Digital Commons Network^™

Methane Emission Treatment And Potential Upcycling Using Methylomicrobium Alcaliphilum, Jace Parkinson

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Anthropogenic methane emissions are harmful to the environment and can be difficult to treat. Use of M. alcaliphilum for bioremediation of methane looks to be one of the most promising methods of reducing the negative environmental impacts of methane emissions while simultaneously providing an economic incentive. Successful bioreactor design for M. alcaliphilum based methane treatment requires biokinetic constants and microbial growth information. Methods were established for determining biokinetic constants, including growth rate, biomass yield, specific methane consumption rate, and a correlation between methane oxidation and carbon dioxide production for M. alcaliphilum. Values determined for these constants were used to …

No Evidence Of Stochastic Resonance In Postural Sway Response To Noisy Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation In Healthy Young Adults, Dominique Rice

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The transcutaneous application of a sub-sensory electrical stimulation to the vestibular afferents, known as noisy galvanic vestibular stimulation (nGVS), is thought to cause a reduction in postural sway at optimal amplitude intensities due to a mechanism known as stochastic resonance (SR). SR is a phenomenon whereby the addition of low amplitude noise to a non-linear system can be beneficial rather than detrimental. In humans, behavioral markers of SR in postural sway have been inconsistent, potentially due to insufficient power or false positives. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to determine whether the frequency of observing SR-like effects improves …

Teaching In The Digital Age: Creating A Student-Centered Classroom, Becca Huber-Jackson

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio compiles the work of the author during her time as a student in the Master of Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program at Utah State University (USU). It highlights her personal pedagogy as well as provides supporting research. The different components of this portfolio are separated into two sections: teaching perspectives and research perspectives.

In the teaching perspectives section, she introduces her desired professional environment, outlines her teaching philosophy statement, and provides an analysis based on teaching observations. Research perspectives consist of two research papers and an annotated bibliography written throughout the course of the program that support the …

The Impact Of Environmental Turbulence On The Strategic Decision-Making Process In Irish Quantity Surveying (Qs) Professional Service Firms (Psfs), Roisin Murphy Dr, Oluwasegun Seriki

Articles

Construction firms operate within a business environment characterized by uncertainty and a lack of predictability, increasing the complexity of strategic decision-making. Construction contractor firms’ strategic response to environmental turbulence is appropriately documented but evidence regarding Construction Professional Service Firms (CPSF’S) remains scarce. CPSF’s are characteristically different from contractor organizations due to the intangibility of services and high knowledge intensity. The purpose of the study is to ascertain the impact of environmental turbulence on strategic decision-making process characteristics in CPSF’s, specifically Irish Quantity Surveying (QS) practices. Using a mixed-methods research strategy, data collected over two dissimilar stages on the economic cycle …

A Biological Assessment Of Oyster Restoration Mats Throughout The Indian River Lagoon: Changes In Community Composition And Filtration Capacity Of Living Docks, Morgan Katherine Gilligan

Theses and Dissertations

Like many estuaries worldwide, the Indian River Lagoon (IRL), has seen a decline in resources and overall water quality due to human activities. There is a growing interest in implementing ecological engineering methods to restore water quality. One such method is the construction and deployment of oyster restoration mats on dock pilings, known as the Living Docks program. This community driven program was founded at Florida Tech with the goal of promoting the growth of filter feeding benthic organisms to improve local water quality. Since 2013, twelve docks have been deployed in the central IRL, spanning from Cape Canaveral (28º …

Voltage-Controlled Magnetization In Chromia-Based Magnetic Heterostructures, William Echtenkamp

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Spintronics promises a new generation of low-power, high-speed, non-volatile memory and logic devices. Heterostructures based on magnetoelectric chromia enable the direct manipulation of magnetization by applied electric fields and emerged as a promising building block for spintronic devices. In this dissertation, several interesting emergent magnetic properties arising in these device-enabling building blocks are examined. In some cases, exchange coupling at the interface between the magnetoelectric antiferromagnet and an adjacent ferromagnet stabilizes the interfacial antiferromagnetic domain state against the electrically induced rotation of the bulk spin structure. Upon magnetically cycling the ferromagnet, the magnetoelectric antiferromagnet relaxes towards a commensurate spin structure …

Manipulation Of Spin Crossover Phenomenon In An Fe(Ii) Molecular Complex And Application To Molecular Spintronics, Guanhua Hao

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Molecules with a large local magnetic moment have attracted considerable attention for application in spintronic devices. One candidate of a suitable device goes to the spin crossover molecule, where these 3d transition metal compounds are able to exhibit a robust spin state transition between distinct states. By proper design, the spintronic devices fabricated via spin crossover molecular thin films could achieve novel functionality while retaining flexibility and other traits based on its “organic” nature.

Controlling the spin state transition is a key factor of these possibilities. This thesis work investigates the manipulation of the spin state transition in [Fe{H …

The Design, Creation, And Cognitive Evaluation Of Ranking Tasks In Introductory Astronomy, Emily A. Welch

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Ranking tasks are a type of interactive formative assessment. They allow students to explore a concept by ranking similar situations for a specified variable, preferably without computation of that variable. I created two sets of introductory astronomy ranking tasks: the first connects the Hertzsprung–Russell (HR) diagram and the Stephan-Boltzmann luminosity equation; the second uses the transit method (TM) to rank exoplanets by comparing the depth, duration, and frequency of transits.

These tasks are designed within the constructivist pedagogical framework. They require students to call upon their own relevant schema to establish an assessment rule by which to rank the tasks. …

Evaluating Evapotranspiration And Management Of Glyphosate-Resistant Palmer Amaranth (Amaranthus Palmeri S. Watson), Jasmine M. Mausbach

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Palmer amaranth (PA) is the most problematic weed in agronomic cropping systems in the United States. Acetolactate synthase (ALS) inhibitor-/glyphosate-resistant (GR) PA has been confirmed in Nebraska and is widespread in several counties. Soybean resistant to isoxaflutole/glufosinate/glyphosate has been developed to provide additional herbicide sites of action for control of herbicide-resistant weeds. The objectives of this study were to evaluate herbicide programs for control of ALS inhibitor/GR PA and their effect on PA density and biomass, as well as soybean injury and yield in isoxaflutole/glufosinate/glyphosate-resistant soybean. A PRE herbicide fb glufosinate controlled PA 80%–99% 21 d after late-POST in 2018 …

Covalent Immobilization Of Molecular Complexes On Metal-Organic Frameworks Towards Robust And Highly Efficient Heterogeneous Water Oxidation Catalysts, Xiangming Liang, Sizhou Yang, Junyi Yang, Wanjun Sun, Xiangyang Li, Baochun Ma, Jier Huang, Jiangwei Zhang, Lele Duan, Yong Ding

Chemistry Faculty Research and Publications

The major challenges to practical implementation of efficient noble metal based molecular water oxidation catalysts are their stability and recycle ability. Herein, noble metal Ru based molecular water oxidation catalysts were covalently anchored in MOFs through “amide bond” as bridges, which leads to the formation of high-efficiency and robust heterogeneous catalysts for water oxidation reaction. We show that the efficiency for Ce^IV-driven water oxidation was significantly enhanced by 120 times when the Ru molecules were immobilized on the frameworks of MIL-101(Cr). The relationship between recycle stability and the structure of the Ru complexes covalently anchored in MOFs was …

Reasons And Remedies To The Dying Plant Walls, Hayley Q. Mcgough

Construction Management

Sustainability in construction has been increasingly popular and detrimental with the state of the planet and climate change. One of the more popular solutions is the addition of plant façades to a building, which are plants that are put on the vertical of a building. The benefits that come with plant facades include and are not limited to: Reduction of the urban heat island effect, improved air quality, local job creation, improved energy efficiency, building structure protection, noise reduction, increased biodiversity, urban agriculture. These benefits are not reaching their full potential because these plant façades keep dying creating a bigger …

Studies On Milling And Baking Quality And In Vitro Protein Digestibility Of Historical And Modern Wheats, Sujun Liu

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

There is considerable controversy among the public and the scientific community about whether modern wheats are harmful for human health and responsible for the increase of Celiac disease compared with historical varieties. Therefore, the milling and baking quality, protein digestibility, and protein composition of historical and modern wheats adapted to the Great Plains of the US were evaluated in this thesis. One objective of this thesis was to determine how end-use quality of wheat changed with wheat cultivar release year. Kernel physical characteristics, milling yield, whole-wheat flour quality, flour protein content, mixing quality and baking quality of 23 hard winter …

Patterns Of Depredation In The Hawai‘I Deep-Set Longline Fishery Informed By Fishery And False Killer Whale Behavior, Joseph E. Fader, Robin W. Baird, Amanda L. Bradford, Daniel C. Dunn, Karin A. Forney, Andrew J. Read

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

False killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens) depredate bait and catch in the Hawai‘i-based deep-set longline fishery, and as a result, this species is hooked or entangled more than any other cetacean in this fishery. We analyzed data collected by fisheries observers and from satellite-linked transmitters deployed on false killer whales to identify patterns of odontocete depredation that could help fishermen avoid overlap with whales. Odontocete depredation was observed on ˜6% of deep-set hauls across the fleet from 2004 to 2018. Model outcomes from binomial GAMMs suggested coarse patterns, for example, higher rates of depredation in winter, at lower latitudes, and with …

Efficient Model For Electronic Transport In High Energy-Density Matter, Liam G. Stanton, Michael S. Murillo

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

A wide-ranging effective Boltzmann approach, originally intended for ionic transport, is applied to the computation of electronic transport coefficients without modification. Comparisons with datasets that resulted from a recent transport coefficient workshop and molecular dynamics simulations are made. While this model contains correlation information through its effective potential and strong scattering through its use of cross sections, it misses details of attractive, possibly quantum, interactions; comparisons with that dataset reveal the relative importance of these physics inputs. Through comparisons of data for electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, temperature relaxation, and stopping power (including a new formula for the energy split due …

Thermomechanical Modeling In Laser Powder Bed Fusion Additive Manufacturing Using Graph Theory: Application To Prediction Of Recoater Crash, Md Humaun Kobir

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This work pertains to the laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) additive manufacturing process. The objective of this thesis is to predict a frequently occurring type of thermal-induced process failure in LPBF called recoater crash. To ascertain the likelihood of a recoater crash before the part is printed, we develop and apply a computationally efficient thermomechanical modeling approach based on graph theory.

Despite its demonstrated ability to overcome the design and processing constraints of conventional subtractive and formative manufacturing, the production-level scaleup of LPBF is hindered by frequent build failures. For example, the part often deforms as it is being printed …

Toward An Understanding Of Fundamental Mechanisms In Transitional And Turbulence Flow Control, Ethan A. Davis

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Turbulence is an emergent phenomenon found throughout nature and engineering, alike. It plays a vital role in the aquatic locomotion of organisms, scalar mixing, fluid transport, shipping and transportation, and even the flow of biological fluids in the human body. Therefore, it is of utmost importance in both a practical and engineering sense to better understand turbulence with the goal of better controlling it. This dissertation focuses broadly on better understanding the underlying mechanisms behind wall-bounded turbulent flows, with an emphasis on exploiting those mechanisms for turbulence flow control.

We developed a numerical simulation to study the effect of slip …

Biofiltration Application At Ethanol Plants: Analysis Of Aqueous Streams And Treatment Of Vocs, Katie Marie Mowat

Department of Environmental Engineering: Theses and Other Student Research

The United States used 14.5 billion gallons of the biofuel ethanol in 2019 produced primarily (82%) in dry-mill corn ethanol plants. These plants produce volatile organic compounds (VOCs) — some of which are hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) — during production. Traditional treatment methods for gaseous emissions use a large quantity of water or natural gas. Thus, a bio-trickling filter (BTF) is considered an innovative alternative treatment method. A lab-scale BTF was used in this study to look at the effect of ethanol concentration and temperature on the treatment of a HAPs mixture. Gaseous and aqueous testing were performed on the …

Exploring Faculty Perspectives During Emergency Remote Teaching In Engineering At A Large Public University, Maria Chierichetti, Patricia Backer

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

In Spring 2020, the College of Engineering at San José State University (SJSU) conducted a comprehensive analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on faculty who were forced to transition to an online learning environment. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of COVID-19 on faculty teaching methods, assessment methods, and personal well-being. The study was a combination of a quantitative survey and a qualitative study using interviews of engineering faculty teaching in Spring 2020. In the first part, we surveyed all faculty teaching during Spring 2020 in the SJSU College of Engineering about their experiences after the …

Effect Of Additional Weight On Stability Of Human Squat Exercise, Jose De Jesus Galarza Lozano

Theses and Dissertations

The main focus of the study is to analyze the stability of the squat exercise. The squat is a common exercise that persons do for exercise. The study analyze the time series of the normal component of the ground reaction forces and each coordinate of the center of pressure. Theses time series are used to estimate the Lyapunov Exponents using Rosenstein method. MATLAB from Mathworks is used to calculate the graphs and program the methods. We compare this result with the literature and previous experiments. This work gives more information relating the safety of the squat exercise when …

Fabrication And Characterization Of Polyvinylidene Fluoride Nanofibers For Energy Harvesting Applications, Jui Vitthal Kharade

Theses and Dissertations

Miniaturization of portable devices demand a power source that does not require recharging or replacement. Piezoelectric energy harvesters are devices that harvest mechanical energy from environment and convert it into electrical energy thus being an ideal candidate for replacing batteries in small devices. Objective of this thesis is to fabricate an energy harvester with efficient energy conversion. In this thesis, the effect of fabricating mechanisms, solvents, and composites on polyvinylidene nanofibers are analysed in order to improve the piezoelectric response of the nanofibers. These nanofibers are then used for fabricating an energy harvester. The energy harvester is implemented in a …

The Role Of Sense Of Community On Knowledge Sharing Behavior In Makerspaces, Eduardo Jose Millet

Theses and Dissertations

Using the Sense of Community Theory and the Knowledge Sharing Behavior this study explores the motivation of members of makerspaces to share technical and non-technical knowledge in this type of creative spaces. In makerspaces, individuals are expected to share what they know with others to solve design and fabrication problems. Most of the sharing occurs when experienced makers transfer knowledge to the novice makers. This behavior is what motivates this dissertation. Unlike traditional knowledge sharing that happens in formal organizations, makerspace participants engage in the knowledge sharing behavior differently; they share in an informal manner creating value for makerspaces and …

In-Situ Alloying Of Cucrfenitial High Entropy Alloy Using Spark Plasma Sintering, Yash P. Patil

Theses and Dissertations

Primary objective of this research was to study the correlation between energy parameters (temperature, time and pressure) of spark plasma sintering (SPS) and design/structural properties (uniform distribution of elements, sever lattice distortion, density), indirectly proving consolidation of a stable High-entropy alloy (HEA) that consists of minimum of five elements. Therefore, powders of five principal elements (CuCrFeNiTi) and one minor element (Al) in near equimolar ratios were used for HEA consolidation using SPS but without mechanical alloying. Overall results demonstrated that the HEA was not generated using heterogenous solution of CuCrFeNiTiAl using SPS. This suggests that the mechanical alloying of CuCrFeNiTiAl …

Production And Characterization Of Polyurethane Fibers By Forcespinning Method And Incorporation Of Luminiscense Nanoparticles, Sunanda Kumar Saha

Theses and Dissertations

In this work, Polyurethane (PU) fine fiber nonwoven mats are generated using the Forcespinning® method. A detailed study focusing on the effect of PU concentration within solutions of N, N Dimethylformamide and the effect of relative humidity (RH) on fiber average diameter and fiber yield is presented. Solutions were prepared with 4 different concentrations, 14, 15, 16 and 17 wt% of PU. It was observed that as concentration of PU increases, average diameter shows a tendency to increase. Production of fibers with RH varying from X to X was analyzed. It was shown that higher RH is convenient for PU …

Uptake Analysis Of As(Iii) And As(V) By Cassia Fistula Seedlings, Valeria Velazquez

Theses and Dissertations

The natural and anthropogenic contamination of water by arsenic has become a major concern to the environment and public health. Phytoremediation is an attractive alternative to ecologically friendly remove contaminants at a potential high efficiency and low cost. Absorption of As(III) and As(V) was evaluated by the measuring the content of arsenic in the roots, leaves and stems Cassia fistula grown under controlled conditions in a hydroponics system. After seeds were germinated, the plants were grown in Hoagland nutrient solution individually supplemented with 1, 2, 5 ppm of As(III) and As(V). After two weeks of exposure, samples of leaves, roots, …

Life Cycle Impact Assessment Of Biofuels Derived From Sweet Sorghum In The U.S., Karla G. Morrissey, Greg Thoma, Dora E. Lopez

Chemical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background

The objective of this study was to evaluate the environmental impact of the production of a range of liquid biofuels produced from the combination of fermenting sorghum stalk juice (bioethanol) and the pyrolysis/hydrotreatment of residual bagasse (renewable gasoline and diesel). Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) was performed on a farm-to-wheels system that included: (i) sorghum farming, (ii) juice extraction, (iii) juice fermenting, (iv) bagasse pretreatment, (v) bagasse thermochemical treatment (pyrolysis, hydroprocessing, and steam reforming), and (vi) typical passenger vehicle operation. LCIA results were compared to those of petroleum fuels providing the equivalent functional unit—cumulative kilometers driven by spark ignition …

Disparities In Health Care: The Pandemic’S Lessons For Health Lawyers, Danielle Pelfrey Duryea, Nicole Huberfeld, Ruqaiijah Yearby

Faculty Scholarship

Population-level disparities in health and health care came to the forefront of U.S. public consciousness in 2020. As the racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic stratification of COVID-19 infection and death rates emerged with chilling clarity, the Black Lives Matter protests of the summer focused millions of Americans on the complex, structural nature of inequity and its long-lasting effects.

Access to quality health care is a “social determinant of health,” meaning that it is one of the “non-medical factors that influence health outcomes . . . the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the wider set …

An Assessment Of Hotel Guests’ Perceptions Of Preventive Safety Measures In The Era Of Covid-19, Un Hyeok Ko

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In the era of COVID-19, hospitality was one of the industries that was most severely impacted by the virus. Spread of the virus was rapid enough to force hotels to close properties worldwide, and hotels were required to adopt safety measures and protocols in order to re-open or remain open. New types of measures, some never seen before the pandemic, were created and implemented throughout the hotel industry.

The main purpose of this study is to assess guests' perception of preventive safety initiatives and measures in the era of COVID-19 and to determine their level of satisfaction with such measures. …

Analysis Of 316 Omnitrophota (Op3) Genomes Reveals A Diverse And Ubiquitous Candidate Phylum Of Putative Syntrophs, Predators, And Free-Living Nanobacteria Encoding Giant Open-Reading Frames., Cale O. Seymour

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Candidate bacterial phylum Omnitrophota has never been isolated and is poorly understood. In this study, we explored the genomics, phylogeny, taxonomy, distribution, cell size, and predicted physiology of Omnitrophota based on 316 genomes. Phylogenomic concordance identified seven classes accommodating 144 species. Calibration of genome-based taxonomy to ribosomal SSU profiling revealed most Omnitrophota classes are prevalent in the Earth Microbiome Dataset, particularly in soils and sediments. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting and differential size filtration experiments showed ultra-small (<400 >nm) cells are common across the phylum, as are parasitism-related genes, including a conserved tight adherence (Tad) complex and ATP/ADP translocase. However, nucleotide and …

The First-Year Experiences Of Women Engineering Majors At Community Colleges: A Phenomenological Study, Brandy Ann Robertson Naughton

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to describe the lived experiences of women engineering majors who transitioned to community colleges and persisted to the second year. Guiding this study was Schlossberg’s transition theory as it explains the transition to first-year engineering student and Tinto’s theory of student departure. The study used purposeful, criterion sampling to identify the participants who met the following criteria: full- or part-time female engineering student who completed the first year of study, as defined by the completion of 30 credits, and persisted into the second year of study at a community college. Data were …

The Predictive Relationship Between Elementary Pre-Service Teacher Praxis Subject Assessment Scores And Pedagogical Knowledge, Miranda Arnold

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of elementary pre-service teachers’ pedagogical knowledge with the predictor variable of content knowledge. This quantitative, correlational study measured content knowledge through the Praxis Subject Assessment – Elementary Education: Multiple Subjects scores, including the four subtests: Reading and Language Arts, Mathematics, Social Studies, and Science. The criterion variable of pedagogical knowledge was obtained through the scores from the Candidate Preservice Assessment of Student Teaching Form. Scores from the two assessment instruments for 167 elementary education pre-service teachers were collected through archived data from one educator preparation program. A multiple regression analysis …