Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

An Investigation On Nonenzymatic Autoxidation Of Phenolic Compounds In Natural Waters, Lei Jiang

Masters Theses

The nonenzymatic autoxidation of the phenolic compounds chlorogenic acid in aqueous solution was studied. The study demonstrated that the oxidation rate of chlorogenic acid was strongly dependent on pH. The higher the pH, the faster the rate of oxidation. The involvement of phenolate ions and radicals in oxidation reactions are two possible reasons for the pH dependency. The presence of a trace amounts of reducible transition metal ions, such as copper(II), dramatically increases the oxidation rate of chlorogenic acid. Light also increases the oxidation rate of chlorogenic acid. However, the photochemical reaction was a much slower process.

The TLC and …

Is The Universe Expanding?: An Historical And Philosophical Perspective For Cosmologists Starting Anew, David A. Vlosak

Masters Theses

This study addresses the problem of how scientists ought to go about resolving the current crisis in big bang cosmology. Although this problem can be addressed by scientists themselves at the level of their own practice, this study addresses it at the meta-level by using the resources offered by philosophy of science.

There are two ways to resolve the current crisis. Either cosmologists can continue working on big bang theory or they can start anew. For those who choose to start anew, this study argues it would be a mistake for them to assume any new cosmological theory would have …

Ground Water Movement Through The Highly-Fractured Crystalline Core Of A Large-Scale, Foreland Uplift, Roy Al Gorge Arch, South-Central Colorado, Timothy L. Clarey

Dissertations

The objectives of this study were twofold: ( 1) to examine the well-exposed, basement core of the Royal Gorge arch as a large-scale, field test of ground water flow through a fractured, crystalline, aquifer system; and (2) to devise a method to more accurately determine the direction of maximum aperture of a fractured aquifer through structural and hydrogeologic analysis.

The recognition of a preferred direction of maximum aperture in a fractured aquifer remains an important hydrogeologic consideration because flow through a fracture is proportional to the cube of the aperture width. Previous studies of hydraulic directions using fracture orientation techniques …

An Evaluation Of Methods To Determine The Thickness Of Free Product In A Shallow Water Table Aquifer, Ross B. Wagner

Masters Theses

Estimates of the volume of recoverable free phase petroleum product in soils are frequently based on poorly understood empirical methods. These methods, in the form of field tests and/or equations, require simplifying assumptions and apparent product thickness to calculate the thickness or specific volume of free phase product. The purpose of this study was to compare the available methods against each other to cross validate them.

The field methods evaluated at a well with an apparent product thickness of 1.69 feet were: Yaniga's bailer test, split-spoon soil sampling, a test pit excavation and a new tool developed for direct measurement …

A Study Of The Chemical And Physical Interactions Between A Wetland And A Shallow Aquifer In Cass County, Michigan, Lisa Marie Anderson

Masters Theses

A study of the ground-water chemistry and flow direction adjacent to a wetland was performed in a major hog producing area. Nested piezometers, consisting of wells 7 to 18 feet deep, were installed around the wetland to determine the vertical distribution of hydraulic head and water-quality parameters. Piezometer elevations were surveyed to determine precise ground-water elevations to delineate the ground-water flow regime around the wetland. Water samples were taken at three different times to analyze water quality and seasonal variations. Analytical parameters included major ions, redox sensitive parameters (DO, nitrate-N, ammonia, iron, and sulfate), and total organic carbon.

Water level …

Geology Newsletter- 1995, Department Of Geology

Geological and Environmental Sciences News

Vol. 1, No. 20

• Faculty News
• Awards and Scholarships
• Alumni/ Friends/ Former Faculty Notes
• Geology Development and Scholarship Donations
• New Alumni

Evaluation Of Bail-Down Test Methods For Characterizing Free Product Recoverability From An Aquifer, Laura L. Krol

Masters Theses

Determination of the occurrence and recoverability of free product impacting the subsurface environment has been an on-going challenge in the environmental industry. A simple and relatively inexpensive test to perform in the field is the free product bail-down test. Many authors have proposed various analysis methods using these data for the determination of different free product characteristics.

The purpose of this project was to determine the comparability and possible validity of bail-down test interpretation methods for predicting hydrocarbon hydraulic conductivity/transmissivity and true free product thickness. Bail-down test data collected from two sites were analyzed and interpreted using methods from the …

The Effects Of Air Sparging On Aquifer Hydraulic Conductivity, Hans Neve

Masters Theses

Air sparging is a relatively new technology used to remove organic contaminants from aquifers. This remediation technique involves injecting into contaminated portions of water table aquifers. Theoretically air sparging will reduce aquifer hydraulic conductivity. Injected air fills some of the available sediment pores, thus restricting the flow of water to the remaining water-filled pore spaces.

The purpose of this study was to measure the reduction in hydraulic conductivity due to air sparging. This was assessed using both laboratory and field techniques. The hydraulic conductivities of several different sediments were determined in the laboratory using a large constant head permeameter modified …

The Separation Of Aqueous Iron Species Found In Stepwise Complexation By Capillary Electrophoresis With Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy Detection, Robert E. Sutton

Dissertations

A capillary zone electrophoresis system was interfaced to an atomic absorption spectrom eter to permit the separation and detection o f various species of iron found in step wise complexation in aqueous solutions. The samples were introduced at the anodic end of the column employing the electroosmotic flow to drive all the species to the detector at the cathodic end. Aqueous solutions of iron(II) and iron (III) chloride salts were among the compounds studied. The buffer employed w as a 20 millimolar (2-[N-morpholino]ethanesulfonic acid adjusted to a pH of 6 with 6 .6 millimolar potassium hydroxide. The detection limit was …

Recombination In Kr^34+ + H2 And 0^6+ + He Collisions, Konstantinos Zaharakis

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Study On The Causes Of Variations In Transmissivity And Storativity During Pump Tests At Asylum Lake, Paul Joseph Pare

Masters Theses

Over a two year period, Western Michigan University ran a number of pump tests in the Asylum Lake Area in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The transmissivities and storativities calculated from these tests differed significantly from well to well in any particular test, and from pump test to pump test. Utilizing the computer programs AQTESOLV 3.0 and Aquifer Parameter Estimator, a number of T and S values were calculated. After analysis of the results, the following conclusion was drawn. The main reason for the deviations in the T and S values arose from the mixing of the results of numerous methods (some of …

Band Structure For Acoustic Waves Propagating In A Periodic Elastic Media And Impurity Modes Arising From Slab Substitutions, Abdur Rahman

Masters Theses

In this thesis I study the band structure for acoustic waves propagating in a one-dimensional elastic array which forms a periodic elastic system in which band gaps are opened in the frequency spectrum. Specifically, I study the single impurity problem in this system. An impurity is introduced in the system by replacing one of the acoustic slabs with a new slab of different acoustic medium or by changing the thickness of impurity slab. I study the very narrow (in frequency) impurity modes in the band gaps which are localized about the impurity sites. Then I study the frequency of impurity …

Regulation Of The Expression Of Lipogenic Enzymes By Insulin-Mimetics, Juiyu Wu

Masters Theses

Many researchers have shown that selenate (SeO₄^2-) and vanadate (VO₄^2-) have insulin-mimetic effects in certain biological processes. These mimetic effects include increasing glucose transport, regulating glycolytic enzymes, normalizing plasma glucose levels and activities of insulin regulated enzymes in diabetic rats. To clarify the functions and roles of these insulin-mimetics in different insulin-regulated metabolic pathways, the expression of the genes for glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) and fatty acid synthase (FAS) were investigated. G6PDH is a key enzyme in the pentose phosphate pathway and is also involved in lipogenic metabolism by providing 55-70% of the NADPH utilization …

Effects Of Insulin And Insulin Mimetics On Antioxidant Enzyme Levels: In Vivo And In Vitro, Shikha Varma

Masters Theses

Tissue antioxidation status is considered to be an important factor for elucidating the etiology of diabetes and its physiological complications. This study was aimed to determine the in vivo antioxidant enzyme levels in the altered antioxidant status of diabetic rat liver with the treatment of two potent insulin mimetics, vanadium and selenate. The direct effects of vanadate, selenate, and zinc (another insulin mimetic) on the antioxidant enzyme levels in primary rat hepatocytes in culture was also determined. Levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and gluthahione peroxidase (GPX) were determined in both model systems.

In the vivo model, insulin treatment …

The Variability Of Carbon Dioxide In The Vadose Zone, John J. Ring

Masters Theses

The purpose of this thesis was to observe and attempt to explain the variations of carbon dioxide in the vadose zone of a nature area in southwestern Michigan. Well nests, consisting of discrete soil gas sampling points and temperature probes set at depths ranging from 3 to 53 feet, were constructed in a sandy, glacial outwash plain. Soil samples were collected for analysis of organic carbon content during installation. Soil gas samples were collected periodically from June, 1992 to March, 1993 and analyzed for CO₂ and O₂ concentrations. Occasionally, samples were collected and analyzed for isotopic C^{13 …}

Combination Effects Of Irradiation And Chemical Doping On High Temperature Superconductors, Russell J. Fedewa

Honors Theses

The goal of this project is to investigate some methods that improve the critical transport current in high temperature superconductors. A superconductor is a material which can allow an electrical current to flow through it with no resistance. This makes them ideal for a wide variety of applications. Most of the present use is in science or medicine, and show promise in computer circuitry materials and electromagnetic trains. This experiment explores a means of increasing the critical current, the maximum amount of electric current that can pass, and which at present is too low to permit the use of superconductors …

College Physics Students' Conceptual Understanding Of Area And Volume, And Relationships Between These Concepts And Students' Understanding Of Physics Concepts, Jiang Yu

Dissertations

Concepts such as area and volume are foundational ideas for many concepts introduced in introductory science courses. At the college level, most instructors typically assume that incoming students have already developed an understanding of these underpinning ideas. However, doubt has surfaced in recent years about students' depth of understanding and mastery of these fundamental concepts. Because deficiencies in understanding basic concepts may relate to the learning of subsequent concepts, instructors have expressed concerns about students' understanding of fundamental ideas and if the failure to understand these ideas hinders students' subsequent progress.

This study was designed to (a) investigate the nature …

A Comparison Of Methods To Allocate Tasks On A Multiprocessor System, Kelly Cousineau

Masters Theses

The task scheduling problem is defined as a sequential algorithm, with individual tasks, t₁, t₂, t₃… having associated execution times to be ported to a multiprocessor system. To determine the fastest parallel implementation is known to be an NP-complete problem, therefore heuristic techniques are employed to arrive at the best solution.

Some of the traditional methods used to solve this problem, are the list scheduling algorithm and the simulated annealing algorithm. However, evolutionary techniques are now also a consideration with the increased computation power available.

Evolutionary techniques, based on the popular theory of evolution, …

The Use Of Analogies In An Industrial Environment To Facilitate Status Changes For Radiation Science Concepts, Charles Thomas Lohrke

Dissertations

The focus of this study was the effect of two analogies on the status of industrial technical center employees for three radiation science concept areas. The analogies used were of melting ice and falling tacks. The three radiation concept areas examined were radioactive material decay, radioactive material half-life, and radioactive material activity.

Forty-four adults participated in the study. Thirty-five of these participants took pre- and post-lesson multiple-choice tests to determine the effect that the analogies had on their intelligibility of the three radiation science concept areas. Nine participants also took pre- and post-lesson clinical interviews to assess their intelligibility, plausibility, …

Step Domination In Graphs, Kelly Lynne Schultz

Dissertations

One of the major areas in Graph Theory is domination in graphs. It is this area with which this dissertation deals, with the primary emphasis on step domination in graphs.

In Chapter 1 we present some preliminary definitions and examples. In addition, a background of the area of domination is presented. We then introduce the concepts that lead to step domination.

In Chapter II we formally define the concept of step domination and give several examples. We determine the minimum number of vertices needed in a step domination set for many classes of graphs. We then explore step domination for …

Probability Polynomials For Cubic Graphs In The Framework Of Random Topological Graph Theory, Esther Joy Tesar

Dissertations

Topological graph theorists study the imbeddings of graphs on surfaces (spheres with handles). Some interesting questions in the field are on w hat surfaces can a graph be 2 -cell imbedded and how m any such imbeddings are there on each surface. The study of these and related questions is called Enumerative Topological Graph Theory. Random Topological Graph Theory uses probability models to study the 2-cell imbeddings. It generalizes the results from Enumerative Topological Graph Theory (which is the uniform case, p= 1/2) to an arbitrary probability p.

We study the model where the sample space consists of all labeled, …

Efficient Dominating Sets In Oriented Trees, Quan Yue

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Asymptotic Diagonalizations Of A Linear Ordinary Differential System, Feipeng Xie

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Wellhead Protection Study Of A Small Agricultural Community In Glaciated Terrain, As A Model For Wellhead Protection Efforts By Similar Communities, Cole Kevan Lovett

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to create a wellhead protection approach for a small town in a rural watershed that could be used by other, similar, communities.

Lacustrine clay and melt-out till interbedded in outwash sands and fine gravel, separate an unconfined aquifer from a deeper aquifer. The lower aquifer was determined to be semiconfined due to (a) high vertical conductivity, (b) lack of continuity in the clay/till, (c) absence of significant seasonal water level changes, and (d) tritium levels above 1-2 tritium units in deep wells.

Tritium level falls and water age rises along flowpaths. A low-high-low pattern …

Semi-Strongly Regular Graphs And Generalized Cages, Cong Fan

Dissertations

Two well-known classes of graphs, strongly regular graphs and cages, have been studied extensively by many researchers for a long period of time. In this dissertation, we mainly deal with semi-strongly regular graphs, a class of graphs including all strongly regular graphs, and (r, g, t)-cages, a generalization of the usual cage concept.

Chapter I introduces the two new concepts: semi-strongly regular graphs and generalized (r, g, t)-cages, gives necessary conditions for the existence of semi-strongly regular graphs and some interesting properties regarding common neighbors of pairs of vertices, and shows connections between these two new concepts and the old …

Planar Over The Cell Routing, Srinivasa R. Danda

Masters Theses

Planar over the cell routing in standard cell layouts is an important problem and it has been studied quite extensively. In two layer standard cell design methodology, Ml layer is typically used for connections internal to the cell, and the M2 layer is available for routing over-the-cell. In this thesis, we consider the Two Row Maximum Planar Subset (TRMPS) problem in Over-The-Cell routing. The TRMPS problem requires selection of the maximum planar subset of nets, which can be routed between two rows of terminals in a cell row. This problem was first encountered by Cong, Liu, and Preas [3]. They …

A Unified Approach To Multilayer Routing, Sreekrishna Madhwapathy

Masters Theses

Several Over-the-Cell (OTC) routing algorithms have been proposed for two and three layer processes. All the existing OTC routers assume that the terminals are laid out in a specific predetermined fashion. These restrictions on the terminals complicate the task of cell design and increase the width of the cells.

In this thesis, we report two results. First, we present a new layout methodology, for obtaining minimum width cells, with arbitrarily located terminals. Next, we develop a multilayer routing approach, which is independent of the cell model used in the layout design. Freed from fixed terminal placement restrictions, cell designers can …

A Feasibility Study For Using Computerized Water Well Records To Delineate Areas Of Recharge-Discharge Potential, Lauren D. Hughes

Masters Theses

A method for delineating areas of recharge-discharge potential has been developed utilizing computerized water well records. The methodology is based on the vertical head differences found between wells with shallow depths of submergence and those with deeper depths of submergence. The residual values generated represent the magnitude of vertical potential and can be contoured to delineate areas of recharge-discharge potential. Well data were obtained from the Kalamazoo County Groundwater Database. Well selection was based on depth of submergence and total well depth.

The methodology was tested in Texas and Schoolcraft Townships, the Donnell Lake Study Area, and Kalamazoo County. Regularly …

Geophysical Investigation At The Mouth Of The St. Joseph River Valley And Adjacent Lake Michigan Shoreline In St. Joseph And Benton Harbor, Michigan, David L. Seng

Masters Theses

A combination of geophysical methods were employed in an attempt to characterize a small section of the shoreline of the St. Joseph, Michigan, region of the Lake Michigan shoreline. Electrical resistivity and Ground Penetrating Radar profiles conducted along the shoreline and within the nearshore environment reveal a buried valley of the ancestral St. Joseph river. This valley represents incision of the channel during lowered lake levels at the end of the Pleistocene.

Lakeward dipping radar reflectors are identified throughout the study site. Within the buried valley the reflectors are not glacial till as is the case outside the inferred valley …

An Experimental Apparatus For Studying Differential Scattering Of Multiply-Charged Ions From Neutral Targets Following Capture, John Edward Edens

Masters Theses

An experimental apparatus has been designed, enabling measurement of angular differential cross sections for single-electron capture (SEC). The design consists of a microchannel plate detector with a one-dimensional position sensitive anode. A bow-time shaped aperture was employed to convert a radially scattered distribution into an approximate linear one. An electrostatic retarding grid was used to separate SEC contributions from the reaction products. Measurements were made of the angular differential cross sections for SEC of Ar^q+ (q=4-6,8) ions scattering from He and Ar at impact energies of 600 to 3000 eV and angles between 0 and 23 mrad. The experimental …