Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Geothermal Development In Kenya: Gender Based Socio-Cultural And Socio-Economic Implications, Faye N. Ricker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an ethnographic case study that analyzes the gendered socio-cultural and socio-economic implications for a community that was displaced in order to develop a geothermal energy system in Kenya. The implications are rendered particularly interesting because the displaced community is also one of the communities served by the geothermal power grid. The analysis employs a composite framework of Feminist Political Ecology and the Political Ecology of Climate Change Mitigation. This work explores gendered perceptions and control of energy, livelihood activities, place attachment, and the cultural/spiritual significance of geothermal energy.

Geothermal energy is a potentially promising source of low-carbon …

First-Principles-Based Modeling Of Energy Converting Properties Of Conventional And Emerging Ferroelectrics, Maggie Kingsland

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Ferroelectric materials are a type of multifunctional material that exhibit spontaneous polarization reversable by the application of an electric field. They are used in many technologies such as ferroelectric RAM (FeRAM), piezoelectric devices, RFID chips, and capacitors. However, the most commonly used ferroelectrics are often made with rare, expensive elements and are not environmentally friendly. For example, many prototypical ferroelectrics contain elements such as lead, zirconium, and titanium. As technology grows more advanced, there is a need to discover or manufacture cheaper ferroelectrics and to make them less impactful on human health and the earth as a whole. We set …

Study On New Reactivity Of Vinyl Gold And Its Sequential Transformations, Teng Yuan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation mainly contains three parts: 1) the study of new reactivity of vinyl gold(I) and synergistic gold-iron catalyzed regioselective crossed aldol reaction. 2) synergistic gold-iron catalyzed amide crossed aldol reaction by using ynamides as ‘masked’ amides. 3) alkyne trifunctionalization via divergent gold catalysis: combining three modes of gold catalysis: π activation, nucleophilic addition of vinyl gold and gold redox catalysis. This novel method affords access to constructing C-N, C-O and C-C bond in one step at mild condition.

In the first part, a new reaction mode in gold catalysis will be introduced. Due to the protodeauration of vinyl gold …

Centering Community Voices In Mining Governance, Anna Erwin, Zhao Ma, Emma Patricia Salas O'Brien, Jonathan Bauchet, Nelly Ramirez Calderon, Eliseo Zeballos Zeballos, Glenn Roberto Arce Larrea, Ruxandra Popovici, Laura Zanotti, Chelsea A. Silva

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Peru has shifted away from centralized mining management to governance among government, companies, and communities. Various mechanisms facilitate community participation, including the mining canon, dialogues, and corporate social responsibility programs. Even with these laws and mechanisms, mining pollution and conflicts continue. In this study, we ask: how do communities perceive and participate in mining governance? And what are some alternative ways, driven by community priorities, to address governance in mining contexts? We collected 53 semi-structured with agricultural actors in two Peruvian districts with mining activity and analyzed those perspectives through the lens of community-centered governance. Our analyses revealed how centering …

Small-Molecule Ras Inhibitors As Anticancer Agents: Discovery, Development, And Mechanistic Studies, Shaila A. Shetu, Debasish Bandyopadhyay

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Chemistry)

Mutations of RAS oncogenes are responsible for about 30% of all human cancer types, including pancreatic, lung, and colorectal cancers. While KRAS1 is a pseudogene, mutation of KRAS2 (commonly known as KRAS oncogene) is directly or indirectly associated with human cancers. Among the RAS family, KRAS is the most abundant oncogene related to uncontrolled cellular proliferation to generate solid tumors in many types of cancer such as pancreatic carcinoma (over 80%), colon carcinoma (40–50%), lung carcinoma (30–50%), and other types of cancer. Once described as ‘undruggable’, RAS proteins have become ‘druggable’, at least to a certain extent, due to the …

A Statistical Method For Quantifying Animal Interaction; Combining Time Geography And Simulation, Zachary J. Smith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Dynamic interaction (DI) describes the synchronous interaction of one or more individual animals over time. Current methods to quantify DI from tracking data are lacking. They typically require synchronized tracking data which limits their applicability to most studies. They also often do not have built-in tests of significance to evaluate interaction, and if so, rely on random walk models that lack biological realism. This research aimed to develop and evaluate a new way of measuring animal interaction that overcomes these limitations. The goal was to create a statistical method for quantifying and evaluating interaction that is relevant across computational, behavioural, …

In-Situ/Operando57Fe Mössbauer Spectroscopic Technique And Its Applications In Nife-Based Electrocatalysts For Oxygen Evolution Reaction, Jafar Hussain Shah, Qi-Xian Xie, Zhi-Chong Kuang, Ri-Le Ge, Wen-Hui Zhou, Duo-Rong Liu, Alexandre I. Rykov, Xu-Ning Li, Jing-Shan Luo, Jun-Hu Wang

Journal of Electrochemistry

The development of highly efficient and cost-effective electrocatalysts for the sluggish oxygen evolution reaction (OER) remains a significant barrier to establish effective utilization of renewable energy storage systems and water splitting to produce clean fuel. The current status of the research in developing OER catalysts shows that NiFe-based oxygen evolution catalysts (OECs) have been proven as excellent and remarkable candidates for this purpose. But it is critically important to understand the factors that influence their activity and underlying mechanism for the development of state-of-the-art OER catalysts. Therefore, the development of in-situ/operando characterizations is urgently required to detect key intermediates along …

Recent Advances In Electrical Transport Spectroscopy For The In Situ Measurement Of Electrochemical Interfaces, Zhang-Yan Mu, Meng-Ning Ding

Journal of Electrochemistry

Electrochemical/electrocatalytic technology has played a central role in achieving highly efficient energy conversion and storage. To date, the in-depth electrochemical research begins to require accurate and multi-dimensional information of electrochemical interfaces, which usually relies on the application of in situ characterizations. Electrical transport spectroscopy (ETS) is a newly developed measurement strategy based on chip-platform, and provides in situ information of electrochemical interfaces from a novel perspective due to a signal origin that is fundamentally different from typical spectroscopic and electrochemical techniques. In this tutorial review, the working principle and experimental setup of ETS are described in detail with the demonstration …

An Additive Incorporated Non-Nucleophilic Electrolyte For Stable Magnesium Ion Batteries, Mao-Ling Xie, Jun Wang, Chen-Ji Hu, Lei Zheng, Hua-Bin Kong, Yan-Bin Shen, Hong-Wei Chen, Li-Wei Chen

Journal of Electrochemistry

Non-nucleophilic electrolytes are promising next-generation highly stable electrolytes for magnesium-ion batteries (MIBs). However, a passivation layer on Mg metal anode usually blocks Mg²⁺ diffusion, leading to poor reaction kinetics and low Coulombic efficiency of the Mg plating/stripping in these electrolytes. Here we explore the utilization of phenyl disulfide (PDF) as a film-forming additive for non-nucleophilic electrolytes to regulate the interfacial chemistry on Mg metal anode. Phenyl-thiolate generated from the PDF additive was found to suppress the unfavorable surface blocking layer, resulted in a high Coulombic efficiency of up to 99.5% for the Mg plating/stripping process as well as a …

Brain Electrochemistry, Cong Xu, Ying Jiang, Ping Yu, Lan-Qun Mao

Journal of Electrochemistry

Brain, as the source of neural activities such as perceptions and emotions, consists of the dynamic and complex networks of neurons that implement brain functions through electrical and chemical interactions. Therefore, analyzing and monitoring neurochemicals in living brain can greatly contribute to uncovering the molecular mechanism in both physiological and pathological processes, and to taking a further step in developing precise medical diagnosis and treatment against brain diseases. Through collaborations across disciplines, a handful of analytical tools have been proven to be befitting in neurochemical measurement, spanning the level of vesicles, cells, and living brains. Among these, electrochemical methods endowed …

Tracking Light-Induced Fragmentation Of Single Silver Nanoparticles By Single Entity Electrochemistry, Mengjie Chen, Si-Min Lu, Hao-Wei Wang, Yi-Tao Long

Journal of Electrochemistry

Light irradiation on silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) could cause the energy conversion, thus, the fragmentation of Ag NPs. It is important to detect the changes of fragmented Ag NPs in the aspects of physical and chemical properties. Herein, benefiting from the high sensitivity, high temporal resolution, and high-throughput, single entity electrochemistry (SEE) method is introduced to in-situ track the dynamic laser fragmentation of single Ag NP. Compared with UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), SEE methods enables an accurate in-situ measurements of light-induced fragmentation of single Ag NP. The variation in the statistic current amplitude displays the real-time …

Rational Design Of Electrochemical Molecular Probes For Highly Selective And Long-Term Measurement In Vivo, Yue Wang, Li-Min Zhang, Yang Tian

Journal of Electrochemistry

Designing electrochemical interfaces for in vivo analysis of neurochemicals with high selectivity and long-term stability is vital for monitoring dynamic variation and dissecting the complex mechanisms of pathogenesis in living animals. This review focuses on the development of electrochemical interfaces based on rational design of molecular probes for in vivo measurement with high selectivity and high stability from three aspects: (1) Specific recognition probes were rationally designed and created to remarkably improve the selectivity of in vivo analysis in a complicated brain environment. (2) The Au-C≡C functionalized surface was developed to remarkably enhance the stability of molecular assembly, and employed …

In Situ Characterization Of Electrode Structure And Catalytic Processes In The Electrocatalytic Oxygen Reduction Reaction, Ya-Chen Feng, Xiang Wang, Yu-Qi Wang, Hui-Juan Yan, Dong Wang

Journal of Electrochemistry

As an electrochemical energy conversion system, fuel cell has the advantages of high energy conversion efficiency and high cleanliness. Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), as an important cathode reaction in fuel cells, has received extensive attention. At present, the electrocatalysts are still one of the key materials restricting the further commercialization of fuel cells. The fundamental understanding on the catalytic mechanism of ORR is conducive to the development of electrocatalysts with the enhanced activity and high selectivity. This review aims to summarize the in situ characterization techniques used to study ORR. From this perspective, we first briefly introduce the advantages of …

Synchrotron X-Rays Characterizations Of Metal-Air Batteries, Ya-Jie Song, Xue Sun, Li-Ping Ren, Lei Zhao, Fan-Peng Kong, Jia-Jun Wang

Journal of Electrochemistry

The rapid development of electric vehicles urgently requires high-energy-density batteries. Recently, metal-air batteries have attracted much attention in industry and academia for their ultra-high theoretical energy densities. However, the practical application of metal-air batteries is severely impeded by multiple drawbacks, including severe side reactions, low energy efficiency, and limited cycle life. Understanding the reaction mechanism of the cell and further developing effective strategies are beneficial for the practical application of metal-air batteries. In the past decade, advanced characterization techniques have accelerated the development of metal-air batteries. In particular, synchrotron radiation-based characterization techniques have been widely applied to the mechanistic study …

The Spectra Of Hydrogen-Deficient Carbon Stars: The Effects Of Evolution And Nucleosynthesis, Courtney Lauren Crawford

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The rare class of stars known as the Hydrogen-deficient Carbon (HdC) stars includes the R Coronae Borealis (RCB) variables and the non-variable Dustless HdC (dLHdC) stars. These stars are believed to be formed via the merger of two white dwarf (WD) stars. They are known to exhibit many spectral peculiarities, such as partial helium burning products, enhancement of s-processed material and severe hydrogen-deficiency. In this work I explore many facets of HdC evolution. I begin by creating 18 HdC models in the stellar evolution code Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA) by merging two WD progenitors and evolving the …

3-Multi Ranked Encryption With Enhanced Security In Cloud Computing, Yeeun Kim, Junggab Son, Reza M. Parizi, Gautam Srivastava, Heekuck Oh

Computer Science Faculty Research

Searchable Encryption (SE) enables data owners to search remotely stored ciphertexts selectively. A practical model that is closest to real life should be able to handle search queries with multiple keywords and multiple data owners/users, and even return the top-k most relevant search results when requested. We refer to a model that satisfies all of the conditions a 3-multi ranked search model. However, SE schemes that have been proposed to date use fully trusted trapdoor generation centers, and several methods assume a secure connection between the data users and a trapdoor generation center. That is, they assume the trapdoor generation …

Rose Valley Rocks!: From Plate Tectonics To Architecture Of Place, Walter Cressler

University Libraries Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Comparative Toxicity Of Hydrocarbons For Evaluation Of Lysmata Boggessi As An Experimental Proxy For Deep-Water Column Micronekton, Dorothy-Ellen A. Renegar, Nicholas Turner, Gopal Bera, Eileen G. Whitemiller, Bernhard Riegl, Jose Sericano, Anthony H. Knap

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

The potential impacts of sub-surface hydrocarbon plumes to deep-water column micronekton are an important consideration in a more complete understanding of ecosystem effects resulting from deep-sea oil spills. However, evaluating toxicity in these organisms presents multiple challenges, and the use of a shallow-water proxy species allows comparison and validation of experimental results. This study thus examined the suitability of the peppermint shrimp, Lysmata boggessi, as an experimental proxy for ecologically important deep-sea zooplankton/micronekton in hydrocarbon toxicity assays. This crustacean species occurs in shallow coastal marine environments throughout the western Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, is similar in …

Fiber-Based Electrical Energy Storage And Harvesting Devices For Wearable Electronics, Tareq Kareri

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the past few years, smart textiles and wearable technologies have received tremendous attention due to their functionalities and characteristics, which could be used in a variety of ways in healthcare, sports/leisure, fashion, military, personal protective, and energy applications. These technologies depend on self-power systems, which require energy sources (e.g., batteries, supercapacitors, and solar cells) to power their projected functionalities in the future. Therefore, fabricating energy harvesting cells (i.e., solar cells) and energy storage cells (i.e., batteries and supercapacitors) in the form of fibers are promising solutions for powering wearable electronics due to their unique features such as flexibility and …

Chemical And Carbon Isotopic Characterization Of A Karst-Dominated Urbanized Watershed: Case Of The Upper San Antonio River, Abongwa T. Pride, Walter Den, Aarin Teague

Water Resources Science and Technology Faculty Publications (Archived)

Urbanization and agriculture are two key factors that place demands on water resources and serve as sources of anthropogenic pollution into inland waterways. The San Antonio River, which is sourced from a karst aquifer, plays an important recreational and scenic role, yet effective management is often hampered by the lack of understanding of the chemical characterization of the water system. The karst-dominated Edwards Aquifer watershed in south-central Texas is an ideal watershed to understand water-rock interaction (carbonate dissolution) and anthropogenic impact on our water resources. In order to understand groundwater-surface water interactions, we made chemical and isotopic measurements over a …

Dynamic Qos/Qoe-Aware Reliable Service Composition Framework For Edge Intelligence, Vahideh Hayyolalam, Safa Otoum, Öznur Özkasap

All Works

Edge intelligence has become popular recently since it brings smartness and copes with some shortcomings of conventional technologies such as cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), and centralized AI adoptions. However, although utilizing edge intelligence contributes to providing smart systems such as automated driving systems, smart cities, and connected healthcare systems, it is not free from limitations. There exist various challenges in integrating AI and edge computing, one of which is addressed in this paper. Our main focus is to handle the adoption of AI methods on resource-constrained edge devices. In this regard, we introduce the concept of Edge devices …

Dayside Auroral Activity, Aine Merritt, Gerard J. Fasel

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

The dayside aurora is greatly influenced by the solar wind. Many different types of dayside auroral features have been identified, including poleward-moving auroral forms (PMAFs), throat aurora, shock aurora, and diffuse aurora. This study looks at the dayside auroral activity using the BACC ground-based all-sky-cameras located in both Longyearbyen (Kjell Henriksen Observatory) and Ny-Alesund, Svalbard. There are times when PMAFs peel off the dayside auroral oval in an ordered fashion, elongated east-west arcs moving poleward. At other times, the dayside aurora displays arcs that have extreme brightening moving through the arcs as they exhibit swirls and become a bit chaotic …

The Fierce Green Fire: Vol. 12 Issue 15, Wofford College. Department Of Environmental Studies

The Fierce Green Fire

No abstract provided.

Using Z Boson Events To Study Parton-Medium Interactions In Pb-Pb Collisions, The Cms Collaboration, A. M. Sirunyan, A. Tumasyan, W. Adam, F. Ambrogi, T. Bergauer, Julie M. Hogan

Physics and Engineering Faculty Publications

The spectra measurements of charged hadrons produced in the shower of a parton originating in the same hard scattering with a leptonically decaying Z boson are reported in lead-lead nuclei (Pb-Pb) and proton-proton (pp) collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV. Both Pb-Pb and pp data sets are recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 1.7 nb-1 and 320 pb-1, respectively. Hadronic collision data with one reconstructed Z boson candidate with the transverse momentum pT>30 GeV/c are analyzed. The Z boson constrains the initial energy and direction of the …

Development Status And Thoughts On Coalbed Methane Industry In Xinjiang, Li Ruiming, Zhou Zixin

Coal Geology & Exploration

After nearly 10 years of rapid development, great breakthroughs have been made in the exploration and development of coalbed methane(CBM) in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. The theory and drilling pressure drainage technology system of CBM exploration and development applicable to the geological characteristics of Xinjiang have been further clarified and improved, and a number of pilot test projects for ground CBM development have been built, realizing small-scale commercial development and utilization. On the basis of the analysis of resource potential, gas production effect and market demand, the development and utilization of CBM in Xinjiang has the following advantages. First, …

Molecular Simulation Of The Effect Of Co2/N2 Binary Gas On Methane Adsorption In Coal, Sun Zhixue, Min Cheng, Zhang Wanlu, Jiang Yongping, Yu Xuefeng, Cui Bin

Coal Geology & Exploration

The binary gas flooding technology (CO₂/N₂-ECBM) has become an important means of increasing the production of coalbed methane(CBM). It is of great significance to clarify the CO₂/N₂ competitive adsorption law in coal seams and its influence on the physical properties of coal seams. The molecular simulation software Materials Studio was used to establish a coal molecular model according to the actual temperature and pressure of the CBM block in Yanchuannan. On the basis of the Grand Canonical Monte Carlo(GCMC) method, the influence of each injection stage in the technology of CO₂/N …

Characteristics And Significance Of Proppant In Hydraulic Fractures In Coal Reservoirs, Wang Shengwei, Xiong Zhangkai, Lyu Shuaifeng, Gao Chao

Coal Geology & Exploration

The distribution form and internal characteristics of proppant after coal seam hydraulic fracturing determine the fracturing effect to a great extent. The proppant in the hydraulic fracture exposed in the underground roadways of the coal mine is taken as the research object. The morphology and accumulation characteristics of the proppant were observed, and the relationship between the morphology and accumulation characteristics of the proppant and its stacking process was analyzed. Then, the morphology and accumulation characteristics of the proppant obtained at the typical part of the hydraulic fracture are described, which provides a basis that restores the stacking process of …

Influencing Factors On Gas Production Effect Of Acid Fractured Cbm Wells In Deep Coal Seam Of Daning-Jixian Block, Li Shuguang, Wang Hongna, Xu Borui, Zhen Huaibin, Wang Chengwang, Yuan Pu

Coal Geology & Exploration

The No.8 deep coal seam in Daning-Jixian Block is large, thick, widely distributed, and rich in coalbed methane(CBM) resources. After volume acid fracturing, a breakthrough has been achieved in the producing test. However, the productivity of the testing wells varies greatly, and the major controlling factors of productivity are not clear, severely restricting the CBM development. In this paper, the testing wells in the No.8 coal seam with a buried depth of more than 2 000 m of the Upper Carboniferous Benxi Formation in Daning-Jixian Block were taken as the research object, and 28 typical evaluation indicators were selected from …

Investigating The Future Potential Of An Upgraded Alma To Image Planet-Forming Disks At Sub-Astronomical-Unit Scales, Benjamin P. Burrill, Luca Ricci, Sarah K. Harter, Shangjia Zhang, Zhaohuan Zhu

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

In recent years, ALMA has been able to observe large-scale substructures within protoplanetary disks. Comparison with the predictions from models of planet–disk interactions has indicated that most of these disk substructures can be explained by the presence of planets with the mass of Neptune or larger at orbital radii of ≈5–100 au. Better resolution is needed to observe structures closer to the star, where terrestrial planets are expected to form, as well as structures opened by planets with masses lower than Neptune. We investigate the capabilities of a possible extension to ALMA that would double the longest baseline lengths in …

Approval Page Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit Residential Metals Abatement Program Field Sampling Plan Butte High School – Indoor Soil, Environmental Resource Management (Erm), Daryl Reed, Nikia Greene, Eric Hassler, Mike Mcanulty

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.