Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Examination Of The Feasibility Of Implementing A Biosphere Reserve In The Maltese Islands : Applying A Conservation Value Evaluation Framework, Alexander Borg

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Biosphere reserves are protected areas which are internationally recognized within the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s Man and the Biosphere Programme for promoting and establishing a balanced relationship between people and nature. Biosphere reserve management is guided by principles of biodiversity conservation; sustainable development; local, national and international partnership and support; local capacity-building; research and monitoring and co-operative management that is multidisciplinary, multi-stakeholder and locally-based. The research evaluated the feasibility of implementing the biosphere reserve concept in the Maltese Islands. This was studied by applying a conservation framework which consisted of holistic conservation value appraisal criteria – incorporating …

Development Of A Methodology For Dormitory Energy Load Estimation And Analysis, John Michael Real

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

In recent years interest in reducing energy consumption at the building levels has been increasing, especially in the higher education sector. Many examples exist of higher education institutions reducing their environmental impact through energy consumption reductions, however the majority of these are anecdotal examples and it is difficult to replicate these initiatives at other institutions, either due to resource constraints, financial constraints, or a lack of reproducible methodology. This issue is further compounded by the fact that a generalized methodology does not exist for the purposes of estimating building energy loads, especially in dormitories in the absence of expensive and …

Determination Of Select Metal Ions In Commercially Available Conventional And Organic Baby Foods., Neva S. Winters

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this study is to determine whether or not there is an appreciable difference between concentrations of various metal ions present in conventionally grown and processed and organically grown and processed baby foods. Two prominent, commercially available brands were chosen to undergo comparative studies between both their own conventional and organic varieties of second stage green beans and carrots. Samples were tested for cadmium, calcium, iron, lead, nickel, and zinc. Two containers of each variety of baby food were sampled in triplicate, with purchases of foods being made in separate areas to ensure that each set came from …

Modified Organoclay Containing Chelating Ligand For Adsorption Of Heavy Metals In Solution., Mary Akuyea Addy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Presence of a chelating ligand in the clay structure significantly improves its ability to immobilize heavy metals from contaminated sludge or wastewater. Two-step modification procedure comprising sequential pillaring and grafting of chelating agent to the modified clay is involved.

Montmorillonite and kaolin were chosen as typical examples of expandable and non-expandable clays, correspondingly. Modifications with silica and ferric oxide were targeted on development of mesoporous structure. Laboratory tests of the organoclay efficiency for purification of wastewater were conducted with the most promising sample, i.e. organoclay with the highest specific loading of chelating agent. Experiments were conducted with model wastewater containing …

Mesoporous Functionalized Materials For Post-Combustion Carbon Dioxide Capture., Kolade Omoniyi Ojo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Novel highly functionalized hybrid organic-inorganic materials were synthesized by polycondensation of bis[3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl]amine in presence of cationic and anionic surfactants. Reaction media strongly affected gelation time. Thus, in basic media gelation occurred immediately while acid increased gelation time. Material structures were studied by IR spectroscopy, porosimetry, XRD, and SAXS methods. In spite of the absence of an inorganic linker, obtained bridged silsesquioxanes had mesoporous structure. A material prepared in the presence of dodecylamine as a template had higher surface area and narrow pore size distribution while the use of sodium dodecylbenzene sulfate resulted in formation of mesopores with wide size ranges. …

A Study Of The Effects Of Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles On The Fluorescent Intensity Of Fluorescent Compounds In The Presence Of Known Quenchers., Vivian Dzigbodi Koka

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Titanium Dioxide is a naturally occurring oxide of titanium. It has a wide range of uses in commercial products for providing whiteness and opacity. It has photocatalytic properties and can also be used to produce electricity in its nanoparticles form. This research is focused on investigating the effect of titanium dioxide nanoparticles in analysis of compounds using luminescence-based techniques. Quenching, which is one of the basic problems of fluorescent measurements, was studied in the presence of molecular oxygen and methyl iodide. The rutile phase of titanium dioxide nanoparticles was synthesized by the acid hydrolysis of titanium isobutoxide at low temperatures …

Using Electrochemical Method To Study The Interaction Between Dna And A Compound Known To Have Anticancer Property., Alexander Kamasah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The interaction of 4-(1'-[8'-(1''-pyrenyl)naphthyl])-2,6-diaminopyridine bis-glycamide bishydrocholride known to have anticancer properties with deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) had been studied on a modified gold electrode by self-assembled monolayer using cyclic voltammetry. K₄Fe (CN)₆ was used as a probe to obtain electrochemical information on the electrode surface.

A bare gold (Au) electrode was modified with cysteamine and our results showed no change in the limiting steady state current as compared to the bare Au electrode. There was a reduction in the steady state current after the modification of the gold electrode with DNA. Immobilization of the DNA modified gold electrode …

Synthesis Of Resveratrol Ester Derivatives Using Selective Enzymatic Hydrolysis., Marian Osei-Mensah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Resveratrol, a naturally derived stilbene, is an interesting compound mostly talked about recently because for its anti-cancer properties. Unfortunately it has some shortcomings due to its low bioavailability and low solubility in water. For this reason, my research is to overcome resveratrol's drawbacks by improving its bioavailability and hydrophilicity. My research is focused on syntheses of novel derivatives of resveratrol such as 3, 5-di-O-isobutyroyl resveratrol and 3, 5-di-O-hexanoyl resveratrol using lipase catalyzed hydrolysis. Therefore, the tri-acylated resveratrols 3, 5, 4'-tri-O-isobutyroyl resveratrol and 3, 5,4'-tri-O-hexanoyl resveratrol were first synthesized.

3,5,4'-tri-O-isobutyroyl resveratrol and 3,5,4'-tri-O-hexanoyl resveratrol were then hydrolyzed using lipase (C. …

Statistical Spectral Parameter Estimation Of Acoustic Signals With Applications To Byzantine Music, Kyriakos Michael Tsiappoutas

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Digitized acoustical signals of Byzantine music performed by Iakovos Nafpliotis are used to extract the fundamental frequency of each note of the diatonic scale. These empirical results are then contrasted to the theoretical suggestions and previous empirical findings. Several parametric and non-parametric spectral parameter estimation methods are implemented. These include: (1) Phase vocoder method, (2) McAulay-Quatieri method, (3) Levinson-Durbin algorithm,(4) YIN, (5) Quinn & Fernandes Estimator, (6) Pisarenko Frequency Estimator, (7) MUltiple SIgnal Characterization (MUSIC) algorithm, (8) Periodogram method, (9) Quinn & Fernandes Filtered Periodogram, (10) Rife & Vincent Estimator, and (11) the Fourier transform. Algorithm performance was very precise. …

Mineralogy And Geochemistry Of Anorogenic Granitic Miarolitic Pegmatites Associated With The White Mountain Intrusive Suite, New Hampshire, Kristen F. Camp

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Subvolcanically emplaced granitic, miarolitic pegmatites associated with the White Mountain Igneous Province (WMIP), New Hampshire, were sampled and analyzed using modern analytical techniques including X-ray fluorescence, electron microprobe, scanning electron microscopy, and direct-coupled plasma spectrophotometry. Analytical results suggest that all the sampled miarolitic pegmatites from this study are petrogenetically related to the same intrusive suite, the WMIP. Based on the geochemical data, all the samples formed in an anorogenic tectonic setting and are rift-related. They are classified as NYF-type and plot in the “within plate granite” field on tectonic discrimination diagrams. The majority of the samples are peraluminous, A_{1 …}

Multivariate Models And Algorithms For Systems Biology, Lipi Rani Acharya

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Rapid advances in high-throughput data acquisition technologies, such as microarraysand next-generation sequencing, have enabled the scientists to interrogate the expression levels of tens of thousands of genes simultaneously. However, challenges remain in developingeffective computational methods for analyzing data generated from such platforms. In thisdissertation, we address some of these challenges. We divide our work into two parts. Inthe first part, we present a suite of multivariate approaches for a reliable discovery of geneclusters, often interpreted as pathway components, from molecular profiling data with replicated measurements. We translate our goal into learning an optimal correlation structure from replicated complete and incomplete …

A Dynamical Study Of The Evolution Of Pressure Waves Propagating Through A Semi-Infinite Region Of Homogeneous Gas Combustion Subject To A Time-Harmonic Signal At The Boundary, John Eslick

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, the evolution of a pressure wave driven by a harmonic signal on the boundary during gas combustion is studied. The problem is modeled by a nonlinear, hyperbolic partial differential equation. Steady-state behavior is investigated using the perturbation method to ensure that enough time has passed for any transient effects to have dissipated. The zeroth, first and second-order perturbation solutions are obtained and their moduli are plotted against frequency. It is seen that the first and second-order corrections have unique maxima that shift to the right as the frequency decreases and to the left as the frequency increases. …

Development Of A Novel Electron-Transfer Secondary Reaction Matrix, Characterization Of The Site–Specificity Of Novel Bilin-Lyase, And Fundulus Grandis Protein Expression Investigation Using Mass Spectrometry, Mohamed N. Boutaghou

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Reported in this dissertation are the results of investigations performed at the New Orleans Center for Mass Spectrometry at the University of New Orleans. The projects that are detailed in the coming pages take on a variety of subjects, but a common thread is that each employs matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry to solve a problem. Fundamental aspects of MALDI in-plume ionization are implicated in the introduction of a newly developed electron-transfer secondary ionization matrix. The remaining projects are related to the ever expanding field of proteomics. Mass spectrometry was used to investigate the site specificity of a newly …

Understanding Uplift Of The Ethiopian Plateau From Longitudinal Profile Analysis Of The Blue Nile Drainage System, Prabhat Chandra Neupane

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The Ethiopian Plateau is one of the few tectonically-active regions on Earth that is situated in continental rift zones. About 1.6 km deep gorge of the Nile was carved by the Blue Nile River on the Ethiopian Plateau, as the plateau has been experiencing continuous uplift and exhumation in the Cenozoic. Here, we used quantitative analysis of longitudinal rive-profile forms and parameters (knickpoint and normalized steepness-index k_sn) of the Blue Nile tributaries to tease out regional tectonic signals.

244 knickpoints were examined in the tributaries, majority (>80%) of which are unassociated with lithology or geological structures. Knickpoint …

Self-Assemblies Driven By The Hydrophobic Effect, Haiying Gan

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Water is a simple molecule but is an essential part of life. One key aspect of the properties of water is the hydrophobic effect, and whilst there is an appreciation of this phenomenon at the macro-scale (raindrops falling off leaves) and the micro-scale (the structure of cellular systems), a complete understanding at the molecular level still eludes science. Addressing this issue, our studies involve synthetic supramolecular compounds that assemble in water via the hydrophobic effect.

First of all, a novel water-soluble deep-cavity cavitand was synthesized. It possesses four endo methyl groups on top rim of the cavitand, eight water-solubilizing carboxylic …

Synthesis And Biological Evaluation Of Aeruginosin Based Compounds And Self-Assembly Of Glucosamine Based Compounds, Navneet Goyal

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Aeruginosins are a family of marine natural products containing mostly non-proteogenic amino acids. These compounds contain a common 2-carboxy-6-hydroxy-octaindole (Choi) rigid bicyclic structure. Many aeruginosins are inhibitors for enzymes involved in the blood coagulation cascade, such as thrombin and Factor VIIa. In order to understand the structure activity relationship (SAR) of the aeruginosins and to discover novel anticoagulants with potentially improved inhibitory and pharmacokinetic properties, in the first part of my thesis I have discussed, synthesis of a series of novel analogs of aeruginosin 298-A, in which the Choi will be replaced with L-proline and oxygenated Choi analogs, and the …

Exchange Flows In An Urban Water Body: Bayou St. John Responses To The Removal Of Flood Control Structures, Future Water Elevation Control, And Water Quality, Robin L. Schroeder

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Bayou St. John, an urban water body extending south from Lake Pontchartrain, has two anthropogenic structures that regulate flow from the Lake . The City of New Orleans has plans to remove the inner control structure to improve water quality. Field and numerical methods used in this study show removing this structure increased water elevations throughout the Bayou but resulted in lower water elevation signal amplitudes that caused a lower tidal flow exchange from north to south. Bulk Richardson numbers showed mixing was inversely related to flow and the Bayou generally remains stratified. Resuspension of contaminated sediment could negatively impact …

Android Memory Capture And Applications For Security And Privacy, Joseph T. Sylve

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The Android operating system is quickly becoming the most popular platform for mobiledevices. As Android’s use increases, so does the need for both forensic and privacy toolsdesigned for the platform. This thesis presents the first methodology and toolset for acquiringfull physical memory images from Android devices, a proposed methodology for forensicallysecuring both volatile and non-volatile storage, and details of a vulnerability discovered by theauthor that allows the bypass of the Android security model and enables applications to acquirearbitrary permissions.

Investigating The Thermal Stability And Cation Ordering In Layered Cathode Lixmo2 (X ≤ 1; M = Co, Mn, Ni) Materials For Li-Ion Rechargeable Batteries And Studying The Ferroelectric Properties Of Linbo3 Nanoparticles, Debasish Mohanty

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, transition metal oxides have drawn extensive attention because of their wide application in electronic, memory, battery, informatics, and optoelectronics devices. In this dissertation, we have studied two different types of oxide materials which are technologically important: LiMO 2 (M = Co, Mn, Ni), has served as cathode materials in the rechargeable battery, and LiNbO3, has wide application in ferroelectric devices such as electronics, non-volatile memories, and thin film capacitors. LiMO2 was synthesized and characterized to understand the correlation between capacity fading and thermal stability relating to the microstructures. Our results showed that delithiated (charged) LiCoO2, forms a …

Synthesis And Applications Of Luminescent Quantum Dots In Bioassays, Venkata Ramana Kethineedi

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Luminescent quantum dot (QD) based probes have gained significance in the last decade for optical imaging of cells, tissues and in bioassays as alternatives to conventional organic fluorophores. The main objective of my PhD dissertation was to develop luminescent quantum dot based bioassays for real time monitoring of enzyme activity and simultaneous detection of several biomarkers. The quantum dot based bioassays developed will be potential tools in identification and diagnosis of several ailments that interfere with normal living conditions of human beings.

In Chapter 2 new liposome encapsulated quantum dot based fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) probes have been fabricated …

Synthesis And Antifungal Evaluation Of Spirostane Saponins, Sunil Upadhyay

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Methods for the preparation of novel antifungal saponins have been investigated in

order to further explore their medicinal utility and provide the opportunity to synthesize

their derivatives.

Through this work, several partially protected stereoisomers of Cholestane,

Androstane and Spirostane have been prepared which could be used for the synthesis of

various saponin derivatives in order to discover novel saponin based antifungal agent.

Various mono and disaccharide derivatives of these steroids have been synthesized and

evaluated for their antifungal activity against four pathogenic fungal strains. Among the

various derivatives maltose derivatives were found to have the best antifungal activity.

However there …

Evaluation Of Pgaa Data For Provenance Of Lithic Artifacts, Otis N. Crandell

Studia UBB Geologia

The objectives of the study were to determine whether Prompt Gamma Activation Analyses (PGAA) could be successfully used to trace the source(s) of various Neolithic artifacts made of microcrystaline quartz. Two macroscopically identical sources of jasper from central and western Romania were analyzed by PGAA along with five Neolithic artifacts from the Limba site (Alba County). Due to the limited number of trace elements, which can be measured by PGAA, this method when used alone might produce inconclusive results for discriminating between jaspers from different sources. The interpretation of the data may be used for general assessments of provenance involving …

Reactions With Platinum (Ll) Complexes And Selenium-Containing Amino Acids, Stephanie Robey

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

We have reacted [Pt(Me₄en)(D₂O)₂]²⁺ [Me₄En=N,N,N’N’-tetramethylethylenediamine] with Selenomethionine (SeMet), Methionine (Met), and Methylselenocysteine (MeSeCys). When MeSeCys was reacted with [Pt(Me₄en)(D₂O)₂]²⁺, we observed both stereoisomers of Se,N chelates, as well as [Pt(Me₄en)(MeSeCys)Cl]⁺ from ­¹­H NMR Spectroscopy; the latter formed due to the presence of Cl^- in the solution. Both isomers of the chelate seemed to form proportionally to one another, not favoring a specific stereoisomer. Eventually the [Pt(Me₄en)(MeSeCys)Cl]⁺ products became Se,N chelates. We incubated SeMet with …

The Vulnerability Assessment And Penetration Testing Of Two Networks, Steven L. Simpson

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

Vulnerability assessments and penetration testing are two approaches available for use by internet security practitioners to determine the security posture of information networks. By assessing network vulnerabilities and attempting to exploit found vulnerabilities through penetration testing security professionals are able to evaluate the effectiveness of their network defenses by identifying defense weaknesses, affirming the defense mechanisms in place, or some combination of the two. This project is a discussion of the methods and tools used during the vulnerability assessment and penetration testing, and the respective test results of two varied and unique networks. The assessment and testing of the first …

Roman: Routing And Opportunistic Management Of Airborne Networks, Hemanth Meka, Lekshmi Manian Chidambaram, Sanjay K. Madria, Mark Linderman, Mohan Kumar, Sharma Chakravarthy

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Most of the routing and replication algorithms for Mobile Peer to Peer (M-P2P) networks assume the network to be large and therefore, the architecture and algorithms are designed to be scalable. These algorithms however may not perform well with limited number of nodes in a network such as of UAVs. Thus, it is better to design algorithms to increase the efficiency of a small network if scalability is no longer an issue. for such small networks, we design and simulate an effective two layered graph-based routing algorithm using store/forward concept. We also take into account UAVs orientation and configuration of …

Nonparametric Copula Density Estimation In Sensor Networks, Leming Qu, Hao Chen, Yicheng Tu

Mathematics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Statistical and machine learning is a fundamental task in sensor networks. Real world data almost always exhibit dependence among different features. Copulas are full measures of statistical dependence among random variables. Estimating the underlying copula density function from distributed data is an important aspect of statistical learning in sensor networks. With limited communication capacities or privacy concerns, centralization of the data is often impossible. By only collecting the ranks of the data observed by different sensors, we estimate and evaluate the copula density on an equally spaced grid after binning the standardized ranks at the fusion center. Without assuming any …

Quantitative Field Testing Rotylenchulus Reniformis Dna From Metagenomic Samples Isolated Directly From Soil., Kurt Showmaker, Gary W. Lawrence, Shien Lu, Clarissa Balbalian, Vincent P. Klink

CALS Publications

A quantitative PCR procedure targeting the ?-tubulin gene determined the number of Rotylenchulus reniformis Linford & Oliveira 1940 in metagenomic DNA samples isolated from soil. Of note, this outcome was in the presence of other soil-dwelling plant parasitic nematodes including its sister genus Helicotylenchus Steiner, 1945. The methodology provides a framework for molecular diagnostics of nematodes from metagenomic DNA isolated directly from soil.

3-D Transient Hydraulic Tomography In Unconfined Aquifers With Fast Drainage Response, Michael Cardiff, Warren Barrash

CGISS Publications and Presentations

We investigate, through numerical experiments, the viability of three-dimensional transient hydraulic tomography (3DTHT) for identifying the spatial distribution of groundwater flow parameters (primarily, hydraulic conductivity K) in permeable, unconfined aquifers. To invert the large amount of transient data collected from 3DTHT surveys, we utilize an iterative geostatistical inversion strategy in which outer iterations progressively increase the number of data points fitted and inner iterations solve the quasi-linear geostatistical formulas of Kitanidis. In order to base our numerical experiments around realistic scenarios, we utilize pumping rates, geometries, and test lengths similar to those attainable during 3DTHT field campaigns performed at …

Influence Of Weak Interactions On Supramolecular Binding: Characterization Of Cucurbituril Complexes With Alkylmonoammonium Ions Using Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry, Ruijan Shi

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on using mass spectrometry-based techniques for characterizing the structure and behavior of cucurbituril complexes in the gas phase. Both solvent and counter ion effects can be completely eliminated in the gas phase and the intrinsic interactions in the system are directly shown in the experimental results. Chapter 1 introduces the structures, properties and host-guest chemistry of cucurbituril, and FTICR mass spectrometry including instrumentation, performance and working principles. Two mass spectrometry-based methods for supramolecular characterization, sustained off-resonance irradiation collision induced dissociation (SORI CID) and ion molecule equilibrium measurements, are also discussed in this chapter. Chapter 2 characterizes the …

Study Of The Vaporization Enthalpies By Correlation-Gas Chromatography, Dmitry Lipkind

Dissertations

The focus of this thesis is on the measurement and collection of thermodynamic and physical property data, including vaporization, fusion, and sublimation enthalpies and vapor pressures of large n-alkanes, nitrogen heterocycles and related compounds by a technique developed in our laboratory referred to as correlation-gas chromatography (C-GC). These thermodynamic data are of importance to several disciplines that include chemical engineering, as well as the pharmaceutical and the petrochemical industries. Vapor pressures of large hydrocarbons are fundamental data required in the petroleum industry to develop thermodynamic models for dealing with crude oil. Environmental chemists and engineers use vapor pressures and vaporization …