Life Sciences Commons^™

Effect Of Metal Ion Substitution On Electrochemical Properties Of Cobalt Oxide For Energy Applications, Dalal Alqahtani

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Metal oxides are being used for various applications, such as batteries, supercapacitors, and catalysts. This research is mainly to produce high-performance energy storage devices capable of working at high temperatures and causing no pollution in the environment. To this end, the effect of metal ion substitution on the electrochemical properties of Co₃O₄ for energy applications was studied. Different metal oxides, such as FeCo₂O₄, MnCo₂O₄, Co₃O₄, NiCo₂O₄, CuCo₂O_4, and ZnCo₂O₄, were synthesized using a hydrothermal …

The Richness And Relative Abundance Of Small Mammals In Old Surface Coal-Mined Sites In Crawford And Cherokee Counties, Kansas, Fabio Giacomelli

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Species richness and relative abundance (RA) of the small terrestrial mammals were accessed in 20 different unreclaimed old coal mined sites in Crawford and Cherokee counties, southeast Kansas in 2014. Lines of Victor™ wooden snap-traps were set in three habitat types in each area: grassy, brushy and forested during 3-days period in each of the four seasons.

Southeast Kansas was heavily surface-mined (strip-mined) between the 1930’s and the 1970’s and many of these sites were not reclaimed (restored to the appearance of its original landscape). This has resulted in many types of altered habitats in this region such as strip-pits …

Herpetological Collections At Pittsburg State University: Assessing Collecting Patterns And Analysis Of Spatial And Temporal Origin Of Specimens., Natalia Agostini Schneider

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Natural History Collections are a rich source of biological data. Each specimen contains data for that species’ presence for a specific location and time, providing researchers with essential biological information. Importantly, this information can be preserved and re-evaluated for hundreds of years. To maintain specimens through time, good curation protocols are essential. The Herpetology Collection (henceforth HC) at Pittsburg State University houses 1,631 specimens, representing 181 species and subspecie collected from 23 U.S. states, Mexico and Manitoba, Canada. The majority of specimens (78.6%) were collected from the four-state area (Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma). Specimens collected exclusively in Kansas comprise …

Synthesis And Electrochemical Study Of Copolymers Containing Ferrocene And Imidazole, Abdulrahman Alhathir

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Ferrocene based-polymers have been used in various applications such as sensors, semiconductors, lasers, solar cells, batteries, and photo-oxidation of thin films. However, ferrocene copolymers with electronic interactions between the ferrocene and neighboring moieties have not been well studied. To this end, copolymers of vinylferrocene and vinylimidazole were prepared in various ratios. Imidazole is well known to coordinate to various transition metals which may promote interactions between the ferrocene and imidazole moieties; and impart interesting electronic properties to the copolymer. Copolymers between vinylferrocene and vinylimidazole were prepared by free radical initiation and characterized by FTIR, ¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR, and GPC. …

Bacterial Diversity At An Abandoned Coal Mine In Southeast Kansas, Rachel Bechtold

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Bacterial Diversity at an Abandoned Coal Mine in

Southeast Kansas

An Abstract of the Thesis by

Rachel Bechtold

Acid mine drainage (AMD) is found in areas of abandoned coal mines in southeast Kansas as a result of mine waste rocks and tailings create problems for the local environment. Soil bacterial population acts as a reliable indicator of ecosystem health in these human-perturbed areas. The goals of the present study were to assess the bacterial diversity of an AMD site over a two-year period and to isolate acid-tolerant bacterial species for bioremediation purpose.

In fall (2015) and summer (2016), soil samples …

Molecularly Targeted Nanomedicine: Role Of Hsp90 Inhibitor And Sophorolipids In The Treatment Of Lung Cancer, Shuguftha Naz Ms

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Lactonic sophorolipids (LSL) are a class of enzymatically modified glycolipids known to have HDAC inhibition activity and anticancer properties. Ganetespib (GT), an Hsp90 inhibitor, is known for its superior antitumor activity in several K-RAS mutant Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) cells. In this study, a new anti-oxidant nanoplatform is formulated using the combination of these two drugs, LSL and GT, in order to target both HDAC inhibition and Hsp90 signaling pathways in NSCLC. Nanoceria (NC) is an excellent redox platform will be specifically used to supplement the therapeutic potency of these drugs in the effective treatment of NSCLC. We hypothesized that …

Facile Synthesis And Characterization Of Graphene Nanoribbons/Polypyrrole Nanocomposite, Johara A. Al Dream

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Carbon is present in various forms such as coal, carbon nanotubes, graphene, diamond etc. Among various forms, carbon nanotubes and graphene have attracted considerable research attention due to their high thermal stability, high mechanical strength and electrical conduction. These properties largely depend on synthesis procedure. In this work, we synthesized graphene nanoribbons using carbon nanotubes for nanocomposites with polypyrrole. Chemical oxidation was used to unzip the carbon nanotubes. These graphene nanoribbons were used to fabricate nanocomposites with polypyrrole for energy storage applications. The synthesized nanocomposites were structurally and electrochemically characterized.

The structural characterization was performed using X-ray diffraction, FT-IR, SEM, …

A Comparative Study Of Microbial Community Of Undisturbed And Reclaimed Soil In Southeast Kansas, Ghaidaa Allhyani

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this project is to compare the microbial communities of the 33 year-old soil at the Monahan with the original soil at the O'Malley. The data collected in this project investigates whether there is a correlation between soil age and the soil microbial community. Using soil DNA analysis is one way we can compare soil microbial communities. Soil DNA was isolated from multiple samples from both sites using DNA isolation kit. Using the community DNA as a template, eubacterial, archaeal, and fungal DNA fragments were PCR amplified using specific-primers. The amplicons were purified and are being processed for …