Forest Sciences Commons^™

Watershed Amendments: Assembling New Pervious Ground From Landscape Waste, Sophie Kaplan-Bucciarelli

Masters Theses

In Providence, Rhode Island, much of the downtown area is built over a vast historic tidal estuary. Though we no longer see the salt marshes, wooded bluffs, or meadows that once characterized this landscape, we recognize their absence in contemporary crises of urban heat, flooding, polluted soils and stormwater runoff, and habitat loss. These conditions are particularly acute along the city’s industrialized river corridors, where vacant lots and parking areas sit idle, their history paved over and potential constrained by limited imagination and resources.

These lots - already experiments in fill and land building after centuries of disturbance - can …

Early Detection Of Oak Wilt Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Uav) & Computer Vision, Muttaki I. Bismoy

Masters Theses

Forests are critical ecosystems, delivering services such as biodiversity conservation, climate regulation, timber production, and recreation. However, they face increasing threats from pathogens like Bretziella fagacearum, which causes Oak Wilt, a lethal disease that disrupts water transport in oak trees, leading to canopy dieback and eventual death. Traditional detection methods rely on manual ground surveys, which are labor-intensive, time-consuming, and prone to error, particularly in early disease stages.

This research presents an automated, scalable, high-precision Oak Wilt detection system using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) combined with deep learning-based computer vision. Expanding on earlier work with a lightweight CNN achieving an …

Pulped Landscapes, Allison P. Abrams

Masters Theses

Large corporations control intensive and extractive industrial land use practices through acts of dumping, capping, and neglect. The abandonment of industrial sites is increasing as well as the environmental consequences of such actions. How can impacted communities proactively engage in remediation processes while post-industrial sites sit in limbo?

With the former Foley Cellulose Plant in Perry, Florida (closed in 2023) as a case study, this thesis researches and speculates on potentials of phytoremediation experimentation and harvesting of plant fibers on contaminated soils. The site is a pulped landscape: land directly impacted by intensive, large corporation-led pulp production practices that is …

Covered In Snow, Katelynn M. Rogers

Masters Theses

Covered in Snow is a photographic exploration into the ripple effect of maternal loss and environmental decay in my hometown of Canton, Ohio. In the wake of a miscarriage, the woods I had grown up within began calling to me, urging me to return. Unbeknownst to me, a series of accidental deaths of women had been happening throughout these trees my entire life, their stories only coming to the surface as I looked to the trees for solace. This series of inexplicable deaths in the woods I so desperately loved began to alter my relationship to the trees, a distrust …

Avian Community Response To Oak Savanna Management In West Michigan, Abigail Elaine Fischer, Paul W. Keenlance, Alexandra B. Locher, Joseph J. Jacquot

Masters Theses

In the midwestern United States, oak savanna ecosystems have experienced steep declines over the past century due to loss of disturbances and changes in land use. This loss coincides with the decline in avian communities across North American and has negatively impacted taxa that associate with open vegetation cover types. Expanding efforts to restore and manage oak savanna ecosystems has resulted in increased open habitat which has positively impacted these avian communities, resulting in increased species diversity. While numerous studies within the Midwest have observed similar results, there have been no studies in Michigan that have formally assessed the impact …

Effects Of Prescribed Fire On Planted Oak Growth And Survival In Restored Savannas, Allison Earl

Masters Theses

Most oak savannas in the Midwestern United States have been lost to agriculture and habitat degradation. Because of their rarity and ability to support high plant and animal diversity, savannas are often a target for restoration. Oak savanna restoration frequently relies on direct planting of oak seedlings to establish the necessary tree canopy. Returning fire to the system is critical to the herbaceous component of the savanna, but managers risk damaging or killing trees if burning is introduced too soon. I studied growth and physiological responses of three oak species (Quercus alba, Q. macrocarpa, and Q. velutina …

Carbon Sequestration In A Restored West Michigan Oak Savanna: Implications For Management Practices, Jeffrey A. Heise

Masters Theses

The savanna system is an ecosystem (i.e. a transitional ecosystem) that lies between forest and grassland ecosystems. They occur across the world in various forms, but in the North American Midwest they are specifically oak savannas: systems where the open overstory is dominated by various species of oak (Quercus spp.) and the understory consists of carbon-rich prairie grasses and forbs. This ecosystem is a highly degraded ecosystem and has lost almost 99% of its former range due to agriculture and fire suppression. Since savannas are fire-evolved systems, they are maintained by and require fire as a regular disturbance to …

Cellulose Based Separator For High-Performance Lithium-Ion Batteries, Akshit Vaidya

Masters Theses

During the past two decades, lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have gained great success in the field of portable devices, and currently, are penetrating to the market of vehicles. Compared to the fast development of LIBs, little efforts have been dedicated to the separator, which is one of the most important components of LIBs. Primarily, the lithium-ion battery separator has two functions, one is to prevent direct contact between the positive and negative electrodes, and the other is to provide a path for effective ionic transportation. Currently, the separator market of LIBs is dominated by polyolefin materials such as polypropylene, polyethylene, and …

Is Context Dependency Imperative To Understanding The Impacts Of Invasive Plants?, Brendan B. Haile

Masters Theses

Introduced exotic species have a tendency to become invasive and impact local biological communities. Invasions often impact community attributes such as cover and species richness, but these factors may also regulate patterns of invasion. In such cases, impacts may be dependent on the invasion context. We used data from the Buell-Small Succession Study, a long-term permanent plot study in the piedmont region of New Jersey, to document context dependency in invasion. To do this, we analyzed the factors that affected the colonization and growth of four invasive species, Alliaria petiolata, Lonicera japonica, Microstegium vimineum and Rosa multiflora, as well …

Impacts Of Plant-Microbe Interactions On Seedling Performance In A Riparian Forest Invaded By Lonicera Maackii, Taylor E. K. Strehl

Masters Theses

Soil microbes have profound impacts on plant growth and survival and can either promote or inhibit plant dominance. Exotic plants are often strongly invasive because they have escaped their natural enemies, potentially including antagonistic soil microbes. I examined how the invasive shrub Lonicera maackii and a common native tree, Acer negundo, responded to soil microbial communities to determine the role of soil microbes in regulating invasion success. This was done by growing both species with microbes from invaded (L. maackii) and uninvaded (A. negundo) soils collected from three locations within a riparian forest. Seedlings were …

Soy- Based Flexographic Ink For Linerboard Printing, Rahul Ramchandra Pingale

Masters Theses

Many printing inks use volatile solvents in the formulation, which are hazardous to the environment from emission of VOC’s and at the same time, synthetic resins in these inks are not biodegradable. These problems with the fluctuating and rising price of petroleum are main reasons to look for new resources for making more environmentally friendly printing inks. The majority of the commercially available water based inks are formulated based on using acrylic resins, synthetic colorants, solvents/water and additives, which are the common main components for formulating printing inks. In this research, soy proteins were tested for their suitability to partially …

Papermaking Factors Affecting Lateral Web Position During Commercial Heat Set Web Offset Printing, George W. Shields

Masters Theses

The interaction of water with paper plays a role in web handling characteristics during commercial heat set web offset printing. Water absorption leads to lower web tension for a given strain.

This research investigates paper properties and their role in preventing lateral web movement from cross machine air flows in the drying section during normal printing operations. Tensile properties of sheets are measured at various moisture contents and then used to determine the equilibrium stress-strain relationship for papers at moisture contents typical of heat set web offset printing. Permeability, fiber orientation and tensile stiffness are evaluated against lateral web movement …

Comparison Of Oak And Sugar Maple Distribution And Regeneration In Central Illinois Upland Oak Forests, Peter J. Frey

Masters Theses

Although white oak (Quercus alba) dominated much of the mid-west and eastern US hardwood forests prior to European settlement, changes in disturbance frequencies and habitat fragmentation, coupled with other biotic pressures, are allowing sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marshall) to displace oak in the upland forest understory. Since our understanding of how disturbance mechanisms influence oak regeneration is not fully clear, there is lack of consensus on how to employ management practices. We collected seedling microhabitat data from 5 upland oak forest sites in central Illinois, each differing in age class and/or silvicultural treatment to determine: 1) Whether …

Study Of Metamerism And Inconstancy Of Basic Color System Used In Wood Grain Laminates, Awadhoot Vijaykant Shendye

Masters Theses

In product gravure printing, many spot color inks are used. Because the use of spot colors tends to be customer specific, they are typically mixed in house by the gravure printer to satisfy the requirements of a specific customer order. Printers are often concerned about the best utilization of inks, and their recyclability, if possible, to make the production more sustainable. Spot colors may exhibit metameric behavior. This tendency causes problems in color matching, as these products are viewed in a standardized environment, using light source D₅₀ or D₆₅ , but are viewed under fluorescent lighting at the …

Effect Of Calendering On Flexographically Printed Silver Flake Ink, Sujay Pandkar

Masters Theses

Interest in the printed electronics is increasing on a day-to-day basis. To utilize the concept of printed electronics on a wider range, printed circuit needs to perform more and more efficiently. The simplest printed circuit components include conductive traces, which can function as interconnects or contact electrodes. There are still some limitations to the conductivity of printed traces. Previous results showed an improvement in the conductivity of printed traces with a post cure treatment of 4 hours at 105°C. The present research explores a different approach towards improving conductivity using a post calendering treatment on-line.

The effects of calendering temperature, …

The Possibility Of Producing Biodiesel Fuel From Wood Pulping By Products, Yan Pu

Masters Theses

Biodiesel fuel produced from biomass material is a renewable and promising substitute fuel for petroleum diesel fuel, and it is relatively environmentally friendly. The Pulping process involves a huge amount of lignocellulosic materials. There may be a great potential of combining this fact with the biodiesel production, as well as the present biodiesel technologies.

This thesis focuses on the esterification reaction behavior of three main components of tall oil fatty acids, which are byproducts of paper manufacture. They are stearic acid, palmitic acid and oleic acid. Three levels of both catalyst and methanol were employed in the esterification for each …

Effect Of High Temperature Drying Of Paper On Heat Transfer Rates And Sheet Properties, Dania Awni Al-Said

Masters Theses

The objective of this research is to study the effect of high temperature on paper drying rates and properties of both virgin pulp and recycled paper. Process variables as shell temperature, moisture content, refining, basis weight and fiber recycling can affect the drying rate and paper properties. In addition, high surface temperature can affect the heat transfer rates from the dryer shell to the paper. The Gas Heated Paper Dryer (GHPD) is a high temperature dryer where internal shell temperature can reach 300° C, which significantly increases the drying rate. However, there are many concerns about the effect of this …

Cross Platforms Display Calibration And Profiling Mac Os And Windows, Reem El Asaleh

Masters Theses

The monitor is an important part in many digital applications including graphic design, digital photography and prepress proofing. In fact, designers and prepress personnel rely on their monitor for good color decision for a printed job.

The aim of this research is to achieve a consistent color across platform using the same hardware (CPU, monitor video controller, etc.). Also to describe the main issue that affects the accuracy of monitor profiles. ICC profiles were generated for monitor in Windows and Mac OS platform using GretagMacbeth ProfileMaker Pro version 5.0 and X-Rite MonacoPROFILER ICC profiling softwares. In the laboratory environment, we …

Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Deinking And Dewaxing, Suraboon Hoontrakool

Masters Theses

The main purpose of this project is to study how the supercritical carbon dioxide (ScCO₂) fluid can be used to extract sticky compounds and commercial printing inks. This study will focus on the upscale unit operation that Western Michigan University had recently installed supercritical fluid extraction system. This also includes determination of extraction efficiency, optimizing operating condition, the effect of ScCO₂ on the fiber tensile strength for recycling paper after the sticky compounds are removed and the effect of ScCO₂ to the fiber physical strength property at different temperatures.

The investigation of supercritical fluid extraction equipment …

Borate Autocasting: Kinetics Model And Effect Of Carbon Dioxide On Reaction Rate, Ali Zuhair Fadhel

Masters Theses

Borate autocausticizing is a promising approach to the operational and environmental improvement of Kraft pulping and its chemical recovery. Its advantages include partial or total elimination of the lime cycle, pulp strength improvement, and energy savings. Borate autocausticizing involves the use of an amphoteric salt, sodium metaborate, to de-carbonize sodium carbonate and produces trisodium borate, the reaction occurs at high temperatures. Tran and Cameron (1999) suggest that the reaction follows the path below.

NaBO₂ + Na₂CO₃ → Na₃BO₃ + CO₂

This thesis systematically analyzes the reaction kinetics of borate autocausticizing. The uniqueness …

Enhanced Print Performance Of Water-Based Rotogravure Inks Through Rheological Balance, Rurou Mai

Masters Theses

Water-based inks have been of more and more interest to the printing and ink industry. Compared with solvent-based inks, water-based inks have more complex formulations because of their higher surface tensions, lower drying speed, foaming problems, pH balance, and different rheological properties. This work explores the significant effects of various rheology modifiers, including non-associative and associative thickeners, on the rheological properties of a water-based rotogravure ink system. Particular emphasis is given to thickening efficiency, pH stability, particle size, system compatibility, temperature stability, and printability on vinyl substrates. Wire-wound lab rods and a Moser Sheet-fed Gravure Proofing Press were employed to …

Caustic Treatment Of The Pulp: Caustic Recovery By Reverse Osmosis, Miroslav Suchy

Masters Theses

The benefit of caustic treatment on changing cellulose properties has long been known. When the treated pulp is later intended for use in personal or in health care product industries, it is important that all residual chemicals are removed and that the pure cellulose or carbohydrate portion of the pulp remains. The removal is usually facilitated by washing. Due to the low caustic concentration in the washing filtrates the removal of the excess water by standard techniques such as evaporation would not be economical.

The main objective of this investigation was to evaluate the concept of using reverse osmosis for …

Surface Topography Contribution To Rfid’S Tags Efficiency Related To Resistivity, Mario A. Cruz

Masters Theses

The Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is one of the new technologies with more vision and acceptance oriented to the distribution and storage industries. The RFID is a technology that can be used to identify, track and store information about groups of products, individual items, or product components, using radio waves. The RFID device needs an antenna in order to receive a signal and transmit information. The stamping process applied today to produce the RFID antenna works with foil or copper. These etched metal RFID tags offer good benefits, but the production cost is too high to achieve a widespread implementation. …

Paper Substrates For Electronic Printing, Laura K. Wood

Masters Theses

Printed Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) labels utilize conductive inks to provide the means for wireless flow of electronic signals. An RFID label is an identification label with an integrated circuit and antenna that transmits data via radio waves to a reader, which sends the data to a computer for processing. RFID labels allow manufacturers and retailers to accurately track their inventory more efficiently than previously possible with bar codes. However, etched metal RFID labels are too expensive for widespread implementation. The key to reducing the cost of RFID technology is replacing etched metal tags with tags printed with conducting ink. …

Use Of Borate In Semi-Chemical Pulping, Promodh K. Veguru

Masters Theses

The original Neutral Sulfite Semi-Chemical (NSSC) pulping process used sodium sulfite as the principle cooking chemical and had the disadvantage of sulfur emission problems. Considerable research was conducted to investigate the use of other chemicals including sodium hydroxide, but was not completely satisfactory. Several mills adapted a sodium carbonate based process but experienced slower pulping and reduced physical properties. The objective of this research is to study the use of borate as a pulping chemical in sodium carbonate semi-chemical pulping. The experimental plan included digester cooks; controls with pure sodium carbonate, and the other with partially borate autocausticized sodium carbonate. …

Computer Integrated Print Production And Jdf, Deepak-Kumar Mohan-Kumar

Masters Theses

In the graphic arts industry, the need for the unification of mechanized and automated systems has seen a great increase in the last few years. This very need has led to various specification formats like, Adobe's PJTF and CIP3's PPF and the latest one of them all, CIP4's JDF. Earlier specification formats that had inherent limitations with proprietary architecture have paved the way to JDF. JDF is an open, extensible, XML based job ticket format that has been a proposed standard to achieve end-to-end job ticket specifications along with message interchange protocol and message description standard.

This thesis research has …

3d Simulation Of Layer Mixing In A Three-Layer Stratified Headbox, Jatetana Kunsriluksakul

Masters Theses

In this research, the commercially available software called FLUENT is used to simulate and visualize behaviors of flow in a three-layer stratified headbox of a paper machine. A two-phase model, "volume of fluid", is employed to simulate turbulences in a free jet. The information obtained from the simulations, in terms of velocity profiles, Reynolds stress, turbulent kinetic energy, and macro scale of turbulence, are used to assess and characterize the effect of free jet length, vane length, vane thickness, nozzle angle, and slice opening on fiber layer mixing. Importantly, the simulation results demonstrated that the macro scale of turbulence in …

The Effects Of Various Types And Percentages Of Fillers With The Mechanical Properties Of Latex Saturated Paper, Jeffrey Alan Kuehn

Masters Theses

This study examined how the percentage of mineral fillers and their various types, when added to the base paper, affects the mechanical characteristics of latex impregnated paper.

A series of model handsheets were produced and subjected to physical property tests. The basis weight of these handsheets was held constant, as various types and percentages of filler were added. This base paper was then impregnated with a known acrylic emulsion. All variables with the impregnation process were held constant during the impregnation process. Physical properties were tested on the handsheets before and after impregnation. All physical tests on the handsheet samples …

Strengthening Of Corrugated Boards By Chemical Impregnation, Rajesh Premnarayansingh

Masters Theses

Linerboards are used for making corrugated boards. The paperboards can be strengthened by adding strength additives at the wet-end of the paper machine and also by sizing them. Impregnation is another effective approach of strengthening the paperboards, mostly offline. The aim of the thesis is to evaluate the performance of the modified Dixon coater and check the operating conditions with various chemicals used for impregnating 42 lb/1000 sq.ft grammage linerboard.

The major conclusions of the research were that the edge compression strength increases markedly validating the usage of impregnation for linerboards. Also, the stiffness of linerboard increases and the voids …

Generating Icc Output Profiles For Different Printing Devices: Application To A Shinohara Offset Press, Tektronix And Hp Designjet, Srinivasa Raju Alluri

Masters Theses

The most important issue in the current printing industry is managing the perfect color reproduction. Hence, the importance of color management in the printing industry is increasing day by day. Color management saves time and money for color users. With the help of color management, benefits such as accurate onscreen color, output device simulation, gamut checking, and color consistency between devices will reduce the amount of time and materials required to complete color production tasks.

The main purpose of this thesis is to develop ICC profiles and to compare the print quality of ICC profiles generated for different printing devices, …