Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Renewable Energy Zoning: Cutting Green Tape While Improving Ecological Outcomes For Renewable Energy Projects, Joanna Elizabeth White

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Climate change creates an imperative to develop renewable energy infrastructure, and the state of Vermont has committed to developing new renewables. However, renewables pose significant threats to natural systems because of the dramatic changes to ecosystems that occur with development. Public outcry over new developments and dissatisfaction with the current process used for siting indicate that the old regulatory process may be outdated. This thesis seeks to bridge the divide between ecology and law in renewable energy infrastructure siting. Using the state of Vermont as a case study, it suggests a new, proactive energy planning process that would use spatial …

An Exploratory Statistical Analysis Of Nasdaq Provided Trade Data, Michael Foley

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Since Benoit Mandelbrot's discovery of the fractal nature of financial price series, the quantitative analysis of financial markets has been an area of increasing interest for scientists, traders, and regulators. Further, major technological advances over this time have facilitated not only financial innovations, but also the computational ability to analyze and model markets.

The stylized facts are qualitative statistical signatures of financial market data that hold true across different stocks and over many different timescales. In pursuit of a mechanistic understanding of markets, we look to accurately quantify such statistics. With this quantification, we can test computational market models against …

Path Integral Quantum Monte Carlo Study Of Coupling And Proximity Effects In Superfluid Helium-4, Max Graves

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

When bulk helium-4 is cooled below T = 2.18 K, it undergoes a phase transition to a superfluid, characterized by a complex wave function with a macroscopic phase and exhibits inviscid, quantized flow. The macroscopic phase coherence can be probed in a container filled with helium-4, by reducing one or more of its dimensions until they are smaller than the coherence length, the spatial distance over which order propagates. As this dimensional reduction occurs, enhanced thermal and quantum fluctuations push the transition to the superfluid state to lower temperatures. However, this trend can be countered via the proximity effect, where …

Pd0-Catalyzed Formal 1,3-Diaza-Claisen Rearrangement. Design And Development Of Cationic 1,3-Diaza-Claisen Rearrangement., Yanbo Yang

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The dissertation describes Pd⁰-catalyzed formal 1,3-diaza-Claisen rearrangement and the design and development of cationic 1,3-diaza-Claisen rearrangement.

Our previous work has shown that isocyanates react with azanorbornenes and azabicyclo[2.2.2]octenes under thermal conditions to afford zwitterionic intermediates that undergo a thermal 1,3-diaza-Claisen rearrangement to give both ureas and isoureas. However, some azanorbornenes and azabicyclooctenes failed to rearrange or proceeded in low yields. To address these challenging substrates for the thermal 1,3-diaza-Claisen rearrangement, we have developed a Pd⁰-catalyzed formal 1,3-diaza-Claisen rearrangement. Interestingly, under Pd⁰-catalyzed condition, both isocyanates with electron-withdrawing groups and isocyanates without electron-withdrawing groups react with …

Electron Correlation Effects In Strained Dual-Layer Graphene Systems, Peter Karl Harnish

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

In low dimensional systems, electron correlation effects can often be enhanced. This can be vital since these effects not only play an important role in the study of many-electron physics, but are also useful in designing new materials for various applications. Since its isolation from graphite in 2004, graphene, a two dimensional sheet of carbon atoms, has drawn considerable interest due to its remarkable properties. In the past few years, research has moved on from single to bi-, dual- and multi-layer graphene systems, each displaying their own multitudes of intriguing properties. In particular, multi-layer systems that are electronically decoupled, but …

Master's Project: Intervale Out Loud: A Place-Based Oral History Project, Katharan M. Blofson

Rubenstein School Masters Project Publications

Landscape analysis explores the social and ecological processes that drive landscape patterns, and is closely allied with landscape ecology and geography. UVM's PLACE (Place-based Landscape Analysis and Community Engagement) Program is a collaboration with Shelburne Farms, and uses landscape analysis to express an integrative “story of place” through the lenses of the physical, ecological and cultural landscapes. While landscape analysis field methods address the physical and ecological landscapes, no clear methodology has emerged to support a holistic analysis of the cultural landscape and an understanding of relationships with place. Oral history is an open-ended, flexible method that engages diverse perspectives …

Modeling The Effects Of The Hemlock Woolly Adelgid On Carbon Storage In Northern New England Forests, Jeffrey John Krebs

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA, Adelges tsugae Annand) is an invasive insect that threatens to eradicate native eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carr.) across the eastern United States. In southern New England and southern Appalachian forests, HWA-induced hemlock mortality has impacted carbon (C) flux by altering stand age, litter composition, species composition, and coarse woody debris levels. However, no one has examined how total C storage and sequestration may be impacted by these changes. Further, while projections are that HWA will ultimately infest hemlock across its entire geographic range, the majority of studies have been limited to southern New …

Ecological Remediation Using Bacterial, Fungal, And Plant Microcosms: An Effective Solution For Bunker C Crude Oil Contamination In Waterways, Jakob E. Schenker

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Factory legacy pollutants are an increasing concern for waterways as old infrastructure deteriorates and contaminates nearby environments. The Fisherville Mill in Grafton, Massachusetts, USA exemplifies this problem since it has now fallen into disrepair and is leaking Bunker C crude oil into the adjoining Blackstone River, a third order stream. Our research examines how effectively an ecologically engineered system (EES), consisting of anaerobic bacteria environments, fungal microcosms, and aquatic plant environments, can break down petroleum hydrocarbons, specifically aliphatic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), in this river environment.

Our testing protocol involved taking water samples before and after each filtration stage …

Meta-Analysis Of Studies Investigation Of The Effect Of Smoking Cessation On Impatience, Miriam Claire Dash

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

(DSM-IV-TR/) nor in withdrawal scales. However, a related term, "impatience" is listed in some nicotine withdrawal scales. (Hughes J. R., Measurements of the Effects of Abstinence from Tobacco: A Qualitative Review, 2007). Although impatience is not a synonym of impulsivity, both share the synonym "impetuous". Therefore, impatience can be considered a measure of impulsivity. Although some reviews of the effect of smoking cessation on impatience have occurred, we know of no quantitative review of prospective studies of whether smoking cessation increases impatience.

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of smoking cessation on impatience as measured by the Minnesota Nicotine Withdrawal Scale-Revised …

An Exploratory Analysis Of Twitter Keyword-Hashtag Networks And Knowledge Discovery Applications, Ahmed A. Hamed

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The emergence of social media has impacted the way people think, communicate, behave, learn, and conduct research. In recent years, a large number of studies have analyzed and modeled this social phenomena. Driven by commercial and social interests, social media has become an attractive subject for researchers. Accordingly, new models, algorithms, and applications to address specific domains and solve distinct problems have erupted. In this thesis, we propose a novel network model and a path mining algorithm called HashnetMiner to discover implicit knowledge that is not easily exposed using other network models. Our experiments using HashnetMiner have demonstrated anecdotal evidence …

Anodic Strategies For The Covalent Attachment Of Molecules To Electrodes Through Ethynyl And Vinyl Linkages, Matthew Vincent Sheridan

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Substrates with localized, organic radicals have the ability to attack `inert' surfaces to form covalent bonds between the substrate and an atom at the surface. These radicals can be generated in electrochemical experiments with substrates bearing an electroactive moiety. The moiety after oxidation (loss of an electron) or reduction (gain of an electron) generates the active radical. Electron transfer reactions at an electrode surface generate a high population of these radicals, thereby facilitating attachment.

The electrochemical oxidations of compounds containing terminal alkynes and alkenes were found to be effective methods for covalent attachment to glassy carbon, gold, and platinum electrodes. …

Segregation Of Particles Of Variable Size And Density In Falling Suspension Droplets, Melissa Kathleen Faletra

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The problem of the falling under gravity suspension droplet was examined for cases where the droplet contains particles with different densities and different sizes. Cases examined include droplets composed of uniform-size particles with two different densities, of uniform-density particles of two different sizes, and of a distribution of particles of different densities. The study was conducted using both simulations based on Oseenlet particle interactions and laboratory experiments. It is observed that when the particles in the suspension droplet have different sizes and densities, an interesting segregation phenomenon occurs in which lighter/smaller particles are transported downward with the droplet and preferentially …

Rogue Wave Solutions To Integrable System By Darboux Transformation, Xin Kou

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The Darboux transformation is one of the main techniques for finding solutions of integrable equations. The Darboux transformation is not only powerful in the construction of muilti-soliton solutions, recently, it is found that the Darboux transformation, after some modification, is also effective in generating the rogue wave solutions. In this thesis, we derive the rogue wave solutions for the Davey-Stewartson-II (DS-II) equation in terms of Darboux transformation. By taking the spectral function as the product of plane wave and rational function, we get the fundamental rogue wave solution and multi-rogue wave solutions via the normal Darboux transformation. Last but not …

Novel Aza-Prins Cyclization And [3+2] Dipolar Cycloaddition Toward N-Heterocyclic Molecules And Studies Toward The Total Synthesis Of Borrecapine, Xiaoxi Liu

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Highly functionalized 5 or 6-membered nitrogen-containing heterocyclic moieties are highly prevalent in pharmaceuticals reagents, alkaloid natural products, organocatalysts, as well as useful building blocks in organic synthesis. Novel approaches to synthesizing these structures are sought therefore to maximize their accessibility. Within the well-established organic synthesis artillery, electrocyclic reactions serve as the predominant strategy to construct pyrrolidine and piperidine analogues. In this dissertation, the first stereocontrolled assembly of indolizidines from 2-allylic proline esters by aza-Prins reaction, and endo-selective synthesis of highly functionalized 5-vinylic pyrrolidines from benzylic and allylic azomethine ylide using novel [3+2] dipolar cycloaddition are described. These methodologies then culminate …

Effect Of Thermal Treatment On The Cation Exchange And Disordering In Tourmaline, Jacob Stern Menken

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Tourmaline is an aluminoborocyclosilicate mineral with a complex arrangement of atoms. With highly variable chemistry and multiple cation sites, tourmaline is one of the last complex minerals whose structure was unraveled, and its response to changes in Pressure-Temperature-Time (P-T-X) are not well understood. Due to its stability at high temperature and pressure, tourmaline has the potential to be an informative mineral in terms of petrogenetic indicators and could be used in assessing provenance, thermobarometry and geochronology. Three reactions were proposed to understand the cation exchange and disordering between the Y- and Z-sites in the tourmaline structure. These reactions …

Social Responsibility And Succession Planning: A Qualitative Application Of The Theory Of Planned Behavior Among Small Businesses In Vermont, Alana Marie Izzo

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Small businesses are critically important to the current U.S. economy. This is especially true for Vermont. In 2010, small Vermont businesses represented 96.3% of all employers accounting for approximately 60% of the private sector workforce (SBA, 2013). Entrepreneurs are drawn to Vermont for the quality of life, progressive atmosphere, and its distinction for fostering companies with socially, ethically and environmentally driven missions. Succession is an important stage in a company's life-cycle. Thus, succession planning is a crucial activity for founders, owners or high-level managers, (here after referred to as leaders,) in which to participate. This study explores the current environment …

Causal Modeling And Prediction Over Event Streams, Saurav Acharya

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

In recent years, there has been a growing need for causal analysis in many modern stream applications such as web page click monitoring, patient health care monitoring, stock market prediction, electric grid monitoring, and network intrusion detection systems. The detection and prediction of causal relationships help in monitoring, planning, decision making, and prevention of unwanted consequences.

An event stream is a continuous unbounded sequence of event instances. The availability of a large amount of continuous data along with high data throughput poses new challenges related to causal modeling over event streams, such as (1) the need for incremental causal inference …

Application Of A Ring Fragmentation/Azomethine Ylide 1,3-Dipolar Cycloaddition Sequence In The Synthesis Of Demissidine, Zhe Zhang

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Edible potatoes originated in the Andes and were brought to Europe in the 16th century. Their introduction spurred both the European population growth and economic development. Being the world's fourth-largest food crop, potatoes continue to shape the global economy and world history. Glycoalkaloids are natural insect deterrents generated by potatoes, and are known for their toxic effects as well as potential medicinal utilities. Demissidine, the aglycone of the primary glycoalkaloids, represents one major Solanum alkaloid. Its unique indolizidine framework presents a challenging synthetic target in organic chemistry. Our synthesis of demissidine starts from readily available epiandrosterone and takes advantage of …

Connecting Landscapes To People: Assessing The Distribution Of Ecosystem Service Flows Using The Span Approach, Gary Wayne Johnson

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The Service Path Attribution Network (SPAN) framework provides a novel, user-centric, connectivity-based approach to ecosystem service assessment and valuation (ESAV). Ecosystem services are delivered to users through the simulated flow of some service medium (i.e., matter, energy, or information) from the ecosystems in which it originates (sources) to the people or assets which it affects (users). Along the way, the service medium may be absorbed by intervening landscape features (sinks) or captured by rival users.

Crucially, the service medium is not itself an ecosystem service or benefit but rather an agnostic transport mechanism which establishes connectivity between sources, sinks, rival …

Strain Localization And Exhumation Of The Lower Crust: A Study Of The Three-Dimensional Structure And Flow Kinematics Of Central Fiordland, New Zealand, Alice Newman

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

In this thesis, I present structural and kinematic data on rock fabrics, shear zones and fault zones from the Cretaceous Malaspina orthogneiss and some of its satellite plutons in central Fiordland, New Zealand. Central Fiordland exposes a large tract of granulite- to eclogite-facies lower crust that was exhumed between late Mesozoic to Cenozoic times. The deformational structures of interest were formed and preserved during the lifecycle of a Cretaceous continental arc that involved thickening to over 60 km followed by collapse and rifting. As such, they provide an excellent opportunity to study strain localization in the deep crust and the …

The Impacts Of Multiple Anthropogenic Disturbances On The Montane Forests Of The Green Mountains, Vermont, Usa, Carolyn Ann Pucko

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

How and why species’ ranges shift has long been a focus of ecology but is now becoming increasingly important given the current rate of climatic and environmental change. In response to global warming, species will need to migrate northward or upward to stay within their climatic tolerances. The ability of species to migrate will determine their fate and affect the community compositions of the future. However, to more accurately predict the future extent of species, we must identify and understand their responses to past and current climatic and environmental changes. The first place change is expected to occur is within …

Functional Properties Of Whey Protein And Its Application In Nanocomposite Materials And Functional Foods, Helen Walsh

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Whey is a byproduct of cheese making; whey proteins are globular proteins which can be modified and polymerized to add functional benefits, these benefits can be both nutritional and structural in foods. Modified proteins can be used in non-foods, being of particular interest in polymer films and coatings. Food packaging materials, including plastics, can linings, interior coatings of paper containers, and beverage cap sealing materials, are generally made of synthetic petroleum based compounds. These synthetic materials may pose a potential human health risk due to presence of certain chemicals such as Bisphenol A (BPA). They also add to environmental pollution, …

Local Energy Governance In Vermont: An Analysis Of Energy System Transition Strategies And Actor Capacity, Tarah Rowse

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

While global, national, and regional efforts to address climate and energy challenges remain essential, local governments and community groups are playing an increasingly stronger and vital role. As an active state in energy system policy, planning and innovation, Vermont offers a testing ground for research into energy governance at the local level. A baseline understanding of the energy planning and energy organizing activities initiated at the local level can support efforts to foster a transition to a sustainable energy system in Vermont. Following an inductive, applied and participatory approach, and grounded in the fields of sustainability transitions, energy planning, and …

Graph Pattern Mining Techniques To Identify Potential Model Organisms, Ahmed Ragab Nabhan

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Recent advances in high throughput technologies have led to an increasing amount of rich and diverse biological data and related literature. Model organisms are classically selected as subjects for studying human disease based on their genotypic and phenotypic features. A significant problem with model organism identification is the determination of characteristic features related to biological processes that can provide insights into the mechanisms underlying diseases. These insights could have a positive impact on the diagnosis and management

of diseases and the development of therapeutic drugs. The increased availability of biological data presents an opportunity to develop data mining methods that …

Analysis And Modeling Of Quality Improvement On Clinical Fitness Landscapes, Narine Manukyan

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Widespread unexplained variations in clinical practices and patient outcomes, together with rapidly growing availability of data, suggest major opportunities for improving the quality of medical care. One way that healthcare practitioners try to do that is by participating in organized healthcare quality improvement collaboratives (QICs). In QICs, teams of practitioners from different hospitals exchange information on clinical practices, with the aim of improving health outcomes at their own institutions. However, what works in one hospital may not work in others with different local contexts, due to non-linear interactions among various demographics, treatments, and practices. I.e., the clinical landscape is a …

Decision Support For Natural Resource Management, Jonathan Cummings

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

This research spans a variety of research topics with a common theme, providing decision support through the development and analysis of methods that assist decision making for natural resource and wildlife management. I used components of structured decision making and decision analysis to address natural resources management problems, specifically monitoring and estimating the status of harvested populations, as well as data collection decisions for landscape conservation.

My results have implications for the way populations are monitored and their status is estimated. I find that the inclusion of error in data collection can have a substantial impact of the performance of …