Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Evaluation Of The Symbiotic Relation Between Endophyte And Poplar Trees Exposed To Landfill Leachate, Catalina Vega Hurtado

Masters Theses

“The contamination of soil and groundwater from leachate leakage from landfill has turned, nowadays, into a global public issue. One of the main concerns about this pollutant is the potential threat to human and ecosystem health. The current research studied endophyte bacteria in association with poplar trees (Populus sp.), as a method of bioremediation of landfill leachates. The objective of the project was to identify treatment strategies that may improve plant performance (survival rates, plant fitness, and degradation efficacy) with the purpose of being implemented in phytoremediation plots, aimed to intercept and treat landfill leachate, before the contamination of watershed. …

Nanodiamonds And Carbon Nano-Onions Ceramic Composites And Their Applications, Ibrahim Munkaila Abdullahi

Masters Theses

"Luminescent nanodiamonds are photostable non-blinking fluorescent biocompatible, non-toxic, functional Zable materials made from high-pressure high temperature (HPHT) microcrystalline diamonds. For long, the scientific community has been investigating for a clean, efficient and cost-effective technique to reduce the size of fluorescent microcrystalline diamond into nanodiamonds. Their color center, responsible for the fluorescent properties are crucial for their applications, including biomedical imaging, nano sensing, quantum computing etc, and therefore should not be affected significantly by the method of size reduction applied. A novel size reduction technique that is based on explosive fragmentation was developed and the corresponding fragmented diamonds obtained were characterized …

A Study On Real-Time Database Technology And Its Applications, Geethmi Nimantha Dissanayake

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Aquatic Plants And Their Application To Successful Floating Treatment Wetlands, Katherine May Mazanec

Masters Theses

“This research aims to mitigate eutrophication of freshwater habitats affected by urban stormwater runoff. Two highly impacted urban ponds near the Missouri S&T campus in Rolla were the focus of this research on the application of floating treatment wetlands (FTWs). An FTW consists of a man-made floating mat that is planted with emergent or floating macrophytes. The plants grow on the mat and their roots extend into the water column below the mat. Plant tissues, especially roots in direct contact with the water, take up nutrients, act as biofilm growth sites, and may facilitate precipitation of nutrients. With urbanization, ponds …

On Predicting Stopping Time Of Human Sequential Decision-Making Using Discounted Satisficing Heuristic, Mounica Devaguptapu

Masters Theses

“Human sequential decision-making involves two essential questions: (i) "what to choose next?", and (ii) "when to stop?". Assuming that the human agents choose an alternative according to their preference order, our goal is to model and learn how human agents choose their stopping time while making sequential decisions. In contrary to traditional assumptions in the literature regarding how humans exhibit satisficing behavior on instantaneous utilities, we assume that humans employ a discounted satisficing heuristic to compute their stopping time, i.e., the human agent stops working if the total accumulated utility goes beyond a dynamic threshold that gets discounted with time. …

Values Of Artificial Intelligence In Marketing, Yingrui Xi

Masters Theses

“Artificial Intelligence (AI) is causing radical changes in marketing and emerging as a competent assistant supporting all areas of the marketing field. The influences and impacts AI has created in various marketing segments have aroused much interest among marketing professionals and academic scholars. Comprehensive and systematic studies on the values of AI in marketing, however, are still lacking and the existing literature fragmented. This research provides a comprehensive review of the existing literature in the relevant fields as well as a series of systematic interviews using the Value-Focused Thinking approach to understand the values of AI in marketing. This research …

Assessing The Impact Of 3d Printed Terrain On Teaching Topography In Introductory Earth Science Labs, Jay Alan Cockrell

Masters Theses

Learning to effectively read topographic maps is challenging for students, as these maps contain 3D representations of terrain displayed on a 2D surface map. This project assessed student learning when 3D terrain printed from a portion of the laboratory quadrangle map currently in use was introduced into an earth science course for non-science majors. Using a quasi-experimental design with nonequivalent groups across two semesters, performance on the Modified Topographic Map Assessment (MTMA) administered as a pre- and posttest was used to compare learning outcomes between the traditional lab and the 3D print lab intervention. Students in the traditional (n = …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Ion-Implanted Gold Nanoparticles, Nurlathifah Fnu

Masters Theses

Gold negative ions of 70 keV energy were implanted within the quartz substrates at room temperature at seven different fluences starting from 2 x 10¹⁶ particles/cm² to 8 x 10¹⁶ particles/cm² with the increment of 1 x 10¹⁶. Prior to the implantation, Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter (SRIM) calculations were carried to obtain the Bragg peak below the surface of quartz. Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS) was carried out using 2.0 MeV He⁺⁺ ions to measure depth and implanted fluence of gold, and learn how they varied with fluence. Backscattered He particles …

Evaluating The Effects Of Sodium, Potassium, Magnesium, And Calcium Concentrations On Dolomite Stoichiometry, Cation Ordering, And Reaction Rate, Hanna F. Cohen

Masters Theses

Numerous environmental factors affect dolomitization. Shallow peritidal and restricted marine environments, for example, are often associated with more abundant and more stoichiometric dolomite than deeper marine environments. Higher fluid Mg/Ca ratios resulting from gypsum precipitation are often invoked to explain this observation, even when evidence of evaporites is absent. In this study, high-temperature dolomitization experiments show that the concentrations of major cation concentrations (Na, K, Mg, and Ca) impact dolomite stoichiometry and reaction rate. Nearly 200 batch dolomitization experiments were run whereby 100 mg of natural aragonite ooids were dolomitized at 215°C in ionic solutions. Fluid [NaCl] and [KCl] correlate …

An Exploration Into The Controls And Extent Of Capillary Rise In Fine-Grained Sand, Neal S. Turluck

Masters Theses

Capillary rise in fine-grained sands is especially important due to the wide distribution of fine-grained sediment throughout the unconsolidated sedimentary layers blanketing the earth. The height to which water rises above the water table in porous media is known as the capillary fringe. Tension pulling on the water molecules from the solid surfaces of pores will cause water to rise in the unconsolidated fine-grained sands until the water reaches equilibrium with the downward force of gravity.

Researching the controls behind capillary rise and being able to predict the extent to which water will rise in fine-grained sand helped provide insight …

Developing 5gl Concepts From User Interactions, David Stuckless Meyer

Masters Theses

In the fulfilling of the contracts generated in Test Driven Development, a developer could be said to act as a constraint solver, similar to those used by a 5th Generation Language(5GL). This thesis presents the hypothesis that 5GL linguistic mechanics, such as facts, rules and goals, will be emergent in the communications of developer pairs performing Test Driven Development, validating that 5GL syntax is congruent with the ways that practitioners communicate. Along the way, nomenclatures and linguistic patterns may be observed that could inform the design of future 5GL languages.

Petrogenesis Of The Eagle East Gabbro In Marquette County, Mi, Usa, Kevin Rupp

Masters Theses

The Eagle East gabbroic intrusion in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, is a subvertical pluglike intrusion found near the base of the Eagle East Ni-Cu-PGE deposit. U-Pb baddeleyite dating of the gabbro yields an age of 1103.4 ± 1.2 Ma, suggesting formation during the early stages of the Midcontinent Rift System (MRS). Drill core observations show that the intrusion cross-cuts the eastern most portion of the Eagle East ultramafic conduit. The internal portion of the intrusion is made up of two main rock types, gabbro and gabbro norite, which consist of plagioclase (50-60%), clinopyroxene (15-25%), orthopyroxene (0-15%), olivine (0-10%), and are generally …

Chronostratigraphic Correlation Of The Burnt Bluff Group Across The Michigan Basin, Usa, Mohammed A. Al-Musawi

Masters Theses

In the Michigan Basin, the Burnt Bluff Group (BBG) is lower Middle Silurian in age (Llandovery), and is composed of limestones and dolostones. The BBG is bounded above by the Schoolcraft Formation and below by the Cabot Head Shale. The BBG in northern Lower Michigan is composed of three formations, including the Lime Island, Byron, and Hendricks, which reflect deposition on a broad shallow marine shelf. In contrast, the BBG in central Michigan is composed of a single lithologic unit called informally the “undifferentiated BBG (UD-BBG),” which reflects deposition in a deeper marine basin. Lithostratigraphically, the three formations in the …

Depositional Facies And Sequence Stratigraphic Model For The Silurian Reefs, Michigan Basin, Usa, Zaid N. Nadhim

Masters Theses

Depositional models for the Silurian reefs in the Michigan Basin suggest that internal facies are either (i) randomly distributed within a symmetrical reef structure, or (ii) highly asymmetrical and strongly controlled by paleo-wind direction. To further test the applicability of these models, internal facies distributions were mapped using high-resolution core and log data in two sets of Silurian reefs. The results suggest that the relationship between reef geometry, facies distribution and proposed paleo-wind direction is more inconsistent than recently proposed. More specifically, facies descriptions from the Silurian reefs suggest the following. First, overall reef geometry and facies distributions are not …

Thermal Maturation Modeling Of The Michigan Basin, Jack H. Hybza

Masters Theses

Given present day heat flow and burial depths in the Michigan Basin, hydrocarbons should be immature. However, oil and gas are abundant within the basin. Our hypothesis is that thermal maturation distributions in the Michigan Basin can be explained by variations in proximity to the Midcontinent Rift (MCR) system, thermal cooling, crustal convection, high temperature fluid advection, and eroded overburden.

For each of the seven wells in this study, a geohistory plot is coupled with a range of geodynamic models to calculate the thermal and maturation histories of each sediment unit within the well. Backstripping was used to generate basement …

Utilizing Geophysical Attributes To Investigate The Architecture Of A Pinnacle Reef Complex, Michigan Basin, Usa, Austin M. Johnson

Masters Theses

The Silurian Niagaran Pinnacle Reefs of the Michigan Basin retain their relevance after primary recovery of hydrocarbons and are excellent candidates for carbon dioxide sequestration, natural gas storage, and enhanced oil recovery. Due to the nature of carbonate rocks, these reef complexes are heterogeneous and lateral interpolation between observations in wells, is ambiguous. Ambiguity has led to large uncertainty and disagreement regarding reef architectures and their internal facies distributions. Previous models of these reef complexes have relied almost entirely on well logs and conventional core. This study focused on integrating 3D seismic reflection data to reduce uncertainty when delineating the …

Bedrock Topography Mapping Of The East Leroy And Climax 7.5’ Quadrangles, Mi Using Hvsr And Other Geophysical Methods, Tyler A. Norris

Masters Theses

Geophysical methods were used to estimate bedrock depths below sedimentary cover and infer previously unknown features in two adjacent topographic quadrangles (Climax & East Leroy) in Michigan, USA. The study area contains mostly Mississippian Shale bedrock overlain by Wisconsin-aged glacial drift deposited during multiple glacial advances and retreats of the Saginaw Lobe (Laurentide Ice Sheet). These glacial events created complex landform assemblages that have only recently been mapped in detail near-surface, but are still poorly understood in the subsurface. Buried bedrock valleys typically contain coarse glacial sediment and thus are valuable aquifers, but these can be difficult to locate due …

Hidden Symmetries In Classical Mechanics And Related Number Theory Dynamical System, Mohsin Md Abdul Karim

Masters Theses

Classical Mechanics consists of three parts: Newtonian, Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Mechanics, where each part is a special extension of the previous part. Each part has explicit symmetries (the explicit Laws of Motion), which, in turn, generate implicit or hidden symmetries (like the Law of Conservation of Energy, etc). In this Master's Thesis, different types of hidden symmetries are considered; they are reflected in the Noether Theorem and the Poincare Recurrence Theorem applied to Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Systems respectively.

The Poincare Recurrence Theorem is also applicable to some number theory problems, which can be considered as dynamical systems. In …

Variation In Leaf Morphology Of An Alpine Shrub Community Along Environmental Gradients, Abdulssalam Khafsha

Masters Theses

Mountains represent complex environment gradients which strongly affect local temperature regimes and rainfall. These changes in climate conditions drive a diversity of plant responses. As alpine environments are expected to change dramatically in response to climate change, understanding plant responses to environmental variation is critical in these environments. Although they are a critical component of alpine communities, the environmental responses of shrubs have been much less examined than trees, representing an important knowledge gap. Leaves, as the primary photosynthetic organs on plants, would be expected to respond strongly to local climate conditions. In this study, I documented how the leaf …

Synthesis, Characterization And Mechanistic Studies Of Biomimetic Dinuclear Copper(Ii) Complexes, Millaniyage Nuwanthaka Prasad Jayaweera

Masters Theses

Dinuclear copper complexes are significant synthetic targets due to their use as model compounds for the active sites of type 3 copper proteins like catechol oxidase. A distinct class of ligands used in these studies are built on a phenol core to witch various donor side-arms were appended at the 2 and 6 positions of the arene ring. In our quest to quantify the influence of electron donating or withdrawing groups attached to the central arene ring, we have designed a set of ligands that, upon coordination to copper(II) centers, would produce complexes of the general structure. During this research …

Developing A Basket-Shaped Host Molecule Based On P-Tert-Butylcalix[4]Arene Featuring Urea Groups For Encapsulating Volatile Guest Molecules, Lokugama Widanelage Vidula Priyadarshana

Masters Theses

Molecular baskets are a group of synthetic host molecules which are designed to govern the inclusion of small guest molecules. The basic structural features of basket-shaped host molecules are a cavity for holding a much smaller guest molecule and tunable gates for keeping the guest molecule inside. These types of gates can be tuned by changing temperature, concentration, pH, etc. In this research group's previous study, a molecular basket of cal ix[ 4]arene with carboxylic acid groups was synthesized by functionalizing calix[4]arene's phenol hydroxyl groups with benzyl bromide building blocks. In the study detailed here, 1 , l '-((5-(bromomethyl)-1,3-phenylene)bis(methylene))bis(3-isopropylurea) was …

Studying Carbon Dioxide Solvent Properties By Microwave Spectroscopic Investigations Of Vinyl Fluoride/Carbon Dioxide Clusters And Developing New Approaches To Decode Rotational Spectra, Prashansa Kannangara

Masters Theses

Supercritical carbon dioxide (sc-C0₂) is an excellent green solvent, but its properties are not thoroughly understood. For example, fluorinated compounds have higher than expected solubility in sc-C0₂. Microwave spectroscopy is one way to learn more about sc-C0₂ because it can be used to determine detailed structures of small clusters of molecules. The purpose of this investigation was to study weak hydrogen bonding interactions in complexes of fluorinated ethylene (solute) with carbon dioxide (C0₂, solvent). Investigations on dimers with one C0₂ molecule and fluorinated ethylene were carried out previously and found two different …

Solvation Properites Of Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Using Chirped-Pulse Fourier-Transform Microwave Spectra Of Carbon Dioxide / 1, 1-Difluoroethene (Dfe) Mixtures, Tulana Ariyaratne Subasinghe Arachchige

Masters Theses

Supercritical carbon dioxide (sc-C0₂) is a highly utilized industrial substance identified as an excellent solvent and a surfactant, which is cheaper and less hazardous than other typical solvents. The higher solubility of fluorinated hydrocarbons than their hydrocarbon (HC) analogs is not well understood and the theory behind the microsolvation of sc-C0₂ cannot be fully explained with the existing chemical information. Microwave spectroscopy is a good method of identifying the structural arrangement of clusters made from fluorinated HCs and C0₂. I n this project, microwave scans of the four different mixtures of 1 , 1-difluoroethene (DFE) …

The Correlation Between Sleep And Lifespan In Drosophila Melanogaster, Joshua Randall Lisse

Masters Theses

”Adequate sleep is associated with an individual’s health. Too little sleep is associated with many health problems, including cardiovascular disease, obesity, and a general increase in all-cause mortality. Yet the molecular changes that link poor sleep and changes in health are still not well understood. Individuals have a unique daily need for sleep, and deviations from the animal’s regular sleeping patterns can be indicative of, or result in, underlying changes in its health. Therefore, we hypothesize that changes in the sleep architecture in Drosophila melanogaster reflect changes in the fly’s health.

We determined sleep architecture in wild-type male flies over …

Controlled Switching In Kalman Filtering And Iterative Learning Controls, He Li

Masters Theses

“Switching is not an uncommon phenomenon in practical systems and processes, for examples, power switches opening and closing, transmissions lifting from low gear to high gear, and air planes crossing different layers in air. Switching can be a disaster to a system since frequent switching between two asymptotically stable subsystems may result in unstable dynamics. On the contrary, switching can be a benefit to a system since controlled switching is sometimes imposed by the designers to achieve desired performance. This encourages the study of system dynamics and performance when undesired switching occurs or controlled switching is imposed. In this research, …

Exploration For Alteration Halos Around The Ag-W Deposits In Southeastern Missouri, Usa, Daniel Joseph Warbritton

Masters Theses

"The St. Francois Mountains in SE Missouri are an extensive terrane of granitic ring complexes and associated rhyolites. They were an important source of Ag, W, and Sn and mined intermittently from the 1800s until the 1950s. The Ag-W ores occur in the Silvermine Granite and rhyolite roof rocks. The deposits are classified as a xenothermal ore system with mineralization occurring in quartz veins and surrounding greisen (up to 2.5 m). Exploration for hydrothermal ore deposits often focuses on the identification of alteration halos in the surrounding host rocks. In the vast majority of xenothermal ore deposits, such as in …

Removal Of Antimony And Bismuth From Copper Electrorefining Electrolyte By Two Proprietary Solvent Extraction Extractants, Andrew Artzer

Masters Theses

"Antimony and bismuth are two of the most problematic impurities in copper electrorefining (ER). Because of this, much research has been done investigating the ways to remove them. Processes that are currently being used industrially include anode additions, liberators, ion exchange (IX), and solvent extraction (SX). Of these, liberators and anode additions are the most common while SX is the least, mostly being used for arsenic removal. There are other methods that have been evaluated, but are not in commercial use. These include the use of various electrolyte additives, and adsorbents such as bentonite clay and heavy metal sulfates.

Two …

Archaeological Investigation Using Geophysical Methods To Locate Historic Byram's Ford Road, Marshall Seth Foster

Masters Theses

"Ground penetrating radar, a time domain electromagnetic metal detector and a frequency domain electromagnetic metal detector were used with the goal of locating a section of the Byram's Ford Road believed to be intersecting the historic Big Blue Battlefield in the Westport area of Kansas City, Missouri.

Ground penetrating data were acquired at three sites, Site A, Site B, and Site C. The time domain EM metal detector was used to acquire data at Site A, where subsequent ground truthing was conducted using the frequency domain EM metal detector and an excavation tool. Significant anomalies were visible on both the …

Evolved Parameterized Selection For Evolutionary Algorithms, Samuel Nathan Richter

Masters Theses

"Selection functions enable Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs) to apply selection pressure to a population of individuals, by regulating the probability that an individual's genes survive, typically based on fitness. Various conventional fitness based selection functions exist, each providing a unique method of selecting individuals based on their fitness, fitness ranking within the population, and/or various other factors. However, the full space of selection algorithms is only limited by max algorithm size, and each possible selection algorithm is optimal for some EA configuration applied to a particular problem class. Therefore, improved performance is likely to be obtained by tuning an EA's selection …

Impact Of Framing And Base Size Of Computer Security Risk Information On User Behavior, Xinhui Zhan

Masters Theses

"This research examines the impact of framing and base size of computer security risk information on users' risk perceptions and behavior (i.e., download intention and download decision). It also examines individual differences (i.e., demographic factors, computer security awareness, Internet structural assurance, self-efficacy, and general risk-taking tendencies) associated with users' computer security risk perceptions. This research draws on Prospect Theory, which is a theory in behavioral economics that addresses risky decision-making, to generate hypotheses related to users' decision-making in the computer security context. A 2 x 3 mixed factorial experimental design (N = 178) was conducted to assess the effect of …