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Articles 31 - 60 of 176

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Polymerized Ionic Liquids By Condensation Polymerization: Stimuli Responsive Polyurethane Gels And Dispersions, Harshit Gupta Jan 2019

Polymerized Ionic Liquids By Condensation Polymerization: Stimuli Responsive Polyurethane Gels And Dispersions, Harshit Gupta

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Ionic liquids have been used in free radical polymerizations to make polymerized ionic liquid (PIL) materials of various types. PIL gels based on imidazolium cations have been found to exhibit an anion-exchange induced stimuli responsiveness. This thesis explores incorporation of ionic liquids in polyurethane (PU) polymers to make PIL PU gels and dispersions through condensation polymerization. PIL gels are synthesized through a single-pot approach that show stimuli response to solvents. This approach allows one to make these gels rapidly and cheaply on-site. These gels can reversibly porate in different solvents and are found to be porous when analyzed by scanning …


Design,Formulation And Synthesis Of Uv/Thermal Dual Cure, Bio-Based Polyurethane Coatings, Ozlem Kubra Akdogan Jan 2019

Design,Formulation And Synthesis Of Uv/Thermal Dual Cure, Bio-Based Polyurethane Coatings, Ozlem Kubra Akdogan

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

In the present work, polyurethane resins have been synthesized using soybean oil based polyols (> 80% bio-renewable content) as a primary component. To overcome some of the limitations associated with soft and flexible structure of soy-based polyols, the resin has been designed with two unique set of functional groups –OH and acrylate, as a means of crosslinking sites. Such resin system can be cured by two independent cure mechanisms – (a) thermal (or ambient) curing of –OH groups by use of isocyanate cross-linkers, and (b) by UV-curing of acrylate functional groups using appropriate photoinitiators. Thus, this dual-curable system can provide …


Characterization Of The Histone Binding Properties Of The Epigenetic Reader Protein Uhrf2 To H3 In Phd Domain, Marisa Gilliam Jan 2019

Characterization Of The Histone Binding Properties Of The Epigenetic Reader Protein Uhrf2 To H3 In Phd Domain, Marisa Gilliam

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Every cell contains the same genetic code, to have cell differentiation this genetic code needs to be regulated on what is expressed. The regulation of gene expression without altering the genetic code itself is known as epigenetics. An example of epigenetic regulation can be seen between the binding of UHRF2 and H3 histones. The purpose of this project is to determine ifD363 in UHRF2 is important for histone H3 binding. To do so, D363 was mutated to alanine, lysine or asparagine. The mutant protein was expressed, purified, and its ability to binding to H3 was tested by fluorescence polarization. Compared …


Pre-Service Teachers’ Emerging Views On Educational Equity, Melody Wilson Jan 2019

Pre-Service Teachers’ Emerging Views On Educational Equity, Melody Wilson

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

An equity-based Statistics course for pre-service mathematics teachers could play a role in the development of pre-service teachers’ equity literacy, encouraging conversations about equity in education and illuminating structural factors that contribute to the educational opportunity gap in the U.S. In the Winter 2019 semester, a faculty team at the author’s university piloted such a course. The course included data explorations dealing with structural inequities by race – one of the most difficult topics to address productively in a teacher preparation course. For the present study, a survey of pre-service teachers’ views on educational equity was administered in a required …


Designing A Modified Zeeman Slower For The Paschen-Back Magnetic Regime, Leo Michael Nofs Jan 2019

Designing A Modified Zeeman Slower For The Paschen-Back Magnetic Regime, Leo Michael Nofs

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Controlled study of high-density plasmas, such as those found in fusion reactions and stars, is difficult due to their highly-magnetized environments. A specialized high magnetic field (High-B) trap was developed at the University of Michigan in Georg Raithel's research group to study such highly magnetized, high density plasmas using rubidium atoms. By replacing the atom source with a Zeeman slower, a well-studied device to slow and cool atoms, the atom flux could be increased by a factor more than 1000, leading to higher High-B plasma densities. The goal of this project is to design a Zeeman slower that differs from …


Examining The Response Of The Martian Atmosphere To Increases In Different Portions Of The Electromagnetic Spectrum During Solar Flares, Bradley R. Kumm Jan 2018

Examining The Response Of The Martian Atmosphere To Increases In Different Portions Of The Electromagnetic Spectrum During Solar Flares, Bradley R. Kumm

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This report describes the methods used to examine how the Martian atmosphere responds to increases in different portions of the electromagnetic spectrum during solar flares. On March 24, 2015 the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission satellite made measurements of the atmosphere and solar irradiance during a solar flare. These measurements were used by the Flare Irradiance Spectral Model (FISM) to generate solar flux values for 59 wavelength bins describing flare event. The solar flux values at different wavelength bins were scaled by different amounts and input into the Mars Global Ionosphere Thermosphere Model (M-GITM) to create 16 distinct …


Exploring How Integrating Art & Animation In Teaching Text-Based Programming Affects High School Students' Interest In Computer Science, Hadeel Mohammed Jawad Jan 2018

Exploring How Integrating Art & Animation In Teaching Text-Based Programming Affects High School Students' Interest In Computer Science, Hadeel Mohammed Jawad

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

As oil is the fuel of the industrial society, software is the fuel of our current information society. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there will be more demand for computing jobs in the future. By 2024, more than one million computing jobs will be available. Statistics show that there is more demand for computing jobs than there is a supply of qualified graduates from universities. In this experimental study, three groups of high school students were targeted to explore how integrating art, animation, and code sharing into programming affects their interest in pursuing a degree in computer science …


Synthesis And Catalytic Testing Of A Proline Functionalized Amphiphilic Block Copolymer, Eric Firestone Jan 2018

Synthesis And Catalytic Testing Of A Proline Functionalized Amphiphilic Block Copolymer, Eric Firestone

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Catalysts are reagents used to reduce the amount of energy that a reaction needs to execute, allowing it to proceed at a higher rate while not being consumed. The use of catalyst functionalized amphiphilic copolymer allows easier recovery of the catalyst at the end of the synthesis and allows for the reaction. In water, under appropriate conditions, the amphiphilic block copolymers will form micelles and allow the reaction to occur on the interior of the micelle. The synthesis of amphiphilic copolymer with a hydrophobic O-methacryloyl-trans-4- hydroxy-L-proline and methyl methacrylate end and a hydrophilic acrylic acid end was characterized. The polymer …


Expectations And Experiences In A Modern Physics Laboratory Course, Helen Mae Cothrel Jan 2018

Expectations And Experiences In A Modern Physics Laboratory Course, Helen Mae Cothrel

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This study examines students’ expectations for and experiences within a modern physics laboratory course. The course instructor and several students were interviewed using a semi-structured protocol at the beginning (pre) and end (post) of the semester. Interviews were video-recorded, then transcribed to text. This thesis presents the results of three students’ interviews as case studies; their interview transcripts were adapted to a more narrative style for inclusion in this report. An interpretation of each student’s responses from pre- to post-interview is given, followed by conclusions which incorporate all three students’ interviews. Particular attention is paid to students’ ideas about experimenting …


The Software Development Life Cycle And Its Application, Gillian Lemke Jan 2018

The Software Development Life Cycle And Its Application, Gillian Lemke

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

The Software Development Life Cycle (SLDC) is a concept that is incredibly important to have a deep understanding of as a software engineer. With this project, my goal was to learn the complexities of each step conceptually and apply my skills to an actual application. The SDLC includes the following phases: planning and requirement analysis, design and development, implementation, testing, integration, and maintenance. In order to apply these concepts, I created a web application for users to schedule messages to be sent at a future time and date. The API is written in Ruby on Rails and the front end …


Access Granted: A Study Of The Factors Affecting The Development Of Technology Literacy In Black Males, Carlton Bernard Bell Jan 2018

Access Granted: A Study Of The Factors Affecting The Development Of Technology Literacy In Black Males, Carlton Bernard Bell

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

One of the most urgent challenges of the digital divide is the need to expand technology literacy. Access to technology was believed to be one of the causes for the discrepancy that exists, but there is a deeper divide: the divide that exists between technology literacy, and career readiness. Although access to technology has improved over time, the educational outcomes for Black males in related fields have not. A critical area of concern is the lack of a Black male professional presence in technology fields, which has serious implications for the future of our society. These implications include a less …


Students’ Interpretations Of Categorical Data Using Dynamic Graphical Representations, Adam Eide Jan 2018

Students’ Interpretations Of Categorical Data Using Dynamic Graphical Representations, Adam Eide

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Statistical association is an important concept in statistics. An exploratory study examined how students reason about statistical association utilizing graphical representations constructed with CODAP, a dynamic statistical graphing software. Task-based interviews were conducted with three 6th grade students prior to formal instruction. Students’ conceptions of a statistical relationship, proportional reasoning skill level, ability to interpret bivariate categorical graphs (particularly segmented bar graphs and two-way binned plots), and ability to identify association of two categorical variables were all investigated through interview tasks and responses to inquiry. Students were found to have developing proportional reasoning skills and struggled to correctly define and …


Impact Of Highway Work Zones On Traffic Crashes: A Case Study In Michigan, Qadri Hafez Shaheen Jan 2018

Impact Of Highway Work Zones On Traffic Crashes: A Case Study In Michigan, Qadri Hafez Shaheen

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Infrastructure in the US is severely aged and outdated. This presents a seemingly paradoxical problem in the field of construction management: In order to fix and make roads and highways more safe, construction zones must become inherently less safe in the process. There is a high cost to taxpayers and drivers, as work zones experience a significant amount of crashes and fatalities each year. To mitigate some of the factors that contribute to these crashes, this paper attempts to deliver guidelines on how to update relevant crash data, identify relevant factors, and create recommendations accordingly. The research focused particularly on …


Mechanically Driven Pendula For Instructional Laboratories, R. M. Pacheco Jan 2018

Mechanically Driven Pendula For Instructional Laboratories, R. M. Pacheco

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

I present a new, low-cost approach to observing driven resonance with simple and physical pendula. I mount a pendulum on a dynamics cart that is made to oscillate along a horizontal line by a stepper motor and micro-controller. The pendulum pivot therefore has a position that varies sinusoidally with time with a constant, adjustable frequency. I designed and constructed the experiment to be easily implemented into any physics lab. I tested the apparatus and observed driven resonance for both types of pendula. All of the measured resonant frequencies I determined using the apparatus had percent uncertainties under 4% and all …


Examining The Influence Of Technology Acceptance, Self-Efficacy, And Locus Of Control On Information Security Behavior Of Social Media Users, Abdullah Almuqrin Jan 2018

Examining The Influence Of Technology Acceptance, Self-Efficacy, And Locus Of Control On Information Security Behavior Of Social Media Users, Abdullah Almuqrin

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Due to recent advances in online communication technology, social networks have become a vital avenue for human interaction. At the same time, they have been exploited as a target for viruses, attacks, and security threats. The first line of defense against such attacks and threats— as well as their primary cause—are social media users themselves. This study investigated the relationship between certain personality factors among social media users—i.e., technology acceptance of security protection technologies, self-efficacy of information security, and locus of control—and their information security behavior. Quantitative methods were used to examine this relationship. The population consisted of all students …


Determining Atg11'S Binding Interactions Using A Yeast Two Hybrid System And Directed Mutagenesis, Jesse Smith Jan 2018

Determining Atg11'S Binding Interactions Using A Yeast Two Hybrid System And Directed Mutagenesis, Jesse Smith

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Autophagy is a mechanism of intracellular degradation within eukaryotes. Because of its aid to a cells longevity, autophagy is believed to be important for the prevention of neurodegenerative diseases. Autophagy related protein 11 (Atg11) is a coiled-coil scaffolding protein required for selective autophagy in yeast. Atg11 is known to interact with Atg1, Atg20, and Atg29, in addition to connecting cargo molecules prApel -Atg19 to the phagophore assembly site. In addition to its many functions within yeast autophagy, Atg11 has two human homologs: Huntingtin protein and FIP200. This homology encourages us to gain a further understanding of Atg11's binding sites. In …


A Machine Learning Exploration Of Human Connectome Data, Katrina Prantzalos Jan 2018

A Machine Learning Exploration Of Human Connectome Data, Katrina Prantzalos

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

The intent of this project is to statistically examine the relationships between psychological traits, demographics, and physiological information provided by various brain scans. The Human Connectome Project dataset includes brain imaging data, demographics, and psychological data, from 1,206 individuals. Using this data, we performed exploratory data analysis, including an investigation of the distinctions in connectome data across participants with anxiety and/or depression as opposed to those without. Our aim was to predict the two mental disorders from given data via machine learning techniques such as Random Forest and Boosted Trees methods. Unfortunately, we were unable to reasonably predict anxiety or …


Effects Of Yoga On The Motor Skills Of A Ten-Year-Old Male With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Amber Schmitt Jan 2018

Effects Of Yoga On The Motor Skills Of A Ten-Year-Old Male With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Amber Schmitt

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD} is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is typically diagnosed in childhood due to the presence of atypical development, social interactions, and repetitive stereotypical patterns of behavior. The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of a yoga intervention on a ten-year-old male diagnosed with ASD. It was hypothesized that the yoga intervention on select instructed poses would increase both pose duration and pose performance and that the results would generalize to longer pose duration and better pose performance on non-instructed poses. Pre-intervention assessments of motor functioning were administered, including the Movement ABC, BOT-2, TGMD, …


Salt Retention In Wetland Soils And Effects On Dissolved Organic Carbon Export, Kayla Marie Mcguire Jan 2018

Salt Retention In Wetland Soils And Effects On Dissolved Organic Carbon Export, Kayla Marie Mcguire

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Deicing salt runoff has negative effects on ecosystems. Wetland ecosystems can act as important filters for runoff pollution (e.g., nutrients), mitigating damage to plants and microbes. Wetlands are important sinks for nutrients and pollutants (e.g., road salt) and transformation spots for many nutrients including carbon. The interactions between deicing salt runoff and wetland soil carbon were explored by measuring chloride export and retention, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) export, and carbon quality using mesocosm experiments. Net retention of Cl- was highest in soils receiving high salt treatments (5.0 g/L NaCl), although percent retention of Cl- was greater in soils receiving moderate …


Analysis Of Oxidation Of Carbon Monoxide On Rh (110), Razan Tanbour Jan 2018

Analysis Of Oxidation Of Carbon Monoxide On Rh (110), Razan Tanbour

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

81% of all rhodium (Rh) is used in automobile catalytic converters. Consequently, researchers have dedicated a lot of effort into understanding the behavior of nonmetal oxides on a Rh surface. Using a computer simulation program, we have studied the absorption and oxidation of carbon monoxide (CO) on a terraced Rh surface (lattice) with a width of three and a height of 10000 using a mechanism that describes the behavior at low temperatures. Varying the reaction activation energies (rate constants), and the mobility of the CO, led to changes in the surface coverages of oxygen and CO. Specifically, increasing the activation …


Construction Of A Custom Network Security Appliance, Jacob Rickerd Jan 2018

Construction Of A Custom Network Security Appliance, Jacob Rickerd

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Over the last three semesters, I worked toward my final goal to develop a custom network security appliance. I first began by completing a comparison analysis of network intrusion detection systems which are devices that read traffic from the network and determine if network packets should go through or be dropped. Second, I conducted a feasibility study of a custom framework to profile attackers in a network; this yielded positive results. Finally, I worked on creating a custom network security appliance; it uses the profiles I created in my framework to more efficiently block malicious attackers in comparison to other …


Divine Vulpine: 3d Simulation Of Colorations Of The Wild And Domesticated Red Fox, Alyssa Newsome Jan 2018

Divine Vulpine: 3d Simulation Of Colorations Of The Wild And Domesticated Red Fox, Alyssa Newsome

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Vulpes vulpes, the red fox, has been domesticated for hundreds of years. Through the continued breeding of the red fox in captivity, there has been an explosion of variations in color, size, and temperament. With the rise of interest in domesticated foxes as pets and educational animals, there is a dire need for education of the public on these animals and their history. Fur farming also remains a lucrative industry, an industry engaged in continuous and broad academic research. Aimed at these audiences, this academic presentation allows users to view a 30 animated fox, and select its coloration, animation, view, …


The Effects Of Gender And Ethnicity On Students' Perceptions Of Small-Group Learning In Collegiate Mathematics Courses, Layla Potts Aug 2017

The Effects Of Gender And Ethnicity On Students' Perceptions Of Small-Group Learning In Collegiate Mathematics Courses, Layla Potts

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Qualitative studies of students' perceptions on small-group work are limited, and few offer insights on the perceptions of women and minority students, for whom quantitative research suggests that small-group work is most beneficial. The aim of this research project is to conduct a qualitative analysis on the perceptions of women and minority students on their small-group learning experiences in collegiate mathematics courses. We conducted a Likert-scale survey of 114 Eastern Michigan University undergraduate students who were enrolled in a cross section of mathematics courses. The data were analyzed using statistical measures such as the frequency and modes of each response, …


Understanding The Interface That Enables The Interaction Between Two Dopamine Receptor Subtypes Known As D1 And D2 Implicated In Depression, Adam Baraka Jan 2017

Understanding The Interface That Enables The Interaction Between Two Dopamine Receptor Subtypes Known As D1 And D2 Implicated In Depression, Adam Baraka

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

The dopamine receptor subtypes known as DI and D2 have been shown to form a heteromer complex, which is thought to lead to the disruption of a multitude of signaling pathways within the brain. As a result, this has been proposed to lead to diseased states such as Alzheimer's and depression. In previous studies, it has been shown that the use of synthetic peptides corresponding to the surface interface of the interactions (specifically in the third intracellular loop of D2 interface) within the complex have served to compete against the formation of the heteromer. Through in vitro biochemical techniques such …


Analysis Of Variable Regions In Feline Leukemia Virus Envelope Sequences, Brianna Sohl Jan 2017

Analysis Of Variable Regions In Feline Leukemia Virus Envelope Sequences, Brianna Sohl

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV) is a retrovirus that affects domesticated cats and other species in the Felis genus. There are three major subtypes, each characterized by unique disease progression and proviral sequences. FeLV-A is weakly pathogenic, -B has been associated with tumors, and -C causes severe anemia. Proviral sequences were amplified using PCR with FeL V-specific and adapter-specific primers. The method of primer walking has yielded consensus sequences for several fragments of 1,000-3,000 base pairs of proviral DNA. Sequences for ten different clones of the provirus envelope region from a FeL V positive blood sample were compared to known sequences …


Assessing Patient And Caregiver Intent To Use Mobile Device Videoconferencing For Remote Mechanically-Ventilated Patient Management, Brian R. Smith Jan 2017

Assessing Patient And Caregiver Intent To Use Mobile Device Videoconferencing For Remote Mechanically-Ventilated Patient Management, Brian R. Smith

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The Michigan Medicine adult Assisted Ventilation Clinic (AVC) supports patients with neuromuscular disorders and spinal cord injuries and their caregivers at home, helping them avoid expensive emergency department visits, hospitalization, and unnecessary or excessive treatments. Mobile device videoconferencing provides an effective capability for remote mechanically-ventilated patient management but must rely upon an unknown infrastructure comprising patient and caregiver mobile device ownership, connectivity, and experience—and intent to use the service if provided. The purpose of this study was to measure the extent of this infrastructure and the perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and intent to use this mobile device …


The Anticancer Effects Of The Different Analogs Of Cysteine Deleted Tachyplesin On A549 Lung Cancer Cells, Nathan Riley Hendrickson Jan 2017

The Anticancer Effects Of The Different Analogs Of Cysteine Deleted Tachyplesin On A549 Lung Cancer Cells, Nathan Riley Hendrickson

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

It has been previously shown that cysteine-deleted tachyplesin (CDT) and its many analogs display antibacterial effects. However, little has been said about its possible anticancer effects and which analogs serve as the best inhibitors of the growing cancer cells. This research focused on CDT and four of its analogs: All D-CDT, Reverse DCDT, Reverse CDT, and Serine-Control CDT. MTT assays against the A549 adenocarcinoma lung cancer cell line showed All D-CDT to be the most effective analog in preventing cancer cell growth. Hyaluronidase and apoptosis assays were performed to better understand the mechanism by which the All D-CDT is preventing …


Expression And Purification Of Atg11: A Protein Involved In The Organization Of Autophagy, Carson Zois Jan 2017

Expression And Purification Of Atg11: A Protein Involved In The Organization Of Autophagy, Carson Zois

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Autophagy is a physiological process for the degradation of internal cell components to promote cell survival. This process allows the cell to maintain homeostasis, recycle damaged cellular components and helps protect against disease. Autophagy can be selective or non-selective. Non-selective, or bulk, autophagy occurs during times of cellular starvation and results in non-specific degradation of cytoplasmic materials. Selective autophagy targets specific components within the cytoplasm for degradation, and is always active. In both forms of autophagy, components are degraded when a double-membraned structure, called the autophagosome, encapsulates the target cargo and is then recruited to the lysosome in mammalian cells, …


Investigation Of Atg11 And Its Interaction With Ypt1 In Autophagy, Hayley Cawthon Jan 2017

Investigation Of Atg11 And Its Interaction With Ypt1 In Autophagy, Hayley Cawthon

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Autophagy is a cellular process conserved in eukaryotes that involves the trafficking of intracellular material from the cytosol to the vacuole/lysosome. This material is wrapped in a double membraned vesicle called an autophagosome, which ls constructed at the pre-autophagosomal structure. Many proteins are Involved In autophagy, one of them being Atgll. This protein is crucial in the selective autophagy pathway, and is responsible for proper formation of the pre-autophagosomal structure as well as recruiting the material intended for degradation to the autophagosome. Atgl 1 interacts with many other autophagy proteins, but it Is unknown whether it interacts with these binding …


Applications Of Laplace Transform, Andre Cocagne Jan 2017

Applications Of Laplace Transform, Andre Cocagne

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Many students of the sciences who must have background in mathematics take courses up to, and including, differential equations. In this course, one of the topics covered is the Laplace transform. Coming to prominence in the late 20th century after being popularized by a famous electrical engineer, knowledge on how to do the Laplace transform has become a necessity for many fields. While it is discussed and examples are given of how it is used, none of its applications are explored in depth in a class like differential equations. As such, this project seeks to showcase some of the …