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2017

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Remote Sensing Of Soil Moisture With Signals Of Opportunity (Soop), Yao-Cheng Lin Dec 2017

Remote Sensing Of Soil Moisture With Signals Of Opportunity (Soop), Yao-Cheng Lin

Open Access Dissertations

The measurement of soil moisture is essential for studying the hydrological cycle. Passive microwave radiometry is the most mature technology for the remote sensing of soil moisture, as demonstrated on ESAs Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite and the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission from NASA. Global Navigation Satellite System-Reflectometry (GNSS-R) has been demonstrated as an alternative approach to the remote sensing of soil moisture, through several airborne and ground-based experiments. All of these systems operate in L-band (1575.42 MHz for GNSS) which has a penetration depth in soil of only a few cm. GNSS signals are also …


Data Classification For L-Diversity, Koray Mancuhan Dec 2017

Data Classification For L-Diversity, Koray Mancuhan

Open Access Dissertations

Corporations are retaining ever-larger corpuses of personal data; the frequency of breaches and corresponding privacy impact has been rising accordingly. One way to mitigate this risk is through use of anonymized data, limiting the exposure of individual data to only where it is absolutely needed. This would seem particularly appropriate for data mining, where the goal is generalizable knowledge rather than data on specific individuals. In practice, corporate data miners often insist on original data, for fear that they might miss something with anonymized or differentially private approaches. This dissertation provides both empirical and theoretical justifications for the use of …


An Investigation Of The Neural Circuitry Of Cued Alcohol Behaviors In P And Wistar Rats., Aqilah Maryam Mccane Dec 2017

An Investigation Of The Neural Circuitry Of Cued Alcohol Behaviors In P And Wistar Rats., Aqilah Maryam Mccane

Open Access Dissertations

Alcohol-paired cues invigorate alcohol-seeking and drinking behaviors in both rodents and individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD). Additionally, genetic susceptibility plays a key role in alcohol addiction behaviors. Alcohol preferring (P) rats model both genetic vulnerability and symptoms of AUD. The basolateral amygdala (BLA), prefrontal cortex (PFC), hippocampus (HC) and nucleus accumbens (NA) are important brain regions involved in cued alcohol seeking. These regions are interconnected and their functional connections are hypothesized to be critical in the expression of motivated behaviors. Electrophysiological recordings in these four regions were collected in P rats engaged in a cued alcohol task. Data were …


Energy Reduction Techniques To Increase Battery Life For Electronic Sensor Nodes, John K. Lynch Dec 2017

Energy Reduction Techniques To Increase Battery Life For Electronic Sensor Nodes, John K. Lynch

Open Access Dissertations

Preserving battery life in duty-cycled sensor nodes requires minimizing energy use in the active region. Lowering the power supply of CMOS gates down into sub-threshold mode is a good way to decrease energy. In this work, a unique technique to control the current in CMOS gates to reliably operate them in sub-threshold mode is described. Compared to the current state-of-theart for running digital gates in the sub-threshold regime, this work is often superior in its lack of complexity and in reduced variance in delay caused by process variations. In addition to presenting the design considerations, a demonstration of a complete …


Exploring The Relationship Between Childhood Maltreatment And Adolescent Substance Use: Mediating Effects Of Family And Peer Relationships, Alexandra C. Marin Dec 2017

Exploring The Relationship Between Childhood Maltreatment And Adolescent Substance Use: Mediating Effects Of Family And Peer Relationships, Alexandra C. Marin

Open Access Dissertations

Child maltreatment is a key risk factor for maladaptive behaviors throughout the life course, including substance use. Although the effects of maltreatment on several domains of functioning have been thoroughly documented in past literature, the social mechanisms through which maltreatment affects individual trajectories have received considerably less attention, especially in relation to the contribution of different maltreatment dimensions (such as subtype, timing, and severity). Examining these dimensions and social mechanisms could hold the key to answering the question of why some maltreated children experience long-spanning negative developmental outcomes, while others maintain resiliency and are seemingly unaffected by these experiences. In …


Radical Manifest Destiny: Mapping Power Over Urban Green Space In The Age Of Protest, 1968-1988, Kera N. Lovell Dec 2017

Radical Manifest Destiny: Mapping Power Over Urban Green Space In The Age Of Protest, 1968-1988, Kera N. Lovell

Open Access Dissertations

My dissertation traces how conflicts concerning power over green space in the urban realm sparked a pattern of insurgent park creation as a form of political placemaking in the late Cold War era. While urban and environmental historians and spatial studies scholars have illuminated how cities became the context of political disputes over power and space in the twentieth century, my work sheds light on radical, community-driven environmental design as a method of protest between the late 1960s and late 1980s. While focused on a handful of central case studies across the U.S., my work situates them within a disconnected …


Wavetda: Bayesian Statistics, Wavelets And Topological Data Analysis To Title Assess Statistical Shape, Patrick S. Medina Dec 2017

Wavetda: Bayesian Statistics, Wavelets And Topological Data Analysis To Title Assess Statistical Shape, Patrick S. Medina

Open Access Dissertations

Advanced imaging and scanning technologies are providing an abundance of shape-based data that require novel approaches to understand the factors that generate them. This is especially true in modern agricultural practices where large quantities of highly detailed morphometric data are collected and used for studying genetic associations. Toward this end there is an immediate need for efficient algorithms that extract relevant geometric information from images in a form that can be used within a statistical framework. Topological Data Analysis (TDA) has shown to be both fast and effective for studying complex shapes, and can simultaneously reduce dimensionality into simpler topological …


Teachers' Perceptions Of The Impact Of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy On The Student Learning Outcomes Of African American Male Students., Dennisha M. Murff Dec 2017

Teachers' Perceptions Of The Impact Of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy On The Student Learning Outcomes Of African American Male Students., Dennisha M. Murff

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore teachers’ perceptions of the impact of implementing culturally responsive pedagogical practices on the student learning outcomes of African-American male students. The secondary purpose was to identify teachers’ perceptions of the culturally responsive pedagogy strategies needed in the classroom to address the diverse needs of African-American male students. The case study approach allowed for additional insight into the potential impact of culturally responsive pedagogical practices on the student learning outcomes of African-American male students in the elementary school setting. Data were collected from a large, diverse elementary school in an urban school …


Investigation Of Pore Formation In Lipid Bilayer By Antimicrobial Peptides, Yuan Lyu Dec 2017

Investigation Of Pore Formation In Lipid Bilayer By Antimicrobial Peptides, Yuan Lyu

Open Access Dissertations

As more and more microbes develop resistance to conventional antibiotics and the decline in the approval of new antibiotics in recent years, there is an increasing need for research on identification and design of new therapeutic alternatives. As a result, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are becoming one of the most promising alternative options to target pathogens without developing resistance. It is known that AMPs inactivate microorganisms by forming transmembrane pores in cell membrane through adsorption and aggregation. Understanding the detailed mechanism of inactivation by AMPs is necessary for developing new agent for antimicrobial treatment. This study mainly investigates antimicrobial peptides from …


Multifaceted Inorganic Chemistry: Metal Oxide Materials For Use In Oxidation Catalysis & The Synthesis And Photophysics Of Macrocyclic Transition Metal-Alkynyl Complexes, Eileen Caroline Judkins Dec 2017

Multifaceted Inorganic Chemistry: Metal Oxide Materials For Use In Oxidation Catalysis & The Synthesis And Photophysics Of Macrocyclic Transition Metal-Alkynyl Complexes, Eileen Caroline Judkins

Open Access Dissertations

The first chapter focuses on the synthesis and characterization of four new Cr(III)-bisalkynyl complexes bearing the macrocyclic tetraaza ligand DMC (DMC = 5,12-dimethyl-1,4,8,11- tetraazacyclotetradecane). The complexes trans-[Cr(DMC)(C2R)2]X (R = Ph ([1.1]X), Fc ([1.2]X), X = Cl, ClO4; C2H ([1.3]X′); X′ = ClO4, BPh4) and cis-[Cr(DMC)(C4TMS)2]Cl ([1.4]Cl) were studied using UV-vis and FT-IR spectroscopies, and their identities were verified with ESI-MS and elemental analysis. The three trans-complexes, [1.1]Cl, [1.2](ClO4), and [1.3](BPh4), were structurally characterized using single crystal X-ray diffraction, which revealed a pseudooctahedral geometry around the Cr center with the nitrogen atoms occupying the equatorial plane and the alkynyl ligands residing …


Biophysics Of Dna Based Nanosystems Probed By Optical Nanoscopy, Jing Pan Dec 2017

Biophysics Of Dna Based Nanosystems Probed By Optical Nanoscopy, Jing Pan

Open Access Dissertations

A dynamic DNA nanosystem exploits the programmable structure and energy landscape of DNA self-assembly to encode designed processes in a fuctuating molecular environment. One type of such a dynamic system, DNA walker, is reminiscent of biological motor proteins that convert chemical energy into mechanical translocation. Typical DNA walker travels tens of nanometers at a speed orders of magnitude slower than motor proteins. Two major challenges limited the development of functional DNA walkers. First, there are no suitable characterization methods that o˙er adequate spatial and temporal resolution to extract walker kinetics. Second, no guidelines have been established for the design and …


It Was A Time Of Confusion: Managing Uncertainty In A New, Competency-Based Polytechnic Program, Kurtis D. Miller Dec 2017

It Was A Time Of Confusion: Managing Uncertainty In A New, Competency-Based Polytechnic Program, Kurtis D. Miller

Open Access Dissertations

Higher education in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) faces a number of challenges. There are many calls for STEM education to make significant changes moving forward, including calls for competency-based learning and greater integration of the humanities. These efforts require systemic change (Reigeluth & Garfinkle, 1994). Systemic change has significant impacts on students, teachers, and other organizational stakeholders. The challenges of systemic change create significant uncertainty and experiences of uncertainty can interact in a number of ways. Communication as a field is well positioned to speak to how many of these challenges can be avoided and/or avoided. Communication theories …


The Effects Of Air-Cooled Blast Furnace Slag (Acbfs) Aggregate On The Chemistry Of Pore Solution And The Interfacial Transition Zone, Parth Panchmatia Dec 2017

The Effects Of Air-Cooled Blast Furnace Slag (Acbfs) Aggregate On The Chemistry Of Pore Solution And The Interfacial Transition Zone, Parth Panchmatia

Open Access Dissertations

Numerous laboratory and field studies have demonstrated that concrete incorporating air cooled blast furnace slag (ACBFS) aggregate showed a higher degree of infilling of voids with ettringite as opposed to concrete prepared using naturally mined carbonate aggregates when exposed to similar environmental conditions. This observation prompted some to link the deterioration observed in the ACBFS aggregate concrete structures to the compromised freeze-thaw resistance due to infilling of air voids. Concerns about the release of sulfur from ACBFS aggregate into the pore solution of concrete had been presented as the reason for the observed ettringite deposits in the air voids. However, …


Lab-Scale Exploration Of Abiotic Transformation Approaches For Groundwater Remediation Of Per- And Polyfluoroalkyl Acids, Saerom Park Dec 2017

Lab-Scale Exploration Of Abiotic Transformation Approaches For Groundwater Remediation Of Per- And Polyfluoroalkyl Acids, Saerom Park

Open Access Dissertations

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs), a group of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), have been extensively used in relatively large amount since the 1950s for industrial and consumer applications such as surfactants, coatings, paper packing products, and fire-fighting foams (e.g., aqueous film-forming foams (AFFFs)) due to their unique surfactant property and extremely chemically and thermally stable nature. Of the known PFAAs, long chain perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) have received increasing attention in recent years due to their global distribution, environmental persistence, biological recalcitrance, bioaccumulative properties, and potential toxicities. Recently, other PFAAs such as 6:2 fluorotelomer sulfonate (6:2 …


Effect Of Feed Additive Enzymes On Growth Performance And Immunological Response In Growing Pigs And Poultry, Emily R. Otto-Tice Dec 2017

Effect Of Feed Additive Enzymes On Growth Performance And Immunological Response In Growing Pigs And Poultry, Emily R. Otto-Tice

Open Access Dissertations

As demand for oilseeds and grains increase for uses beyond livestock feeds, swine and poultry producers are continually challenged to source alternative feed ingredients or co-products that are traditionally fed to ruminant animals. Many of these alternative feed ingredients have characteristics, such as higher fiber content or inherent antinutritional factors, that may reduce the feeding value for swine and poultry. To help improve the nutrient availability as well as understanding the positive affect that feeding fiber can have on gut health, biotech companies have developed novel enzymes to help breakdown these complex carbohydrate structures to release additional energy or reduce …


Erp System Post-Implementation Success Factors In A Higher Education Institution., Lin Qian Dec 2017

Erp System Post-Implementation Success Factors In A Higher Education Institution., Lin Qian

Open Access Dissertations

ERP systems have been implemented in many industries and institutions, and widely researched. However, it has been observed that many Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) fail to achieve their expectations following ERP implementation, yet they move to the post-implementation phase in spite of the system’s issues. This study aimed to provide the fundamentals of an assessment framework by examining the relationship of critical success factors leading the ERP system’s success at the post-implementation phase in HEI. Through a review of previous literature, nine potential factors were applied to the existing measurement model developed in prior related studies. The nine factors are: …


Development Of A Direct-Contact Triculture Model Of The Human Blood Brain Barrier And Potential Applications As A Preclinical Drug Screening Tool, Aimable Ngendahimana Dec 2017

Development Of A Direct-Contact Triculture Model Of The Human Blood Brain Barrier And Potential Applications As A Preclinical Drug Screening Tool, Aimable Ngendahimana

Open Access Dissertations

Given the high cost and emerging ethical and public concerns associated with the use of animal models, the use of in vitro techniques is gaining considerable attention in research programs related to CNS drug discovery and development. More specifically, various in vitro cell culture models for studying and predicting drug transport across the Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB) were developed as preclinical research tools for neurological drug discovery and development. The main goal of the present studies has been to improve conventional in vitro methods used in mimicking the BBB physiology and functions by allowing physiologically complex interactions of the human BBB …


Mechanisms Regulating Dna Methyltransferases, Christopher James Petell Dec 2017

Mechanisms Regulating Dna Methyltransferases, Christopher James Petell

Open Access Dissertations

The expression of specific genes that are regulated by transcription factors and epigenetic modifications is critical for normal cellular functioning and homeostasis. DNA methylation is an epigenetic modification that in mammals is crucial for the regulation of gene expression in a specific cell type. Aberrant loss or gain of DNA methylation is linked to cancer and several epigenetic disorders. DNA methylation is established by the de novo DNA methyltransferases Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b; however, the mechanisms underlying their target specificity remain to be fully understood. Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b can be regulated through interactions with other proteins, including histone modifications, and by …


Engineering Novel 3d Tumor-Stroma Models To Bridge The Gap Between Preclinical Drug Development And Human Clinical Outcomes, Theodore J. Puls Dec 2017

Engineering Novel 3d Tumor-Stroma Models To Bridge The Gap Between Preclinical Drug Development And Human Clinical Outcomes, Theodore J. Puls

Open Access Dissertations

While much progress has been made in the war on cancer, shortcomings in the drug development process have kept anti-cancer clinical trial success rates low. One of the many factors implicated in this is the lack of pathophysiologically relevant and predictive preclinical models. Specifically, traditional preclinical tumor models do not capture tumor microenvironment complexity and heterogeneity, while advanced three-dimensional (3D) models suffer from poor reproducibility, lack of relevant and standardized extracellular matrix (ECM), and inability to interface with automated, high-throughput systems. Because of this, it has been suggested that developing novel phenotypic tumor models which balance the need for complexity …


Geophysical Signatures Of Fracture Mechanisms, Anahita Modiriasari Dec 2017

Geophysical Signatures Of Fracture Mechanisms, Anahita Modiriasari

Open Access Dissertations

Fractures and discontinuities have a significant influence on the mechanical and hydraulic properties of brittle materials such as rock. The prediction of rock mass behavior requires information on the location and character of the initiation, propagation, and coalescence of new and pre-existing cracks. Methods based on the interpretation of seismic waves are of great interest because the waves can be used to probe internal damage in rock. The objective of this research is to characterize crack initiation, propagation, and coalescence inside rock using wave propagation. Digital image correlation (DIC) was employed to investigate crack evolution on the surface of rock …


Experimental Demonstration Of Engineered Dipole-Dipole Interactions In Nanophotonic Environments, Ward D. Newman Dec 2017

Experimental Demonstration Of Engineered Dipole-Dipole Interactions In Nanophotonic Environments, Ward D. Newman

Open Access Dissertations

Zero point fluctuations of the electromagnetic radiation field have profound effects on the electronic states of atoms and molecules. For example, vacuum fluctuations of the photonic radiation field stimulate the spontaneous decay of excited states of atoms (spontaneous emission), shift atomic energy levels (Lamb Shift), and allow nearby atoms and molecules to couple via dipole-dipole interactions (van der Waals interactions, Casimir effect, super radiance, F¨orster resonance energy transfer). The control and modification of vacuum fluctuations has been a long-standing theme in quantum engineering as one can then truly control single photon emission and alter dipole-dipole interactions spatial scaling with distance. …


Carbon Taxes, Forest Carbon Sequestration, Climate Induced Land Yield Changes, And Their Interactions, Luis Moisés Peña-Lévano Dec 2017

Carbon Taxes, Forest Carbon Sequestration, Climate Induced Land Yield Changes, And Their Interactions, Luis Moisés Peña-Lévano

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation is comprised of three essays that evaluate the economic benefits and costs of mitigating climate change at the global scale. Each essay relies on computable general equilibrium (CGE) modeling. The first essay evaluates the economic and environmental interactions among climate change, agriculture, forest carbon sequestration and food security. It addresses changes in land use, commodity and food prices, economic welfare, emission reductions, among other economic factors. This study finds that an aggressive sequestration subsidy can represent a threat for food security due to the land competition between agriculture and forestry. Likewise, the results suggest that there are benefits …


Active Learning For Designing Detectors For Infrequently Occurring Objects In Wide-Area Satellite Imagery, Tanmay Prakash Dec 2017

Active Learning For Designing Detectors For Infrequently Occurring Objects In Wide-Area Satellite Imagery, Tanmay Prakash

Open Access Dissertations

For designing detectors for infrequently occurring objects in wide-area satellite imagery, we are faced with the challenge that such objects are difficult to find for the purpose of generating the needed training data. As a result, a human agent must expend an inordinate length of time in order to produce a sufficient number of labeled training data. In this dissertation, we reduce this annotation burden by drawing upon the research that has been carried out recently in the area of active learning, whereby the machine searches for human annotation those unlabeled samples that can actually improve the detector. The search …


Laser-Assisted Processing Of Multilayer Films For Inexpensive And Flexible Biomedical Microsystems, Rahim Rahimi Dec 2017

Laser-Assisted Processing Of Multilayer Films For Inexpensive And Flexible Biomedical Microsystems, Rahim Rahimi

Open Access Dissertations

Flexible/stretchable electronics offer ideal properties for emerging health monitoring devices that can seamlessly integrate with the soft, curvilinear, and dynamic surfaces of the human body. The resulting capabilities have allowed novel devices for monitoring physiological parameters, improving surgical procedures, and human-machine interfaces. While the attractiveness of these devices are indubitable, their fabrication by conventional cleanroom techniques makes them expensive and incompatible with rapid large-scale (e.g., roll-to-roll) production. The purpose of this research is to develop inexpensive fabrication technologies using low-cost commercial films such as polyimide, paper, and metalized paper that can be utilized for developing various flexible/stretchable physical and chemical …


Process Intensification Through Spherical Crystallization: Novel Experimental And Modeling Approaches, Ramon Peña Dec 2017

Process Intensification Through Spherical Crystallization: Novel Experimental And Modeling Approaches, Ramon Peña

Open Access Dissertations

Process intensification is defined as the use of innovative techniques and technologies to create sustainable solutions to industrial production difficulties. Continuous spherical crystallization is a process intensification technique that could resolve production issues for pharmaceutical and solids processing industries, consequently, allowing for the integration of upstream and downstream manufacturing units. Spherical crystallization is carried out through emulsion based crystallization and/or agglomeration in suspension of fine crystals to produce aggregates of improved bulk and micromeritic properties. The advantages of spherical crystallization include: (i) replacing downstream particle correction units (i.e., milling, granulation), (ii) providing control of crystalline properties by decoupling crystallization and …


Determining Variation In Virulence, Persistence, And Stress Tolerance Among Salmonella Enterica And Listeria Monocytogenes From Food And Food-Associated Environments, Andrea J. (Ray) Etter Dec 2017

Determining Variation In Virulence, Persistence, And Stress Tolerance Among Salmonella Enterica And Listeria Monocytogenes From Food And Food-Associated Environments, Andrea J. (Ray) Etter

Open Access Dissertations

The U.S. food industry employs multiple strategies to prevent foodborne illness including the use of antimicrobials, sanitizers, and heat to reduce or eliminate pathogens in food products. However, Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella enterica isolates have widely varying tolerance to common processing stresses. Additionally, both pathogens display considerable variation in virulence among serovars and strains. The goal of these studies was to characterize the range of virulence and persistence capabilities for L. monocytogenes and S. enterica isolates. To this end, we determined the prevalence of inlA mutations in L. monocytogenes collected from retail deli surfaces, and used PFGE to study the …


Anisotropic Electron-Electron Interactions In Topological Insulators, Marius A. Radu Dec 2017

Anisotropic Electron-Electron Interactions In Topological Insulators, Marius A. Radu

Open Access Dissertations

HgTe forms a two-dimensional topological insulator when sandwiched between CdTe barriers for a HgTe layer wider than the critical thickness. In this study we derive single-particle interaction Hamiltonians describing the physics of these compounds by using k · p theory and extended Kane model. We include contributions from upper conduction bands with orbital states of p-symmetry that bring about the terms describing lack of inversion symmetry in host semiconductors. A crucial ingredient is hetero-interface contribution to intrinsic spin-orbit interactions that drives significant anticrossing gaps in spectra at zero wavevector, but results in a circle of spectral degeneracies at finite wavevectors. …


Bone Manganese As A Potential Biomarker Of Cumulative Manganese Exposure And Predictor Of Neurological Decline, Danelle A. Rolle-Mcfarland Dec 2017

Bone Manganese As A Potential Biomarker Of Cumulative Manganese Exposure And Predictor Of Neurological Decline, Danelle A. Rolle-Mcfarland

Open Access Dissertations

Research into the health effects of cumulative exposure to manganese (Mn) has been limited due to the lack of a biomarker that adequately represents cumulative exposure. In this cross-sectional study, we assessed the usefulness of bone Mn (BnMn) as a biomarker of cumulative Mn exposure and as an indicator of neurological decline. Our research group utilized a novel, transportable, in vivo Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) system to analyze BnMn in a group of Chinese workers (N=60). In addition to bone, blood and fingernail samples were also collected from participants and analyzed for Mn. Participants completed a questionnaire that included work …


A Closer Look: How Middle School Principals' Perceptions About Teacher Mindset Impact Instructional Coaching, Jayson P. Snyder Dec 2017

A Closer Look: How Middle School Principals' Perceptions About Teacher Mindset Impact Instructional Coaching, Jayson P. Snyder

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how a middle school principal’s perception about a teacher’s mindset affects how he provides that teacher with coaching and feedback as an instructional leader. The research took an in-depth look at two middle school principals with experience as teacher evaluators and instructional leaders. The theoretical framework for this qualitative study was phenomenology. All data came from interviews conducted with middle school principals. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and confirmed prior to individual and team coding and data analysis. The study was designed to shed light on how a middle school principal’s …


Novel Strategies For The Multi-Level, Online Optimization And Control Of Batch Operations Under Uncertainty, Francesco Rossi Dec 2017

Novel Strategies For The Multi-Level, Online Optimization And Control Of Batch Operations Under Uncertainty, Francesco Rossi

Open Access Dissertations

This thesis is focused on the development and application of innovative methods and algorithms for the multi-level, online optimization and control of batch processes under uncertainty. Specifically, it proposes novel solutions for the deterministic and stochastic dynamic optimization/optimal control of single batch operations and introduces new strategies for the integrated scheduling, dynamic optimization and optimal control of multi-unit/multi-step batch process. Moreover, it develops innovative approaches for the rapid estimation of the probability distribution of the uncertain parameters of dynamic process models from experimental measurements as well as new methodologies for selection of the optimal set of uncertain parameters in stochastic …