and monitoring LCM sealing processes in the field, LCM evaluation in the laboratory is often used to prove and assure successful …

Optimal Design And Freeform Extrusion Fabrication Of Functionally Gradient Smart Parts, Amir Ghazanfari

Doctoral Dissertations

"An extrusion-based additive manufacturing process, called the Ceramic On-Demand Extrusion (CODE) process, for producing three-dimensional ceramic components with near theoretical density was developed. In this process, an aqueous paste of ceramic particles with a very low binder content (<1 vol%) is extruded through a moving nozzle at room temperature. After a layer is deposited, it is surrounded by oil (to a level just below the top surface of most recent layer) to preclude non-uniform evaporation from the sides. Infrared radiation is then used to partially, and uniformly, dry the just-deposited layer so that the yield stress of the paste increases and the part maintains its shape. The same procedure is repeated for every layer until part fabrication is completed. Sample parts made of alumina and fully stabilized zirconia were produced using this process and their mechanical properties including density, strength, Young's modulus, Weibull modulus, toughness, and hardness were examined. Microstructural evaluation was also performed to measure the grain size, and critical flaw sizes were obtained. The results indicate that the proposed method enables fabrication of geometrically complex parts with superior mechanical properties. Furthermore, several methods were developed to increase the productivity of the CODE process and enable manufacturing of functionally graded materials with an optimum distribution of material composition. As an application of the CODE process, advanced ceramic components with embedded sapphire optical fiber sensors were fabricated and properties of parts and sensors were evaluated using standard test methods"--Abstract, page iv.

Expanding The Repertoire: The Changing Nature Of Work And Roles Of The Academic Library Liaison [Presentation Slides], Elizabeth Retzel Bucciarelli

Faculty Scholarship - University Library

No abstract provided.

Depositional Systems, Sequence Architecture, And Controlling Factors Of An Eocene Stratigraphic Sequence At Minfeng Steep Margin Of Dongying Depression, Eastern China, Zhixin Li

Doctoral Dissertations

“This study is carried out in Minfeng area, the steep margin of Dongying half graben, eastern China, by integrating 3-D seismic, wireline log, and core data, and aims to interpret the depositional systems, reconstruct sequence stratigraphic architecture, and understand the controlling processes and factors at the steep margin of a rift basin. In the first part of this work, an Eocene stratigraphic sequence is divided into three systems tracts, corresponding to different stages of lake evolution, as early expansion (EEST), late expansion-early contraction (LEECST), and late contraction (LCST). EEST is the thickest and diagnostic by the best-developed marginal and basinal …

Promoting Access Over Ownership: Realigning Antitrust And Intellectual Property Law To Usher In An Era Of Collaborative Consumption, Adrian Kuenzler

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Following the US Supreme Court's endorsement of the promotion of consumer welfare as the single goal of antitrust and intellectual property laws, many courts have reasserted their commitment to the market access doctrine for antitrust and intellectual property law liability. These courts have rejected the Court's submission in GTE Sylvania to adhere to a strict output/profitability test concentrating predominantly on the positive and negative welfare effects regarding allegedly infringing conduct. This Article examines several important antitrust and intellectual property law decisions and locates within them a common flaw to express an intelligible, distinct doctrinal function for giving precedence to market …

Copyright Paternalism, Kevin J. Hickey

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

The dominant justification for copyright is based on the notion that authors respond rationally to economic incentives. Despite the dominance of this incentive model, many aspects of existing copyright law are best understood as motivated by paternalism. Termination rights permit authors to rescind their own earlier assignments of copyright. The elimination of formalities protects careless authors from forfeitures of copyright if they fail to register the copyright or place appropriate notice on their works. The law limits how copyrights can be transferred, when rights in emerging media can be assigned, and which works can be designated as "made for hire" …

Taming The Internet Pitchfork Mob: Online Public Shaming, The Viral Media Age, And The Communications Decency Act, Kristine L. Gallardo

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Accompanying the explosive growth of the Internet, one lamentable trend is the rise of online public shaming. While online public shaming may positively incentivize individuals to modify their behavior in accordance with socially acceptable norms, there has also been the emergence of an online "pitchfork mob" that can have a real impact on individuals' livelihoods and overall well being. Due to the lack of legal remedies available to victims of certain types of online shaming, this Note suggests that web hosts are empowered by the expansive protections of the Communications Decency Act to develop and implement policies to curb the …

The "Strict Liability" Of Direct Patent Infringement, Lynda J. Oswald

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

In 1995, the Federal Circuit summarily attached the label of "strict liability" to direct patent infringement, even though that term does not appear in any US Patent Act enacted in the past two centuries. The catechism of "strict" direct patent infringement liability is now so well engrained in patent doctrine that it is easy to lose sight of how recent the advent of this terminology is in the case law, and how troublesome application of this standard has proven, even to the Federal Circuit, which created it. The first Patent Act (1790) preceded the emergence of tort law as a …

I Dissent: The Federal Circuit's "Great Dissenter," Her Influence On The Patent Dialogue, And Why It Matters, Daryl Lim

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

This Article is the first study to comprehensively explore the centrality of the patent dialogue at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the nation's principal patent court from empirical, doctrinal, and policy perspectives. It offers several insights into how the Federal Circuit reaches consensus and when it does not, serving as a window into its inner workings, a reference to academics, judges, and attorneys alike. More broadly, this Article provides a template to study the "legal dialogue" of other judges at the Federal Circuit, those in other Circuits, as well as those in other areas of the law. …

Dance Like No One Is Watching, Post Like Everyone Is: The Accessibility Of "Private" Social Media Content In Civil Litigation, Nicole A. Keefe

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

An increasing amount of information about an individual manifests in online activity, specifically through the use of the numerous social media platforms available today. Though these platforms offer users the ability to shield content behind various degrees of privacy options, even the most private information might be accessed in the course of robust legal proceedings. This Note analyzes the accessibility of private social media content in civil litigation through the vehicles of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, and the Federal Rules of Evidence. The solution suggests methods for incorporating this new technological medium …

Free Speech Or Slavery Profiteering?: Solutions For Policing Online Sex--Trafficking Advertisement, Marguerite A. O'Brien

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Online sex trafficking is big business. The Department of Homeland Security estimates that sex trafficking generates billions of dollars per year. The marketplace for sex has moved from the street corner to classified ad websites such as Backpage.com, and all too often the victims of online sex trafficking are minors. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reported an 846 percent increase in reports of child sexual exploitation between 2010 and 2015--growth the organization attributes to the availability of sex ads on websites such as Backpage.com. Law enforcement agencies and victims have sought to hold Backpage.com liable for facilitating …

Flagging The Middle Ground Of The Right To Be Forgotten: Combatting Old News With Search Engine Flags, Hannah L. Cook

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Incomplete and outdated news articles present an increasing problem for individuals who find themselves stigmatized on the basis of truthful but misleading reports. This Article proposes a moderate solution between the European right to be forgotten and the protectionless status quo in the United States. It proposes a flagging system, administered through Federal Trade Commission adjudications, where links to articles whose private harms outweigh their public benefits are flagged in the search results of an individual. This flag will help combat psychological biases that may cause decisionmakers to place an irrational weight on these articles while preserving the ability of …

Federalism And Federalization On The Fintech Frontier, Brian Knight

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

The rise of financial technology (fintech) has the potential to provide better-quality financial services to more people. Although these enhanced financial services have arisen in order to meet consumer need, their regulatory status threatens that progress. Many fintech firms are regulated on a state-by-state basis even though their transactions are interstate, and they compete with firms that enjoy more consistent rules through federal preemption. This dynamic can harm efficiency, competitive equity, and political equity. This Article examines developments in marketplace lending, money transmission, and online sales of securities in an attempt to identify situations in which greater federalization of the …