Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Reduction Of Human Factors-Related Accidents During The Flight Test Of Homebuilt Aircraft Through The Application Of Professional Flight Test Practices, Justin Samuel Garr

Masters Theses

Homebuilt aircraft have a high accident rate during the flight test period, particularly during their first and second flights. For the 2002-2004 period, over 1.0% of homebuilt aircraft were involved in an accident on their first flight, and 3.3% were involved in accidents in the first 40 hours of operation. Untrained, low time in aircraft type amateur flight test participants, unorthodox flight test procedures, and lack of clear guidance as to who should and how to conduct safe and effective flight test lead to unsafe conditions and the accident statistics support this hypothesis. In the accidents analyzed, lack of experience …

Major And Trace-Element Chemistry Of Minerals In Lithologies A And B In Martian Meteorite Eeta79001: Petrogenesis Revisited, Michael Joseph Mellin

Masters Theses

EETA79001 is a unique shergottite composed of two mafic lithologies (termed LithA and LithB) that are separated by an igneous contact. Both lithologies have basaltic compositions; however, LithA contains megacrysts of olivine, orthopyroxenes, and chromite whereas LithB does not; also, LithA is finer-grained than LithB. Currently, the literature is in disagreement regarding the formation of this unique meteorite, especially regarding LithA. Different formational theories (e.g. fractional crystallization, magma mixing, assimilation, and impact melting) have their own constraints (chemical, thermal, or petrographic). This study uses petrographic observations combined with major- and trace- element compositions within minerals to investigate the petrogenesis of …

Impact Of The Equation Of State In Core-Collapse Supernovae, Mark Lewis Baird

Masters Theses

One of the key ingredients to the core collapse supernova mechanism is the physics of matter at or near nuclear density. Included in simulations as part of the Equation of State (EoS), nuclear repulsion experienced at high densities is responsible for the bounce shock, which initially causes the outer envelope of the supernova to expand, as well as determining the structure of the newly formed proto-neutron star. Recent years have seen renewed interest in this fundamental piece of supernova physics, resulting in several promising candidate EoS parameterizations. We will present the impact of several of their variations in the nuclear …

Design Construction And Use Of A Thermomechanical Detwinning Apparatus: Detwinning Of Orthorhombic Nb2bacu2o3, Chad J. Bircher

Masters Theses

In this thesis I will describe a device designed and built for thermo- mechanically detwinning crystals. Twinning is a process in which a crys- talline structrure with two different axes of nearly equal length alternate directions throughout the material, effectively generating a single bulk material with two or more distinct internal crystals. This structure defect can lead to many other effects in the crystal, and it is useful to elimi- nate twinning in many materials in order to determine which properties are fundamental properties of the crystal, and which properties are ar- tifacts of the structural imperfections. The apparatus described …

Stream Restoration Assessment Of Abrams Creek In The Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Management Implications And Comparison Of Empirical And Analytical Physical Assessment Approaches, Daniel L. Carter

Masters Theses

Natural resource managers in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park requested the assistance of the University of Tennessee Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering to assess Abrams Creek for potential stream restoration needs. A presumed, unstable study reach and a stable reference reach were identified on Abrams Creek in Cades Cove. Chemical, biological and physical assessments were completed on Abrams Creek in order to evaluate ecological health and channel stability of the stream. Water quality and ecological (fish and habitat surveys) data acquired by National Park Service, Tennessee Valley Authority and the University of Tennessee were assessed. The physical assessment …

Effects Of Environmental Stress On Growth, Yield, And Flavonolignan Content In Milk Thistle Silybum Marianum L. Gaertn, Amy Renae Belitz

Masters Theses

Four experiments were performed in a greenhouse or growth chamber to study the quantity and quality of flavonolignans in response to environmental stress in milk thistle (Silybum marianum L., Gaertn.). A preliminary experiment was conducted in spring 2004 to study effects of leaf harvests on growth, development, and flavonolignan content in milk thistle seeds. Taxifolin, a component of silymarin and precursor to flavonolignans, was significantly reduced due to leaf harvest treatments.

The weedy nature (sporadic germination) of Silybum made germinating enough plants for experimentation problematic. Initial germination studies to determine imbibition and pre-chilling requirements were inconclusive due to heavy …

Characterization Of The Temperature Dependence Of Optical Components In A Cryo-Vacuum Chamber Used For Space Sensor Testing, Jesse M. Labello

Masters Theses

The space sensor cryo-vacuum chambers at Arnold Air Force Base are world class sensor characterization and calibration facilities. The chambers provide a simulated deep space background and accurate infrared projections. Several large optical systems are used within the chambers to accomplish this. Calibration of the chambers requires the use of a database of the measured optical properties of these components to simulate the output. However, as the information in the database is room temperature information and the chambers run near 20K, some discrepancies exist between the actual output and the model output. The purpose of this work is to translate …

Bacterial Source Tracking In An Eastern Tennessee Stream Using Bacteroides Host Associated Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction Assays, Ryan Michael Ragsdale

Masters Theses

A bacterial source tracking study using Bacteroides host associated real-time PCR assays was performed to determine the sources of fecal contamination in Pond Creek (HUC 06010201013). Pond Creek, located in the Ridge and Valley physiographic region in Eastern Tennessee, is a 303(d) listed stream that fails to meet water quality standards for pathogens. Water samples and discharge were measured monthly at eight locations from November 2005 to November 2006. Grab samples were analyzed for several chemical parameters and for microbial fecal indicator organisms, namely Bacteroides spp., Escherichia coli, and Enterococcus. The objectives of the study were to quantify total, …

Impact Of Crop Rotations And Winter Cover Crops On Vegetative Cover, Aboveground Biomass, And Soil Organic Matter Under No-Till In Western Tennessee, Nicholas Phillip Ryan

Masters Theses

We investigated, under long-term no-till in western Tennessee, the effects of rotating the low-input crops cotton and soybeans with the high-input crop corn, compared to continuous monocultures of cotton and soybeans, and of using the winter cover crops (WCCs) winter wheat and hairy vetch, compared to winter fallow, on key indicators of soil health concerning vegetative cover and labile SOM. The line-transect method was used to measure percent vegetative cover. Dry weight of surface crop residue and aboveground living plant biomass (WCCs and winter weeds) was obtained. The living plant biomass was analyzed for carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) by …

Transformations Of Differential Equations And Applications, Despina Andrea Stavri

Masters Theses

The Sturm-Liouville problems introduced by Jacques Charles Francois Sturm and Joseph Liouville in the 19^thcentury are very important in applied mathematics. Singular Sturm-Liouville problems and two physical problems are discussed. The two physical problems are solved using two methods: Exact and asymptotic solutions. Also, the Sturm-Liouville problem's are classified using the Weyl-Kodaira Theorem. A general transformation of a third order differential equation is introduced. Oscillation and non-oscillation theorems on an infinite interval for a third order differential equation are stated. New versions of these theorems are introduced for the special cases and examples are given to illustrate them. …

Laboratory Precipitation And Geochemical Investigation Of Unstable Caco3 Polymorphs: Implications For The Origin Of Precambrian “Molar-Tooth” Microspar, Emily Elizabeth Goodman

Masters Theses

Molar-tooth (MT) microspar is a volumetrically significant, globally distributed carbonate fabric that occurs almost exclusively in Mesoproterozoic and early Neoproterozoic shallow marine successions. It occurs as uniform, equant crystals, averaging 9 –15 μm in diameter (Figure 1), that characteristically fill MT structures—interconnected networks of spheroidal, spindle, and ribbon-shaped voids that formed within unlithified sediment in shallow, subtidal environments. Cathodoluminescence (CL) analysis of MT microspar reveals two chemically distinct phases: a dully luminescent spheroidal core enclosed by a luminescent, polygonal rim. Crystal size distribution analysis of MT microspar indicates spontaneous nucleation, rapid growth and varying degrees of recrystallization by Ostwald ripening, …

Process Mass Spectrometric Parameterization Of Butene Isomer Mixtures, Eloise Marie Joyce

Masters Theses

Process mass spectrometry was used for the simultaneous quantitation of hydrocarbon mixtures with either six or four components. The four component hydrocarbon mixture contains isomers to increase the complexity of the mixture spectrum. The differences in relative intensities of pure component electron ionization mass spectra provided a basis for quantitation. Quantitation accuracy and precision were found to decrease as the spectral similarities among the components increased.

Selection of which ions to monitor (parameterization) was critical to optimize the analysis accuracy, precision, and speed for all mixtures tested. An empirical parameterization algorithm based on comparison of pure reference spectra of mixture …

Tectonics Of The Northeastern Inner Piedmont, Northwestern Nc, From Detailed Geologic Mapping, Geochronologic, Geochemical, And Petrologic Studies With Structural Analyses Of Ductile Fault Zones, Matthew Patrick Gatewood

Masters Theses

New field and laboratory data collected for the northeastern Inner Piedmont (IP) reveal the structure and composition of a portion of the southern Appalachian crystalline core, delimited the timing of orogenesis, and provide new insight into the nature of deep crustal processes during orogenesis. Previously recognized lithologies are continuous throughout the study area and comprise two distinct crystalline thrust sheets: the Marion and Brindle Creek thrust sheets, or eastern Tugaloo and western Cat Square terranes, respectively. Western IP Precambrian- Cambrian(?) metasedimentary lithologies and Ordovician metaigneous lithologies make up the Marion thrust sheet northwest of a Neoacadian suture, the Brindle Creek …

Examining Regression Analysis Beyond The Mean Of The Distribution Using Quantile Regression: A Case Study Of Modeling The Internal Bond Of Medium Density Fiberboard Using Multiple Linear Regression And Quantile Regression With An Example Of Reliability Methods Using R Software, Leslie Brooke Shaffer

Masters Theses

The thesis examines the causality of the central tendency of the Internal Bond (IB) of Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) with predictor variables from the MDF manufacturing process. Multiple linear regression (MLR) models are developed using a best model criterion for all possible subsets of IB for four MDF thickness products reported in inches, e.g., 0.750”, 0.625”, 0.6875”, and 0.500”. Quantile Regression (QR) models of the median IB are also developed.

The adjusted coefficient of determination (R² _a) of the MLR models range from 72% with 53 degrees of freedom to 81% with 42 degrees of freedom, respectively. The …

Factors Influencing Persistence Of Fecal Bacteroides In Stream Water, Alyssa K. Bell

Masters Theses

Fecal contamination leads to increased risk of exposure to enteric pathogens in aquatic environments used for drinking water, recreation, and commercial shellfishing. Current indicators of fecal contamination recommended by the EPA such as E. coli and enterococcus can fall short of meeting ideal indicator criteria by having widely-varying persistence in the environment, reproducing in the environment, occurring in the gut in low and variable concentrations, and requiring time-consuming assays. Furthermore, both these indicators lack the degree of host specificity needed for use in identifying sources of fecal contamination, which is an important tool for identifying and reducing fecal inputs to …

Characterizing Episodic Stream Acidity During Stormflow In The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Edwin Bradley Deyton

Masters Theses

Episodic stream acidification occurs as storm events temporarily reduce acid neutralizing capacity (ANC) and pH. Stream acidification is suspected to have damaging effects on the health of aquatic ecosystems and biota. The objectives of this research are to 1) characterize stream baseflow and stormflow chemistries in three watersheds in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM), 2) understand potential mechanisms responsible for episodic acidification, and 3) understand the relationship between storm event magnitude, antecedent soil moisture condition, and the stream’s pH response. Three remote, forested, high-elevation streams (Middle Prong, Ramsey Prong, and Eagle Rocks Prong) were selected in the Middle …

Testing Heterolocalism: An Assessment Of Latino Settlement Patterns In The Southeastern United States, Kristian Dennis

Masters Theses

Previous theories of immigrant integration indicate that spatial propinquity is a necessary ingredient for a cohesive ethnic community. Wilbur Zelinsky’s heterolocalism theory suggests this is no longer the case in today’s world where technology has drastically reduced the friction of distance in human interaction. This thesis uses a mixture of quantitative and qualitative techniques to test heterolocalism’s applicability to emergent Latino communities in the Southeastern United States. The results of this research generally support Zelinsky’s theory that a growing number of ethnic communities are socially but not spatially cohesive.

Measuring The Value Of Air Quality: Application Of The Spatial-Hedonic Model, Seung Gyu Kim

Masters Theses

The value of air quality improvement following the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments is estimated at the county level in the lower 48 United States. This study applies a hedonic model to assess the economic benefits of air quality improvement using an instrumental variable approach that combines geographically weighted and spatial autoregression methods to account for spatial heterogeneity and spatial autocorrelation. Positive amenity values of improved air quality are found in five major clusters of areas across Eastern Kentucky and most of Georgia around Southern Appalachian area, the State of Illinois, on the border of Oklahoma and Kansas, on the …

Application Of The Green’S Function For Solutions Of Third Order Nonlinear Boundary Value Problems, Shannon Mathis Morrison

Masters Theses

Green’s functions are used to prove a collection of existence and uniqueness theorems for third order nonlinear boundary value problems. Several examples of Green’s functions for both second and third order boundary value problems are given. Various applications of the existence theorems are presented in detail.

An Applied Statistical Reliability Analysis Of The Modulus Of Elasticity And The Modulus Of Rupture For Wood-Plastic Composites, Diane Goodman Perhac

Masters Theses

Wood-plastic composites (WPC) are materials comprised of wood fiber within a thermoplastic matrix and are a growing and important source of alternative wood products in the forest products industry. WPC is gaining market share in the building industry because of durability/maintenance advantages of WPC over traditional wood products and because of the removal of chromated copper arsenate (CCA) pressuretreated wood from the market. The reliability methods outlined in this thesis can be used to improve the quality of WPC and lower manufacturing costs by reducing raw material inputs and minimizing WPC waste. Statistical methods are described for analyzing both tensile …

Fast Determination Of Human Insulin And Its Deamidation Product By Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry, Teerapat Rojsajjakul

Masters Theses

Application of the electrospray ionization (ESI) technique in mass spectrometry (MS) has played an important role in analysis of biological molecules and polymers. The focus of this thesis is to assess and extend the application of this technique in the rapid determination of human insulin and its deamidation product.

Quantitative assessment of deamidation of human insulin generally invokes relatively slow chromatographic analysis. Faster cost-effective analysis using mass spectrometry with a low-resolution analyzer is challenging because the deamidation product is only one Dalton heavier than the 5808-Da protein; low-level contamination has only a small effect on the isotope envelope. Exploiting the …

A Study Of The Homology Of Subset Spaces And Their Connection To The K-Sat Problem In Computer Science, Oliver J. Thistlethwaite

Masters Theses

It is the purpose of this thesis to introduce an idea for studying questions of computer science via topology. We begin by describing the homology of a certain space constructed from a given subset of the power set of any finite set. We then discuss how this relates to the k-SAT problem in computer science.

We shall use computers as a tool to calculate the homology groups as well as the Euler characteristic of some of these spaces. Due to the sheer number of calcu- lations needed, doing the necessary computations by hand is both impractical and impossible.

In addition, …

Transport Critical Currents In Ybacuo-Based Coated Conductors: Angular, Magnetic Field, And Temperature Dependencies, Samuel M. Travaglini

Masters Theses

High-temperature superconductivity has been a focus of much study over the past 20 years, particularly within the cuprate class of superconductors. The effectiveness of these cuprate superconductors is limited by factors including the formation of vortices within the superconductor, orientation within external magnetic fields, the strength of these magnetic fields, temperature, and whether any doping agents have been used. Any of these factors individually can affect the transport critical current levels. In this research, YBaCuO and NdBaCuO-based coated conductors were studied in a liquid-nitrogen-cooled environment at either 77 K or 65 K. Field levels were varied between 0 T and …

Reliability Analysis Of Oriented Strand Board’S Strength With A Simulation Study Of The Median Censored Method For Estimating Of Lower Percentile Strength, Yang Wang

Masters Theses

Oriented Strand Board (OSB), an engineered wood product, has gained increased market acceptance as a construction material. Because of its growing market, the product’s manufacturing and performance have become the focus of much research. Internal Bond (IB) and Parallel and Perpendicular Elasticity Indices (EI), are important strength metrics of OSB and are analyzed in this thesis using statistical reliability methods. The data for this thesis consists of 529 destructive tests of OSB panels. They were tested from July 2005 to January 2006. These OSB panels came from a modern OSB manufacture in the Southeastern United States with the wood furnish …

Density Functional Theory And Phase Shifts, Anthony G. Wald

Masters Theses

This thesis describes how phase shifts of the nucleon-nucleon system may be utilized to determine the nuclear Density Functional (DF). The nucleonnucleon interaction, hereafter denoted by N-N interaction, is input to quantum many-body calculations. However, this approach complicates the determination of physical quantities such as the calculation of spectroscopic information and of energy levels. A major advantage in employing the approach via Density Functional Theory (DFT) to this system is that the N-N problem can be considered to be a non-interacting, single-particle system.

In order to use DFT one must know the density functional, and this is typically the most …

Seasonal Variations In Fish Assemblages Of Small Warmwater Streams In Four Southeastern National Parks, Joseph Carl Zimmerman

Masters Theses

Small warm-water streams in the southeastern United States experience significant differences in temperature, as well as changes in physical parameters due to seasonal fluctuations. It has been generally thought that fish assemblage patterns change as a direct result of these seasonal variations. This study was designed to determine the effects of variable flow regimes on fish species composition, diversity, and abundance. Eight small warm-water streams in four national parks (Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, Fort Donelson National Battlefield, Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site, and Russell Cave National Monument) were sampled May-June 2005 for the summer trials, October-November 2005 …

The Reduction Of Ytterbium (Iii) To Ytterbium (Ii), Amanda S. Jones

Masters Theses

If Yb(III) could be reduced to the highly unstable Yb(II), and temporarily stabilized, the separation of Yb from the other lanthanide elements could be facilitated. This facilitation would be based upon the considerably different chemistry of Yb(II) from the trivalent forms of all other lanthanides.

The reduction of Yb(III) to Yb(II) using Mg was attempted in various media. The effects of the media, precipitating agent, and environment were examined. The best experimental conditions for the reduction of Yb(III) to Yb(II) and the subsequent precipitation of YbSO4 were found to be the addition of ~0.35 g YbCl38H2O in 1.5 mL 3:1 …

Testing The Bactericidal Ability Of A Polycationic Molecule To Design Self-Healing Surfaces, Shraddha Jayant Deodhar

Masters Theses

The need for antimicrobial surfaces is obvious because of ever growing demand for healthy living, thus a material that can kill harmful microorganisms is of great interest. The idea discussed in this thesis is to combine the techniques of Photo Dynamic Therapy (PDT) and self sterile surfaces to design self-healing surfaces.

We modified one pyridine ring of Tetro-meso (N-methyl pyridyl) porphyrin (T₄MPyP) to obtain 5-(4-carboxyphenyl)-10, 15, and 20-tris-(N-methyl-4-pyridlium) porphyrin. This modified porphyrin was reacted with Vinyl benzyl chloride polymer via a nucleophilic substitution reaction forming an ester linkage between polymer and porphyrin. The above molecule was then tested …

Analysis Of A Gluonic Penguin Decay With The Babar Detector, Gerald Conrad Ragghianti Jr.

Masters Theses

This thesis presents a branching fraction analysis of the neutral B meson decay channel B → ϕK⁰_s where the K⁰_s decays to π⁰π⁰. The decay is dominated by gluonic penguin transitions, which have been very important for the main program of BABAR: the search for physics beyond the Standard Model. The decay channel has been established and is included in the CP analysis, which is sensitive to new physics. The data set consists of 227 million BB̅ pairs recorded by the BABAR detector at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. Sophisticated analysis techniques …