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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Kinetic Modeling Of Catalytic Aerogels, Yi Cao Jun 2015

Kinetic Modeling Of Catalytic Aerogels, Yi Cao

Honors Theses

As pollution becomes an increasing concern globally, strict regulations have been set on vehicle pollutant emissions. The three-way catalytic converter is capable of converting toxic emissions such as carbon monoxide, unburned hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides to less hazardous waste such as carbon dioxide, water, and nitrogen. Current catalysts employ platinum group metals, which are expensive and environmentally damaging to mine. Catalytically-active aerogels such as Co-Al, Cu-Al and V-Al aerogels have shown promise as alternatives to these metals. The work presented here adapts and extends a global kinetic model which predicts the conversion of hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide on platinum catalyst …


Sem-Edx Analysis Of Aerosol Samples, Xuanhan Zhao Jun 2015

Sem-Edx Analysis Of Aerosol Samples, Xuanhan Zhao

Honors Theses

One of the important environmental issues in upstate New York is the acid rain problem in the Adirondack Mountains, which is associated with atmospheric aerosols. As a part of a systematic study to understand the transport, transformation, and effects of airborne pollutants in the Adirondack Mountains, we are performing an analysis of atmospheric aerosols collected at Piseco Lake. In previous work, we used proton induced X-ray emission (PIXE) [1] spectrometry to measure the concentrations of elements in aerosol samples as a function of the size of the particulate matter. The results of the PIXE analysis indicate significant concentrations of sulfur …


Mathematical Modeling Of Emiliania Huxleyi And A Host-Specific Virus, Julia Middleton Jan 2015

Mathematical Modeling Of Emiliania Huxleyi And A Host-Specific Virus, Julia Middleton

Honors Theses

The world’s oceans provide the basis for life on the planet. One microscopic algae, the coccolithophores, and Emiliania huxleyi in particular, is a major source of carbon drawdown in the context of the global carbon cycle and account for a significant amount of the primary production in oceanic ecosystems. We know that the oceans are packed with marine viruses and they have an important role in the rise and fall of plankton populations but current mathematical models do not accurately account for virus-host interactions when predicting plankton blooms. Therefore I am using model optimization and comparison techniques to evaluate current …