Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Cetyltrimethylammonium Halide-Coated Electrodes For The Detection Of Dopamine In The Presence Of Interferents, Amber J. Yeary

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Specially constructed carbon paste electrodes were coated with 10 mM cetyltrimethylammonium halide (CTAX) solutions, bromide and chloride being the counter anions. These surfactant modified electrodes were used to detect the catecholamine neurotransmitter dopamine using cyclic voltammetry. The coated electrodes gave reproducible quasi-reversible behavior for the analyte dopamine over a range of concentrations from 1 mM to 200 mM. When combined in solution with common interferents ascorbic acid (1 mM) and uric acid (300 μM), all cathodic and anodic current peaks maintained resolution at the biological pH of 7.4. When the coating solutions were below the critical micelle concentration (0.5 mM), …

Commercial Program Development For A Ground Loop Geothermal System: Energy Loads, Gui, Turbulent Flow, Heat Pump Model And Grid Study, Paul A. Gross Ii

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The use of the earth's thermal energy to heat and cool building space is nothing new; however, the heat transfer approximations used in modeling geothermal systems, leave uncertainty and lead to over sizing. The present work is part of a Wright State effort to improve the computer modeling tools used to simulate ground loop geothermal heating and cooling systems. The modern computer processor has equipped us with the computation speed to use a finite volume technique to solve the unsteady heat equation with hourly time steps for multi-year analyses in multiple spatial dimensions. Thus we feel there is more need …

Quantum Chemical Analysis Of The Pka's Of Alcohols And A Cellular Automata Model For The Distribution Of Gases In The Earth's Atmosphere, Edur Basha Boyinipalli

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Alcohols play important roles in many chemical and biological processes, and their acid/base behaviors are often important for these roles. In this study we ask the question, "Can the electronic properties of these compounds offer clues to the compounds' acid/base behaviors?" The study considers whether selected quantum chemical properties can be used to find correlations with the experimental pKa's of the alcohols (aliphatic and aromatic). Calculations were carried out for these alcohols using the semi-empirical RM1 method and the more advanced density functional theory (DFT) B3LYP/6-31+G* method. Significant correlations were found for several quantum chemical descriptors. It was also found …

The Kozeny-Carman Equation Considered With A Percolation Threshold, Lee Brenson Porter Ii

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A procedure has been developed for calculating permeability (k) from the Kozeny-Carmen equation, a procedure that links ideas from percolation theory with the ideas of Koltermann and Gorelick (1995) and Esselburn et al. (2011). The approach focuses on the proportion of coarser pores that are occupied by finer sediments and defines a threshold proportion. For proportions below this threshold, the unoccupied coarser pores percolate. Following the ideas of Koltermann and Gorelick (1995), the effective grain-size term in the Kozeny-Carman equation is calculated using the geometric mean if below the threshold proportion, and with the harmonic mean if above. Following ideas …

Synthesis Of Isatin Derivatives Used For The Inhibition Of Pro-Apoptotic Jurkat T Cells, Charles Michael Clay

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A range of substituted 1H-indole-2,3-diones (isatins) was synthesized to assess their capability to inhibit caspases and prevent apoptosis in Jurkat T cells. The key steps in the synthesis of such molecules involved electrophilic substitution of the C-5 position of the isatin nucleus (if necessary), N-alkylation, Wolff-Kishner reduction of the C-3 carbonyl group and finally, Knoevenagel condensation. The design and synthesis of such potential inhibitors was guided by SAR studies of peptide based inhibitors such as "Q-VD-O-Ph", as well as small-molecule inhibitors based upon the isatins scaffold. Previously, 3-(2,6-difluorobenzylidene)-5-nitroindolin-2-one has been shown to inhibit apoptosis in human Jurkat T cells at …

Analysis Of An Eocene Bone-Bed, Contained Within The Lower Lisbon Formation, Covington County, Alabama, Angela Ann Clayton

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A fossiliferous lag layer is exposed, at low water levels, next to Point "A" Dam north of River Falls, Alabama. The location of the research site was a coastal region, during the Middle Eocene, and most likely an estuary with complex depositional systems due to the interaction of fluvial and tidal processes. Most of the vertebrate remains at this locality are well preserved and indicate a low-energy environment. The exposure consists of unconsolidated sands rich with Chondrichthyan and Reptilian remains. Little work has been conducted at this location and the exposure was thought to be conformable. With a thorough lithological …

Interoperability Between Awsome And Other Tools Using Model Driven Architecture, Chitra Srinivasan

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AFIT Wide Spectrum Object Modeling Environment (AWSOME) is built on an Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) which is the meta-model of AWSOME. Transformations happen internally in AWSOME to transform anything in abstract to concrete. Earlier efforts in AWSOME were focused on developing tools to work on the AST. The goal of this thesis is to make AWSOME interoperable with other available tools. To achieve this goal, the Model Driven Architecture (MDA) concept is used. MDA is a framework aimed at portability, interoperability and reusability among different tools. Among many tools that use MDA context, EclipseUML 2008 and Dresden OCL Toolkit were …

Measuring Uncertainty Of Protein Secondary Structure, Alan Eugene Herner

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This dissertation develops and demonstrates a method to measure the uncertainty of secondary structure of protein sequences using Shannon's information theory. This method is applied to a newly developed large dataset of chameleon sequences and to several protein hinges culled from the Hinge Atlas. The uncertainty of the central residue in each tripeptide is computed for each amino acid in a sequence using Cuff and Barton's CB513 as the reference set. It is shown that while secondary structure uncertainty is relatively high in chameleon regions [avg = 1.27 bits] it is relatively low in the regions 1-7 residues nearest a …

Littoral Zone Structure, Energy Mobilization And Benthic Food Webs In Oligotrophic Northern Temperate Lakes, Shawn P. Devlin

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Lakes are usually described by pelagic-based characteristics such as trophic status or stratification and mixing regimes. These categorization schemes neglect among-lake differences in the physical and biological structure of the littoral zone. The extensive use of stable isotopes has led to a better integration of pelagic dynamics and littoral processes in limnology. In order to further our understanding of littoral trophic dynamics I conducted a detailed investigation of benthic primary production, littoral sediment bacterial production, and zoobenthic consumer resource use in oligotrophic temperate lakes. I have found that among-lake variation in benthic primary and bacterial production reflects littoral zone structure. …

Cyclopentadienone Conversions To Terephthalates And Cycloadditions Of Alkynes And Azides, Sarah E. Bragg

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Cyclopentadienone derivatives can be converted via a Diels-Alder reaction to multifunctional terephthalate derivatives, which can then be converted to poly(phenylene vinylene) derivatives. It was demonstrated that terephthalate derivatives can be simply and reproducibly synthesized from 2,5-diethoxycarbonyl-3,4-diphenylcyclopentadienone with a variety of acetylenes, having yields ranging from 63% to quantitative yields. The terephthalate derivatives synthesized varied from oils to crystalline solids, but were readily isolated and generally had high rates of completion despite expected steric factors. Terephthalate derivatives with pendent acetylenes were formed in reactions with as low as a 3:1 ratio of diacetylene to cyclopentadienone. A terephthalate derivative with a pendent …

A User Centered Design And Prototype Of A Mobile Reading Device For The Visually Impaired, Robert B. Keefer

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While mobile reading devices have been on the market and investigated by researchers in recent years, there is still work required to make these devices highly accessible to the visually impaired. A usability test with one such device revealed gaps in the current state of the art devices. These gaps focus mostly on the user interaction and his or her ability to quickly consume written reading material. In this dissertation a voice user interface (VUI) is presented that improves the ability of a blind user of a mobile reading device to interact with written material. The image processing techniques required …

Computed Tomography Reconstruction: Investigating The Effect Of Varying Circle Diameter, William F. Sanders Iv

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In Computed Tomography (CT) reconstruction, several methods for determining the intensity of individual pixels from the back-projection of the scanned profiles exist. The standard reconstruction method uses linear interpolation between ray values to determine pixel intensity. This study quantifies the effects of varying circle diameter on the accuracy of an alternative method where the pixel is approximated as a circle and the area contributions calculated.

A library of 104 scans in 3 image families was created by a synthetic CT scanner and reconstructed with circle radii from 0.1 to 1.0 pixel in 0.1 pixel steps. Images were compared against a …

Multilevel Hadamard Matrices, Keli Siqueiros Parker

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Multilevel Hadamard Matrices (MHMs) have been examined by Trihn, Fan, and Gabidulin for constructions of multilevel zero-correlation zone sequences, which in turn have useful application in quasi-synchronous code division multiple access (CDMA) systems. Subsequently, Adams, Crawford, Greeley, Lee and Murugan introduced a construction of full-rate circulant MHMs and proved the existence of an order n MHM with n elements of distinct absolute value for all n, thus determining the maximum number of distinct elements permissible in an order n MHM to be the greatest possible. We give a survey of MHMs, in particular examining the circulant case and the methods …

Intersections Of Deleted Digits Cantor Sets With Their Translates, Jason D. Phillips

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We define a family of deleted digits Cantor sets which satisfy specific constraints on the generating set of digits. We explore the structure and dimension of the intersection of a deleted digits Cantor set with its translate by a real value t. These results apply directly to the traditional Middle Thirds Cantor set as well as regular and uniform Cantor sets. We show that this family includes certain irregular sets which have not been previously analyzed. Our methods not only reveal the upper and lower bounds for the Minkowski dimension, but also uncover a formula for calculating the dimension of …

Synthesis Of Fluorinated Indenofluorenediones And Bis(2-Fluorophenyl) Substituted Ppv, Jeffrey D. Fogle

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The compound 2,5-di(ethoxycarbonyl)-3,4-di(2-fluorophenyl)cyclopentadienone was successfully synthesized and led to the synthesis of terephthalates, di(hydroxymethyl)s, di(chloromethyl)s, diacids, diacid chlorides and indenofluorenediones having the pendent groups null, hexyl and 2-(4-benzothiazolyl)phenyl. All new compounds were characterized by melting point, IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, 19F NMR, GC/MS and combustion analysis. Most of the forementioned compounds showed an indication of restricted rotation with the appearance of trans and cis diastereomers. The asymmetric compounds showed the occurrence of four isomers. In some spectra, signals corresponding to all four isomers were visible. Through-space 1H-19F, 13C-19F and 19F-19F coupling was observed for most compounds in 1H NMR, …

Growth And Characterization Of Carbon Nanomaterials, Jay Patel

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In this thesis, single and multi-layered graphene films were epitaxially grown on either Si-face or C-face of SiC single crystal substrates. The film growth conditions, such as decomposition temperatures and pressures, and their surface morphologies were optimized. These films were then characterized by using surface analysis tools including SEM, TEM, AFM evanescent wave microscopy and electron educed spectroscopy. In addition to studying graphene decomposed from SiC crystals, carbon nanotube material was fabricated using a floating catalyst technique. These carbon nanotube material was then studied for potential cathode applications in this thesis. Field emission properties of these cathodes was measured and …

Novel Trisubstituted Arylidene Oxindoles With Potent Anti-Apoptotic Properties, Paul J. Repasky

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Apoptosis is a highly complex, multi-step cellular pathway utilized to initiate cell suicide. The family of enzymes largely responsible for the process is the cystienyl aspartic acid proteases (caspases). This study details the design and synthesis of a new class of small molecule caspase inhibitors, namely arylidene oxindoles, which are comparable to the isatin family of inhibitors but which offer the advantage of incorporating three points of variability into the basic scaffold. Moreover, whereas the mode of action of isatins against caspases has been demonstrated to involve nucleophilic addition of the cysteine residue of the enzymes to the C-3 ketone …

Semi-Supervised Contrafold For Rna Secondary Structure Prediction: A Maximum Entropy Approach, Jianping Feng

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A novel probabilistic discriminative model based on conditional random fields, CONTRAfold, has recently been proposed for single sequence RNA secondary structure prediction. By incorporating most of the features which closely mirror the local interaction terms of thermodynamics-based models, the CONTRAfold model has outperformed both probabilistic and physics-based techniques, and received the highest single sequence prediction accuracies. CONTRAfold, like most other RNA secondary structure prediction techniques, requires a collection of RNA sequences with known secondary structure to serve as training data for the algorithm. Manual annotation of RNA sequences is both expensive and time-consuming, and there remains a great deal more …

Optimizing Memory Cost With Loop Transformations, Hailong Shi

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Embedded systems are usually constrained in terms of timing, power, and memory. Many embedded applications, especially in the multi-media and telecom domains, are inherently data dominant. These embedded DSP applications usually exhibit intensive computations in the form of multi-level loops. The performance of these embedded DSP applications mainly depends on the code quality of the loops and the memory hierarchy design. During the design phase of the embedded system, it is important to estimate the overall storage requirement to guide the memory system design and take advantage of the memory system by program transformations and loop transformations.

Loop transformations including …

Methylmercury In Mosquitoes: Impact Of A Large Coal-Fired Power Station In Central Ohio, Matthew J. Konkler

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Emissions from coal-fired utilities are the major anthropogenic source of mercury (Hg) to the atmosphere. Because emitted Hg may be deposited near the source, there are concerns on levels of toxic monomethylmercury (MeHg) in local biota. We investigated the potential impact of a large Hg-emitting (> 500 kg Hg y-1) coal-fired power station on MeHg levels in mosquitoes near the Conesville power station in central Ohio. Mosquitoes were sampled with CO2-baited traps at 23 locations within a 60 km radius of the utility and at three reference sites distant from Hg combustion sources. MeHg in mosquitoes within a 30-km radius …

Near Equilibrium Dissolution Of Calcite Using A Flow-Through Reactor (Ftr), Michael Mante

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In mineral dissolution reactions, surface morphologies play important roles particularly in near equilibrium fluids where generation of new sites of reactivity (e.g., pit nuclei) is thermodynamically disfavored. Following CO₂ injection in geologic formations, dissolution of primary carbonate minerals and crack-sealing cements will occur. The impact of these reactions on fluid chemistry requires better understanding of the reaction kinetics of major minerals at close-to-equilibrium conditions. Initial investigations have focused on quantifying calcite dissolution using short residence time (~ 10 min) flow through reactors to obtain dissolution rates at 60°C, pH = 8.33 and Pco₂ = 3.8 x 10^{-4 …}

Routes To Acylated Sydnone Esters, Amanda Marie Balaguer

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Various 4-acyl-3-[2'-(carboalkoxy)phenyl]sydnones were synthesized by reaction of the parent sydnone with the corresponding anhydrides and Montmorillonite K-10. In the Q-tube, the acylation using acetic anhydride, which normally took 1.5 days for complete conversion thermally, was complete in 8.5 hours. Use of bismuth triflate as catalyst reduced the reaction time to 5 hours and, in the microwave, reactions were complete in 30 minutes and provided comparable yields. New sydnones were synthesized with acetic, propionic, butyric, and isobutyric anhydrides. Extension to various homogeneous metal triflates (lanthanum, yttrium, scandium, hafnium, gadolinium, and indium) was explored. Reactions were performed with 3-phenylsydnone as reactant, initially …

Towards Optimal Resource Provisioning For Running Mapreduce Programs In Public Clouds, Fengguang Tian

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Running MapReduce programs in the public cloud introduces the important problem: how to optimize resource provisioning to minimize the financial charge for a specific job? In this thesis, We study the whole process of MapReduce processing and build up a cost function that explicitly models the relationship between the amount of input data, the available system resources (Map and Reduce slots), and the complexity of the Reduce function for the target MapReduce job. The model parameters can be learned from test runs with a small number of nodes on a small amount of data. Based on this cost model, we …

3-D Model Characterization And Identification From Intrinsic Landmarks, John L. Camp

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A method to automatically characterize and identify 3-D range scans based on intrinsic landmarks is presented. Intrinsic landmarks represent locally unique, intrinsic properties of a scanned surface, regardless of scale or rotation. The number, location, and characteristics of landmarks are used to characterize the scanned models. This method contains a selection process to identify stable, intrinsic landmarks for range scans as well as the identification of those scans. The selection process requires no user interaction or surface assumptions. It uses the principal curvatures at the range points to select the landmarks. First, a large number of landmarks are generated by …

Real Time Semantic Analysis Of Streaming Sensor Data, Harshal Kamlesh Patni

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The emergence of dynamic information sources - like social, mobile and sensors, has led to ginormous streams of real time data on the web also called, the era of Big Data [1]. Research studies suggest, these dynamic networks have created more data in the last three years than in the entire history of civilization, and this trend will only increase in the coming years [1]. Gigaom article on Big data shows, how the total information generated by these dynamic information sources has completely surpassed the total storage capacity. Thus keeping in mind the problem of ever-increasing data, this thesis focuses …

Commercial Program Development For A Ground Loop Geothermal System: G-Functions, Commercial Codes And 3d Grid, Boundary And Property Extension, Kyle L. Hughes

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The rise in fossil fuel consumption and green house gas emissions has driven the need for alternative energy and energy efficiency. At the same time, ground loop heat exchangers (GLHE) have proven capable of producing large reductions in energy use while meeting peak demands. However, the initial cost of GLHEs sometimes makes this alternative energy source unattractive to the costumer. GLHE installers use commercial programs to determine the length of pipe needed for the system, which is a large fraction of the initial cost. These commercial programs use approximate methods to determine the length of pipe mainly due to their …

Poly(Arylene Ether Sulfone)S Carrying Pendant(3-Sulfonated) Phenyl Sulfonyl Groups For Use As Proton Exchange Membranes, Kimberly E. Kern

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A series of poly(arylene ether)s, containing a pendant mono sulfonic acid group, was synthesized using 3-sulfonated-3', 5'-difluorodiphenyl sulfone and a variety of bisphenols for use in proton exchange membranes (PEM). Nucleophilic aromatic substitution was utilized for homo and copolymerizations. In addition, the relationship between perfectly alternating and random copolymers and their effects on overall properties was studied. Polymerization reactions yielded linear sulfonated poly(arylene ether)s, sPAEs, with molecular weights ranging from 15,400 to 212,000 g/mol. All of the polymers were characterized by gel permeation chromatography (GPC), 13C NMR spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). All polymers exhibited excellent …

The Synthesis, Reduction, And Chlorination Of 5-Alkoxy-2,3-Diphenylterephthalates, Rachel Marie Sayers

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A series of alkoxy, phenylated terephthalates has been synthesized as monomer precursors to the corresponding poly(phenylene vinylene)s (PPV). The hydroxy, phenylated terephthalate was synthesized via: 1) a Diels-Alder cycloaddition between an ethynyl boronic ester and a cyclopentadienone (CPD) with subsequent hydrolysis/oxidation of the boronate ester or 2) a Diels-Alder cycloaddition between vinylene carbonate and CPD followed by thermolysis of the bridged adduct. The hydroxy, phenylated terephthalate was alkylated via a phase-transfer reaction with iodomethane, propargyl bromide, benzyl chloride, allyl bromide, and bromobutane to produce the alkoxy, phenylated terephthalates in yields from 38.6- 91.1%. The alkoxyterephthlates were reduced with lithium aluminum …

Effects Of Crystal Orientation On The Dissolution Kinetics Of Calcite By Chemical And Microscopic Analyses, Michael Edward Smith

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The purpose of this work was to examine the effects of polished crystal-surface orientation and degree of solution undersaturation (Ω_calcite) on the dissolution kinetics of calcite as a means of improving our understanding of fundamental reactions that may influence the efficacy of CO₂ sequestration in geological formations. Crystallographic surface orientations utilized in this study included ~ 1 cm² areas of natural calcite specimens polished approximately parallel to the (104) plane, giving rise to surfaces with flat terraces with few steps, as well as fully kinked surfaces created by sectioning approximately parallel to the (001) plane. Results …

Modifiable Hyperbranched Polyester Drug Delivery Systems, Dorothy Ogden

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This work encompassed synthesis and characterization of biocompatible hyperbranched polyester drug delivery systems prepared with fumaric acid, glycerol and polyethylene glycol. The polymers were manufactured in the melt utilizing A2 + CB2 polymerization. The ratio of A2:CB2 was modified and excess B was added to end-cap the polymers to avoid cross-linking. Fumaric acid was selected as the A2 monomer because the double bond provided a site for polymer backbone modification or covalent attachment of active pharmaceutical ingredients. Acetaminophen and Ondansetron Hydrochloride were added to evaluate feasibility of using the polyesters as drug delivery systems. The weight average molecular weight of …