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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Conformational Analysis Of A Furan, Thiophene Alternating Π System, Laura Cline
Conformational Analysis Of A Furan, Thiophene Alternating Π System, Laura Cline
Honors Theses
Organic materials with conjugated Ï€-electron networks are increasingly being studied as an alternative to inorganic semiconductors. In order to effectively transport charge as a semiconductor, the organic materials should maintain a planar conformation, exhibit Ï€ conjugation, and be rigid to rotational interconversion. Both furan and thiophene systems have been investigated as potential organic semiconductors but difficulties with solubility, synthesis, and effectiveness hampered these efforts. A novel furan-thiophene hybrid system that exhibits promising semiconducting properties is examined here. Full geometry optimizations and corresponding harmonic vibrational frequency computations were run on a diverse set of potential furan and thiophene oligomer structures using …
Paleosol Development And Trace Fossils In The Upper Triassic Cooper Canyon Formation Of The Dockum Group In Andrews County, Texas, Michael Charles Gratzer
Paleosol Development And Trace Fossils In The Upper Triassic Cooper Canyon Formation Of The Dockum Group In Andrews County, Texas, Michael Charles Gratzer
Honors Theses
It is unknown whether a relationship exists between paleosol development and the number of burrows in a paleosol. It is also unknown whether a relationship exists between the number of burrows in a paleosol and the diameters of those burrows. This paper details the methods, results, and conclusions of an investigation of these relationships. I assess the development of several paleosols in a core sample of the Upper Triassic Cooper Canyon Formation of the Dockum Group from well B-133 in Andrews County, Texas, using development scales based on methods from Bown and Kraus (1993) and Abels et al. (2013). I …
Statistical Analysis Of Arsenic Concentrations In Subsurface Soils At The University Of Mississippi Field Station, David Thomas Webb
Statistical Analysis Of Arsenic Concentrations In Subsurface Soils At The University Of Mississippi Field Station, David Thomas Webb
Honors Theses
The purpose of this investigation is to determine how arsenic concentration varies in soils with respect to soil structures, grain size, soil type, and depth. The investigation was conducted at the University of Mississippi Field Station (UMFS). The UMFS is located in Abbeville, MS and is roughly 700 acres in size. It includes ponds and former agricultural fields, and lies within an internally draining basin. Seven boreholes were drilled using a direct push geoprobe and sampled. The cores obtained from the borings were then cut at one foot intervals, producing a total of 90 soil samples. Each sample was observed …
The Synthesis Of Substituted Pentadentate Ligand Scaffolds And Their Future Application In Ruthenium-Catalyzed Water Oxidation, Manpreet Singh
The Synthesis Of Substituted Pentadentate Ligand Scaffolds And Their Future Application In Ruthenium-Catalyzed Water Oxidation, Manpreet Singh
Honors Theses
Rising global energy demands coupled with depleting natural resources have led to a strong emphasis on finding new sources of energy that are renewable and which limit the negative impact on the environment. One of the strongest candidates is utilizing solar energy to drive water oxidation to produce hydrogen as a fuel source. In order to do this, a better understanding of the mechanism involved in this process must be revealed. Homogenous molecular catalysts allow mechanistic studies and can be also used in Photoelectrochemical Cells (PECs) and other systems to produce chemical fuels. In this work, the new syntheses of …
The Evolution Of The Sugarcoated American Food Market And The Paradox Of Artificial Sweeteners, Mary Moses Hitt
The Evolution Of The Sugarcoated American Food Market And The Paradox Of Artificial Sweeteners, Mary Moses Hitt
Honors Theses
Living in present-day America makes it hard to imagine an era when sugar was not as inexpensive and readily available as it is now. It is in little colorful packets on restaurant tables, filled to the brim in jars at coffee shops, or mixed into candy products located at the beginning of every cash register. Today, sugar is one of, if not, the most widely consumed food products in the world, but our love for sugar is nothing new. Humans have been experiencing the bliss triggered by sweet-tasting foods since their earliest diets, which included fruits and honey. Our diets …
Implementation Of An Enhanced System Of Motion Tracking For Virtual Reality Using 'Common Off-The-Shelf' Items, Sean M. O'Hara
Implementation Of An Enhanced System Of Motion Tracking For Virtual Reality Using 'Common Off-The-Shelf' Items, Sean M. O'Hara
Honors Theses
My project was tasked and guided by Dr. Adam Jones of the University of Mississippi's Computer Science Department to design and implement an improved system of infrared motion tracking for virtual reality. The enhancements allow Dr. Jones to use motion tracking for VR in ways that he previously could not, and these improvements include the ability to track multiple objects along with a foundation for expanding my project's use to work with a multiple camera setup for motion tracking. The hardware used in my project made use of Dr. Jones' supply of technology for development and research within the area …
Effect Of 5-Hydroxymethylcytosine Modifications On Stability Of Vegf I-Motifs, Bethany Summerford
Effect Of 5-Hydroxymethylcytosine Modifications On Stability Of Vegf I-Motifs, Bethany Summerford
Honors Theses
DNA i-motifs are a secondary structure of DNA formed at low pH by internal folding of strands rich in cytosine. This study focuses on trying to determine if the DNA from the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) promoter, which can form an i-motif, can be stabilized with the epigenetic modification to 5- hydroxymethylcytosine in four separate locations on the DNA strand, and to what extent the degree of stabilization depends on the location of the modification. Stability of the i-motif was determined by measuring pKa and melting point (Tm) of each VEGF modification using circular dichroism spectroscopy. The modified samples …
Paleolithic Protection In A Western World: A Look Into Preagricultural Nutrition As A Remedy For The Diseases Of Civilization, Emilie R. Caron
Paleolithic Protection In A Western World: A Look Into Preagricultural Nutrition As A Remedy For The Diseases Of Civilization, Emilie R. Caron
Honors Theses
The aim of this investigation is to discover the associations of the Western diet to noncommunicable diseases and to determine if a reversion to a Paleolithic diet will provide treatment and prevention of these diseases. Noncommunicable diseases, otherwise known as Diseases of Civilization, are lifestyle influenced diseases and encompass obesity, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, and associated cancers. Incidences of these diseases have skyrocketed in the past century and show no signs of decline. Since 1900, the death rates due to heart disease and cancer have risen to account for 47% of total deaths in the United States in 2010. (Tippett, …
A Computational Study Of High Energy Density Materials And Their Detection Using Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy, Emily N. Hugo
A Computational Study Of High Energy Density Materials And Their Detection Using Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy, Emily N. Hugo
Honors Theses
The purpose of this thesis is to theoretically predict the vibrational spectra of select high energy density materials (HEDMs) as well as some of their byproducts and to determine if using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) could be a viable detection method for these compounds. Studying the vibrational patterns of these compounds will help in identifying them in the environment for remediation purposes. Because the byproducts are smaller and easier to model than the parent compounds, these were studied more in depth through analyzing their Infrared and Raman spectra. Ag2 was used to model the interactions between the Ag nanoparticles used …
Rhenium-Pyridyl-Nhcs For Photocatalytic Co2 Reduction, Emily Anne Sharpe
Rhenium-Pyridyl-Nhcs For Photocatalytic Co2 Reduction, Emily Anne Sharpe
Honors Theses
The ability to transform CO2 into a useable fuel source would have a remarkably positive impact on the environment by taking the vast amounts of previous unusable CO2 from the atmosphere and reducing it to CO, which can then be turned into fuel. This project involves the synthesis and testing of air and water stable Re (I) pyridyl N- heterocyclic carbene (NHC) compounds for photocatalytic reduction of CO2 into CO using a simulated solar spectrum. Previous research in this area focused on the use of Re(bpy)CO3X, which quickly became the benchmark of homogeneous CO2 reduction photocatalysts. The Re (I) pyridyl …
Multidimensional Motion Capture Using Doppler Ultrasound, Forrest Nolan Gamble
Multidimensional Motion Capture Using Doppler Ultrasound, Forrest Nolan Gamble
Honors Theses
Ultrasonic waves are used to measure the velocity of a target object by measuring the Doppler shift of the reflected waves. In this work, ultrasonic Doppler Sonar (UDS) was used to measure the velocity of objects, including a pendulum and a battery on a turntable. The investigation focused on developing a method to measure motion in two and three dimensions, for applications in gait analysis and sports motion capture. By using multiple ultrasonic transducers and novel data processing techniques, the UDS captured motion in two and three dimensions. In order to test the accuracy of the velocity and position measurements, …
A Study On The Characterization And Implementation Of Tools For Advanced Ligo, Hunter Gabbard
A Study On The Characterization And Implementation Of Tools For Advanced Ligo, Hunter Gabbard
Honors Theses
The Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) is aimed at directly detecting gravitational waves, small perturbations or ripples in the fabric of space-time. Because of their extreme sensitivity, the LIGO detectors are affected by many sources of non-astrophysical noise. In the first part of this thesis we test a pipeline designed for the identification of short-duration noise transients, called Omicron. We first inject simulated noise waveforms in engineering run data from the LIGO detector in Livingston, Louisiana and then determine Omicron efficiency by attempting to recover these injections. In the second part of this thesis, we present a novel method …
Blue Cheese Cosmology: Lensing By Cosmic Strings, Jared Wofford
Blue Cheese Cosmology: Lensing By Cosmic Strings, Jared Wofford
Honors Theses
The light bending effects around cosmic strings in universes with varying rates of expansion are investigated. A relationship between the angular deflection and the expansion rate is found. This is made possible by the Blue Cheese model, which is a generalization to a cylindrical realm of the Swiss Cheese model
Study Of An Active-State Cb1 Receptor Model And Jwh Compound Interactions To Predict New Emerging Synthetic Cannabinoids, Kelsey Leigh Pettus
Study Of An Active-State Cb1 Receptor Model And Jwh Compound Interactions To Predict New Emerging Synthetic Cannabinoids, Kelsey Leigh Pettus
Honors Theses
In recent years, a new class of compounds, called synthetic cannabinoids, have made their appearance in the market as a substitute for illegal marijuana or its constituent natural cannabinoids. These compounds, which are active at the same G- protein coupled receptors (GPCRS) as cannabinoids, are continuing to gain popularity because of the same cannabinoid-like effects they create. Though two cannabinoid receptors have been identified in humans, known as CB1 and CB2, synthetic cannabinoid activity at the CB1 receptor has been the focus of much research regarding synthetic cannabinoid ligand binding. In this study, the structure of the CB1 receptor is …
Calculating Liquefaction Potential Of Northern Mississippi Using Shear Wave Data, Peshani Herath
Calculating Liquefaction Potential Of Northern Mississippi Using Shear Wave Data, Peshani Herath
Honors Theses
The potential for liquefaction can be determined using the Liquefaction Potential Index (LPI). The LPI takes into account the thickness of the liquefiable layers and the factors of safety with respect to depth. This study creates a hybrid method for determining the LPI for different locations in Northern Mississippi. It calculates an average CSR for the region using existing borehole information. The CRR is then calculated using shear wave velocity profile data from a MASW survey. The LPI obtained from this process is compared to LPI values calculated using CPT data and borehole shear wave data. Surface shear wave velocity …
Noise Reduction In The Manufacturing Environment: A Study On Small Jet Geometry Alterations, Shawn Wesley Skinner
Noise Reduction In The Manufacturing Environment: A Study On Small Jet Geometry Alterations, Shawn Wesley Skinner
Honors Theses
Noise pollution is an identified issue in manufacturing environments. While machines, motion, production, etc. are a large factor in this noise pollution, other sources exist. Often copper tubing is connected to pressurized containers as a make-shift jet stream for reorienting elements on the assembly line. These makeshift jets when working in conjunction create noise pollution. By manipulating the exit of these small jets, it is hypothesized that the noise level can be decreased. Using the National Center for Physical Acoustics (NCPA) at the University of Mississippi, three geometry alterations—deburring the end, creating a converging-diverging nozzle, and flattening the end—were tested …
Indolizine-Squaraine Nir Emissive Materials, Tana A. Rill
Indolizine-Squaraine Nir Emissive Materials, Tana A. Rill
Honors Theses
Near-infrared (NIR) emissive organic materials are an emerging area of study with an array of applications for both military and civilian purposes including night vision technologies, secure communications, surveillance, homing, fluoresence imaging, secure displays as NIR OLED materials, heat-blocking coatings, in vivo fluoresence biological imagaing, and additional optoelectronics device applications. We have developed a series of organic NIR emissive materials based on an indolizine donor and squaraine acceptor. The novel-to-squaraine donor, indolizine, exhibits a remarkable increase in absorption maximum wavelength when compared with benchmark indoline-based squaraine dyes (700 nm vs. 625 nm) with molar absorptivities ranging from 100,000-262,000 M-1cm-1. Emission …
Method Development Toward The Analysis Of The Functionalization Of Proteins, Victoria Calcote
Method Development Toward The Analysis Of The Functionalization Of Proteins, Victoria Calcote
Honors Theses
Calmodulin is a ubiquitous small intracellular protein that functions as a receptor for regulatory calcium signals and thus regulates a multitude of physiological processes in organisms as diverse as yeast, fruit flies, and mammals. Since its structure and function have been extensively studied, our goal is to create a calmodulin biomaterial, with the ultimate goal of in situ drug delivery or as a scaffold for stem cell growth and differentiation. We plan to create this biomaterial by using Click Chemistry, the rapid creation of new heteroatom bonds through a copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition. The bonds are created by treating calmodulin as …